Phasmophobia - N.C.U. - Part 3 - Alt Chapter (Patreon)

Key: FD, MC, Possession, Sleep

Description: With Laura nowhere to be seen, Carly comes face to face with her own ethereal being. 

“I found a room…and the sensor says the temperature inside is below freezing. That’s not good, right?” Carly asked nervously.

“No, that means the heat isn’t working right in that room.” Christine replied. “We should leave a note so they can fix that.” 

“No!” Shouted Carly in annoyance. “Isn’t that, like, one of the things that Laura said we should look out for? Like a room that is below freezing means there is a ghost or something?”

“Wasn’t that an M.Night Shyamalan movie?” Rayne asked sarcastically. 

“Who cares?” Eve responded as the frustration continued to build in her voice. “Just be careful. If you want to use one of the devices that Laura gave you until we get in touch with her, do that. I can see Jessy on the camera. She's on her way to the second floor. Just…do what you're doing for now until we find Laura, ok?” 

“Fine!” Carly said, putting the radio back on her belt and pushing her way into the classroom. The room itself was no different than any other classroom from the late nineties. The desks that filled the room were all too small for any adult to sit, with the seats and desktops all connected as one piece. Chipped, short bookshelves lined the wall by the window while the back wall was covered with lockers, most of which were open. At the front of the room was the teacher’s desk, with the ultimate relic that time forgot sitting atop it: a globe. Behind it was a chalkboard still streaked with faded chalk marks, while the rest of the room was littered with stray papers and the occasional pencil or pen. 

—--------------Beginning Alt Scene —-----

As Carly moved into the classroom, slowly and deliberately, she began to scan the room around her. And then out of the corner of her eyes she saw a person and screamed as she turned to shine her flashlight in their direction…only to find that it was her own reflection in a mirror. “I’ve got to get a grip.” She said, panting and laughing at herself. 

While she recovered she moved closer to the mirror. It was strangely dark, as if the glass wasn’t perfectly clear, and whatever was reflected in it appeared slightly darker than in reality. It was oval shaped, and had an ornate black and green edge to it that appeared to be marble. “Hello…” she said softly, sliding her hand along the mirror’s curved edges. “What are you doing in a place like this?” 

She took a few moments to examine the mirror, examining its appearance more so than her reflection. Finally she took a moment to actually look at her reflection in the mirror. Despite there being a slight tint, it was clearly in good shape with no visible cracks or scratches. She paused to fluff her hair and check her appearance. “Just because I’m in an abandoned school doesn’t mean I shouldn’t look my best!” She said to herself with a smile. 

As she finished checking her reflection, she noticed a person standing in the back of the classroom. With a gasp, she spun around and shined the flashlight around to where the person should have been…but there was no one there. In a panic she swung the flashlight around the room, checking every corner, but still she found no sign of anyone else in there with her. She was completely alone. 

She was about to storm out of the room, half annoyed and half terrified, but before she did she took one last look in the mirror. There, again, was the figure of a woman standing in the room. This time she stood directly behind Carly, slowly rubbing her hands through Carly’s hair.

Carly, understandably, lost her shit. Instantly she tried to scream, but nothing came out. In fact her body didn’t even move. She simply found herself staring into the mirror, watching the ghostly figure slowly scratching her head, and ruffling her hair. The strangest part was that she didn’t feel her hair being moved, and when her hair fell in front of her face in the reflection, her own hair didn’t seem to move at all.

She was panting in fear but yet somehow was stuck, unable to move a muscle as she focused helplessly on the image before her. All she could do was watch as the invisible woman behind her stroked her hair. She could clearly see the woman in the mirror. Her skin was pale and shrunken, almost like it had been deflated somehow. Her jaw was distended and hanging down and what teeth were left in her mouth were rotted. The woman’s own hair was long and black, and hanging down over the sides of her face. It was just messy enough to cover her eyes, but Carly could feel them staring at her, as if they were staring into her soul. 

Carly’s body was stuck in a state of panic as she stared at herself, but still she was unable to run, unable to move at all. And then she began to notice a change in the reflection. The room behind her was fading away and being replaced with a simple black, flat background, and an eerie purple glow coming from the woman behind her. Piece by piece of the classroom vanished, until only the two of them remained in a void. 

And then Carly gasped in terror as she herself started to disappear from the reflection. Little by little her body became more transparent, while the woman behind her became more solid, more real. Carly could only watch helplessly as her image faded away more and more, until she was completely…gone. 

Back in the room, Carly’s body began to shake and twitch as her eyes rolled into her head, revealing only the whites of her eyes. A gurgling sound came from somewhere deep within her as a small bit of drool slipped from the corner of her mouth. She shook and convulsed for several moments before her body fell still. When her eyes focused again, they were completely blank and unseeing, unfocused, as her head tilted slowly towards the mirror. 

In the mirror, only the ghostly woman could be seen. But as the reflection of the ghost raised its right arm up, Carly’s arm rose with it. And as the ghost raised its left arm up, so too did Carly raise her left arm, like a puppet on strings. Neither the ghostly reflection nor Carly herself had the slightest hint of an expression on their faces. But the movements in the mirror translated instantly into Carly’s movements in her body. She was fully possessed by the image of the ghost behind her. 

The person in the reflection turned towards the classroom door, and with her Carly shifted and started to walk. A rattling sound emanated from Carly’s mouth as she glided slowly towards the door, giving no indication whatsoever that it was her body making the noise. 

—-------------End Alt Scene—-------------

“Everybody ok?” Eve asked as the frustration grew in her voice. Between the creepy entryway to the school behind her, and all of the weird things that were being reported over the radio, she had just about had enough of this place and it was starting to manifest less in fear and more in annoyance. 

“Annoyed and terrified, just like before.” Came Rayne’s sarcastic response. 

“I’m fine…” Christine chimed in, sounding surprisingly calmer than the other two. 

“I’m…fine…really…” Panted Jessy.

“Are you ok?” Eve asked. 

“Yes…stairs…are…a bitch…” Came the response in between huffs. 

“Cardio.” Rayne responded flatly. 

“Fuck… … … … … …”  There was the sound of several long pants over the radio. “ … .. you.” Jessy finally finished. 

“Carly?” Eve asked over the radio, but her only response was a long, drawn out, silent pause. “Caaaaaarrrrrrllllyyyy?” Eve said, dragging out her name. “You there?” She was met with another long silence. 

“Son of a bitch.” She responded in frustration as she turned to look at the sensor board. There were no contacts, currently. She quickly spun back around to the computer and started flipping through the cameras. “Is anyone near the south side, first floor?” She asked into the radio.

“I’m in the basement on the south side.” Christine replied calmly. 

“Why the hell are you in the basement?!” Came Rayne’s annoyed and shocked reply. 

“If you're looking for ghosts, creepy basements seem like a great place to start.” Christine responded calmly. 

“Could you head upstairs and see if you can find Carly?” Eve asked into the radio. “The last reading I had from her was on the south side first floor. But I don’t know what room she was in front of.” 

“Alright, I’m almost done with my sweep here. I’ll go check it out in a minute.” Christine responded. 

“Thank you!” Eve sighed as she tried to figure out where Carly and Laura had disappeared. “Any sign of Laura yet?” She asked nervously. 

"I’m on the north side second floor now.” Jessy said, finally having caught her breath. “And I’m pretty sure I see her, hang on.” 

Eve started to flip through the cameras again rapidly until she came across an image. She nearly jumped when the clear image of a person moving down the hallway of the second floor appeared onscreen, but then breathed a sigh of relief. It was clearly Laura. Her curly haired pony tail was hard to miss. “I have her.” She said on the radio quietly “She’s moving into a classroom, looks like 212.” 

“I see her!” Jessy responded. 

Eve watched as Laura slowly entered the classroom, only to see Jessy run down the hallway and follow her. “Finally something is going right.” Eve said with a sigh, just as something else appeared on the camera. For a split second, it seemed like a small orb had floated ever so quietly into the room both girls had just entered. 

To be continued…