Chapter Text
“You won't be doing fieldwork today.”
Logan looked up from the list of pending jobs. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the speaker above him. He wasn't expecting to hear anything other than the usual automated message, let alone an order not to do his job. He took a sip of his energy drink, eyes glued to the loudspeaker.
“A new intern will be starting today. You will be responsible for overseeing their training.”
He put down the paper he was still holding, his gray eyes once again glancing over the numerous pending contracts. He closed his eyes for a moment, then reached for the microphone.
“I've never done that before.”
“You've seen our training area,” the voice from the speaker continued, emotion unwavering as ever, “lead them through the training and answer any questions they might have. And explain to them how to use a journal.”
Logan looked away, thoughts racing. It's been so long since he's last been in that warehouse.
“You will also accompany them on their first few jobs.”
Logan sighed. He preferred working alone.
“Understood.”
“They will be here in about an hour,” the voice on the speaker said before finally going quiet.
Logan got up from his seat and tossed the empty energy drink into the trash can. He headed towards the training warehouse.
—
A little less than an hour later, Logan was greeted by a tall young man who approached his desk with an awkward, yet upbeat gait. His brown eyes shifted around, settling on Logan's face once he realized there's nobody else around.
“Hey, excuse me, are you Logan?” Logan thought the newcomer was in a far better mood than the time of day warranted. “They told me to ask for you!” He stopped playing with the hem of his shirt and extended his hand towards Logan. “I'm Daniel!”
It took Logan a moment to process his words. He got up and shook his hand. Daniel's grip was firm but enthusiastic. “Yeah, I'm Logan. You must be the new guy?”
“Haha, yeah!” Daniel smiled as he said it, some of his blond hair falling over his face. He tucked a loose lock of hair behind his ear. “I’m sorry, they didn't tell me much…”
Logan waved his hand. “Don't worry about it, I'll show you around.” He stepped back from the desk and vaguely gestured at it. “This is where I spend most of my time when I’m not doing fieldwork.”
His desk was filled with different coloured papers and surrounded by corkboards. Many papers had printed content on them, though some also had handwritten notes that Daniel thought were illegible. He took notice of a few sheets that were weirdly clumped, as if the paper got wet and someone tried to straighten it back out again. One of the corkboards was filled with polaroid pictures of houses and other places, with their addresses underneath. Another was full of images of mostly electronics that Daniel didn't recognise the uses of.
He noticed a microphone with a simple on/off button in the corner of the desk. Above it, there was a speaker, though there was no music playing in the room.
Logan noticed he seemed confused about its purpose. “The higher ups use it to communicate with us,” he explained, “though most of the time they only use the same prerecorded message.”
Satisfied with the explanation, Daniel looked around, the room they were in was really empty for how big it was. One of the walls displayed an impressive collection of tech, some of which had their photographs on the board. A few display cases stood beside it, showing three skull-shaped trophies. The same display case also contained human bones, which Daniel really hoped were fake.
Logan waited for him to finish taking in the scenery. He noticed Daniel’s gaze hold over his collection of ghosts’ remains, but he decided not to comment.
“This is the exit to the outside,” Logan pointed at the huge double-sided door which was currently closed, “the company's truck passes through it to make loading equipment into it easier.”
“Now, follow me, I'll show you the training warehouse,” Logan waved, gesturing to Daniel to follow him. They headed towards a door that led to a hallway.
“Logan, may I ask you something?”
Logan walked through the door, then locked it behind them once they were both in the hallway. He looked back at Daniel as he was walking. “Yeah, sure, what's up?”
Daniel seemed to struggle to find the right words. “You've… you've hunted ghosts before, right?”
“No, they're usually the ones that hunt me.”
Daniel chuckled, though the look on Logan's face told him it wasn't intended as a joke.
“I'm just a ghost investigator,” he continued. Daniel was about to ask him to tell him more, but Logan forestalled him.
“There are three different groups that work together to get rid of ghosts. The first is the triage team; they confirm the presence of the ghost in a specific location. They also get the initial reading of the ghost. Things like the ghost’s level of aggression, its level of energy drain from the environment, how much they affect electronic equipment.” He glanced back to make sure Daniel was listening, and saw him intently looking at him.
“The triage team passes that info along to us, the ghost investigators. We choose which jobs we want to take, and are paid on a per-job basis. Our main task is to determine the type of ghost that is haunting the area. If we manage to take pictures of the evidence we find, that's even better. Occasionally we even manage to find the ghost’s bodily remains.”
“Ah,” Daniel’s face twisted in aversion, though he suppressed it before Logan could notice. “So, have you done a lot of ghost investigations?”
Logan took a moment to think. “I've been working here for almost three years. It was slow in the beginning, as I needed time to learn. But nowadays I usually do about two to three jobs per day. Occasionally it's only one if it's a large area to cover or if the ghost is being difficult.”
“Oh, wow.” Daniel’s eyes widened, but Logan didn't expect that info to be surprising. He glanced back at Daniel with a raised eyebrow.
Daniel smiled at him, nodding in reassurance. “What I’m saying is, that's really impressive!”
“Oh. Uh, thanks.” Logan turned his head back, and cleared his throat before he continued explaining.
“Once the investigation is done, we pass the info we collect to the cleanup crew. They go out to the location and exorcise the ghost. Once the area is confirmed safe, they collect any of the company equipment we've left behind, as well as remove any dead bodies.”
“You mean, the dead bodies of residents of the area?”
“Yeah, but not just those. Any dead bodies of the ghost investigators, as well.”
At that, Daniel took in a shaky breath.
Logan stopped walking in front of one of the doors. Next to it was a sign that read “training area”. Before entering, he turned to Daniel.
“Listen,” his eyes shifted to the floor, closing briefly, before looking up at Daniel, “ghost investigation is by far the most dangerous job of the three. If you decide you don't want to do it, that's completely understandable. You would be far from the first.”
Daniel shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “If you don't mind me asking… Why is the ghost investigation necessary? Can't the cleanup crew just get rid of the ghosts anyway?”
Logan shook his head. “There are 24 known kinds of ghosts. Each of them requires a very specific procedure performed in order to be exorcised.”
“Ah, alright.” Daniel paused for a second. “So, what happens if the investigators screw up? Like, pass the wrong info about the ghost type along.”
It was Logan's turn to uncomfortably sigh. “The exorcism doesn't work. Our paycheck gets cut, naturally, and the investigation has to be done anew.”
He unlocked the door to the training area. “Come on, I’ll show you the warehouse.”
—
The training area was large, though Daniel could only see a portion of it. Most of it was blocked off from view with propped up thin walls. In front of them was another desk with a whiteboard above it. Daniel counted at least 20 post-it notes in various colors scattered along both the board and the desk.
“This is your ghost hunting journal,” Logan said as he picked up a brown book lying on top of the desk and handed it to Daniel. On the back cover of the journal was the Ghost Huntin’ Distribution logo. Daniel opened it and skimmed through the pages. There were a few pages of text at both the beginning and end of the journal, but most of the middle pages contained only a list of ghosts and potential evidence.
“At the beginning, it tells you most of the information needed for ghost hunting. The text at the end there explains each ghost type in detail. Don't worry, you don't need to know all of it, I'll point out whatever info you need to know from there to start.”
Daniel took a moment to respond, looking over the book. “Thanks.” He flicked through the pages at the end. In each section, there was the title of the ghost type, followed by a large chunk of text. For some ghosts, it spanned multiple pages. “You know all of this?” He glanced at the pages, then met Logan’s eyes with a puzzling look.
“Yeah. Comes with experience.” Daniel’s astonishment made Logan hesitate for a moment, though he continued. “Now, as you can see on the main pages, there's something called type of evidence.” He paused, giving Daniel an opportunity to open one of the pages and look at the evidence list. “Each ghost leaves behind three unique evidence types; for example, temperatures below freezing or ultraviolet handprints. Most of our contracts revolve around determining the ghost type by finding its three of the seven possible evidence types.”
Daniel was staring at the evidence list. He didn't know what some of those names even mean. “But it's not that simple, is it.”
It was Logan's turn to emit a dry chuckle. “No, it isn't. The first issue is actually locating the ghost. They usually have one room of the building they prefer to stay in. Evidence can generally be collected only after we find it.”
Daniel looked back up at Logan. “That's not what I was asking about.”
“And in the meantime, the ghost is trying to kill you, yes.” Logan stepped back and leaned against the desk. “Some ghosts only attack after you've been on their territory for a while, but a few will attempt to kill as soon as they sense a human presence. Luckily, the triage team is able to determine that in advance, so we're not going in blind.”
“Another issue,” Logan continued after a short pause, “is that the ghost drains energy from everything on its territory, including us. As it doesn't have a physical body from which it can use energy, it syphons it from its surroundings. That's why being in the ghost area is very tiring. When you're there, you cannot run for more than a few seconds before getting winded, no matter how in shape you are.”
“Really?” Daniel never considered himself to be a runner, but he was sure he's able to run for longer than that.
“Yep. After a while, it makes the air itself hard to breathe.” Logan stopped leaning over the desk and opened one of the drawers. He took out what looked like an old-school phone and handed it to Daniel. “Other than living beings, ghosts also drain energy from electronics. Normal electronics don't work at all in ghost areas, but the company makes its own equipment that has some built in resistance. Here's a company cell phone. It's not perfect, but it at least somewhat works around ghost areas.”
Daniel looked at the phone for a bit, then placed it in his pocket.
“The ghosts are not omnipotent, though,” Logan said when he noticed Daniel’s somber expression, “for example, they cannot hear human footsteps. Their vision is impaired, meaning they usually can't see a person that's even partially hidden from their view. And, we have incense at our disposal, which temporarily blinds the ghost, as well as crucifixes which can stop attacks.”
Daniel seemed to perk up a bit after hearing that.
“Your training will first consist of learning how to use the equipment and test for evidence. After that, you'll go through hunt practices. The company has created simulations of different hunts to teach you where to hide and, if needed, how to escape the ghost. After you've practiced, you can decide whether you want to stay on the job.”
He gave Daniel a moment to process. His eyes were wandering around the warehouse. “If you do decide to stay,” Logan added, “I'll accompany you on your first few missions. We'll go from there.”
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. “Sounds good.”