Choose (A Choose Your Own Story Adventure)

28. Make Terry Turn the Lights On

"Can you go?" Mia asks. "I would myself, but I—"

"Don't be scared." Terry stands up, his chest slightly puffed out. "I'll save the day."

Mia restrains an eye roll. He strides over to the office. He closes the door, leaving Mia alone with her phone light.

Ten minutes later and Terry hasn't come back. Mia shines her light on her boss's door. For the first time, Mia actually wants Terry to return. She usually isn't afraid of the dark, but there's an eery feeling creeping in her chest. Goosebumps crawl up her arms. When did the office get so cold? She uses her free hand to rub her arm, hoping to stimulate some heat.

Mia's phone light randomly turns off. She looks to see that her phone is dead. That's weird, she thinks. My battery was halfway a few minutes ago. It could just be due to her phone being old. She has always wanted to get a new phone, but hasn't gotten around to it.

A cool breeze blows through her hair. Mia looks around frantically. It's dark, so she can't see if the fans are on. She knows for a fact that all of the windows are closed, though.

Then the computer screens start randomly turning on. Mia clutches tightly onto the table. This has to be a joke that Terry's pulling. If so, it isn't funny. Mia tries to turn her computer monitor off. It continues to randomly flip on and off.

"T-Terry?" Mia stammers. She looks back at where Terry had left to. Though she can't see, she's sure that she would have heard him come back.

"Nope, just me, babe." Mia looks around for the voice, alarmed. It's a feminine, playful voice, one that she has never heard before. "Turn around."

Mia slowly does as the voice instructs. She nearly falls out of her seat at the sight she sees. Sitting—at least Mia thinks it's sitting—on a nearby desk is a faint, bluish figure. Mia blinks, thinking that it will go away. That it's merely a figure of her imagination, created by the darkness.

Then it speaks. "Don't look so scared, babe." The voice seems to be in her head instead of out loud. Even then, she still finds herself slipping further into her chair. Her heart is beating rapidly.

"You're...you're...."

"A ghost?" The figure gets off the desk and onto the floor. "Yep. Here, I'll go through the whole shtick. You can ask questions after, but I'll probably answer them all for you." It sits on the floor. "My name's Liz, I died fifteen years ago from a car accident outside of this office—right, an office? I'm not sure, it was a sewing business last time I was here. Anyway, I'm not really sure why I'm stuck here, but I've been hanging around here for around the entirety of my existence as a spirit. Questions?"

Mia's jaw has dropped to the floor. She has many questions to ask, but she can't find any words to say. I'm going to have to apologize to Therese for calling her crazy. All of this time Therese has warned Mia about the office being haunted, and now the proof is standing right in front of her.

"Were you the one messing with the computers?" Mia asks. Liz looks over at the screens. Mia can faintly see a surprised expression on the ghost's face. After a moment, Liz laughs. It rattles through Mia's mind, causing her to stand up in shock.

"Out of all the questions to ask me, that's the one?" Liz rocks back and shakes her head. "Gee, that's cute. Yeah, I'm the one who did that. I was actually trying to scare the guy that came with you...what's his name? I never bothered to get it."

"Terry?" For some reason, it surprises Mia that anyone would actively look for Terry. "Why did you want to see him?"

Liz curls her lip back in a snarl. "I hate that guy. Always throwing himself on girls. I wanted to scare him out of his skin. Oh well, I can't really complain. I got the cuter one at the end."

Mia stares at the figure, flustered. She feels her cheeks grow red. Liz's playful expression turns serious. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you not sway that way? That's fine, I won't—"

"—Oh, no, it's not that," Mia replies quickly. "I actually do...both ways, technically...I just..." She can't believe that she's having this conversation with a spirit. She can't believe that she's having any conversation with a ghost. This has to be a dream, Mia decides. She pinches her wrist. The pain definitely feels like she's awake.

From the corner of her eye, Mia can see the outline of a cross resting on Therese's desk. She purchased that after her first claim of seeing a ghost. Mia hadn't believed her then. She does now.

Should I grab it, just in case? Mia wonders. Liz doesn't seem to have an interest in hurting Mia, though she can't know for sure. Clearly she has some unpredictable capabilities if she's able to turn on screens and drain her phone battery (at least she assumes that Liz did that; it really could just be her out-of-date technology, though). It will just make Mia feel safer.

It could make Liz feel threatened, though. She seems like a nice person....ghost...thing. Mia still doesn't know. The only person that Terry really tries to make moves on are Mia, so maybe Liz is just trying to protect her. If so, it seems rude to just pull out a cross at random.

Mia's hands itch towards Therese's desk. Should she grab it?

Grab the Cross ... Chapter 32

Don't Grab it ... Chapter 33