Getting to know StephRose1201:

My name is Stephanie Rose, and I'm an aspiring author with big dreams of publishing my works someday. I love writing above all things, and almost anything will get me started - a picture, a sentence, even a simple color will suffice. I've been writing for as long as I can remember, and I don't think I'll stop anytime soon. My favorite topic to write about is life after death: I love imagining the various possibilities of what can happen after we die -- but I'm actually extremely afraid of death. So just hand me a pen - I'm a traditional writer - and I'll get straight to work :)

Quick note from the author:

~~Story based on characters from GHOST PORTAL, written by StephRose1201 (me) - this story occurs PRIOR to events in the Ghost Portal series. Avery Boomer is a paranormal investigator and goes on adventures throughout California with his trusty sidekick Jamie, searching for hauntings and places with a "reputation", in order to investigate and cleanse them.~~

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I hate this damn holiday.

Avery Boomer drove through the Christmas traffic, cursing under his breath. Good thing I have no presents to buy or any people to spend it with, he thought, speeding past immobilized cars.

His best friend Jamie sat beside him, silently gazing out the window.

"You excited? This place is supposed to be super active," he asked, as Jamie turned his head and nodded, a small smile on his face.

"It has potential. Apparently whatever is in that house picks up on internal feelings and says them out loud... hope you're not hiding anything from me," he continued, as Jamie chuckled awkwardly.

"Just that I hate this traffic, but I don't think that's a secret," grumbled Jamie.

Avery sighed, continuing on past the mall and towards the prospect haunted house.

It was Christmas Eve, and Avery was more than happy to be far from any - and all - holiday celebrations; but Jamie seemed elsewhere as they rode on to the unnamed abandoned manor.

He says he's excited, yet he doesn't really seem too thrilled, noticed Avery, parking the car in front of the massive, two-story building. Maybe he's just sick?

The faded red bricks of the manor looked ready to fall as the two men took their gear - cameras and paranormal investigative equipment - up the stone steps and entered through the creaky front door.

Now this is what I call a haunted house! What better to do on Christmas Eve?

***

By the time they set up their cameras around the house and in various hotspots, night had already fallen.

Jamie's attitude remained strange, but Avery shrugged it off, too anxious to start their investigation. I don't have time to waste checking his constant mood swings.

"So the reports say there are several spirits in here, though none seem to be malicious or demonic," started Avery, noticing that it was nearly ten o'clock. "But be on your guard nonetheless, we never know what's hiding in places like these. There's a cemetery nearby too-"

"Yeah, so, the usual then," snapped Jamie, his voice harsh.

Avery paused. Geeze, what's up with him? That was aggressive. Is he already being affected by a spirit inside? He blinked a few times.

"Yes... So we'll run the EMF detectors around the house, and then we'll do some EVP, okay?" he suggested, as Jamie rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Not like my opinion matters, but yeah, fine," he replied, and instantly disappeared inside the manor before Avery could react.

What in the...

"Jamie! Wait! We didn't do our ritualistic handshake!" squirmed Avery, rushing inside behind his friend.

The brutal darkness of the manor hit him hard in the face.

"Jamie! Dude, where did you go? We shouldn't split up," he coughed, standing to the right of the entrance. "We don't know this place well enough. Damn, so much for being on our guard," he added, peeking around the room, squinting in the dark.

Jamie, what the heck? Where did you go?

Avery felt that he was alone. Did he go upstairs? Maybe he decided to get started up there?

Avery pulled out his EMF detector - a device that measures electromagnetic fields - and grabbed one of the portable cameras they left in the hallway near the door. He filmed himself.

"We're at the unnamed abandoned manor in Santa Barbara, California, documenting a spiritual presence that's supposedly not malicious, but not really well understood by local paranormal experts either," he said, speaking to the camera.

He switched the night vision option on, and turned the camera around, showing the EMF detector and the numbers flashing on it.

"The EMF is currently pretty dead, flashing at point zero. That means there's not much happening right now. Jamie disappeared," he explained, carefully walking forward in the dark.

The EMF detector's numbers spiked slightly.

"Ah, look at that, point three! That's a big shift," he exclaimed, filming the device excitedly. A quick and distant jingle of bells interrupted Avery before he could speak again.

He panned the camera back on himself and froze, his eyes wide. "Woah," he whispered, listening attentively.

The jingle happened again, this time a little heavier. It's like... sleigh bells. Sleigh bells? What the heck?

A light, airy breeze came through, lifting every hair on his body. "Jamie..." he heard in a voice that whistled somewhere near his ears. Avery jumped and almost dropped the camera to the ground.

"Huh? What the... Jamie? Jamie! Where is he?" he squealed, clutching the camera so tightly his hands ached.

Something distinctly moved upstairs, right above him.

I think that's... the master bedroom? Or one of the offices? Damn, this place is too big.

"Was that you, Jamie? Or was that... you? Whoever you are?" he asked out loud, moving the camera around to film the entire entryway.

He saw and heard nothing else. "I've gotta go find Jamie," he whispered, though more to himself than to the camera. "This is getting too weird, even for me."

He tiptoed to the staircase with difficulty. How the heck did Jamie get up there so fast in the dark? He doesn't even have his flashlight!

Avery crept up the stairs, and halfway to the first landing, the jingle sound occurred again, seemingly closer and stronger than before. His heart pounded.

"What is that? It's like... Santa Claus," he admitted, holding in his laughter.

Someone is pranking us, he thought, resuming his way up the stairs.

He rapidly identified which room he heard the noises from, and when he entered it, he once again almost dropped the camera.

"Jamie?" he questioned, finding his friend sitting on the floor, legs crossed, eyes closed, and a curious wave of energy surrounding him. The EMF meter spiked rapidly and beeped, indicating a massive electromagnetic surge .

"Dude! Why didn't you call me? This is huge!" yelled Avery, filming the device and then all around the room, hoping to document some spooky activity.

The jingling bells resounded, apparently emanating from an area near Jamie; but upon closer inspection, Avery realized otherwise.

The bells are coming FROM Jamie. But he doesn't have any bells... is he POSSESSED? By... the spirit of Santa Claus? Is that who is here? This makes no sense.

"Who... who are you?" he asked, pointing the camera at Jamie.

Jamie's eyes opened instantly. "Your friend doesn't want to be here. Take him home," he said, his voice not his own.

Woah, thought Avery, paralyzed. He's never been like that before. Were our sources wrong? Are we dealing with demons?

"Go home. You don't belong here... today," added Jamie, his eyes focused on Avery's camera. Slowly, a faint, soft music played, as if coming from the hallway. Huh? A phone, maybe?

Avery felt around his pockets and realized his phone was in his car; and he quickly remembered Jamie's was too. Okay, what the hell is going on here?

"You need to go. Your friend doesn't want to be here. It's not right," insisted the spirit possessing Jamie.

"Y-y-you... you're in his head? Why does he want to go? What's going on?" asked Avery, shaking.

The music intensified, and he recognized the tune though he couldn't quite place it.

Jamie blinked. "It's Christmas. You both don't belong here today. Go home," he spoke clearly.

Avery squinted. "What? But... Jamie hates Christmas," he muttered, forgetting he was speaking to a spirit. And why would that matter anyway? Since when are ghosts affected by holidays?

Jamie cackled as the music boomed again, blaring; as if a stereo was in the same room and someone progressively raised the volume.

Oh, I know what this song is, realized Avery, shuddering.

"You hate Christmas. Jamie only came along to make you happy. He wants to be home with his girlfriend. You took him away from Christmas. We don't like that," spat possessed Jamie, his voice deeper.

That's Christmas music. And that voice HAS to be demonic.

Jamie's body fell backwards with a loud thud, and Avery gasped; seconds later, Jamie jumped up, his eyes fluttering and his breathing irregular.

"Dude... go... let's get the hell out of here," Jamie panted, as the Christmas music ascended in volume, becoming louder than a concert venue, overwhelming and painful.

This thing wants to force us out by playing music until our ears explode!

Avery nodded fervently as he and Jamie raced downstairs, horrific notes of "Jingle Bells" obnoxiously blasting in waves, threatening to destroy their eardrums with every passing second.

"Go, hurry! We'll get the gear back later!" screeched Jamie, shoving Avery down the last steps and hurrying him through the front door. They slammed it behind them and ran to the car, breathless, panicked and unsure of what happened.

After a few moments, once their hearts resumed beating normally, Avery felt himself smile. A Christmas ghost? Jamie was playing me. A prank, right?

"So... you like Christmas?" he asked, as Jamie kicked dirt with his shoe. "Yeah... I guess I did have a secret," he confessed, as Avery crossed his arms.

Either he pulled this off to teach me a lesson, or we really did deal with a ghost who knows well kept secrets: all these years and I never knew my best friend didn't hate Christmas like I do.

A loud creaking noise brought them back to reality as the front door of the manor opened on its own, and the music blasted through, along with a painful, chill inducing wail.

"MEEERRYY CHRISTMAAAAS!"

The boys couldn't get in the car fast enough.

I'll never take Jamie away from his Christmas celebration again.