Jamie wasn't all that into human interaction. She'd much rather spend her days holed up in her room, listening to music or reading countless claims on the internet about supernatural phenomena. But on the weekends, she'd do something that was ten times more fun and interesting,. Even though she was only sixteen years old, Jamie was an amateur ghost hunter.

    Who wanted to talk to regular everyday normal alive people when there were dead people out and about just waiting to tell their stories anyway?

    She didn't have a lot of ghost hunting equipment, like the shows on television- with their PK meters and temperature readouts. What Jamie did have was a high-powered flashlight and a  handheld recorder she'd "borrowed" from her mom and a bunch of batteries to keep it charged, because she knew from her studying that ghosts liked to borrow the energy from the things around it.

    Jamie had yet to have a "real" ghost experience, she figured she just wasn't in the right place or time for ghosts to come into contact with her. But tonight was going to be different.

    Jamie was intent on sneaking around a local graveyard all night, or at least until her parents expected her home- which was to be no later than midnight. Those ghosts better hurry up, she thought as she looked at her cell phone, it was almost ten thirty and so far no sign of a ghost.

    The graveyard was a real spooky place, completely shrouded in darkness and every inch held more fog than Jamie had seen before in her life. The sounds of each stick and flower she stepped upon and piles of dirt she crushed beneath her feet were amplified throughout the din.

    She was beginning to get really discouraged when she heard a sound that didn't belong to her. Jamie ducked behind a headstone and turned off her flashlight, just in case it was night security. She squinted in an attempt of focusing her hearing on the steady noise. If she listened really closely, it sounded like an unearthly rattle.

    She clicked on the recorder and turned up the volume as best she could. Sure that it wasn't security, Jamie mustered up all the strength she had and spoke to it.

    "H-hello?" she stuttered, "Is there anybody out there?"

    The noise stopped; Jamie held her breath.

    Barely confident of herself, she tried again.

    "Look, if you're dead or something-I, I just wanna help you, okay?"

    The noise started up again, this time closer than ever. Like someone or something was looming right over the headstone she was hiding behind. She flipped on her flashlight, turned around to look at it, and screamed.

    A face twisted in fright or agony stared back at her; Jamie squealed something awful and began to claw her way backwards; she couldn't even try and stand up yet. She wasn't brave enough for this, no no no. She was much safer in her room with the message boards and reruns of Supenatural. This was real life, this was real life and there was something going to get her.

    "Woah, woah Jamie calm down!" the face said, coming even closer.

    "Get away from me, get away!" she screamed.

    "Jamie," it said as it grabbed her, picking her up off the ground with its invisible hands. "Jamie it's okay, it's me. Calm down, sweetie."

    Jamie turned the flashlight back towards the face. Then recognition finally hit, and she quieted her screams.

    "D-dad? Is that you?" her voice wavered, still in full-fledged fear mode.

    "Yes, Jamie. It's me, all right. Your mom thought you might be out here, scaring yourself to death." there was a bit of a laugh in his voice as he brought her closer, holding her tight in his arms- giving her the most loving hug he could. "You know if you wanted to go hunt ghosts, we could just take a ghost tour or something together. You didn't have to go wandering off on your own."

    "I know," Jamie said.

    "Hey, it's okay. I found you before things got really out of hand. We can keep this between us, I think." he said, letting her out of the hug. "How about we get some ice cream or something? I know, I know, you're all grown up now- but grown ups like ice cream too, I swear."

    "That sounds nice," she smiled.

    Jamie had a banana split and her dad ordered a hot fudge sundae, and together they plotted their next ghost adventures. The next one was going to be at least ten times scarier, she was sure.