The Ghost Tour

The Ghost Tour

Robert rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, gazing incredulously at the sight before him. The sun had been down for hours, but even in the darkness amongst the trees he could see his fellow ghost hunting team members scattered in the park. The team leader, Glory, was walking slowly, a cautionary beeline, with her eyes fixed on the….what was it called? Robert hadn’t been paying attention in the team huddle when Glory was explaining all her ghost buster equipment, so he just referred to it as the “ghost walkie talkie”. She was softly asking questions to potential ghost guests surrounding them in the St. Augustine corner park, “a hot spot for paranormal activity”. After asking her question, she’d push a button on her ghost walkie talkie to see if she recorded a spooky response. For the past two hours, there hadn’t been a damn response. 

“Are you here with me now?” Robert heard her ask, and he scoffed at the silliness of it all. “If so, move this tree branch right here.”

Robert followed her gaze to the branch hanging off the tree like a broken bone above her head. He watched with her, secretly wondering if it would sway on this windless night. Glory seemed to be holding her breath with anticipation, she was as still as that tree in the dark. 

“Make it fall on that kook’s head,” Robert whispered to himself, and then chuckled. The branch didn’t move -shocker- and, bored with it all, Robert redirected his gaze on Jade, the reason he was here. 

It was Jade’s birthday and, being one enthralled by the unknown and the supernatural, Robert thought a St. Augustine ghost tour for his gal would one up the birthday surprise game. It did, he totally won Birthday Surprise because Jade was eating every second of this stupid tour up.

Robert watched as she spoke to the nothingness around her, her eyes darting all around to catch a glimpse of…something. Anything. He leaned his back against a nearby tree, smiling that at least SHE was having a good time. 

Robert’s bored and apathetic energies being projected into the universe were being equally matched with Jade’s wonder and hope. She would mutter something, pause, glance around, and then walk a few steps. Talk, pause, glance, move, trying to find the sweet spot for an encounter. Every couple of seconds Robert would see her grasp the butterfly pendant she had triple knotted on a string around her neck, to see if it was still there. 

Oh yeah, the stupid pendants. Robert rolled his eyes at the idea of them all over again. In the team huddle earlier, before taking off on this bullshit adventure, everyone had been given a silver butterfly pendant on a string. Glory had asked the team of four to tie the pendants on their person, either as a necklace or a bracelet. 

“Tie them tight and good!” Glory had instructed. “Triple knot them! Quadruple knot them! The more knots, the better!”

“What do they do?” Jade had asked, her eyes shining like the light reflecting off the pendants themselves in the tiny, hot lobby. 

“Absolutely nothing!” Glory laughed, and Jade’s smile faded a bit. “But the ghosts love them!” The smile returned. “They try to take them! No matter how many knots, no matter how tight you tie, if you encounter a ghost you may find at the end of the tour your pendant has gone missing! Mysteriously detached with all the knots still there!”

Jade’s pendant was still around her neck, and even in the dark it was clear that she was disappointed because of it. For shits and giggles, Robert reached down and found his butterfly pendant was still firmly secure around his belt loop with eight knots on the string. 

“What’s the matter, Casper?” Robert asked, looking around. “You don’t want this stupid butterfly? No ghostie girlfriend to give it to? Just not your style?”

He rolled his eyes for the millionth time and started to think about what beer he’d get when all this nonsense was over.

Nearby, one of the group members, Karen, had made her way over to Glory. Of the four of them in the park, Karen was the one most excited to NOT have an paranormal activity and began chatting with Glory to relieve some jitters.

“I mean, like, no one has been touched by a ghost, right? Like, they’re not allowed? You tell the ghosts they’re not allowed to touch us, right? And they can’t follow us home? They stay in the park and don’t follow us home, right?”

Jesus, Robert thought. Ok, no more. He had filled his two hour ghost hunting quota. Time to get drunk.

As he made his way over to Jade, he walked right by Glory and Karen. Karen’s voice was nails on a chalkboard. Karen’s voice was water slowly dripping on a forehead. Karen’s voice was a distraction, for Robert only heard that as he walked, and not the soft clank his butterfly pendant made as it hit the ground, not a knot on his string out of place.