“I should have known that you would be here already.” Jessica smiled as she walked up and handed her friend a paper cup of tea. “I figured you would want one of these.”
“You know me well.” Rachel smiled as she accepted the cup gratefully. “Any sign of Jack and Marc?”
“They’re right behind me. It takes longer to make fancy coffees than it does to make plain ol’ tea,” she chuckled.
“They’re still drinking that crap?” Rachel asked, shaking her head. “They aren’t going to be able to afford that habit for much longer.”
“I figured I’d let them indulge for one more day before we all become poor entrepreneurs.” Jessica grinned. She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around that fact. They’d barely graduated and now they were starting a business. It was a dream come true, and she just hoped that it didn’t somehow evolve into a nightmare and come crashing down around them.
Rachel saw the boys trotting down the street towards them, large coffee cups in hand and grins on their faces. It was nice to see them look excited. She knew that they wouldn’t always look like that. She knew that within a week they would be exhausted and want to throw things again, but for now the excited optimism was a good sign.
The boys had just joined the group when the car pulled up to the curb. Rachel watched their estate agent get out and gave the woman a smile.
Sally Butler had been good to them since they’d shown an interest in the property. She hadn’t’ questioned their age or their income. She had taken them at face value in their interest in the building, she had taken them seriously and Rachel had to appreciate that. It helped that she was a family friend.
It wasn’t often that a group of young people wanting to make a commercial purchase, were taken seriously. It wasn’t often that someone looked at them as anything other than just a bunch of naïve kids.
They were serious. They had the capital. They had a business plan and a loan, just in case they might need it. They had everything in place to cover their butts, but Sally knew none of that up front. Yet she had taken them seriously.
“Sally, good afternoon!” Rachel walked over and shook her hand.
Sally juggled her armful of paperwork to return the handshake. “It’s great to see you all again.” She looked from one young face to another. “Have you reviewed the paperwork that I gave you?”
Rachel nodded. “It was all quite informative. I assume you have looked into our financing and know that everything is in order on that end?”
Sally nodded. “Yes, you are probably the most well organised group of twenty something year olds that I’ve ever met.”
Jessica chuckled. “Rachel likes it when we are organised.”
“I can see that.” Sally nodded. “Have you come to a decision about the property?”
Rachel glanced back at the building, a smile tugging at her lips. She hadn’t even had the chance to discuss her decision with the group, but it didn’t matter. She knew that they would agree with her plan. She knew that they were on board with whatever she decided.
“Yeah, we’re going to take the whole building. It makes no sense to just lease one floor at the price it’s listed at.” Rachel glanced back at the group and watched the smiles bloom on their faces. “If we’re going to jump in, we might as well jump in with both feet.”
Sally’s eyes widened for half a second before she began to nod in excitement. “That’s wonderful news. The owner will be pleased, I’m certain, with your offer. I’m certain he’ll just be pleased to be rid of the place, if I’m to be absolutely frank.”
Rachel chuckled. “Well we are happy to take it off his hands. Aren’t we, guys?”
The rest of the group nodded vigorously and Rachel had a feeling that this was going to be the start of something absolutely wonderful.
Chapter 2
Building Up
* * *
It took a week to finalise the paper work and the inspections and for the final details to fall into place. Rachel pushed it through as fast as she could. She was eager to get started. She was eager to have the deed in hand, so to speak. She knew that she wouldn’t actually get a physical copy of the deed, but she still wanted to know that the building was theirs.
She had a contractor sorted who had assessed the building and given them a reasonable quote on getting it up to functioning code. It would still look like a warehouse office space, but the wiring and plumbing would work. If they wanted walls and rooms it would cost more.
Rachel was perfectly happy with the open concept warehouse style. She thought it added a retro feel to the building. She was sure that she could have Jessica market it properly to get the other floors rented out. With the number of hipsters they’d graduated with and the fancy coffee shop down the road, they’d be in business in no time.
The search for office supplies had been tricky, but she’d had her eye on estate sales for the last little while and she had gotten lucky. A large company was liquidating and they’d managed to bulk purchase the office supplies on auction; desks, filing cabinets, cubical walls, tables, chairs, and some pieces of required technology. The tech was a little outdated, but she would take what she could get.
It was enough to roughly outfit the four floors with a basic office setup. The narrow building provided enough workspace for four offices per floor and a centralised work location. The offices were constructed of cubical walls, but it was the best that they could do for the moment.
She was optimistic that creation teams, like themselves, would rent out the floors, but individuals wanting just office space would work as well. They would take anyone who was willing to pay for the space.
She wanted to create an environment of creativity within the Dark Hallow Building. She wanted more than just a name for the company that they planned on creating as a group. She wanted to be able to take credit for the space they were building as well.
It was ambitious, but if there was something that Rachel had always had, it was ambition.
It helped that the others were right there with her on it. They had taken to her idea of taking on the entire building without hesitation and had put aside their plans for making their own creation for half a second. They were building something bigger at the moment, something that would have a lasting mark.
It was a month before the Dark Hallows building was open for business. The contract work had gone smoothly and quickly. Rachel had been pleased with it over all, and mostly pleased with the costs. It helped when you knew people who knew people. After all, life was all about connections.
By the time the building opened officially, the four bottom floors were already rented out. It had taken them less than a week to find willing lessees. That was more thanks to Jessica’s connections than anything else. She knew everyone in their graduating class, it seemed, and she knew how to put a spin on things. They’d had to turn people away eventually, but Rachel had a feeling that, if things went well, they would have a steady turn-around of renters as projects came to completion and industries moved on.
By the time the group settled into the fifth floor and began to set up for their own project, they were filled with excitement. They were feeding off the excitement of the floors below and rolling with the successes of the past month. They seemed to be unstoppable, and if they could succeed in making the building a success then they could definitely succeed with their project.
Their project centred on a fitness application. It seemed to be the current trend. Health consciousness was in and everyone wanted to monitor their health. They were eager to jump on that trend and come up with their own unique variation of an application.
It would require a great deal of research. They had to make sure that what they offered was different to current market options, but they had been looking into it for a while now. They were pretty sure that they’d figured out what they wanted. They had a game plan. They just needed the time to devote to making it happen.
“Here is to the successful opening of the Dar
k Hallows Building,” Rachel raised her coffee cup in a toast to the others as they stood together on the fifth floor.
Jessica lifted her cup as well and so did the boys. “It all came together rather nicely, didn’t it?”
“I’ll say,” Marc agreed, sipping his own cup. No one knew what strange combination he had in it today, but there was no way it was simply coffee.
“How are you feeling about the whole plan, Jack?” Rachel watched his face closely to gage his response.
“It was a good business plan, Rachel. But you’ve always had great business plans so I don’t think any of us are really surprised.” He grinned. “It would be nice to get started on our own work, though.”
She nodded in agreement. She wanted them to get back to their project as well. “First thing tomorrow, we are going to focus on nothing but our project. It is top priority for me.”
“Everything is always top priority for you,” Marc joked and had the others laughing.
“Fair enough.” She rolled her eyes. “We have a space. We have desks. All we need to do is actually get to work after all these years of planning.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jessica gave a mock salute and accepted Rachel’s second eye roll.
“I get it. I get it.” Rachel held up her hands in surrender. “I’m the crazy, work obsessed one. But give it a few days, and you all will be living here too.”
“We should have had beds installed,” Jake observed, glancing around at the workspace. “We could probably fit a few cots over there in the corner.”
“That’s not a terrible idea,” Rachel shrugged, glancing at the space Jake had indicated. “But frankly I want to sleep in my own bed at night.”
“Well, aren’t you fancy.” Marc grinned.
They spent a good portion of the evening up on the fifth floor laughing and joking. It reminded them of the late nights they’d spent together in school. But they weren’t in school any longer and it was important that they all remembered that.
They ordered pizza to be delivered and finished off their celebration in true student style. It was the perfect night really. It was the perfect beginning to their journey into business together.
Rachel went home that night feeling pretty good about it all. She was the last person to leave the building. She stayed to make sure that everything was closed up properly. Most of the tenants on the bottom floors hadn’t shown up yet, and if they had, they hadn’t stayed long.
She expected the activity of the building to ebb and flow, but she figured it would pick up as the week went on and people got settled in.
As she locked the front door and stepped onto the sidewalk, she took a moment to stare up at the striking building. Sure, it was older and narrow, but the five stories made an impression.
She knew that it would likely never be a building that people talked about. She knew that they wouldn’t be anything too special. But she hoped that they could be a place of inspiration to some. She hoped that they could be a place of development and creation.
If nothing else, she hoped that her team, at least, could find success here.
She walked away from the Dark Hallows building feeling optimistic about the days to come. She expected they would make some real progress there. She expected they would make some real change. And she couldn’t wait to be a part of it.
Chapter 3
Not Quite Right
* * *
Rachel barely remembered those first few weeks in the Dark Hallow Building. It was such a blur of files and meetings and paperwork. She lived off caffeine and she lived at the building. She could say the same for her teammates.
They all likely averaged four hours of sleep a night, and whatever else they caught when they dozed off at their desk. They pushed themselves hard in those first few weeks to get established, and at the end of week three, they weren’t disappointed.
They’d put in the hours and they were starting to see the results of their hard work. They were starting to see a concept come together. Marc was fiddling around with things on his computer. Jake was crunching numbers. Jessica was pulling together an early ad-campaign to promote funding and gather interest.
They had many meetings and phones calls. There were hands to shake and people to make promises to. It was a whirl of activity but Rachel loved every minute of it.
Each floor below them was equally alive with energy as young entrepreneurs began their journeys. The building was rarely unoccupied, regardless of the hour.
Rachel was happy to see the activity. She was happy to feel the energy. It all felt like such progress to her. But she couldn’t help but feel this strange undertone when it came to the Dark Hallow Building.
Everyone laughed at her when she mentioned it, but there was a current that ran beneath the energy of the place. Something about the building had her looking over her shoulder after the first few weeks there.
She wasn’t certain what she was looking for, she just knew that she felt a presence of sorts, especially late at night when she was working in the building. It seemed as if she was being watched; and not just by the omnipresent security cameras they’d had installed.
On top of that, she’d heard doors slam throughout the fifth floor even when she knew that she was alone on the floor. The doors would slam and then creak back open as though someone was peeking through them to see if the slamming had garnered a response.
She had to wonder whether someone was fooling around, but she seemed to be the only one who was noticing it. No one else in the group seemed to have any sort of encounters or experiences late at night.
Rachel was dismissing it mostly as an overactive imagination and a lack of sleep, perhaps a little too much caffeine. It was hard to say. They’d been pushing themselves pretty hard.
She was fairly set on that theory until she came in the next morning to find their files strewn all across the fifth floor.
The four had met at the coffee shop before going to the building together and now they stood staring at the mess before them. Papers and charts were scattered everywhere; concept drawings littered the floor; pens and markers rolled around on the uneven floorboards as if propelled by an outside force.
“What the hell happened here?” Marc picked up a piece of paper and set it back on the table. “Do you think one of the other groups did this?”
Rachel shook her head. “They have no reason to come up here and trash the place.” She started picking up papers. “They don’t even know what we’re working on. This seems really out of character.”
“Well, who the hell would do this?” Jake joined her clearing up the papers.
“We could check the security feed,” Marc suggested, glancing up at the camera.
Rachel followed his gaze and nodded. That’s why they’d had them installed, after all. She hadn’t expected to be using them for this purpose, but it was worth a try.
She pulled out her laptop and logged into the system. She scrolled back in the time log to the night before and began to fast forward through the footage for the fifth floor. The others watched eagerly over her shoulder.
When midnight hit, all four cameras went black and the footage ended and only reconvened an hour later on the time stamp; by then, the fifth floor was destroyed. An entire hour of footage was simply missing. She didn’t understand how that was even possible.
She looked to Marc. “Do you have any idea what could have happened?”
He pulled out his own computer and logged into the system. He began fiddling around with his keyboard at a pace that would always astonish her. She watched in awe and curiosity as he clicked away.
“Hmmm,” he mumbled as he continued to click.
“What is it?” Jessica leaned over his shoulder and stared at the screen, even though she had no idea what the lines of code meant. “What happened to the footage?”
“It’s gone.” He looked back at them with his brow creased in confusion. It was rare to see Marc confused about anything to do with computers.
&
nbsp; “What do you mean it’s gone?” Rachel looked from him to the screen and then back again. “How is that even possible?”
“It doesn’t seem like the system was tampered with; the cameras just seem to have stopped working at midnight and resumed at one. So, there is no footage.” He shrugged, thoroughly stumped. “No one disconnected them. No one covered them. They just stopped working.”
Jake scratched at his head. “Well that’s super reassuring. It’s great to know that our security system isn’t really working.”
“These things aren’t perfect.” Marc shrugged. They all have glitches every now and then. This could have just been a once off.”
“Yeah, an opportune once off for whoever trashed the place.” Rachel scanned the disaster that was their office space. “This is going to take half of the day to get cleaned up and sorted out.”
“All my hard work organising has gone to nothing,” Jessica mumbled, a frown on her face. She had been working since the beginning to make sure that they had a reliable filing system and that all their ducks were in a row, so to speak.
Partly to help her with her marketing and partly due to her mild obsessive compulsion.
Rachel gave her a pat on the shoulder and a sympathetic smile. “We’ll get it all sorted out. It will just eat into a little of our production time today. Setbacks happen.” She looked from one member of her group to another. “We just need to learn to deal with them.”
She watched as they nodded in agreement, feeling a little better about how the day might pan out. She was no more thrilled about the vandalism than they were, but she needed to maintain order and structure within the group. She needed to keep everyone on track. If she didn’t do that it would be too easy for everyone to just wallow in self-pity over this one set back. She’d seen it happen before.
Haunted Happenings Page 42