Connecting the Dots (Shane Madej x OC)

13- The Haunted Decks of the Queen Mary

I pull into the Buzzfeed lot at about 5:30 pm. Today's episode is going to have a little bit of a bigger crew, with Devon and TJ coming along to help with the shoot. But only Shane, Ryan and I will be staying overnight. We all meet in the parking lot and load the equipment into one of the vans that Buzzfeed has for employee use. TJ and Devon take Devon's car so that they can get home tonight and Ryan, Shane and I take the van which we'll park nearby overnight.

The Queen Mary is only docked about 30 minutes away so we drive over and get there by almost 6. We hop out of the van, TJ is taking over sound which is great for me because now the only thing I have to worry about is the camera. Devon is acting as a director/producer. 

Ryan and Shane stand before the ship, the sun setting behind them, and the lights of the docks flickering against the orange sky. Ryan stares up at the Queen Mary somewhat in awe.

"Apparently this boat is two times the size of the Titanic," Ryan says, panning his handheld camera across the length of the boat. 

"Two times! Wow... Titanic's tiny! That's not true?" Shane says in disbelief. 

"It's true!" Ryan says, he turns to my camera as if talking to the viewers, "All you need to know is I was here about 10 years ago and I said I'd never come back but uhh, well here I am." 

"You are not a man of your word," Shane says, fully aware that Ryan would not be here if it weren't for Devon and I. Ryan shoots him a look and I hear Devon laugh lightly. 

"You know I will say, this is a beautiful sunset though. If there's one thing I can take solace in today..." 

"It's a nice sunset! Enjoy it Ryan it's the last one you're ever gonna see." Shane says, Ryan starts laughing and so does the rest of the crew. We cut and head towards the boat. 

We head through the halls, Ryan as anxious as ever, and set up in the main ballroom of the ship. Shane and Ryan take a seat and Ryan dives into the history of the boat. Once we've got that covered Ryan decides it's time to explore "his own history with the ship". Shane starts laughing. We've heard this story many times. 

"About ten years ago when I was...mmm, was it ten years ago?" Ryan pauses. 

"This is riveting," Shane says, Ryan ignores him and continues with his story. It is definitely weird to hear him talk about a time when he didn't believe in ghosts... but the story still sounds like bullshit and after watching the video that apparently convinced him to believe, I don't buy that it was a result of anything paranormal. 

As we're filming some of the history Devon and I hear something that sounds like glass shattering nearby. We glance at each other but decide it's probably just someone else on the ship. Then in the middle of a sentence, there is a loud bang from the nearby kitchen. Ryan turns his head and looks at us confused. It's rare that something interrupts this part of the shoot. 

"Yeah, we heard a glass breaking a couple seconds ago too," I say. Shane nods, 

"Yeah, did you hear that?" He asks. Ryan nods and looks back in the direction where the sound came from. The strangest thing is that he'd just been talking about a chef on the ship who was murdered in the kitchen. 

"We are right next to... I mean down the hall is the galley where the kitchen was. I'm a little unnerved that the clanking did come from the kitchen," Ryan says. 

"That doesn't sit super well," Shane nods, Ryan is taken aback. 

"Oh wow, you're actually admitting to something for once!" He says, the crew laughs and we get back to filming the background story.