The Haunting of Stephen Colbert 2/?
Title: The Haunting of Stephen Colbert
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, original characters, a ghost
Warnings: Nothing too grim is in this story, no yet, but don't read if you don't like scary stories.
Summary: Stephen Colbert's world turns upside down when a ghost starts haunting him, then mysteriously goes away. Life goes back to normal, except Stephen's acting oddly and his staff starts to suffer because of it. Jon Stewart decides to take responsibility into his own hands and tries to get Stephen back to normal, but getting rid of a ghost is easier said than done.
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Previous Parts: 1
Stephen didn’t sleep much that night.
He tried, though, but after waking up screaming after another nightmare he decided to abandon the attempt. Instead he stayed awake, on alert for any suspicious sounds. He didn’t know if the ghost was attached to him or to the Report studio, so he had to stay on guard.
Staying up all night had it’s consequences though, as Stephen realized the next morning. He was so tired when he came to work that he couldn't stay awake for five minutes of the morning writers meeting without dozing off for awhile. That’s when the writers became concerned.
“Stephen, did you sleep at all last night?” Rob asked when Stephen almost dozed again, using both hands to lift his head when he couldn’t hold it up any longer.
Stephen shook his head, trying to shake the lingering sleepiness that hung around him like a dark storm cloud. Frank frowned at that and said, “But you said that you wanted to leave early last night, shouldn’t you have gotten more sleep?”
Stephen desperately wanted to avoid these questions because he knew that if he told them the truth they’ll laugh at him. They could tell when he is lying, so that’s out of the question. He decided to tell them as little as possible. “I was doing some things.”
“What things?” Rob asked and the other writers looked at Stephen, their eyes asking the same question. That’s when Stephen couldn’t take it anymore.
“Why do any of you care about what I did last night?” he asked in frustration.
“You just seem on edge, that’s all,” Nate said. “We just wanted to help.” All the writers nodded, and because they seemed so concerned, Stephen decided to spill the beans.
“Something happened here last night, and I couldn’t get any sleep because of it,” Stephen began.
The writers leaned towards Stephen, intrigued. “What happened?” Frank asked.
“I...” Stephen stopped, trying to find the words to properly explain what happened. “I'm being haunted by a ghost.”
There was a moment of silence as the writers took that in. First their faces showed shock, but soon they all collapsed into uncontrolled laughter.
“In the dressing room, the mirror, it was bleeding, and there were words, and then the mirror shattered...” Stephen rambled on, trying to explain himself.
“Is that the reason you freaked out those interns last night?” Max asked, still laughing. “Stephen, you must’ve slept and had a nap, because there’s no way that happened yesterday.”
“It did!” Stephen protested. “And that falling stage light incident, the ghost caused that too! It wrote on my desk...”
“C’mon Stephen, that was just small accident. No ‘ghostly presence’ caused that, I’m sure,” Scott reassured him, air quoting the word ‘ghostly presence’.
Stehen frowned at the writers, who were giggling like mad. He couldn’t believe they didn’t take this seriously. He was being haunted for goodness sake, and he wasn’t going to get rid of the ghost without some help. He stood up, making his way to the door as he said, “It happened, okay? A ghost is haunting me, and I don’t care how ridiculous it sounds but it’s true!”
The writers, realizing how serious Stephen was, started to apologize, but Stephen already closed the door. He frowned as he slammed the door to his office shut and fell into his chair.
Well, if none of the writers believed him, who would?
***888***888***
It was around noon when Jon Stewart came in to have lunch with Stephen. He opened the door hesitantly, but relaxed when he saw Stephen absentmindedly tapping his pen on his desk while staring at the New York sky.
“Jon, what are you doing here?” Stephen asked when he realized someone was in the room. They usually ate out for lunch, and Stephen wasn’t informed that those plans had changed.
“When you didn’t return my calls, I thought you were busy so I decided to have lunch here,” Jon explained as he pulled two sandwiches from a bag he brought in with him.
There was some small talk as both men unwrapped their lunch, but as soon as they started eating they fell into a comfortable silence.
The silence was broken when Jon said hesitantly, “Stephen, I heard that you thought you saw some strange activity yesterday?”
Stephen sighed, not wanting to see another person not believe him. “Not you too.”
“What?” Jon asked, now confused. “What do you mean? I just wanted to know what’s going on.”
Realizing that Jon knew absolutely nothing about last night Stephen decided to tell the whole story. “Please don’t laugh,” Stephen begged.
“I promise I won’t,” Jon swore, now looking concerned. “What happened?”
Stephen took a deep breath and said, “It all began when I went into the dressing room last night...”
Stephen started from the beginning with the blood lined mirror and ended with the stagelight incident. Jon was silent the entire time, and stayed that way after Stephen finished. After a few minutes, Jon finally spoke. “Stephen, you know ghosts aren’t real...right?”
Stephen frowned. Even though Jon kept his promise, Stephen knew he was laughing on the inside. “They are real,” he insisted.
“They can’t be,” Jon protested. “You must have mistaken something else for a ghostly encounter.”
“I didn’t!” Stephen shouted and a small gust of wind blew into the room, which was odd because the window was closed. “The mirror, how do you explain that?”
“It must’ve been a prank Stephen, that’s all,” Jon said. When Stephen shook his head vehemently, the wind pick up and started to whip around stray hairs on both of the men’s heads.
“How about what happen with the stage light? You can’t explain that can you?” Stephen said.
“You’re just making a big deal out of nothing,” Jon dismissed his concerns.
The angrier Stephen was, the stronger the wind became. When he yelled, “Ghosts are real!” with rage and desperation, the wind picked up immensely, now whipping whole heads of hair instead of strands. Both men didn’t notice that because the temperature dropped to one of a freezer.
“Why is it so cold in here?” Jon asked, wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm.
“You can feel it?” Stephen asked, glad for once that the cold wasn’t affecting him only. He also knew that whatever was happening was going to affect them both, and he wasn’t so happy for that.
It was at that moment Stephen looked into the mirror that took up a corner of the office. “What the hell is that?” he exclaimed, and Jon followed his gaze and looked at the mirror also.
The mirror’s clear surface was completely covered with blackness. The blackness was beginning to ooze out of the mirror, spilling out onto the floor in the form of opaque black smog. The smog began to become a figure, a man with sharp claws for hands and no apparent feet, just a floating cloud of pitch blackness. The figure had no definite shape, the only features Jon and Stephen could see was razor sharp teeth and red, beady eyes that glowed bright like a raging fire when you looked upon them.
Jon scooted back his chair when the figure floated forwards, the one arm that reached out had black smoke rolling off it in waves. It seemed to be reaching for Stephen, who was frozen with fear, his eyes widening in terror and his hands gripping his chair’s armrest with an ironclad grip.
“Stephen!” Jon cried out, trying to shake Stephen out of this state of overwhelming fear, but it was no use. Jon watched helplessly as the figure approached Stephen, and used it’s outstretched fingers to touch Stephen forehead.
Jon vaguely heard the sound of someone screaming, it might’ve been Stephen, himself, or the both of them for all he knew, before the lights in room started to flicker. Soon, the room was plunged into darkness for a split second before returning to it’s former brightness.
The figure had disappeared, along with the cold and the wind, but the fear still lingered. Jon took several deep breaths, calming himself down before he turned and looked at Stephen, who seemed shell shocked. He was pale and sweating, eyes still focused to the place the figure was last. “What the hell was that?” he repeated breathlessly.
“I think we just saw a ghost,” Jon announced, and Stephen turned to him as if he finally realized he was there. Stephen nodded shakily, looking around the room for any sign of the ghost.
When he came up with nothing, Stephen took a deep breath to compose himself before he said, “I think it’s gone.”
Jon shook his head. “It might come back soon, and we need to be prepared--"
"No, Jon," Stephen interrupted, "I think it's really gone for good."
"How do you know?" Jon asked, not agreeing with Stephen.
"I've been feeling like I was being watched for awhile now," Stephen began.
"It's only been a day Stephen, you can't expect something like this will go in a day," Jon protested.
Stephen shook his head. "I've been feeling this way for months now, I think the ghost has been with me for awhile before it showed itself," Stephen explained. "Anyway, the feeling is gone. So is the feeling of overbearing dread I've had since last night," he added.
"But Stephen," Jon said, "I don't think a ghost like that would give up so easily."
Stephen leaned back on his chair and sighed. "Okay Jon, let's compromise. We both go on our merry way and I'll call you if anything happens, alright?"
Jon nodded but asked, "Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely," Stephen replied, smirking. Just then, for a split second, Stephen normally dark brown eyes turned pitch black before returning to normal. Jon felt dread seep into his heart, but decided to ignore it for now. Instead he walked out of the room, taking his half eaten lunch with him.
***888***888***
Jon waited anxiously for Stephen's call because he didn't believe for a second that the ghost was gone, now that it decided to appear to them.
He waited for a few days until he found a message on his phone that said that Stephen hadn't seen anything weird lately and that he thought he was ghost-free.
Jon still didn't believe that this ghost business was over but decided that he'll take Stephen word for it, but he stayed on guard whenever he went to the Report studio.
After a few visits, however, he had to agree with Stephen, there was no sign of paranormal activity. It looked like the ghost was gone.
That was until Stephen started to act oddly and the Colbert Report studio became a living hell.
TO BE CONTINUED