You stand in the corner. Everything’s just a bit too loud. A little too much. But it’s a party for your boyfriend and his best friend. You’ve already made probably ten new friends, people you were excited to see as soon as Colby had told you they’d be there.
Parties were your place. Your social scene. Though, the alcohol was already running through you, bringing about a headache at the pounding music and flashing lights.
So here you are, taking a quick break while Sam drags Colby away for a quick round of shots. Then someone new comes over. You don’t catch his name through the haze of drunkenness, but he’s nice. Friendly and laughing at the same things you do.
He compliments the saurolophus set that hangs from your ears, points out the matching one on your necklace. When he mentions having seen your posts before, you start gushing a bit about your work.
The most recent brand deal, your newest post about frogs you’d seen at the zoo on your last date with Colby, the bouquet of wildflowers he’d gathered for you at the park afterwards.
You don’t notice the way his eyes narrow when you mention Colby, only the smile he flashes as you talk about the jewelry promo you’re planning with EVRY Jewels soon. Between the idea of another new friend, another opportunity for group plans, and the drunken haze, you don’t see anything amiss.
But Colby does. After the shot of tequila, he glances back over to you, grinning wide, only for it to drop as soon as he sees you. Sees who you’re standing with. The way the guy’s hand sits on your shoulder, a little too close to your neck. His eyes narrow.
He notices the forced laugh, the way he’s leaning just a little too close to you. The dangerous glint in his eye.
And he notices you. Beautiful, excited, oblivious you. His girl.
The beast rears its head in the pit of his stomach, sending his vision into a green haze.
His path to you is direct. The second you notice him coming over, you’re grinning even brighter, perking up. You don’t notice the glare he sends the man you’re talking to, don’t notice the purpose in his gait, just that he’s coming over to you.
His arm slides around your waist, pulling you flush to his side, turning a sickening grin to the other guy as you plant a kiss on your boyfriend’s cheek.
“Who’s this, Duckie?” He looks down at you, a soft smile on his face.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” You look back to the guy, grinning. “What was your name again?”
“Um, Trey.”
“Thanks for coming tonight, Trey.” Colby’s voice holds venom, something you pick up on this time. All in that moment, everything clicks. That Trey had been flirting, trying to sweet talk you. “Do you mind if I steal my girlfriend here?”
“No, uh, go ahead.” He looks back at you, smiling sheepishly. “It was nice to meet you. Maybe we can collab on a project sometime.”
Trey doesn’t give you a chance to answer before he’s darting off, getting lost in the fray of people. Colby doesn’t give you a chance to speak, either, before he’s dragging you upstairs into the closest empty room.
As soon as the door clicks shut, he’s pressing your shoulders into it, kissing you breathless. His mouth is warm, lips moving fast. Soon, you’re dizzy, the drinks you’d had hitting even harder now.
“Colby,” you pant. “I didn’t-”
He admires your kiss-swollen lips before covering your mouth with his hand, giving you a dark, predatory grin. “I know. But I can’t help myself. I have to remind you who you belong to.”
With his hand over your mouth, you can’t do much more than let out a muffled moan as his hand slides under your skirt, brushing the inside of your thighs.
“I don’t even care who he was.” His teeth graze the shell of your ear. “Just that he thought it was okay to touch my Duckie while I’m sure she was rambling about me.”
His fingers tease you through your panties. Small whines escape your lips but they’re muffled by his hand, furthermore by the music floating up from downstairs. The few minutes he teases you are long, agonizing. He circles your clit slowly, building you up with the added friction of your underwear, though they’re long soaked.
Right as you’re about to reach your peak, he pulls away, making you cry out behind his hand, begging him with your eyes. There’s a mirthful glint in his own as he pulls his hand away to kiss you again. As he retreats, he speaks again.
“Once everyone leaves, I promise you’ll get exactly what you deserve.” You whine, shifting your legs, trying to get your underwear to unstick from your skin.
“Please,” you beg. He hums and kisses the corner of your mouth.
“Later. For now, let’s get back to making friends, hm?”
He takes your hand and leads you back downstairs, much to your dismay.
Later, he promised.
It’s not until he’s parading you around in front of Trey that you realize exactly what he meant by “exactly what you deserve.”
alright guys, i promised a full update on why i haven't posted any fics for a while so here it is:
i haven't been able to type for a few months cuz i fucked up my wrist falling down the stairs back in december and didn't get surgery until april woopee BUT im finally able to type again and have had a bunch of stuff in the works for this account and the new group account i made with my friends!
i will be posting a fic here either tonight or tomorrow and then will try to post as often as possible on both accounts!
Synopsis: A collab this big was something Ophelia, Rayne, and Vidia had dreamed of for years, and having it with their YouTube crushes and idols in general was something they barely dared hope for. With new friends and old, just how much can go wrong when they tackle the most haunted place they've been to yet, the Ohio State Reformatory?
warnings: Rayne gets a weird feeling, angry spirit attacks Rayne, mentions of another video (we plan on writing another fic for more backstory on the friendship between Steve, Dylan, Ophelia, and Rayne)
A/N: to anyone reading this thank you for reading our entirely self indulgent fic, we love you so much. - Ophelia<3, Rayne, and Vidia
wc: 3713
The girls stand in a huddle together, the triplets off to the side doing their handshake, Sam and Colby talking, and Steve murmuring something to Dylan. Rayne takes it all in as she breaks the giddiness of her friends, taking Vi’s hand tightly.
“Anything happens, anything bad or extra freaky happens, you grab your phone and call me, got it?” Vi nods. “I don’t fully like us being split up. Last night was scary. I’m just glad we each have at least one of the guys, but if something happens, I need you to call me.”
Vi nods a second time and the three meld into one final hug before finding their way to their small groups. Chris and Lia find each other instantly, but it takes Dylan another second to finally step away from Steve with a firm nod.
Rayne and Dylan stick with Chris and Lia for half the walk, since they have to go in pretty much the same direction anyway. Rayne and Lia film as they walk, the guys behind them throwing light jokes back and forth. As they pause so Lia and Chris can split off, Rayne pulls her friend into one final, tight hug.
As soon as she pulls away, she gives Lia the same warning she’d given Vi. “If anything happens, you call me. I know we usually have our phones on airplane mode to prove we’re not messing with anything but I’m not sure any shouting will echo far enough, so I want you to risk it the second something happens.” She takes a shaky breath. “Just like I said with Vi, I don’t like the idea of us being totally apart after last night.”
“I will,” Lia promises. Satisfied, Rayne turns to Dylan, the two heading off towards the West Diagonal. Towards solitary.
“Well, looks like it’s just you and me,” she jokes, looking up at her counterpart with a sideways grin. “Scared yet?”
“Nope. I have the only medium on my team, why would I be scared?” He leans down as he says it, getting closer to her face. Grinning, Rayne pivots back to the front, walking just a bit faster.
“Alright, Mister ‘I want to see if we can talk to a guard in solitary,’ what’s the game plan here? All we’ve got is a REM pod and a DR-60.” She spins around to walk backward, filming Dylan for his answer.
⫘⫘
“Well, I was thinking we place the REM where we did last time we were here with the guys and use that for answers for a bit before trying a few EVP sessions.” He glances behind Rayne, trying to make sure she doesn’t walk into a wall, but her backwards steps are straight and true down the hallway. “And it’s not just the equipment. With your sensing, I was thinking we could just use that for clarification in between. Especially since you’re more accurate in smaller spaces.”
“Oh, so I’m just your personal walkie-talkie to the dead, huh?” She quirks an eyebrow at him, trying-and failing-to hide her grin. “Glad to be a glorified spirit box.”
He laughs, reaching out to grab her shoulder and spin her back to facing forward. “Come on, you know what I mean. You’d do it anyway.”
“How do you know?” She tips her head back over her shoulder, though the camera still faces down the hallway. His smile is crooked to the side, just like always, as he looks down at her.
“Because you do it every time we’re on an investigation together and you did it again last night.” Dylan reaches out to flick her forehead. “It’s just how you are.”
“Hey!”
“Quiet, you’ll wake the dead,” he teases. With a roll of her eyes, she keeps walking until they’re in the solitary block. Dylan takes the lead, finding the same cell he and the others had been in on the last collab, setting the REM pod on the lifted bed portion of the floor, keeping the DR-60 in his pocket for the time being.
“Okay, professional, how do we want to do this?” At Rayne’s question, Dylan rolls his eyes.
“We both know I’m no professional.” At Rayne’s knowing look, he lets it drop. “Let’s just start with the questions. Do you want me to take the camera so you can be more open? I know it’s easier when you have nothing blocking you from the air.”
“Yes, please.” She passes him the camera, adjusting her hoodie afterwards. “I’m surprised you even remember that, I think I said it like once.”
He shrugs, lifting the camera to film where she stands in the back corner of the room while he leans on the wall by the door, in the exact spot he’d been with Sam and Colby. “Just seemed important before and you almost never hold the camera. Either me and Steve do or you set it up somewhere.”
“Watching me, are we, Stevens?” He grins at Rayne’s little smirk.
“Maybe.” The two share one final smile before he kicks off the investigation. “Alright, hello, is there anyone here who wants to talk with us? My name’s Dylan, this is Rayne. We were here last night, just up in the Attic, and I was here a few years ago, too.”
The REM stays quiet, Dylan keeping the camera focused on the device and the girl now crouching against the wall behind it.
“If you remember us or want to talk, just grab the device on the floor and it’ll make a noise. It shouldn’t hurt you, it just needs to be touched.” Dylan’s voice carries through the space, no other noise answering. His eyes dart between the camera, the REM pod, and the hallway, waiting for movement. For some sort of answer.
“Something’s here,” Rayne murmurs. Dylan’s eyes go back to her to see that she has her eyes focused on the REM, but they’re distant. “I can feel something, I can’t pinpoint it, though. It’s…nervous almost.”
“You don’t have to be nervous,” Dylan calls out. “We’re not here to hurt you, we just want to talk. To understand the story of the prison a bit better.”
The REM beeps once before falling into silence once more. Dylan shifts a bit where he stands before glancing over to Rayne, who furrows her brow. He immediately picks up on what she’s doing, given that it’s her decoding face.
“What do you feel?” He zooms the camera in on her a bit, focusing on her face as she balances her chin on one hand, elbow on her knee.
“I’m not fully sure, honestly. Just like last night, it’s not exact.” She huffs out a sigh, flicking her eyes up to meet his. “The most I can piece together is just that nervousness. Maybe some questioning, but I’m not getting super specific energy that I can put into words.”
“Do you think it’s still trying to evade specific answers?”
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t. I mean, if you were sticking to a story, would you change up all of a sudden with a different group of people you know will tell the others?”
“Fair enough.” He zooms the camera back out to capture the whole room. “Well, if our friend in here doesn’t want to talk, what do you say about moving into the hall to try and talk to a guard?”
“Whatever you want, man, I’m just here for the vibes.” Rayne stands from her crouch and immediately pauses, leaning fully against the wall. “Okay, I can’t tell if I stood up too fast or our friend isn’t happy that we’re thinking of leaving.”
Dylan raises his brows at that, taking a step closer. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good, just got dizzy.”
“Do you need to head back? I don’t want a repeat of last night.”
She cuts him a glare, to which he raises his free hand in surrender. “I’m fine. I’d tell you otherwise. Let’s just go and see what happens.”
“Point taken.” He grins as he says it, Rayne scooping up the REM pod, turning it off before it can scream at her proximity. The two shift to be just outside the cell door, agreeing to put the REM pod in the doorway before standing across the hall from it, a few feet from each other.
“No, I think it was the fact that we left the room. I still feel a little off.” Dylan turns the camera to face the girl who once again crouches with her back balanced against the wall. Her arms cross between her chest and her knees as she focuses on the cell in front of them. “I still can’t tell exactly what’s around, though. It’s strange.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your sensing be this ambiguous before,” Dylan says. She shrugs, looking up at him.
“Most of the time it’s like this, actually. The places we’ve been with you guys are just very open to communicating. This one is closed off. Secretive. That’s why it’s always evading questions and just asking the same thing.”
He hums in answer, running the information through his head before speaking again. “Do you think it’s just this one or anything that still hangs out in here?”
“I’m not sure.” She pauses, turning down the long end of the hallway to her other side. “I mean, I can definitely feel other pulses of energy in here, but none of them are calling out. Whether that’s because they don’t want to be known or simply don’t want to answer questions, I can’t tell. The whole building is busy but it’s quiet.”
In an answer of its own, the REM pod lets out a few short beeps before falling silent again. The pair turn to watch it for a moment. With their silence, it lets out another, longer sound.
“Hello,” Dylan says. “Would you like to talk with us?”
“That’s a solid positive on that one,” Rayne tells him. “The energy just, like, perked up. Got excited.”
In tandem, the REM goes off again, another longer one before stopping. “Alright, cool, thank you. Again, my name’s Dylan, this is Rayne next to me. We just want to learn more about you, if that’s okay.”
A short beep answers, Rayne speaking up next. “Were you a guard here?”
Another quick burst of the REM seems to affirm. Dylan grins.
“You’re the first guard we’ve spoken to in here. It’s nice to finally talk with one of you.” He shifts the camera to his other hand, reaching into his pocket to grab the DR-60. “I’m going to use this little box, okay? It should let us hear your voice. Just come up close and try to speak into the light as loud as you can.”
He does a quick count down before hitting record, asking the first question. “How long were you a guard here?”
After the allotted silence, Rayne asks the next one. “Did you die here? Or were you called back once you died?”
“Did you always walk solitary?”
“Was the prison as bad for you as it was for the prisoners?”
Dylan does another count down before finally stopping the recording. He crouches down at Rayne’s side before lifting the box between them for them both to hear and hitting play. Both of their first questions go by with no whispers between. After his second question, there’s a muttering of a few words neither of the two can make out, even after replaying it three times.
It’s the final question that holds an actual answer. As soon as the word “prisoners” leaves Rayne’s mouth, a shout follows.
“Oh damn,” Dylan says, rewinding it immediately. Rayne simply leans closer to him, listening more intently. As it plays again, she jolts back, almost cracking her head against the concrete wall.
“Did you hear what I did?”
Dylan shakes his head. “I only hear a yell.”
“It sounds like it’s saying ‘Shut up.’” Her eyes are wide, an excited gleam underneath. “Almost like the guard doesn’t want to talk about the conditions or the prisoners subject to them.”
“Hang on, let me listen again.” Dylan plays it two more times before nodding. “I kinda hear it.” Then he says to the camera facing the two of them, “if you guys at home hear something different, put it down in the comments and let us know.”
Rayne snorts. “You’re such a dork with that.”
“What,” he grins, “with asking for more opinions?”
“No, just the way you say it.” The two laugh a bit before the REM goes off again, this time holding the sound for a long time. “Can you step back from that, please, so we can use the recorder again?”
It takes a second before following her direction, ceasing the sound. She turns to the man next to her as she talks. “I think this time, we just let it go. No questions, just see what it picks up.”
“Works for me.” This time, Dylan sets it on the ground. He does another count down before hitting record and just letting it go. They wait what feels like almost a full minute before stopping it, the REM emitting a few short bursts of beeping here and there. This time, the recording is dead silent the entire time. He lets out a sigh. “Well, such is the way of investigating. I think it might be a bust down here tonight.”
Next to him, Rayne shakes her head. “I can still feel something. Two somethings, really, but only one wants to talk. The other is just heavy. Like a warning.”
“Similar to that one at Madison?” Before she can answer, he glances to the camera, shamelessly plugging. “Guys, if you want to see what we keep referring to, go watch our video on the Haunted Nights channel with Ray and Lia at the Madison Seminary.”
The girl snorts again. “Shameless. But no, not like Madison. It’s still more ambiguous. That warning before it attacked Lia was an angry heaviness. This one could be angry or it could be fearful. I still can’t pinpoint it.”
“That’s so strange to me,” Dylan says. “Do we want to just wait and see what happens, then, rather than keep asking questions that lead to nowhere?”
“I mean, it’s worth a shot,” Rayne nods. She shifts to fully settle onto the floor, legs crossed. Dylan joins her a moment later, their knees touching. “I wonder if the one that wants to talk just doesn’t have the energy to. If it’s our friend, they used up a ton of energy last night between our two groups. Plus we’re more spread out tonight. If it’s still trying to talk to multiple of us at once, that has to be taxing.”
“True. Or if it’s someone new, it could just be they haven’t really been active in a while.”
“That, too.”
The two fall into silence for a while, just letting what happens happen. The REM continues to let out a few short beeps every once in a while, but nothing else really happens. They try another EVP session with no results before fading back into silence. About fifteen minutes later, Rayne shifts, taking her hoodie off.
“You okay?” Dylan asks.
“Yeah,” she says, “just got hot all of a sudden.”
With her Built Different hoodie now in her lap, it’s easy to see her black Ouija board shirt. One Dylan has to poke fun at. “That’s an interesting shirt choice for an investigation.”
Rayne smiles. “When in Rome.”
The silence that follows is more tense, the air heavier somehow. Both feel it, though Rayne scowls at the floor in front of her. This time, it’s only a couple minutes before she says something.
“It’s getting heavier.” Dylan’s eyes shoot to her, worried.
“How so?”
“There’s definitely anger now, but there’s also fear. The two energies are way different now.”
“Can you tell which is which? Or where they’re coming from?”
She shakes her head. “No. But I have a guess.”
“Do I really want to know?” Despite his joking, Dylan’s still tense.
“Think. If you’re a guard in a prison and there’s two people just sitting on the floor in the hall, wouldn’t you assume they’re prisoners not in their cells? And if you were in solitary, wouldn’t you be more afraid of an angry guard?”
Dylan takes a breath. “Do you think we should move back to the cell? Just to see what happens?”
“I’m honestly not sure if I can stand without getting dizzy right now.” She blows out a long breath. “Dyl, it’s settled on my chest.”
“I don’t like the sound of that. At all.” He pushes to his feet, sliding the DR-60 back into his pocket. “Here, let me help you. Let’s see if going back into the cell helps a bit.”
Rayne nods, reaching up to take his hand, leaning on him as they move back into the cell before plopping down onto the bed portion of the floor. She crosses her legs and leans her elbows on her knees, chin in her hands.
“It’s already better, but it’ll probably be a few minutes until we can really tell,” she says.
“Take all the time you need. Other than what you’re getting, it’s quiet in here tonight. I don’t think we’ll get much else, anyway.”
“Paranormal walkie talkie to the rescue.” The joke falls flat as three clear footsteps sound from the hallway. Startled, she looks up at Dylan, who peeks into the hall with the camera.
“Nothing’s there,” he says. “That timing, though. That was insane.”
“Yeah, no, for sure. I don’t know how I feel about that.” Down the hall, another couple steps echo. “I hate to jinx it but that sounds like it’s walking away.”
“I’m not sure that’s much better, honestly.” Dylan moves back over to her, crouching down. “How are you feeling?”
“Honestly? Kinda unsettled. This whole place is freakier than anywhere else we’ve been. And we’ve been to some freaky places with you and Steve.” He reaches out a hand, rubbing her shoulder in comfort. “The feeling isn’t leaving, though. The fear’s just changing. The anger is still there, but the fear…”
She trails off, unsure of where to go. Dylan sits down in front of her, setting the camera to the side. “Do you want to head back to the staff room before it gets worse?” He checks his watch. “It’s only 12:50, though.”
“No, I just…” She sighs. “I only wanted to come back tonight to see what was up last night. To try and figure it out. Even if a lot of the time I don’t get exact feelings or words or anything, I can always figure it out at some point. I couldn’t figure it out last night and I wanted to see if I could tonight, but so far, nothing.”
“You don’t have to prove yourself, you know.” His hands find hers, holding them lightly. “Not to me, not to any of the guys, especially not to Lia and Vi. Not even to the viewers. They can go look at our videos and see you’re telling the truth.”
“No, it’s not that.” She grips his fingers, needing him to follow where she’s going. “It didn’t feel super malevolent last night. It didn’t want to attach, it didn’t want to attack, even if it said it did. I could feel it. And the constant begging for help? I just-”
“You had to see if you could help.” He finishes the thought for her as her mouth pulls into a frown. “You forget that I know you, Ray. Same as you know me.”
“Even if it’s all just some twisted trick, I had to see. I still want to.”
He nods. “Okay, then. We’ll stay till the time’s up. Just to see. I just don’t want you to end up how you did last night, okay?”
“I won’t, I promise. If I’m really feeling it, I’ll let you know and we’ll leave.”
“Deal.” They share a grin before Dylan leans back against the wall, still keeping Rayne’s hands in his. “Do you want to leave the REM pod on?”
“Yeah, it’s the only thing other than me really getting anything. I do think the EVPs are a bust, though.”
“I think so, too. Do you want to stay there or move against the wall?”
“Here’s fine, I think. I honestly don’t really want to move until I have to right now.” He nods again and reaches over to angle the camera to see the both of them, keeping one hand in hers.
Silence wraps around them, only broken by occasional noises from the REM. No more footsteps, no slamming of cell doors, no disembodied voices. Just their breathing and the light ticking of both of their watches.
The whole time, even though it’s on camera, their hands stay linked, free hands in their laps. At one point, Rayne asks Dylan to turn off the light on the camera, enveloping the two in darkness.
In the dark, the silence becomes heavier again, if only because of the unease of losing one of the vital senses. Both lose track of time, just sitting in the quiet, sharing check-in whispers here and there. Eventually, Rayne whispers something that sets Dylan on edge.
“I don’t like this.”
“What are you getting?”
There’s a pause before she answers, needing to ready herself. Her voice drops even further, barely audible. “There’s something watching us. The angry one. It’s been getting heavier this whole time but it’s like right next to us.”
“We should go.” His voice is just as soft, but his hand grips hers tighter. “I don’t think you’re going to find what you wanted.”
“It got worse when you mentioned leaving.” A hint of fear tinges her voice now. “It wants us to stay.”
“I’m not letting you stay when you’re the only one who can feel it. It has to be close to the meetup time, anyway. The others will come looking.” He shifts to the side to turn on the camera light.
Just in time for invisible nails to rake across Rayne’s throat, burning in a way that makes her scream before she begins choking.
Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated but never necessary! If you made it this far we love you - Ophelia, Rayne, & Vidia
Synopsis: A collab this big was something Ophelia, Rayne, and Vidia had dreamed of for years, and having it with their YouTube crushes and idols in general was something they barely dared hope for. With new friends and old, just how much can go wrong when they tackle the most haunted place they've been to yet, the Ohio State Reformatory?
Warnings: none
A/N: Hey guys!! we're finally here and posting it!!! We're gonna post a chapter every Saturday. We hope you love it as much as we do -Ophelia<3
We really hope you guys enjoy this one, we've been working on it for months now. This has been so much fun to write and reread -Rayne <3
wc:2259
Snow coats the ground, some stars peeking through the cloud cover. The moon hangs half covered, showing a full face that shines through. Four cars pull up in the lot. As they park, the guys yell at each other through rolled down windows, excited and nervous all in one. The girls, though, all freak out in their own car, Rayne and Vidia spun around in their seats to talk with Ophelia.
“Ohmygod, I’m gonna throw up,” Lia cries.
“We’ll be fine,” Rayne tells her. “But, guys, we’re actually doing this. Vidia’s first ghost hunt!”
“I’m only doing this because of how many people are here.” Vi gives Lia a pointed look before the three burst out in laughter, Rayne’s elbow hitting the horn and making the three jump before more hyena cackles. “So we’re all ending up in a different hotel room tonight, right?”
“I mean, that’s one of our goals.”
Everyone piled out of their cars, slowly congregating in front of Sam and Colby’s. The guys all greeted each other, Dylan and Steve not hesitating to talk with the triplets like they were friends, too. The two of them, however, were the only ones to actually know the girls already. They came over, pulling the three into the fray, introducing Lia and Rayne as the friends they were, excited to finally get to meet Vi as well, having seen countless pictures of her.
Dylan, especially, kept tugging the girls towards the triplets, knowing about Lia’s little ‘secret’. Vi stood with them, introducing herself. Steve just sat back and watched as his channel partner started causing chaos, Rayne standing by Steve himself, both trying not to laugh as Lia was forced to socialize in person with her long-time Youtube crush. Especially as Chris points out her Fresh Love beanie with a grin.
⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘
Sam and Colby set up their camera on the hood of their car as the rest mill around just outside the door to the reformatory, the triplets looking up the sides and commenting on it, Dylan and Steve standing with the girls, chatting.
“Why did we agree to this in winter?” Rayne’s voice borderline whines, arms crossed like a child. She’s tucked in the middle of the other two girls, the triplets coming over to join the group. She tucks further into her blue Group Shotsss hoodie, matching Vi’s black and Lia’s light pink ones. The rest of the group sports their own merch hoodies, some with another jacket over or with some sort of gloves or hat. “It’s fucking cold.”
Steve and Lia nod, the latter speaking. “Yeah, it’s freezing right now.”
“It’s not too bad,” Vi argues, nudging her friend with her finger.
“Yeah, if you think this is bad, try Boston sometime.” Nick’s the loudest of the bunch, making Chris and Matt giggle even though the latter wears three layers.
“I’m from Colorado, bite me.”
⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘
“Bad news, guys,” Steve says, “I think it’s haunted.”
As he says as much, a bang sounds from just inside the door, making most of the group jump. Sam is the first to realize, though, considering the tallest member of the group is missing. “Gahd dang it, Dylan!”
“What’s up guys, it’s Sam and Colby!” In his grandeur, Colby slips on a small patch of ice under the snow, flinging his arms out to catch himself on Sam, almost taking both of them down in a flurry of limbs and caught jackets. “We’re finally back at the Ohio State Reformatory with even more guests this time!”
A line of people takes up the entire camera frame, the sheer amount of them having to stand further back than normal, four different channels represented among the hoodies and hats peeking between other layers and on top of heads.
“We’ve got some returning and some new.” Sam backpacks off his best friend, gesturing to either side with his arms, black jacket flying open, showing more of the white hoodie underneath. Five men stand on one side, three girls on the other. “We’ve got Steve and Dylan from Haunted Nights.” The two wave to the camera, both in black hoodies, one with Haunted Nights printed across the chest, the other with Built Different in the same spot.
“The Sturniolo Triplets once more,” Colby adds. The three in question all strike a pose, making the girls fight back their laughter. The elder two wear Let’s Trip hoodies in cream and black while the youngest has a black Fresh Love one.
“And, new with us;” Sam throws his body to the side, arms thrown in a sideways V, to show the girls more spotlight; “Ophelia, Vidia, and Rayne from Group Shotsss!” The final trio wave, Rayne and Lia doing their best to remain bundled against the chill. “If you follow Haunted Nights, you’ve probably seen Ophelia and Rayne before.”
“And,” Colby breaks in, “Ophelia and Vidia were born and raised in Kansas, which automatically makes them our new best friends.”
Sam nods, making both girls go shock still. Meanwhile Rayne shoves the both of them forward a bit, trying not to laugh at them. Chaos ensues, between the triplets arguing for favoritism, Steve and Dylan laughing, and the girls fighting amongst themselves.
⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘
With intros out of the way, Sam continues on. “This time, with so many people, on our biggest collab yet, we’re doing two full nights here full of different challenges. Hopefully we’ll get better results than last time, as Nate had to leave sick halfway through the night.”
“With having ten of us, Sam and I have come up with some returning and new things to have fun even though we might get a new attachment.” Colby claps his hands together, the sound muffled by his gloves. “We ready to go?” Everyone nods, some voicing it. “Then let’s get it.”
Colby adjusts his own leathery cover jacket and moves to grab the camera, picking it up for a new shot. The rest of the group stays huddled in front of the door, some faring better in the night air than others. Colby focuses the camera on the girls for a moment, asking them if they believe in the paranormal.
“Oh, for sure,” Lia nods, tucked between her channel-mates. “I can’t lie, though, as excited as I am to get some answers, I know I’m gonna be scared.”
Vi speaks up next. “I do, too, I just vote that we don’t fuck with them too much while we’re here. This is my first ghost hunt but I know, never mess with ghosts.”
Everyone turns to the final girl, awaiting her answer as she nods. “I’m a less well known type of medium, so obviously I believe. I grew up in a haunted house, too, so I’m used to seeing shadows and feeling voices in my head.”
“You mean like hearing voices?” Colby asks while Sam steps away. The girl shakes her head.
“No, I don’t hear them unless it’s out loud. I sort of just feel the energy and kinda translate it if that makes any sense? It’s weird.” Sam grabs something out of his backpack, hiding it behind his back as he moves back over.
“I don’t think we’ve had a medium with that ability before,” Sam says, “but that’s cool.”
The rest of the group agrees, the triplets and Sam and Colby impressed. Steve speaks up, shifting on his feet. “Like you said, we’ve had Lia and Rayne on a few investigations with us before and it’s an interesting ability to see in practice. It’s neat, too, considering Lia can notice when she’s sensing something before either of us know anything’s off.”
“Yeah,” Dylan agrees, reaching up to adjust his beanie. “It’s really cool to see, even if it’s a bit confusing.”
Rayne and Lia nod, confirming. They’d gone to a few of the Haunted Nights events in the past, never being able to convince Vi to go before this. When Rayne’s odd abilities had been revealed one night, Dylan and Steve had talked her and Lia into doing a couple more investigations on and off their own channels.
Now, it was able to be used in a larger setting, reaching a wider audience. Rayne had been excited for it but nervous to reveal it, Lia and Vi having to talk her through it before filming had begun. Had it not been for them, either they or Steve or Dylan would have said it instead.
A few more questions about it are tossed around before Sam pulls the attention back to the issue at hand, a mirthful grin on his face.
“Okay, so our first challenge of the night,” he says, “is more of a game. Now that we have the giant scary haunted prison to ourselves, we thought we might play a game of sardines.” The girls start poking at each other, smiling. They’d been watching Sam and Colby for years, having been excited for the games to start.
“One person will go in first and have fifteen minutes to hide anywhere in the prison,” Colby continues. “Once those fifteen minutes are up, the other nine are going to race to find them. If you find the hider, you’ll join them in their spot. The final person to find the hiding spot will be getting a punishment for tomorrow night.”
“How do we decide who hides first?” Chris asks. “Volunteers?”
“Glad you asked,” Sam grins. He picks that moment to reveal the object behind his back, showing an empty coke bottle. “Spin the bottle. Whoever it lands on has to hide first.”
There’s some light laughter as Sam sets it down. Steve speaks up first. “So who’s spinning it?”
“I mean, you wanna do the honors, man?” Colby flashes a shit-eating grin. “That sounds like you want to.”
“Yes, I do.” Steve’s smile mirrors Colby’s, drawing another laugh out of the group. Dylan shifts away from his channel partner a bit, adjusting how his hands sit in his hoodie pocket.
“This feels like a setup,” Matt says.
“With Sam and Colby? Always.” Rayne nudges Vi as the latter says it, laughing. “Am I wrong?”
“Not at all,” Lia adds.
“C’mon guys,” Sam laughs, “we’re not that bad.”
“No, you are,” Dylan says. The deadpan delivery has Rayne and Lia snorting.
Lia recovers first. “Tell that lie to Juicy.”
“Wow,” Colby draws out. “If we knew we were gonna get bullied we’d have just tossed you guys in there.”
Rayne slaps her hands over Vi and Lia’s mouths, grinning, causing Dylan and Steve to toss smiles at the trio. “We’ll play nice. Spin the bottle.”
After a moment of laughter and shuffling into a circle, Steve crouches down to spin the bottle. The first try it goes flying into Colby’s foot.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be using an empty plastic bottle.” The girls dissolve into laughter as Rayne says it, leaning on each other to stay upright. The triplets dissolve into giggles with them before the six collect themselves, Chris adjusting his beanie next to Lia. Dylan notices how close they stand, raising a silent brow at Lia. The girl purses her lips and turns away from him, causing him to smile.
Easy smiles are thrown around before Steve tries again, getting an actual spin on the bottle. It flies in circles for a good five seconds before slowly coming to a stop aiming at Chris’ feet. Sam and Colby both go crazy as soon as it stops, yelling out a long “Ohh!”
“Why me!?”
“Because you asked how we were gonna pick, man.” Colby’s laugh bleeds through his voice. “The bottle knew.”
“So Chris gets to be alone in a giant freaky prison all by himself for fifteen minutes?” Nick pointing it out has everyone smiling wider.
“I’m just glad it’s not me,” Matt jokes. Chris turns to his brothers, pouting, while the rest of the group edges away, leaving him on his own in front of the door.
“Alright,” Sam tells him, “you have fifteen minutes to find a hiding spot before the rest of us try to find you.”
Sam hands Chris a smaller camera and flashlight, telling him to film the whole time. As soon as the camera’s on and a timer is set, Chris shuffles towards the door, begging for a re-spin the whole way. Once he finally disappears into the building, the rest of the group huddle back at the cars, grouped up together.
“Alright,” Colby announces. “Once the timer goes off, the rest of us are going to be in a race to find Chris. We want everyone to film their race so we can piece it all together later on. Once you find him, you have to stay there with him.”
Sam picks it up from there. “Whoever is the last to find him has to do the challenge I did last time we were here and walk laps around Cellblock E tomorrow night.”
“Oh, yeah, the creepy block where someone set themselves on fire, nice.” Dylan’s deadpan delivery once again has everyone laughing.
“Two people actually!”
“Colby,” Vi says, “you’re way too excited about that.”
“Well-” The laughter takes over again, the group taking advantage of the lightness before the spooky shit starts happening as the night continues on.
As the timer gets close, the nine set up inside the door of the building, each holding their own camera or phone to record, each with their own little flashlight. Some bounce on their feet in anticipation, others stand unnervingly calm. But everyone has a wild grin on their face, ready to start the game.
Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated but never necessary! If you made it this far we love you - Ophelia, Rayne, & Vidia
Synopsis: A collab this big was something Ophelia, Rayne, and Vidia had dreamed of for years, and having it with their YouTube crushes and idols in general was something they barely dared hope for. With new friends and old, just how much can go wrong when they tackle the most haunted place they've been to yet, the Ohio State Reformatory?
warnings: Whining Chris and Ophelia, light teasing from friends
A/N: HII GUYS!!! WE'RE BACK, SORRY WE DIED FOR ALMOST 2 MONTHS! BECAUSE OF THAT, YOU GUYS ARE GETTING MULTIPLE CHAPTERS TODAY!!!! seriously though to anyone reading this we love you all so much, thank you for reading our entirely self indulgent fic, we love you so much. - Ophelia<3, Rayne, and Vidia
wc: 1582
Around nine that night, everyone meets up in the parking lot, all finally showered and dressed for the second investigation, everyone other than Sam and Colby wearing another channel’s merch. Amid the teasing, Vi ends up in Sam and Colby’s car, on the phone with Malia and Sofie to get advice on how to actually ask Matt out, given that her channel-mates were little help in that department. Rayne rides with Dylan and Steve to chat while Lia goes with the triplets to keep hanging out with Chris. The teasing still persists in the cars, but admittedly less so given the smaller groupings. Especially the teasing of Vi, considering both Sam and Colby’s girlfriends scold them for it. This night is colder than the first, so everyone decides on attempting a quicker secondary intro after Rayne quickly uses her sage bundle to smudge and cleanse everyone.
“Alright, guys,” Sam says, “night two at the Ohio State Reformatory!”
“We got some freaky stuff last night, but we won’t let that stop us.” Colby takes over, clapping his hands together. “The girls are doing better now and wanted to come with, so we still have everyone.”
“Which is perfect for our new challenges.” Everyone but Colby turns to Sam with a playful glare. The groups are mixed together this time, no one standing only with their own channel other than Sam and Colby. Vi stands to Sam’s left, Matt, Nick, and Steve next to her while Chris and Lia stand on Colby’s other side, Dylan and Rayne next to them.
“Since Lia did lose sardines,” Colby says, turning to her, “she gets the punishment of walking Cell Block E.”
“I didn’t lose! It was rigged!” Chris laughs, leaning against her, drawing out more laughs from the group.
“Either way, it’s you,” Sam tells her. “But, we have a twist. Tonight, we’re totally splitting up. While you and a partner walk the East Block, another group will be down in Solitary, some in the Chair Room, and, probably worst of all, a group will be in the Attic.”
“All at the same time!” Colby smiles wide as he says it, as if it’s not the worst possible idea to come out of their mouths.
“Don’t tell me we’re having kickball squad picks again,” Nick groans.
“Nope,” Sam says. “This time, everyone’s going to draw their partner’s name out of a hat!”
“Oh, fuck no,” Lia whines. “I’m gonna end up with your demon attracting ass!”
“Well, the good news is you get to pick your partner since you lost.”
“That…somehow makes it worse.” The group laughs.
“Who are you sentencing to walk the death walk with you?” Rayne asks. “It’s cold, I wanna start this hell if it just gets me moving.”
“Fuck, I don’t know!”
Colby speaks through his laughter. “Whoever you pick will help you run the hat draw.”
Lia debates for a minute, looking between everyone. When she opens her mouth, Sam speaks up again. “And it can’t be one of your channel partners.”
She huffs.
“Fine. Chris,” Lia finally speaks up. Steve locks eyes with Rayne, both grinning before Rayne turns to Vi, the two girls trying not to laugh and outright poke fun at Lia. Lia, however, takes the bait on herself.
“Me? Why me? I don't wanna do the death walk, Ophi, I had to hide!” Chris whines.
“Exactly, you got a get out of jail free card for this because of hide and seek. Besides,” Lia shoves her pointer finger into Chris's chest teasingly, “you got me in trouble with all of them.”
“How did I get you in trouble?”
“I fell off the bed, Chris!”
“I fail to see how that’s my fault.”
“You fell asleep on me first, that’s how.” The other two girls and the remaining triplets laugh the hardest, though Steve and Dylan are close behind.
“Actually you fell asleep on me first, remember? On the floor,” he teases.
“Technicalities,” Lia sputters. “You fell asleep on me on the bed first”
“That's not fair!”
Sam interrupts their back and forth with a small chuckle, everyone else also holding back laughter and teasing. The other two girls share a look, Vi making a kissy face that causes Rayne to cackle. Sam interrupts them to get the ball rolling, failing to hide a grin. “Okay, let’s get the draw going.” He walks over to the car, pulling a sharpie and a pad of sticky notes out of his bag, quickly writing names down. “Colby and I have decided that since they’re still new, Rayne and Vi will be two of the three to draw. We thought we’d leave it up to the group to decide who else goes.”
“I want Nick to!” Rayne calls. “Girls and gay!”
“Girls and gay!” Vi, Nick, and Lia echo, the three giggling.
“Alright,” Colby laughs, “Rayne, Vi, and Nick will draw. Whoever you guys pick is your partner for the night.”
“Aren’t there more of us than that?” Dylan asks. Steve piggybacks off of him, trying not to laugh.
“Yeah, that’s only eight of us. Are there more get out of jail free cards?”
“Obviously not for the ghosts,” Matt jokes.
“No,” Colby laughs. “The last two names will join a group of two since there’s no other location than the Chapel, but that room wasn’t very active last time, so.”
“Do I even want to ask how we’re getting room assignments tonight?” Vi asks, shifting in her spot.
“The three people who get their names drawn will get to pick the location for their group in the order they got drawn.” Sam grabs the bundle of named sticky notes, walking over to dump them in Lia’s hands. “So let’s get to drawing.”
Chris takes his baseball hat off to use for the drawing, Lia dropping the papers in. Colby directs her to stand between himself and Sam so that she’s centered as she calls out the assignments. “Nick, you draw first.”
Chris holds his hat out to his brother like a knight offering a gift to a lady. Nick reaches in, pulling out a card and reading it. “Steve. Yes! I get one of the professionals!”
Steve swaps places with Matt, grinning. Chris turns to Lia, silently asking who to go to next. “Rayne, you next.”
Chris does the same dramatic motion with his hat, Rayne faking a curtsey before reaching in. She lightly elbows the man next to her, smiling. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, Dyl.”
Chris moves to Vi next, who hesitates before reaching in. She giggles a bit, going red before calling out. “Matt! Get over here!”
The final triplet sends her a wide grin and moves over to join her as Chris shifts back over to Lia, squeezing between her and Colby. It’s that exact moment that everyone realizes Sam and Colby themselves are the ones that have to pick a group to join.
The teasing resumes, this time picking fun at the channel owners losing their own game. With a hefty sigh, Sam takes the papers back from the three who had drawn, tossing them back into Chris’s hat after taking out his and Colby’s own names.
“Maybe we should have done a get out of jail free,” he laments.
“Not allowed!” Lia yells. “I have to walk the creepy ass block!”
“And I have to do it with you now,” Chris whines.
“Deal with it,” she tells him. “Sucks to suck.”
More lighthearted laughs roll around as Sam and Colby rock paper scissors for who gets to pick first. Sam wins this time, quicker than the rounds the night before. He reaches in, drawing Matt’s name, Colby drawing a paper right after. Sam grins at his pick. “Looks like I’m with Matt and Vi.”
“I’m with Steve and Nick. I’m fine with that.” The three girls eye each other in their silent game once more, barely holding back wild grins. “Alright, Steve, where are we going? The Attic, Solitary, or the Chair Room?”
“I didn’t get to do anything in the Chair Room last time, so I’d like to be in there.”
“Alright, Nick’s group in the Chair Room,” Sam says. “Dylan, where are you and Rayne going?”
“I want to go back to Solitary.” His voice is firm. “Maybe we can talk to the guard this time.”
Rayne nods at his decision, burrowing down into her hoodie.
“Guess that means we have the Attic,” Vi sighs. “If I get attacked because I have Sam, I swear to God.”
⫘⫘⫘
“Alright, the last thing we have before we split off,” Colby says, “is what equipment each group gets. Since we’ll be in the chair room, Nick, Steve and I will have the estes equipment.”
“Matt, Vi, and I will have the other set of estes equipment and the music box.” Sam holds up the smaller, coffin-shaped device, showing it to camera. “Dylan and Rayne in Solitary get the REM pod and the DR-60 for questions.”
“And since they’ll be walking the block, Chris and Lia get the ovilus and the EMF reader.” Colby finishes out the assignments, leaning forward a bit. He rubs his hands together, looking around the group. “Is everyone ready?”
“Absolutely not.” Lia and Chris say it at the same time, drawing out more laughs and sneaky looks.
“As I’ll ever be, I guess,” Vi says. The rest of the crew just nods, affirming their decision.
“Alright, then,” Sam says. He looks straight into the camera, smiling. “Let’s get it.”
Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated but never necessary! If you made it this far we love you - Ophelia, Rayne, & Vidia
Synopsis: A collab this big was something Ophelia, Rayne, and Vidia had dreamed of for years, and having it with their YouTube crushes and idols in general was something they barely dared hope for. With new friends and old, just how much can go wrong when they tackle the most haunted place they've been to yet, the Ohio State Reformatory?
warnings: creepy estes session, semi protective Matt, Vi has a small freak out because she doesn't fuck with ghosts
A/N: HII GUYS!!! WE'RE BACK, SORRY WE DIED FOR ALMOST 2 MONTHS! BECAUSE OF THAT, YOU GUYS ARE GETTING MULTIPLE CHAPTERS TODAY!!!! seriously though to anyone reading this we love you all so much, thank you for reading our entirely self indulgent fic, we love you so much. - Ophelia<3, Rayne, and Vidia
wc: 3593
The girls stand in a cluster, Lia and Rayne holding their channel cameras tightly as they whisper with Vi, each freaking out a little. None of them had really had a chance to fully process the night before, whether that be at the prison or where they slept, but knowing that they each were going to be alone with their biggest crushes had them giddy.
Rayne broke it by taking Vi’s hand. “Anything happens, anything bad or extra freaky happens, you grab your phone and call me, got it?” Vi nods. “I don’t fully like us being split up. Last night was scary. I’m just glad we each have at least one of the guys, but if something happens, I need you to call me.”
Vi nods again. As soon as the three had given each other one last hug and found their way back to their small groups. Vidia found her place between Sam and Matt while Sam told everyone when to meet back up at the staff room. Then, they were off.
Vi and Nick’s groups stuck together until they got to the top of the stairs. Nick’s group starts down the hall of the third floor while hers continues going up to make their way to the creepy attic. The climb seemed to last an eternity, each hallway darker and longer than the last.
Sam walks ahead of the other two, Vi and Matt trailing behind while Sam films the hallway in front of them on their way up to the attic. “Okay, guys, how are we feeling about the attic?”
“I mean, you and I were there last night with Rayne,” Matt says. “I’m not super excited to be back after we got threatened to be attacked and she got that super weird feeling.”
⫘⫘
The elder man shoots him a look over his shoulder before turning to Vi. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. We said it probably got upset with Rayne for picking up on that weird energy when it didn’t want us to. None of us can do that so I bet it’ll be nicer tonight.”
“Don’t you dare provoke it.” Vi’s tone is firm, a thrill of fear shooting down her spine. “I am not walking out of here with something trying to follow us.”
“We’ll make sure it knows it’s not welcome to.” Matt brushes her arm with his, offering a reassuring smile. “As long as we make our intentions clear, we’ll be okay. Remember what Rayne said about her tarot cards last night.”
“I’m assuming I missed something?” Sam speaks up again, glancing over his shoulder again. Vi is the one to answer as the group makes their way up the stairs.
“Yeah, after you, Steve, Nick, and Colby left, she started messing with her tarot cards. She said as long as we believe in ourselves and our own capabilities, nothing will happen.”
“Well I like the sound of that,” he muses.
“She said something about hidden strengths, too, didn’t she?” Matt asks.
Vi nods. “Yeah, it was about whether we knew what we could do or not, just trust in it, I think.”
“Boads well for us, then.”
The rest of the trek was made in silence but for their breathing and the echoes of their footsteps. By the time they reached the final landing, all three were breathless, taking a quick breather before heading to the same spot they’d used the night before. Sam hands the camera to Matt, who focuses it on the blond as he takes out the estes equipment.
“Alright,” the eldest breathes. “Where do we want to set up the music box?”
“I vote as far away as possible,” Vi deadpans. “I don’t want it to be like five feet away and to suddenly go off right next to me.”
Both guys laugh a little, prompting her own smile.
“So how about over here?” Matt walks a bit away, towards the door, stopping about ten feet away from where Sam sits. “Far enough away to not be next to us but close enough to get a response if something comes over to talk to us.”
“I think that’s fine, though we might need to move it a bit closer at some point,” Sam nods. “Vi, is that okay?”
She crosses her arms and debates for a second before nodding her approval. Matt hands her the camera before taking the device from Sam and setting it up where he’d stood as Sam turns on the estes box.
“Okay, it’s 11:34. We said to be back by 2:00, but I think if we need to cut it short, we can.” Vi focuses the camera on Sam as he speaks, Matt coming back over to stand at her side. “I volunteer to actually go under for the session, seeing as I’m the most used to it.”
“Are you sure?” Matt’s the one to ask, though Vi eyes the blond carefully.
“Yeah, I’d rather it not be Vi since this is her first paranormal investigation and you said last night you didn’t want to do an estes session anyway.”
“I was joking but if you’re sure.” The younger man gives him a sharp grin. “I have no problem asking as many freaky questions as possible.”
“Let’s not,” Vi laughs. Matt eyes her, picking up on the discomfort she buries with her easy attitude. “But I appreciate it, I definitely do not want to go under after what happened last night.”
“Don’t worry,” Sam reassures, “I’ll do the hardest part. You guys just need to ask questions and film. If you really want to stop, though, just tap me out and let me know, okay?”
The girl nods, the camera bobbing with her. Matt steps back over to join, standing a few feet to Vi’s left, finishing the triangle.
“You guys ready?” Sam asks. Vi just nods while Matt voices his affirmation.
“I’m excited to see if we can get more answers from what we had last night. Hopefully it isn’t feeling too negative with Rayne in solitary rather than up here.”
“It was talking to both of us at the same time,” Vi murmurs. “If that happens again we might get a similar reaction.”
“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Sam says. “Good catch.”
“I think we’ll be fine.” Matt shifts on his feet, crossing his arms. “We’re more spread out tonight. If it wants to talk to multiple of us, it’ll have a harder time doing so.”
“It was in here and where Rayne is tonight, though,” Vi argues.
“I just have a good feeling,” Matt shrugs.
“I mean we just have to be careful.” Sam’s voice does nothing to ease the tension that had been building in Vi’s shoulders. “If anything really weird happens we’ll head back early. I’d rather not risk anything after last night’s weirdness and considering last time we were here Nate had to leave early after being up here.”
“We were fine last night, though.” Vi swivels the camera between the two men as they keep going back and forth.
“There were more of us. Now that there’s only three of us rather than five, it might be a bit stronger and more willing to try to do whatever happened to Nate.”
The younger man laughs a bit. “You just said you were sure we’d be okay and now you’re arguing against it?”
“I’m not sure, but I have faith even if we need to be wary,” Sam shrugs. “You’re almost too confident right now.”
“I’m trying to help Vidia not freak out, man.” Matt grins wryly as he says it, cutting his gaze to the girl who holds the camera. “We will be fine if we trust what Rayne said in her tarot reading last night, we just need to be careful.”
“Then let’s just get started,” Vi cuts in. “I want to get this over with and just get back to the hotel.”
Both guys nod, Sam tying the blindfold around his eyes and sliding the headphones on. As soon as he’s ready, everything in the giant space around them goes preternaturally quiet. Matt carefully takes the camera back from Vi, pointing it at Sam.
“Is there anyone who wants to talk to us?” he asks. It stays quiet for a moment, prompting him to speak more. “We don’t mean any harm, we just want to talk.”
“Who are you?” Sam asks.
“I’m Matt,” he says, “this is Vidia next to me, and that’s Sam who’s able to hear you.”
“Only one day knowing them and you already take too many lessons from Steve and Dylan,” Vi grouses. Matt gives her a bright smile. “Rayne and Lia are the exact same.”
“Just trying to be friendly.”
“Hello. Help me,” Sam calls.
“You said that last night, too,” Matt says. “Can you tell us what you need help with?”
“Get out.”
“You want help getting out or you want us to get out?” Vi glares at Matt as he says it, making him let out a small giggle. “We have to actually ask questions for this to work, you know.”
“I know, I just don’t like messing with this stuff,” Vi whispers.
“Which is fair, but we are here, so we do need to actually talk with something.” Vi eyes the man next to her before sighing.
“We’ll be fine,” Matt says, giving her a crooked grin. “Just relax.”
“Need out. Want out. Please.” Sam’s voice mimics what he hears, sounding desperate and a tad fearful.
“Why do you want out so bad?” Matt asks. “Is it bad memories?”
“Escape. Stuck alone.”
“You’re alone?” Vi breathes. “Aren’t there others here?”
Matt joins in, almost excited. “Or is that why you were in multiple places last night? Because it’s only you and you wanted to talk to all of us.”
“Both.”
“Both?” Matt and Vi look at each other, both dumbfounded.
“Alone. Not alone. Others, lonely.” Sam’s voice still holds that desperate edge, sounding almost anxious.
“So there are others, just not up here?” Vi prods.
“Let me out.”
“We told you yesterday that we don’t know how,” Matt says. “If you need help, you need to tell us how to help you.”
Vi cuts another glare in his direction but he ignores it almost masterfully.
“Set me free.”
“We don’t know how to do that,” Vi repeats. “We’re sorry, but we really don’t know how to set you free from here. We don’t know how death works.”
“Why won’t you help me?” Sam sounds like he’s begging.
“If we knew how we would.” Matt’s voice is smooth as he says it, as if he were consoling a child. “But we don’t know how unless you tell us. Or do you not know, either?”
Sam falls silent for a minute, the static from his headphones leaking into the still air. Not even the music box goes off, leaving them in still silence. Vi and Matt stare at each other for another minute, unsure of where to go.
Matt’s eventually the one to take the step. “What’s your name? Do you know how long you’ve been here?”
“Long time,” Sam says after a second. “Not sure.”
“That’s okay, the prison’s been closed for a long time,” Matt nods. He adjusts his hold on the camera, panning over to Vi as she speaks.
“You didn’t answer the name question. Are you really the same person we were talking to last night?”
“Remember you. Downstairs.”
“So that’s a yes,” Matt jokes. Vi smiles a bit before falling back into an uneasy frown as Sam speaks again.
“Yes. You came back.”
“We did,” Vi says. “We wanted to learn your story. What’s your name? You keep avoiding it.”
“Help me.”
“Stop repeating the same thing,” Matt calls. “We can’t help you because we don’t know how. Tell us about your time in the prison.”
“Bad. Cold and hot.”
“We were told that there were rats and cockroaches that would be in the cells with you guys, did you experience that, too?”
“Plugged ears.” Sam nods his head as he speaks, appearing like an involuntary reaction. “Avoided the floor.”
“I mean, I would too,” Vi grumbles. “Cockroaches are gross.”
“How old were you when you were here?” Matt continues. Sam, once again, says nothing. “Well, that proves the pattern we noticed last night. It avoids more personal questions. Only wanting to answer general ones about the building and experience.”
“Do you know why you’re still here?” Vi calls out. “Are you fulfilling your sentence even in the afterlife?”
“Stuck.” Sam’s voice wobbles. “Trapped. Help me”
“And we’re back in the loop,” Matt sighs. “Alright, fine, how can we help you?”
“Free me. Please, I want out.” Sam takes a shaky breath. “It’s getting more angry the more it talks. I’m starting to not enjoy the feeling of it.”
“We don’t know how to free you,” Matt keeps pushing. “You have to tell us how.”
“Not sure. Help me.”
Matt huffs out another sigh, looking at Vi. “How long do you think we’re going to keep going in circles like this?”
“Until it gives up or we leave,” she says. “Take a wild guess which one’s more likely to happen first.”
Matt laughs, turning back to Sam. “Fair enough. Alright, helping you escape aside, what can you tell us about being stuck here? Do you know why you’re stuck here?”
“Locked in.”
“Did you die in a locked cell?” Vi asks. “Is that why you’re trapped, because you were still in here when you died?”
“Below. Locked in, killed.”
“Could this be that guy who was killed by his cellmate down by solitary?” Matt asks Vi. The girl tips her head to the side, crossing her arms.
“I mean, it’s possible. There were a bunch of others who probably died in their cells, though, and since it doesn’t want to answer personal questions, we have no way of knowing for sure.”
“True. Let’s run with that theory, then, since it’s our clearest bet at the moment.” The two share a nod before Matt starts with another question. “Alright, then, do you think being killed in the cell is the reason you’re stuck here? You can’t leave because you’re still a prisoner even in death?”
Silence follows again, making both let out a sigh. Vi steps a bit closer to Matt, brow furrowed. “I don’t think it’s going to give us any answers on that front. All it wants to talk about is-”
“Free me.”
“That.” Despite everything, she laughs a bit. “Rude, he interrupted me.”
Matt chuckles with her, staring right at Sam. “We don’t want to talk about that anymore. Please answer our questions about the prison. About your time here. We just want to tell your story.”
“Let me out.”
“For the last time,” Matt huffs, “we don’t know how. And you said you don’t, either, so we can’t, okay? I’m sorry, but we can’t.”
“Follow.”
Vi’s eyes widen and she yells for the first time. “Do not follow us! You may not attach to any of us, do you understand me? You do not have permission to follow any of us out of this prison or even out of this room!”
“Damn,” Matt says, eyeing her carefully and aiming the camera at her as she pants from the outburst. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
“That’s for later. For now, I think we need to get Sam out so that we can leave before this thing actually tries to attach to us in order to escape the prison. This is the same one who kept saying they were framed for murder, then basically admitted to lying when they were here last time, and now it’s saying it was killed? I don’t like this at all.”
“I’ll hurt you,” Sam calls in a sing-song voice. “Let me follow.”
“You may not hurt us and you may not follow us, do you understand me?” Vi forces every ounce of power into her voice, channeling what she’s watched the guys do on video dozens of times. What she’s seen her channel-mates do on more than one occasion in their own videos.
“She’s right,” Matt adds, stepping close enough to brush Vi’s arm, “you’re not allowed to do anything to us. We told you we wanted to talk, that ends now, especially if you want to hurt us, which you cannot do.”
“Let me,” the voice argues through Sam.
“No,” Vi keeps pushing. “You are not allowed to, we won’t let you. You have to stay here.” She turns to Matt, pleading and worried. “Tap him out. I don’t want to go close to where that thing is.”
Matt nods, handing her the camera and walking over to Sam, grabbing his shoulder right as the blond says the word “hurt.”
At Matt’s touch, Sam rips the headphones and blindfold off, looking between the two in front of him. “What the hell was that? Why’d it switch from needing help to attacking again?”
“Because it was trying to attach to us, Sam.” Vi’s voice shakes and she herself trembles. “And now it kinda wants to attack us for refusing to let it do so, so we should leave. Like right now.”
“Okay, yeah, let’s get out of here.” As Sam says it and pushes to his feet, the music box starts going off, all three whipping to face it. For a solid minute, it keeps going off as the group stands there in stunned silence.
“Are we going to talk about how it’s going off right where we need to walk to get out of here?” Vi whispers. Sam hands the estes equipment to Matt, who walks up to stand next to Vi, placing a hand on her lower back. The action is both comforting and protective, especially as Vi shuffles a bit closer to him.
Sam comes up to stand on Vidia’s other side, sandwiching her between the two men. The music box finally pauses before letting out one little note, almost taunting.
“I really don’t want to walk over there,” Vi says. “Not after it trying to attach and threatening to hurt us not once, but twice.”
“Unfortunately,” Sam sighs, “we do have to go that way to get out. After all that, I don’t really want to be up here anymore. We can debrief downstairs where it’s relatively safe, but we do have to go past that spot.”
“I’m glad you had us put it so far away, though,” Matt says to Vi. “Not that it’s gone off, I don’t want to be close to it, either.”
“I told you.”
“Okay,” Sam says, “I think we just walk steady but fast. Running proves we’re scared and Rayne said to trust in ourselves. As we go, I’ll grab the box and we just keep moving towards the exit and don’t stop until we’re in the staff room.”
“First, everyone take a few breaths,” Vi murmurs. “Rayne also said high emotions make us more vulnerable. Maybe if we settle ourselves just enough to get by, it’ll be okay.”
“I think that’s a good point,” Matt says. Together, they take a couple deep breaths, doing their best to fall into any sort of calm, false or otherwise. With a shared nod between them, they start walking towards the exit, Sam leading, Vi behind him, Matt taking up the rear as he nudges the girl ahead of himself.
As they pass it, Sam stoops and picks up the music box without so much as stumbling. As they reach the metal beams at the end of the hall, Vi pauses and turns around to face the gaping, empty space, calling out into it as loud as she dared.
“For the last time, you may not follow any of us out of here tonight and you may not try to hurt us. You have to stay here and find your own way out some other time without us.” She pauses, taking a heaving breath, aiming the camera into the darkness. “Thank you for speaking with us, but you are to stay here and not attach to us or follow us in any way.”
Happy with the boundary she’s set, Vi pivots back to the two men who both look at her with proud grins, Matt’s holding another emotion behind it that she doesn’t have the nerve to decipher at the moment.
Instead, she gives both of them her own smile and starts walking, taking the lead down towards the staff room. The dark, silent prison yawns open around them as they walk, but nothing emerges. No footsteps come running up behind them, nothing touches or grabs or hurts any of them.
Nothing seems to be clinging to any of them, either.
It’s just the three of them, their equipment, and the future Youtube audience through the camera as they make their way through the building. When they finally reach the staff room, Chris and Lia already sit in there. The two huddle together on the floor against the back wall, looking up at the three walk in.
Vi hands the camera to Sam before going over to Lia, noting the paleness of her skin. Matt does the same to his brother after a second of staring after Vi, Sam setting the equipment down to pack it back up and checking his phone for the time.
1:23, just over a half hour til everyone else joins up for the final shot of the night.
Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated but never necessary! If you made it this far we love you - Ophelia, Rayne, & Vidia
Synopsis: A collab this big was something Ophelia, Rayne, and Vidia had dreamed of for years, and having it with their YouTube crushes and idols in general was something they barely dared hope for. With new friends and old, just how much can go wrong when they tackle the most haunted place they've been to yet, the Ohio State Reformatory?
warnings: lots of flirting between Ophelia and Chris, like, massive amounts of cringe, Chris calls Ophelia mamas and ma, scary experiences, mentions of a freakishly tall shadow figure with glowing red eyes
A/N: HII GUYS!!! WE'RE BACK, SORRY WE DIED FOR ALMOST 2 MONTHS! BECAUSE OF THAT, YOU GUYS GOT 3 CHAPTERS TODAY AND YOU GET ANOTHER 3 TOMORROW!!!! seriously though to anyone reading this we love you all so much, thank you for reading our entirely self indulgent fic. Let us know your thoughts! - Ophelia<3, Rayne, and Vidia
wc: 4059
The girls huddle around each other, whispering their excitement to each other, Lia and Rayne keeping a firm grip on their cameras. The three poke a bit of fun at each other about who exactly they’ll be with tonight before getting nervous about where they’ll be.
Slowly, they give each other one last hug before peeling away to rejoin their partners for the night. Lia sidles up to Chris’s side, holding her camera even tighter. Sam announces to meet back in the staff room by two in the morning, giving everyone just under three hours to do their solos.
Lia and Chris walk with Rayne and Dylan the furthest, given that the stairs to get up to the Chair Room and the Attic are before the entrances to the blocks and diagonals. The two girls already film as they walk, catching the light jokes being thrown back and forth between the guys. Rayne gives one final hug to Lia before she and Dylan keep walking, holding tightly.
“If anything happens,” she tells her friend, “you call me. I know we usually have our phones on airplane mode to prove we’re not messing with anything but I’m not sure any shouting will echo far enough, so I want you to risk it the second something happens. Just like I said with Vi, I don’t like the idea of us being totally apart after last night.”
“I will.” The two split off, the taller duo keeping on their way to the West Diagonal while Lia and Chris remain frozen in the doorway.
There’s a moment of silence before Chris breaks it, whispering. “Should we go in?”
⫘⫘
Lia jumps next to him before hitting his arm. “Don’t do that!”
“I’m just trying to see if we should go in!” He laughs nervously, poking at her side. She slaps at his hand, although it doesn’t hide her own fearful laugh.
Since she’d been filming the whole walk, Chris held onto both the ovilus and the EMF reader. Now, as they hesitate in the doorway, he offers them out, one in each hand. “Which one do you want, camera girl?”
“I am not holding the freaky talking box, that’s all you, kid.”
“You can’t call me kid, I’m older than you!” While he whisper-yells rather than actually yelling, Chris’s voice still echoes in the concrete cell block.
“By two months, bitch!”
“Still!” The two fall into giggles, leaning on each other. After a minute, they gather themselves, peering into the darkness of Cell Block E. “Do you remember which floor Sam said he’d done the challenge on?”
“I mean…do we really have to go to the same creepy floor?” The two lock eyes as Lia keeps the camera leveled into the block. “Or even actually go in there?”
Chris laughs. “Ophi, you agreed to coming back and insisted on doing this challenge even though Sam and Colby were willing to swap you out.”
“Well I was ready until we stepped over here!” She turns back to the daunting task in front of them. “We did promise to go in.”
“You promised and dragged me with you,” Chris points out. She whips the camera to him to catch his wild grin. “You’re just lucky I like you.”
At that, the girl sputters, unsure of what to say. Chris guffaws at the stricken look on her face, luckily unable to see the furious blush that works its way from her throat to the tips of her ears. She opens and closes her mouth like a fish for a moment before starting to walk, muttering under her breath. “Not my fault I feel safe with you after last night.”
“What was that?” Chris asks, running to catch up. She clears her throat and speaks louder this time, for him and the camera,
“It was the fourth floor. But we have a couple hours, why not start on the less terrifying floors?” She keeps moving forward, albeit slowly. Chris bites back another laugh and teasing remark at the abrupt change in subject, walking on her left as he fiddles with the ovilus, turning it on.
The two made their way further into the block, coming to the staircase. Chris looks up while Lia peers into the abyss in front of them. “Should we just start up top? Work our way down?”
“I honestly don’t really want to go any further.” Chris lets out a nervous laugh, looping his right arm through Lia’s left, careful not to hit the EMF in her hand. “Let’s start at the bottom. I don’t want to climb back up to the fourth if we’re saving it for last.”
“That works. South side first or north?”
“I grew up on the south side so let’s do familiar territory.” Chris falls into a fit of giggles before tugging her towards the south edge of the block. Lia keeps the camera pointed in front of the two of them, pointing it towards each cell they walk past. “This is so creepy.”
“We still have lights on, too,” Chris whispers. “Wait until we turn them off.”
“Don’t say that!” Lia hisses, shoulder bumping him. “I don’t want to think about that yet!”
Chris laughs again, leaning against her as they walk. “We have to eventually!”
“Not right now.” The two keep shuffling down the block, both devices out in front of them. As the two fall silent, only their footsteps echo off the concrete, adding to the eerie feeling around them. Neither call out to anything for the first half of the block, just listening to their footfalls and peering into each cell.
Every now and then, the light from the camera trips both of them out, bringing about whispers of if it was a shadow or not. As the two pass the halfway mark of the south side, the ovilus scares both of them, causing them to jump into each other.
“Cold.” After a couple seconds of silence, Lia speaks in a shaky whisper.
“It is cold in here, yeah.” Chris lets out a weird half laugh as he stares at the device in his hand, almost scared to keep holding it now that it’s spoken.
“I don’t like that.”
“Me either.” They look at each other as Lia lets the camera drop, filming the floor for a moment.
“Let’s keep moving?”
“Stay.”
“Let’s keep moving,” Lia squeaks. The pair moves quickly, crossing the next seven cells in quick succession before slowing down again. The rest of the south side goes without another peep from the ovilus and nothing from the EMF.
As they turn down the north side, Chris goes to let go of Lia’s arm but she tightens her elbow around his. “Please don’t let go of me. It’s way too creepy in here.”
“Okay,” he promises, “I won’t.”
Firmly arm in arm, they keep moving. The north side goes without incident, just silence and the false shadows being thrown by the camera light. By the time they get back to the staircase, both are firmly uneasy.
“Up to floor two, I guess.” Lia’s whisper hisses through the air, her breath fogging. The later the night gets, the colder it gets in the monstrosity of a prison. “Do we have to?”
“Unfortunately,” Chris whispers back. “And I don’t think we can walk next to each other on those walkways.”
“That makes everything so much worse.” Chris only nods, letting go of her and stepping onto the stairs first.
“I’ll lead since you have the camera.”
Lia hesitates before shaking her head. “No, I can’t have nothing behind me. Can I lead?”
He nods. “If you’re sure.” He puffs out his chest, tapping it with a closed fist. “I’ll protect your back, mamas.”
Lia instantly flushes, fighting back a face-splitting smile. “Thanks, C.”
“C?” She shrugs and starts climbing the stairs.
“It fits.” Both giggle, making their way up the stairs slowly. At the landing of the second tier of cells, Lia hesitates. “South first again?”
“Well,” Chris jokes, “you did grow up on the south side.”
The two laugh, both nervous sounds, as Lia starts moving to the south side of the block once more. This time, the south side goes without incident. Just absolute silence and the occasional breathless laugh as Chris tries to make jokes about the situation. Right as she rounds the end of the block to the north side, though, she notices the EMF spike, letting out a small squeak and jumping.
“This just jumped to yellow!” She whisper-yells. Chris peers over his shoulder as the device does it again, flickering a few times as she points the camera at it. “I do not like that. Not at all.”
“Me either,” Chris admits. As soon as he’s done talking, the ovilus takes the spotlight again.
“Dark.”
“I don’t like that, either.” Chris’s voice is high-pitched as he says it, Lia squeaking again. She keeps her back to the wall as she turns to film the device, her heart hammering.
“Nope,” she whispers. They give it a moment before starting to walk again, the EMF spiking every few cells, never going above yellow. Each time it does, they pause, waiting a second until it stops before moving on.
When they finally hit the stairs again, there’s no debate before they start along the south side of floor three. Their going is slow, steady, their silence permeated with fear, but the entire third floor is silent, neither device going off, nothing peering out of the cells.
Back at the same staircase, Lia votes for a pause. “I just need a minute to calm down.”
“Take all the time you need,” Chris tells her. He takes the camera for a minute while she leans against the wall, trying to steady her racing heart. He keeps the camera leveled down the way they’d come, watching for anything.
They stay there for a few minutes, making no sound but for their breaths and their heartbeats they’re sure the other can hear. At one point, though, Lia notices Chris’s furrowed brow.
“Please tell me you didn’t see anything,” she whispers.
“Well,” he starts. For a second he can’t find the words, swallowing. “I’m not sure, honestly. I thought I saw two red dots, like lights or something, but there’s nothing there now.”
“Oh, God, Chris, I said tell me you didn’t see anything!”
“It was probably just my eyes tricking me!”
“That doesn’t make me feel better! You said maybe and probably, that’s not a no!”
“Okay, okay, I just thought I saw something but I didn’t.” He grins weakly, trying to get her to laugh. “Better?”
“Not really, no.” She pushes off of the wall, taking the camera back. “Let’s keep moving before your stupid maybe turns into a definitely.”
Lia leads their climb up the stairs, skipping straight past the fourth floor, stopping at the fifth. Keeping with the pattern, she goes down the south side, camera facing forward, light glinting off some of the shinier metal. Fifteen cells down the fifty cell range, the EMF starts spiking again as the ovilus rasps out.
“Free us.”
“Fuck no!” The two yell it in unison, their voices ringing through the block. Silence follows, the two looking at each other before bursting into terrified cackles. They give themselves a minute of silence to calm down before walking again, a little faster than before to get away from the voice begging to be freed.
More rushed and panicked than before, Lia and Chris reach the end of the block, looping around to tackle the north side. Around the same area as the opposite side of the range, the ovilus speaks again, causing the two to lurch into each other, Lia letting out a few nervous clicks under her breath.
“Help please.”
“I don’t like this,” Lia whines. Chris wraps his arms around her, trying to comfort the both of them. “This is so freaky and this isn’t even the most haunted floor!”
“It’s okay, ma,” Chris tells her. “I’m here with you.”
“You’re just as scared as me!”
“Yeah, but we’re doing it together!” He looks down at Lia, a goofy grin on his face, trying to look reassuring. It works a little bit, her heartbeat calming some. After a moment, the two keep moving, getting back to the start to get up to the sixth range. The sixth range is quiet as they move down the south side.
It’s eerie, the silence after such a begging message, but the two try to quell their unease so that they can keep moving. As they round the north side, though, Lia jumps, squeaking. “The EMF just spiked again. Only to the other green, but still.”
As she focuses the camera on the device, it does so again, flickering between the two greens for a couple seconds before going back to its resting setting. The pair stares at it as they hesitantly continue walking, making their way down the range slowly. The whole rest of the walk back to the staircase, the EMF almost continuously flickers, getting up to yellow a couple times. Other than that, though, the walk is still quiet, only filled by the sound of their footsteps and panicked breathing.
Back at the staircase, Lia stops filming just long enough to swap the camera battery. As she does so, Chris checks the time.
“It’s already almost 12:30.”
“Seriously?” Lia looks at him, eyes wide. The camera comes up to record his face, too, Lia’s arm steady.
“Yeah,” he nods. “I didn’t realize we’d been walking around for that long.”
“Me either. But that also means we still have over an hour to just walk around the fourth floor until it’s time to meet up with everyone.” Lia shivers as she says it, burrowing down into her hoodie.
“Maybe if we do a few laps and get enough responses they won’t even care that we get back there early.” Lia eyes him for a moment, nodding.
“I’m actually so down for that.” In agreement, the two start their way down the fourth floor, starting on the south side just like every other range. It’s slow going, more so than any other floor, given that this is the true challenge. Sam had told them to do one lap with the light on and then a few with it off, so their goal was to get as much of a feel for the walkway path as they could before only having the little bit of moonlight from the windows to guide their way.
Their way down is spent with Chris holding onto the back of Lia’s shirt as he remembers the guide telling them to make sure the person they follow isn’t an apparition up here.
Not very far across the south side, the EMF stars spiking again, causing the girl’s breath to speed up. It bounces up to yellow a few times before stopping. The pair’s feet are heavy as they keep moving, keeping watch on each cell in front of them. Halfway down the block, not long after the EMF spikes, she pauses.
“Did you see that?” Chris looks at her face as she says it, noticing her wide eyes.
“See what?”
“Those two like red lights at the end of the row.”
Chris shakes his head as she turns to look at him. “I didn’t see anything.”
“Maybe I’m just imagining it?” Her voice is breathy, terror sweeping through her bones. “Yeah, I’m going with that.”
“I mean, it could’ve been a trick of the camera light?” Chris tries to reason, but it falls short as he remembers what he’d also seen. “I thought I saw two red lights upstairs, remember?”
“Ew, Chris, no, please don’t say that!” Her voice turns whiney in her unease, eyes wide enough to where it almost hurts.
“I don’t really want to! It’s just weird we’ve both seen it now.” He glances down the range, trying to see if he can see what she just did. “Especially since neither of us saw it when the other did.”
“You’re not making this any fucking better.” In spite of the situation and the eeriness, Chris giggles. “Don’t laugh!”
“I can’t help it!” He laughs even harder as he says it, Lia slapping his arm with the back of her hand since she still holds the EMF. As soon as she does, the ovilus goes off.
“No fighting…cell block.”
Lia shrieks as the device speaks, jumping to the side, hitting the wall with her shoulder. Instantly, she bursts into terrified tears. “Fuck no!”
Chris had jumped, too, hitting the cell door rather than the wall. “That’s fucking terrifying.”
He turns to Lia, who remains against the wall, trembling as she cries, camera loose at her side, pointing at the floor. Immediately, he pulls her into a hug, letting her tuck herself into his chest. The two stand there for a few minutes, Chris holding Lia, unwavering. Once she’s finally collected herself, the two check in with each other before moving on.
“That had to have been a guard, right?” He eventually asks.
“I have no idea and, honestly, I don’t really want to know.”
Chris pauses for a moment. “I kind of do.”
“Chris, please, can we keep walking? I want to get this stupid challenge over with. We can ask it later.” She gives him a pleading look over her shoulder. It only takes a second for him to cave and agree.
The north side, surprisingly, holds nothing interesting the first pass. Even cell 13, where the guy had set himself on fire, was quiet through the whole ten minutes they stopped in it. Back at the stairs to loop around, Lia pauses, not wanting to turn out the light.
Chris notices her hesitation, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be right here with you the whole time.”
“I just don’t wanna be in the dark,” she whispers. “This place is scary enough with the lights on. I hate the dark.”
“We’ll do it together,” he says, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.
“Promise?”
“Pinky promise.” He links his pinkie with hers around the EMF detector, keeping his eyes locked on hers, kissing the back of her hand in promise. A little reassured, she nods, reaching up to flick off the flashlight on top of the camera. The two stand there for a couple minutes, letting their eyes adjust as much as possible to the incredibly low lighting.
“This is awful,” Lia whispers. Chris nods, even though Lia can’t see it as she looks forward. “Chris?”
“I agreed!”
“I didn’t hear anything!”
“Because I nodded,” he hisses.
“I wasn’t looking at you, kid, how could I possibly see you nod?” Now she turns, giving him an incredulous look.
“...oh.” Lia tries to smother a laugh at his silly little moment, but it doesn’t work all that well, a barely muffled snort ringing through the empty block.
A cough answers.
The two stare at each other, mouths hanging open in shock. Chris hadn’t made a noise. Lia didn’t have time to make any other sound. Worst of all, none of the others were nearby enough to mess with them. Lia drops the EMF, the plastic clanging against the metal as she grabs Chris’s hand, holding it like a lifeline. He grips hers back, tucking himself closer to her side.
“Nope,” Lia whispers. “No, fucking hell no, I don’t wanna do this anymore. First we both see random lights, now that? I’m done!”
“It could’ve been one of the others, right?”
“They’re all in their own spots!”
“But we’re over an hour in now, maybe some of them left early?”
“No, the rest all have at least one person who’s going to stay as long as possible even if they have no activity.” Chris mulls her words over for a second before squeezing her hand.
“Well, we better do a couple more loops and get out, then. I don’t want to be in here much longer, either.”
In agreement, Lia picks up the EMF and the two begin moving again, taking measured steps down the south side. The first entire loop in full darkness is surprisingly quiet considering everything that just happened. The second loop has a few EMF spikes and a couple whispers of “Help” from the ovilus, but nothing crazy.
It’s the third loop that has the two clinging onto each other, utterly terrified.
The second they step onto the south side walkway, the EMF jumps to red for the first time of the trip. Both flip out, flying into each other as it does so a few more times before going back to base level.
“I don’t like this,” Lia says. “This is so not okay.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Chris tries to calm her around his own panic, running his hand up and down her back. “Let’s be done after this loop. We’ll head back to the staff room early, okay?”
Lia nods. “Okay.”
The longer they walk, though, the more uneasy both of them start to feel. Neither of them voice it, but they keep thinking they see those same two little red lights at the end of the range with every few cells they pass.
Once they reach the end of the range and wind around to the north side, though, both stop seeing them entirely. But the ovilus picks that moment to let out a few words.
“Heat…hurt…all alone.”
“Oh my fucking God,” Chris hisses. Lia lurches forward and away from him, as that’s the way to get away from the damn speaking box. She spins around, aiming the camera at his face, back half to the wall. The camera’s aimed right at Chris’s face as he holds the ovilus in front of him, staring at it in abject horror. He keeps it out in front of him, refusing to curl his fingers around it like it would burn if he fully grabbed it.
“Fire…escape…prison.”
“Holy shit,” Lia whispers. “The fucking…the uh-the guy! The guy on fucking fire!”
“Oh, fuck, you’re right!” The two share a wide, nearly bug-eyed look, mouths open.
“Trapped. Stuck. Here.”
“Okay,” Lia draws out, spinning back around. “We’re continuing. I want to leave.”
Chris follows her, too stunned to say anything in response. The fifty cells seem to stretch into eternity, the EMF spiking the whole way. When they finally get close enough to somewhat see the staircase, right as relief starts to set in, they both see it.
A whole person standing just outside cell 13, completely solid and blacking out the walkway.
With two piercing red eyes.
Lia screams and jumps back into Chris, who lets out a strangled sound as he grabs her. Just as soon as it appeared, though, the figure vanishes completely, ducking back into the cell it came from. Rather than continuing on, the two backtrack, silently agreeing to not walk past the hellish cell.
The run back to the opposite side of the block and down the cell is filled with begging from the ovilus, “Help” being repeated the whole way. They go all the way back around the block, considering there’s only one staircase close to the door.
Chris stays behind Lia the whole way, trying to somewhat protect her from the ominous shadow. Back on the ground, at the door to the East Block, they finally pause, catching their breath. Lia bursts into tears for the second time.
“Whatthefuck,” she wails, the words blending and repeating on loop.
Chris wraps her in his arms, holding her close after turning the still begging device off. “It’s okay, it’s okay, I’ve got you, mamas. I’ve got you.”
“You saw it, too, right? Please tell me you saw it, too.”
“I did,” he whispers, speaking into her hair. “Breathe, then we’ll head back to the staff room.”
She shakes her head furiously against his chest, tugging away. “No, let’s go now. That was fucking awful.”
“Okay,” he agrees. He takes her hand, walking side by side all the way back to the staff room, checking over his shoulder every few steps. Finally in the safe room, the two sit on the floor with their backs to the wall, curled into each other, just trying to breathe and process what just happened.
One in the morning. Still an hour til everyone else gets back.
Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated but never necessary! If you made it this far we love you - Ophelia, Rayne, & Vidia
Synopsis: A collab this big was something Ophelia, Rayne, and Vidia had dreamed of for years, and having it with their YouTube crushes and idols in general was something they barely dared hope for. With new friends and old, just how much can go wrong when they tackle the most haunted place they've been to yet, the Ohio State Reformatory?
warnings: creepy estes session, door gets stuck, Nick, Steve, and Colby have a scary experience with a ghost who warns about mirrors
A/N: Hey! we're down to the final few chapters, hope you loved this series as much as us. As soon as Rayne hits winter break we're hoping to write a few one shots of like, life in the future of this AU so hopefully you'll stick around... thank you! -Ophelia<3
wc: 3059
Each group holds their own camera, Lia and Rayne using their own while Sam keeps one of his and Colby’s and Colby takes another. The girls huddle up, whispering feverishly to each other, the occasional high pitched noise coming from them. The triplets do their handshake nearby, Sam and Colby discussing meet up times, Steve talking low and fast to Dylan, the younger man nodding.
As everyone shuffles back into their small groups, Sam lets everyone know the time to meet back in the staff room. “Alright, it’s eleven fifteen now, let’s meet back up by two at the latest since we have to clear out by three. If anyone gets back sooner, though, that’s all good.”
Everyone nods, some setting alarms on their phones. With final goodbyes in place, everyone starts heading in, going to their own little torture chambers for the next few hours. Nick’s group heads upstairs with Vi’s group, the two splitting off at the top of the staircase.
Nick, Steve, and Colby go down the hall, talking as they go.
“Okay, so last time I did the chair challenge completely by myself,” Colby says. “Since we have all three of us, I’m thinking one of us does the estes in the chair while the other two stand around.”
“I’d rather not sit in the chair,” Nick tells him. “That just seems a little terrifying.”
“I also don’t want to get in the chair that sometimes moves,” Steve says. He turns to Colby with a wicked grin.
Colby pauses in the middle of the hall, turning around slowly, groaning through a laugh. “No, I’m in the chair again? I hate the chair!”
“If you’ve already done it, then the chair likes you.” Nick’s joke has Steve chuckling, hands in his pockets. “So it makes sense if you really think about it.”
“Why do I have to be tortured?”
⫘⫘
“It’s your video, man.” Steve still sports his shit-eating grin, making Nick laugh as Colby groans.
“Alright, alright, fine. I’ll do it.” He turns back around and continues walking. He turns the camera to a horrific angle of his face, whispering into it. “Guys, you better like and subscribe.”
Both other men laugh as they finally come up to the chair room. The door sits open, darkness within, the chair sitting in the middle of the room. It feels ominous. Almost like a forewarning for the night.
“That’s not terrifying at all,” Nick states.
“This should be fun,” Steve adds. Colby looks at the two of them, unable to hide his smile.
“You guys suck.”
The three step into the room, Steve pulling the estes equipment out of his hoodie pocket for Colby as the latter closes the door behind Nick. With the room sealed, the only light is that from the camera.
“This is awful,” Steve laughs. “And we’re going to have the lights off entirely.”
“Welcome to what I had to do alone, man,” Colby jokes.
Steve laughs while Nick just glances around the room, uneasy at the dark, cramped space, especially now with the door closed. Colby shivers, remembering what it was like last time on his own.
“Alright, let’s get this going. We’ve got only the estes equipment so hopefully this is a good session.” Colby grins as he says it, moving to sit in the chair in the middle of the room. “Sam and I didn’t really think of anything else for if the session doesn’t show much.”
“I mean if that’s the case, we can always just run down to the break room and get something. You guys brought everything, right?”
Colby looks at Steve, nodding. “Yeah, it’s all in the backpack.”
“Cool, then, problem solved.” Nick nods as Steve says it, speaking up next.
“I volunteer to not be the one to go get it if we have to.” The other two laugh while Colby passes the camera to Steve and takes the estes equipment.
“I can go,” the eldest says. “It’s kind of fun walking around in here.”
“That’s terrifying.” Nick eyes him with a mix of horror and raw respect. “But good for you, I guess.”
The three laugh before Colby ties the blindfold around his eyes. Nick turns the light on the camera off at the same time, plunging them into darkness that only the camera can see through. As soon as he goes under, Steve takes charge with the questions, jumping straight in. “Is there anyone here willing to talk to us? My name’s Steve, this is Nick, and that’s Colby in the chair. Anything you say to Colby he’ll be able to repeat to us.”
Nothing happens for a long moment, causing Nick to shift on his feet, adjusting the angle of the camera to capture both Steve and Colby. He whispers to the eldest, nervous. “I don’t like how dark it is in here, especially with the door closed.”
“At least we’re not doing it alone like Colby did last time,” Steve jokes. However, the thought makes a chill run down Nick’s spine.
“I would rather die than do this alone.” A light chuckle comes from Steve, Nick able to see him shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket through the screen on the camera.
Suddenly, Colby speaks up. “Hello?”
“Hi,” Steve calls. “Do you want to talk with us?”
“Maybe. Don’t know.”
“That’s okay, you can take it slow.” Steve’s voice is soothing, meant to encourage. “We don’t mean you any harm.”
“Dark,” Colby says.
“It is very dark in here. Do you not like the dark?”
Another long silence follows, prompting Nick to speak up instead. “Do you want us to turn the light back on?”
“The chair.” Colby pauses for a second before shaking his head. “There was something else after that but I couldn’t make it out.”
“Colby’s the one in the chair,” Steve says, “do you want him to stand up so you can sit there?”
“No. Not safe.”
“The chair isn’t safe?” Nick asks.
“Or is it just not safe for you?” Steve adds. The box goes silent, though, leaving the vague worry floating in the air. “Okay, do you not like the chair? Or something attached to the chair?”
“Someone else…knows.” Colby sits a bit more hunched as he says it, fingers twitching against the headphones. “Many.”
“Others know that the chair’s not safe?” Nick steps a bit further away, not fully conscious of the movement.
Steve shakes his head at Nick’s question, realization dawning on him. “You’re talking about the portal in this room, aren’t you? The one that seems to be attached to the chair.”
“Yes.” Colby’s response is instant, sending another chill through Nick’s body. “Others come through.”
“Who comes through the portal?” The eldest pushes. “Are they bad people?”
“Sometimes.”
“Okay, that’s freaky.” Nick huffs out a breath, changing the hand that holds the camera.
“At least it only said sometimes,” Steve shrugs. “Could’ve just said yes.”
“Yeah, no, not thinking about that.” Steve laughs while Nick asks the next question. “Who are you? Were you one of the guards of the prison?”
Colby doesn’t say anything else, prompting Steve to look in Nick’s direction, only finding him by the blinking red recording light on the camera. “Have you noticed that? None of the spirits here ever want to answer that question. They all just want to talk and ask us for help with something, but never want to introduce themselves.”
“Haven’t most of the questions for help been about escaping here or following us out, too?”
“Yeah. I wonder why.”
“Well the conditions here were terrible, right? Like, they had rats and cockroaches and never had the right temperature.”
“Oh, that’s true,” Steve nods. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. I mean, I’d want out, too, if I was stuck where I had rats and bugs crawling all over me all the time.”
“Ew, I don’t want to think about that, either,” Nick jokes. As soon as he’s finished saying it, Colby pipes up again.
“Rats everywhere. Bites, claws.”
“I’m sorry there were so many rats,” Steve amends. “And that they bit and clawed at you guys. That couldn’t have been nice at all.”
“Did any of the bites get infected?”
“Cells worse,” Colby says, rather than answering the question. “Halls were better.”
“That would make sense,” Steve says to Nick. “The guards wouldn’t want the rats near them. If there were any traps they had to have been wherever the guards occupied rather than the cells.”
“Were you a guard?” Nick asks again. “Or a prisoner?”
Again, whatever they’re talking to doesn’t answer the question, remaining anonymous. Both take a second to think of another question, but the spirit beats them to it.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Steve,” he repeats, “this is Nick, and that’s Colby you’re talking to. We just want to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“To learn more about the prison and who was here,” Nick says. “We want to know the story of what it was really like here, whether that’s as a prisoner or as a guard.”
More silence from Colby, pushing Steve to speak up again. “We’d really appreciate if you kept talking to us. We’d love to tell your story.”
“No story to tell,” Colby says. “Boring job.”
“So you were a guard,” Nick says. “If it was boring, why’d you stay?”
“Had to.” He pauses for a second. Steve opens his mouth to ask more, but Colby elaborates. “Sick mother.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Nick says. “Why’d you stay here after you died? Did you die on the job?”
“Came back here.” Colby’s voice shakes a bit as he says it. “Called to chair.”
“So the chair really is a portal,” Nick says, looking at Steve through the camera. “That’s so freaky.”
“That’s so cool, though,” Steve says, staring at where Colby’s voice is coming from. “From what we’ve seen, portals are like a spot on the floor or a wall or sometimes even an actual doorway. I’ve never seen a specific object act as a portal.”
“What about mirror vortexes?”
“I think it’s different.”
“Don’t like mirrors,” Colby interrupts. “Bad.”
Steve glances back to Nick, to the blinking red light of the camera, before speaking. “Why are mirrors bad? Is it because they can create vortexes?”
“See too much.”
“What do they see?” Nick’s voice wavers, hesitant to actually hear the answer.
“Everything.”
“Well.” Steve blows out a breath. “That’s not vague or terrifying at all.”
“Windows,” Colby keeps going, “open everywhere.”
“Mirrors are windows?” Steve asks, brows furrowing.
“Looking glass.” Once it’s said, Colby falls silent. The other two men wait, seeing if any other answer will come forth, but none does. Colby sits dead quiet, not even twitching. Nick looks at Steve, feeling his fingers shake a little.
“I don’t like any of the answers we’re getting,” he says.
“They’re interesting, but they are a little weird,” Steve answers. “And it’s beginning to feel a bit weird in here. That I don’t like.”
“Can you sense it like Rayne can?” Steve shakes his head quick and hard.
“No, not even close. I can just kind of tell when something isn’t as peppy. Usually it’s only places I know pretty well, but it feels weird in here right now and I don’t enjoy it.”
“Should we go back down early?” Nick pulls out his phone to check the time as he asks it before jolting. “Holy shit!”
“What?” Steve steps closer, trying to see.
“It’s already almost 1:30”
“You have to be kidding, we’ve only been up here for maybe thirty, forty five minutes!”
“No, it’s 1:23.” Nick turns on the camera light to be able to actually look at Steve, both men wearing an expression that could only be described as dumbfounded. “How in the world is it already that late?”
“I have no idea,” Steve murmurs. “We should pull him out, though. It’s going to take a few to walk back to the staff room and we need to all meet up by 2:00.”
Nick nods, but Colby speaks before Steve can tap him out. “Don’t go. Not enough.”
“Not enough what?” Steve prods.
“Answers.” The response is immediate and simple. It makes Nick’s skin crawl.
“We do have enough for what we wanted.” Steve almost laughs at himself arguing with the air, but keeps it together for Nick’s sake. “Thank you for talking with us.”
“Stay,” the spirit fights. “Mirrors.”
“We don’t need to talk about the mirrors any more,” Steve pushes.
“More to know.”
“We can figure it out later,” Nick says. “We have to leave now.”
“Stay.” Colby shudders in his seat. “Guys that one sounded really angry. I didn’t like hearing that.”
“We can’t stay any longer,” Steve keeps fighting. “We have to go. Thank you for talking with us but we need to leave.”
He again reaches forward to grab Colby’s shoulder, this time stopped by Nick, who simply stares at the man in the chair. Steve gives him a cursory glance but Nick only points with his chin and whispers.
“Look at his hair.” Steve followed the triplet’s eyes and focused on the loose strands of hair against Colby’s forehead. On the strands of hair moving, as if there were a breeze.
“Looking glass. See all, know all.” Colby says the words in rapid fire, barely pausing to take a breath. “Be wary, don’t trust.”
Without waiting another second, Steve grabs Colby’s shoulder, startling the man. Colby reaches up to take off the headphones and blindfold, squinting into the light of the camera. “What was all that?”
“I have no idea,” Nick shakes his head. “But it got really weird towards the end.”
“How so?”
“How long do you think we’ve been up here?” Steve asks instead. Colby pauses for a minute before giving an answer.
“I don’t know, maybe an hour? Feels like less, though.”
“It’s 1:30.”
“No shit, seriously?” Colby’s eyes widen and he jumps to his feet, pulling his phone out of his pocket to see that it is, indeed, one thirty four in the morning. His mouth hangs open for a moment before he finds his words. “That’s insane.”
“That’s what we thought, too,” Nick says.
“What was all that about mirrors, though?”
“No clue,” Steve says. “We were talking about the portal that’s pretty much confirmed to be from the chair itself and Nick mentioned vortexes and it started talking about mirrors. I couldn’t really make sense of any of it, though. And then when we realized the time and that we needed to get back down to meet the others, it didn’t want us to leave.”
“So that explains the angry voice,” Colby says. “It sounded almost demonic.”
Nick and Steve share a look before the eldest speaks up. “Well, right before I tapped you out, Nick noticed something, too. Did you feel a draft at all?”
“No, why?” Colby looks between the two, unease pooling in his chest.
“Your hair was moving like it was being blown in the wind,” Nick tells him. “It was weird.”
“I didn’t feel anything.” Almost as if he were checking, Colby touches the hair over his forehead, brushing it to the side. “That’s crazy.”
“It feels really weird to me, too,” Steve says. “Like, the room just feels gross now.”
“I think I feel what you mean,” Colby nods. “Let’s get out of here and back to the others. At least one group has to be back by now.”
The other two nod, Colby holding the estes equipment tight in his hands as Steve leads the way to the door, tugging on the handle.
But it doesn’t move.
“The door’s stuck.” He doesn’t elaborate, doesn’t look back, just stares at his hand on the doorknob, yanking it again.
“Is it locked, maybe?” Nick asks, changing hands with the camera again, angling it to see the door over Steve’s shoulder.
“No, the handle wouldn’t move if that were the case.” Steve shakes his head, clenching his jaw as he tugs again. “It just won’t open. Like it’s jammed.”
“I don’t think that’s happened before,” Colby says. “Not that the guide told us, at least.”
Steve grabs the handle with both hands and braces his feet before pulling with his full body weight, but the door still doesn’t budge. Colby swaps places with him, handing Steve the estes equipment before grabbing the handle and pulling as hard as he can.
Almost like his touch was what it needed, the door pops open with a squealing creak. The dark hall beyond beckons with uneasy silence.
The three men share a look, none of them really ready to make the walk in the dark but also not wanting to stay in the chair room any longer.
“This is terrifying,” Nick sighs. “I’m not going first or last. You two can rock paper scissors for it.”
That pulls a short laugh out of the group before Steve takes the lead, Nick right behind, Colby trailing. Colby takes the camera from Nick, filming the two in front of him as they all walk. Nothing so much as creaks in the hallway until they reach the stairs. Right as Steve takes the first downward step, a slam sounds from behind them, echoing down the corridor.
All three turn back the way they came, waiting. None even dare to breathe for a moment until Nick’s the one to whisper.
“Who wants to go check if my hunch is right and that was the door to the chair room closing?”
“Not it.” Steve and Colby say it at the same time, the three looking at each other with various uneasy expressions.
“I’m just going to keep walking,” Steve says. “I don’t really want to mess with that after the weirdness we got.”
“I’m on the same page,” Colby whispers. Nick just nods, following as Steve starts the downward trek. The walk is utterly silent but for their breathing and the scuffle of their footsteps. No other odd noises behind or around them, nothing seemingly following. Just the aftershock of what they had during their session.
When they get to the staff room, everyone else is there, as it’s only ten minutes before 2:00. Everyone but Dylan and Rayne. As he realizes exactly who’s missing, Steve stiffens. Right before a scream faintly reaches them.
Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated but never necessary! If you made it this far we love you - Ophelia, Rayne, & Vidia
