Current mood:	accomplished
Current music:	None
Entry tags:	babytoaster, original, os_challenge, ryan and cory, untitled

OS Challenge
Title: Ryan and Cory in: Spirit Walk
Word Count: 5,253 this section, 44,733 total
Rating: PG-13 for Language
Summary: Episode 5
Author's Notes: Comment and let me know if it all makes sense. LOL Or just comment in general so I don't get ahead of myself.

Want to catch up? The other parts are listed in order and divided by episode. Not all of the episodes are crucial to the over all plotline however.

Episode 101: Curse of the Alamo:
Part 1, here
Part 2, here
Part 3, here
Part 4, here

Episode 102: I want you, I need you:
Part 5, here
Part 6, here
Part 7, here

Episode 103: Ghosts of the past:
Part 8, here
Part 9, here
Part 10, here

Episode 104: Mother Dearst:
Part 11, here
Part 12, here
Part 13, here


Cast (no real shockers here :P, but there may be some later as the list grows):
Cory Ranover
Ryan Callaway
Diana Lockland
Richard Ranover
Megan Thompson
Amaya Thompson
Jesse Walker
Tyler and Zach Eddin
Mother
Aaron Callaway




I was grateful for the spring time. Spring time was my favorite season and the reasons should have been obvious because the spring meant that I got to see Darren. I couldn’t wait to see him! Just thinking about it sent chills up and down my spine and I felt my stomach get butterflies and my heart pound. It was the only time I had ever really felt like such a hopeless romantic school girl. It was really quite pathetic but I kept it to myself. Only Cory really seemed to notice it. If anyone else did, they didn’t let on about it. They still hit on me or whatever, but Cory claims that everyone knows and that it’s not that big of a secret. Maybe it isn’t, but I’m not sure how they could have known without him telling. Perhaps Richard told them. I know he knew, however he did, again, probably Cory. This of course didn’t make me happy because I didn’t think that he would betray my trust like that, but I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. He had a big mouth, and I guess the subject of Darren and I was an increasingly popular one.

I fumed, sitting on the couch, Cory was on his way back from Megan’s of course. He wanted to spend time with me tonight. I was glad that he was liking his new relationship. It was about time that he got a taste of what I had with Darren, it was healthy for him and while he was changed, there were things about the change that were better and some that were worse. He was more courteous and not quite as self absorbed, but he was also much more moody. He had gone to get a tape from Megan. We had missed the season finale of one of our shows and that was our planned activity. Normally we TiVoed it of course, but it was full from all of the other things that we still had to watch, and we did not have a DVD burner as of yet. Megan and Amaya still did things the old fashioned way of course. I still couldn’t believe that Amaya was his real sister. In a way I was jealous of that. I didn’t want her to have that bond with Cory. That was my bond with Cory. I guess I was jealous of Megan in a way too. I wasn’t used to him having other female friends that were as well trusted as he trusted me. It wasn’t how things were where we worked. I was happy for him though, really.

He came hopping through the door, quite literally, in one of his extreme good moods, and I didn’t want to know why. I didn’t need to know why. “Took you long enough,” I mumbled.

“Sorry, they had to kind of dig around for it. They’ve got a million tapes,” he rolled his eyes a little, “I keep telling her that I’ll teach her how to you know, be not in the stone age, but she keeps telling me that they’re fine with how things are. I mean, it’s not rocket science ya know?” He sighed, “I guess some people just fear change.”

“It’s fine,” I mumbled and took the tape fro him and put it into the VCR. We settled onto the couch in our usual spots and then I pressed play. It didn’t take long for us to realize that we had grabbed the wrong tape. Normally we would have just turned it off but on the screen we saw Amaya wearing some rather sexy looking lingerie. Cory scowled and was about to turn it off when Darren showed up on screen. I thought at first that maybe it was old, before him and I were together, but that made little sense and it had been five years already. Amaya didn’t look a day younger than 19. Then I saw the time stamp on the tape which read the week after I had last left him. I knew that he trained others besides me, but I never thought that It was like watching the beginning of a bad porno, a very bad porno. Cory reached over to turn off the tape, completely disgusted and finally over his shock, but I stopped him. This was something that I had to see. I’d never believe it otherwise. Stopping it would be like pretending that it didn’t exist, but it was real. There was Darren, my Darren, taking another woman- from behind no less. I’m not sure if I could feel anything outside of numbness, but that wasn’t because of my usual numb philosophy of life. Was that what a broken heart felt like?

“Ryan?” Cory choked out, “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said blandly. That was a stupid question to ask. He knew I was far from being okay. He put his arms around me and hugged me, and that was when I lost it.



I remember falling asleep on the couch, curled up in Cory’s arms. I also believe some point in the night I completely destroyed the tape along with out VCR in a fit of a rage. When I woke up the next morning I was on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and Cory was making what smelled like chocolate chip pancakes. He knew that was the only thing I would eat when I was upset. They were my comfort food I guess you could say. I didn’t really want to eat, but I couldn’t resist them, especially with whipping cream and butter.

“How many do you want? One or two?” He asked, putting a bunch of them onto a plate. “I’ve also got hash browns, bacon, and orange juice, oh and this morning I noticed you were out of your Lady Grey so I went and picked a fresh box of that up for you. I’ve got hot water going in the teapot just in case you want some of that.”

I shrugged a little, “Whatever,” I grunted and sat down on the table.

“Okay, so that means you want two pancakes, extra whip, hash browns with cheddar, hold off on the bacon cause you don’t want to deal with the grease and tea cause it’ll help you relax.” He smirked at me a little and sent my plate over while he got a mug out of the cupboard for my tea. I watched as the plate floated over to where I sat and settled down in front of me. “I made Mickey pancakes, you can’t not smile at Mickey.”

I did smile, only a little at the sight and then resumed my ‘grumpy face’, “You’re being a dork.”

“When is that any different than usual?” He pointed out and then joined me at the table. “Oh, and Richard has a job for us to do this afternoon. Something along the lines of a hexing? I told him that’s not really our thing, but ya know, it’s something to do Unless you aren’t feeling up to it that is-.”

“I have no reason to not feel like working,” I said and took a few small bites, “I’m fine. You really have no need to be worried about me right now. It’s not that big of a deal.”

He sighed deeply and we were both quiet for a while. I didn’t want to talk, especially about what had happened. It certainly didn’t feel real to me. “You should call him,” Cory said at last, “and chew her a new one.”

I shrugged a little, “Why? You were right all along, and it was my fault for not knowing better. I should just let it pass and move on.” Could I really do that though? Cory was giving me a look that hinted that perhaps I couldn’t. This was part of Cory’s new attitude. The old Cory would have never understood any of it, at least not at first. Love and affection was a foreign concept to him, outside of his relationship to me.

“You can do that after you talk to him. He shouldn’t be able to walk away from this like that. Like nothing is wrong because he still lied to you and that is totally bogus.” He played with his food a little, “It’s just an idea, but you should. Dump his sorry ass and tell him where he can shove it all ya know?”

Perhaps I could work something out with him if I called him. Maybe I could ask him why. Maybe it was her fault and not his. Maybe none of it was real and she planted the tape to drive the two of us apart. “I suppose you’re right.”




Witch craft was a difficult thing for us to work with. In terms of countering any spells that were conducted, Cory and I didn’t have that kind of ability. We could do our best to will it away, but that didn’t always work. Most of our job was to cover it up, and hopefully find a way to resolve the issue between the witch and the non-witch. The hex seemed to be a simple enough one. Cory was busy mediating between the two, and I was simply there for his back up, which was fine by me. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone in particular. I just had to make sure he didn’t do something stupid that would make anyone angry and make the situation worse. Cory rarely had problems with mediation however, which was generally why he did it. He was incredibly likeable and when it came to his work he seemed to listen well enough. After we left and came back to the office, we went our separate ways. He went to the gym and I, well, I wasn’t sure where I was going. I wandered through the buildings aimlessly and in laps, going upstairs and downstairs and through the skyways. I passed Amaya and Megan on their way from some meeting I’m sure and I couldn’t help but glare at her. She didn’t seem phased by this, although she was a little curious as to why I would be so angry with her. I was surprised that I actually did glare at her. I kept most things to myself. I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Darren’s number. It was close to the time I would have called him regardless of the situation, but he still sounded surprised to hear from me.

“Ryan, hi,” he said breathlessly into the phone. Who from our agency was visiting with him right now? Was he screwing them behind my back too? Had there been others? Other times? “To what do I owe the pleasure of your calling?”

“I know,” I said bluntly, “I saw you and her, together. I know.”

“Always to the point,” he mumbled, “I’m sorry?”

“You sure sound like you mean that,” I grumbled sarcastically. It was enough to make me hang up on him. “How long has this been going on?”

“With her?” He paused, “Three years. She’s pretty consistent, and then there was-.” He continued to list several other girls from the agency, providing the lame excuse of, “I have a full service job.”

I laughed sourly, “So then I was just another service to you, a job, because I could have sworn that you actually cared about me.”

“Ryan, do you honestly think that you came to be trained in something that you know almost perfectly?” He asked. He was being so matter of fact with me. He had no regrets or sorrow over any of it. “That wasn’t why you were told to come here. That wasn’t the job that I was given by Richard.”

“So then what is your job? De-virginize as many of the girls as possible, just in case?” I pinched the bridge of my nose trying very hard not to break down and cry. That was a horribly unprofessional thing to do. At the same time, my heart hurt so much, I could feel the pain in my chest and the nausea in my stomach.

“My job was to get you to feel Ryan,” he stated, “And the fact that you called me to bitch me out about what happened means that I’ve succeeded in my job. You don’t need to come here anymore.” He hung up on me, which made me infuriated, but I pushed that aside. He wanted me to be emotional and angry and depressed and heartbroken. I would be none of those things, which made me spiteful I suppose, yet another emotion. It would take time, but I could stop it.




“How you doing?” Cory asked curiously. “Can I get you anything?”

I groaned, he was being overly sweet to me lately and it was slightly annoying. I didn’t need his special treatment! “I’m fine, you can stop asking me any day now okay?”

“Pardon me for caring,” he rolled his eyes, “I was just trying to be nice and stuff.”

“I’d prefer you to just be yourself. I’m fine, and I’m over it. I took your suggestion and we talked and it’s fine.” It wasn’t fine, but I could pretend. I could be a stone cold bitch if that’s what he was forcing me to be. “He even admitted to everything and we both have a better understanding of what happened between us. Like I said, I’m over it.”

Cory nodded, but I wasn’t sure if he believed me or not. I guess I didn’t blame him. Really I didn’t feel much pain anymore though, so it wasn’t hard for me to fake. “At least he’s not being too much of an ass about it.”

Not too much of an ass? That’s what I wanted to tell him, that’s how I wanted to start, too much of an ass was hardly anything compared to what he already was and what he had already told me. I’m not sure if there was a word that was worse to describe what he was. I would have called him the spawn of Satan, but I think that was still not harsh enough. There I go again, being incredibly bitter. “Yes, he’s been very mature,” I somehow managed to say in as calm of a manner as possible. “Cory, perhaps we should do something tonight?”

He looked at me a little surprised. We hadn’t done much outside of eating and renting a movie in a long time, but I wanted to get out and there wasn’t anyone else I wanted to spend time with really. I didn’t want to go on my own either, although that option was tempting in itself. I didn’t have any other real friends although I’m sure that the Eddin twins would have been more than happy to service my needs for company. I didn’t know them enough to dare spend time with them, although the option of a rebound was tempting enough and I knew they would supply that for me easily. A rebound would certainly be proving Darren right. People only rebounded because they felt a need, a desire to be wanted and loved again. It was all emotional. Cory would do nicely. “Alright, where do you wanna go?”

We went down town, got ice cream, went bowling, played some video games in the arcade, and then got a few drinks at dinner. More than a few drinks actually, because when I got home with all of my shopping I felt incredibly dizzy and I could tell that Cory was pretty out of it as well. “Thanks for being so great,” I told him and nudged him a little, “You’ve been really supportive and stuff and I just am really appreciated of it.”

He laughed a little, “Are you really? Ryan you’re making me all warm and squishy inside!” He grabbed onto me for a little support. I don’t think he was quite as gone as I was, but he certainly liked to pretend. “I couldn’t be anything but great to you. You’re my bestest friend ever and Darren is really missing out. He’s really, really, missing out.”

“Now you’re making me feel warm and squishy,” I teased, “and you should stop because flattery will get you no where, I’m not that drunk.”

“Someone is full of themselves!” He grinned, “I know you’re single, but I’m not into desperate women.” He winked, “And I’m taken so ya know”

“And I’m full of myself?” I smirked, “Go take a cold shower.”

He rolled his eyes, “Do we have any popcorn? We should make popcorn. I like popcorn ya know? Do we have cheesy powder?”

“Popcorn and then we should play twister.”

And that’s what we did, and it worked a lot better than I had imagined. I surprisingly have a good sense of balance, unlike Cory who fell over all the time, so much that we never had a real game. Instead we took turns seeing who could do the best impression of a pretzel. I won, but it’s a known fact that women are much more flexible than men. It was one of our greatest weapons. We pulled out blankets and pillows and slept on the living room floor while watching cartoons on the Disney channel, or some channel like that, and when I woke up I had a very throbbing headache, and then it was time to go into work. That was where I got a wonderful job assignment, and I use wonderful in the most sarcastic of the senses. Cory and I had to have a conversation with a group of ghosts who continually have been harassing guests in the park. Ghosts have always been known to haunt, but when things got out of hand, sometimes we needed to step in. Usually Cory and I did those tasks and I never liked it. I always had to do all of the talking because they only talked to me and they scared me. They were cold and unpleasant and, often times, very bitter. Like I said, wonderful, and my hangover made it even more wonderful to deal with. I would never do something that stupid ever again.




“Alright, the tent is all set up,” Cory explained and stood beside me. I shivered a little, rubbing at my arms while I waited for him. It was cold and dark. The legend of the park was that it used to be a cemetery back in the early 1800’s. Due to financial issues, the park was bought by the government and the land was turned into a park, the bodies that remained were to be ignored and covered over unless they were moved by the family members within so many days. Some of the bodies were moved and chopped into pieces to be shipped off in small boxes to a new location. There was a great deal of disrespect to the bodies so I understood why the ghosts would be angry, but it seemed that they were pushing their limits and that was where the problems were stemming from. “You wanna sit in there?”

I nodded and went inside of the tent and sighed, “It’s warmer in there.” I wanted to think that it would be, but I was fairly certain I’d be equally uncomfortable if not more in there. As long as he didn’t leave me alone, I would be okay. I sat down on my sleeping bag and sighed, “And we had to stay the night?”

“I know you hate it,” he said with a gentle smile, “I wish they didn’t bug you cause I know you don’t like it. I think they’re cool but I guess maybe they’re like cats and they don’t like people that like them and they only like the people that hate them.” I looked over at him because to me that made very little sense. I think he lost me when he just compared ghosts with cats. He shrugged a little, “It’s just a theory. We have to stay the night because that was when they wanted to talk I guess, and they only wanted to talk to you. I’m just here for support.”

“Why would they only want to talk to me?” I sighed, “How do they even know about me?”

He shrugged again, “I don’t know! They’re ghosts, they’re omnipresent or something! They know everything! Maybe they just think you’re hot, or they heard something down the grapevine of ghost gossip or whatever.”

“Why is it that if anyone wants to see me, you automatically say it’s because I’m hot?” I folded my arms in front of my chest and stared over at him. That was a little insulting. He was implying that people only appreciated me for my looks and not for who I was on the inside. Maybe that’s all I was to Darren, an untouchable trophy that he was able to get his hands on. If the rest of the agency knew about our relationship, and how deep it went, which I’m sure they all did now, it would be embarrassing on my part.

Cory rolled his eyes at me, “Because people are shallow, heartless, bastards?”

I bit my lower lip and glared at him a little, “Fine, wake me up when they want to talk. I need my rest. My head still hurts, I’m crabby, and I’m tired.”




“Pst, Ryan!” I could feel Cory shake me a few times, and I hoped that maybe if I pretended to sleep that maybe he wouldn’t notice me. “Ryan!” He said louder and shook louder and in a very obnoxious sort of manner.”

“She’s faking,” I heard another voice say, “I can tell.”

I sighed and sat up, “I wasn’t faking, I was asleep.” I was about to add more until I saw the ghostly figure in front of me. This one was mostly opaque and almost a shining, sparkling blue color. They were a young man who had dark hair and dark eyes. He looked different than most of the other ghosts I had seen. Some were disgusting, others looked normal (outside of the opaque look still). I had never seen a blue ghost before. “I just woke up. I need a moment sometimes.”

“She does,” Cory said with a snicker, “It takes her at least 20 minutes to get out of bed. It’s ridiculous!”

“You’re really one to talk,” I snapped back and crawled out of my sleeping bag. I glanced over at my watch. It was two in the morning. “Let’s get this over with shall we?” I looked at the ghost, wondering if he would perhaps be offended by my crabby attitude. If he was, he didn’t show it, which was a bit of a shame because I was hoping that he would get a hint and go away until the morning or know that I didn’t want to be there or want anything to do with him so he should have bothered Cory with whatever business he wanted.

“I would prefer to talk alone,” he explained quietly, “If you do not mind. I promise not to hurt you, but if you do not feel safe I understand and will allow for your partner to tag along.”

Cory shrugged and sat down in the tent, “I’ll wait up, it’s cool. I’ve got ears like a dog, and I’m speedy like speedy Gonzales so if you try anything, you won’t get away with it anyway.” He winked at me, “You know how to reach me if you need me.”

I nodded and watched as he pulled out his gameboy and sighed, stepping out of the tent and into the cold night air. I shivered, now more cold than scared and sighed. “What seems to be the problem? Why are you doing these things to people?”

“I apologize for that, it was the only way to get them to send you.” He looked at me, “My name is Aaron Callaway.” He watched my face to see how I reacted to the fact that we had the same name. It was surprising, but I knew that there were other Callaway’s on the planet, and that I did have relatives from the past. “I really needed to see you,” he said quietly. He would have touched me if he could have. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for a while, but they wouldn’t send you unless it was an extreme.”

“Alright, well you have me here, why do you need to see me?” I glanced over at him and watched him curiously.

“It’s just been a long time I guess and I missed you. I wanted to make sure you were safe.” He whispered, “I’m your brother, older by a few years. I guess you could say I was the one of the four Callaway children that didn’t make it.” It was odd to think of him as my brother, because he looked to be dressed in a much older style. He even looked a few years older than me and I couldn’t tell if he had died recently or if this was something that had happened a long time ago. He sensed my confusion, ghosts were good at that. “You were three when I was murdered,” he explained, “I was about seven. I guess you could say we’re different, preserved at a certain age for all of our lives. If you saw Mom and Dad, they’d be around the same age I am, but they aren’t dead yet, so you’ll have to wait. If you saw them now, you wouldn’t recognize them as being your parents though regardless for that same reason. They still look a lot younger than what they are.” He shrugged a little, “I guess it’s just in our genetics or something, well no, it is in our genetics, that is not a guess.”

“So you did all of this just so you could see me?” I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to believe this or not. It seemed like a bit of a ridiculous idea.

“I also wanted to warn you Ryan. Things are going to be changing soon, in fact the change has already begun and you need to understand what you are before that change happens or you’ll be confused to the point of possible death.” His hand went through mine and he sighed, “You still have time, a year or so, but please be careful until then still. I want to tell you it all straight out if I can, but I’m not sure I will have the time and I’m not sure how much of it will soak in. Perhaps I’ll start with a question. Have you ever wondered why it was the spirits gravitate toward you?”

I shook my head, “I always thought it was because they knew I didn’t like them.”

“We don’t think like that, not most of us at least,” he motioned for me to follow him up to a pavilion and then sit down, “we go to you because we relate to you, or we feel that you can relate to us. Your spirit is strong, and you’re not quite fully human in that sense. It’s a bit complicated, which is why it will take time to explain everything.”

“So then tell me what I am. Start from somewhere please because I would like to know why I was called out here and awoken in the middle of the night.” I sighed deeply and followed him to a gazebo and he motioned for me to turn around and look at the park behind me. What I saw when I did blew me away. Everywhere there were spirits, some were old others young; some grotesque, and others more shining and sparkling than Aaron; some were dead and some were living. I could see Cory in the tent playing his gameboy, his ears perked up ever so slightly – he was green. I could see Richard and Diana in their bed room, far away – they were both gold. In fact most of the living spirits were gold, very few were green. There were animals and plants. It was an overload of sensory information. “What is this?”

“The gate,” he motioned to all of the different spirits, “The gate to the other would is here. Only our family has been able to access the gate and with good reason. Those who can cross through the gate can manipulate the spirits; kill or give life; command and conquer. You need to know because soon they will come and they will want you to manipulate and reshape the world, and they will stop at nothing to achieve this.”

“And what am I supposed to do? Not allow them?” I asked. I barely understood how to access this gate and I certainly didn’t know how to manipulate it.

“That’s your decision.” He sat down and let out a deep sigh. “I can’t tell you what’s right and wrong, only tell you that something is coming. I can tell you how it works. You can access the gate at any doorway and in any perfect circle. If you use the gate, you can direct and move, force really, the spirits to do whatever you wish. Part of the reason our family was chosen for this gift is because our blood line is very relaxed. In the past, we have let the natural course of life flow. It was how we were designed.”

Designed, I was a design now. “I see, how interesting.” I stepped into this spiritual gate way, wanting to see it closer. I was finally able to focus on just the area around me instead of having everyone all around me. I could still sense Cory, but I lost contact with all of the others I was around. “Why is he green?”

“We’ll talk about that another time,” Aaron said quietly, “we’ll take everything one step at a time. Ryan, you can’t tell anyone about this. Not even him, do you understand? Not yet at least. Once you both know what you are and what is going on, then it’ll be time to share all of those things with each other, but for now it isn’t a good idea.”

I didn’t like keeping things from Cory. Granted I didn’t tell him everything about my life. There were things about me that he didn’t know about just as much as there are things about him that I didn’t know about. It would be silly of me to expect to know every detail of his life and him to know every detail of mine. However, we were very good about sharing the important details with one another. To hear about something like this, and then be told that I couldn’t talk with him about it was frustrating to me. I didn’t like being told what I could and could not do and I didn’t like being told to lie. It made me want to tell even more than I would have originally. “Fine,” I said sourly and reached down to touch a flower. I could feel the life inside of it and I was curious about it. Then I wanted to hold the life, and when I tried, the life departed from the flower and I watched it die in my hands, shriveling and wilting. I did not want this power. I was afraid of it. I was afraid of liking it too much.