Connecting the Dots (Shane Madej x OC)

6- Winchester Mystery House

My alarm goes off and I climb out of bed, exhausted. I pull on some clothes, grab my luggage and load it into the car next to the camera equipment.

When I pull into the lot at Buzzfeed I can see Ryan and Shane standing outside by the car that's meant to take us to San Jose. Their luggage is on the curb next to them and they seem to be in bright enough moods despite their apparent exhaustion. I park and hop out, the boys star to help me load the camera gear into the other car along with all or luggage.

We climb in, Shane and I in the backseat and Ryan up front with another crew member driving the car. He jumps into conversation with the crew member, going over the details of the next week. I yawn and Shane looks at me sleepily and offers a headphone, I scoot a bit closer and take it, we listen to music throughout the car ride and at some point I lean my head on Shane's shoulder and he leans his head on mine. It reminds me of the night we met at Denver airport and i can't help but smile as i think about how long ago that feels, and how me missing my flight seemed like the end of the world at the time when really it just opened up a whole new one. We end up falling asleep for the rest of the ride, at least i do.

"Alright! Rise and shine!" Ryan says, turning around from the front seat. I can see that we've pulled up in front of the hotel we'll be staying at.

I feel Shane lift his head up and I do the same, pulling one of his headphones out and passing it back to him. He nods a thank you and we all climb out of the car and start unloading our things.

— The Winchester Mystery House —

We stand at the open trunk of the van, pulling out our equipment and getting ready. I almost forget that this is Ryan and Shane's first time with most of the new gear. They're mostly used to sitting behind a desk. I walk up behind Ryan and go to help him with his harness, he jumps,

"Jesus Ryan you're already on edge huh?" I say laughing a bit and getting the chest harness set up.

"Yeah I've been on edge since we got in the fucking car!" He says, I pat him on the back and then go up to Shane and help him with his harness as well.

"You ready?" He asks. I nod,

"Yup." I say nonchalantly, he glances at me,

"So you're not worried at all?" He asks,

"No not really. I don't really believe in all this ghost stuff, you know that! I'm sure the locations will feel spooky but I'm just trying to focus on making it a good video you know, even if we don't get any 'evidence'" I explain. Shane nods,

"Huh... I don't know why I thought you'd be at least a little more scared and uh less... what's the word... unaffected." He jokes, I laugh,

"Well I'm just not an asshole about it like you." I reply, finishing with the harness,

"Hey!" He says defensively, I laugh and walk back to the trunk, pulling my own harness out and strapping in. It's different than the boys considering I'll have to rig a much larger camera to it. Once the steadicam harness and sound equipment is all rigged up, I turn to the boys, who are fooling around next to the van.

A few other crew members mill around outside the Mansion.

"Alright if you guys are ready to head in-" Devon says, Shane nods and Ryan groans.

"Yeah yeah we're ready." Ryan sighs, I check my equipment one more time and toss my backpack over my shoulder.

" you're pretty prepared huh?" Shane says as we approach the house, I laugh lightly,

"I guess, i think this could be a pretty big deal for the series. Plus being prepared is a big part of my job."

"I'm gonna be honest I didn't think that this was gonna be so... serious." He jokes, I laugh,