Spirits: Waking Up Alone

Unknown Reason

"Where exactly is this house?" Kiara asked quietly as they walked down the ice covered path through the park.

Hunter glanced back at her, "Almost there," he promised. There was something different about this ghost, besides her memory loss. While most ghosts looked like transparent, normal people, this one looked bizarrely like a black and white photograph. She had gray eyes, a gray dress, pale gray skin, and white hair. She was walking around barefoot with a miserable expression on her transparent face.

She just gave a small nod of understanding, and her caught her staring at a child nearby who was wrestling with a large, golden dog.

"You like animals?" he questioned to break the deep silence between them.

"I don't remember." was all she replied.

Hunter frowned, but didn't press further. This was certainly an odd ghost. Most ghosts had been so lonely that they were bursting to talk to someone, overjoyed and really talkative so that it was almost annoying. But this ghost kept her thoughts and her words to herself, which only made him more curious to figure out what was going through her mind.

Hunter turned to the left, and strode up to a porch. The porch was decorated with different colored bottle caps on strings and a doormat that read "Lunatics ONLY". Hunter just rolled his eyes, and knocked. His fingers made a hollow sound on the door, and Kiara tilted her head to the side, studying the door.

The door opened, and a teenager with blue eyes and blue hair opened the door, grinning jovially at them, "Yolo!!"

"Can we come in?" Hunter asked impatiently.

"Are you a pickle?"

"Uh... what?"

Kiara poked Hunter's shoulder to get his attention, then pointed at a sign beside the door bell that read "No admittance except on pickle business." and Hunter face-palmed in exasperation.

"Please, this is important," Hunter growled.

"Nothing is more important then pickles," Raxus told him, closing the door in their faces.

Hunter grinded his teeth in annoyance, then slammed his foot against the door, kicking it open, "This isn't a question! You need to answer some questions for us. I'll buy you a pickle if you can help us."

"You have to pay for that you know." Raxus pointed towards the door in annoyance. "But anyway, what do you need?"

"You know how that ever since you found out I was a ghost seer you tried to learn as much as possible about ghosts and all things supernatural?"

"If I didn't know, you just told me."

"Anyway," Hunter continued in a slightly annoyed voice, "I was wondering if you could tell me anything about Kiara? She's a ghost I just found being chased by the shadowbeasts out by the school."

"Obviously you know about her more then me, seeing as how YOU can see her and I cannot." Raxus said reasonably, looking around through a cabinet, "You'll have to describe her for me."

Hunter glanced back at Kiara, who was poking at a pair of wind chimes hanging from the ceiling fan. She listened to its gentle ringing, her head tilted curiously to the side as she studied it.

"She's different," he said with a frown, "She's completely colorless, and she doesn't remember anything from her previous life. Ever heard of a ghost that doesn't have a past?"

"Nope, never," Raxus shook his head, "However... you said she was colorless. That means she's not a ghost. That's the sign of a spirit."

"I thought ghosts and spirits were pretty much the same thing," Hunter frowned, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, "Aren't they?"

"No. Ghosts have past lives and gave up their choice to leave the earth. They can't touch any objects, and seeing as that wind chime is moving itself, this clearly shows she's not a normal ghost." Raxus shrugged his shoulders mechanically.

"So she's a spirit?"

"Yep. Which is basically a ghost who failed to head towards the light, but at the same time didn't want to stay on the earth. In other words, she's a lost soul stuck in limbo." Raxus told him, pulling a taco from between the cushions in his couch, "Does this still look edible to you?"

"Uh... no."

"I'm a spirit?" Kiara had drifted beside him again, giving him a slightly curious look.

"Seems so. Is that all, Raxus?"

"Think so. Bye bye!"

"Come on, Kiara," Hunter scowled, turning away, "You can come back to my place if you want."

"Sure!" Raxus grinned.

"I wasn't talking to you." Hunter frowned at his friend in annoyance, "You want to come, Kiara?"

"If it's no trouble," she said softly, her deep gray eyes still locked onto the wind chime, "This sounds familiar... I like it. It's like I've heard it before... this tingling sound." her forehead creased in confusion, "But it's distant."

"Whatever, let's go," Hunter turned to leave, and Kiara gave the wind chimes one last look before following the ghost seer out the door.

"I feel like there's something important about spirits that I don't remember," Raxus muttered under his breath, "Oh well, bye guys!"

The blue haired lunatic turned back to his taco, taking a bite, "Still good!" he was now alone in his house without any lights on, because he wanted his sister to trip on his bear trap when she got home.

He glanced out the window in time to see Hunter vanish around the block, then frowned, "Gee, I wonder what it's like to see ghosts!! Bet it's cool."

"It is," a voice behind him said coolly, and Raxus rolled his eyes.

"Look, dude, if you're going to sneak into my house, please tell me you used the front door," Raxus turned around, "Whoa, you're creepy."

The man standing behind him was tall, his shoulders broad, and his one good eye was a dark purple color. His dark hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, and the entire left side of his face was covered in deep scars as if he'd been attacked by some sort of long clawed beast. His sleek, leather trench coat hung loosely around him, and his thick, black army boots clunked on the wooden floor as he stepped forward.

"Hm... black hair, deep scars, evil demeanor... gasp!!" Raxus exclaimed, "You must be a BAD GUY!!!"

The man chuckled, "You got that right. Now to get down to business... I've heard that you're quite knowledgeable on ghosts and spirits?"

"Yup."

The man smiled crookedly, "Good... Now I just need you to answer a couple of questions and I'll leave you in peace."