(Untitled)

[this_is_pam]

Pam had, before tonight, never participated in a fake seance before, but she was pretty sure that they weren't supposed to involve real ghosts.Had she been her normal age, it still would have been freaky as hell, but she might've been able to think of some sort of rational response. As it was, though, she -- along with almost everyone else -- had

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[jim_halpert]

Had Jim actually known there were ghosts running around on the island, he wouldn't have ever considered the idea. As cool and collected as he chose to present himself, there was nothing but sheer panic inside of him following the appearance of the ghost. He just ran as fast as his legs
could take him, out of the fields and through the brush of the jungle in the general direction of the path. He'd have to hit it eventually. He'd just have to

[this_is_pam]

Left on edge from the encounter with the ghost, the noise from the brush was startling enough that Pam turned to face it, with hardly enough time to realize what was going on before she was falling backwards, the weight of being hit too much for her to try to stay on her feet. The cry she let out was instinctive, though not unwarranted; the ground wasn't exactly soft, nor was the person who'd landed on her light. She did, however, manage not to hit her head too hard. That had to count for something.

"Um, the last time I checked, yeah," she said, eyes mostly closed as she winced. Only after trying to shift underneath him did she realize who'd fallen on her. Admittedly, this wasn't exactly the way she'd ever imagined Jim winding up on top of her, and as that wasn't anything she'd been intending to think at all, she couldn't help but blush. At least it was dark enough that, she hoped, he wouldn't be able to see, or, if he did, that it'd be dismissable as just being flushed from running so much. The whole being young thing had been fun

[jim_halpert]

It took Jim a minute to realize exactly what was wrong with their current position. It was without saying that the minute he did see, he hastily got off her, sitting next to her instead. That his own cheeks were red was something he was contributed to running for his life and certainly not because of blushing.

"I didn't - I didn't see you," he stammered, breaths coming out in quiet huffs of air. She had a little more time to catch her breath than he did. Standing after a moment or two on unsteady legs, he held out his hands to her to take them. "Let me help you up. Are you okay?"

[this_is_pam]

As soon as he was off her, Pam attempted, with a bit of difficulty, to get herself propped up on her elbows. Even so, she was sure that she was fine. The fall hadn't exactly been comfortable, but more damaging was the way she'd just blushed, though he, fortunately, didn't seem to realize it. That would likely have just been a quick way of making this exponentially more awkward.

"I think so," she answered, reaching up to place her hands in his so she could pull herself to her feet, though she cringed as she did. "Nothing's broken, anyway. That's probably a good sign." It couldn't be much worse than a couple scrapes or bruises, she figured. In that respect, she was probably lucky. "How about you? You didn't hurt anything, did you?"

[jim_halpert]

"I'm okay," he said, though he was still a little sore. It probably would've been worse if things were a little different. "You uh, broke my fall, I think."

His attention momentarily turned back where he ran, his eyes widening just a little bit. "What was that?"

[this_is_pam]

"Yeah, that's what it feels like," she said dryly, though it was apparent that she wasn't actually upset about it. If anything, she was just still flustered from the position they'd wound up in, but there was no way she would admit to that.

She glanced back when he did in the direction he'd come from, what she'd managed of a smile fading pretty quickly. "I don't know," she admitted, with a quick shake of her head, "but I don't really think we should stick around to find out, either. You want to get out of here?"

[jim_halpert]

It was exactly what he was thinking. There was no way he wanted to stand around in the middle of the jungle at night. It was bringing up a lot of memories he didn't even want to begin to think about, and Rembrandt not being around yet - he'd stayed behind to try to scare off the ghost or whatever it was - it made him all the more uneasy.

"Yeah," he nodded, glancing in the direction he was running and motioning toward it. "That way should lead toward the pathway."

[this_is_pam]

"Then let's go," she said with a short, decisive nod, already setting off in direction he'd gestured to, though she paused to make sure he was following. Standing there talking about what they'd seen had only served to make her nervous again, and as far as she was concerned, the sooner they could get back on the path and headed towards something resembling civilization, the better. Being alone in the dark and not exactly sure of where they were with whatever it was out there wasn't exactly comforting, though, admittedly, not being alone helped. Even so, Jim's being there wouldn't have been enough for her to want to stick around, even if he'd wanted to stay. She drew the line at potentially angering spirits. "It can't be too far, right?"

[jim_halpert]

Jim didn't take long to fall in step with her. Even he had to admit her presence there made things a little bit better, and was probably more settling than anything else he could be doing just then.

"We'll be there in no time," he replied, though that wasn't something he could admittedly say for sure. He wasn't sure how long he'd been running. He just knew she was pretty obviously looking to him for reassurance, and he wanted to give her that if he could. "It'll be okay."

[this_is_pam]

"Yeah, of course," Pam agreed, letting out a short, breathy laugh, though despite her best efforts, it was impossible not to let on how nervous she was. The ghost, or whatever it was, hadn't shown any signs of being able to hurt them or anything, but it hadn't proven the contrary, either. She, for one, had no intention of finding out; she just had to hope that it hadn't followed them or anything.

Glancing over at him, she managed a smile, weak as it was. It wouldn't do either of them good to walk all the way back worrying about what had just happened. Focusing on it seemed all the more likely to bring it back, anyway, and she definitely didn't want to do that. "So, uh, I guess that's the last time we stage a seance, huh?"

[jim_halpert]

"Definitely not one of our better ideas," he admitted, letting out a laugh himself. It had gone off without a hitch until the ghost did appear. He had to wonder if he angered some spirit of the island. "It...did kind of looked like Mose, though, didn't it? I mean, I've only seen pictures, but, I think he did. This place is so weird."

[this_is_pam]

The idea made Pam pause, though she kept walking, shooting him a curious look. "You know, come to think of it," she said thoughtfully, "he kind of did. I mean, I didn't really get a good look, with the whole running for my life thing, but..." Trailing off, she shook her head bemusedly, if still somewhat worried. "Honestly, from what I've heard, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen here." It didn't matter that, the last she'd heard, Mose was alive and as well as he'd ever been, which was relative when one was a Schrute. Any place that could do what she'd seen and heard about already was probably capable of making him show up as a ghost. It figured that he'd be haunting a beet field, too.

[jim_halpert]

"True," he said, shaking his head. It was a first for him, still, and he'd been around for a longer time. He had to wonder if other ghosts were roaming around. He probably didn't want to know.

Looking ahead, he realized there was light coming through the trees that got brighter as they got closer. It didn't take him long to realize where it was coming from.

"Hey, look," he said, sounding relieved, as he headed toward it, leading the way now. "I think it's part of the path."

[this_is_pam]

Pam caught sight of the light at around the same time he did, and she let out an audible sigh of relief, looking over at him with a smile. In the two months she'd been on the island, she was pretty sure she'd never been quite so glad to see that path as she was just then. After what they'd seen, it didn't stop her from being on edge, but it was as much of a comfort as she could've asked for.

"Looks like we're in the clear, then," she said approvingly as they approached it, though she did cast one glance back over her shoulder to make sure nothing was behind them. "I don't know about you, but I think I'm pretty glad to have a hut that's not in the middle of nowhere right about now." Of course, she wasn't exactly looking forward to the walk all the way back there, but at least it was well-lit the whole way. With as freaked out as he'd seemed to be, too, she wouldn't have felt right asking him to take her. For all she knew, that might've been weird, anyway, and she liked having things this close to normal.

[jim_halpert]

He let out a relieved laugh, feeling like it was finally alright to slow down. He knew he wasn't far from his hut, since he was pretty sure they passed the curling rink. That did mean, however, they were really far from her hut. After everything that happened, he couldn't bring himself to not worry about her safety.

"I'll walk you home," he offered, thinking it was only right. Her walking alone could be dangerous. "It's too dark to go alone."

[this_is_pam]

Though she probably shouldn't have been, Pam looked a little surprised at the offer, if only because she'd just been thinking about how she wasn't going to ask him to. With him suggesting it, though, there was no way she could refuse. After seeing what they'd taken to be a real ghost, walking back to her hut alone definitely wasn't ideal, despite the lights and other people around.

"Okay," she agreed with a nod, her smile almost shy as she looked at him. "I mean, as long as you're sure. You gonna be okay walking back alone?" It was entirely possible that she really, really hoped he would be, but that didn't mean she didn't want to make sure, just in case. He'd been just as freaked out as she was.