Chapter Text
Working with ghosts isn’t what Scott thought he would be doing with his life. He thought he would be making grand costumes for the stage, or even being on stage himself. But of course, the dream went quickly down the drain after his high school years, as many dreams did.
He had just moved out of his parents' house and was in desperate need of an odd job to go on top of the flower shop job he had. That's how he came across the ghost hunting job. His lovely roommate, Cleo, had noticed his struggle, so she called some people and got him an interview.
At first, he thought the idea of hunting ghosts was silly, something that wouldn’t make him a lot of money, but Cleo had encouraged him that after a few months, he would make enough money that only have one job and still have some left over, so he took her word.
And she was right. After Scott had been accepted into the company, he was placed in a team of four, Wilbur, Shelby, and Jack, a lovely group of people, and a great start to his job.
They were a group for a little while, until they all found better jobs, or ones they enjoyed a bit more. Wilbur would go on to be a musician, Shelby opening a cat rescue, and Jack was a pretty popular content creator.
While Scott missed his odd group of friends, he was happy for them, they all found their perfect life.
He ended up being the last one to stick around, but that was fine, he was content with the ghost hunting life, it had led him to his next group.
Lizzie, Joel, and Jimmy.
Lizzie had joined first. She had caught on quickly, but mainly stayed in the van, she understood it a bit better than actually going into the house.
Joel joined quickly after, he was a lively spirit, always holding a curflix and just yelling at the ghost, and because of that, there had been a few close calls when it came to him, but it all worked out great in the end. Scott would end up learning that Lizzie and Joel were married.
And then finally Jimmy joined, he was a bit clumsy, accidentally caused a few hunts, gave everyone a few heart attacks from them, but everyone always made it out safely, so it was okay in the end.
They were Scott’s little team, and he wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.
“Alright” Lizzie started, running a hand through her pink hair, “we have someone called Etho Slab-”
“Odd name” Joel cut in.
“Hush” Lizzie said before clearing her throat, “as I was saying, his name is Etho Slab, been doing some activity in the kitchen, and Gem says that the teenager may have seen him once or twice.”
“Alright, great start, Lizzie, can you stay in the van and figure out if you can find anything on his personal life when he was alive, he can use whatever you find to try to get him out” Scott hummed, “me, Jimmy, and Joel can start walking around the house looking for things.”
“Got it boss” Jimmy smiled, “I’ve got temps” he said quickly grabbing one of the thermometers and a flashlight.
“Then I’ve got EMF” Joel said, grabbing an EMF reader, a flashlight and a crucifix, “I’ll go ahead and turn on the power, since I know someone is a little scaredy cat in the dark” he teased Jimmy.
“Hey!” Jimmy protested.
“Thank you, Joel,” Scott chuckled, “it’s also good to have it, some ghosts like to mess with the power more than others.”
“Or don’t at all” Lizzie chimed in.
“Correct, it’ll narrow it down” Scott nodded as he began to get geared up, grabbing a spirit box and a flashlight. “Oh, and remember, if you see your breath, you are in the ghost room, but that does not mean freezing temps, got it?”
“We aren’t newbies to this Scott, we know” Joel snorted, grabbing the keys to the house before opening the back of the truck, “see ya losers” he said giving a two-finger wave before starting to leave before quickly turning around, “love you, Lizzie!” he said quickly before going back on his path.
Lizzie snorted softly, “Love you too Joel” she chuckled as she sat herself at the computer and began to type on it, looking up Etho.
“I’ll radio you when we’ll start setting up cameras” Scott hummed as he started to adjust his gear on his vest before grabbing the UV light.
“Alright sounds good to me” Lizzie gave Scott a small thumbs up, “I’ll keep track of activity don’t worry.”
“Wonderful” Scott nodded before glancing at Jimmy and letting out a small sigh and began to adjust the man’s vest of items, which was a mess, “how many times do I have to tell you Jimmy, you have to put your light on your shoulder, and then the extra stuff goes in the pockets” he huffed.
“Sorry” Jimmy rubbed behind his neck with a small smile, “I just keep forgetting I suppose.”
Scott shook his head slightly, “alright, well, we have got no time for dilly dally, we got to make sure Joel doesn’t get himself killed.”
Jimmy gave a small snort, “oh yeah, that would be terrible if he did” he said before beginning to march out of the van with Scott following behind.
It was a quiet night, a night where only the wind and some animals were to be heard. Which meant that if anyone screamed, which is a high chance of happening, they may wake some of the neighbours, which Scott hoped wouldn’t happen.
The house itself was rather nice, starting with a long corridor that led into the living room which would branch off into a hallway which would lead into some bedrooms and a bathroom, while another direction led to the dining room, the kitchen, and the garage.
Just as Jimmy walks into the house the lights flickered on, and a small crackle could be heard from their radios.
“Powers on” Joel said speaking into the radio, and a small click could be heard as he finished.
“Look at that perfect timing” Jimmy chuckled as he took out the thermometer and tapped it a few times, “which means this will start working soon.”
Scott began to nudge Jimmy a bit quicker into the house, “remember Jim, looking for breath will work a bit better for now right now, you can always sit in the ghost room and see if it freezes” the cyanette reminded the blonde as he began to look around, adjusting some picture frames as he did so.
“Right, I’m gonna go check out the bedrooms really quickly, plus I think Joel is over there so it shouldn’t take long” Jimmy nodded, “you think you got the other side of the house?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” Scott smiled softly at the blonde.
“Okay! Give a holler if you find the ghost room” Jimmy nodded before quickly rushing to check the left side of the house.
Scott watched Jimmy for a moment before letting out a small breath and began to walk around slowly, letting out small deep breaths to see if he could see the small cloud of breath in front of him while he admired the house.
Soft blues seemed the theme of the house, soft blues mixed in with whites and greys, which honestly was a good pair together if you had asked Scott, the colours worked well together.
The family that owned the house had quite a few pictures of them and their animals hanging on the walls of the house.
The quietness of the house was something different, there were no creaky floorboards, no squeaky doors, the house owners probably put in a lot of time and money into making sure of that.
Scott ran a hand along the wall as he made his way slowly into the kitchen, where the lights were a bit on the dimmer side, maybe one of those fancy light bulbs that could be adjusted through a remote.
He let out a heavier breath than the rest of them as he set his palm on the cold countertops. The place was so clean, it felt almost too clean for a married couple with three children, but what would he know about that sort of stuff? He wasn’t married, and he certainly didn’t have any kids. Maybe it was easier to keep the house clean with five people, he doubted it, but still.
Scott leaned against the counter and just stood there with his arms crossed and his eyes shut, and he just listened. There wasn’t much to listen to except for Joel and Jimmy’s faint bickering on the other side of the house and the whistle of the wind from an open window in the dining room.
The cyannette let out a soft breath as he opened his eyes once more and blinked slowly to adjust the lights in the room, that is when he noticed that small cloud of breath in front of him, and he smiled slightly.
“Got the room” Scott said speaking into his radio, “in the kitchen, come set down your equipment and then go get the rest for me.”
“ Got it Scott! ” Jimmy’s voice crackled over the radio, “ me and Joel are coming to you now.”
Scott smiled softly before setting down his spirit box and turned on his UV light to start running over the cabinet doors, to see if he could spot the purple handprints anywhere. It wasn’t a surprise when he couldn’t find anything, it was the very beginning of the night after all.
“Alright, let's set this stuff on the counter and then go get the rest of the stuff, shouldn’t take more than a few trips” Joel hummed, setting down his EMF reader when entering the kitchen.
“Right, uh, what is everyone grabbing?” Jimmy asked, looking between Scott and Joel.
“Joel, I want you to grab a tripod with a camera on it and a bottle or two of salt” Scott nodded to Joel, “Jimmy, can you grab a book and then dots, and then I can grab a sound and motion sensor.”
“Got it Scott” Jimmy gave the cyannette a small salute before setting down his thermometer and rushing off the van.
“Who’s doing spirit tonight?” Joel asked as he made sure his EMF reader was turned on before he and Scott walked after Jimmy.
“I was hoping you could tonight since Jimmy did so a few nights ago with Lizzie and me the night before” Scott hummed.
“Oh mannn” Joel groaned, leaning his back, “I hate doing spirit.”
“I think everyone does” Scott laughed softly, “you’ll do it after Lizzie gives us a run down on Etho”
“Fineee” Joel playfully rolled his eyes and once they stepped out of the house, he let out a breath, “man the air in there is so heavy” he shook his head.
“It always is” Scott shook his head, “ghosts, they change the air so much, how people never realise that they are being haunted I will never know.”
“They grow used to it until weird stuff happens, I guess” Jimmy shrugged as they made their way into the metal van of theirs, in which they could see Lizzie hunched over the computer reading an article and Joel holding a tripod with a video camera in one hand, a thing of salt in another, and then a second thing of salt under his chin.
“Yeah, I suppose” Scott nodded, moving to the side as Joel made his way out of the van. “Find anything Lizzie?” he asked as Jimmy grabbed one of the books that was on the wall, D.O.T.S, and even grabbed a camera to take pictures with before going to follow Joel.
“Hmm?” Lizzie looked up at Scott before nodding, “yeah, some stuff, I’ll give you the rundown in a moment” she said looking back at the computer screen.
Scott chuckled softly as he nodded, “Right, sounds good Liz” he said before grabbing all the sound and motion sensors that he could follow by turning on his heel and going back into the house and into the kitchen.
“I think we should set it here then we can see the whole kitchen” Joel said, placing down the video camera in a small corner of the room that gave great coverage, “then if the ghost knocks in down it can only go forward.”
“Then we can place some salt there, yeah!” Jimmy nodded, setting the book on the counter before sprinkling some salt in front of it, “which means I can place dots in this spot and we can get like the entire room covered” he said patting where some cookbooks were resting on the counter before lodging the lights in between them after turning it on, which led to little green dots to be placed all over the kitchen.
“I like it” Scott nodded before placing a sound sensor near where the D.O.T.S projector was set down, turning it on and tapped it a few times, “Jimmy, set this one in the dinning room for me please” he said, passing the blonde a sound sensor before crouching to place a motion sensor on a wall.
“You got it” Jimmy nodded, taking the sound sensor and setting it on the table in the dining room, and propped up a few plates around it, almost like to protect it from the ghost, which was pointless, but still a nice gesture.
“Joel, can you put salt around the kitchen every five feet, and it should work fine” Scott asked as he stood up.
“Yeah, can do” Joel nodded, grabbing the remaining salt and started to put small piles of it here and there.
“Alright, now Lizzie, ring us on the radio if you can hear us on the sound sensors” Scott hummed out as he moved to stand by the sound sensor in the kitchen.
“ Loud and clear Scott, I also heard the motion sensor go off when you stepped over it, and cam has a nice view of everything, everything is working well.”
“Great, let's turn on the remaining stuff and get back to the van, shall we?” Scott put his hands on his hips.
“Already did it” Joel hummed, putting his hands in his pants pockets, “So we are set, let's go, go, go” he marched out of the house quickly.
“Do you think Joel is scared of being in the house?” Jimmy snorted as he slinked next to Scott and the two began to walk back to the van.
“Maybe, he does have to do spirit so, I can imagine his nerves are on edge” Scott nodded.
“Oh egh” Jimmy stuck out his tongue, “spirit, yeah, I can imagine why he is on edge then.”
Scott chuckled softly, “spirit isn’t that bad.”
“It is when it is dead silent and then it finally responds to you” Jimmy lightly poked Scott’s shoulder as the two made their way into the van.
“Yeah, that is a bit of a jumpy time when they do that isn’t it?” Scott said before checking out of the screens in the van with a small hum, muttering a small “looking good” under his breath before turning to Lizzie, “alright, what do you have on Etho?”
Lizzie cleared her throat, “alright, let's see, he was 37 when he passed away, which he passed away viva illness about… 10, 15 years ago.”
“Oh wow, not terribly long ago” Jimmy nodded.
“Yeah, so he’s a fresh ghost basically” Lizzie nodded, “neighbours said that he normally kept to himself, he mainly talked to his roommate, whose name was Bdubs, he also passed away, not long after Etho, Bdubs was the more social one out of the two, and uhm, let's see” she scrolled down the little doc that she had made to keep up of all of the ghosts that they had encountered, “and that’s it”
“Alright, he might be a shade with that personality there” Joel nodded.
“Mmm, activity is pretty normal, so I don’t think so” Scott tapped the screen that hung on the wall that showed the lines that mainly stayed between 2 to 4.
“Ah damn, that means I definitely have to go back inside and do spirit” Joel sighed, shaking his head as he grabbed another crucifix.
“Yes, yes it does” Jimmy grinned slightly, putting his hands on his hips proudly, “we’ll be with you from here, good luck.”
“Thanks Jimmy” Joel gave a snort as he rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he left the van to go into the house.
“Switch to the camera please Lizzie” Scott said, peering over the pinkettes shoulder to watch the computer.
“Yes, yes, I want to see if he gets scared,” Jimmy nodded, copying Scott’s movements.
Lizzie laughed as she did just that, “well, I do think it will be kind of funny.”
After a few beats Joel came on the screen holding his flashlight tightly, muttering to himself how he hated doing spirit before taking in a deep breath and picked up the spirit box and turned it on, static filling the room.
“Joel, be sure to speak up loud enough so we can hear you” Jimmy said with a small snicker as he spoke into the radio.
“ Yeah, yeah, I will ” Joel grumbled out.
“ Are you here? ”
…
“ How old are you? ”
…
“ Are you angry? ”
…
“Are you-” Joel was cut of by a loud beeping of the EMF reader saying that it was level 5, “oh fuck he’s writing in the book!” he paused putting a hand on the counter to look at the book “he says to get out… which I am trying dude, give me a second” he huffed out, “EMF 5! And he’s stepped in the salt, I’m out of here!”
Joel dropped the spirit box on the counter after turning it off and quickly got out of the house and back into the van, taking in deep breaths when he got back inside the metal infrastructure, “I hated that” he hissed, “He threw stuff at me on my way out!”
Scott chuckled lightly as he flipped through a book and began to circle and cross things off, “well you being in there helped a lot, got two out of three things done”
“What are the options for ghosts?” Lizzie asked, looking at the book Scott was focused on.
“Well, We’ve got Myling, Shade, and Spirit” Scott pointed at the names on the page, “I don’t think it’s spirit because it never did spirit box, so it wittles it down to Myling and Shade, which one we need to check UV and the other we need to check temps”
“I am not going back in there” Joel shook his head, “I did my part, so now I will sit right here” he said moving to sit next to where Lizzie’s stool was.
Jimmy snorted, “well it’s an easy check, I can go in and see if we got either”
“That would be great if you could” Scott nodded, “there's UV next to the thermometer so, do a quick look over that”
“If there are no marks in the salt you can check the cabinets, they’ve moved” Lizzie pointed at the screen where the cabinet doors were open widely.
“Great, seems like an easy look over” Jimmy nodded, putting his hands on his hips before starting to walk out to the house.
“Be careful!” Scott called out behind the blonde, only to get a thumbs up before said blonde disappeared from his eyesight.
Scott shook his head with a small sigh before looking back at the camera and after a few ticks Jimmy came into view of the video camera, which he waved at the camera in true Jimmy fashion before going over to the counter and glancing at the thermometer.
“ No temps ” Jimmy’s voice rang out as he grabbed the UV flashlight and clicked it on before crouching down at where Scott could assume where the salt was disturbed before humming softly, “ but ” he started, standing up again and went to the open cabinet doors and flashed the purple light up at them, “ we do have UV ”
“Alright, we got a myling then” Scott said as he clicked on the radio, “get out of there Jimmy”
“ Got it, on my way out now ” Jimmy said, grabbing a few items like the UV light, the EMF reader, the sensors, and the video camera before heading out before he turned on his heel and grabbed the photo camera and took a few pictures before quickly shuffling out of the house as he turned stuff off.
“Alright, I’ll write the form when we get back to the office, I guess we can start packing up and head off then” Scott nodded.
“When’s our next job?” Joel asked, slowly getting up from the floor.
“Next week I think? It’s more so of an afternoon job, that’s why we are going to get dinner with the gigs team” Lizzie hummed as she began to shut down all of the technology.
“Right! We’re having dinner with Grian next week, nearly forgot about that” Jimmy said as he entered the van and began to stick everything back into its place.
“That is going to be so chaotic” Scott snorted, closing his book and grab a clipboard with a piece of paper attached to it and began to check off some things.
“When is it not?” Lizzie chuckled as she helped Jimmy.
“Fair point” Scott shook his head.