Mind's Echo

Eva

A heavy silence fell in the wake of Alex's meltdown. A breathless few minutes passed as everyone waited to see what move Alex would next make. When he appeared calm, the group's attention shifted to the new guy. They all stared at the stranger standing in the doorway, still gripping his gun tightly and staring at them with both anger and curiosity.

"Ugh. I can't believe this! Another one?" Shelly groaned, dropping her head into her hands.

Eva narrowed her eyes. "Okay. This is just absurd. First, Shelly and Alex run into each other here. Then, I come along." She gestured toward the guy who had grasped Alex tight, preventing him from rushing the stranger with a gun, and who had introduced himself just as aforementioned gun-toting stranger had appeared, "Next, Mark comes along. Now ..." she jerked her head toward the dark figure in the door, "... now, you. What the actual French is going on?!"

She walked over to the stranger and put her hands on her hips. In her agitation, she carelessly ignored the gun pointed at her chest. 

"Who are you? Do you have a phone? A car??? I need to get back to town, like, now! This is getting ... weird. And, yeah, I know I signed up for weird when I wanted to hunt ghosts, but not this kind of weird. I'm legit freaking out right now."

The stranger's brows drew together in a frown. This wasn't exactly the reaction he had been expecting. These were not professionals sent to sabotage his mission. This was an unorganized group of individuals who were, as the lady so eloquently put it, freaking out. He lowered his gun, but kept a tight grip on it.

"I asked you first," he replied gruffly.

"I don't care," she shot back. "I need to get back to town."

"And I need to know who you are." He looked around the room, dark, stern eyes falling on each person. "All of you. What are you doing here? You know what. Never mind. We'll just let the authorities sort this out."

Tucking his gun behind his back, beneath his coat, he pulled his phone from its holder on his belt. He frowned, glaring down at the illuminated screen.

"Let me guess," Shelly said from across the room, crossing her arms, "No signal and low, almost dead battery. Alex told you."

Eva leaned forward, trying to peek at the stranger's phone. He jerked it away and shoved it back into its holder. She bit her lip, rocking back on her heels.

"Well, that's just flippin' great," she grumbled. She heaved a sigh and turned to join the others who were standing in a circle in the middle of the room. "I'm Eva, by the way," she threw over her shoulder to the stranger.

Alex smiled nervously and walked up to the stranger, offering a hand. "Um. Hi. I'm Alex." He gave the wary man a sheepish shrug. "Sorry about before. I'm a little stressed ..."

The stranger ignored the hand. He was still looking around at everyone with his eyebrows drawn together into a frown. Alex dropped his hand and backed away.

"Well, okay, then," he whispered under his breath, making a face and shrugging dejectedly at the rest of the group.

Mark waved a greeting, not even bothering to try and shake the stranger's hand. "I'm Mark, man. Like the coat."

"Yeah," Shelly said with a smirk. "It's very don't-mess-with-me. I like it. Name's Shelly." She raised her eyebrows. "Now it's your turn. Name?"

The scowl between the stranger's eyes finally traveled to his lips. He crossed his arms, clearly uncomfortable. "Quincy," he finally offered reluctantly.

"Well, Quincy," Eva said, looking him up and down, "welcome to the non-party."