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“I got it!” Stan Roberts turned from his chair, eyebrow raised, as Edward dropped a series of tapes on his desk. Analogue tapes. “Got what, exactly?” “The footage, the proof.” Edward was agitated, almost jumping up and down. “This is the remaining security footage from the haunted warehouse…” Stan sighed. “For the last time, it’s not haunted. Some kids made that up. The story’s been done, the source was tracked down.” Edward pointed at the tapes. “But you didn’t have these. Security tapes going back to the late nineties. It’s all I could get, but these ones were all held for review. They’re important… I know it.” “Alright, alright. I’ll humour you,” Stan conceded. It was a slow newsweek anyways, and perhaps there was something worthwhile in them. He gestured over to the VCR, which lay gathering dust. “But if this is a waste of time, then we’re not calling you back”. “Oh I assure you, it won’t be.” Edward excitedly put in the first tape. It showed an hour of footage of military equipment being loaded into a warehouse, dated 12/19/1998. Stamped for retention from erasure due to ‘proof of previous ownership’. And so the trend began. Three hours of darkness with occasional animal scratching noises, dated 01/10/2004, marked for ‘lawsuit against pest control’. Half an hour of darkness interrupted by a ball of light that blew out the camera, dated 05/16/2017 and labeled ‘Insurance claim for faulty electronics’. Edwards was particularly excited about a tape dated 02/23/2020 that contained a broken window and evidence of animal activity. Until a teenager snuck through the window, scooped up a cat, and climbed back out. The label was ‘Vandalism’. Until they, at last, reached the final three tapes. Dated 05/02/2025—three months ago, and just four months after the site had been purchased by its current owners, some new-age spiritualist group called the Ascendancy. Edward’s excited demeanor had given way to nervousness as the tapes revealed years and years of nothing. Every single one a dud. He’d of course argued the evidence meant something, but without a smoking gun he was pointing at nothing. The first of the last three tapes was of the warehouse entrance, and was the earliest timestamped of the three. Edward put it into the VCR with bated breath. Stan was tired now, tired and annoyed. The fate of Edward’s job hinged on the contents of these tapes. ASCN WRH ENT.——2:30 05/02/2025 FoR INTERNAL USE oNLY——Do NoT CoPY The following tape contains the first of three accounts of a break in dated 2nd May 2025 at the Canton ohio Ascendancy Warehouse. The culprits have been identified as ‘Sarah Jhe’, a former student of Violethill Illinois's Hughes High School and ‘Christopher Cwej’, a former teacher at the school. Records indicate the two to be related, but attempts to contact them after the break in have been unsuccessful. Their whereabouts are presently unknown. The recording has been subtitled from Korean. The warehouse door swung open with a creak and two figures, Chris Cwej and Sarah Jhe stood in the light. Dropping a crowbar, Chris reached over and turned on the lights. “Is this really the place?” Sarah asked. “That’s what the kids said: ‘haunted’.” Chris gestured towards the camera. “It’s worth checking it out. Could be alien.” Sarah smiled nonchalantly. “Part of the mission, of course. “Naturally.” Chris grinned back. “We have to make sure there aren’t any other projectors lying about. If there was one it would explain the noises they’d heard from here, and the disappearances. Although that doesn’t rule out the supernatural of some kind,” he said, oddly excited. “Then let’s look around!” Sarah dashed forwards into the room, before glancing back. “Y’know, to make sure it’s safe and all.” “Alright, I’ll search the boxes back there.” He pointed behind the camera. “You check the offices. Call me if you see anything strange.” “Got it.” Sarah held a thumbs up, and the two left in either direction, out of the camera’s view. Several minutes of silence followed, broken up by occasional shuffling or muffled muttering offscreen. The silence broke with a crash, followed by Sarah’s call: “Chris! Something here!” Chris came back into view, running past. The camera went still again for a minute or so, before the two came walking back into shot. “I could’ve sworn there was something there,” Sarah said. “Are you sure?” asked Chris. “I checked, and there was nothing.” “I saw something,” Sarah insisted. “I mean it. I think we better keep looking, just in case.” “Maybe a little longer,” Chris conceded. “Just… no more knocking things over. We’re not supposed to be in here, remember?” “Right, yeah, sorry,” Sarah replied. Chris put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine Sang Mi. It’ll just make things a little awkward when whoever owns this place comes looking for who broke in here.” “Can’t you just wipe the cameras?” Sarah asked. “They’re analog-- old technology, chemicals on film rather than numbers on a hard-drive” Chris answered. “Either way there’ll be evidence: you can’t wipe analogue without destroying the footage outright. People would notice.” Together with Sarah—or, as he’d always known her, Sang Mi—Chris walked off once more in either direction. After a few more minutes of silence, Chris called out once again. “Sang Mi! I’ve got something!” “Hold on… hold on!” Edward interrupted. “We have those tapes too! We can see what they saw!” He hurriedly removed the tape that was playing and replaced it with another. By now, Stan was at the very least intrigued. Edward pressed play on the second tape, labeled ‘Security office’. The VCR whirred as it began playing… ASCN WRH oFF——2:32 05/02/2025 FoR INTERNAL USE oNLY——Do NoT CoPY The following tape contains the second of three accounts of a break in dated 2nd May 2025 at the Chicago Ascendancy Warehouse. For more detailed information see the first account. The recording has been subtitled from Korean. Sang Mi swung the office door open and came inside, turning on the lights to reveal the room. The place was abandoned, filled with cobwebs. It clearly hadn’t been used since the warehouse transferred ownership. “Well this is creepy,” said Sang Mi. She walked over to a set of drawers and idly opened them. Inside were a few pages of documentation. She leafed through them, decently uninterested, until she stopped on a newspaper clipping and read out, “Teenagers fake ghost sighting? Gah, a hoax! We’ve been tricked…” She sat back on the chair. “Back to the car I guess…” She sighed. “But we just got here, and Chris was so excited by their story…” She paused for a moment, before walking over to the closet and opening it. Inside were old military uniforms. “Well, when there’s no ghost…” Sang Mi pushed the closet over, the contents spilling out across the floor. She called out, “Chris! Something here!” Chris kicked the door down as he entered. “What happened?” “I saw something moving, it went through the closet. I tried to see what it was but…” Chris walked over to the wall, pulling out some sort of device. He ran it over the wall. “Not detecting anything,” he announced. “Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination?” “No.” Sang Mi turned away. Chris sighed. “Well, there’s nothing here now…” Still holding the device aloft, he left through the door, Sang Mi in tow. The camera recorded an empty room for a few minutes before Sang Mi reappeared, shut the door and hung her head. “That was stupid. Why did I do that?” She sat down against the wall, holding her head in her hands. “I just… I don’t want it to end… The longer it takes…” Chris called out, “Sang Mi! Got something!” The tape ended, and Stan glared at Edward who, more nervously, said, “I… I have one more showing the back of the warehouse. We’ve almost got the proof now…” He ejected the second tape and put in the third. ASCN WRH BCK——2:32 05/02/2025 FoR INTERNAL USE oNLY——Do NoT CoPY The following tape contains the second of three accounts of a break in dated 2nd May 2025 at the Chicago Ascendancy Warehouse. For more detailed information see the first account. The recording has been subtitled from Korean. Chris strolled in from off camera and swept his device over the boxes. He sighed. “Nothing.” He glanced off camera. “Sang Mi was looking forward to a genuine ghost hunt,” he said, disappointed. He sat down near the boxes with his thoughts. “Surely it couldn’t hurt to be absolutely sure. After all, you never know…” He began opening the boxes, discarding the arbitrary items of Ascendancy property that could be considered as potentially connected to a haunting. He was interrupted by a cry from offscreen. “Chris! Something here!” He darted off camera, leaving several minutes of footage of the artefacts strewn across the floor. When he returned, he took his device and waved it back over the boxes. He hit the side of one in frustration. “Still nothing…” He put his hand on his chin, setting his device down beneath the boxes. He pressed a button and the image of a ghost appeared, humanoid, translucent, pale and cloaked in an old robe. Some tropes he’d pulled from some low budget horror schlock he’d watched during a previous trip to Earth. Chris called out, “Sang Mi! Got something!” The girl was with him in moments. “God,” she gasped. “What is that?” “I don’t know,” Chris replied. Sang Mi stared at it in disbelief. Then it flickered. Sang Mi raised an eyebrow. “Uh… Isn't that…” She waved a hand in front of it and nothing happened. Then she reached down and collected Chris’s device from the ground. The hologram disappeared. Sang Mi held the device up to Chris. “Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly. “You just seemed so excited and I didn’t want you to think you were just seeing things.” Sang Mi laughed, and the tension she held about lying to Chris fell away. “And here I was thinking I was immature for lying.” “You did?” Sang Mi held her hands up. “I found an old newspaper saying teenagers made the whole thing up. You’d all but jumped at the chance to come here, so I didn’t want to just leave right away…” “You could’ve just said, so you know.” Sang Mi laughed. “Right back at you.” Chris held out his hand. “Alright, we should probably get going. And Sang Mi?” “Yeah?” “Best we don’t try to make things interesting for one another like that again. I’m sure this trip’ll be plenty interesting on its own. Ghosts or no ghosts.” Sang Mi smiled. “Yeah, alright.” The two walked offscreen, and there the tape ended. Edward stammered “No… Wait… There’s still the first tape, there’s still evidence, something has to happen…” Stan tapped his watch, irritated. “You’re trying my patience, Edward.” “Please!” Edward desperately reached for the first tape and put it back in. Stan raised his eyebrow, but allowed it, though his fury was obvious. ASCN WRH ENT.—2:45 05/02/2025 Cont. Sang Mi and Chris arrived back at the warehouse door. “D’you ever think there was anything here?” Sang Mi asked. “I had the footage cross referenced against the internet and my Superiors’ records. All resolved and settled. Nothing supernatural, nothing paranormal.” Sang Mi shrugged. “Ah well, maybe next time.” Chris nodded in agreement, and the two left the warehouse behind. Edward turned to his boss, who glared daggers at him. “I swear, something weird happened in this warehouse,” he pleaded. “I mean it. How did that Chris guy create a hologram otherwise?” Stan sat back against his chair. “Edward…” “No, wait—please.” Edward was practically begging. “I can get more proof. You just have to give me time.” “Edward,” Stan said again — “You’re fired.” Next Stop: |
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