Human vs. Phantom

Chapter – 10 Episode – 1 A Trip to Hollywood

Chapter – 13

Episode – 1

A Trip to Hollywood

Jim

Yet another day of our life, there’s nothing totally exciting anymore. No monsters, witches, ghosts, or spirits. Not even my books or laptop. My head is injured and is in a lot of pain. Reeve banned me to do any kind of work, physical or mental, and just rest. For the last few days, I have been sleeping a lot, almost twice my usual pattern. I woke up lethargic and go to sleep that way too. There is nothing new, no jobs for the past week. We are just jamming in the hotel room, sometimes I go out for supper then come back and do nothing good. Reeve usually stays out at night doing god knows what and gets back in the morning. But this was about to change, I was getting better and Reeve looked like he was okay with me going back on track.

“Dude gets up I've got a fun job.” He said coming to me one morning, I mean not exactly morning it was noon almost.

“What’s so fun about it? It’s just slashing and killing with lots of blood, sometimes green or red and gooey, sometimes ours, sometimes theirs.” I replied.

“It’s not the normal gig we do. it’s something different this time.” His confidence got me curious about it too to know what it was.

“What kind of job is it?” I asked.

“You remember Savanah William?” he questioned. I've heard of this name. ahh… why can I remember. I was thinking hard, oh! Yes, now I remember.

“Yeah, of course, how can I forget her. She used to work with us, with an uncle I mean. We hunted together for quite a while.” I told him.

“But then you remember that she left this hunting world uncle was really heartbroken about it? They were so good at hunting when they were together, better than us.” He exclaimed.

“Yes, she said that she wanted a more settled and stable lifestyle,” I added.

“But apparently, she didn’t completely move on from the supernatural life. She got married to a television guy, I mean his husband worked in the entertainment industry and they started their own entertainment business soon after getting married.” He explained. “She earns way more now than we can ever make by forging credit cards in our whole life.”

“What does all that have anything to do with the current us?” I felt left out from where his conversation was going. It has already been a long time since we saw her, why do she and her husband have to do with any of us.

“That’s where this job comes in” he excitedly said.

“She contacted me today on uncle’s old cell. She said she needed our help and if we could complete it, we might get a hundred-thousand-dollar remuneration. Sounds amazing right? And to top it all off it’s not even that hard, it’s way easier than our everyday job.”

“You really think about doing this. come on dude, the things that sound too good to be true aren’t actually true or just not good at all. Get over it.” I said and tried to get up from the bed when stopped me again.

“Don’t be like that, I want some money, my car needs some serious upgrade. The music system in it is too outdated, I'm done using an old cassette. I could really use some fine jam while on the road. Or maybe we could just get a small apartment somewhere rather than changing hotels to hotels if we have hard cash in our hands. Think about it. It will be great.” He persisted.

“You won’t listen, would you?” I said to him. Which made him give me a dimply smile.

“What nonsense. Did I ever?” he responded.

“What is the job?” I asked.

“So, this Savanah and her husband are now working as professional paranormal investigators. They also co-direct and host a paranormal investigation show ‘Ghost Catchers’. And it is one of the most rated reality shows these days, its ratings are even higher than many of the popular reality tv shows that have been on-air for years.” He told me.

“Where are us in it?” I asked.

“Our job will be to go and live a whole day at a haunted place which they will choose and record everything that happens inside.” He answered.

“But why us?” I asked. It has been a very long time when we used to hunt together and Reeve and I were kids back then, so how does she still remember us. And how does she know that we still are doing that work and not anything else?

“Because they say this place is too haunted and had reported many paranormal incidents in the past years that no one is ready to go there. And this will be the first episode of their fourth season so it has to be a hit. She also said that the remuneration is negotiable. Which means we can get more than a hundred-thousand-dollar. Doesn’t that sound amazing. It’s just some easy cash.” He said excitedly.

“Where that place would be in?” I asked.

“Los Angeles, California.”

“That’s gonna be a hell of a ride.”

- - - - - - - - - - -

“Now let me welcome everybody to the Wild Wild West

A state that's untouchable like Eliot Ness

The track hits your eardrum like a slug to your chest

Pack a vest for your Jimmy in the city of sex

We in that Sunshine State where the bomb-ass hemp be

The state where you never find a dance floor empty

And pimps be on a mission for them greens

Lean mean money-making-machines servin' fiends

I been in the game for 10 years makin' rap tunes

Ever since honeys was wearin' Sassoon

Now it's '95 and they clock me and watch me

Diamonds shinin', lookin' like I robbed Liberace

It's all good, from Diego to the Bay

Your city is the bomb if your city makin' pay

Throw up a finger if you feel the same way

Dre puttin' it down for Californ-i-a

California knows how to party

California knows how to party (Yes, they do)

In the city of L.A”

- - - - - - - - - - -

“can you please not sing? I really liked the song before you ruined it with your hoarse voice.” I requested.

“I can't hear you.” He said and blasted the voice even louder this time as he continued singing and driving.

“how long do we have left.” He asked me. I had a map on my lap for the directions.

“about a hundred more miles.” We were on a deserted road, the sunshine was shining and the temperature felt warm and cozy. It felt nice being out after days.

“woo-hoo” he cheered reaching out his hands to catch a handful of sunshine to which I can just smile.

“Is this the right place where she is supposed to be?” I asked the flabbergasted Reeve walkin’ beside me with opened mouth. His face was continuously looking at the studious around the place we were walking by.

“I dude, I am saying some,” I spoke in a louder voice.

“I know, but don’t talk right now.” He ignored.

“hey, the look isn’t she Ruari Marie from how does it all start. I'm such a fan. Wait here I'll go talk to her.”

“no… no wait. Don’t go. Fuck.” I tried talking him out of it, but he was AWOL by then already.

I kept on walking, rather than seeing my brother getting embarrassed.

“wait, wait.” I heard Reeve’s voice but I didn’t halt my legs.

“Hey, didn’t you hear me? I was calling you.” He said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

“I heard but I didn’t feel like stopping.” I winked.

“it’s right over there.” He said pointing ahead on a studio.

“But why are we meeting her at this place? Doesn’t she have an office around here somewhere?” I questioned.

“she does have an office but she is here almost all day long. So, she fixed the meeting here.” He answered.

“hey, Savanah called us here?” I heard Reeve saying to a lady in the studio.

“are you guys Jim and Reeve?” she asked looking at us.

We both nodded in a yes.

“By the way, I'm Savanah’s secretary. She is in a meeting right now. She’ll be out in a second. You guys can wait in her vanity if you want. It will take around an hour.” She added.

“we’ll wait in her vanity,” Reeve replied in a hurried tone smiling at her and adding

“what are you doing after work? Wanna have a coffee with me?” he continued. How embarrassing he can be sometimes.

“at five?” I opened my eyes wide at his reaction, she replied almost as flirty as Reeve was.

“my number…” Reeve offered her his card.

“call me when you are done.” He added.

“sure,” she kissed the card she held in her hands.

My eyes are literally bleeding. It is so weird seeing your brother flirting in front of your eyes.

Epilogue-

"Hey, you look like someone I've seen before. did I?" Reeve said.

"Who are you? I don't think I have ever seen you around here," she said back.

"you will see us here for quite some time."

"I know you; I remember, you are from the movie 'how does it all start', right?" he said. "you can take my autograph if you want, I'll be very famous soon."