“Dude! We got it!” Kyle sashayed across the cafeteria and jumped onto the table, swiveling his hips in an odd celebration dance.
Everyone in the room turned and stared at him. Some laughed at his little show and others sneered at him in typical college student condescension. A few people pulled out their cell phones and tried to record him, indubitably hoping to capture some YouTube hits.
Bryan, who had been sitting at the table alone while cramming for his last final, gave the staring crowd an apologetic look while gesturing toward Kyle. His friend constantly tried to embarrass him, and succeeded once again.
“First, I never want to see you swivel your hips like that again. Second, you stepped in my mashed potatoes.”
Kyle lifted his foot and examined the bottom of his shoe, his considerable size teetering precariously on the table. “Crap.”
He jumped to the floor and kicked his foot toward the wall, sending globs of potato splattering against it. The splat hit considerably close to a young student seated a few tables away, and she turned in anger, intent on putting the culprit in their place. When she took in Kyle’s massive frame the anger slid from her face, replaced by the usual doe eyes he had grown accustomed to seeing.
“Dude, I can't believe it. They picked us,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Who picked us for what?” Bryan asked. He pushed his food tray away, eyeing the giant footprint in the middle of it. There went his idea of studying in silence while grabbing a quick lunch.
“The Specter Slayers! Come on, man. We talked about this weeks ago.”
Bryan's forehead wrinkled as he tried to remember the conversation. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“I told you I was signing us up in their intern contest. The results just came in. We freaking won. We’re going to work on the next episode of the Specter Slayers!”
“Wait a second. You signed us up to be interns on a stupid ass show about haunted houses?”
Bryan had seen three or four television shows based on finding evidence of the supernatural, and they all sucked as far as he was concerned, but The Specter Slayers was by far the worst one. From what he could tell, they didn’t have any kind of scientific background, but that didn’t stop them from parading around with bizarre instruments and making grand claims.
“Hell yeah I did.”
“Was I drunk when we discussed this?”
“Of course. That's when all of my good ideas hit me.”
“Forget it. No way am I going to carry coffee for two morons acting like they're seeing ghosts every time the camera is pointed in the opposite direction,” Bryan said. His major required that he complete an internship to graduate, but he’d be damned if he would do it for an awful production like The Specter Slayers.
Kyle plopped in a chair on the opposite side of the table from Bryan and spread his hands out in a give-me-a-break movement. “What else are you going to do? Sit around and mope about Christine?”
“No.” Yes. She'd left him three months ago, but he just couldn't move past her. His entire life had been one never-ending downward spiral every since. He spent most of his time studying, hoping to keep his mind busy, but failing miserably.
“Damn it, Bryan. She's not coming back. You're about to graduate with a bachelor's degree and you have absolutely no plans on what you're going to do with it. Face the facts, you planned your entire life around her, and she screwed you.”
It was true. He'd turned down a job offer in Los Angeles at a production company to stay back East and marry Christine. When she left him, it had wrecked more than just their relationship. He had put his future career aside for her and now had nothing to show for it.
“That has nothing to do with this. That show sucks ass and I don’t want to be associated with it. I’m already pissed off that I have to intern for someone, and the last thing I need is to do it for a couple of shysters.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Kyle said, holding his hands up in mock disbelief. “That show doesn't suck. They have video evidence of the existence of ghosts. Just because you don't believe in anything, doesn't mean they're a couple of shysters.”
Bryan had seen the show several times and never saw a shred of evidence of anything supernatural, outside of their uncanny ability to always see something when the camera was pointed in the other direction. They weren’t even good actors – it was painfully obvious when they just pretended to spot a ghost.
“Not happening.”
“It's only one night, and you'll get on TV. That's why they held a contest instead of just taking applications online through Monster or some crap like that.”
That was interesting. Most of the internships Bryan had applied for wanted real world experience, which he didn't have. The fact that employers won't hire college kids without prior related job experience wasn't something they tossed around at orientation. He still didn’t understand how they expected you to have prior experience for an internship anyway. One night didn't exactly constitute a job, but it would be killer for his demo reel.
“Just one night, and we're guaranteed to be on screen?” he asked.
“Yup. And it's guaranteed to be better than sitting around here touching yourself to pictures of Christine.”
“Remind me why I'm friends with you again?”
“Because I'm awesome.”
Maybe he was right. Bryan had basically cut off all his friends in his grief over the broken engagement. Kyle was the only one stubborn enough not to go away. No matter what excuse Bryan made to seclude himself in his room, Kyle always saw through it and dragged him out. Getting away for a weekend might not be too bad. It couldn't hurt his nonexistent career either.
“If I were to agree to this, when is it?”
“Tomorrow.”
This was typical. Bryan was fairly certain that Kyle had never studied a day in his life. He couldn’t care less about bailing for the weekend in the middle of finals week. Though he had no proof, Bryan wondered if Kyle’s football scholarship provided him some leeway on his grades.
“What? I can't do it this weekend. I have my last final on Monday.”
Kyle leaned back in his chair, inspecting the table of girls to his right. They had all been trying to watch him inconspicuously since the moment he walked into the cafeteria.
“You've been going to college for four years, surrounded by hotties like that, and you dated the same chick the entire time,” he said, never taking his eyes from the ladies.
They heard what he said, and giggled when they saw him eying them up and down. Kyle always had a way with women. They responded to him. Bryan had trouble just talking to them.
“Now you're single, about to graduate magna cum laude, and you're going to turn down an opportunity like this because of a stupid test?”
“I can't just—”
“Yes you can,” Kyle said, cutting him off. “You can do whatever the hell you want. Stop being a pussy, prepare your best Bill Murray impersonation, and come catch some ghosts with me.”
Bryan laughed at the absurdity of his little speech. He did have a point though. Because his relationship had lasted his entire collegiate career, he now felt like he'd squandered what could have been the best time of his life. Besides, even if he bombed the final it wouldn't be enough to cause him to fail the class or ruin his GPA.
“OK, you win. I'll go stumble around in the dark with you and pretend like I'm scared. But if I don't get on screen I'm going to be pissed.”
Kyle winked at the girls. “You see this guy right here? He's going to be on TV.”
Bryan's cheeks reddened immediately as he tried to look everywhere but at them.
“Dude, can you forget about the girls for two seconds?”
“Forget about the girls? I have so much to teach you.”
“Where is the filming taking place? Can we make it there by tomorrow?”
Kyle rolled his eyes, making a show f
or his audience. “It's in Somerset County. We can be there in a few hours, no problem.”
“And we'll be back on Saturday?”
“That depends on if we survive the night or not. This place is supposed to be crawling with spooks,” Kyle said, trying to make his voice sound ominous.
“I won't hold my breath. All I expect to see are a couple of assholes acting scared and pretending to hear footsteps.”
Kyle had already turned his attention back to the enraptured college girls, flashing a grin. “You ladies enjoy football? I’m a three year starter at linebacker.”
Bryan snorted by accident and tried to block his mouth with his hand. Kyle used that line every time he tried to pick someone up, and it almost always worked. Pretty soon he will have used that on most of the girls at their school.
“He’s my personal assistant,” Kyle said, cocking his thumb toward Bryan.
“Oh you bastard,” Bryan said. He scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and launched them at Kyle.
*****
Devoured
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Other Works by Jason Brant:
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Chapter 1
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