The Protective Entity (A Buzzfeed Unsolved AU)

2

The entire car ride was painfully boring and the amount of tension made my chest feel heavy.
Ryan barely spoke a word, his eyes glued to the road. He would only speak to ask me which direction he should be going to get back to the office.
It was in the wee hours in the morning, the both of us needing a good night's rest. Him, especially, because he looked as if he had been torn apart.
For me, I felt extreme guilt. Although the possession was light, from a weak spirit, it can still take a massive toll on a human's physical, mental and emotional health.
I was too afraid to ask him, because in Ryan's mind, he didn't seem to believe he was even possessed at all.
I made an attempt to get answers from him.
"Hey, uh..." I said quietly.
"Hm." he replied, barely making a hum.
"Did you believe you were possessed before you got angry with me?" I asked, rushing through my words.
Ryan paused with no emotion. Then, he sighed.
"I really don't want to talk about it right now. It's late. Can we save it until Monday?"
I couldn't wait that long.
"So, you're saying you don't feel any different. Like, at all." I continued.
He scoffed and shook his head, "No. I feel fine. Now, can I please focus on driving?"
I sat back in my seat and pulled the lever underneath it so I'd lean backward.
"That's all I needed to know. Goodnight." I dismissed, closing my eyes and pretending to sleep.

The next morning, I still had this aching in my ribcage from being thrown around.
Sara was already up and getting ready for the day.
We had only moved in together for a few months, but we both knew each other's routines.
It was easy for us to get along. She is very similar to me. She has a special ability that only I know about. She can see the past of anything around her, whether it be people, buildings, paintings, even nature.
We met while working for Buzzfeed. She was a writer for skits that we uploaded to Youtube and often acted in them. She also provided information to the history in articles the company would write.
No one was sure how she knew those things, but she told me the day we decided we wanted to date.
Whenever Ryan and I would make a project surrounding a murder, I would always ask her if she knew who did it, or how the victim died. She always teased me by saying, "If I told you, it wouldn't be as fun!"

Now, we live under the radar, trying to continue life like any other human.
We are human, just with a sixth sense. That's really all it is. We don't want to be treated as if we're some kind of superhero. We just want to live a normal life.
I walked into the kitchen and she was already out running errands. Her usual Saturday consisted of grocery shopping, picking up laundry and getting more food for the cats.
For me, I had dozens of emails to read and lots of editing to do. The grind of a social media worker never seems to stop.
I had considered taking a break from the show, taking time to work behind the scenes on the many articles, mini-series and projects I had worked on. Unfortunately, due to the mass of fans that enjoyed my content that probably would just put me in a rough spot.

I sat down to sort through my business emails and collect important files until a notification caught my eye.
It was from the producer of our Unsolved Series, Katie.
The CC had Ryan's email attached to it.
I opened it, my stomach dropping a little. Nothing good comes from Katie in email form. Usually she just talks to me in person.

Shane -
Please meet me in my office Monday morning when you arrive. We have some things we have to sort out.

A sense of dread ached in my chest. I knew exactly what happened. Ryan probably wrote a wordy, descriptive email about the night before and I was about to get chewed out.
The odd thing is, Ryan was receiving the same email.
I would think Katie would want to make this a private conversation, so Ryan must be in the wrong too.
That couldn't be right. What did we do?

I decided to take matters into my own hands and text Ryan. He had to have gotten over it by now. A bit of food, a little bit of sleep, I hoped he felt at least less like using every swear word in the book towards me.

Hey. You ok?

I kept it simple. I didn't want to seem annoying or clingy. But I was genuinely concerned for him.
I sat at my computer and lazily edited a single frame from one of my projects until he texted back.

I guess. I'm sorry for getting so mad last night. I was sleep-deprived and hungry.

Well, I was right about the food and sleep. I was glad to see that he felt a little better. At least now I could continue about my day in peace.

Glad to hear it. You see Katie's e-mail?

There was a pause in between messages, the text bubble disappearing and reappearing every few seconds. Then, nothing.

I sighed a little. I thought I knew what was coming. Unfortunately, there was no predicting the news I was about to hear.