Come Back to Haunt Me Once Again (Copia x Michael Myers)

A Ghost in the Ministry

"C, the Ghouls will need new outfits for the tour next year. They've completely ruined the ones they had. We might as well think of a redesign since we have to get them new ones anyways. Why don't you go down to the costumer and give some input?" Sister Imperator held out a file to him from behind her desk.

"Ruined their outfits? How did they manage that?" He took the file and looked through it. There were sketched pages of the Ghouls' previous outfit designs along with a bunch of notes.

"I haven't the slightest idea. Looks to me like they were all rolling around in mud like dirty pigs."

"You really should stop, you know. You're always comparing them to pigs."

"Have you seen them eat, Copia?" Imperator shook her head.

Copia shrugged. She had a point.

After his meeting with Sister, he headed back to his office. He wanted to get some paperwork done before going to the costumer. Besides, he had already worked on some Ghoul outfit ideas awhile ago and those doodles were in his office.

He couldn't help but notice how vacant the halls were this morning. He hadn't passed one person yet. He rounded a corner and jumped in fright at the masked man standing at the far end of the hall. The file flew in the air and the papers spilled out over the floor. His stranger was inside the Ministry. Inside.

The man stood there in the middle of the hallway. Pale mask, boilersuit, and all. Copia's heart raced, his skin went cold.

"Erm... hi?" Copia greeted with a small wave. He suddenly remembered what he had done the night before and his face flushed. Good thing he now wears Papal facepaint.

Copia bent down to pick up his papers and went to confront him but when he stood back up, the man was gone. Copia ran to the end of the hall and looked down each direction of the corridor it connected to. Not a soul. He checked behind him too for good measure.

He rubbed his arms and collected himself. "Must be a gas leak... or imagined it," he muttered unconvinced. He noticed he had a slight situation and had to readjust his pants. He was really glad that no one was in the halls this morning.

He continued to his office and distracted himself with paperwork for most of the morning. He rang for a Ghoul to get him coffee. Twice. Noon came around and he decided it was time to go to the costumer. He also decided to grab some lunch along the way.

He ordered a sandwich and a to-go cup of juice from the cafeteria and juggled his lunch, files, and sketchbook all the way to the Arts Building. Every costume, every stage decoration, every ritual poster originated from this building. The building sat lower on a hill than the rest but the walk was pleasant. A paved pathway wound its way down to the Arts Building. The pathway branches off every once in awhile to lead somewhere else. Copia's favorite pathway branch on this route lead to a little garden. There's a fountain with a statue of Lucifer there that he believes is the most beautiful piece of artwork.

He glanced down the pathway that lead to the garden as he was passing by. He was just taking a sip of his juice when he saw the man again. He choked and sputtered. Juice went everywhere. He did, however, manage to hold onto everything he was holding.

"How did you get in here?" He asked as he wiped juice from his face with his sleeve. He glanced around to see if anyone else was seeing this stranger on the Ministry's property and headed over to the where the man was.

The stranger slowly backed into the garden and Copia lost sight of him. He quickened his pace to catch up, not wanting him to disappear again. He got to the fountain and saw that the man was waiting there for him. But he was not facing him, he was facing the fountain.

"Who are you?" Copia asked. He kept his distance though. The mask still creeped him out.

The man didn't say anything, he just fiddled his knife into one of the smaller pumpkins that were set out for October. Copia took a few small hesitant steps forward. He looked over the man's shoulder, still from a safe distance.

He finished carving something on the pumpkin and tossed it to Copia quickly. In catching the pumpkin, he dropped everything else. He sighed in annoyance with himself as he saw his sandwich hit the ground. Ignoring that, he looked at the message.

"11PM YOUR ROOM"

The R's looked rather funny but Copia figured it wasn't easy writing with a knife into pumpkin. After analyzing the quality of the letters, he realized the meaning. A blush and a grin grew on his face.

"Tonight? I'd love to." He looked up and found he was alone.