Chapter 2 - stealing ghosts
“What happened,” Rain asks. “Leo thinks he was killed because of some love letters. Our caller is the closest person who looks like who he last saw,” Elias says. “I’ll help you find the letters. If you want to just sit, that’s fine, Julian.” Rain says, “Could I come with you?” I ask. “Sure,” Elias says, looking at Rain. Elias’s attention seems to be caught by something. He turns to us and asks us to wait. Rain catches up to him, and they’re talking to a boy with Saturn earrings.
I pull the book out of the bag and attempt to cover it with the bag, and I quickly notice the stained and ripped pages. I skim each page to find myself staring at one of the lines “New entrants will be given the ability to see the events that have unfolded. However, this only occurs if the subject has been murdered themselves.” I hear the wooden floor creak and see rain on the stairs. I quickly shove the book back into the bag and clip it shut.
“There’s no point.” rain tells Elias. “We should try to anyway, but wait til morning. We’ll be caught in the storm if we head out now.” I stare at them blankly. “What?” I ask. “We need to go somewhere tomorrow to find some old letters. They might be important,” she says. “Alright,” I say. Elias stares at my bag as if he’s closely inspecting it for something out of place. “Are you looking for something?” I ask. “No, but we should be heading back now. We’ll meet you at the tree at the forest entrance in five,” his back turns. Rain is already a few feet ahead of him. I open the bag to ensure my journal and the book are still inside. How long can I keep this before someone notices? I ask myself. I feel as if I hear someone say, “Not much longer.” clipping the bag back shut, I get up and head for the forest. Walking through it again makes me realize that the trees have appeared to change their shape. A tall and once slim tree suddenly became a short tree with a branch sticking out like a hand.
Elias suddenly stops walking “look!” he pulls off a paper left on a tree and waves it in front of us. “What?” rain asks. “We could go to the store in the Starwell!” “We have to get back, plus I don't think Julian wants to stay out any later since they’re probably tired.” Rain says. “have you ever been to a store at night as a ghost before? He asks. “No, never,” I respond “do you want to?” he asks.
Rain rolls her eyes at him. “If rain wants to, sure!” she sighs, “so how do you plan to pay for whatever you want to get.” Rain asks. “I’ll figure it out,” he says as we take a left. I see the town filled with soft, welcoming light in the distance as if I’ve been here before.
As we go through the isles of the store, I realize all of us are laughing, yet somehow we’re not some school friends who decided to go out in the middle of the night. We’re ghosts trying to save people. We’re making sure their lives do not go down as just another headstone. It feels comforting to be doing something so familiar though I’ve only known rain and Elias for nearly 2 days. If I could, I would save them, make sure they wouldn’t have died. I wish they were alive and safe from harm.
Elias has a pile of different snacks reaching above his head. “How are you going to get all that?” rain asks him. “Running,” He responds. “I doubt you could carry all that back to the house,” Rain says. “I could if you helped.” Elias says as he pulls a snack off a lower shelf, “please?” he smiles, holding it up. “Fine, and what are you planning to do with all these snacks?” Rain asks.
“Leo wrote letters. Knowing him, it’s going to be a very long night tomorrow,” Elias says. “You’re helping carry these too,” rain faces me. Before I can say anything against it, I’m asked to go to the front to get a cart. As I walk through the aisles to the front, I see a girl with blue hair, fairly tall. She reminds me of a girl I was friends with, but her eyes are green instead of brown, and her clothing is the opposite of anything she would ever wear, but seeing her makes me feel like this is really it. I’m dead. I won’t ever see them again, not alive anyway. The thoughts make my eyes tear up, and it’s hard to breathe, but when I walk out the exit doors, I see the sky. I am mesmerized by the sight of all the stars and the moon. When I touch the cart, I quickly feel as if the cold on the handle is the wind blowing around me.
I find myself back in the store. I see a girl who looks almost like Rain, she wears a uniform with the store’s name on it, and her name tag reads, “Nova” There’s a light above the register, and it reads 10. With a loud bang, I suddenly see blood spatter onto the light. Yelling, crying, and terror overflow any other sound. I feel my body lie on the floor, almost forever, to conclude the pain of the gunshot wound. The sirens rush in the distance, and footsteps run in every direction.
I mutter, “I love you,” unsure of who I’m saying it to.
The sounds of two people discussing something pull me out of the scene and back to hold the cold cart handle. I walk back into the store, pushing the cart back through the aisles to rain and Elias. “Are you okay?” Elias asks. I come close to telling them what I saw, but something in my gut tells me not here and not now. “Yeah, I’m fine!” I respond. Rain and Elias give each other a look but don’t press any further. When we load all the snacks into the car, we hear voices down the aisle, “I hope you’re a fast runner Julian,” Elias says as he stands on the side of the cart, Rain on the other, holding tightly. I push the cart out the doors into the parking lot, and soon, we’re back in the forest. The voices die down once we leave the town though I don’t think we can show our faces or whatever feature that ghosts can be identified by. The crickets seem to surround us, along with fireflies. I wonder what it might’ve been like to live here for so long. Then out of the dark, a figure appears, “hello?” rain calls out. “Where am i” the voice responds. “You’re in the forest?” Elias responds. “I know, but what is the world? It’s not my home.” The figure says, “oh, you died.” Elias says. “We can explain it better if you want to come with us.” Rain says. “Thank you,” the figure says.
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