Case File 013: "Cross the Boarder"

Case File 013: "Cross the Boarder"
April 16, 2011
Harrington Residence, see attached photo
Investigation start: 8:03 PM April 16 2011
Investigation end: 7:35 AM April 17 2011

From the notes and evidence of the investigators involved:

Jack Harrington approached Department 6 nearly a week ago (April 11th) with a disturbing claim of hauntings from the local paper that had been published four months ago. Trying to sell the house, Jack wanted to remove all doubt the house was haunted. While he doesn't live in the house, he did mention there had been an investigation on the house back in the early 1900's when the house was finished.

After a Walk-through of the house with Jack showing potential hot spots on the 13th we set up a time to spend an overnight investigation to determine whether the house was indeed haunted...


White wisps of angel hair flew from the end of the cigarette. The dim red burn on the end lit up the man's hand holding it, D'Angelo Laurence. The scuffy-looking man dropped his hand and blew out a billow of smoke into the air. Resting against a truck more befitting a safari than the city he stared across the empty residential street towards an empty, dead house. It seemed to stare back.

"What is the difference between a clock and a wristwatch?" He looked over to the other investigators, "Hmn?"

His gold hair shifted a bit as a cold breeze blew through. The unkempt man raised his hand back to his mouth and took in another puff of smoke seeming un-phased by the temperature shift. His eyes seemed to catch fire with the reflection of the cigarette burn. Holding in the smoke for a second he took a deep breath of the sharp, clean air before releasing the stale cloud from his mouth.The cloud twisted it shape as it danced with the wind past the other investigators. It shifted and turned going without any sense of direction; led by fate.

Alyss thought about his riddle, looking up at the house. Her hair was held back in a loose ponytail and she gently tapped her fingers on a sketchbook, pencil tucked behind her ear.

"Well... You watch a watch... but you read a clock?" She speculated shyly, staring at the house. It wasn't ugly... It was empty. When filled with people, it might have seemed pleasant and cheery. But for now the dark eyes of the windows stared out at them across the street, hollow and foreboding. She got a chill from thinking about it, pulling her sweater closer and pushing up her glasses.

Her hands wrapped tighter around her sleeves, thin fingers tapping quietly against her arms. Hopefully they would find nothing... Most likely, they would find something. It wasn't like them not to.

Laurence perked a brow at Alyss's answer. She hadn't understood his question, but he wasn't going to say anything. Instead he walked over to the open trunk and grabbed a large bag out of the back with a katana sticking out of the bag. Throwing it over his shoulder he walked across the street towards the house.

His eyes gazed up at the second floor of the house, thinking for a moment he saw a shadow move. Curiosity glistened in his eyes in the fading light. Stopping for a moment he dropped his bag and pulled out the sheathed weapon, getting it secured to his belt. Smoke billowed from his mouth as he prepared himself for the night ahead and the cigarette was almost gone.

The air grew still closer to the house. Laurence thought turned to the first time he stumbled into a haunted building. The feeling was that of someone watching you, a presence that seemed almost to hunt after you for an alien reason. The cigarette fell from his mouth and he grinded the filter into the sidewalk. This house had a similar feel, but more of an echo of a presence. It only made it feel more terrifying in the back of his mind.

Sasha pondered the question for a few moments. Why he had asked such a random question was beyond her. It didn't really matter at the moment anyway. She just needed to come up with an answer that was what he was looking for.

"A watch is something you have on you, or something that you know, whereas a clock is something you go looking for, or something that you don't know."

Sasha's eyes stayed firmly on the house, a deep thoughtful look upon her face. She didn't want to go in the house. Everything was dark and it all seemed foreboding to her. Mentally shaking herself with her eyes still on the house, she absently played with the bracelet on her right wrist. It was the only thing she had connecting her to her family and was something she would never take off if it could be helped.

What an odd question that was. Watches? Clocks? Did either of those things have any significance to what they were about to do now? Was it a trick question? Would the answer change how thy view the inside of the house and their lives or some crap? Was it just something for their brains to ponder on so that the evening won't bore them to death?

It was just tempting Grigori to say something incredibly out of line that would surely earn him a nice slap across the face.

Fortunately, he really wasn't in the best of moods at the moment. The cold breeze that threatened to blow his fedora away didn't help. Not to mention that the tenebrous atmosphere around the house just ate away at whatever pleasant feeling he had left. He really couldn't believe this.

He looked up at the eerie structure that someone once called a home, adjusting the satchel onto his shoulders as he looked through the windows. There was something about the way that the shadows played behind those glass windows that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand. "And here I thought the neighborhood was creepy... Holy shit, is Antoine gonna have a field day if he hears about this." He said in mock amusement at the memory of one of his co-workers whooping with joy when he'd said a week before that he wasn't coming to the club this evening. How he was going to explain any of this to the boy back at the 'Night Owl', and to his manager, was beyond him. By now they were probably thinking that he was on a date or something.

"At least this is better than having to deal with a bunch of drunks." Grigori placed a hand on the fedora hat that perched on his head to keep the breeze from knocking it off of him as he followed he the first two that made their way towards the house. He rolled the sleeves of the grey sweater and the white button-up shirt that he wore underneath it to let a his skin feel any changes to the air freely.

"Still sucks though..."


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((OOC: What he's wearing and carrying.. Literally forced this one out... Dammit... Bad first post.))

Eir kept the farthest away from everyone. Her dark almost black eyes dully watching each of them. Watches and clocks... Both of the answers were off in their own way. She played with the phone between her fingers, replying she'd probably be late for work at 'The Little Peacock', and continued towards the house. Then the green haired man chose to speak up. His annoying tone grated against her nerves a bit as she glanced towards the house.

The eerie breeze pulled the ashen blonde's braids with it over her shoulders. She pursed her lips as she put her phone in her bag and headed towards the house. She could feel everyone having their own selfish reasons for being there. It wasn't hard to deal with. Or feel, for her at least. At that thought she winced, feeling a small spark travel under her skin. Eir ignored it for the time being, tugging her sleeves down over her tattooed wrists.

"There's some sort of rip... And it's only getting worse with time in there..." she mused softly, her words barely reaching above the wind, her hands tucked in her pockets as she walked forwards.

It wasn't directed at anyone, it was just a stated fact. Anyone who was in touch with paranormal in any way should be able to feel it... shouldn't they? The spiritual tug it had was probably not the safest thing in the world either. Her eyes looked over the windows silently, Nidhogg, her black German Shepherd licked at her hand. He could feel her tenseness. Eir looked down to him for a moment before giving a small nod and a gentle smile to calm him down and reassure the dog. He was her constant companion, even if people said no at first, he was dedicated and was a familiar for her. It was strange but she'd gotten used to it.

She sighed softly and headed straight for the door, not checking to see if anyone was following her or not.

"One is active, and the other is passive." Laurence said, lighting another cowboy killer. The smoke filled him up before he blew out the plume. Eir walked past him. Either she had done this before or she was an idiot,"Do you understand?"

He directed his question right at her. His eyes stared through her. Piercing her. Laurence did not move. He was on the verge of deeming her an idiot. The streetlight above him flickered and turned on, basking him in an orange light.

Eir clucked her the ball of her tongue piercing against her teeth before turning on the toe of her boot, looking at him. She was just far enough out of the street light's range to have a slight halo over her head. Her eyes met Laurence's as a frown presented itself on her face. It was men like him that drove her to smoke. What was with men anyway? Did they think themselves better? She pushed the thought away for now as a shock traveled through her body, causing her to wince silently.

"All too well... And the longer we stand here, the more dangerous it will become, the later it gets. I have a job after this if you don't mind. So, s my d if you have a problem with it." she said a bit bluntly, making a vulgar song reference to a song she had a good idea not many people knew.

With that, the girl turned and kept on towards the walk way, feeling the pressure starting to increase the closer she got to the house.

Sasha rolled her eyes. That was the one thing she hated about riddles. They could be answered on both a general level or a deeper level. Every time she was presented with a riddle, she would think upon it for hours before giving an answer, but in times like these where there was only a few minutes to come up with the answer, her normal responses were on a deeper level. Just looking at Laurence is what made her give the answer that she did, but apparently looks were deceiving as the answer he gave was a general answer. It truthfully disappointed her, made her think that he didn't want to go beyond the surface to find answers. There wasn't anything to do about him though. All that could be done was to give the normal and deep answers she always gave when confronted with a few minute riddle.

It did irk Sasha a little that he hadn't acknowledged her answer, but there was nothing to do about it. At least he hadn't said that she was wrong. That made her madder than anything and a mad Sasha was a scary thing. A thought of scaring him a little crossed her mind for a moment, then she shook it off. Now wasn't the time to be worrying about silly things like that. After noticing the street light flicker on, Sasha walked towards Laurence stopping a few feet away. "We shouldn't be wasting time on riddles that can be answered in any way." Her gaze slanted towards him and away from the house to gauge his reaction to her words. Although the house was extremely creepy to her, knowing his reaction would be more beneficial in the long run. Besides, if she stared at the house much longer, her phobia would kick in full force before the mission even started.

Standing under the street light helped her a little. The darkness that was surrounding everyone made her feel a little claustrophobic. It seemed to be pressing in on all sides, but thankfully it wasn't very bad yet. It felt more like the pressure she felt when she meditated at home to relax. It was about now that her habit of fiddling with her bracelet kicked in again. It was the only thing she had to connect her to a family she never talked about. The most she would tell about it was that it was an heirloom that dated back generations in her family and was something that she would never take off.

"Riddles are what make the world turn." Laurence acknowledged Sasha,"We should split up into two teams. one to check out the upper floors, and the second the basement. The top floors have reports of ghosts, floating lights, and phantom sounds. Objects have..." He took another long drag of his cigarette," been thrown around in the basement and the added wing, and there's been strange sounds."

The house stood there towering above them. The house called to them, wanting, begging them to unlock it's mystery. Laurence adjusted his coat and flipped up the collar. Tonight anything could happen. Laurence approached the house and unlocked the door with the key Mr. Harrington had given him a few days before.

Alyss didn't like the feeling of the house, even from across the street. She looked worried, rubbing at her sweater and rocking on her feet slightly. "...I don't like how this feels..." She muttered. "It's not... right. Too hostile for normal activity..." She flipped open her sketchpad, drawing absently and only occasionally glancing at the paper, her eyes intent as she stared. "There was something... in the upper rooms..." She stated. "In the early 1900's... They looked but never found anything... But apparently someone died, something similar to that."

She knew her speculative research into the home had probably fallen on deaf ears, and she sketched quietly, watching the others to see what they would do.

When Laurence went to the house, she followed, albeit reluctantly, standing down a few steps. When he opened the door, she got nervous, watching quietly and waiting to follow inside, even if she preferred not to go at all.

"I'll go upstairs." Eir said simply, her Norwegian accent making her sound a little angrier than she actually was.

She and Nidhogg kept close together as she pulled out her camera. Turning it on she sighed, tossing her bangs out of her face. This place was giving her bad vibes and knew this wouldn't end well, for any of them. Hopefully no one would be in the hospital though. A loud bark from Nidhogg nearly made her leap out of her skin as she followed his gaze to a second story window. She saw a pair of transparent eyes that quickly disappeared after meeting hers.

Peachy...

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OOC: Sorry for shortness...

Dusk in Seattle. It was a rare treat to have the sun shine over the horizon. Each building cast a shadow over the streets. In about an hour or so it would set.

Through the shadows and the intermingled light sped a large Kawasaki motorcycle down the curved streets of uptown Seattle. The Rider was Thomas Keats. As he rode on, he went over the facts and the myths in his head in regards to the house they would be searching. Reaching the neighborhood, he slowed down. It wasn't long before he found his students and Laurence heading into the house. Apparently, Mr. Harrington wasn't home.

Keats parked his bike on the opposite side of the road, unsaddling himself as he did. He took a good look at the house. The Harrington Residence was from a different time, when people card about the buildings they built. A time were beauty was meant to last. They didn't make houses like this anymore.

A took a deep breath. Time to get to work. He open a side satchel on his motorcycle. Carefully he pulled out a black leather container that held his .44 Magnum. He sighed as he equipped it. He didn't like the use of weapons on these trips. He always worried that someone would go trigger happy on what ever they found, as if they were a cowboy or something. It just felt like doing this made the group slightly more illegitimate. It was a feeling he couldn't just shrug off, even if they had encountered things that'd threatened his group before.

He closed the satchel, picked up his leather side case, and walked across the street to the rest of the group.

"Alright, let's get this over with." He walked into the house. "What's happening here, Laurence?"

Everyone seemed oh-so ready to jump in to the invisible fray lurking in the house.
D kept his distance from the others, and the house, and stayed at a strange angle from Laurence's position. Out of the entire group amassing, the hacker knew only that man before the night.

The others seemed to have some loose base idea for their surrounding company, or at the very least that which they were about to venture into. All of it likely cast a bit of a safer air on the night to them. Yet as D watched the girl with the dog be sharp in her accented words, he couldn't help but feel as if he were standing just outside the bubble of calm the strangers held.

He'd never been to something like this before. Growing up he'd done his best just to ignore his curse, and had never bothered reading about it or seeking out others who would understand. So to be among people who seemed educated in such fields left him looking about nervously. Not even five minutes into the meeting and already the teen wanted to head home and find that stash of heroine carefully tucked away in the bathroom...
But cab fare to the location had not been cheap. While money wasn't a dire thing for D, it wasn't something he liked to throw around either. And being so distant in his residence, just the money to get to the place he'd seen a month ago was enough to keep him there.

Idly he squirmed, the sight of so many people in one place bringing his nerves to coil and twist in his stomach. To stave off panic he looked to the ground, long hair falling over slender shoulders to guard his face from view. All he wanted to focus on was getting through the night, and finding answers to his own problems. Everything else could be thought about later.
As the teen struggled with calming down he stepped back, slowly but surely moving away from Laurence as a new arrival approached him.

D's retreat came to a stern halt though as his back met flush with another body.
With green eyes widening in panic the small precognant turned, staring up at the sight of a green haired young man with hand up, clutching a fedora to his head. A feminine body lurched away, and with long brown hair falling in his face D's more androgynous features shifted towards the opposite of the truth as he clamored for what to do.
"S-S-Sorry...." the teen finally managed in a mumbled tone to the one he'd bumped into, pale face inflaming as both eyes darted to the other boy and away multiple times.



-----
S'abit long. Sorry bout that.

"They may make the world turn, but when asking, define how you want them answered." was the retort Laurence heard as he walked towards the house. Sasha's eyes darted to the upstairs windows. She didn't see anything, but felt a great uneasiness about the house and it wasn't just the darkness that was causing it. There was something about the house that just didn't sit well with her. After a quick glance around at everyone else, she started after Laurence intent on getting this mission over with.

Stopping midway up the walk to the house, her attention turned to the conversation some new man was starting with Laurance. This man seemed to have even more authority around him and she knew immediately they wouldn't get along. After a moment, whatever else was being said left her mind. It felt as if someone or something was watching her from one of the first floor windows.

Slowly, just ever so slowly, Sasha peeked out of the corner of her eyes. When nothing was to be seen, she turned her head fully and shivered. There was definately nothing to be seen, but that feeling of being watched still lingered.

"Poltergeists in the basement, ghosts in the second floor." Laurence quickly said to Keats before walking into the void beyond the doorframe. His figure gone, his voice came from the darkness,"Where's the fun in that?" he grinned, even though he knew they wouldn't be able to see it. Almost falling over as he took a step backwards he adjusted himself, still loose from the drinks he had earlier.

The his cigarette burned brightly lighting up his immediate surroundings for a moment. He glanced around and walked towards the basement. His boots hit firmly against the floor as it creaked under his weight. The hairs on the back of his head stood up under the charged atmosphere of the house. This place was more active than any place he had been in before.

Laurence reached for the aged doors brass knob. It seemed further away than it was in the dim light. His fingertips neared it. A sudden bolt of light cracked from the metal and shot into his finger.

"Motherfuc-!" He yelled out and grabbed it, pulling the door open to the dark portal.

Alyss didn't like the sound of the basement, the 2nd floor calling her more anyways. She followed inside, looking first down the hall to the basement door, getting a painful shudder, and looking up the stairs, sketching quickly. She got glimpses of things, getting them down quickly to look at later.

She watched Laurence get shocked by the door, backing up in surprise and turning to the stairs. "I'm going upstairs..." She muttered, running up them to get away from the thing in the basement, going to investigate this other floor instead.

Eir watched everyone with tight lips. Her dark eyes following each one individually. How... sad. She sighed and headed for the stairs hoping the green haired fellow wouldn't be going upstairs also. She took pictures as she went up the stairs of the hand rails and the walls and even the steps themselves. Nidhogg kept a close eye as he followed her up.

The dark green eyes pulled away from the camera to look to Alyss with a small sigh. "Calm down." she said softly and soothingly, trying not to spook the girl too much.

Eir remembered the first time she'd gone into a haunted house, the thought made a more painful shock travel through her body as she groaned a bit in pain, trying to get the pain to just dull out of her system quickly. She silently hoped it'd be just her and the red head up here. One person she could keep in control of.

The blonde pulled the camera back to her face trying to get the thought of the other surrounding people out of her mind and focused on taking pictures of the surroundings. Her ears on high alert for even the slightest odd sound. Nidhogg stayed close to her side, his head whipping around in each direction, following the flash of her camera.

If the house was calling for them, then that was one phone call that Grigori didn't want to answer. It was hard enough not to twitch under the gaze of those shadow-infested windows, now they have to go in? Dear God, was this a huge pain in his ass.

"There better not be any cats in there dammit...."

But, before he could take another godforsaken step towards the house, something collided with his chest. Or was it a someone? He looked down, catching sight of the rather scrawny-looking man(woman?), before he(she?) moved away.

Okay, if the house looked creepy, this guy was just plain weird. Face of a man, with a body of something that Grigori will never wish to tap. For good reasons. Still...

No harm in having a little fun now, huh?

He tipped his hat up, showing a little more of his face as a haughty smirk took its rightful place where his lips were. Now was the fun part. Grigori snaked an arm around Derik's shoulders, letting his fingers roam a little before pulling the poor boy close to him. Leaning down a bit to look into his eyes. What little light it could reflect, his golden-yellow contacts shined a little as if to tease Grigori's intended victim.

"What's wrong little Овца? Did I do something wrong?"

---------------------------
((OOC: 'tis short... "Овца" means sheep... I think))

"the basement? I'm pretty sure it's here to store stuff." He looked back to Dr. Keats and rolled his eyes. Moving into the black he pulled out his lighter and used it as a torch as he descended the stairs. Hearing a moan he stopped and held up his hand for Keats to stop.

"Did you hear that?"

"I am calm... I just hate poltergeists... they're very violent." She sketched quietly, starting in one room and going to each, drawing them all out in detail and stopping in the one where she had seen something before. "This room... We should search this one..."

Alyss began at one end of the room, stepping slowly and sweeping back and forth, sensing whatever was there. It seemed strongest between the bed and the window, and she paused, hoping to pull it out slightly, or at least rile it so they could figure out exactly who or what it might be.

Eir perked a brow and just dismissed the girl, letting her go off on her own. She took the advantage of heading to the attic, pulling out a bobby pin to open the door, clucking the ball against the back of her teeth. The acrylic ball making a small "clink" noise. Nidhogg looked up to her as she pulled out her flashlight, putting it in the loop of her belt and continuing to take pictures before getting to the door.

She stopped in front of the door to the attic and bit her bottom lip, rattling the bobby pin in the lock, turning the small ball between her teeth nervously. A small "click" was heard and the door creaked open. She gulped, rolling her eyes. "Gud forbanner fryktinngytende filmer... komme seg til meg." she mumbled to herself in Norwegian.

Eir tried to ignore the significantly colder air as she walked into the attic, the door shutting behind her and Nidhogg suddenly, making the dog bark loudly in protest. She leaned down and pulled him close, petting him soothingly, she whispered softly in his ear to get him to calm down. The small echo of laughter made her jump up, reaching in her bag reflexively for the pocket pistol she had stowed away... That'd do no good against a ghost.

Nidhogg growled lowly as she she shushed him, returning her hands to the camera around her neck and snapping pictures. She kept on the ready though, taking note of the windows. If need be there was always the quick get away of the roof at hand for her. Working alone wasn't all that bad though, she was pretty used to it. No one to blame her if she messed up and no one to distract her. Yeah, that's all it was. A need for concentration.

--

OOC: Translation - "Gud forbanner fryktinngytende filmer... komme seg til meg." means "God damn scary movies... getting to me."

((Disregard the last post I made. I deleted it due to the context being so far out of what was actually happening that it was ridiculous.))

"I'm not sure..." replied Keats. He held his breath getting out the heat vision goggles from his bag. His hands shaking a little bit, he regathered himself and focused his mind. Staring through the goggles, he saw heat generating from the cold basement.

"With this house being under construction, I shouldn't be seeing the heat that's coming out of here." He pulled the gun out of his holster. "I'm thinking monster if were lucky. At least we could shoot that." He proceeded down the stairs.