"Now what?" Aimee asked curiously.
Ghost didn't look at her. He was standing in the living room of his house, looking at the destruction. The front door was smashed in, and his TV had a giant crack in the center of it. To the side were his loveseat and padded chair; the loveseat's cushions had bullet holes in them, stuffing covering a thin layer on the floor. His chair was broken in two. Aimee, waiting for an answer, began to follow Ghost's gaze, he was now looking at his kitchen and table. The table was toppled over, a leg demolished by bullets. The door to his refrigerator was violently torn away in the haste of looking for evidence days ago, and the same with his cupboards. Broken glass from cups were on theground, so he didn't enter his small kitchen. Walking through the small hallwayof his house he entered the rooms.
First was his room. He walked in, and gave a sigh. His bed mattress was thrown on the ground, torn up. His display of inventions and other trinkets were smashed on the floor in a hopeless mess. The cabinets were also taken out, clothes all over the place. "Fantastic," he muttered. He didn't bother checking the bathroom, although he was sure it was as messy as the other rooms. Aimee was standing in a storage room. Ghost came up to her side. "This was my storage area, filled with boxes mostly," he explained. "Well, now it'snothing." The room's boxes were thrown open, the contents inside slightly damaged but ok. Ghost closed the door to the storage room, and turned around tothe final room. There it was; Johnny Toast's room.
Aimee took Ghost's hand. He hesitated to go inside, cautious of disturbing what was left of his friend. The door was half open, a few bullet holes in it. But Ghost and Aimee entered to find nothing wrong with the room. Nearly nothing; there was a sleeping man on Toast's bed.
Ghost jumped at first, slowly walking towards him. He was in police uniform, lying on the bed. Ghost placed two hands on the body and turned it around. He pulled away instantly; the man was two days dead. His jaw was wide open. Pale white and eyes half opened, he was dead for a least a while. Aimee gasped when she found it. "What...is he holding?" she asked. Ghost turned his eyes to the torso of the man. His stomach was riddles will holes. Not clean, round holes, but untidy and hasty wounds. Dried blood layered the torso.Ghost gulped. "....Knife...." he muttered. Aimee gasped again. After a few secondsof looking at the man, Ghost noticed the two hands clutched over something. He thought it was the man once holding his stomach in pain, but he had something in his hands. Ghost took a trembling hand to the paper the man held. He the blood-soaked parchment in his hands and widened it; a letter. He looked over at Aimee, both shocked. Ghost read it aloud, "Uh...it says...'Dear Johnny, I hope you're still alive to be reading it exactly three days after we first met. Of course, I know what you're doing precisely. But enough talk about that, let me introduce you to my latest update on our relationship: I won't see you again for years, now isn't that nice of me? We're done for a while, but I'll tell you right now don't get too involved with anybody because I guarantee I'll kill them. Haha! I'll be back,but I don't want to sound hostile. In fact, it's a bittersweet moment for meright now. I hope you feel the same. Your good friend, Jimmy.'
Ghost stood paralyzed in mixed emotions, clutching the crimson paper. Aimee put her head on Ghost's shoulder in an act of comfort. "He was right, Aimee. He was going to alive after this. He was right about the two of us meeting again someday," he said. "Please don't think too much aboutthis," she begged. "You have time to relieve yourself after it all. Pleasedon't keep this on your mind all the time...au revior." She kissed him on the forehead, and walking away silently. Ghostturned to watch her walk away. He knew he would never marry Aimee, he couldn't.They would never be a couple, and they were both okay with it. In fact, he wassure he would never see Aimee again. He didn't remember when they met, she was always just...there. In the picture, but not noticed. "Sweet Aimee," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow." Outside, she looked through the window and smiled. She walked around the corner, and then it was it.
Later, he was looking at Toast's laptop. Earlier he had cleared out Toast's room completely to give himself closure. He found his old laptop, and Ghost was now using it to find news about what happened. He would watch television if a bullet shell wasn't lodged in the center of it. He went to The Wall Street Journal website to try to find news. Ghost anticipated it would say what he thought it would say, which it did; bold word read "The 'Casket' Conspiracy Grows: Who is 'Ghost?'" He clicked on the article. The picture of the story was Casket's alleyway hideaway, burned down. He read below:
"The picture above depicts the ruins of the Marsmith Apartment
Complex...and the ruins of a physcopath hideout. The leader of this underground
business was a man named Jimmy 'Casket', commonly recognized as one of the most
dangerous serial killers in the city at the moment. We (WSJ source) have the
rights to believe that Casket was dispatched in the fire that consumed the
building. After the fire, many went in to the remains to check for any
evidence, and found very little. There was a basement that had mostly storage
and burnt metals, but also a mysterious machine ruin was found. The burnt
condition is unacceptable for study, so it remains unknown what it originally
was. Near the entrance of this hideaway was a lone, burnt corpse: the gruesome
scene was lying back down on the ground. It was taken for anatomy late last
night in hopes to find who this person was. As for the mysterious man Jimmy
Casket, there are rumors he is not deceased but further police evidence denies
it. Prior to this three-day long ordeal was the discovery of a dead man at
infamous 'paranormal investigator' Johnny Ghost's home. Orders decreed that
Johnny 'Toast', partner, be taken into custody after fleeing the scene of the
death. "Johnny Toast still has a bounty", Officer Davis says. "We might let it
go, the lack of evidence puts a dent in the crime. The wound of the man was a
bullet hole and we can say that there was no firearm in the house." Officer
Davis has other things to say (continue page 56-)
Page 106 explains the new, hot details about the progress of actual time travel. Scientists speak that it could be used for private uses once it getspast deve-"
Ghost shut the laptop. So that was it. The website hadn't been updated, there's no news about Casket or anything. Ghost wondered if i twas a good thing he didn't know any more about the matter. He had a chance to remove it from his mind currently, so he did. He put the laptop under the loveseat and made himself some tea. As for the news about the time travel...he refused to comprehend it. As he sipped his drink, he remembered the dying request of his friend. "This job has been everything I wished for, everything I wanted. This was the biggest favor you've done for me, sir, please...don't forget that."
He didn't. He forgot about Aimee. Forgot about Casket, and his hideout....He forgot about the time travel talk. He forgot about the death,the screams, the raids, everything. Everything except what Toast wanted him to remember. He never forgot the cases he explored with Toast. He never forgot the laughs, the screams, or the fear. He remembered Honeyhall because he bonded with Toast over it, but he forgot...The Honeyhall legacy. But he remembered the favor he did for Toast. The biggest wish he ever wanted. And that was Ghost's vow forever on; never forget the favor.
Never forget the favor he did for Toast. Never forget the favor he did for himself.
