Page 39 of See Through

“G-Got it, boss.” I can tell he’s having a blast, and I’m sure he’ll keep asking to come on these when we get back to work. Honestly, if Aubrey is cool with it, I am too. It’s been nice having some company.

“Adrian, can you tell me what we loved doing together? Can you tell me what you taught me when we were younger?”

She waits a few seconds before Maven comes through the walkie.

“Something just moved in front of the camera in the hallway you guys are in.”

“Was it Cooper?” I ask.

“No. I can’t even see him on it. It looked see through, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Kind of just looked like a blob.”

“I’ll check it out.” Cooper slides out of the room.

“Can I have the spirit box?” she asks me. “I want to see if his voice will come through better than it does on the recorder.”

“Sure, baby.” Her fingers brush mine as I hand it to her. I so badly want to be there for her, but I can’t, since I’m filming.

The static echoes through the room as she sweeps all around Adrian’s bed, his pillows he used to lay on. I can feel the grief Aubrey still carries, but everything feels heavier in here.

“Adrian, are you still here with us?”

She’s sweeping for a few seconds before a voice comes through. “Yes.”

“Oh my,” is all I can manage. We’ve only gotten a few things on the spirit box before, but nothing as point blank as that.

“Is there anything you want to say?”

There’s a few beats of static before something else comes through.

“Run.”

Her eyebrows pinch, and my entire body goes cold, so I take the thermometer from my bag and see that the temperature here has dropped twenty degrees. I grab the EMF sweeper, and as I go around the entire room, my camera still focused on Aubrey, there are no big spikes—until I get to the bed.

Then, it jumps to ninety four—almost all the way up.

“Big EMF spike over here.”

“It’s him.” Her face lights up. “Adrian, can you tell me what we used to do for fun when we were little?”

More static sweeps, and she asks the question again.

“With the wheels. Remember?”

“Roller,” comes through first. Then, “skate.”

I know he taught her how to skateboard, so not too far off, but not totally correct either. This is weird. First, he tells us to run, and then he gets the question wrong—if it’s even him. It could also be something totally normal manipulating the radio frequency.

“Close.” She smiles, not giving up hope.

“Guys?” Cooper’s panicked voice comes from the hallway. “Holy shit.”

“Coop?” I peek my head outside and see him frozen by the camera at the end of the hallway. “Are you okay?”

“N-No, I-I…” He’s shaking. “This is fucked.”

“Set your camera down. I’m coming to you. Maven, keep an eye on Aubs.”

“Will do,” I hear her say through my walkie.