Chapter 22
“Dude! This is totally sick bro! Should we start the streaming already?” as Caroline and Jason prepared to act as if they were the guests staying in this hotel, they heard a voice speaking in a tone that is pretty recognizable if one spends at least some time on the internet.
“What the...” before Caroline could make a comment, three young man, all wearing some kind of online influencer attire, went out of the fire staircase door and almost bumped into her and Jason.
“Sorry dude, but we gotta go live in 3 minutes!” one of the young men, who was asian-looking only had whiter skin and light brown hair, and was also wearing a beanie, quickly apologized to Jason and Caroline, “If you are free tonight, please tune in to the live show ‘Branston Live Show: a dive into the Haunted Prime Royals!’”
“Wait what, this hotel is haunted?” Jason pretended to be oblivious and asked.
“Yes! And we have sources in the hotel, so stay away if you are worried about your safety!” this guy stayed behind for a brief moment and elaborated to Caroline and Jason, “We’re gonna explore it after another incident, it’s gonna be lit!”
Jason and Caroline’s eyes met, then they both followed the three young men down the hallway.
“This is the direction of the eye monster in the limbo.” as they ran and caught up to the three young men, Jason whispered to Caroline.
“Is that so? ” Caroline frowned, “These idiots… they might have some information we need. Let’s follow them for a while.”
“I don’t like this. They shouldn’t be here, it’s way too dangerous,” Jason started trying to think of some excuse to make the three young men leave the premise, without alerting the hotel staff and personnel.
“I don’t think we can get rid of them that easily. It may just take too much time.” Caroline said: “Let’s follow them and see what they know, we can leave them be when we find something.”
“Hey, can we explore with you?” Jason caught up to the tallest blonde young man wearing a cartoon character hat and carrying a camera on a selfie stick, who seemed to be in charge, “I promise we won’t disturb your stream, we are paranormal fans too.”
The young man took a look at Jason, then took a look at Caroline, then answered with a smile: “Of course, no problem. Always nice to have a pretty lady on the team. Do you want to appear on screen? If you want to, I can bring a couple hundred followers to your socials easily.”
“Thanks! But I’m good. Can you tell me your name? I believe I saw your face before, but I am not too into streaming so I apologize.” Caroline turned down her usual sass and sarcasm.
“No problem. My name is Branston, I am the host of the Branston show, I do net videos and streaming. And I have over 6 million followers over all social media platforms.” the blond young man pointed at his blue T-shirt with a pink “Branston Gang” logo and said.
“I’m Brian, I’m his assistant.” the young man with black hair, light brown skin and bright eyes on Branston’s right side, who was also wearing a black “Branston Gang” T-shirt with a white and blue logo.
“We met just there, I am the field researcher. My name is Adam.” the third asian-looking young man with a beanie nodded at both Caroline and Jason, “I’m afraid it will be a problem, if you want to explore with us you’ll have to sign some release forms, because we can’t guarantee that you won’t be in the shots. And it’s a live stream so we cannot edit you out.”
“Ok, we’ll sign the release form.” Caroline agreed on behalf of both her and Jason, “But we may branch off mid way if we find something.”
“That wouldn’t be an issue. But if you stop appearing in the stream, you’re not gonna get full percentage of the royalties.”
Signing a live stream release form is quick and easy. The 1.5% max royalty from the stream is limited and cheap but could still prove useful.
“Hello my dear and awesome Branston Gang. We are here, live at the famous haunted hotel Prime Royals! ” by the time both release forms were signed and handed to Adam, Branston and Brian had already started their livestream.
“Today’s stream we will have two additional guests who will explore the haunted Prime Royals hotel with us!” Branston brought his camera on a selfie stick to Caroline and Jason’s faces: “Caroline! Jason! Give the Branston Gang a warm greeting! And Branston Gang, welcome Caroline and Jason!”
“Hi Branston Gang! Happy to be on the show!” Jason was the one more familiar with being in front of a camera. While Caroline, flexible and quick witted she was, she was not entirely comfortable with being in front of a live streaming camera, a live stream of thousands of people watching, no less.
“Now! As promised, what we’re going to do today, is the explore this notorious haunted hotel.” Branston started leading the way down the hallway while livestreaming, “And what is the history behind this haunted hotel? Take it away Adam!”
Camera was then taken over by Adam: “Hello Branston Gang, this is field researcher and paranormal expert Adam. As many of you know, we are exploring the Prime Royals Hotel, which is a lesser known haunted hotel compared to some others. But its history is way more creepy and deadly.”
“For example, for other haunted hotels, how many of them have ghosts that MAY, or may not , have killed people?” Adam continued, with deliberately exaggerating tone: “Many of you may have heard of the good old and tired story of ghostly figures roaming the halls and visiting guest rooms at night. But the ghost of the Prime Royals Hotel is something entirely different.”
“For example, did you know, that there is a time table for suicides at the Prime Royals Hotel? Ever since the early 1930s, for every three to four years, there would be a wave of suicide or strange and unexplained death. Last wave of suicide and strange deaths happened just a bit more than two years ago, with two suicides, and three unexplained deaths.”
“One happened in the bathroom, a lady guest for some unexplained reason drowned herself in the sink; And a newly wed couple, the groom strangled himself with his bare hands and the bride stabbed herself to death with pieces of glass from a broken mirror.” Adam became more and more enthusiastic since he started talking, “And just in case you’re wondering, yes it has happened again! Our friends at the Prime Royals Hotel got wind of a weird incident last night - a newly wed groom almost jumped out of the window here. And if he did, he would have impaled himself on the fences down below ...”
A sudden weird feeling came over both Jason and Caroline, which made them stop following the three young men midway.
“Something happened? ” Brian was the closest to them, so he stopped and asked.
“Yo, Adam, hold on. Looks like we lost signal?” Bransto also stopped and called out to Adam, then showed his phone screen to Brian, Jason and Caroline: “Can you check your cell to see if it’s just me?”
“No, mine too.” Brian took out his phone and tried to open the streaming app, “I got ‘Service Unavailable’ here.”