The Aftermath

14. Instincts

(POV: Grunt)

I slowly approached the crying girl. "Ar-Are you okay?" I questioned, knowing quite well that crying is what people do when they are not okay. Whilst I can't tell you what one is, I've heard that onions can make you cry, too, even if you aren't sad. Bet that was something you didn't know!

"...go away." She repeated, this time purely in the sweet, yet sad, voice of a child. Maybe she was as lost in this world of chaos as I was.

I remained around for a while to make sure that she was alright. Eventually, she crawled off the floor and hovered into the air. "Where are your friends?" She asked quietly, looking around a little and placing her hands nervously behind her back.

"I have no idea," I said, reflecting on the hopeless situation I was in. Plug and Rob may not even have each other, I realised at that moment. Perhaps they, too, are lost and alone with no idea where anyone else is. And-

"What is that?!" She said, louder, placing her hand out and pointing towards me. I had no idea at all what she was going on about. Didn't she understand what ghosts were? Soon enough, she noticed my confusion and pointed closer to me. I followed the direction of her finger and-

What was this? There was something in my chest! Something purple. I don't remember putting that there, I thought to myself. Honestly, I wasn't very bothered by the fact that something was suddenly inside of me that I had never seen before. All I knew was that I didn't want it inside of me. And so, I placed my hand into my chest and pulled it out. It slipped out of my hands and my thoughts about Plug and Rob disappeared for a moment and I was...happy! It didn't last long, though, because from happiness came anger.

(POV: Sue Pea)

"What is that!?" I cried out in alarm. I've seen that kind of crystal before, I thought to myself and I wondered why the ghost would be storing this crystal in his belly. It didn't take me long to realise that he had no idea what I was talking about, so, patiently, I pointed a little closer as to help him realise what I was pointing at. And it worked. Before I knew it, he pulled out the crystal and dropped it carelessly on the floor. I soon noticed that his pupils had faded into his white eyes.

With immense strength, he grabbed a brick from the wall and hurled it towards me. I managed to avoid being hit by it despite the shock I was in by the sudden turn of events. I heard him growl before he began to charge towards me. What was I to do? All I knew to do was to run. That's what my father always said, "If there's danger in sight, run from it."

Whilst he charged after me, approaching closer and closer, I knew I couldn't stick to this plan as he would surely catch me soon. And it got me to wondering why he was being such a meanie. He was quite nice to me to this point, I realised. Why now did he suddenly show his anger on me. Was it in revenge for what I did to him? I tried to remember but I was too busy concentrating on avoiding any kind of contact to the angry figure behind me.

And so I stopped. I placed my fist out and it began to glow. Angry or not, I seemed to possess some kind of supernatural power. I knew it was the only way. And so I pushed the red one into a wall and kept him there. Whilst it was clear he wanted to not be stuck against the wall, but it was for his own good, as my mother would have said.

I wondered for some time before I noticed the glimmering crystal at the other end of the corridor. I looked over it and remembered where all of this had started. In hope to restore some kind of order, I returned the crystal to where it had come from. After all, keeping a ghost of his strength against a wall was draining me of energy quickly.

I waited in anticipation as the ghost began to slow his struggles to be out of my control and then suddenly his pupils seemed to return.

"Huh!?" He cried out innocently. And I knew I could let him go.