Still working on my Walking Dead fanfictions but had this little thing floating around in my head through all the writers block in my other stories. Please review.

I can't get to sleep

I think about the implications

Of diving in too deep

And possibly the complications

Especially at night

I worry over situations

I know I'll be alright

Perhaps it's just imagination

Day after Day it reappears

Night and night my heartbeat shows the fear

Ghosts appear and fade away

Alone between the sheets

Only brings exasperation

It's time to walk the streets

Smell the desperation

At least there's pretty lights

And though there's little variation

It nullifies the night from overkill.

Day after Day it reappears

Night and night my heartbeat shows the fear

Ghosts appear and fade away

Come back another day…

…..Colin Hay (Overkill)

Chapter 1

If anyone had told me when I was younger that some day I would be investigating the paranormal I would have laughed outright. Back then I was afraid of everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING. Snakes. Bugs. Dolls. Feet. One of my earliest memories was my sister telling me of a clown that snatched children from their homes when it was dark right before she pushed me into my closet and barricaded the door. I was so terrified that even when my mom came to rescue me, I was frozen to the spot. She had gotten grounded and I saw a possible future filled with therapy sessions explaining how traumatized I had been.

That all changed when I was fourteen and my grandmother passed away. She was my everything. When my parents divorced and my father, whom I had always been close to, began pulling away, grandma had become my emotional touchstone. She kept me from sliding into depression and becoming a shut in. She always knew what to say to make me feel better and get my ass out from the rock I wanted to crawl under. After her funeral was over and I returned to the silence and security of my bedroom, I remember curling up in the corner in the dark. I cried so hard my eyes and chest burned and my breathing had turned into long chocking sobs. I had never lost someone close to me and couldn't figure out how people moved on from that kind of pain. I had quieted down long enough to notice the feeling of calm that slowly began to rise up from the pit of my stomach. I thought this was what people meant when they told you to "let it all out." Maybe I had actually cried all the pain from my body. I felt an odd sense of peace. A peace that I only felt when I was in the presence of my grandma. I could feel my hair sway slightly as if a breeze had passed through the room even though the window was closed. What felt like fingers touched the back of my neck and I would have jumped right out of my skin if it didn't remind me of how she used to rub my head to put me to sleep when I was little. I was being touched by something I couldn't' see and somehow it wasn't scary or unfamiliar. It felt safe.

"Gram?" I whispered to the darkness.

I heard nothing but continued to feel the tickle on the back of my neck.

"I love you" The dark echoed back to me and just as soon as it started, the physical contact left the back of my neck and the room grew quiet again, leaving only solace.

After that night I buried my nose in anything I could get my hands on. I wanted to learn everything and anything I could about the paranormal. I wanted to know about the things that other people had experienced. I wanted to know that what I felt that night wasn't some figment of my strained imagination. When I felt like the books and endless magazine articles and newspaper clippings could no longer sustain my appetite, I began saving money to visit the places I read about. To talk to some of the people I had read about and get a feeling for these places myself. When most places turned out to be gas leaks or crazies as I called them, seeking attention, every now and then I'd strike gold. A house or building with cold spots, EVP's, shadow figures all tied up nicely with a truly horrifying story as the bow on top. Every investigation grew more complex and interesting the more equipment I was able to buy with whatever side jobs I had. After fifteen years of doing all this on my own, I finally decided to begin looking for other people that shared in my passion. I was lucky enough to find that in two of the women I worked with. Mandy and Shelly. We were having drinks after work one night and ended up talking for the next six hours about our experiences and beliefs in the paranormal. Shelly's came from the house she lived in with her now ex husband. She said she used to find random things disappear then reappear in odd places and her sons used to tell her that they were visited at night by a little girl that wanted to play with them. When Mandy was a teenager she decided to join a group of friends for some underage drinking in the woods near a cemetery. That night she recalled seeing shadow figures moving among the trees and when dared by a friend to fling insults at the darkness to entice them, she ended up with large scratches down her back.

Both the girls were genuinely interested in the research I was doing and took it all just as seriously as I did. We had a shared love for the unexplained. They both began accompanying me to jobs I was interested in. They would even call places on their downtime to see if they would allow us to investigate more historical places. We all clicked together and that was very apparent in the video evidence we were collecting. When Mandy had mentioned to me about uploading some of our better material onto you tube, I was hesitant at first, worried more about what rude and negative things people would say for the simple idea of saying it. However, I also thought it would give us a little more exposure and deem us a legitimate paranormal team if any of the places we were trying to get into investigate were concerned. Pretty soon a few hit's a day turned into hundreds and hundreds turned into thousands. There were still shitty comments "They must only hunt ghosts three weeks out of the month" and "how long till one of them starts crying" were a couple of my favorites. But the good outweighed the bad. People wanted to tell their own stories and learn more about all of us. One fan even dubbed us the "Paranormal Hot Squad" which the girls loved but I refused to call us. After awhile, we started our own website and began acquiring fans on there as well. We put up videos and pictures and back stories of places we went and would take feedback from people that had ideas of places they knew to be active. We put up our bios which made me laugh every time I saw them cause we sounded like a gothic profile.

My name is Jess Blades. I'm an Italian Irish girl from Chicago. I'm 5'5, 115 pounds with dark brown hair and grey eyes. My hobbies include reviewing audio and visual footage for hours at a time, talking to the darkness, and pissing off evil dead people.

Lame. I know. But for whatever reason, the website was becoming more and more popular. For once women, instead of men, were the head honchos of this operation and it was a fresh take on things. My only hope was that all this attention was going to give us that big brass ring that always seemed to be out of reach. I wanted to play with the big boys.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I got into my car and slammed the door with a heavy sigh. The last nine hours of bartending had crawled at such a snails pace that even getting up the energy to put the key in the ignition would be a task in itself. It had been unusually busy for a Wednesday night but not busy enough to make time fly. Pushing my fingertips to my heavy eye lids I took a couple deep breaths and enjoyed the silence that three am in a near empty parking lot brought.

"Thirty more minutes and you'll be curled up in bed. Suck it up buttercup." I mentally reprimanded myself.

Bartending wasn't my first job of choice, but, it gave me the ability to work only three to four days a week and make enough to pay for my living expenses and still have money on the side. It also gave me time to focus on what I was passionate about. Just as I was about to pull out of the parking lot, Foreigners "Hot Blooded" blared from my purse on the passenger seat. I smiled wearily. The ringtone was reserved for my two best friends and fellow bartenders, Mandy and Shelly. Appropriately assigned to announce their phone calls after a night of drunken karaoke I would rather have forgotten. I looked down at the caller ID. Mandy.

"Chick it is three in the morning! What the hell are you doin' up?" I asked, not bothering with the regular formal greeting of any other call.

"Hello to you too." Mandy responded back, slurring her last two words. "Just cause I didn't work tonight didn't mean I was going to be sitting in front of my television channel surfing."

I scoffed into the phone. That was my M.O. Sitting in my Pajamas on the weekend and looking over old evidence, researching new places, trying to acquire any kind of literature I could to better myself as an investigator. Perhaps there was a part of me that was also trying to portray myself as the perfect "housewife." Until recently.

"Where you at?" I asked, pushing my finger to my other ear to try to hear her past the loud music in the background "Are you still out? Do you need a ride?"

I held my breath. If she was to drunk to drive I would be there in a heartbeat. However, the spirit was willing but the sore tired body was weak.

"Sure am!" she yelled back "Shelly and I are up at The Trap celebrating!"

"HEY JESS! GET YOUR SKINNY ASS UP HERE!" Shelly giggled in the background.

I rolled my eyes. The Trap was a four am bar we frequented after work sometimes. Even during the week it was packed with people that had been drinking way more then they should and desperate to get in every last ounce of alcohol like it was their last night on earth.

"Girl I am tired! I think I'm gonna have to take a rain check. What are you two dingalings celebrating anyway?"

I could hear their hard whispered hisses of disappointment in the background followed by "Just tell her" and "No I wanna see her face"

"Hello?" I said louder then intended, trying to hide the annoyance in my tone.

"Alright" Mandy sighed into the phone "What if I told you that I got a call back from Rebecca at Bobby Mackey's Music World?"

I pushed the brake and stopped dead in the middle of the empty road "I'd say I'm turning around"

"And what if I told you she seemed okay with us coming there?" She continued.

"I'd say order me a beer cause I'm on my way" I hung up the phone and cut the steering wheel as hard as I could, making an illegal U-Turn and heading to meet up with the girls.

XXXXXXXXXX

I pulled into the small parking lot and crammed my small Elantra into the first parking spot I could find. I did a quick once over of my make up in the rear view mirror before grabbing my purse and heading up to the entrance of the packed bar. I spotted Shelly standing outside smoking and flirting with the tall bouncer she had had a crush on since he started working there. Her eyes lit up when she spotted me across the parking lot.

"JESS!"

Shelly was 36, the oldest out of our little group. She was 5'7 and about 110 pounds wet. Her curly brown hair was pulled up in a messy bun allowing her red lips to beam even brighter then usual. Her blue eyes peaked out from under her partially closed eyelids.

I plastered a smile on my face and waved half heartedly. Truth was the girls were a blast, but I was just to excited to talk to Mandy and to sober to deal with her drunken antics at the moment.

"Long night?" The bouncer asked, lifting up his hand to give me the usual high five.

I rolled my eyes and offered my hand to him while Shelly looked on with a huge smile.

"Well you got me up here. Now I want all the details." I said following her into the bar.

The music was pounding and people were stationed around the long bar in groups making it impossible to move to the back by the tables. Shelly grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd. Her thin frame making it easy for her to maneuver through without knocking into to many people. I waved to a few of the regulars I knew while scanning the bar for Mandy. She was sitting at a table and wordlessly fumbling with her cell phone while some male random leaned down to her ear to try to get her attention. She looked up and smiled politely while stirring her drink. Her annoyance displayed clearly on her face. Then again, she was used to getting all the unwanted attention.

Mandy was the baby of the group. She was 28 and gorgeous. Her straight blonde hair fell just past her shoulders and always seemed to lay perfectly. She was just a smidge shorter then myself but her frame was much more leaner then my own. I admired her free spirit and her "whatever" attitude that was similar to my own.

She looked over and noticed Shelly and I walking towards the table. She gave us both a wide eyed "Help Me" look that couldn't help but make me laugh to myself.

I pulled one of the chairs out at the table and slammed my purse down while looking over at the drunk guy who glared back at me in confusion. I threw my arm around Mandy and squeezed her shoulder.

"Sorry I'm late baby. Work ran later then expected." I glanced up at the guy as if I had just noticing him "Oh I didn't know they had waiters here. A round of drinks for everyone my friend. And whatever shots my beautiful ladies want."

Shelly held her hand over her mouth to hide the smile as the guy backed away from the table and faded into the crowd of people on the dance floor.

"Pimp" Mandy laughed, sliding my Blue Moon pint over.

"I'm not a lesbian but I play one at The Trap." I joked, taking a sip of my beer and slamming it back down on the table. "Okay you better not have got me here under false pretenses."

"Nope" Shelly shook her head and squeezed into one of the chairs across from me "Rebecca told Mandy she tried getting a hold of you first but when you didn't answer she called her."

I slapped my hand against my forehead. I thought back to earlier today when I had gotten out of the shower and noticed the missed call from a number I didn't recognize. They don't leave messages, I don't call back.

"Okay…so" I waved my hands in front of her like I was trying to pull the information out of her.

Mandy and Shelly both shared a sideways glance and smiled at each other.

"She still wants to talk to you buuuut" Mandy gave a dramatic pause and took a sip of her drink. I had to stop myself from reaching over and pulling the straw out of her mouth.

"WE GOT IT!" Shelly yelled and clapped her hands together. "We get to investigate Bobby Mackey's!"

I let out a hard breath of relief while both the girls drunkenly giggled.

"Oh my god" I ran a hand through my dark hair "I can't believe it. But why do they wanna talk to me first?"

"Well I didn't want to answer for all of us since I didn't know how you were gonna feel about it, but they have another team that is going to be investigating that same week and we would have to split the time with them."

I groaned and rubbed my finger against the falling condensation of my pint glass. That would mean a possible contamination of evidence. How would we know if we were getting anything legit with other people being there.

"She didn't tell you the best part of it though." Shelly laughed, looking past me to wave to someone.

My eyes darted to Mandy who was already smiling at me while biting the straw between her teeth. I cocked my head to the side as if to say "Really?"

"Okay, Okay" Mandy deflated "The other team that's going to be there is the one from the Travel Channel."

"Ghost Tales?" I asked, raising an eyebrow

"Adventures" The girls said in unison followed by a fit of laughter.

"Whatever" I took another swig of beer and thought for a moment "You're talking about the my name is Zak something or other show"

Mandy opened her mouth to say something when Shelly slapped her hand on her shoulder.

"It's last call I'm gonna go grab us some celebration shots."

"Zak Bagans." Mandy corrected.

We watched as Shell slid her way between two guys and motioned for the bartender. I laughed and shook my head. Mandy nudged my shoulder and when I turned to face her I noticed the genuine sincerity behind her eyes that took me a little off guard.

"I know it's not the best of circumstances. Hell, we might get out there and they can say to hell with your little internet show, we have BIG time investigators coming in. But we've been dying for this opportunity since we all got involved in this Jess. Besides, I think it will be good for you to get out of the house and roadtrip it with your girls." She hesitated for a moment. "Tim move out yet?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and sucked in a breath. Between work and this excitement, I had nearly forgotten. I would be going home to an empty house for the first time in two years. I swallowed the lump rising up in my throat and nodded.

"Today" I said, not loud enough for her to even hear over the music.

Tim and I had been together for four years and lived together for two. When both of us had come to the conclusion neither of us were ready to take the next step, our relationship became more like friends then lovers. He also couldn't handle the fact that I wanted to do the "Investigation stuff" as he called it, full time. I was to old to be trying to make our little show bigger then it was. It had "peaked" as far as he was concerned. Not to mention I had been starting to bring work home with me when Tim started having nightmares and we began seeing strange things around the house. For a skeptic, it was just to hard for him to swallow.

Three full shot glasses slammed down in front of me, snapping me from my thoughts. "Reeeeed Staaaaag!" Shelly sung out.

Mandy kept her eyes on me as she slid one of the glasses over.

"Ya know that Zak is pretty hot" she said, wagging her shoulders up and down "I watched a couple episodes on the computer last night. Nice body."

"That's all you chick. Good looking guys with huge egos because they probably have.." I wiggled my pinky suggestively in the air making the girls giggle "Not to mention I've grown out of the bad boy stage. I got that out of my system in my early twenties" Just as the words came out of my mouth I locked eyes with the DJ that was the embodiment of all my bad decisions.

"Well, are we doing this or what?" Shelly was spinning the glass on the table with anticipation.

"Yeah, you know I love Red Stag" I giggled holding up the glass.

"No Jess. She means Bobby Mackey's. Are we doing it or what?"

Two sets of eyes peered at me from over their shot glasses waiting for my okay. I pulled my bottom lip through my teeth and smirked.

"Well it there's one thing I love more then shots it's ghost huntin'" I mocked in my best southern drawl "I'll call Rebecca tomorrow and let her know we're in if they'll have us."

We all gave a celebratory whistle as we clinked our glasses together and threw back the my shot, shutting my eyes and enjoying the slow burn down my throat.

I had waited for this moment for the past fifteen years. I wouldn't let it slip through my grasp because of some tv show that was probably fake to begin with. Right?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a quick talk in the parking lot, I said my goodbyes to the girls and headed back home with a second wind. All I could think of was how many more hours I had left till I would he able to call Rebecca and confirm our plans. I turned through all the morning talk radio before stopping on "Call Me Maybe" a one time humorous bar song that became one of the most overplayed obnoxious songs ever written. In this moment however, it was the only upbeat thing I could find. My personal "American Idol" moment was cut short as I went to park my car at the curb and my headlights landed on my empty driveway. On nights I worked I parked on the street so Tim didn't have to move my car from behind his when he left for work in the morning. Guess I didn't have to do that anymore. I pulled into the driveway and shut the car off. I rested my head on the steering wheel and whispered words to convince myself it would be okay. I got out of the car and walked slowly up to the front door. In my head I saw Tim standing there shoving a piece of toast into his mouth with a cup of coffee in his other hand, giving me his "you were out with the girls again" look. I shook the image from my head and sucked in a breath as I put the key in the door. The dim light from the lamp above the sink barely illuminated the entryway as the door creaked open loudly. In the past couple years I had brought things home with me after investigations to the point where things happening in my small house were not uncommon. Nothing prepared me for how unnerving it would be to walk into an empty house. Made worse only by the sudden absence of Tim's things in places I could remember them being. I made my way into the kitchen where the dreaded "final goodbye" letter awaited me followed by his set of keys. I opened up the paper slowly and was surprised by the shortness or the letter even though I knew there really wasn't anything to say.

Dear Jess,

I don't even know why I'm writing this. I guess I thought there would be more to say but now that I have a pen in my hand I'm realizing there wasn't anything I could say that hasn't already been said. I want you to know I'll always have a place for you in my heart and wish for nothing but your happiness. Maybe down the line we can be friends again. I'll miss you.

Love Always

Tim.

I crumpled the paper in my hand and threw it in the trash. If I didn't get rid of it I would spend all morning dissecting every word and crying into chips and dip while listening to Adele. I stood in the silence of the kitchen for a few moments longer before going in the refrigerator and snatching out an old bottle of Moscato that had been in there since the last girls night over a month ago. I willed myself to get a glass from the cabinet and not drink straight from the bottle to make myself look less like I was a alcoholic drinking wine at almost five in the morning. Oh well, it was my after work hours anyway. I put my glass down next to my laptop and started it up while I removed my make up and threw on a pair of yoga pants and tank top for bed. I returned and brought up Bobby Mackey's and Ghost Adventures simultaneously. I saw the pictures of the three guys from the show in front of Bobby Mackey's about to walk in. I scoffed. They had already been there not once but twice and they wanted to go a THIRD time that just had to be the time we were allowed.

"Haunted house hogs." I grumbled.

I clicked through different video's of the GAC crew as they called themselves. Videos from their scariest moments of the show and Aaron's Vlog's. I couldn't decide what was more humorous, the candid videos that were aired only online or their actual lockdowns. I brushed it off as every other show that was on television, each competing to see if they can over act the others. I refused to fall into the same category as them. Whether it got the girls and I on television or not, I was happy getting facts and nothing but the facts then lying to gain viewers. The clock on the other side of my bedroom read six a.m. and a little bit of light was beginning to peak out from underneath my room darkening blinds. I closed up the laptop and crawled my way onto the bed whistling for my cat Moose to come cuddle up with me. The overweight calico cat waddled her way into the room and barely made the jump onto the bed. I patted the pillow next to mine while resetting the time for the alarm to go off.

"Five hours." I said aloud, clicking the bedside lamp off.

Five more hours and I would be able to call Rebecca and lock this one into the books and begin sending out the good news to all our internet viewers. This would be the one that got us noticed.

XXXXXXXXXX