Mind's Echo

Eva

Eva kept glancing at the picture on the wall. She'd look at the picture, then at Quincy. The picture, Quincy. She narrowed her eyes, moving in closer to the picture. Then she backed away, and with narrowed eyes still, moved closer to Quincy. He scowled at her and backed up a step.

"What?" he grumbled.

Eva shook her head and pointed toward the picture. "I don't know. That guy ..." she turned back to the picture.

The guy standing a little apart from the group, in a nicely tailored suit, looked very little like Quincy, especially considering their different skin tones, but there was something ... The expression, maybe.

"That guy," Eva repeated, "there's something about him that reminds me of you."

Quincy glared at the picture. "Yeah. No. So, anyhow, if you all don't mind, I'm just going to do my job. Could you please stay here and out of my way?"

Eva bit her lip. "You're really going to wander around this place by yourself?"

He scowled. "Is there some reason I shouldn't?"

Eva shrugged. "Well, it's an old building. What if you fall through the floor or something falls on you? It's dangerous to explore old buildings alone. I've been doing this for a long time, you know."

Quincy raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? Doing what?"

Eva shrugged again, looking down at the floor. "You know ... um ... I like to ... ghost hunt."

Quincy guffawed. "Ghost hunt? That must be interesting, but, darling, I'm not looking for ghosts, so ..."

Eva looked up and crossed her arms. "Still, I know about old buildings." She paused, biting her lip again. "You know, I could ... I mean, I guess, we could come with you. I would love to do what I initially came here to do. I don't have any of my equipment, but I could still do a walk-through."

"No, no, no and, um, NO," Quincy stated adamantly, shaking his dark head.

Alex came over to join the discussion. "Yeah, and I could still get in some really good pictures. I bet this place photographs amazing at night!"

Mark perked up as well. "I like to hunt ghosts, too, Miss Eva! I brought a couple of digital recorders. I hope the batteries aren't dead, though, like in our phones. Places like this are known for draining battery power. But, yeah, we try for some EVPs. Ghost hunting 101, right?"

Eva smiled widely at Mark. "Really? A fellow ghost hunter! This is awesome. Do you have any more equipment in your car?"

Mark frowned. "Actually, I didn't bring much with me on this trip. There's some issues with my old group, and we're still in the process of splitting up the equipment. I don't need a bunch of fancy gadgets to hunt a ghost, though. Been doing this a long time. I can handle old school. Got some camcorders with night vision and a digital thermometer."

Eva's smile widened, "Hey, that's plenty. I would have just walked around the place with a flashlight and been pretty satisfied. It would be amazing to catch some EVPs, not to mention seeing something on night vision!"

"Are you deaf?" Quincy growled. "Do I have to say no in another language? I can, you know."

Eva ignored him. "Hey, Shelly! You in?"

All eyes turned to Shelly as they waited for her response.