T/W: Mentions ghosts/paranormal experiences. Also sexual content.

***

"And that's all the time we have for now!" Avery Greer chrips as she wraps up filming her latest V blog. "Until next week, my loves, stay lovely!"

She quickly ends the recording and swivels around in her office chair, stretching out and standing up. As much as she enjoys doing this blog, sitting for nearly two hours is murder on her ass and back.

Avery quickly uses the bathroom before bounding down the stairs to her pristine kitchen and grabs a water bottle, an apple and some wheat crackers before returning upstairs, preparing to upload her latest blog online.

As soon as Avery is seated in her office chair once again, her cell vibrates on the desktop. She checks it. It's her best friend, Everly Lynn.

"Yo!" Everly says, sounding much too perky. "You just finished?"

"Yup." Avery tears open the package of crackers, popping one in her mouth and chewing as she bends over, clicking on the various buttons to upload the video.

"Have any ideas for your next assignment?" Everly asks.

"I don't, no," Avery replies, which wasn't entirely true. She had a few ideas, although she wasn't sure they'd be controversial enough.

"Great!" Everly states. "Because I have the perfect thing!"

"Sweetie, as much as I love you, we're not discussing your favorite sexual positions." Everly laughs.

"Bummer," she jokes. "But in all seriousness, this is much better."

"So spill," Avery orders.

"Ever heard about the local ghost hunting group in town?" Everly asks.

"Possibly?" Avery is busily uploading the video and not paying much attention to Everly's words.

"You should do something with them," Everly encourages. "I bet a lot of people would die to hear about some fake ghost hunters!"

"Oh, sweetie," Avery sighs. "I don't know. That sounds pretty tacky to me. And Avery Greer doesn't do tacky."

"I think it'd be a hoot," Everly argues.

"I have my reputation to uphold," Avery says crisply. "I can't risk losing what I've built over a phony ghost hunting group."

"Just think about it, okay?" Everly urges. "You might be surprised by the response."

****

"Have you finished looking through our latest film?" Nolan Wright walks into the media room, where his tech manager, Sid Elton, is seated, tiredly rubbing his eyes as he shifts around in his chair to look at Nolan.

"Yup," Sid replies. "There wasn't a ton of stuff we captured. Mostly just some faint mist and possibly some disembodied voices."

Nolan takes a seat beside Sid, resting his arms on the top of the wooden table and leaning towards the computer screen.

"Show me?"

Sid had marked the spots on the video so he could pull them up easily and share them with Nolan. He clicks several times, bringing the mist. Nolan's keen gaze trained on the screen, not wanting to miss it.

"Damn," he murmurs, more to himself than Sid as he sees a vague, white mist in the upper hand corner of the video. It hovers there for maybe ten seconds before evaporating into thin air.

"That's awesome," Nolan says, grinning. Sid nods, grabbing some high quality headphones and passing them over to Nolan, who wordlessly accepts it, placing them over his ears, eager to listen to the audio.

In this particular clip, Sid and Lennox, another one of their investigators, were in the basement of the lighthouse they'd been called in to investigate and Lennox was asking if anyone was there with them.

"Is there anyone here with us tonight?" Lennox asks in a clear, loud tone. Some silence, followed by some static.

"We aren't here to judge you," Lennox adds. Then...Nolan hears it. A faint whisper that sounds like it's saying: lonely.

"Could you replay that, please?" Nolan asks Sid, who immediately replays the recording.

Nolan can definitely hear something. He screws up his face in concentration, cupping the headphones closer to his ears.

"Definitely sounds they're saying lonely for sure," Nolan says, taking the headphones off and laying them on the table. Sid nods in agreement.

"That's exactly what both Len and I thought," Sid says. Nolan shifts, standing up.

"All right. As soon as we're ready, we'll go present this information to the client," he tells Sid.

"Sounds good, boss."

****

Avery was toying with the idea of contacting the ghost hunting group. Even though she thought that stuff was a sham, it could possibly be something that could get her back some of her lost followers.

Avery had noticed a steady decline in the numbers for her weekly blog, which wouldn't have been such a tragedy if that wasn't her prime source of income.

Avery started doing the blog five years ago, just as something fun on the side, since she was stuck in a job she absolutely despised. (Being the personal assistant to a woman who ran her own photography business was the pits. Especially since the woman was the devil incarnate.)

At first, the blog was mostly just a way for Avery to let some of that pent up frustration out. Little did she know, most of Massachusetts had tuned into it. Before she knew it, she had over a million followers and had attracted the attention of some big time new programs.

So when Avery was approached by one of the executives to do a weekly show, she jumped at the chance, telling her boss to kiss her ass.

Things had been going pretty good. Until about three months ago, when for whatever reason, the followers slowly dropped. And the executive had told Avery that she needed to try and get those numbers back or they'd consider dropping her.

She couldn't let that happen. No way in hell was she going back to work for the devil. And in this town, there wasn't much else for her. Unless she wanted to get stuck waiting tables.

Avery pulls out her phone, searching for the ghost hunting group. It pops up immediately and she calls the number.

"Hello, Sahling Paranormal Society," a male voice says.

"Hi. My name is Avery Greer and I'm interested in speaking with you about your business. Would it be possible to set up an appointment sometime next week?"

"Absolutely," the man says. "What works best for you?"

"I'm available whenever," Avery replies.

"Uhh, let me look at my schedule here." Avery waits while he looks at whatever.

"I could meet with you next Tuesday, at one-thirty."

"Perfect. I'll put it in my calendar."

"Great! I look forward to speaking with you, Miss Greer. My name is Nolan Wright and I'm the founder of this paranormal group."

"Lovely, Mr. Wright. I'll see you next Tuesday at one-thirty."

"Sounds good." Avery says her goodbye and clicks off, smiling. Mr. Nolan Wright might change his tune once he sees why she wants to speak with him.

☆One☆

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