Fortunes Told

Chapter One

The underground tunnel Steven Carter was investigating was pitch black and practically silent except for the sounds of dripping water and the occasional scratching that he was sure was rats. The night vision camera he was using flickered as he inched his way through the long abandoned tunnel. The air was freezing and he swore it still smelled of rotting flesh. 

The image on the screen flickered again and then went black. "No! No! No!" exclaimed Steven in panic. "Do not do this to me!"

Steven had thought he was really lucky landing a job as a production assistant and on-camera team member on a reality TV show right after graduating college with a degree in film and television production. Had he known he would be spending nights spelunking through rat-infested tunnels that mad doctors used to use to remove the bodies of patients who died under questionable circumstances, he would have kept job hunting. 

The earpiece Steven was wearing came to life. "What is going on, Steven? Are you okay?"

"Do I sound okay, Jax?" yelled Steven into the black void that had surrounded him. "The damn night vision camera died and I don’t have any other way to see where I’m going." 

"You didn’t bring a flashlight with you?" 

"No! I forgot it on the bench in the morgue just before you enter the tunnel." Steven started to hyperventilate as he banged on the side of the camera rig hoping it might wake up.  

"Can you make your way back there to get it?"

"No…" Steven paused as he strained to see any details of the tunnel. "No, I don’t think I can. It is pitch black down here. There’s trash in the tunnel and things I couldn’t identify, and didn’t want to. The stuff is scattered all through here. I’d be afraid I’d trip over something."

Jax took a deep breath as he thought for a moment. "Are you far enough that you could go forward to the loading dock?" 

"I don’t think so. I can’t see any light at all. Who knows what could be in front of me."

Jax grunted. "Okay, just hang tight. I’ll have Matt come get you."

"Oh come on, Jax. Can’t you come get me?" pleaded Steven. "You know he’s going to give me shit about this." 

Jax laughed. "And you think I won’t?"

"Not like Matt and you know it."

Jax laughed. "I’ll tell him to play nice."

Just then something furry ran over Steven’s foot brushing against his bare ankle. Steven let out a high-pitched scream as he jumped and danced about in the dark trying to scare away any animal that might still be near. 

"Steven!" yelled Jax. "Are you okay?"

"No, Jax! No, I am not! Tell Matt to hurry!"

Jax switched com channels and filled Matt Volks in on the situation and asked him to come take Steven a new battery for his night vision camera and pick up his flashlight on the way. 

"I swear, that kid always finds a way to get in a bind on any investigation," said Matt as he laughed to himself thinking about other awkward situations Steven had gotten himself into this season. 

Matt made it to the control room where Jax was overseeing everyone on the team for the investigation tonight. He grabbed the camera battery Jax handed him and made sure his own flashlight worked, just in case he couldn’t find Steven’s. 

Matt started to head out but then something came to mind and he turned back to his friend. "Hey, didn’t we string emergency lighting down there in case someone got stuck like this because it’s so dark in that tunnel?"

Jax looked up grinning. "Yup."

Matt started laughing. "Why don’t you just turn the lights on for him?"

"Because I am tired of telling him to check his equipment before he goes into places like that. I’m hoping this will teach him a lesson and he will remember it next time."

Matt shook his head. "Man, and people think I’m the asshole."

Jax laughed. "You are, brother. I just happen to be one too." 

Jax turned back to his bank of computer screens and began tapping keys on his keyboard. "Besides, look," said Jax as he brought up a night vision camera feed from the tunnel. "I’ve been keeping an eye on him to make sure he is fine." He paused as a disgusted look came over his face. "And honestly he should thank me that he didn’t see that rat that brushed his leg. It was huge, like Princess Bride fire swamp huge."

"I love that movie," said Matt. 

"Me too," agreed Jax. 

The two friends looked at each other and simultaneously recited Inigo Montoya’s often quoted line.

 
"Hey, Jax?" Steven’s voice came over the speaker on the computer. "Is Matt coming or not? I need to pee."

Jax and Matt gave each other a look and laughed as Matt headed out the door. "Tell the kid I’m coming."

 Jax hit a button on his control panel to talk to Steven. "Just hang tight. He just picked up a new battery for your night vision and he is on his way."

"Can you ask him to hurry? I really need to go, bad."

"Dude! You are standing in a critter-filled tunnel used to shuttle dead bodies that all died under suspicious circumstances. I think it’ll be okay if you just pee on the wall." 

"Seriously?"

"I would if I were you."

Steven muttered something to himself that Jax could not make out, but he finally heard the sounds of a zipper followed by running water. Jax caught a glimpse of Steven on the night vision feed coming from the tunnel. Thankfully the kid was turned away from the camera. Jax had to laugh when he noticed that Steven had managed to pee on the rat that had rubbed his leg earlier. At least he hoped it was the same rat. If not, Jax worried there might actually be several large rats down there with the kid. Matt might want to hurry and get Steven out of there. 

Jax quickly relayed the information to Matt. 

"Got it. Double-timing it."

Matt got to the morgue and paused just long enough to scoop up Steven’s flashlight as he jogged into the tunnel. Instead of using the flashlights he was carrying, Matt dropped down the night vision goggles he was wearing and headed for Steven. It actually took him longer than he expected to find the kid. 

When he saw Steven in the distance, he slowed down and tried to be as quiet as he could as he came within a few feet of Steven. His boots crunched on some of the debris in the tunnel and Steven turned toward the sound.

"Matt? Is that you?" asked Steven as he tried desperately to see anything in the black void of the tunnel. "Come on, man. Please don’t screw with me. I really just want to get out of here." 

Matt flipped up his night vision goggles and was suddenly in the void with Steven. It was startling for a moment how claustrophobic it suddenly made him feel. Before he started to panic himself, Matt turned on the flashlight that was pointed directly at where he had seen Steven standing. "Here’s Johnny."

Steven let out another high-pitched scream as he jumped back and fell against the wall of the tunnel.

The sudden light and commotion sent several large rats scurrying for cover, squeaking their protest as they ran. The sudden exodus of rats drew another involuntary scream from Steven and caused Matt to let out a stream of curses as he jumped around trying to avoid the large furry bodies. 

When the area was fairly cleared, at least as far as the flashlights’ illumination reached, Matt made a full-body exaggerated shiver. "Oh God, I hate wild rats!" 

Steven gave Matt an odd look. "Wild rats? Like, what? Domestic rats are okay for you?"

Matt was brushing his arms and legs with his hands like he was trying to wipe the creeped out sensation from his limbs. Matt returned Steven’s look. "Well, yeah. Rats are hella smart. Some people use them for finding landmines and pulling wires through walls. They can be useful."

"No!" said Steven as he pointed at Matt. "We need to agree in this moment. All rats bad!" 

Matt had to laugh at the kid. It actually put him more at ease. 

"Besides, I think you owe me this for being such an asshole with that flashlight stunt."

Matt gave Steven a shocked look and pressed a hand to his chest as he answered him. "Me? I’m the asshole?" asked Matt.

Steven folded his arms and looked at Matt with true conviction. "Yes. That was an asshole move."

Matt laughed. "So you think I was an ass? Well, just check this out. Hey, Jax. You there, man?"

Jax answered with obvious suspicion in his voice. "Yeah, I’m here."

Matt smiled at Steven as he spoke. "The flashlights aren’t really cutting it down here. There are too many rats and too much trash. I need you to turn on the emergency lights."

"Asshole," said Jax in Matt’s earpiece. He still turned on the lights in the tunnel. 

Steven was shocked as he realized Jax could have saved him the minute his night vision died.

Steven pointed back and forth from his earpiece to Matt. "Assholes! Both of you!" Steven turned and started stomping up the tunnel back toward the morgue. As he reached Matt, the man threw an arm around Steven’s shoulder and pulled him in.  

"Come on, man. Jax was watching you the whole time on the night vision cameras that are down here. He would have turned the lights on for you if you had ever been in any real trouble."

Steven pulled back to look at Matt’s face. "There are cameras down here?"

"There are cameras everywhere. You can’t spit without us having video of it."

"Aw man! I peed on camera?" asked Steven as his cheeks started to blush at the thought of having that on film. 

Jax’s voice came through the earpiece. "Don’t worry, kid. You had your back to the camera the whole time. Besides, I think you will want to see the video." Jax had to laugh as he explained. "You managed to pee on the rat that rubbed on your leg. It was great!" 

Steven thought about that for a second and shrugged slightly. "Okay, I would actually like to see that."

Matt hugged Steven’s neck again as he reached up and took hold of his face and squeezed his cheeks. "Come on, kid. You know we will never let anything happen to you. You’re like our little brother. Besides, Mom would kick our butts if we ever let anything happen to you."

Even though Matt was still squishing his cheeks, Steven tried to ask who Mom was. 

"Ava, but if you tell her I said that, the next time you fall asleep on an investigation, I am putting your hand in warm water and getting that on video," said Matt as he hugged Steven in once more and then let him go after lightly slapping his cheek. 

Just then the men heard a shuffling sound at the far end of the tunnel. The dim lighting of the emergency lighting did not fill all the shadows of the tunnel. They lifted their flashlights in the direction the sound was coming from, but they couldn’t see anything. Suddenly it sounded like voices were whispering all around them, but nothing they could understand. 

As the shuffling got closer, the emergency lighting began to flicker as did the light from their flashlights. 

Matt looked at Steven. "I suggest we hightail it before we lose the lights and are stuck in the dark again."

"Motion passed, meeting adjourned. Let’s get the hell out of here," said Steven as he turned and started walking quickly in the direction of the loading dock, away from the shuffling sounds. 

Matt paused and looked back toward the sound. What he saw made the hair stand up on his arms.

The black void of darkness was moving down the tunnel toward them. It had no shape whatsoever, but filled the entire tunnel and as it passed each light, it was like the darkness absorbed all the light and nothing was left but the advancing void. For a moment, Matt thought this must be what a black hole looks like in space. 

The darkness continued advancing as Matt just stood there transfixed until his earpiece came to life.
"Matt, can you hear me?" asked Jax. 

"Yeah, do you see this?"

"Yes, I can see it and I suggest you get the hell out of there. Now!"

"Agreed," was all Matt said before he turned and started running after Steven. When he caught up to the kid, he spoke as he passed him.

"Knees to chest, kid. Knees to chest. We need to get clear of this tunnel. And don’t look back!"

"You don’t have to tell me twice," said Steven as he picked up his pace and caught up with Matt. 

The two men finally cleared the tunnel at the loading dock but didn’t stop there. They slowed down but kept walking until they came around the building to the front entrance. There they spotted Clay Barnes, their team leader, and Madame Zelda, a psychic medium who had joined them for this investigation. 

Zelda had agreed to come on the stipulation she would not have to enter the building. She said the negative energy was too much for her to shield against and she didn’t feel like taking on any psychic hitchhikers. The two were doing an interview in front of the building with a remote camera rig run by Clay with a handheld control.

Clay was asking Zelda to explain to the viewing audience why she refuses to go into places like the Amherst Asylum.  

"Places like this, where so many horrific events have happened—and we’re not just talking about just over a few days or even a few years, but for decades—it leaves a psychic imprint on the building and the land. Even the air and the water can carry…"

As Matt and Steven walked up to where Clay and Zelda could see them in the light from their portable studio lights, Zelda stopped talking mid-sentence and walked over to Matt.

Clay was not happy to have his interview interrupted. "Hey, Zelda. What’s going on? We were recording this, ya know."

Zelda waved Clay off as she walked around Steven and Matt. "What did you encounter?" 

She asked as she stared at the air around their bodies. She reached up and waved her hands near them like she was testing water to see if it was hot or cold. 

"We were in the body tunnel," said Steven as he turned around watching Zelda examining them. 

"It looked like a black hole," said Matt. He stood still letting Zelda do her thing. "No light escaped it, and it moved toward us like a wave. Then there were the voices. It was unnerving."

Clay had joined the group. "That is amazing," said Clay before turning his attention to his earpiece.

"Jax, you there?"
 

"Here, boss." 
 

"Did you get that black hole on video?" 

"Well, I was recording the tunnel and I saw it on the screen, but I haven’t checked the recordings to see if anything is on our video. I was going to do that at the end of the night with all the other evidence."

"Can you check it now to see if we got it?"

"Will do," said Jax. 

Zelda held her hands out to Matt. "Can I have your hands for a moment?"

Matt looked back and forth between Clay and Steven for a second before holding out his hands to Zelda. "Sure, why not?"

Zelda took Matt’s hands in hers and closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She tilted her head to one side as if she was listening to something. She made a face like she was concentrating very hard to understand whatever it was that she was listening to that none of them could hear. 

Finally, she started to speak. "You have so much inner conflict. You take on burdens that are not yours to carry. That dark energy is drawn to your inner conflicts. It makes you a desirable target. But there are changes coming. Good and bad and it will be up to you to…for lack of a better term, choose wisely. It will make all the difference in the world when it comes to your future." 

Matt pulled his hands from Zelda as he glared at her. "I don’t have the best track record with that, but I’m sure you already knew that, Madame Zelda," said Matt with an extra sarcastic tone as he said her name. 

Matt didn’t say anything else and just turned and walked into the building to go join Jax in the control room. 

Clay looked at Zelda. "Hey, I’m really sorry about that. You’re right. Matt is carrying a lot of baggage that’s not his. He’s just that guy, you know? He blames himself for not doing more whenever bad things happen to people he cares about."

Zelda nodded. "I don’t think it takes psychic abilities to see that about him. But you should keep an eye on him. There is something coming and if he chooses wrong, his life will stay in the shadows. If he can get over himself, he might find his way back to the light."

Steven had been watching the whole exchange carefully. "Hey, Madame Zelda? Can I ask a question?"

Zelda laughed a little before answering. "Sure."

"Do all psychics talk like that? You know, in a sort of poetic, mysterious kind of way?"

Zelda laughed more as she thought about the answer. "I think most do. I think it has to do with how hard it is to put into words what we see or hear or feel when we are doing this work."

Steven muttered "hmmm," and he thought about her answer. 

Clay just rolled his eyes at Steven before turning his attention back to Zelda. "Shall we go try to redo the interview before the sun starts coming up and we have to table this until tomorrow night?"
 

Zelda nodded as she started to go back to where their equipment was set up. "Absolutely, let’s do this." 

Once they were both on their marks, Clay introduced the segment again for the audience. 

"Welcome to another chilling episode of Night Hunts. For our season finale we wanted to go big so we are here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at infamous Amherst Asylum. This notorious location is well-known among ghost hunters from avid amateurs to professionals like our crew here tonight."
Clay moved in closer to Zelda to bring her into the frame as he continued. "If you have followed our team of investigators on other ghost hunting adventures, you know we never research a location until the end of the investigation. While we’ve all heard the stories about the atrocities that have happened here at this now abandoned asylum, we have not researched the specific history of this location."

Clay stopped next to Zelda, who was holding her own microphone, waiting for her turn to jump into the conversation. "With me tonight is well-known psychic medium, Madame Zelda."

Clay turned to face Zelda as he pressed the button on the camera’s remote that they had programmed to zoom in on Zelda’s face as she answered Clay’s questions.

"Zelda, you’ve actually been part of several investigations here over the years. What can you tell us about the history of Amherst Asylum?"

Zelda spent the next few minutes discussing the horrific events that had taken place over several decades while the asylum was in operation. 

The tunnel where Matt and Steven had seen the black mass was the site of many disturbing encounters for several ghost hunters over the years. She explained how the asylum staff had used the tunnel to remove the bodies of deceased patients without any unwanted witnesses. It was rumored that a lot of the bodies were dumped in a mass grave somewhere. But there were darker, more disturbing reports as well. 

There had been allegations that bodies had been sold to laboratories for experimentation. Some of the accusations about what was done with the deceased female patients were even more unsettling. However, everything they had heard was just supposition. No one would ever know for sure what had happened. All the records had been destroyed by the staff when the state closed them down for "medical misconduct." 

When Zelda was finished, Clay hit another button to pan back out to bring him into the frame with her again. 

Clay looked directly in the camera as he spoke. "Finding answers to mysteries like these is why me and my crew are here. We investigate haunted locations to uncover the truth the living try to hide, and we seek to get it from the only witnesses left, the dead still lingering behind."

Clay pressed another button and stopped the recording before he turned and smiled at Zelda. "How was that? Good or too much? It felt like it was a bit much." Clay laughed at himself as Zelda answered him.

"I think you walked the line of too much, but you didn’t step over. You know fans of this kind of show like a little drama in the delivery. It makes it more interesting. Why do you think I go by Madame Zelda instead of just Zelda Papadopoulos? A little drama is good." Zelda waved her hand as she said Madame Zelda to add a little extra flourish to the name, then she laughed at her own dramatics when she finished.

Clay laughed as he turned the lights off and started walking toward the building. He stopped short before climbing the stairs. He turned back to Zelda. "Sorry, I forgot you don’t come in the building."

Zelda shook her head. "Nope, not any more."

Clay looked shocked. "What? You mean you have been in here before?"

Zelda nodded as she turned her back to the building. "I have. But never again. There is not enough shielding in the world that can block out that place." 

After a minute or so, Zelda turned back toward Clay as she started backing up toward where her car was parked. "Look, tell Matt to start unpacking some of his baggage or he is going to miss out on things he will regret losing."

Clay gave her a questioning look. "Can you give me anything more specific?" 

Zelda shook her head. "I wish I could. If I get anything else on this, I’ll call you." 

Clay thanked her and they both turned and started to walk away, but Zelda suddenly stopped and turned back. "Hey, Clay?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep your word. It’s important."

"What do you mean? I always keep my word."

"That’s good. But Ed said to tell you that you all need to go on or all go down together." 

Clay felt like he had just been gut punched hearing those words coming from Zelda. He staggered a bit and grabbed the railing on the steps. "How? How could you know about that?"

Zelda smiled and gestured to the air around her. "The universe speaks. You just have to learn how to listen."

Clay just nodded as he slowly lowered himself to the steps and sat down. He crossed his arms over his knees and dropped his head into almost a flight crash position. 

Hearing Ed’s name from Zelda had been shocking, to say the least. He took long, slow, deep breaths. After his heart stopped racing, he finally sat up. He looked up at the horizon where the sky was beginning to show the first signs of the rising sun. He was completely lost in his memories as Zelda left and didn’t even register her leaving.  

As she pulled out and drove past where Clay was sitting, she rolled down her window and called to him. "See you soon, Clay. I can’t wait to meet the doctor." 

But the message fell on deaf ears.