Two-Faced

Chapter 10

           Asriel awoke from her nightmare to the loud, musical ringing of her phone right next to her. Although she thought she had gotten a full night's sleep, she was exhausted. She just barely mustered enough energy to pick up her phone and answer her frantic mother.
"Hello?"
           "Oh, Asriel, thank goodness you're okay! I kept calling you, but got worried when didn't pick up!" she admitted, calming quickly.
           "Oh... sorry. I was still sleeping..." Asriel yawned, taking the phone away from her ear momentarily. "Is there something you needed to ask me? You usually don't call to check up until you're on your way home."
           Ignoring her question, Asriel heard a worried tone bleeding back into the robotic imitation of her voice. "You're just waking up?"
          "Yeah, why?"
          "Have you looked at the clock yet?"
          "No Mom, I haven't. The first thing I did was answer your call. Why it do you ask?"
          "Azzy, it's almost 12:30," her voice softened, as if she was worried someone else would hear. "You aren't having another one of your episodes, are you?"
          Asriel paused, her mouth hanging open. Glancing at the alarm clock, she realized her mom was right. How is it already noon?
          "No, no I'm fine. Just tired I guess," an awkward moment of silence passed between the two of them before Asriel spoke up again. "O-okay, well, I'd better go get some breakfast- lunch- whatever. Talk to you later." Asriel decided, trying to hide her confusion.
          "Alright honey, as long as you feel okay. You'd tell me if anything was wrong, right?"
          "Yeah, of course. Don't worry." Azzy assured her before saying her goodbyes.
          As soon as she hung up the phone, she went downstairs. Amber was off to the side of the kitchen table, scarred arms crossed across her chest, glaring daggers at her as she came into the room.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Asriel finally noticed the angry spirit. "What's wrong?"
          "You had no right to go through my stuff. That note was not yours to read."
          "I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so personal. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't actually read it..." she trailed off, knowing that she probably would've read it had Amber not stopped her.
          Amber sighed and shook her head. "Well, that's good at least. But, please, if you find it again, don't open it. It wasn't meant for you."
          "Alright, I won't," Asriel paused, trying to decide if she should ask more. After a moment, she decided to go for it. "If you don't mind me asking, who is the note for?"
          "Oh... I figured you'd ask that eventually. It was for my family, but I guess they never found it."
         "Do you have any living relatives that you could give it to?" Asriel willed her to go on, hoping to make sense of everything. She wanted more information before she told her mom about it.
         "None that would remember me," she replied dryly, shrugging as if it were no big deal. "At least, not as I was in life."
         How can someone just be forgotten by their family? Asriel thought, getting more and more anxious as she considered it. Wouldn't the memory of a person live on after death, like it had with her dad's? Why would someone forget their child?
          Asriel was going to ask more, but while she was lost in her thoughts, Amber slipped away, disappearing into the wall. Unable to follow, she turned her attention to the pantry to find something to eat. Between mouthfuls of cereal, she texted Iris. She told her everything; Amber's hostile response towards finding the note, last night's terrifying dream, and Amber's lack of direct living relatives. After a few minutes, Iris finally responded.
         "That's... a lot to unpack," she wrote, pausing a bit before her next message. "It sounds like the only way we're going to figure anything out, we'll need to find the note again. And what happened in your dream?"
         "I... I've gotten it before, actually. I'm in a dark room, like, the living room? I can't see anything at first, but I hear static. The TV turns on, but the screen is covered in white noise..." Asriel replied, realizing how weird it sounds trying to explain it. "But... I could make out something in the static. A silhouette. I don't know who it was though. But... it was pressing its hand on the screen. The dream ended just before I pressed my hand against the screen."
         "You've had this dream before?" Iris pushed, willing her to explain.
         "Yeah... It stopped sooner last time though, I think. I didn't try to put my hand out."
There were a few minutes of silence from the chat, and Asriel wondered if Iris even believed her. She sighed, finishing her breakfast so she could go back upstairs. Luckily, as she trudged to her room, her phone dinged in her hand.
         "It has to be connected somehow... but how?"
         "Your guess is as good as mine," she muttered, flopping down on her bed.
Before she got the chance to reply, another text came in. "Have you told your mom about any of this?"
         "The ghost? Are you serious? She thought I was nuts when it was only footsteps. No way I'm telling her until I have proof. She'll get me holed up in the psych ward! I've already got enough going on with the ghost, I'd rather not deal with that on top of a team of therapists. Been there, done that."
         "Yeah, I get it. But how's collecting evidence going? You'll have to tell her sooner or later," Iris pointed out, "especially if she's already worried. There's no telling what this ghost is capable of."
         "She doesn't like pictures, apparently... Every time I try, she doesn't show up."
         "What about comparing facts? Any truth to what she's saying?"
         Asriel paused, trying to remember. "No reports or obituaries, but it doesn't help that I still don't know her last name. That would make everything so much easier."
         They continued to chat, bouncing ideas off of one another. What if she hid all the evidence somehow? What if she was faking it all together? At this point, they couldn't come up with much. Without the note, they'd hit a dead end. Even though it'd be risky, Asriel knew what she was going to have to do; she'd have to break her promise.