Page 66 of Haunted Spurs

I squeeze Selene's hand even tighter, feeling her tremble against my palm, as the headlight beams burn my retinas and Avenged Sevenfold's Nightmare blasts at full volume.

Special Episode – HAUNTED SPURS: Best of the First Days (Behind the Scenes)

[An old-school film countdown appears on the screen: 3... 2... 1…]

[Sound of magnetic tape rolling]

[REC – FIXED CAMERA 01: PRODUCTION TRAILER]

The inside of a production RV parked out in the woods. The room is bathed in the bluish glow of a dozen monitors broadcasting live feeds from the rooms inside the estate.

Aunt Tina looks like she's about to achieve liftoff. She claps her hands, her heavy bracelets clinking together. "It's a masterpiece! Look at the tension! I'm crying tears of joy!"

Behind her, Mayor Nino dabs his shiny, sweaty forehead with a plaid handkerchief, pointing at a screen. "Camera three! I want a close-up on the twins! Wait, no, on Ron. The audience loves broad shoulders!"

In the center of the small console, Mrs. Lacey, the reality show's art director, is wearing a massive pair of headphones and a ridiculously cliché French director's beret. She's frantically scribbling on a clipboard.

"SPIRITS! SPIRITS!" a voice squawks off-camera. The frame shifts to Pedro, the myna bird, perched on top of a monitor. He's learned how to perfectly mimic the caw of a raven.

Francis, sitting in the corner precariously balanced on a stool, chews on the cap of a Bic pen, taking notes at the speed of light for the Gazette. "Tomorrow's headline: Horror and Hormones in Elm Hollow... brilliant.”

[TV STATIC TRANSITION]

[REC – INFRARED CAMERA: OUTSIDE WINDOW]

The greenish, grainy night-vision footage shows a production crew member dressed entirely in black. He's crouched just below the living room windowsill. He listens to Katherine's voice reading the legend inside. The man looks directly at the hidden camera in the bushes, flashes a thumbs-up, grabs the wooden frame of the open window, and yanks it shut with brutal force. SLAM!

Muffled screams erupt from inside the house. The man in black slaps both hands over his mouth to muffle his laughter, visibly cracking up.

[CUT]

[REC – HIDDEN GOPRO: BARN LOFT]

Top-down view. Long shadows cast by the sunset. Levi and Emma are walking cautiously below, looking tiny in the frame.

A heavy work glove enters the lens. A production assistant, lying flat on his stomach across the rotting loft planks, holds his breath. He watches the monitor on his phone. The exact second Emma takes a step forward, the PA shoves a bale of hay, sending it tumbling over the edge.

Thud. A cloud of dust explodes. Emma screams.

The PA winks at the GoPro.

[CUT]

[REC – FIXED CAMERA 01: PRODUCTION TRAILER]

Mrs. Lacey drums her fingers on the console, biting her lip as she stares at the master bedroom monitors.

"Okay," she murmurs, her eye critical. "Ron and Selene are in bed. The sexual tension between those two is about to crash our servers. Now we need a thunderstorm. I want thunder, I want rain."

The two young PAs sitting at the audio mixers exchange a look of pure panic.

"And... how the hell are we supposed to conjure up a thunderstorm?" one whispers to the other. "We didn't rent rain machines!"

Suddenly, a natural flash of lightning illuminates the RV windows, followed a second later by a deafening boom of thunder that rattles the floor. The first heavy drops of rain start drumming against the roof.

Mrs. Lacey sits up straight, a triumphant smile spreading across her lips, and adjusts her beret. "Okay, that is a fucking stroke of luck. Action, people!"

[CUT]