When Darkness Falls - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Arrival & Some Bad News

Driving nearly thirteen hours from Chicago to Philadelphia, Jennifer and her sisters Olivia and Sara were more than happy to collapse on their beds when they finally made it to the hotel. Even though they rotated their driving, they still hated being in their car for so long. The only things that kept them going was a long playlist of music and the excitement of the very thing which brought them to their destination: Eastern State Penitentiary.

From the time they were sixteen, the triplets immersed themselves in the study of the paranormal. They watched almost every show and read nearly every book on ghosts and other paranormal phenomenon they could get their hands on. This passion had been sparked by their love of Gothic literature and horror stories. They soon decided they wanted to become paranormal investigators, naming their group the Midwest Gothic Apparitions, or MGA. They researched well known places considered to be haunted and would go on their own investigations. Of course, being new to the paranormal field, they could only investigate with what they could afford to get equipment wise. Despite this shortcoming, they still managed to get interesting photos and EVPs. They were always critical of their findings, comparing them to what other groups had found and testing how they matched up. They certainly did not want to call something paranormal when it wasn't; they had seen this one too many times on shows and on the internet.

As the years passed, the sisters were able to afford better equipment and travel farther distances to do their investigations. Even when they were leading busy lives in college and in different graduate schools, they always arranged to meet up during their vacations and do an investigation. Nothing could keep them from doing this thing they loved so much. It was one of many things which these sisters had in common and kept them so close. When they finished their education, they all relocated from their home in La Porte, Indiana to Chicago where they all found jobs. They lived in an apartment together and continued planning paranormal investigations. Now at the age of twenty-nine, the sisters always planned at least one big trip. With each of them chipping in, they were able to afford these trips, taking one week off of work at the same time and either flying, or most commonly, driving to their locations. This time, they had chosen Eastern State Penitentiary as their next investigation site.

Jen had a friend from college, Paul, who was a guide at the penitentiary and ensured them he could get them in for an investigation. The sisters couldn't believe their luck on this one. Usually it was harder to get into a place since they were just doing this as a group of three sisters and not a recognized team found on television.

As the girls began unpacking their suitcases, Jen sat on her bed and looked at a text message from her fiancé, Marcus. He told her that he missed her and couldn't wait to see her. Smiling she looked at her sisters as they organized where the equipment would be stored versus their luggage. Olivia was moving their suitcases while Sara was practically juggling the equipment she had so many items in her arms.
  
"Geez, Sara be careful!" Olivia scolded her sister. "That stuff is expensive!"

Sara put down the items and gave her sister a look. "You think I don't know that? I'm only the one who works with the equipment more than you guys!"

Jen had to laugh to herself. Sara was always the more extreme of the three. She was the one who began dying her hair different colors, mostly sticking with red. All three of them had long, dark auburn hair, but Sara always liked experimenting with other colors. She also liked being more of the tomboy of the group, wearing her baseball hat backwards, and she always liked being the tough one who no one should mess with. Even though she was like that, deep down she was still a sweet girl and always looked out for her sisters and friends.

"Guys, no fighting. Anyway, I have to call Paul and make sure everything is good for tomorrow night," Jen told them.

She dialed his cell phone number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Paul. It's Jennifer. How are you?"

"Hey great to hear from you! I'm doing good."

"Cool. I was just calling to let you know that my sisters and I made it in okay and I wanted to know when we should come by the penitentiary for our investigation tomorrow night."

"Wait...tomorrow? Oh...oh hell," he replied.

Jen didn't like the sound of that. "What?"

"Jenna, please don't be mad. I did make arrangements for you guys to come in tomorrow, but I completely forgot to tell you that there had been a change of plans last month. Another group is coming to do an investigation tomorrow night."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Excuse me? I'm sorry, what?"

She heard him swallow hard. "It was completely out of my hands, some other group that's on TV made arrangements and I couldn't have them change it."

Jen could not believe that a famous group of investigators took their investigation night. Now she and her sisters had driven down for nothing. "Paul how the hell could you do this to us?" she exclaimed.

Sara and Olivia looked to their sister, worried as to what was going on.

"I'm sorry! I swear there was nothing I could do! I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, it completely slipped my mind. Look that other group is here, I have to go, I'll talk to you later," he said before hanging up.

Jenna swore and threw her phone onto the bed.

"Jen, what happened?" Olivia asked.

"Some other team got our spot tomorrow night!"

"WHAT?" the two exclaimed simultaneously.

"Some ghost hunting group from television made arrangements for tomorrow night, and Paul forgot to tell us! Now we came down all for nothing!"

Olivia threw her arms up in disbelief before they came crashing down at her sides. "This is ridiculous! We spent months planning this! Damn it!"

Jen shook her head. "So what the hell do we do now?"

"I say we go down there and kick Paul's ass!" Sara interjected. "He forgot to tell us about the change, and we are the ones who got screwed! I have choice words for him!"

Jen and Olivia looked at one another.

"I actually agree," Jen said.

"Well let's go then. He's there right?" Olivia asked.

Jen nodded. "Apparently so is that team that got our night for the investigation."

"Perfect, I have words for them too," Sara smirked.

"Now, now, they aren't the ones to blame in this matter as much as Paul," Olivia told her.

The sisters rushed down to their Honda CRV and Jen raced down to the penitentiary. All three of them were furious over the situation and were prepared to yell at Paul for putting them in this mess. Driving up to the penitentiary they got their first glimpse of the massive structure, spellbound for a split second until they saw Paul talking with a group of men, undoubtedly the crew who were going to be investigating the following night. Jen parked the car and all three of them got out.

"Let's get him," Sara said.

*********

"So can you take us around the penitentiary?" one of the guys asked Paul.

"I certainly can. Follow me into--what the...?" he said surprised.

The three men turned around to see what Paul reacted to. They saw three women walking toward where they were standing. Each of them looked furious as they quickly approached.

"Uh...excuse me a moment guys, I think I'm about to become a dead man," he said fearfully as he turned and hightailed it as one of the women began running towards him.

"Paul I am going to pulverize you!" Jen called as she began running after him.

The three guys looked at one another in confusion before turning to the other two women who had stopped dead in their tracks. Olivia and Sara stared wide eyed at the men who had managed to get the very same night for an investigation as they thought they had. Neither one could speak when they recognized the three men. They had seen their paranormal show several times, even the documentary they had filmed years before. There was no possible way they could mistake them, they were without a doubt, the Ghost Adventures Crew.