Purgatech: Adrian's Ghost-hunting Angst

Chapter Five: Lie To Me

On signing his forms, and finishing the rest of the interview, securing the notion that there was no trickery to be had with Purgatech’s products, Adrian was led up the same hall he had come down, to the stairs, past the receptionist's desk, the waiting area and outside. Joshua Lorraine himself, led Adrian through the home, with a cold, gripping silence between them as they made their way through the manor, only when stepping outside, fixing the top button of his suit and readjusting his tie, did Joshua speak.

“I understand your concerns with Purgatech, Adrian. I know that you are unsure of our motives and skeptical with regards to our organization and it’s completely understandable. You are the precise trial users we are seeking for the initial tests. We want people that are not afraid to question what they don’t believe, those who are willing to take a stand against the common norms. Free and logical thinkers, unlike the masses who seem to be sheeple.” Joshua spoke calmly, gesturing down that Adrian walk first, even though he was the one leading Adrian to his destination.

“Why? Wouldn’t it benefit you more to have the sheeple backing your product, form a purely marketable standpoint?” Adrian replied. He always hated the term, sheeple. There was no necessity for it in modern English. He would have preferred to use ignorant but thought he would just mimic Joshua to benefit the conversation.

“The mundanity of these people’s give them a reason to see Purgatech as a reason to gain vacuous excitability in returning to a standard of living that has long ago been surpassed for them. They have lost members of their families, have cast themselves out from society or any other plethora of other issues that they face to bring them towards a glimpse of true excitement. They are not here for the trial, as I assume you are. They just want an escape from their painful existence.” Joshua was speaking forward. He was blunt and to the point. He knew that if he beat around the bush, Adrian would pick up on it and the entirety of this experiment would be thrown out the window.

From the staircase, leading up to the entry, Joshua led Adrian around towards the East Wing. Again silence fell between the men, only breaking as the gravel under Joshua’s feet ceased to crunch, looking towards a window the East Wing offered.

“We didn’t leave it like this, you know?” Joshua asked, turning from the window towards Adrian, “And the Richardson family before, also claimed that they attempted many reparations to the wing, but none would stay. The only room that’s pleasant is the one that the children went missing in. I believe I heard a story once, that you were a part of one of the many rumours circulating around the house. Something to do with a murder and the old detective that was recently in the papers?” Joshua stroked his chin. He had the entire conversation lined up from before they walked in this direction, he just wanted to give Adrian a glimpse of reality, completing his sentence with, “I think I heard it from someone named Tommy. I don’t know. I could be wrong anyway.”

Adrian was stunned by the comment that came. Could it have been the same Tommy he had given life to as a child? Was any of this real, or had Joshua been very good at his due diligence. Adrian couldn’t remember now, but he had recalled having to give a statement to Roland Dean all those years before. He could have made mention to Tommy, the imaginary friend that fed him the information. Those papers would still be around somewhere, he was sure of it. So if Joshua was truly so conniving, there was away.

But why go through all that trouble just to bring Adrian into the experiment?

Joshua took Adrian around the end of the building, towards a door on the corner of the East Wing, from there he looked off to the left, seeing a small shack in the woods, where an old man sat next to a fire. Again, Adrian recalled the events those years before. That was the shack of the Groundskeeper, who Brad Rhodes and Johnny Vasquez mentioned chased them that night. He was looking towards the building, out in the distance, Adrian almost wanted to believe that this was the same man that was here when he was a child. The way he looked over his shoulder, the way Adrian could almost make out the shaking of his head in the rhythmic movements of NO!

But if it was, there was nothing that Adrian or the Groundskeeper could do, to deter what was coming. Everything had already been set up and he was going to do this. He came too far to turn tail and run away and he would not be a coward; not today. There was too much at stake.

Joshua took a key from his pocket and shoved it into the doorway. The rest of the building had moved into the twenty-first century, so seeing him use an old lock in a key, was peculiar.

“You’re going to be well compensated for your time conducting the trial. We are going to give you a period of six months to complete the first home trials and then, between you and our other participants, we’re going to see if we are ready to launch Purgatech’s products or if there needs to be another round of editing.” Joshua said, stepping through the door into a dark room. From a table beside, he took an old oil lamp, lit it with a match and offered one to Adrian.

“And how much are we talking exactly?” Adrian asked. The money was in no means the only thing he was interested in but there were small things that needed work around the house that a few extra dollars a month would be able to fix up.

“Not to worry you, but a few of our trial users have gone through severe issues with the Purgatech products and were not able to work again for some time. That being said, we provide you the equivalent to one month’s salary.” Joshua replied.

Six month’s paid vacation, Adrian mulled over in his mind, knowing that he could put that money into savings for Eliza and himself, though the thought of actually going on a vacation also seemed grand.

“That is, of course, provided that you conduct the trial in this time and do not release yourself from it. We will not hold it against you if you cancel the trial period, simply take back the Purgatech goods and stop the funding.” Joshua finished, walking through the room. Adrian, who neglected to take a lamp, following close behind they came to an end of the corridor, where inside the same room, all those years before, Alex Fulton sat, dressed in his tux.

“Why do you do it in haunted houses?” Adrian asked, feeling uncomfortable to be so close to where he once felt so lost.

“We obviously do these in-house test and we need to make sure that there is… Activity with the client and the supernatural. Where better, then, than the haunted hallways of known locations?” Adrian replies, stepping through the doorway, which takes them into a room. The only room that had windows open, sun coming through and a stunning brunette Purgatech assistants, dressed in white lab coats sitting with laptops hanging from open windows.

“Good day, Mister Beck. I am Rebecca and I’ll be your advisor in the in-house trial. Sorry for all the doom and gloom behind,” Adrian looked over his shoulder one more time, looking down a black, uneasy corridor. Its pitch darkness, so unsettling, so unnatural that Adrian could only assume it was a part of their illusions to scare the clients, a little bit more.

Ever the skeptic.

“No worries. What’s it all for? Why don’t you just throw some lights in and why are there laptops hanging out the windows? Hell, why are we in a baby girls room when the rest of this place seems just as screwed as this room?” Adrian asked abruptly, the mass of words sputtering from his mouth without pause.

“Technology doesn’t work in the East Wing.” The assistant replied, “That’s why we use the lanterns to get through the hallways. The darkness doesn’t seem to subside from anything other than the light of a torch.”

Adrian, again, turned to face the darkness that seemed to cut off directly that the door. Whatever was going on here, they either had their facts straight and made sure to cover any question or there was actually something unnaturally evil about the East Wing of Evergreen Manor. To further fact check them, Adrian pulled his phone from his pocket and it was dead. He held the on switch down and nothing came from the screen, just a blank, void, six hundred dollar paperweight, he thought sliding it back into his pocket.

“We hang the laptops from the windows because we can use them about three inches and further away from the room. We assume that this is a result of the supernatural entities that inhabit the room but we can’t be sure. We also don’t really know why it extends further than the rest of the room but we don’t argue. This is our business, after all. We can’t fight with the ghosts that do allow us a chance to see them, right?” Adrian was too busy on his phone to hear most of the message that Rebecca had given him there, still, he nodded as if he had listened to every word without conviction,

“And why we are in this room in particular? Unlike the rest of the East Wing that seems to be covered in darkness, whatever is inside here allows us some light. We don’t stay in past setting sun as well as never entering between the eleventh and the thirteenth. Just to be safe that none of our trial users, assistants or representatives are claimed by the room.” Joshua added the reply to Adrian’s last question. This was all a very big smoke and mirror show, and where he felt the hairs raise on the back of his neck, he played it off as a children’s parlor trick, scaring the unsuspected. There would be a jump scare somewhere soon and that would just top it all off, wouldn’t it? “I’m going to leave you and Rebecca for now, as I have other clients to attend to. She will answer any further questions and bring you up to speed on everything you need. I look forward to seeing your results, Adrian. This should be a very exciting project for the both of us.”

Joshua shuffled off back down the hall and William took the time to watch. He walked into the darkness and by the third step, the light was gone within the all-consuming blackness.

“Do you have any questions before we begin?” Rebecca asked, turning away from the laptop on which she sat.

“How are we going to use electrical products to see the ghosts if we can’t use electricity?” A question that was burning on his lips from the second he was told that the room was a dead zone for electricity.

“The appliances that we have are set up to negate any negative energy. I’m sure you can understand why I can’t disclose all the information regarding what’s inside our products, but know that they are secure. That being said, if you take on the in-house trial, you will be supplied with all the equipment you use here today for your home trial use, the mobile app and a few other little goodies as a thank you, and your first payment for the month.” Rebecca said succinctly. She was warmer than Joshua Lorraine, always a wide smile on her face, her piercing blue eyes striking his own in an odd innocence that he couldn’t understand coming from a worker at a church for the weak.

“Got it. Well then let’s get it started.” Adrian replied abruptly and Rebecca went to the laptop, loading the necessary applications onto one of the phones created with the special technology that would work in this room.

A pit formed in Adrian’s stomach, but he was ready for this.