Paranormal Investigators Story Part 2

Part 2: The Old Man of the Mill

It's early in the morning, and the usual fog is just starting to let up as the sun climbs upward.
Jannette, John, Mark, and Doug are standing in front of the entrance to a large almost warehouse like building while Mark opens the door.
After he opened the door, Mark picked up his coffee and the morning newspaper. They had stopped at a gas station for breakfast and one could tell from what they were all holding.
Jannette is eating some sort of danish, Doug had a small bag of jerky and bottled cola, and John simply had a hot chocolate.

Doug was the first one to break the silence with a cough before Jannette spoke. "Can someone explain to me why we're here this early again?"

Mark Held up the newspaper then began. "As you recall, yesterday..."

"Not that." Jannette sighed. "Why are we here this early? It's like freezing out here."

Doug coughed again, "At least it might be warmer inside." before he coughed once again.

"You should have gotten hot chocolate instead." John added.

"Focus People!" Jannette snapped. "Mark! Why are we here?"

"Because of this." Mark said as he holds up the newspaper. The news story on the front is "Terrible Accident! Touring Pedestrian Crushed!"
The visible text reads "Early this morning, a tour group was met with an unexpected tragedy as one of the members of the group met his end at the hands of a metal box."
"As you recall" he continued. "during our run in with the Full Moon Murderer, she claimed that the police were busy with another incident".

"So why do we have to be here at 6 A.M.?" Doug asked.

"Actually, that was John's idea." Mark replied.
"When I talked to the manager, they said we could come in any time today. John noted that the sooner we investigate, the more likely we are to find something."
Both Jannette and Doug look at john, but Mark didn't seem to notice.
"When I first heard about this incident, there were not a lot of details, and my initial reaction was "Why?". That changed after I read this article.
"It's a long article, but they are strangely vague about any details. A man seperated from a tour group and gets flattened by a large box."
"From the picture and the article, you can tell that it was a large metal box, and the man had seperated from the tour group for some unknown reason."
"He was some distance from the group, and the box just happened to be suspended in transport position when the chains holding it broke."
"Noone was at the control panel during the incident, but all four chains broke at once. It sounds like a case of sabbotage, but it's a mystery how it actually happened."

"Maybe it was the ghost?" John asked.

"G - ghost? What kind of ghost?" Doug asked with surprise before coughing again.

"Oh that." Mark replied. "Many of the workers here claim to have seen the ghost of an old man. I've never seen him though."

Doug sighed. "That's good."

"There's something about the story that has me concerned, though we can talk about that more after we get inside." Mark said as he took out a key and opened the door.

"Are you really sure we can just waltz right in and investigate the place?" Jannette asked.

"Sure." Mark said as he turned back towards jannette. "I come here all the time to fix stuff that breaks down, so I know the manager pretty well."
"Also, the police have finished their investigation, and determined that the incident was most likely an accident."

"Can we go in yet? I've already drank my hot chocolate and it's cold out here." John said while crumpling up his cup.

Without discussing any further, they enter the building.
As they entered the cold air inside rushed to greet them. Doug shivered and coughed. "Sorry, but I'm going home."
"I don't feel like investigating, especially with it being this cold."

"Sure, that's fine." Mark answered. "There aren't any killers here this time, so all we'll be doing is walking around and looking for anything odd."

"I still don't get why you want to stay Jannette." Doug said while shaking his head. "You usually don't like boring stuff like this."

Jannette stopped eating her danish "I'm just here to make sure Mark and John don't get into trouble."

"Alright, just tell me what happens." Doug said as he turns around and walks home.

-------------------------------------

They walk farther inside and Jannette shivers. "Jeez! It's colder in here than outside!"

"Yeah, this place is usually a lot warmer when all the metal melting pots on." Mark casually replied.

After a few seconds John broke the silence. "So, where do we start?"

"Since I am the only one with access to the manager's office, I'm going to take a look at the security footage to see if I find anything strange." Mark paused as he took a drink of his coffee and continued.
"I might also check out the incident reports to see if our mystery ghost caused any mischief."

"Hey, how did you get the manager to let you look though all that stuff?" Jannette asked as she raised her hand.

"The management All the confidential records are kept in a safe, and I have fixed some problems with thier security cameras before."
Mark pauses as he pulls out three walkie talky like devices from his pack and hands them to John and Jannette.
"We'll use these radio devices to keep in contact."

"They're just cheap walkie talkies." Jannette said as she pushes a button on the front of the device. It makes a loud siren like noise, then she reacts in surprise and drops it.
When it hits the ground it breaks and pieces scatter around. "Oops, Sorry."

Mark opened his bag and sighed "Luckily I have a spare now that Doug has returned home. I'll just fix that one later."
He handed the device to Jannette before explaining the controls. "The button on the front is a siren in case someone runs into trouble. I don't think we'll see anyone here, but in case something does happen it would be useful to have."
"Aside from that, they should operate like normal walkie talkies. That was the only feature I added to them."

John is already looking around at the various machines and boxes laying around, not listening to Mark. Mark continues without noticing.
"While I'm in the office, you two can investigate the rest of the building. If you need anything, contact me and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Yeah. Sure," Jannette began with a bored tone. "but I don't think there will actually be anything dangerous here".

"Maybe not, but it would be useful to have in the event an accident happens." Mark said as he turns around and walks off.

Soon after, John turns towards Jannette to ask her a question. "Hey Jannette, let's investigate the scene of the crime!"

She looks down at her danish before replying. "I want to finish my Danish first. Go ahead and start without me."

John looks nervously at jannette for a while as if waiting for her to say something else, but she does not. "Okay. I guess I'm going to look around now."
He pauses for a bit before he continues. "Bye".
As he walks off into another room, Jannette shivers and turns back towards the large melting pot, looking at the control panel. "That should do it!"

--------------------

Back at the main entrance, John only looked at a few plain metal boxes and the random assortment of metal parts they contained.
Now that he was looking at a larger hallway like room, the whole building has taken a different appearance.
Long rows of boxes hide the wall behind, and strange machinery cast shadows along the path. John suddenly became very aware of how his flashlight didn't illuminate nearly as well as he expected.
His footsteps echoed in the cold dark silence as he scanned the area with the light.

Soon after he bagan however, he saw an area with small scraps of yellow tape to the side. Not much was left now, but this was certainly the place the accident happened.
John moved his flashlight around the nearby area and came accross a small raised area with a control panel and chair. Wires run from the panel to a large square plate attatched to a beam. chains are hanging from the corners.
Before he could search any more, something caught his attention. The whole building had catwalks running along the walls, like a makeshift second floor of some kind.
The dark creepy surounding started to play on his senses and logic with this new discovery. He started to panic as he realized someone could have been up there this whole time following him. Watching him.
As John scanned some more with his flash light, he started to calm down again. "I really hope the killer isn't still here... The police should have already checked but..."

Suddenly, the radio device sprung to life! A series of static and innaudible words burst forth! "<Crackle> John <Static> <Inaudible muttering> <Crackle>"

-------------------

Back at the main entrance, Jannette was leaning against the melting pot with a danish wrapper in her hand when she heard a shout come from the other room "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! JANNETTE! HELP!".
John ran into the room in a panic. He stopped next to Jannette to catch his breath before he could speak. "R-radio... it ... it..."

As if reading his mind, the radio device springs to life once again. "<crackle> John <Crackle> Intercom <Static>".

"It's probably just Mark trying to call us or something." Jannette sighed as she pulls her radio device out of her pocket. She switches it on and holds it up. "Hello? HELLO? Mark, is that you?"
There is a pause before she starts to lose her temper. "HEY MARK! NEXT TIME YOU BUY WALKIE TALKIES MAKE SURE THEY'RE NOT THE CHEAP KIND!"

John points to the side of the device. "Uh, Jannette. When you use one of these you hold down the button to talk."

Jannette rolls her eyes and presses the button this time. "MARK! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
This time, Jannette's voice comes out of John's device loud and clear.
"That's weird. They seem to be working." John said, a mix concern and confusion in his voice.

"Maybe he has his off, or it ran out of batteries?" Jannette asked as she shrugged her shoulders. "He's probably gone back to watching security video, or readins some papers or something."
"I'm sure he'll call us up later when or something and everything will be just fine."

John's face changed as he gained more confidence. "Yeah. I think you might be right. In fact, the creepy cold feeling seems to be lifting a little as well."
"It's like the air in here is warming up!"

"ha ha ha. Yeah it is." Jannette replied with a little nervousness, but John didn't seem to notice.

"So Jannette, I think we should investigate together. It could be dangerous if we split up. You did finish your danish already"

"Maybe, but I want to figure out how to get to that up there." Jannette said as she points up to the catwalk. "There could be some clue up there somewhere."

John tried not to act nervous about investigating alone, but a hint of nervousness entered his voice. "Why can't you just find a way somewhere else?"

"Because we have to split up. This place is huge and one group is not going to cut it." Jannette replied, as she shook her head.

"Come on Jannette! Please!"

"No. What's the big problem with spitting up?"

"Someone died when they split up! This place is big, and dark, and I feel like I'm being watched from the shadows!"

"Alright. John, this place may seem creepy, but we have nothing to worry about. So what if some crazy old man is still hiding here?
You beat that Full Moon Murderer woman yourself! Some creepy old hobbo man is no problem for us!"

"You do have a good point. Okay!"

John started to take out his flashlight as he walked towards the door to the next room. No sooner than he entered the next room, the intercom system overhead lets out a loud squeeling sound.
He panicked and ran into the main room with jannette again.

"Jannette! What's going on?!" John shouted as soon as he got to Jannette.

"I.. I don't know!" Jannette said. The once calm voice she had was now replaced by one of panic like John.

After a few seconds Mark's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Testing Testing Testing. We Have a problem! One of the melting pots has turned on in the entrance room!"
Both John and Jannette were frozen in surprise, though Jannette seemed to be more affected by the news than John for some reason.

"Listen" Mark continued. "The video and audio feed malfunctioned for a short time, so I don't know who did it. There may be someone else besides us in the building!"
At this news John's eyes grew wider with fear. He pulled out the walkie talkie and started shouting into it. "WHAT DO WE DOOOOO?"

There was a short pause before Mark returned an answer "First of all, I Can't hear the radio device from here. I think it's because the walls are made of thick concrete and metal."
"However, the management already knew about the Old Man of the Mill, so they placed audio mics to supplement the cameras. I can use those to check the building and hear you, but you have to go by my plan for this to work."
"Jannette, you have to stay at the entrance because that's the only door that's unlocked. If whoever does this tries to leave, you can stop them."
After hearing this, Jannette nods silently with a serious expresion on her face.
"John, We need you to investigate the area. See if you can find anything odd, and report it to me."

As soon as he heard this, John recoiled in surprise. "Wh... What? Why do I have to look for him?"

"Because it's likely they will run into Jannette first. Everyone can hear the intercom, and they may try to escape now that we know they are here. I know she can handle it."
Everything became silent after Mark stopped. John and Jannette were both thinking over what he had just said.

A smile formed on Jannette's face as she broke the silence. "Sure, I'll do it."

"Alright. The cameras see most the building, so I'll keep a look out on my end." Mark said with determination. "If anything happens, I'll let you know."

-------------------
Several minutes later John is once again walking down the hallway with only the flashlight to guide him.
His footsteps echo in the cold silence as he tries to see as much as he can with the small beam of light.
Now that John was trying harder to see between the machinery and boxes, it seemed even more impossible than before.
All the equipment, metal crates, and assorted metal parts made it impossible not to miss hiding potential spots for the intruder.
The hallways seemed to stretch on forever, as the front of the building deceptively hid the long shape behind it.

When the intercom system crackled to life, John was filled with hope that Mark had spotted something instead of running in fear.

"Since we're just looking around for anything and nothing is happening, I thought it would be a good idea to go over what we know in more detail."
"As you know, our City, Lapidum City was named for the "Great Stone" it contained. The mines below were rich in iron ore, coal, flux stones, and other minerals which led to the founding of the "Great Stone Steel Mill".

"That's facinating, Mark" Jannette's voice came out of the walkie talkie waish sarcasm. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Actually, I have heard some stories saying the Ghost of the Old man is one of Greystone's founders." John spoke into the radio.

"Alright, continue." Jannette sighed back.

There was the sound as if Mark was shuffling for a paper he will rad off of before he spoke again "According to my research, there was an old man spotted on the premises on a number of occasions."
"Strange equipment malfunctions would occur around these times, but there wasn't enough evidence to figure out who this old man is. I was actually called in a few times to fix what he supposidly broke."
"Many workers speculate that this "Old Man of the Mill" is responsible for the property damage, and have submitted over a hundred accounts of witnessing him on the premisis"

John turned on the radio again. "Even if it could be a ghost, it could also be someone who disguised themself as an old man, then committed acts of crime to close down the mill!"

"This isn't a cartoon John." Jannette muttered.

"It may sound strange, but I believe John might be right about that." Mark responded.
"A few other incidents occured that strike me as strange. They were all determined to be equipment malfuctions, and this is the first time someone fell victim to them, but they were all life threatening."

There was a silence unlike anything heard in the mill yet. It was as if the very air had frozen in time.

Mark finally broke the silence. "There's something that has been bothering me for a while now."
There was a rustle of papers, but he didn't explain anything, so Jannette decided to ask. "Well? What is it?"

"Ah! Sorry. I'll get back to you later. I have to work on something."
Without anything else, the PA system went back to it's quiet state. The creepy vibe was now replaced by an awkward uncertainty.

John began to walk again through the dark corridor. Nothing happened for a few minutes, and something he heard earlier started to bother him. He took out the radio device, but just stared at it for a little while.
He tried to look ahead and focus on the seach, but he his gaze just returned to the black box in his hand.
After a while he looked at the radio device again and finally decided to use it. "Hey, Jannette."

"Yeah? What is it?" She replied.

"Why did you decide to stay? You said you wanted to make sure we didn't get into any trouble, and you don't usually like investigations, or ghost stories, or anything else like that."

"Heh, I'm not really sure myself." She replied. Her tone was now unusually personal compaired to before.
"I just, The whole Full Moon Murderer thing was scary and all but... It was also kind of exciting. I guess, I was hoping something exciting was going to happen this time."

"If the Old Man of the Mill tries to escape, things could get too exciting." John said in a downcast tone.
"I like paranormal stuff, but this is dangerous. We could actually die."

"Uh, about that... John, I <Crackle> <inaudible> <static>" //have something I need to tell you...

John shook the radio device before speaking into it again. "Jannette, your breaking up. Jannette? Can you hear me?"
"Maybe I'm out of range?" John said to himself as he looked around at his surroundings.

As he and Jannete were talking, he had walked deep into the building. Nearby the end opposite of the entrance.

"Hey Mark, can you hear me? I want you to tell Jannette I can't hear her." John said loudly.
There was no response. John's words just echoed into the darkness.
"HEY MARK!"

No response. While thinking of what to do next, John remebered what happened earlier that day.
John smiled and pressed the emergency button.
A loud siren came from the device in his hand, but one also came from beside a large metal box in front of him. As he moves his flashlight to the area something shines in the light.
Uncertain, John slowly bends down and reaches between the two boxes in front of him to grab the object, and pulls out the broken remains of the radio device Jannette dropped this morning.

All he could muster was a shaky whisper. "What?"

The device springs to life and the inauible voice of an old man can be heard under crackling and static.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" John screamed.

Some of the chains hanging from the ceiling start to jingle, and small bits of nearby metal lift off the ground.
The radio peices and the metal gravitate towards eachother to form the rough cobbled together shape of an skinny old Man with a beard and top hat. "<crackle> TRESSPASSERRR!"

--------------------

Back at the entrance, Jannette was swinging around a metal pipe she found in a box. A shape burst into the room and she almost hit it.
It was John, and he looked paler and more distraught than Jannete had ever seen him before.

"Sorry, John. I thought you were.... John?"

John managed to choke out an answer. "IT'S REAL!"

"It?"

As John shambled into the room a large pile of metal slides quickly down the hallway and forms back into the Old Man of the Mill "LEEEAAAVE!"

Without thinking, Jannette readys a fighting stance and attacks the man. "I can do it this time!" The peices scatter a bit, but come back together soon after.
"Leave this to me John, I got this! Try to tell Mark what's going on!"
As the Old Man of the Mill swiped at Jannette with claw like hands, she blocked and countered.
"I'll hold it off!"

"Where is he?" John asked.

"I don't know! He never told us where the office is!" Jannette said with an annoyed tone, quickly guarding an attack to her face. "Just do something!"

"Uh, right! I'll just go the way he did when he left or something."

As he ran for the door the PA system activated. "Hello, Hello? Finally got audio working again. I'm working on visual now."

"Mark! We need you to come here now!" Jannette shouted as she continued her assault. The Old Man of the Mill held out a hand and drew a sharp long peice of metal to him like a cane, but quickly held it upright like a sword.
Jannette guarded the blow and came back with a swipe through the metal man's side.

"What's going on? Wait a second, I almost have video back." Mark said as the sound of him working on something electronic played in the background.
"IS THAT THE OLD MAN OF THE MILL? Is he wearing a costume like some cartoon villain?"

"No, IT'S A GHOST!" John shouted.

There is a very short pause before Mark responds. "I believe you."

"What? You do?"

"Of course! I am a man of science, when faced with proof I must accept it as the truth!"
"I have seen enough between this and the reports to tell me so. Is Jannette alright?"

"Alright?" She said in surprise. "For now I am! Can you please think of a way to stop this thing?"
As soon as she finished, an opening appeared and she hit the old man of the mill, scattering his peices again before he reforms.

"I think I have an idea. As long as it can fly back together, it will keep reforming itself."
"John, it is important to note that I have heard ghosts can draw power from heat. You know what we have to do right?"

John took a second to understand what he had just heard, but then it dawned on him exaclty what Mark was asking him to do.
"OH! That! Yeah, That might work. Jannette, how do I get up to the catwalk?"

"The catwalk? Why? There is a ladder just to your side there." She said as she raised the pipe to block a wild swing.

"Follow me!" John shouted with a look of victory on his face.

"uh, okay." Jannette said as she tossed the pipe aside and made a break for the ladder.
The Old Man of the Mill close behind "GET BACK HEERE!"

"Run over there by the melting pot!" John shouted as he carefully started walking on a side beam near the catwalk. "I know what I'm doing!"

Though confused, Jannette did as John said, with the Old Man of the Mill close behind. When she got next to the melting pot a chain holding a hook wizzed by and smashed into the metal ghost knowcking it into the Melting pot.
Jannette looked towards John and saw that he was at the control panel connected to the hook system.

"Yes! It actually worked!" He shouted happily.

"What about the whole "Getting stronger with heat thing?" Jannette asked loudly.

"I lied." Mark simply said. "It was in a movie John and I saw. I don't know if Ghosts are actually endothermic."
"I knew that the ghost was also listening, so I had to say that to get it to follow you."

"Yeah, it's one where where they pushed an evil suit of armor back into the forge whence it came." John added.

"Well I'm just glad it over." Jannette sighed as she stretched out her arms.

John followed the catwalk leading to the control box and climbed down a different ladder obscured by some boxes. "Hey, aren't you coming down?"

"In a minute. I just want to rest for a bit first."

There was some sound of Mark placing something metalic down. "I guess I didn't really need this thing then."

Before anyone could ask what the thing was, there was a loud sound of creaking metal coming from the melting pot.

Sensing that the sound was probably something very bad, Mark got back on the PA system. "AH! I'll be right there!"

The joints on the Melting pot unlatch and it tips over spilling molten metal on the floor.
Before much of the metal spills out, it starts to form the shape of a giant. With a beard but no top hat, the giant almost looks like a terrifying Norse god.

Jannette and John can only watch in stunned silence as the giant starts to move towards the catwalk Jannette is on.

"Jannette RUN!" John shouted.

Jannette snaps out of it and dodges out of the way just as a giant hand smashed though the catwalk.
Jannette lets out a frightened shriek. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The rest of the catwalk starts to give out, so she has to cling to not fall off.

The old Man of te Mill readies another attack as John runs towards it to get it's attention. "Hey! I'm the one that defeated you! Attack ME!"

Though it only stopped for a second, it still focuses on her.

"Sorry it took so long!" Mark shouts as soon as he enters the room.

The Old Man of the Mill stops and turns to face this new intruder.
Mark is carrying some sort of strange canister shaped device. He opens the top and the huge metal titan shudders in place.
A strange dark light in the shape of an old man flies out of the armor and into the device before it closes.
The metal titan falls apart into a pile and Jannette climbs up to a safer part of the catwalk.

"That was too close!" Mark sighs as he sits down.

"How did you figure out how to build something like that?" John asked.

"One of the employees, an engineer, was researching ghosts and ghost like phenomenon. They drew out some designs based on the readings they collected."
"It wasn't finished, but I managed to build this from the prototype."

"Whatever it is, I'm glad it worked." Jannette said as she decended the ladder.

"Yeah! It uses science I've never even heard of!" Mark said cheerfully. "I don't understand it yet, but it all makes sense!"
"I'm going to borrow the research and study it all night! I need to send them a thank you card!"

"Yeah! We need to tell the owners what happened here, they'll definately thank us!"

"Um. will they belive us? I mean, it destroyed a lot in here." Jannette skeptically said as she stared at the remains of the catwalk."

John walked over to the metal titan parts. "We could tell them it was a robot instead."

"Leave it to me." Mark said as he flashed a thumbs up.


-------------------

Several hours later, John, Jannette, and Mark are outside the entrance with an officer. The police are inside examining the aftermath, taking pictures, and writing down information.

The officer they are talking to has a rather uncertain look on his face. "If I wouldn't had seen it myself I would say you guys are crazy."

"Yeah, we were lucky. I had some trouble with the monitors, but the cameras were still recording while they were out." Mark said in a serious tone.

"so it's in there? Can I, can I touch it?" The officer says as he reaches towards the device.
He touches it and pulls his hand back. "It's cold. It feels creepy and unnatural."

"Is there anything else we can do here officer?" Mark says with a business as usual look on his face.

"No, your good. I just need to report back to HQ once we're done here. We may need to call you back for official stuff and all that, but it's as clear as day what happened."
"What is the name of your business again?"

"The Greystone Paranormal Investigators"

"Goodbye" As the officer walks away, he mutters to himself. "Paranormal eh? What a strange, strange world we live in."

"Finally!" Jannette said as she exhaled. "That took forever!"

"So what do we do next?" John asked.

"Well" Mark said as he looked up at the sky. "I think we need to tell Doug what happened, and show him this."
Mark pulls out a disc and puts it back in his bag. "I've saved up some money to buy a building for my electronics repair side business, but I think I like doing this more. I'm going to buy us an official location!"

jannette took a step forward and crossed her arms. "This is normally the part where I would say this is a stupid idea, but fighting like that was so, so, so new and exciting!"

John smiled as he also stepped forward. "Our own paranormal Investigators business! This is awesome!"

"We still have a lot we need to discuss first though." Mark said. "Let's go back to my place to make some preparations."

And with that, they set off for Mark's house.