Haunted -- Part Four

When Kameko had said that she'd seen floating apparitions, Cassie had expected to see something that she could easily dismiss as a prank. A reflection from a mirror set up down the hall, or simple lights, or something cheesy. If she was going to see anything at all, of course, and she wasn't sure about that point either.

But what she was seeing was what Kameko had described. Three flickering, fluttering white motes were hovering at the top of the hallway four or five metres from where she stood. Kameko's description, however, hadn't really been able to convey the realness of the things Cassie was seeing now. They had depth. They had weight. In a way that the ghosts did when Cassie saw them.

Whatever they were, these things weren't fakes.

As Cassie stepped into the hallway, they moved toward her. She leaned back, taking a half-step into the doorway.

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That was when she heard the laughter. She turned her head to look down the opposite hallway, and the noise stopped abruptly.

"Hey -- it's not the same one!"

"I think she heard us!"

Three girls, all in long nightdresses, were standing at the end of the hallway, watching her. Two were blonde, the other had long, dark hair. One of the blondes giggled nervously. The other two just stared. Cassie glanced from them back toward the light-things, which swooped toward her. Behind her, Kameko let out a stifled shriek and Cassie stiffened, closing her eyes and turning her head, waiting for the impact. There was a slight sense of wrongness, but no physical sensation as the apparitions passed through her. They fluttered around her head for a few seconds before disappearing.

Cassie turned back to the girls. They stared at one another in silence for a moment.

"Cassie -- did you --" Kameko's voice started faint and trailed off, the question left hanging. She had stepped forward to look into the hall but Cassie was blocking her view.

"I haven't done anything yet," Cassie said, her gaze not wavering from the three girls, who hadn't moved. "Wait here for a bit." She took a couple of steps toward the girls, trying to walk with a confidence she didn't exactly feel. Her stomach was doing flip flops. Her fists clenched and unclenched.

The three of them looked about the age of first-year university students. They had been wearing mocking gestures before, but now they looked startled. As Cassie approached, they backed away a few steps down the hallway, as if they would turn and run.

"You can see us." It was the brunette. She was also trying to look confident and failing miserably. Her voice was shaking. She'd crossed her arms in front of her chest; it looked like more of a defensive gesture than an intimidating one.

This was definitely new. For the first time, she wasn't the one who was afraid of the ghosts. This time, they were afraid of her. She felt a surge of something that wasn't quite pleasure at the thought. Her fear had disappeared and she found herself to be very, very angry.

"I don't know who you are," she said, coldly and evenly. "Or what you think you're doing. But your little prank isn't funny."

"Why can you see us?" the brunette asked. "You're not supposed to see us. You're only supposed to see the ghosts."

"The ghosts?" Cassie quirked an eyebrow and looked back toward Kameko's door. "Is that what they were supposed to be?"

The girls didn't respond.

"Don't you have better things to do than going around scaring the students? Wait, don't answer that." Cassie frowned at them. "It's obvious that you don't."

"They can't see us," one of the blonde ones said quietly. "That's the only way. And even then...not everyone can see them. Only some of them."

"Right. So scaring them isn't a joke for you. You weren't laughing at all. You just wanted them to see you. I find that a little hard to believe."

There was another silence. Finally one of the blondes spoke.

"Do you have any idea how dull it is around here? There's no one for us to talk to except each other. No one who can see us. We walk around day in, day out. You don't even know what it's like. So yeah, we scare them. But you know what? They deserve it. They get to walk out of this building. They get to live. We're just stuck here. Doing nothing. So we scare that stupid girl. So what? If she doesn't like us here, she can leave. And if you don't like it, you can leave too."

"Spare me the dead-hate-the-living crap," Cassie said. " Your story doesn't sound all that tragic. You know why you're stuck here? Because you've decided that you are."

"You don't know anything about us," the brunette said petulantly.
"I know enough to know that you're not scaring people just to get attention. And I know enough to know that you're not just three girls who are doomed to haunt a residence. Give me a break." Cassie was ready to grab the girls and shake them. Or hit them. Or something.

But what can I do?
I can't touch them.
I can't make them leave.

"I'd get out of here in a minute if I could," the brunette said. "Don't you think I would?"

"All we want," the first blonde said, "is to go home. That's all. But we can't leave here."

"You left here a long time ago." Cassie shook her head. "You won't admit it to yourselves. You'd rather stay here and frighten people and pretend you're still teenagers. But you're not. You're dead. No matter how many people you scare, you're still dead. Just a memory of some kids who lived here once." Cassie looked at them all. They seemed to have become less substantial during the conversation. Her own anger was fading, too. Now she just felt tired, and it occurred to her that she was standing in the middle of a dimly lit hallway, to all appearances talking to herself. She shook her head and walked away.

They shouted after her, but she ignored them. She knocked on the door to Kameko's room. It was a few seconds before she heard a hesitant reply.

"Who's there?"

"It's just Cassie." The door opened. Kameko peeked out into the hall. Cassie glanced over her shoulder, but the ghosts were no longer in the hallway where they had been.

"What happened?"

"I'll explain in a bit," Cassie said. "For now, pack an overnight bag. We have to talk and I don't really want to do it here. You can stay at my place tonight."

"What is it? What's wrong? Are we in danger?" Kameko's face paled.

Cassie almost laughed. "No. But I figure you're not getting any sleep if you stay here."

Kameko gave her a tired smile. "No, you're right."

***

It was almost five o'clock in the morning by the time they were settled in at Cassie's. Cassie had insisted on calling Gilhen and asking him to meet them at her house before she'd start on any explanations. In the meantime, she tried to keep conversation on safe subjects like books, school and music. Mostly, though, they sat and nursed cups of tea and tried to stay awake. It had been a long night and they were both tired, and Cassie had a lot to think about. Kameko looked like she was going to topple at any moment, but she didn't want to go to sleep before she'd found out what exactly had happened. Cassie imagined she looked just as tired.

"This had better be good," Gilhen said, when he arrived.

"You're not in a position to make demands," Cassie told him. "You got me into this mess."

"What happened?"

"Upstairs. Sit down. I'll tell you both."

***

"You're telling me I can see ghosts?" Kameko asked.

"Not exactly," Cassie said. "It was sort of an offshoot of the ghosts. A kind of ghost-ghost, I guess you could call it, if that makes any sense." Cassie looked up. Gilhen shrugged. Kameko just nodded. Cassie continued. "From what you've told me, and from what they said it seems like only certain people can see the things they...conjure up for lack of a better word. And you could see it."

"So I have some kind of supernatural ability?"

"It seems like it, yeah."

"And you do too. I mean, you can see ghosts."

Cassie sighed. "Yeah. Though not quite in the same way you do, I guess. I don't really understand it myself. Anyway, this is kind of a special case. If you've never seen anything before this, you probably won't see anything after this unless a ghost really makes an effort. But it's something you should be aware of."

"So what should I do about these ghosts? I mean, you didn't get rid of them, right? They're still there."

"Yeah. They're still there. I don't think I can get rid of them unless they want to go."

"I could perform an exorcism," Gilhen said, then looked at Cassie. "But they haven't been really effective in the past."

"Or you could call in a priest," Cassie said, "Which I've never tried. But I think the best thing to do is just ignore them if you can. Or," she smiled, "just open the door and tell them to fuck off. I'd really get a kick out of you doing that."

"But it's so awful! Ghosts! In my residence!" Kameko shuddered. "I don't know if I can sleep there any more." She pulled her legs up against her chest. Gilhen put his arm around her.

"It'll take some getting used to, I'll admit." Cassie said, "And I wish I could just tell them to go. But I can only talk to them. I don't really have any power over them."

Kameko didn't say anything. She leaned in closer to Gilhen.

"Well," Gilhen said, "we can't make any final decisions tonight." He looked at the clock. "Or, I suppose I should say 'this morning'. You guys are tired, and so am I. Why don't we get some sleep, and talk about it in the morning?"

It wasn't until Cassie was in bed that she really began to process everything that had happened in the day.

God, this is awful.
I couldn't even help her.
I'm useless.
Not only do I have this stupid ability, but it's useless.
I can't even help people who need it.
Oh, shut up and go to sleep.

She put her pillow over her head to shut out the thoughts, but it was a long time before she finally fell asleep.

***

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