Blackstar | Shyan

Chapter 1: Day one: The Beginning

You could say that he was only a few deja-vu's from reliving his whole life over again. Living between moments; Watching...

Waiting...

Wishing.

But that's where it starts, isn't it? Everything starts with a wish or a desire. To want the impossible, and to give everything up for it. Trusting that everything will turn out the way you hope. But therein lies the problem.

What is the answer to an unsolvable puzzle? Balance must exist in all things. No matter the desire, if it's something irrational, then it will always distort reality in some way if it were to come true. Nature dictates that only negative things could come from such a wish. And yet we still desire for it. We cling to that desire with our very soul, and in the end, it is always our downfall. Our own wish betrays us, and it all zeros out. If one were to call the results of our wish a betrayal...

....then it would be wrong to make a wish in the first place.

***

It was a Monday, not unlike many others for this time of the year. The wind blew cold hard raindrops loudly against the windows of the Buzzfeed offices as Shane made his way into work that morning. Passing by friends' desks, the tall man came in to find Ryan already present and working out the next couple of locations that the two of them were set to investigate. Their show 'Unsolved' was just renewed for another season in order to answer the burning question on both them and their viewers' minds: Are ghosts and demons real?

Ryan glanced at his best friend with a smile, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Hey, big guy! You ready for this? I just got the go-ahead for us to check out those two sites you researched the other week. I'm super stoked!" The man pulled aside in his chair, motioning to the computer screen, "Take a look."

Shane returned Ryan's smile with one of his own, beaming in excitement. Sliding his chair next to his shorter co-host he took seat. His eyes scanned the email; the date was set for the twenty-fourth. He and Ryan would have to inform TJ, Devon, and Mark with the details, and make sure everyone was ready to film. Turning his attention back to his friend, Shane gave Ryan a firm nod, his lips upturned in an approving grin.

"Looks good. Maybe this time we'll find something really compelling."

Ryan beamed back, reaching over for the mouse and tabbing to the spreadsheet with the list of locales for the whole season. Having gone over the approval with Shane, he proceeded to add El Adobe and Hotel del Coronado to the list. Though they still had three more slots to fill, most of the prep for the coming season was pretty much finished.

Ryan turned back to his friend, "I hope so. I mean, EVPs are nice and all, but it would be really cool if we could actually capture something similar to...well, whatever it was that was inhabiting the Queen Mary that one time."

Shane nodded back at the memory. It was a story Ryan had told him a fairly long time ago, but the chill of it stuck with him.
The whole reason Unsolved existed in the first place was because of that fateful day ten years ago when Ryan had 'foolishly' as he put it, wandered into that accursed ship on a dare with his friends. Ryan's words echoed through the man's mind as if it was yesterday. It was raining that day too. He would never forget the fear in his best friend's eyes as he recounted his experience.

-----

The date had been circled 4 times in bright orange and yellow highlighters: October 31st - Buzzfeed Halloween Party. Shane's signature sat twelfth down the list of names, along with many of the other Buzzfeed employees who planned to attend. The calendar on the wall had a sign-up sheet so that they would have a head count to know how much food and alcohol to order, and the man in question had just taken a seat at one of the lunch tables when Ryan walked in, laptop in hand.