Thread: Eldritch Eclipse ( Casketslinger & SweetMarie)

Jack St. Evans sat in his small bachelor's apartment reading over and over the letter he'd received from a lawyer by the name of Ebenezer Vincent Esq. From what he could ascertain from this letter, this man had apparently represented his late Aunt's estate and was now passing on the news of this unexpected inheritance in the form of his extremely wealthy aunt's house and the contents contained within. Normally this would be either a very sad event or a joyous one depending on one's relationship with their late relative but that was not the case for Jack. He was more confused than anything else, as he never really knew his mother's sister, Aunt Adeline Burkehearst and really had almost no memory of her other than a single photograph in the family's scrapbook. He and his twin sister were no more than infants and his aunt and some man that their parents couldn't really remember too much about were holding the two of them in their arms in front of her Victorian style mansion which he was told was in the backcountry of Massachusetts. The man had been fat and bald and dressed in what looked like a bed sheet toga, with a face that always seemed to look slightly familiar to him but he could never quite place.When Jack and his sister had pressed their parents on the identity of the strange looking man the only information they could offer was that their mothers older sister had always been a free spirit and the mans name might have been Al or Mr. Crow- or some such thing but Auntie Adeline had always had many suitors over the years and that one didnt stick out in their memories. Jack placed the letter down on the table and sipped at the bottle of whisky which he'd almost finished now. He looked at the various other bills and official papers sitting around, picking up one that stated 'FINAL NOTICE, PAYMENT DUE' on the outside of the envelope. It was the lease for his business' headquarters and if he couldn't provide payment by the end of the month they would be kicking him and his life's work out onto the street. Jack's career, which had started out as a college hobby and grew into something he thought he could make a living out of was Paranormal Investigation. Jack had started Erie Arcane Investigations back when he'd been a sophomore in college and all though he'd been majoring in Art History he'd always been fascinated with things that go bump in the night. So when the opportunity to pick up a few extra credits and use some of SUNY State University of New York equipment free of charge to go to local haunted spots with a few like minded colleagues , he did it hoping for at the very least, a fun and exciting few weekends. What he'd found out though was that the field really interested him and he was quite good at it. With the burgeoning ghost genre exploding, major TV networks were picking up ametuer paranormal investigation teams and giving them budgets and airtime and it was enough to put stars in Jacks eyes.It wasn't long before the hobby started taking up more time that his major studies and shortly after he found himself dropping out of college all together so that he could follow his passion full time. He took credit cards and a few small loans and bought as much equipment as he could get his hands on. His friends agreed with him as soon they too joined EA Investigations full time, everyone was in, but it was only Jack that had everything on the line. They were on a hot streak trying to put together a demo reel for the networks when it happened. The perfect storm of paranormal activity and EA Investigations were the first to ever explore it, in the small town of Hinsdale NY. Theyd gotten some of the most amazing evidence ever recorded and the team was on a high until it all came crashing down. Unfortunately it turned out to be an extremely well orchestrated hoax, and the team might have even seen the facade if they hadnt been so driven to close the deal with the SciFi network. But when the truth finally came out it was far too late and soon EA Investigations were labeled as fakers in the industry. The jobs dried up and so did the money it wasnt long before he lost some of the teams founding members and had to replace them with outsiders whose motives for interest in the paranormal were less than morally adept. His current team consisted of only one original member other than himself, his long time friend. Henry Simpson was their tech-guy and a peer from college. he had fun doing the ghost hunter thing but didnt share Jacks passion on the subject. The aforementioned amoral new recruits were a older married couple named, Jerry and Trish Newman they owned an antique shop that specialized in haunted artifacts, but that was more of a day job. What they did nights, was film porn using those haunted artifacts in the act. This apparently sold quite well in the niche fetish market and made them quite a bit of money. Theyd joined the team when Jack was at his lowest and it was the extra income supplemented from their extracurricular activities that had kept EA Investigations limping on the last few years. All Jack had to let them do was film a fuck scene in one of the haunted houses after theyd finished the proper investigation. Finally rounding up the team was the intern, 16 year old Kerri Curtland who used her free summer vacations to help out. She was young and probably too stupid to know that EA was a failing endeavor, but her heart was in it and she really truly believed they were helping people. So there it was, Henry was a tech whiz that could get employment anytime he needed it, Jerry and Trish had their own lucrative business and Kerri was so young that if EA failed it probably wouldnt affect her terribly either way. However if EA failed for Jack, he had nothing but a mountain of debt and regret to fall back on. He picked up the letter from Mr. Vincent and scanned the last paragraph again. Normally the news a from an unexpected inheritance wouldve been great news but there was that damn last paragraph to contend with. He read it again and gauged his feelings on the subject entailed as he did so. ....All inheritance is conditional to both St. Evans children reporting to the residence on a date no more than two days from receiving this piece of registered mail, where Mr. Vincent will read Miss Adeline Burkehearst final wishes will be read and fulfilled to the letter. Jack sighed deeply and wondered if his twin sister was reading this same letter right now. He hadnt seen her in years and since the unfortunate incident when they were ten years old they hadnt seen each other more than a handful of times. Theyd both been sent to separate private schools at that age and their parents had done everything in their power to keep the two twins in separate schedules to reduce any long periods of acquaintance since then. Even into adulthood, when both of their parents were killed in a tragic car accident a few years ago the two only shared a brief hour or so of condolence and since then theyd retreated into relative obscurity to one another. All because of some innocent petting their parents had caught them doing when they were children. It had been hard at first, especially since they were twins but as time stretched they too had become like strangers to one another and now Jacks future was determinate on reacquainting himself with her again. Fuck it he said and picked up his cellphone. He scanned down through the numbers and found the one he hadnt pressed since their parents death. Hesitating a second or two more, he finally hit call and waited for his sister to answer. Hello....yeah its me Jack....yeah Jack your brother. How've you been? He spoke into the phone and and fiddled with a pencil sketching random shapes on the letter from the lawyer. No....no, I know its been a long time....yeah....yeah I'm sorry, Look did you get a letter from a lawyer name Vincent?.....Yeah Yeah, Yep Massachusetts, Yeah I know you have your own life in Florida now, but this would really help me out sis. I am kind of hard up for cash right now and I was really hoping you could make the trip up and meet me there. It wouldn't take too long, maybe a weekend and we could go through the antiques she's got horded in there, maybe sell some stuff and get the house in order enough to put it on the market and get it sold. We could split the cash and be done with it. He put his plan out there an hoped for the best. The seemingly random sketch was now starting to take its own form, something like a symbol that looked oddly familiar but nothing he could put his finger on. Oh....I know you're busy, yes I know our relationship has been strained since what happened during the night after mom and dad's funeral, but we were both really emotional and I don't think either of us should blame each other for that slip in judgement, grief can do some really strange things to people........A boyfriend? really?.......No no It's great, I am happy for you. Yeah. Yeah sure, bring him along I'd love to meet him. OK so you'll do it? Really? THAT'S GREAT SIS!! Thank you so much, You have no idea how bad I need this money. Thanks again. Yeah, yeah, No I promise, best behavior....YES I said I PROMISE....OK....ok yeah alright I will see you this Friday then. I'll meet you at Aunt Adeline's house....ok I love you bye. He said and hit 'end' on his cell phone. Jack smiled, happy to be seeing his sister again and hoped that he could keep his desires in check while she visited. The boyfriend would be a good insurance policy to make sure they behaved themselves though. He peered down at the symbol he'd subconsciously drawn on the legal papers and wondered why it looked so damn familiar.