Overnight

“This is AT in the AM and you were just listening to Living on the Edge by Aerosmith. Speaking of the edge, what’s really out there? Virginia is one of the nation's most haunted states and we want to hear your stories. Have you had an experience that pushes the realm of reality? It’s just hitting 2:00 AM and we will start our search for the truth with your calls. Up next is Chopin’s Nocturne in C Minor.”

The soft notes of piano music played as the On-Air sign went dark.

“Hey, Anthony. We got a live one on call. She sounds hot. Her name is Cassandra. Sexy right?” The distorted voice of Rick, the station manager, came through the speakers followed by his trademark snorting laugh. Looking at the balding 55-year-old gyrating his thick body, it convinced Anthony the man had minimal experience with women.

“Put her through. Let's hope this story is better than last night.”

Rick gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. Anthony put his headphones on and clicked the flashing white light. “This is AT in the AM, what’s your story?”

“Oh wow, am I on the air?”

Anthony sighed when he heard the slurring voice of a 20-something woman. He readied himself for another ridiculous drunken recollection. Rick’s supernatural call in crap offered more problems than anything. Anthony still felt his idea of classic rock and classical music would work better on its own.

“Hello, are you there?”

“You are not live yet. Tell me what you experienced, and we will see if we can use it. We have a lot of other callers, so focus on the main details.” He already considered dropping the call even though the lights on the phone remained dark.

There was a pause on the line before the girl came back. “Oh, well, it happened Friday night. I was out with the girls, and we were having one hell of a good time. Someone told us about this awesome party and—”

“Cassandra, main details, please.”

“Oh, um right. Well, we were going to this party in Old House Woods, really scary place and all. So, we ended up getting lost and found this strange house. The place was huge, like a mansion or something. It even had, like, melted candles in the windows, so we thought, perfect party house, right?”

“I’m sorry, Cassandra, we will have to…” Anthony glanced up and saw Rick spreading his hands out and pointing to the unlit “On-Air” sign. The piano music slowed, indicating the song was ending.

Anthony mouthed the words really to Rick.

“Cassandra, we need to put you on hold for a moment.”

The On-Air sign lit up. Anthony clicked on the next song. He took off his headset and left the recording studio to step into the control room.

Before he could say anything, Rick got in front of him. “Dude, what are you doing? Get back in there. You can’t give up an opportunity like this.”

“Rick, were you listening to anything? There’s no mansion in Old House Woods. This girl is messing with us. This paranormal bullshit is ridiculous. All we get are pranks and nutjobs.”

“Listeners of the podcast are up, and this paranormal ‘bullshit’ is what people want. Besides, Old House Woods is a hot spot. Maybe you can convince that hot coed to do a ghost hunt with the radio station. We could both go and show her an insider look into professional communication if you know what I mean.” Rick nodded his head and smiled.

“Have you ever had a sexual harassment claim against you? You keep acting like this, and you will. Besides, that whole idea is stupid for a number of reasons other than your sleazy opinion of women.”

Rick snorted and let out a chocked-off laugh. “Buddy, if you don’t like the way I run the place, you know where the door is. Either get in there and use that history major of yours or find another job.”

Anthony almost gave in and left. He clenched his fists, realizing he could not afford to lose this job. “Fine, whatever.” He headed back into the studio as the current song neared its end.

Anthony clicked the flashing white button in front of him. “Cassandra, are you still there?”

“Yeah, totally. We heard some really weird noises outside the house and—”

“We will put you On-Air in a moment just, hold on.” The song neared its end. Anthony rolled his head in an attempt to get back into his radio persona.

“You’re back with AT in the AM. We have Cassandra with us talking about her dark exploration of the Old House Woods. Her story tells of the discovery of a mysterious building they came upon one night. For those of you who don’t know, there have been paranormal reports in those woods for over 300 years. The woods are located near the Chesapeake Bay, and people believe the woods are the most haunted in America, if not the entire world. The area has a long history of piracy and was the site of conflict during the Revolutionary and Civil War. Hundreds of sightings depict ghostly figures, strange green lights, and mist that seems to follow people. There have even been sightings of a ghost ship that floats above the woods. Cassandra, tell us more.”

“This is so cool. I’m going to put you on speaker.” After a moment, the voices of three other girls yelled out a greeting. Cassandra spoke again, “I want to say hi to my mom and—”

“Cassandra, could you tell us more about your story, please?”

“Oh, right. Well, we went inside and started hearing some really scary stuff, like screaming or something. Anyway, we…”

Another voice came through on the call that Anthony could not make out.

“Shit, did you hear that?” The sound of girls laughing echoed through his headphones.

“Anyway, we decided to come back tonight and see if we saw anything. Like a real ghost hunt. Just like on TV. Isn’t that cool?”

Anthony tilted his head back and resisted letting out a groan. “Have you seen any activity?” He tried to make his voice sound interested, but he could only think about how bad he needed a new job.

“Well, Tina says she saw an old man walking around upstairs, and then he disappeared, but she did some shots and—”

An inhuman scream ripped through the phone and filled the studio. The high-pitched noise made it feel like the sound went up the back of Anthony’s neck. He pulled his headphones off. The sound stopped but felt like it kept echoing through the studio.

Anthony leaned toward the microphone. “Cassandra, are you still there?” There was no response.

Anthony saw Rick in the control room indicating to go to commercial.

“It looks like we’ve lost connection with Cassandra. Stay tuned as we try to reconnect.” Anthony reached the door of the control room before the “On-Air” light went dark.

“Rick, what the hell are we doing? This is obviously a prank.”

Rick’s eyes were wide open. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard anything like that before. That may be the real thing.”

“Seriously? They were just some drunk girls messing around. If it was something then—”

Rick held up his hand as the phone blinked with a new call. He clicked the button and picked up the phone. “Hello, you have reached 93.6 The Rose.” He clicked the speaker on.

Cassandra’s voice was unmistakable as she talked to someone else. Anthony could hear soft crying. He rolled his eyes, knowing this would be more of the same.

“Oh god, hello? Is anyone there?”

“Yes, Cassandra. What's wrong?” Rick asked. Anthony could see sweat already forming on his forehead.

“They… he... they killed Tina.” She sobbed into the phone.

Rick stood with his mouth open. Anthony pushed him out of the way. “Cassandra, slow down. You should call the police.”

“Someone stepped on my phone, and the screen broke. I can’t dial anything. It will only redial and—”

Anthony could not make out what the voice interrupting Cassandra said.

“I think they’re coming.”

“Tell us where you are, and we will call the police for you.” Her fear sounded real. Anthony doubted the girls faced something supernatural, but it could be some crazy person who lived in the abandoned building they broke into.

“Uh, we drove 20 minutes in, I think. I don’t know. Tina drove, and she’s...” Cassandra’s voice broke into a sob again.

Anthony picked up the phone and turned speaker off. He held his hand over the receiver before turning to Rick. He lowered his voice so Cassandra would not hear. “Rick, call the police already.”

He tried keeping his voice calm. “Cassandra, where are you now?”

“We are hiding in one of the rooms. There’s blood everywhere. Something keeps making this strange howling and—”

“Listen, you need to get out of that house.”

“We tried!” She yelled. There was a pause as she talked to the other girls. “I know.” Her voice sounded confused and irritated. “Please, you have to help us.”

“I’m trying to. You just need to calm down and look for a way out.”

He could hear Cassandra whispering when the other girls started screaming. “Oh god, they are trying to get in. What should we do?”

Anthony turned to Rick, who was talking on his cell phone. “They are on their way.” He said, his voice strained, and his face drained of color.

“Cassandra, find someplace else to hide or get out of the house. Help is on the way.”

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know—” One of the other girls scream cut off Cassandra’s panicked voice. “What the hell! Oh my god, what the hell!”

“Cassandra, what is happening?” Anthony could hear a rustling on the other end as if someone were running. He heard a door slam shut and then crying. “Cassandra?”

“She... it... it came through the wall. A large animal just came right through the wall, and... it attacked her... it... oh god.” She broke down into sobs again.

Anthony resisted the urge to hit something. None of this made sense. He felt useless. “Is there a weapon or something around you?”

“I... I don’t know. God, I can hear it ripping her apart.” She sobbed.

“Just hang in there. Someone is coming. I swear.” Anthony could hear wood breaking apart and something else that he could not describe. He could only imagine the nightmare on the other end of the phone.

A few minutes passed in silence. Cassandra’s voice came through, a little calmer now. “I think they left. I don’t hear any—” Another screeching scream like before interrupted her.

Anthony dropped the handset. Rick and Anthony had to cover their ears from how loud it sounded this time.

Once the sound stopped, it took a moment to recover. The ringing in Anthony’s ears made it seem like the scream continued repeating in his head.

He picked the handset back up. “Cassandra, are you still there?” He waited. No reply came.

The room remained silent. Soon a long beep came through the phone before the call ended. Anthony tried redialing the number. It rang a few times before clicking through. It gave Anthony some hope

“Hey, thanks for calling. Leave a message, and I’ll get back to you soon. Bye!” Cassandra’s voice sounded cheerful on her voicemail.

Anthony hung the phone up and tried calling back a few more times. He received the same voicemail. Rick and Anthony looked at each other, with no words exchanged between the two. They only then realized the commercials had ended minutes ago. They were broadcasting dead air.