Mind's Echo

Mark

Mark returned Shelly's smile with one of his own. "Hell, yeah, Ms. Shelly! I'm more than ready to bust some boogies. This is going to be a night to remember!"

He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Before they got started, he wanted to light up. Having a drag always eased his nerves before a big investigation, and his gut was telling him Clarkmann was going to be a BIG investigation. Before igniting the tip of his cig, he raised his pale eyebrows questioningly at the group, silently making sure they were cool with him smoking. Everyone nodded.

"We're probably already inhaling some nasty stuff," Alex stated, packing a small backpack with water, batteries, and whatever else he thought might be needed. "I'm sure some secondhand smoke will be fine. I'm more worried about what it is we'll find once we get started, to be completely honest."

Mark lit up and shrugged. "Eh. Don't be scared, Alex, my man. Ghosts can't hurt ya. Something might spook you good, but you'll be fine. Remember, this isn't my first rodeo." Mark looked around the eerie foyer. "I mean, this place is super creepy, granted, but ... I don't know." He shrugged again, pulling in on the cigarette. After exhaling, he continued, "I'm real curious about where all those patients and the staff disappeared to. Isn't that crazy? Just a bunch of people--POOF--gone." He shook his head in amazement. "Weird, man."

He grabbed the digital recorder from the counter and turned it on. 

"Check 1, 2," he mumbled into the device. 

He played it back to make sure everything was working. Satisfied, he reached into his duffel bag and pulled out a couple packages of batteries and handed them to Alex. Alex nodded and dropped the batteries into his bag. 

"You never know," Mark quipped. "Better safe than sorry. Apparently, this place likes sucking up energy. I'm cool with that 'cause that means something needs it to manifest. That's exactly what we want, right?"