by BL Maxwell
Jason read from his phone where he’d noted the details. “It’s the Old Sacramento Tunnels,” he read. He’d gotten a call earlier that day from a business that thought they needed some paranormal help.
“You mean Old Sac? Like under Old Sac?” Jimbo asked.
“Yeah, it’s a series of tunnels that were created after there was a huge flood in the 1800s. They decided to raise the city so they jacked up most of the buildings and added another story to them. Since Old Sac was mostly businesses, they built on top of the existing businesses.”
“So, what’s been going on?” I asked. “There has to be a lot of ghosts down there. It’s one of the oldest parts of Sacramento.”
“Well, the guy I talked to said they have a restaurant and their storage area is down in the tunnels. He said if they go down there alone they either get shoved or sometimes the door will close and lock and they’re not able to get out. Sometimes when the door locks the lights go out. I guess the ghost likes to be nice at times and not turn out the lights.”
“What a dick move. That would scare the shit out of me,” Jimbo added. He was twitchier than me, and that was saying something.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful. We’ll make sure none of us are ever alone in that area. When we get there, we’ll have the owner walk us through the whole thing, including the tunnels under their business. If any of us are uncomfortable with it, we’re gone. Remember we don’t have to do this, it’s supposed to be fun.”
We both looked at Jason and laughed. Laughed loud and hard.
“Like you would let us leave once we got there and it was all cool and creepy and scary as fuck.”
“Fuck you, Wade,” Jason said, with a shove to my arm and a laugh. Then he rubbed my arm, just to make sure I knew he was joking.
I smiled and patted his hand. “We’re good, Jason, but you know there is no way in hell you would want to leave. We might as well plan on staying, because as soon as something happens, you’re going to be in it until we figure it all out.”
“Yeah, I admit, I can’t get enough of it. I just hope this time we don’t get any spirits that feel the need to hitch a ride with either of us. That shit was not pleasant at all.”
All three of us hummed in agreement. It really was not fun having something else control us. Even though Jimbo hadn’t been a part of that, he’d seen it all, and it really was freaky to see what looked like a ghost superimposed over a living person.
We drove the rest of the way to downtown Sacramento, then continued on to Old Sacramento, or Old Sac as we all called it. We drove down the main street made of cobblestone and bounced our way along until we arrived at our destination, The Hitching Post. We pulled into a parking space right in front of it. Luckily it wasn’t peak tourist time or we’d never have been able to park so close.
We got out of the car and stood looking at the restaurant for a second before I went to the back of the car to get the go bag. It held what we’d need for just a quick run through of the property. An EMF detector, a camera, and a portable voice recorder, just to see if we got lucky and found something before we actually had to stay the night.
Armed with our gear, we walked through the door of the restaurant. It was a lot like most of the buildings in old town, made of brick and easily identified as being from the 1800s. They’d tried to leave most of the architecture alone when remodeling or changing businesses. Trying to still preserve that Old West feel.
The hostess walked up to us with menus as we stood at the entrance. “Hello, gentlemen, three of you today?”
“Actually, we’re here to meet Mr. Peterson. We have an appointment,” Jason explained.
She gave us an odd look before directing us to a table that was set away from the others before walking back toward what had to be the kitchen area.
“Well, that was a little weird,” Jimbo commented. Jimbo always commented.
“She either knows what’s been going on or has no clue and is wondering why three guys are wanting to talk to her manager when they don’t seem to have anything to do with the restaurant business.”
“Hey, speak for yourself, Wade. I own a restaurant. Remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. Sorry, man. You know what I meant.”
We settled into the chairs at the table and as soon as we were seated a man about Jimbo’s age with dark hair came walking toward us.
“Gentlemen, I assume you’re Wade Rivers and Jason Thomas?” He seemed to consider us all and held his hand out.
I shook it and confirmed, “Yes, I’m Wade, this is my boyfriend, Jason, and this is Jimbo Collins. He’s our newest recruit.”
He shook all of our hands. “Pleased to meet you all. I’m Dean Peterson. Now I assume you are aware of why I called you?”
“Well, we assumed you have a ghost problem,” Jimbo snarked back at him. I gave him a “what the fuck” look that he promptly ignored.
I cleared my throat, “Mr. Peterson—”
“Please, call me Dean.”
“Okay, Dean, can you tell me exactly what’s been going on here?”
Dean was staring very intently at Jimbo. “Sorry, do I know you from somewhere?”
“No fucking way,” Jimbo mumbled, but in his usual way so we all heard it.
“Sorry, you just look familiar to me. Anyway, as you know, most of the buildings down here are from the 1800s. The area we’re in now is actually built above what was the original town. Back then, there was a big cholera outbreak and hundreds died. Not long after that there was a huge flood and hundreds more died. They had nowhere to put all the bodies so they buried them in mass graves down here. Many of them were discovered through the years when they’ve excavated for various building projects.”
“Right, I remember learning about that on the news when they were down here working on one of the buildings. They were digging and came across a huge mass grave they didn’t know about before. They learned a lot about what happened in Sacramento from those remains.”
“That’s correct, Jason. We’re pretty close to where they found one of those graves. Which leads me to why I called you. We’ve been open for about a year. There was another business here before us, but it wasn’t a restaurant. They probably didn’t have a need to use the lower level for storage or any reason to go down there. We started using it as dry storage and somewhat of a wine cellar. It’s the perfect temperature and a really big space, so we took advantage of it.”
“How long have you been using it for storage?” I asked as I started taking notes on my phone.
“We’ve been using it from the start. Weird things have always happened, but they were more like pranks. A glass might be moved, a napkin misplaced. But never anything that felt dangerous or harmful. That changed last month. One of our waitresses went down to get a bottle of wine and the door slammed shut. She jiggled it and tried to get it to open, but it wouldn’t budge then the lights went out.”
“Oh shit!” Jimbo interjected.
“Exactly. She was trapped down there for about four hours before we realized she was gone. It was during dinner rush and we were slammed. Everyone thought she’d just walked off the job when no one could find her. When one of the busboys went down there to get some supplies, he found her slumped against the door.”
“Was she okay?” Jason asked, voice full of concern.
“She is now. She was terrified. She refused to say what happened, and she wouldn’t come back to work. I tried to get her to stay, but she said it wasn’t worth it.”
“Have you been down there?” I asked.
“I have, many times. But I’ve never seen anything out of the ordinary. A few of the staff refuse to go down there. And since that night there have been even more happenings in the restaurant. More violent. Glasses being broken, forks being twisted out of shape. Odd things we have no explanation for.”
“Well, guys, what do you say we go down and check it out?” I asked Jason and Jimbo.
Jason pushed his chair back and stood up. “C
ome on, let’s see what we can see.” He winked at me, and Jimbo rolled his eyes as he pushed his chair back and joined us.
“Dean, care to lead the way?”
“Sure, right through here.” He led us through to the back of the restaurant and past the kitchen area. Everyone in the kitchen was busy, no doubt getting ready for the dinner rush that would start soon. At the back there was a wooden door that when he opened it led to a narrow set of stairs. At the bottom was a metal door. “This is it. All of the businesses down here have these same doors. I guess they were preparing for if and when it flooded that bad again.”
“I can understand how no one heard her calling for help. There is no way anyone would be heard from way down here,” Jason said as he started down the stairs.
“Wait a second, let’s get out some of the equipment. See if we get lucky and pick something up while we’re down there.” I rummaged in the backpack and took out what we needed. I gave Jimbo a camera, Jason the voice recorder, and I took the EMF detector.
We walked down to the bottom of the stairs, and slowly Dean opened the metal door. It slid open silently, and we all walked into the basement area. It had a dirt floor, but it was kept very clean. It smelled like damp earth but not rot or mildew. There were pallets with various supplies stacked on them and boxes of wine, all kept in neat order.
“Let’s spread out and try to cover the whole room,” I directed. It was a pretty large area, probably sixty feet long by forty feet wide. “What’s on the other side of that wall?” Three of the walls were brick, like the upper floor, but one was wood, and looked like it was recent construction.
“We put that up to separate this area from the rest of the larger space. This whole block is a huge open area under here. It has streets and hallways and storefronts just like what the street level above looks like.”
Jason looked between Jimbo and I before wandering off to the far corner. I could faintly hear him asking questions while the recorder ran. I walked off in the opposite direction and turned on the EMF meter. Jimbo wandered off toward the wall that was the only one not made of brick. We all wandered around for a few minutes under the watchful and curious eye of Dean.
I was waving the EMF meter around looking for spikes when it suddenly started pinging in the red. It was sensing something and whatever it was it was strong. “Jason, you hear this?” When he didn’t answer, I looked over in his direction. He was standing facing away from me toward the brick wall. He wasn’t moving at all so I walked over to him. When I reached his side, his eyes were wide open, and once again, he had the same look he’d had in the basement of The Vineyard House.
“Jason?” I shook his arm, trying to snap him out of it.
He shook his head and blinked before meeting my eyes. “It’s okay, Wade.”
“You’re sure? You didn’t look quite right a second ago.”
“I’m okay, but they’re not. They need our help. They’ve been trapped here for over 150 years, now they’re impatient and ready to leave. They want us to help.”
“When you say ‘they’ you mean?”
“They, the people that were buried down here after the flood. They don’t understand why they’re trapped here. They want to leave, Wade.” He turned to me with a look of panic. “We have to help them.”
I grabbed Jason in a hug and looked over his shoulder at Jimbo. He stood there stock still, looking nervous as hell. Dean didn’t look much better, but he was trying to remain professional.
“What do you mean exactly?” Dean asked and stepped closer to us.
“I mean, they’re awake now, and they want to leave. They won’t stop hurting your employees until someone helps them.” Jason pulled away from me and grabbed my hand. “We have to help them, Wade.”
“Then we will. Dean, when can we start?”
“How about now?”
“Fuck,” Jimbo once again mumbled to no one in particular.
“Let’s do this.” Jason nodded at me in agreement and Jimbo reluctantly did the same.
Dean looked between the three of us and a grin played at his lips.
“Right, let’s do this.”
* * *
To Be Continued . . .
About the Author
BL Maxwell grew up in a small town listening to her grandfather spin tales about his childhood. Later she became an avid reader and after a certain vampire series she became obsessed with fanfiction. She soon discovered Slash fanfiction and later discovered the MM genre and was hooked.
Many years later, she decided to take the plunge and write down some of the stories that seem to run through her head late at night when she's trying to sleep.
Contact:
[email protected]
Also available by BL Maxwell
Also in the Valley Ghosts Series
Ghost Haunted - Valley Ghosts Series 1.5
Wade Rivers finally has what he’s always wanted, his best friend Jason Thomas as his boyfriend. Their first date, hopefully the first of many, starts out with a simple dinner, but Wade has a surprise in store for Jason. They end up at a haunted house exhibit for Halloween.
Wade finds out that Jason loves investigating the paranormal, but he’s not as enthused about the other attractions. When they meet up with a fellow paranormal researcher, Jimbo, their fun night gets more frightening with each room in the haunted house.
From the beginning to the end, they’ll visit every nightmare imaginable, and they’ll all find out some truths about each other they never thought would come to light.
16,933 words. Novella length.
OTHER TITLES
Better Together
Since being thrown out of his home by his parents, Caden has been struggling to survive on the streets.
He lives in constant fear, stresses over his next meal, and dreads trying to find a safe place to sleep at night. He eventually finds an unlocked car and settles in to sleep, but is soon interrupted when someone steals the car. With little choice but to ride along, Caden soon learns that first impressions aren’t always correct.
Seventeen-year-old Damario has been raising his little brother and sister by himself since his parents were deported. He never knew how hard it was going to be paying the bills and making sure there was always food on the table. Or how hard it would be to hold his family together when they all depended on him to do it. He finds himself stealing cars to make ends meet, but he never expected to find someone sleeping in the back of one of them. And he really didn’t expect this stowaway to change his life.
When Damario brings Caden home, it was supposed to be just for a shower and a hot meal, but he can hardly kick him out onto the streets again. There is no way he could have seen that by saving Caden that night, he was also saving himself. When Damario’s world starts to fall apart, they both realize that the answer to all of their problems is helping each other, and although the world tries to drive them apart, they really are better together.
Ride
Kace Hallard leaves Sacramento, bound for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, something he and his father had always planned to do together. When his father realizes he won’t be able to make the trip, he makes Kace promise to go on his own.
He takes off, not sure he’s up to the challenge. When he has mechanical trouble a few hours away from home, he questions his choice even more.
Striker Johnson is just out buying lunch for the guys at the shop when he notices the handsome stranger in the parking lot checking over his Harley and looking confused. He approaches him and offers his help.
The next few hours fly by, and Kace asks Striker to join him.
It’s the trip of a lifetime for them both, one man looking to ease his grief, the other riding toward emotions he has no hope of controlling. One way or another they’ll have to decide if they ride together or separately, when life throws them one more curve.
Stone Under Skin
Ankit has lived many lifetimes. Once, long ago, he was made of stone, and marked with symb
ols and sigils meant to safeguard him and allow him to protect and serve others. He’s a living gargoyle now, cursed to live as a human; always watching, at all times aware, and constantly searching for his fated one.
While walking home from his job as a librarian, Ethan Lewis is beaten and robbed. Ankit stumbles upon him, and instantly recognizes him as the man he’s fated to. He helps him back to his apartment, and after tending his injuries, watches over him.
Fate has woven their lives together for centuries, but in every lifetime, they could never live freely, or love each other as Ankit has often dreamed of. To change their destiny, they’ll fight together with other gargoyles, and a young watcher, who is unaware of the tremendous power she possesses. This will be the last battle against their creator, and they’ll either die fighting for their freedom, or survive to live the life they’ve always yearned for.
Salt and Lime
Sal Hutton books a trip to Cancún on a whim. Needing some time off from work, he sees an opportunity to go and takes it—alone. After a red-eye flight and full of excitement for what he might experience over the next week, he strikes up a conversation with the handsome taxi driver who gives him a ride to his hotel, and hopes their paths cross again.
Derrik Green came to Cancún for a vacation, and two years later is still here, after falling in love with the city and its people. He’s working as a taxi driver and is happier than ever. After dropping off the man named Sal, he can’t stop thinking about him, and hopes that eventually he’ll call, even if it’s just to hire him for a ride or private tour.
Soon their wish comes true and they’re spending time together, enjoying all the sights and adventures Cancun has to offer.
Sal and Derrik weren’t looking for love, but maybe they were meant to meet here, half a world away from their regular lives, and right in the middle of a tropical paradise. With so many people behind them, they might just get their happily ever after under starry nights and surrounded by the beautiful blue Caribbean.