Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Shh. We have to be quiet. The mics are still on in the other room," Alice whispered inside the semi-private bathroom the three of them shared.

The bathrooms were the only places they'd been assured would be camera-free zones. And the microphones they'd all taken off so they could change into pajamas and finally get to bed—and hopefully to sleep before the sun rose—remained innocently accidentally forgotten on the vanity counter in the dressing room.

Natalie, toothbrush in hand, whispered back, "Why? What are we talking about?"

"How about what Sam wanted with you when you got pulled away?" Harper suggested.

"Oh, that. All the cast have to do this one-on-one confessional style video. I guess it was just my turn." She shrugged, pretending hers hadn't gone incredibly badly and any moment the door could open to reveal security guards there to escort her out of the building.

If they were going to stand around in the bathroom whispering, Natalie would have preferred some Letisha bashing. Or more plans to take Letisha down after the promising start they'd made tonight by stealing her camera time and entourage.

Even some gossip about the other contestants would have been preferable to talking about herself and her impending departure as she waited for the ax to fall, as she truly expected it would.

What Natalie didn't expect was Alice to whip out an iPhone from deep within her cleavage.

"Alice, I thought you turned in your phone," Harper mouthed, almost silently.

"No way." Alice wrinkled her nose. "That was my old one."

She waved one hand as if to dismiss the notion that she'd turn in her real cell phone. The one in her hand. The one that appeared to be the newly released iPhone.

"Now, shush." She pressed her fingers to her lips. "Watch and learn."

Silently compliant, Natalie and Harper watched as Alice deftly tapped the screen, then punched the side volume buttons before she turned the cell to face them.

On the screen was the Paranormal Channel app displaying the Halloween Ghost Challenge opening with no sound, but closed captioning turned on.

"Oh my God." Natalie gasped when she realized what she was seeing. It was the show and it was already out there for the world to see.

Her shocked words earned her a deep frown and a glare from Alice who pursed her lips together tightly and pressed one forefinger against them.

Harper gasped. "The first episode aired?"

Alice nodded. "Prime time. New episode every night until the Halloween live show."

"But we just got here," said Natalie, still trying to comprehend how it was possible.

The Paranormal Channel had culled through all the first night's footage. Hours of it. And had time to edit it into some semblance of a show to air tonight.

"That's how Love Island does it. What's filmed the night before makes up the episode the next night."

So Natalie was on a reality show that could be directly compared to Love Island ? Ugh.

Meanwhile Montgomery had appeared on screen and the closed captioning began to stream beneath his image.

Natalie leaned in closer.

"Eight people. Five nights. One haunted theater. Will they survive the Halloween Ghost Challenge ?"

The shot switched to an image of the exterior of the Stanley while Montgomery narrated.

Built in 1928 the Stanley Theater in Utica, New York has its fair share of ghosts inhabitants. But for the next week, it will have eight more of the living variety.

The image switched to flashes of video taken of the cast. It looked like from their theater tour the first night. And of course, it included the three of them. This was possibly the part Natalie had dreaded the most. Seeing herself on screen. But with eight of them, no one person got a lot of airtime during the opening sequence. That was until they focused on each individual cast member.

Bold words appeared on screen over a still photo of the doctor while his name and profession appeared in smaller lettering beneath his picture.

THE SKEPTIC

Oliver Finch—Doctor

The words changed as the picture changed.

THE TRUE BELIEVERS

Madame Letisha—Professional Medium

Megan Foster—Super Fan

A photo of Letisha filled the screen before it was joined by one of Megan. The two briefly shared the screen before the heading text changed one more time.

All the while Natalie anxiously waited, wondering and a little trepidatious about what title the producer had chosen for her.

THOSE SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH

Tiffany Collins—Former Child Star

Derek Simmons—YouTuber

Natalie let out a sniff as the photo of Tiffany, wearing a corset dress, was joined by one of Derek in his skateboard wear. That heading should have read those searching for fame .

But her annoyance didn't last long as she was faced with a photo of herself on the screen and then she read the title the producers had given her.

THOSE WHO CLAIM GHOSTLY ENCOUNTERS

Natalie Chase—Shop Owner

Harper Lowry—Writer

Alice Mudd—Retired Teacher

"Claim? Like we're lying?" Natalie whispered.

"I look terrible in that shot. At least they got my name right," Harper mumbled.

"Shh!" Eyes wide, Alice pointed toward the other room where the microphones were as the video ran on.

Their resident B-lister, Montgomery Tristane listed only as Host, was back on screen.

The closed captioning beneath read, "I'm your host Montgomery Tristane. Join us this week for what promises be the social experiment of the decade on Halloween Ghost Challenge."

The show continued on.

According to the timer beneath the video on the app, it was going to be forty-four minutes long, not counting commercials. And there was no doubt in Natalie's mind that the three of them were going to stand there huddled around the cell gripped in Alice's gnarly fingers for every moment of it. And they did, until Alice's hand got tired from holding the phone and she leaned it against the tiled wall behind the sink.

So far, episode one looked to be taken up mainly by the welcome party and the tour the cast and crew took of the building.

Between editing, Letisha's dramatic nature and Tiffany acting overly frightened by every little thing, there were enough manufactured scares and cliffhangers before every commercial break to keep the show moderately interesting.

But audience boredom wasn't what worried Natalie. It was what episode two was going to entail. Because unlike the first night when the camera had mainly followed Letisha, tonight it had been all about Natalie—including that moment when she admitted she could talk to spirits.

And then there was one shot from tonight's episode that had her grabbing Alice's cell from where it was leaning on the sink against the wall and angling the phone so she could see it better.

"Is that inside the theater?" she asked when she saw an overhead camera angle of their tour.

"That's what I'm seeing," Alice said.

"There's a camera on the stage? I mean, besides Jake following us around," Natalie asked.

"It looks like it's maybe up in a catwalk above the stage," Harper said. "Why?"

"Uh, nothing. Just didn't realize we'd be seen from above, is all," Natalie said while her mind spun.

Her meeting with the ghosts…

Was that camera recording twenty-four/seven? And worse, was there audio as well as the visual evidence of what would look to millions of viewers like her sitting alone in the theater talking to herself while everyone else was asleep?

And that was before she'd spilled everything she knew about all the ghosts in the building in the confessional. With those two incidents together, she'd be lucky if they didn't ship her off immediately.