Choose (A Choose Your Own Story Adventure)

33. Don't Grab It

Mia turns away from the cross. Liz seems to not be able to get comfortable, for she keeps moving and sitting everywhere. Mia watches with interest. Liz catches her gaze and smiles. "Checking me out, huh?"

"What?" Mia immediately looks away. "N-No, it's just—"

"I'm teasing," Liz interjects. "Being into a spirit would be weird."

Mia shakes her head, laughing softly. She can't believe how casual Liz seems about this situation. Mia has never seen a ghost before, though Liz surely has met plenty of people. How many of Mia's colleagues have seen Liz? How did they react? All of Mia's questions are making her head spin. Having Liz's voice in Mia's brain hurts a little, too.

"Hey, Liz—"

"Did you know that some people actually do date ghosts?" Liz is still stuck on her prior comment. "Their friends must find that so crazy. And surely they only react at night. You can't really see ghosts when it's light, after all. Don't ask me why, it just happens."

"Do you possess people?" Mia asks. She doesn't mean to disregard Liz's rant, but her mind seems disassociated with what's happening. She can only process what she is thinking about.

Liz thinks about the question for a moment. She slides her knees closer to her chest. "Well, I did once. Just to see if I could. I don't really like it, though. It's really exhausting and the person I possessed had a horrible taste in music—he wouldn't stop singing Nickelback lyrics in his head."

Mia can't help but laugh. Liz giggles, too. Mia's tense muscles relax. Knowing that Liz won't possess her is comforting.

"So you're really here just because of Terry?" Mia asks.

Liz nods. "He drives me crazy. He thinks he can just mistreat people and get his way. And don't get me started on his lack of recycling." Mia giggles again. Liz smiles sadly. "I just don't get it. Like, I worked at an animal shelter and volunteered whenever I could when I was alive. Why did I deserve to die so young and yet people like Terry just get to walk around?"

Liz says the words casually, but they resonate with Mia. The spirit seems like a really good person. Though she doesn't seem regretful, she clearly had many plans for her life. Now she is stuck in a random office for the rest of eternity.

"Don't worry about it, though," the ghost says. "I've had decades to get over it. Conversations like these made it all worth it, too."

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely." Her playful grin reappears. "It'd be awkward to talk to a cutie like you if I was fifty."

Mia chuckles. She hasn't laughed with someone like this in a long time. Liz has really surprised Mia. She's caring and funny. She could talk to Liz all night.

Another wave of sadness overcomes her. She would love to talk to Liz all day, too. Mia would have to stay late at the office every night. She doesn't know if she's willing to do that.

The click of a door opening echoes through the room. Liz and Mia look at each other. Terry.

"Go," Liz demands. The light tone of her voice changes to be dark and scarily excited. "Leave. I'll deal with him."

Mia doesn't want to leave. There's so much more that she wants to talk about with Liz. The computers start to flicker again. Mia looks at the spirit fearfully.

"Go."

"I-I don't know if I'll see you again," Mia says. A lump forms in her throat. She feels like she has developed a great relationship with Liz, and she doesn't want it to end so abruptly.

The flickering screens go back to black. Liz's face softens. "Hey, we'll see each other again. I promise. Don't worry about that now, though."

Mia nods reluctantly. She runs out of the room, not looking back at the ghost. She sees Terry exit Linda's office. He tries to call out to her, but she slips past him. She goes out of the door and into her car.

Mia places her key in the ignition, but doesn't turn it. She looks at the office, her hands shaking. What is Liz planning to do with Terry? Mia hopes that she doesn't hurt him. No matter how bad of a person is, Mia would never wish that upon anyone.

She starts the car and speeds off. The events of tonight has made Mia's head throb. She can't decide whether she wants to go home and sleep or call Therese right away. No, she can wait until tomorrow. Talking more will only make Mia's headache worse.

Mia's phone buzzes. She waits until she's at a stoplight to fish it out of her pocket. She nearly throws her phone when she sees who's calling.
Mia lets it ring and end. She sighs with relief when another call doesn't follow.

She sees, however, a voicemail once she gets home. Though Mia doesn't want to play it, she brings her phone close to her ear and does so, anyway.

"Mia, where are you?!" Terry's voice sounds panicked. "Mia, if this is you, this is messed up. If not, then it already got you...Please be okay...send help. Please. It's attacking me and—"

The message cuts abruptly. Mia's body trembles. She trusts Liz. She won't do anything malignant...right?

Mia decides not to worry about it. She makes coffee to calm down and slips in her bed. She watches a show until late at night. Mia doesn't remember ever falling asleep, but she does halfway through an episode. She sleeps through all of Terry's constant voicemails and text messages.

***

"Jeez, is Terry okay?" you ask. From what you've seen, Terry hasn't done anything too terrible. Not that you've seen, at least. Maybe Terry is perceived differently because that's what your choices led to. "Do I get to see what happens to him?"

"No. That is the end of the day," the computer replies.

"What? Have you ever heard of time skips?"

"No, you can't do that."

You and the computer end up arguing for the rest of the night about whether time skips are important or not. Of course, the computer wins the debate. How did you expect to beat a never-ending intelligent device?

You leave the next morning, highly dissatisfied—by the ending and by the fact that you lost to a computer.

Congratulations! You just got the KINDNESS IS KEY ending! Go back to "1. Morning" in order to try again!

Ending: 8/19