You're Not Alone Here (Avery and David)

Avery had been here...she forgot how long.

Day after day she watched the people come and go from her home, visiting, taking pictures and marvelling over the decor. She hated the fact that her home, and her families home before that had become nothing but a mere tourist attraction for bored families and students wanting to impress girls with a visit to a cultural place.

The only thing that she did enjoy about what her house had become now, was that it was empty of him. Oh he had joined her, for a short while where she was at the moment - but Avery had been biding her time. Just waiting and watching as he enjoyed the money that her family had been so carefully saving until he had gambled and whored it all away. When he had finally passed, she was waiting here for him.

She had made him pay for each and every cent he had spent of their money. It was THEIR money.

Now there were people in her house even when it was closed! She noted with rage on her features. Storming through from her room to the entrance hall of her home she looked at the people setting up their camera's holding them to try and capture her on film - and the others that were here with her.

They did what she said, and they would leave the speaking to her!

Folding her arms across her chest, Avery stood directly behind one of the males who was setting up a camera. He was...attractive that much she could say and she let her lip curl into a smirk as she regarded his physique. They would not see her though, nobody ever saw her - they all lied, LIARS. Gritting her teeth, she looked around the group, trying to find the charlatan, and eventually her eyes landed on one male in particular. He was being flirted with, by one of his co-stars, which irritated her more than she thought she would like.

Watching, and waiting, as always Avery's cool eyes were trained on the group.

David was a medium.

Not the typical medium though, he spent most of his time doing his actual job as a teacher of history at a collage. None of this hamming it up for him. He had always been able to feel and hear spirits, sometimes even see them, but it was only part of who he was. He didn't like to draw attention to it and it was only because he'd recently been fired that he was here doing this shit .

This show was utter tripe that much was true but it paid enough to cover his rent.

So he would put up with the insipid woman flirting with him and he would attempt to use his gift for money. Sighing a little bit, he sat down to do the whole song and dance . When the board was taken out, David shook his head,

"Don't need that." He told them simply as he sat down and closed his eyes. He hated opening himself up to it again for the first time in awhile. He gasped as the feeling of drowning in cold water ran through him for a second before he looked around frantically,

"We are not alone here... Are we spirit ? My..." He frowned, "My lady?"

Avery stood, and she watched.

She watched as they set up the board that they would no doubt use to try and speak to her as people had done countless times before. Maybe this man would be different, maybe...this man could help her. Unable to stop herself scoffing at the idea, Avery knew that if he could sense her he would not want to help her - no, he would want to exploit her for money. Make her do parlour tricks until they had enough proof for them.

"Do not give up hope." she whispered to herself "One day someone will come, and they will help. Today...is not that day."

When the man seemed to 'awaken' into a state where he could see and communicate to spirits, Avery stalked out from the shadows and allowed her slate grey eyes to land on his body. Watching him with a blank expression. Such hopefulness was gone already, he could not see her when she was so clearly in the room with them. He was guessing! They always GUESSED!

"You liars and charlatans...come here to my home to make your MONEY." Avery raged, clenching her fists and her hair pushed back from her face in an invisible wind, she was angry that they got to come and go, got to live their lives while she rotted in this house.

Should she play along? Perhaps it would be amusing to pick these humans off one by one until they had no choice but to believe that ghosts existed. They would get their proof - oh indeed they would get it.

"Very good guess." Avery smirked, her lips curling into a wicked smirk "Guess again. Do I mean you harm, you will ask? How did I die, you will ask? What is your name...? All the questions are the same but you never hear them, so why do I bother to answer, you will make up whatever you want to make up."

The team he was with were getting all excited about an "orb" that they had "seen" and it suddenly became very clear that the spirit was angry. He winced a little bit and chuckled a little bit, getting some excited questions from the team before he snorted,

"She's pissed off at you guys. Doesn't like you... For some reason." He drawled before humming and nodding, "I agree my lady... Most of the time you will deal with liars."

He grinned slightly,

"Not today, I'm only doing this because I got fired from my real job."

The team were whispering to themselves about how she might be an evil spirit if she was angry at them . The insipid presenter voices the concern,

"Can you tell us who you are?" She asked in a mocking imitation if scared, "Did you die violently?"

David raised an eyebrow,

"Stop talking. Ruins my connection with the spirit..." He lied through his teeth before closing his eyes tightly, opening them quickly and catching a glimpse of something.

Someone.

He swallowed and turned to the spirit ,

"I'm not like the others." He declared firmly before asking, "Do you want the others to leave?"

Avery waited, and watched the presenter.

She and her co hosts were talking amongst themselves as if she couldn't hear them. Call her evil would they?! Say she was a bad spirit...they knew nothing of spirits, of the afterlife. The way she had died it was a wonder that she had not already acted violently towards them for entering her home she had worked so hard to preserve and protect.

"You idiotic woman." she smirked as she walked towards the presenter, in fact she came to rest her hands on the back of her chair - no doubt she would feel a cold draught around her body, but would she hear her words? "I can tell you who I am, but that spoils all the fun. Isn't that what your little medium is here for, hm?"

Chuckling softly, so that they might be able to faintly hear it, Avery stalked her way around the table, drawing in the energy from the people there and using it to feed herself. She would be able to do all sorts of things now - the medium might even be able to see her if he was half as good as he obviously thought he was.

"Oh...of course I want them to leave. Through doors...windows...whatever method." she hummed, that smirk still on her lips "I want to see just what your little team is made of first, how much will you stand before you go running off to your mothers?" Avery laughed softly, running her hand through her hair.

Drawing away from the circle she turned to the medium and tilted her head to one side;

"I will give you one question to ask of me, and the rest you must figure out for yourself." she smirked.

Wow seemed his own hatred for the presenter and the co- hosts was only matched by that of the spirit they were bothering. He grinned a little bit as he watched her berate the presenter angrily as the insipid woman continued to bad mouth the ghost of the pretty woman without knowing how close the spirit was to her.

He decided to enlighten the woman,

"She heard that you know." He told the presenter with a small smirk, "She's quite offended and I must say I don't blame her. You can't just call someone evil! What's wrong with you woman?"

Okay... This show was beginning to sound like it could be entertaining.

So she was planning on pulling the proper poltergeist thing on their asses huh? Well he would happily support her in that endeavour. He was going to enjoy being part of this prank on the other presenters. Keep the cameras on and you had a decent horror film.

"I give them an hour each." He said, confusing the other members of the team who hadn't heard the question, "I can go all night."

The insipid presenter gave a timid 'oh my' that made David want to hit her. Instead he merely raised a hand to the spirit, who he was gradually beginning to see more clearly,

"If I only get one question... I'll save it for when we are alone my lady."

Avery raised an eyebrow when she heard that the medium wanted to save his question for when they were on their own, which they would be by the end of the night if she had anything to do with it. She might even make him stay here with her if she liked him well enough - he seemed like someone that she could spend the rest of eternity with in this home of hers.

He might even understand her.

"If that is what you wish." she stated with a wicked smirk, letting herself fade away from this group of people, and go to plan what might be one of the funnest nights she would have had in a long while.

***

It was uncertain to Avery when she had become so violent. When she had been alive she would never have hurt a fly, despite being very efficient with money and business investments that had not made her a cruel person. Now though she wanted to see those people hurt for coming into her home and speaking about her as they had done, and talking down to her with their idiotic demands and questions.

The medium was interesting - as she thought that he might be. It would be amusing to see if he was still so happy for her to torment his team when they were lying bruised and dead at his feet.

They were coming to her room.

She could hear them now.

And they did not have their medium friend with them.

Smirking wickedly, Avery sat down at her dresser table, and she watched the crew, consisting of the presenter woman, another older woman and one bald male, enter the room and begin to set up small hand held cameras. Merely waiting for them to get started, Avery held that wicked look on her features, as the presenter boasted about getting better shots than the other team. They had faked most of their encounters - but not this one.

Silently she stood, and waved her hand over the door, locking it. They wouldn't be getting out unless they bashed the door down, or she let them out. If they bashed her door down...well then she would be very angry.

Why was it that David got the feeling that the ghostly woman wasn't as nice as she had seemed to him? Maybe it had something to do with the small spirit of a young girl he was talking to. Apparently this little girl knew about the woman he had been speaking to back in the main room.

And apparent the pranks he had thought she would play were more... Final than perhaps they should have been.

Rather annoyed that he had seen it before in the way she had only appeared as an outline at first, David heard the slam of a door upstairs and the little girl spirit giggled and clapped her hands, the sounds audible even to the cameraman who was with him at the moment. He turned to the rapidly fading little girl,

"More people to play with!"

The cameraman rushes away to the sound upstairs, no doubt wanting to brag about getting the sounds on camera. David rushes upstairs in time to start banging on the door,

"Open this door!" He called out, "Come on... This isn't fun!"

Avery whipped her head around when Charlotte stepped into the room, her little baby girl shouldn't be talking to these people, nor should she be wanting to play like her mother did with these people. Perhaps she should send her away? Would she be a bad mother if she let her watch what she was going to do to? Most likely, so instead she would allow her to play with them first, before she took over for her.

"Hello baby girl." she whispered softly, ruffling her daughters hair "Are you being good?"

"Yes mummy!" Charlotte nodded, her little pigtails flopping over her eyes as she did so, it was a most adorable gesture "The nice man was speaking to me."

"Oh...was he now?" she asked, her jaw clenching. How dare he speak to her daughter!?

She watched as Charlotte happily played with the people in the room, responding to their questions and their demands by banging on the furniture, or throwing back pebbles that they had thrown to her. It was rather nice to see her playing with them, but her smirk grew more vicious in nature when the others started to bang on the door. And they knew that they were trapped now.

Slowly, Avery ushered Charlotte out of the room, before she took her turn to play.

Taking the presenter, Avery allowed her fingers to entwine in her hair and she slammed her head hard against the edge of the dresser. The crunch and screaming was satisfying. Sending scratches down her body, and allowing herself to manifest, even to those who were not mediums, as a black mass Avery chuckled softly, and allowed the door to spring open.

"We've only just begun." she smirked "Isn't this what you wagered with me about medium? Hm?"

Okay this was beginning to get rather out of hand now.

The little girl ghost was in there and she was manifesting herself quite a bit if the noises behind the door were any indication. But at least that meant that the people wouldn't be harmed for now. He hoped at least. He paused for a moment before speaking clearly as the girl played with the presenters,

"Charlotte... Don't you think it's a bit mean to play that rough?" He asked her through the door, "Not nice when people play rough is it?"

Charlotte appeared on his side of the door and he knelt down to her level to speak to her about what her older figure was doing,

"Charlotte is your name right? Pretty name Char..." He told her before nodding to the door, "Can you open the door? You want to let me play right?"

Whether due to Charlotte or something else the door flew open in time for David to see his 'friendly' ghost manifesting as blackness,

"Stop!" He called out to her, standing between her and the presenters, "Cone on... I still have my question...leave them alone... Let me ask my question instead okay?"

Charlotte could tell that her mummy was angry with these people, she didn't like it when others came to their house to play. She did like it though! Other people were so fun to play with, the way that their faces went when they saw her rolling balls towards them was funny. Although...she did want someone to play with more often, she wanted a friend to play with!

Maybe mummy would let her keep the nice man as a friend?

"Mummy doesn't want me to talk to you Mister." she stated with a small pout "Mummy is mad with you for speaking with me...but...I wanna play. I wanna friend Mistah."

Avery looked at her baby girl and she was one of the only things in this goddamn house that could calm her down. Hearing her so sad about not having any friends made her sigh softly, and she calmed down, knowing that it was what her baby wanted. Charlotte had said she didn't like her when she was scary like this.

Looking at Charlotte with a baleful expression Avery let go of the presenter woman and turned her gaze to the medium.

"Ask your question." she stated softly.

So she didn't want Charlotte to talk to him huh? That was probably a good idea to be honest. He was good with kids and he would likely be able to at least play Charlotte off against the older ghost with almost no trouble at all. But that wasn't really his objective here. His objective here was to get those stupid presenters out of the building.

Preferably before they were killed.

"Well I don't want to stop playing Char but these others are boring aren't they?" He suggested with a smile, "They aren't as fun as I am are they? Can't even see you, they can't! Boring huh? What's say we let them leave so it's just the fun people?"

Okay... He had best make this count.

"Why do you want them dead - out of your home?" He asked her quietly, "You and I both know the person you wanted to remove isn't here ... Avery right? I looked into this place... Avery no one here has tried to take what's yours have they?"

Avery fixed Charlotte with one of her looks.

It allowed her to know that if she spoke to this man she would be in serious trouble, he would be able to use her against her. Get her to stop doing what she wanted by using Charlotte as some sort of leverage. This medium was altogether too good for her liking, she might have to make sure that he stayed here with them. She didnt want him going back and bringing more people here to prod and poke at them.

The question to Avery was rather straight forwards.

It was also painfully obvious that if he had looked into this place and into herself, he would have known that the one person she trusted above all others murdered her in cold blood in order to get her house which she had worked for and her money which she had invested and earnt. He didn't deserve it!

"What a waste of a question." she stated with a small sigh "I want them out of my home because I protect my home. If you have researched into me as thoroughly as I hope that you have then its rather obvious to you just why that is."

Raising her eyebrow she felt her aura pulsing as she grew more angry;

"You are in my home! Without my permission, poking and prodding into my life and you expect me to sit here docile while I'm insulted - while I'm called evil? You don't know what I already banished from this house." shaking her head, Avery chuckled softly "But that was a second question I believe, you're going to have to guess from now on Medium."

Oh he had done his research into the house before arriving and had managed to lower the possibilities of who it could be. But honestly the fact that it was Avery was probably the lesser of two evils but only just. He was going to have to make sure that she thought that he was more interesting than anyone else in the room.

He had to make sure that she was happy to focus her attention on him so the others could leave with their lives.

He nodded,

"I know... You were the one to get this house . You earned it all... He didn't." He agreed with her, "But we... They... I... Are not 'him'. You don't need to protect it from us, we just want to appreciate it."

So he was out if questions. He was going to have to guess more now. He glanced at the others, cowering in the corner,

"Can they leave?" He asked her with a small smile, "I don't think you want them here any longer and they've learnt their lesson... They will tell others to never come here. That's good right?"

He smiled a little bit,

"I'll stay though if you and Char will permit me to."