I'm your average skinny teen who isn't very attractive, struggles on schoolwork, is weak and has never been part of the popular crowd, has only about one or two best friends, and has a magical ability to attract the most popular guy in school.

NOT.

I'm Celestia Stryke: I'm a size average(and I don't mean the type that most overly dramatic teenagers consider fat and is actually the size of some lamp post), is doing very well with school and has an IQ level that almost made the guidance counselor faint(but sadly, I have my own stupid antics as well), is nothing near weak, is strong-willed and tough, is not exactly popular but is well-known enough, has a considerable amount of real friends, and has never had any relationship with a guy ever and has no idea why people make such a big deal about relationships nowadays.

Yep, I am not your average heroine. So sorry to disappoint you. Well not really.

My looks include dark hair which is basically a natural disaster zone because of how it flakes around in different directions and tangles up quickly. I have dark grey eyes that look completely black from a distance. My usual outfit includes guy-type shirts and none of those girly, frilly, skimpy tops. I don't wear tight-fitting jeans, instead, i wear straight cut ones. My footwear includes casual flats, sneakers, and some Vans.

Now what else makes me not your average heroine..

Oh, right. I almost forgot the most important part:

I see dead people.

No, I don't mean zombies, okay? So chill out and put that zombie apocalypse survival kit down.

Is this some story of how I'm gonna get brutally murdered by some psycho-ghost at midnight? NO. I'm alive and well, thank you very much.

Does my life involve a lot of screaming, terror and fear of the unknown that lurks in the shadows? Okay, first of all, seeing ghost DOES NOT make your life a living horror story off from the "True Life Ghost Stories" books and movies. That only happens when you disrespect "their" territory whether on purpose or accidentally.

Other than that? Well, it's practically like walking across the street. To me, instead of just the regular crowd of people chatting along, I also notice the faded figures with attires that fit the normal horror movie drama. Yep, it's just a normal day for people like me. It's not that bad once you get used to it. However, I still do not recommend it. Seeing things pop out everywhere can mess up your thinking, behavior and privacy big time.

"LEEEEEEEESSSSSS!" a familiar high-pitched voice broke my monologue. Adrienne, one of my closest best friends, came running up to me. She hates it when we make fun of her voice, but it has gotten a bit better because of her deep water voice exercises. Don't ask.

"What have you been doing? I called you like 10 times already!" she stood directly in front of my desk.

"Sorry, I've been busy doing stuff." I said as I fixed up my messy papers on my desk.

"Right..." she mused, "Staring into the distance sure is quite a job."

I gave her a glare: the friendly type that we always give in sheer fake annoyance or anger wherein we squint our eyes.

She laughed, "Okay, whatever. Let's go!" She grabbed my wrist as I refused to get up.

"Where to exactly?" I eyed her.

"You and Ray promised to go with me tonight, remember??" she grinned lightly.

After a millisecond of processing, "Oh absolutely not! No! No! No!" I tried to escape her hold.

"Oh, c'mon, Les! Ray will probably be out of place without someone else."

Ray, short for Rayla, is my other close best friend.

"And I also do not have plans to be another excess wheel." I said.

"You are so dramatic." she rolled her eyes.

"Thanks. I know." I said as if receiving a compliment.

"I'm serious here!" she protested.

"I'm serious, too! This is like...what? The seventh guy who asked you out this month?" I raised a brow as I finally stood up.

Yen, my nickname for Adrienne, is one of the natural beauties with a model-like body in my group of friends. She's a guy-magnet. Almost every guy who meets her either falls on cloud nine or falls face first on the pavement. Okay, maybe the second metaphor about faces on pavements was too much, but this girl being a guy-magnet, you have no idea. Although, all attempts of these guys end up the same---turned down indefinitely, Yen still has a hard time telling them she's not interested especially to the sweet and kind ones. She may have the face of a snobbish primadona, but she is actually very nice and kind in her own ways. But she can still be a primadona... like right now.

"Please!" she begged, "This has been the 4th time he asked me to watch a movie, and I'm running out of excuses!"

"Just tell him you're not interested already!" I rubbed my right temple.

"I will! But after tonight!" she said and grabbed my wrist again.

I gave out a very annoyed sigh and allowed her to drag me out of the room. Classes were over and I always hang around here at the Headquarters room for the school's Logistics Organization. Yen, Ray, me and all my other friends are part of this organization too. We make sure everything in the school is in absolute order.

Remember when I said I'm not exactly popular but is well-known? This is what I mean. Why? We also handle student discipline.

Before I was dragged completely outside, I turned a bit and gave a small wave goodbye at my friend sitting atop our org lockers. If you got what I mean, good. He's a cute little asian boy, aged 8, wearing a dirty white polo and khaki brown shorts. I tried asking what his name was but all he'd do is shrug, so I decided to refer to him as "Shrug". Lame? Yeah, i don't care. Better than calling him little asian boy--too long. He didn't reply to my wave, which was a normal reaction. As I left the room, he jumped through the wall into a different room, which was also a regular thing with him.

Yen isn't so fond of speaking about stuff like Shrug, so I always do my stuff secretly and out of her eyesight, so that she won't randomly freeze and run for her life.

We ended up at a private gazebo behind the school grounds exclusive to the Logistics officers.

There we saw Ray sitting looking at us as we arrived. I could sense that she too was coerced by Yen by the priceless look on her face. Ray has a similar build with me except for her ridiculously large hips. We would constantly make fun of her curves by shouting "Line Curve Ahead!" when we see her from behind. I mean it's not our fault she just loves wearing tight-fitting shirts. It highlights too well. She also wears glasses with over 600 in grade. Yeah, she has horrible eye problems. If I said my hair was bad, she's got just as bad, but unlike me, she ties it up most of the time so it looks well-kept and in order.

"Okay, now that we're complete, let's go!" Yen enthusiastically proclaimed.

Ray and I gave a sarcastic shout of "Yey".

We were now riding a taxi cab toward the nearest mall where the poor soul that will end up crushed and turned down waits for Yen.

Yen and Ray were talking about something that sounded like a new store in the mall. I was busy checking my phone for any emergency calls. Every day, well night, I get emergency calls from the head of Logistics, Mr. Ramon, or from my other night shift companions. It has something to do with our security shifts at school.

What do I mean?

Well, Mr. Ramon, a middle-aged dad-like figure to all org members, knows about how I and two more members can "see" things that supposedly aren't really there. He also believes that there a lot of minor accidents that may happen within the school at night especially to those students who dare to stay beyond curfew and hide from the security guards. So basically, me and the 2 others take the night shift of security in the school. Our shift starts at 8pm. What do we do? Catch students in the act and stop any supernatural accidents from happening. How do we do that?

Well, let me first explain to you about the whole "seeing things". It's basically called Clairvoyance, and it is one of the most important aspects of ESP a.k.a. Extrasensory Perception. Gaining something other than clairvoyance determines your level of ESP. Level one for clairvoyance, Level two involves the serious type of Clairvoyance that revolves around the ability to interact with "what isn't exactly there." The third level up to the last level includes abilities that are completely beyond human capabilities such as telepathy (or talking to others through the mind), precognition(or the ability to know or see the future), psychokinesis(or the ability to move objects), and many more.

I and the 2 other members in the night shift have gone past the third level, and that is how we keep things in order at night and make sure nothing happens to students, who practically deserve paranormal beatings.

I know what you're thinking, why does our school have one? Well ask the one in charge of your school, too. Also in other administrations like business buildings, museums, and others. I'm pretty sure they have people like us who also do our job there too.

My parents' stand on this? They know nothing about it. I don't live with them because they live at a different continent and only call me from time to time to check if I'm fine. Their job revolves a series of trips across Europe. I understand why they have to be away and why I have to stay behind. They wanted me to go to school like an average teenager and not start homeschooling so that I could go along their trips. Sadly, their daydreams of me having a regular education were thrown out the window when they didn't give me enough time to tell them about my capabilities. Not that I'm blaming them for not having time in their hands, but a girl could still use a little listening to.

My shift was still four hours away, and I'm here stuck with Yen's plan of dragging me and Ray along her not-so-date so that she won't feel awkward and be seen alone with whoever this guy who asked her out is.

"Les? Hey! Les!" Yen snapped me out of my thoughts, the second time today.

"Seriously, Les. You've been spacing out the entire day. Is this because you didn't get sleep again?" she eyed me as the cab neared the mall.

"Pssshhh, no.." I denied. It's true. I rarely get any sleep ever since I became a sentry or a Night Guardian--- as what the school administrators call us.

"We're here." Ray stretched as she got out the cab.

Yen paid the fee and we got out as well.

"Adrienne!" a person called out from the mall's entrance.

"Oh, hey there, Nathan" Yen slightly waved back. She then pulled me and Ray forward, "I brought Les and Ray with me. I hope it won't be a problem"

The guy named Nathan gave an uncomfortable-looking smile then laughed it off slowly, "Yeah, I don't mind."

"I doubt it." I mouthed toward Ray. She laughed.

Yen proceeded to get in the mall with Nathan trailing behind.

They decided to watch some lame romance movie that I didn't care much enough to know the title.

While Nathan went off to buy some popcorn for us, we sat on the courtesy chairs outside the cinema. And just when i was about to whine about watching a romance movie, my phone began to buzz.

I took it out and saw that it was Korinne. She's one of the Night Guardians and the only one of my closest friends who also sees the paranormal. I accepted the call, "Kor?"

"Les! Something happened!" she exclaimed.

"Can you be more specific?" I answered.

"Get here in the HQ right now! Sir Ramon will be here in an hour to give the specific details. I only know the general details."

"Can't you tell me now?"

"Jemson said he wanted to talk about it here in the HQ.... You know... a safe zone..." she slowly said picking her words.

Jemson is the last member of the Night Guardians. And by "safe zone", Kor means an area where the paranormal cannot lurk unless given access by the owner of the territory. For the case of the HQ, its Shrug.

"Uhmm... Actually, I was about to watch a movie here at the mall..." I said for the fact that Yen was now giving me the death glare.

"Les! This is serious!" she said in a more serious tone.

"Fine." I sighed and hung up.

"Sooo....." I tried to speak.

"Les! You promised!" Yen interrupted.

"It's not my fault I have night shift!"

"It doesn't even start in a few more hours!" she argued.

"It's not exactly a purely scheduled thing." I tried to calm her.

"Not even just this time, Les?" she tried to make my feel guilty.

After a few more arguing, she decided to give it up and instead gave me a horrible deal, "Fine, but only under one condition since you owe me. You can go, but you have to promise that you'd take me to one of your night shifts."

"What!?" I was supremely shocked, "Are you serious? I thought you hate this kind of stuff?"

"I do, but I also want to experience what this night shift of yours is like."

"It's dangerous!"

"So is you leaving this mall right now without agreeing to my terms."

I groaned in annoyance, "Fine! But don't blame me if you're gonna get in trouble for this!"

"Nah, I'll be fine." she smirked. She's banking on the fact that her mom is the principal, "Now explicitly say that you agree to the deal."

I rolled my eyes and said in a bored tone, "I agree to your messed up deal."

"Okay then. Off you go." she grinned.

"Are you sure about this, Yen?" Ray finally spoke up.

"See ya! Ray keep telling her how horrible her plan is." I said with a wave and ran off.

‡--+--‡

"Right after classes, a student was rushed to the infirmary and was heavily injured." Korinne explained.

"It turned out he and some other students were hanging out at the old retreat house at the off-limits area behind the school grounds." Jemson continued.

"Isn't that area heavily barbed wired?" I asked.

"Yes! It definitely is, however, when we checked it a while ago, we discovered that they were able to trick us at a distance. The high wire fence looked intact from afar. When we approached and checked the fence properly, it turned out that they carefully cut a door out of the wire and skillfully positioned the cut a few inches forward from its original position, gaining an entrance from the free sides." Kor explained.

"Those group of students have been hanging around that old building for quite some time already." Jems added, "We never checked that area because we assumed that it was completely sealed off. At the moment, the only people who knows about this are us three, some Logistics officers, the students involved, Sir Ramon, and the infirmary staff. No one else must get hold of the information especially the other students to lower the chances of any more accidents."

"What happened to the student in the infirmary?" I asked.

"He had several scratch marks across his back and chest. His face is also very swollen. What alarms me the most is what he kept saying as he was rushed to the infirmary?" Kor said, "He kept saying 'He's evil. Evil!' followed by more gibberish rants."

"He..." Jems fiddled with his fingers, "I believe this is gonna be a new shift location."

"That is correct." Sir Ramon said as he entered the HQ, "Les."

I looked up, "Yes, sir?"

"I want you to take patrol at that area tonight."

"Alright." I said with a calm and composed tone.
Going on patrol on a new area can be frightening, but a job is a job and our head has great trust on me.....

Oh who am I kidding?? This is just plain creepy! I'm already bothered by the fact that the guy in the infirmary kept saying that "he" was evil! This could possibly be the most serious case so far especially since the injuries were beyond normal.

"We'll go with her." Kor said.

"No," Sir Ramon answered, "You two must still continue to patrol the other parts of the school, "I know that the old retreat house could be a probable danger zone...."

Probable?! Of course it's a danger zone! Did you just overlook all the injuries of the student??

"... but we cannot risk the other areas for a probable new shift location. If anything goes wrong, Les, just quickly ring the portable alarm you have with you."

We all nodded. We have these GPS devices that serve as alarms whenever we need back-up. I guess it'd be a little bit helpful.

"I have a meeting with the chairmen of the school in a few minutes, so I cannot stay to speak of the details. I'll simply encode a report and hand it out to you three tomorrow morning. Good luck for tonight. Stay safe, alright?" Mr. Ramon said and left as we nodded.

Stay safe... so I can choose not to go in the retreat house? Oh, whatever....It's not like I'll die or anything.

"Let's go eat something first! The six o'clock curfew starts in a few, so at least there won't be so many students around the canteen." Kor tried to lighten the mood.

Jems and I agreed and the three of us went off to the canteen---eating the afternoon away.

‡--+--‡

"This is it." I stood directly in front of the old retreat house beyond the barb wire fence.

"All I have to do is stay out here and make sure nobody goes inside, right?" I began talking to myself.

The night was silent as always. From the corner of my eye, as I stare at the school buildings beyond this barb wire fence, I see the "usual crowd". At least everything seems in order out there.

I looked back at the old retreat house. It looked just like any haunted building at night, only as far as I am sensing, there's no one inside. Or maybe, it's just the outside I'm feeling.

I decided to just stand here by the entrance and cross my arms as I scan the area. No way I'm going inside without any reason. Sir Ramon specifically said to stay safe.

Okay, I know you're wondering why I sound pretty scared and stuff; I'm basically acting like this because of what happened to the student in the infirmary. I may be mentally strong aided with ESP and face ghosts without care, but I have my own phobias as well. I am terribly afraid of blood.

Even the rusty smell of it sends shivers down my spine. When I heard "he" or whoever was in that retreat house was physically injuring people unlike the other ghosts in this school, I simply cannot go head on without a real reason to face the new guy. I probably sound like a wimp right now, but I'll tell you that I'm definitely not! I just don't wanna get into a serious case when students aren't even involved yet. So I am telling you that I am not a wimp!

My monologue broke again for the 3rd time today when I noticed something was tugging on my shirt. I looked down and saw Shrug.

"Shrug?? Is something wrong?" I knelt down a bit to meet his line of vision.

He continued to tug on my sleeve now and pointed toward the direction of the HQ which was located a few meters away northwest from the retreat house.

"Why? What's with the HQ?" I eyed him.

He kept pointing with a blank expression. I sighed and decided to run toward the HQ. The fact that Shrug actually left the HQ to tell me something, it has to be serious.

When we got there, I noticed that the door was wide open, and there was someone standing outside.

"Hey! Who's there?!" I yelled.

The person at the door snapped his head toward me, and began to yell inside the HQ, "Dude! Forget it, let's go! There's an officer!"

Typical. It was a student. I quickly ran, but then the person and his accomplice quickly got out and ran the opposite direction from me. Instead of running after the bastards, I decided to check the HQ for any lost items. Everything looked in order except Jemson's drawer and the broken door knob. His desk was close to mine. I quickly checked the contents of his drawer. All that was inside was some report papers and folders.

This is the first time students dared to get in the HQ. I already memorized their facial and physical features so it wouldn't be a problem to identify them tomorrow morning. They are beyond busted tomorrow.

I wonder what they were looking for...

My GPS alarm rang.

It was Kor. I picked up the receiver.

"Kor?"

"Les, are you at the retreat house right now? Four students just ran past my area, and when they saw me, they began to sprint across the field and toward the back-gate. I think they're heading to the retreat house! Stop them quick! I have 3 more students here climbing up the library."

"Alright! I'm on it." I said and ended the emergency call.

I turned around the HQ and tried to find Shrug. He was sitting on a cooler beside the door.

"Shrug, if anything happens; don't be afraid to scare the hell out of those bastards. Got it?" I said.

He nodded.

I quickly ran toward the retreat house. Way ahead of me, the four students slipped through the barbed wire fence and went inside the building.

Now there's my reason to get in.

I checked the areas if there were any more accomplices waiting outside. There were none.

So I finally decided to get it over with and go inside the building. As soon as I got in, I was greeted by a very dirty and obviously abandoned empty building. The curve staircase beyond of the lobby looked absolutely trashed. Some wooden steps were missing and it looked like it would break any minute. The whole place was a nest of cobwebs. And I am not very fond of the dirty debris across the flooring. I wasn't fond of the smell of the place either: dried up rain.

The four students were nowhere in sight. Where did they go?

I heard a faint creaking sound, and quickly looked up. On the terrace directly above me, a student dropped a miniature statue toward me. Everything happened so fast. I wasn't mentally prepared or expecting a student who would do something as ruthless as dropping a heavy statue on a fellow student. I only expect that from the non-living. I froze to the spot. The statue only takes about a second before it could shatter up my head.

However, I wasn't gonna face it head-on (literally) and expect a broken up me in the end. Of course, I had ESP to back me up.

But before the stone statue could do its damage, I felt the lightest push behind me that made me move away from the spot.

The statue fell hard on the floor and allowed heavy dust and ash to rise and cover up the area. I looked around to see who pushed my back; however, the heavy smog was barricading my sight.

Instead of attempting to move around with the large possibility that I may trip, I remained standing and waited for the atmosphere to clear up. At soon as the dust fog cleared, I patted my dust-filled clothing.

Whilst patting the dust off, I heard a deafening scream from a girl.

"What the--" I listened intently enough to learn that the scream came from an alive girl, and not from a ghost. It came from upstairs.

I headed to the staircase and swiftly climbed up without stepping on the unstable-looking steps. When I reached the second floor, three students were running my way. One girl, apparently the one who screamed because of the fact that she looks like she could faint any time now, and 2 guys.

Without double thinking, they ran up toward me. As I looked closer, one of the guys were carrying a fourth person, who was unconscious, on his back.

"Celestia!" one guy yelled toward me with sheer terror and nervousness in his face.

"What the hell happened?" I yelled back as they stopped directly in front of me.

"Please help us.." the girl was stuttering really bad and was practically crying right now, "It was... a ghost."

She let out some sobs.

"Shut up, Carla." the guy carrying his unconscious accomplice said in an angered tone, "There's no such thing as that. It was just some guy messing with us!"

"Okay, now both of you shut up!" I said and they snapped their attention back toward me.

"What. Happened." I said clearly.

"We came here after class to hang out.." the other guy started explaining. I tried my best not to react to the "came here to hang out". He continued, "Then suddenly while we were having fun, he came and started beating up one of our friend. He's now at the infirmary. We came back here to teach that guy a lesson, but then...."

They turned their attention to their unconscious friend. He had serious-looking head injuries.

I sighed and gave them strict instructions, "Okay. All four of you head to the infirmary and let him get medical attention. All of you will wait there and not come out unless I arrive back with other Logistics officers. Do you understand?"

They got the seriousness of my words. and they nodded in agreement. They dashed off downstairs and left the building.

He...

"They're not telling the truth."

I thought I was talking to myself when I realized that the voice wasn't my usual inner voice. I looked toward the direction of the voice and backed up a bit.

There stood a boy with jet black disheveled hair and skin that was paler than snow. He wore a dark colored polo and black slacks. He was standing by the door across the hall where the four students ran from earlier.

He looked at me as if was both angry and sad.
 

"They're lying." he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(unedited. will still undergo proofreading.)

2: Night Two

~~~~ unedited chapter!~~~~
♥Z.A.

My mind was still processing whether this guy in front of me was real or not.

He only stood there and remained to stare at me with piercing eyes.
I looked closer and saw that his form wasn't vague or flickering like how usual ghosts are like, but there was definitely something off about him.
I decided to break the silence that enveloped after the students have left.

"Are you a student here?" I asked.
That would probably be the most improper or out of line question I've asked to a stranger I just met.

He didn't answer. His eyes softened for a second as if he was stunned, then he dashed off into the room to his right.

"Wait!" I yelled and ran toward the room.

There is no way he is getting away. He could probably be the reason why students have been sent to the infirmary.

I made one last sharp turn to the left and expected to see another separate hall. However, an empty room greeted me.

I looked around in search of that strange boy. I already did many 360° turns and saw no one. All that was in the room was dust and cobwebs.

I think he's our supernatural culprit. Maybe he just didn't seem to flicker or to appear transparent at that time when I spotted him.

"Why aren't you afraid?" I nearly had a mini heart attack as he said those words behind me.

I quickly spun to see him. He was now directly in front of me. He had a curious face on. Before I began to rant, I first fixed up my breathing.

"Okay." I cleared my throat then looked directly at him, which was pretty embarrassing since he was taller than I expected and that my height only equaled his chin's level.

"Ugh... " I wanted to ask the same question again, but he answered before I could continue.

"No." his voice now had a tint of calmness compared to last time's cold tone.

"Then who-" he cut me off.

"You must leave. Right now." he said with urgency.

"Why?" I asked.

"No time to explain."

I was about to ask another question, but I stopped when I saw that his figure was beginning to flicker with transparency.

He noticed that I grew quiet and looked at his arms. "You must go."

"But-" I was finally about to protest when he suddenly gave a warm smile and a soft chuckle.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said, 
"...Celestia." His body disappeared from sight and was replaced with mist.

What. Just. Happened. There.

I checked the area and I sensed no more people or spirits within the building.

I decided to follow his words and leave the place. There was no more reason for me to stay here since no one was around anymore.

‡--+--‡

"Tell me what really happened in that building?" Jems sounded scary now that he was dead serious.

The three remaining conscious students sat side-by-side parallel to Jems, Kor and me. They kept their eyes down and remained silent.

"Do want me to ask again?" Jems said it in such a way that the girl started tugging on her companions with a very stressed out expression.

"Just tell them the truth already!" the girl exclaimed.

"You." Kor called the girl's attention, "Your name is Carla Adams, am I correct?"

Carla nodded briskly.

"And you two are Finn Gregory and Rafael Digby?" Kor added.

The two boys exchanged glances then nodded toward us.

"Don't be too shocked." I said, "We have the permanent record of all students in this school."

I could hear them gulp from nervousness. Jems spoke up as well, "The two injured ones are Timothy Burt and Andrew Sanders. When I checked the security cameras earlier, I noticed that on your last visit at toward the back of the school, you dragged along with you another person... another unwilling person."

The three students began to get more and more nervous. They were inching closer to each other.

"Who was the sixth companion?" Kor asked them.

Carla and Rafael turned toward Finn, who apparently looked like the 'leader' figure among the three.

"His name is Martin Regal. He...." Finn tried his best to answer.

"He was your nerd." Kor finished and rolled her eyes.

The three looked down in silence again.

"Where is he now?" Jems asked them.

"He escaped when stuff began to happen." Rafael slowly said in a murmur.

"Oh would you just get real, Rafael! Now you're starting to talk like Carla!" Finn snapped and pushed Rafael slightly back.

"Why don't you get real, Finn?! We all saw what was back there! You can't hide that fact!" Rafael pushed him back.

"Both of you stop arguing!" Carla squeezed through from in between them to stop a fight from escalating.

"What did you see, Carla? What did you see earlier after class when you six were "hanging out" at the retreat house?" I broke their bickering. They all fell silent again. Finn eyed Carla and so did Rafael.

"I-I..." Carla was stuttering again, "There was.... There was a boy in b-bloody and torn up clothes. H-He approached us and then... he began h-hurting Timothy...."

Bloody and torn up clothes? That doesn't seem to describe the boy I recently met back there.

"Why did he hurt Timothy? What were you six doing before this boy appeared?" I continued to ask them.

Carla was surely about to faint anytime soon. Finn abruptly stood up in anger, "We don't need to answer your questions! Heck, we don't have to answer to any of you! You don't know what the hell happened so you can't make assumptions of what we were doing!"

"We haven't made any assumptions of your actions yet, Finn. We are asking right now so we may know what to say to the administrators tomorrow morning." I calmly said, "Now sit back down with your friends."

Rafael and Carla gave him exasperated looks.

Finn started laughing sarcastically, "So you can know what to say? By the answers of these two dimwits right now, you don't mean to say that you'd start sharing ghost stories with the admins, do you?"

"We won't know until we hear what really happened back there." Kor said.

"I'll tell you what happened! Some freak show wearing some ghost costume arrived to wreck our day. That was what happened! No freaking ghost!" he said the last word with so much force that Carla shook in her seat and began sobbing.

"Sit down, Finn." I raised my voice slightly but with a calm tone.

"Make me." He walked past our seats inside the clinic's office and proceeded toward the door.

"If you leave this room right now, Finn, we cannot assure your safety. But what we can assure is that...." I looked back toward him, "...you'll be the next one lying down on an infirmary bed. I was especially not pleased with your antic with that stone statue."

They tensed up.

"Dude! Just sit down!" Rafael called as he was patting Carla's shoulder.

Finn looked determined to leave, but soon enough he went back to his seat.

"What were the three of you doing before this person appeared?" Kor asked them.

None of them answered.

The door sprung open and in came the head of security of the school, Mr. Kristofer.

The three students in front of us quickly straightened up at the sight of Sir Kris.

"Jemson. Celestia. Korinne. May I take these three troublemakers home now?" he asked in a serious tone as he eyed the students.

"Yes, Sir Kris. They're all yours." Kor said in a rather amused tone.

As soon as they left with Sir Kris, the air in the room dropped heavier.

"We'll know what really happened tonorrow. Let's make sure we get to Martin Regal before they do." Jemson said.

Kor and I nodded.

"Let's get back to patrolling."

Three of us stood up and me and Kor got out first.

"Where are those three other troublemakers you were dealing with a while ago?" I asked.

"Sir Kris dealt with them first. They were just a bunch of girls trying to get books they left in the library." Kor explained.

"Les. Kor." Jems called us and we looked back.

"No one goes back to the retreat house." Jems said, "I can feel that something's wrong there right now."

We agreed to him. Jemson's precognition was top class, and when he feels that something is wrong, something wrong will really happen.

"What happened back in there anyway? What do you mean by stone statue?" Kor asked.

"Nothing serious, really." my tone rang sarcasm; "They just dropped a stone statue from the 2nd floor and tried to shatter my brains out."

"Are you alright? Nothing broken?" Kor checked as she circled me.

"Nah, I wasn't hit...."

I wasn't hit... Someone pushed me back there... Could it be him? No it can't be.... or maybe it can.

‡--+--‡

I woke up at a very unexpected place. I usually sleep at the HQ, but instead I woke up at the gazebo facing the retreat house.

My head sort of hurts due to the cold surface of the stone table where I rested my head on. I must have been really tired from last night that I decided to sleep here out in the open. Luckily, I didn't die from the cold or something.

I checked the time. It was still 4am. It's still too early for students to arrive and way too dark for me to wake up. I only slept for about 30 minutes. Since night shift officially ends at 3:33am.

Maybe I should head to the HQ to get some warmth from the heater.

As soon as I arrived at the HQ, I saw Kor lying on the couch heavily draped in a comforter. Jems was sleeping with arms crossed as a pillow for his head on his desk. He was also wrapped in a comforter.

I saw Shrug sitting atop the lockers, his favorite spot. I greeted him with a wave and a sigh. Without seeing his reaction, which is most probably a nod, I went to the couch opposite to Korinne. This was my usual sleep territory. I grabbed my comforter from the cabinet beside it and jumped on the couch. I eased myself up on the couch until I was fast asleep.

‡--+--‡

"There he is." Jems said as he eyed Martin who entered the school's lobby.

It was still 7am, an hour before classes start. Luckily, Martin was the early bird type. Kor and I stiffled some yawns. I feel like some nocturnal creature. Wide awake at night, and basically a sleep-walking disaster in the morning.

Cut us some slack. We only get about three hours of sleep a day, except for Friday to Sunday nights since it's our "days-off". It's better than nothing.

Why are we free on Friday nights despite it being a weekday for school? When do you expect most house night parties happen? Yeah, Friday Night. Shocking!--note the sarcasm.

We don't have to patrol since students won't be around to ruin my lif- i mean... mess around after curfew.

"Follow me." Jems had already caught the scrawny boy's attention, "I'm heading to the MB now. I'll take care of the details. You two go get some sleep."

"Yeeeeyyy~~" Kor and I yawned happily.

Martin was brought to the MB which was inside the schools Arts and Sciences Building. MB is short for "mini box". We called it that way because it's 2 meters in height and has only 1 and a half meters width for each wall. So, yes, it is a mini box room. I'm amazed how an entire computer system, stuffed up bookshelves, a desk, a stool chair and a small bench fit inside. It's the mysteries of Mr. Ramon! He owns the room, but allows us access and even gave us our own keys. We also refer to the MB as the Interrogation Room. Its tightness can make a claustrophobic person cry, and it just has that aura of one. I could imagine Martin with his back stuck to the wall as he sits on the stool chair, and Jems directs the dimmed lights toward Martin's face as he rests a single leg on the bench that separate them.

Hey, it's pretty effective. We got students confessing faults and even deep dark secrets in that MB.

However, I'm not gonna waste my sleep time with another round of my monologues because I know sooner or later if I don't stop, someone is bound interru-

"LEEEEEESSSSSTTTIIIIIAAAAA!" a high-pitched voice, that wasn't owned by Yen, broke me from my daze as I was walking toward the library.

I turned and expected the ever so energetic Celia to body slam me into the pavement.

And...... it happened.

I was automatically slammed to the floor, "What? I'm sleeping..." I yawned.

Celia pulled my seemingly lifeless body up, "It's morning already, Lestia. Which means..... Did you do your homework?"

Silence filled the hall for a few seconds.

"What homework?" I asked with my eyes closed.

"Lestia!" the groaned in a frustrated manner, "Why haven't you been doing your homework these past weeks? Do you plan on failing?"

Celia is another of my close friends. She's very energetic, noisy (in a good way) and obnoxious(also in a good way because I could actually handle it). However, she can be very naive and forgetful. She overlooks the fact that I practically sleep at school and barely have any "me" time to relax or do some school work.

I'm so grateful that our teachers give us advanced and easier homework by the weekend, so we can pass them without getting our responsibilities in the way. They did tell us not to mention it to the other students because not everyone knows about the whole night shift thing.

Another good bit of my study skills is that despite me practically snoozing the entire class away, a part of me is listening intently to discussions. It's as if I'm only closing my eyes and relaxing, while my hearing(which isn't to good by the way) and my brain work. So, my study includes rewinding discussions in my head before an exam starts. Jems and Kor have their ways too. I'm proud that all three of us are doing quite well in school despite our busy supernatural lives.

"It's fine! I'll ugh... do it later." I lied. I already finished all of this week's homework load and passed them last Monday. It's too tiring to explain the situation again. My sleep-time is running out!

‡--+--‡

Classes take forever until they end, and since all I remember of the day's events were the monotonous voices of my teachers, I'll skip right through to me hanging around at HQ.

While I was fixing some delinquency reports on my table, Shrug was crawling around the wall with the speed of a spider trying to get away from the wrath of a broomstick. Sounds creepy? Yeah, I almost got a mini heart attack when I first saw him do that. It's not every day you get to see a small child crawl quickly across a wall. Well you never get to see that if you were normal at all.

Today's a Wednesday and my "day-off" is almost in reach! When I started to focus on my job, I remembered my thought about asking Shrug whether he knows about the guy at the retreat house.

"Shrug, can you stay still for a bit." I turned my chair to face him. I looked around and couldn't find him, "Shrug?"

I could have sworn that he was just there having a little crawl-through (he crawls, not walks. So it'd be wrong to call it a walk-through) on the walls. I heard a faint sound of a "huh?". It was Shrug's curious tone. He rarely speaks, and when he does, it just a bunch of one syllable sounds.

I searched for the source of the sound and ended up looking directly above me. Shrug was in middle of the ceiling, staring at me with his beady eyes. He stopped there whilst seemingly glued to the wall.

If I wasn't used to these types of things, I would've fainted right now.

I cleared my throat, "Shrug, can you please sit down here....and not on the ceiling..."

Like a little spider crawling on the wall, he followed what I said and went down to sit on Jems desk which was opposite to mine.

"Shrug, do you know all the people who are like you in the school?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Hmm... do you know about a guy who stays there at the retreat house? Probably two guys? One who is... let's say... bloody.... and one who is....well... not bloody?"

Shrug placed one hand on top of his head. This is his thinking pose. When he makes up his mind, he placed his hand down.

I anticipated the answer he was about to give.

"...." he placed his hand down and looked intently at me....

....then he shrugged.

I swore I just face-desked on the spot.

A shrug. How am I so surprised to get a shrug from Shrug?

I looked up at him to see his ever so expressionless face, "Maybe you can rethink about it later, Shrug. Thanks, anyway."

He then went on and crawled around the HQ again.

Time flew by quick as I was reading some stories on my Wattpad. I looked at my watch and noticed that it was already 40 minutes past eight.

I jumped right out of my seat and scrambled toward the door. I think I just gave Shrug a shock since he too scrambled into a corner.

"Sorry, Shrug! I didn't realize that I'm already late for night shift! See yah! Be careful not to break anything!" I said as I was running out the HQ.

Jems was patrolling nearby and I quickly whizzed right through so that he won't notice that I just started my shift.

I looked for a place to "patrol" on. Jems was already handling the West and half the Front area of the school. Kor on the East and the other half of the Front area. I take care of the Center and Back of the school.

My feet brought me to the retreat house. Why am I here? It's already considered a new shift area for me. I still need to solve whatever was really in this building so that I could report the details to Jems and Kor.

I stepped inside, and I was greeted by the same empty and dirty lobby. The only thing that changed from my last entrance was the new visible dust scattered on the floor below the 2nd floor terrace. Credits to the Jerkhead named Finn Gregory.

"I thought you'd never come." a voice trailed from behind me. I quickly turned to meet face to face-with added look up effect (curse this height of mine)-the boy from yesterday. He looked similar to how he was last time. Go figure.

A small smirk was implanted on his sexy god-like face.

Oh my gosh... Did I just say that? Okay, okay! Rewind! I think I'm beginning to get affected with my daily dosages of Wattpad stories.

Well, he is very..... cute....
..

...Oh whom I kidding?? With a clearer look at him, he's practically the hottest guy I've seen in my life!

"Celestia?" he tilted his head a bit.

Now I feel awkward for those inappropriate thoughts about his hotness. Okay just stop it, Les! You're on night shift, remember?? Focus!

As his amazing sexy voice said my name (don't mind the details... I probably sound so gay right now), the thought hit me, "Why do you know my name?"

"I heard that student from yesterday call you Celestia." he gave another blood-pumping smile.

"W-" Before I could ask another question, he dematerialized into mist and reappeared at the 2nd floor.

"Follow me." he looked down.

This is the first time I've encountered a very social and talkative ghost. I'm not even sure anymore if he's really of the dead. His appearance doesn't even fit the usual dress code of the lifeless.

I climbed up the stairs and carefully skipped the unstable steps. As I reached the top, I saw him stand at the entrance of another room. He went through to the inside. I swear that is the most convenient capability of theirs. I'm confused if I should be jealous of it or not.

I turned the dust-covered and rust-eaten knob and stepped inside the dark room. Candles around the room quickly lit up. It revealed the room as an old looking study complete with shelves that were not only home to century-old books but also web bundles of spiders-reminded me of Shrug. There were also complete furnishings inside. A center desk with couches aligned in front of it, and a main desk with a large chair behind it. A large French window spread across behind the large chair. All of course looked very old and had a lot of damages.

This is probably the only room in this building that has stuff in it. I walked forward and stepped on the carpets that puffed up dust as I stepped on it.

I stifled a sneeze.

My sneeze...

....is embarrassing. I sound like a little baby crossed with a kitten when I sneeze. My friends would always laugh at it.

"That's a cute sneeze." a laugh came from behind me.

I turned to meet him again. Does he enjoy appearing from behind me?

"This place..." I tried to say that it was quite a comfortable area despite it being a dust-zone. I am seriously going to have issues with dust now.

"I consider it my private study." he smiled. Damn that smile. It does things to you, "You're the first person I allowed to enter in here."

"Really?" I was honestly shocked.

"Yeah, because you're the first person who doesn't scream and run away at the sight of me." he sounded a bit sad now. His smile gone.

He seems like a really interesting guy. Ghost. Ghost-guy. Oh whatever.

"What's your name?" I asked him after finally realizing that I didn't know his name yet.

A smile was back on his face. Seriously?? Who the hell would run from a face like that?

"Hmm..." he thought for a second, "Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow. Good bye now, Celestia."

Before I could stop him, he already disappeared from my sight.


 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

♥Z.A.

3: Night Three

 

~~~~unedited chapter♥Z.A.
 

Why does that person just decide to talk like there's no tomorrow (He's like a new breed of talkative ghosts that smile--not normal), then he just decides to disappear directly like the last time we met. Is he for real? Oh, wait... he's not exactly real in a sense, but you get what I mean!

Anyway, I'm currently in class. Whilst trying my best not to daze off like usual, I ran my finger above the word "TOP SECRET" on the envelop Jems gave me this morning. Kor was given one, too. Kor and I was a seat apart. She wasn't struggling in staying awake, though. That girl may have looked like a zombie this morning, but now she looks completely refreshed and ready for the day unlike me.

She already read what was inside her envelop during homeroom while I was asleep. I also slept during Computer Class. I finished the task quickly enough to get some nap time--- still wasn't enough, though. I slowly ripped the envelop open so that our Language teacher won't notice. Inside was a piece of printed paper.

Jems can be very fond of printing stuff. I inconspicuously read the contents without anyone reading off from it. Luckily, my seat was located at the back, the least noticed area of the classroom. It's less noticed also because the people aligned in it are either Logistics members or just really silent people like my seatmate to my left, Reille.

She's also another one of my closest friends. She is supremely silent, unsocial, and apathetic. She always has that bored look on her face. Just like Ray, she wears glasses, but isn't as heavily graded. People mistake her for some gothic or just plain loner type of person. Partly, she is, but she can be fun to be around with especially with "the masters"

The Masters is what we called our group of friends. The original group (we have new additions too) is composed of nine members in total, and have our own codenames. We actually have A LOT of codenames, but the main one is associated with numbers. Yep, numbers. Italian numbers, actually. I'm considered the first master so I'm called Primo, which is first in Italian. El, my nickname for Reille, is Secondo or Second (don't have to be a genius for that one). Celia, the one from earlier, is Quarto or Fourth. Ray is Sesto or Sixth. Yen is Ottavo or eighth. Kor is Nono (yeah, it sounds funny) or Ninth. I'll introduce Terzo(third), Quinto(fifth), and Settimo(seventh) later.

I began to read what was inside Jems report:

I finished interrogating Martin yesterday afternoon. He explained to me everything in detail, and I doubt he had guts to lie to me. I'm not gonna bore you since I know you two are probably a semi-sleeping mess right now. Anyway, Kor was right that Martin was the "nerd" of Finn and his friends. He was forced to come with them to the old retreat house that day of the first incident when Timothy Burt was sent to the infirmary. Martin refused to make the projects of the group. Finn shoved him to a wall, and allowed Timothy to beat him up. Martin had his eyes closed for the whole time. When he noticed that the punches and the taunts stopped, he opened his eyes and looked toward the direction to where the group were facing. He said that there a boy in extremely bloody clothes, and had a face that was also drenched in blood. Part of the boy's face was also "scraped off", revealing inner skin. The boy suddenly approached them and grabbed Timothy's shoulder. Timothy was said to be sent flying across the hall. Finn and the others tried to help him, but they were somehow blocked off by something. Martin took advantage of the situation and ran away. Somehow, he wasn't blocked off like the others because Andrew (the second victim) tried to run after him, but ended up getting bounced off by an invisible force as Martin made one last glance at them. After he left, he no longer knew what happened.
 

I see... So, Martin was being bullied that time, and then this unknown bloody boy appeared. Maybe I should ask this other unknown non-bloody boy tonight. But I really need to ask for his name first because I cannot keep calling him non-bloody boy forever. I think I should also visit Shrug. Maybe he can tell me something today or he can continue crawling around. That works, too.

"Les, did you see anything at the retreat house?" El turned toward me while the teacher left the room to get some supplies in the faculty room, "Kor said that it's your new shift area."

Kor was also listening intently from beside El.

"Was there really that bloody boy?" Kor asked.

"There was a boy." I said, "He wasn't bloody, though."

"Not bloody? That's odd. So there are two boys now?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen the bloody one yet." It's so weird to have this type of conversation. Having "bloody" in every sentence is not normal. Well, it's not like we're normal anyway.

"Can I come along with you, tonight?" Kor said.

"You better ask Jems first." I said.

"He won't know...." Kor grinned.

"Can I go, too?" El said which shocked both me and Kor.

"What?? You? Stay late after classes? Please tell me you're joking." Kor chuckled.

"Hey, maybe I'll see something." El suggested.

"Doubt it." I murmured then Kor proceeded to laugh.

El is very interested in the paranormal stuff, but sadly, she doesn't even have level 1: clairvoyance. Though most people would expect a person like El to be the paranormal esper type, she's actually just literally sitting in between two real espers.

I already have Yen to worry about. I have no plans in letting El add to it.

"No can do, El. No students except the Logistics members are allowed to stay beyond the school curfew. Too bad you are not a Logistics officer...." I taunted.

"If I remember correctly, only you, Korinne and Jemson can stay after curfew and not all Logistics members. Is that right?" El asked.

"Yeah, so?" I raised a brow.

"Yen shared to me about how you're gonna let her stay after curfew because of a deal." El gave a taunting grin.

Oh, great. She doesn't have to say it. I already sense blackmail in her words. I sighed, 'Fine.... but I am not held responsible for you. That's Kor's job now."

"What?? But you're the mature one!" Kor said.
 

"You think I'm mature?? Oh, how sweet!" I laughed.
 

Kor pouted, "Fine. You have Yen too anyway." She stuck her tongue out.
 

I rolled my eyes with a small grin.
 

Then I looked back at them, "Whoa. Just whoa! Are you forgetting that Jems might find out?"
 

"We'll be at the retreat house. He won't be around areas which don't belong to his shift." Kor said with confidence.
 

"Four people going in an abandoned retreat house. Of course, we won't be noticed." I sarcastically implied.
 

"Let's just hope for the best, okay?" Kor said as the teacher returned inside the classroom.
 

Before the class continued, I gave one last remark, "Fine. But not tonight. Maybe next week on Monday."
 

"Why?" El asked.
 

"We have club activities after class. That means student curfew will exceed 6pm. And there will be more students who will most probably cause trouble. We might classify you and Yen as part of them." I explained.
 

Kor and El nodded in agreement.
 

Classes ended and we were off to our clubs.
 

Ray, Kor and El were in the same club: The Arts Club. I was supposed to join the Arts Club too, but then Yen dragged me along to the Drama Club. I don't mind it, though. I'm becoming more dramatic in a way as well. I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
 

Our club moderator instructed me to head to the Science Laboratories and find the Chairman for the Science area: Mr. Jeron. He will give the handouts for the new scripts. Free printing is given in the Science Laboratories.
 

"Lestiaaaa!" finally, a not high pitched voice called out.
 

I turned to see that it was Trista who called. She's another one of my friends. We also consider her a master, but she has no number for trivial reasons within the group. She's also in the Drama Club, and we always walk together toward the club meeting area since Yen is in another class and i just meet up with her there.
 

If your mind is blowing from my countless number of friends, I'm so sorry for not being a lonely sucker.
 

"Tris, come with me to the SciLabs! Sir Jeron has the hand outs for the new script." I said to her and she agreed.
 

As soon as we neared the Biology Lab, I felt a wave of heat approaching. Allow me to myth bust the common assumption that ghost's appear when you're washed over a cold feeling. It may also be a warm feeling, too. There are actually varied and many more unexplainable feelings.
 

I looked to see a faded female figure wearing a white polo and a pencil skirt. She had a dry and disappointed look on her face. I've only seen her recently after Yen told me about her classmate who saw this woman during their class held at the Biology Lab. I haven't noticed because I rarely go near that laboratory. 
 

I started seeing her when I visited the lab the next day after Yen told me, so I may verify. I was about to conclude that it was only a hoax when suddenly I had heard a baby's cry. That definitely sent goosebumps up my spine. I love babies and children, but I'm not quite fond of hearing ghostly cries of them. I had then turned my head toward the direction of the cry, and that's when I had seen her with a baby in her arms. She had raised her free arm and placed her index finger above her lips. I had heard a faint "Shh..." from her. Quickly, I left as if nothing happened. I inquired to Jems about it, and he explained that the young lady in the Biology Lab was the mother of the preserved fetus in the lab's glass cabinets. The lady's name was said to be "Bea". She was once a well-known student officer of the school's lower house council, but then it was reported that she had gotten pregnant from another council officer from the middle house. Being a school representative, she was devastated and aborted her child. But after doing so, it was said that she committed suicide because she couldn't take all the guilt. Nothing is quite verified yet, though. The school never testified to anything. Jems tried speaking to Bea, but he said she never answers and just continues to stare at him with dread-filled eyes.
 

I tried to act like she wasn't there and proceeded to walk closer toward her direction. Trista made a detour and went inside the properties room to find some personnel. I decided to go inside the Biology Lab ahead. Maybe Sir Jeron was already inside.
 

As soon as my fingers touched the cold metal knob of the door, a hand with the same temperature as ice grabbed my wrist. I looked up to see that it was Bea. It gave quite a shock and maybe another round of mini heart attacks. 
 

"W-" I could find the right words.
 

"Stay away from that place. No one should enter that place. Blood will fill your days. She will only get angry." After speaking those words, she disappeared without a trace.
 

I stood there in shock. Never in my entire life have I felt this scared. I wasn't scared because a ghost just held my wrist (that isn't so new anyway), but because I felt unusually disturbed by what she just said. I didn't even get to process her words and a strange feeling already crept around me. My breathing stopped, I couldn't move a muscle. 
 

A hand held my shoulder. I jolted in shock.
 

"Lestia?" I turned to see that it was Trista. 
 

I breathed again and slowly moved a bit so that Tris won't notice.
 

"Are you alright?" she asked.
 

"I'm fine." I quickly smiled and returned to my normal demeanors. Jems always tells us to keep these types of things to ourselves unless we're with other espers. Speaking about it to non-espers at the area of "haunting" can cause accidents for them, so we should not expose them to the possible harms. 
 

"Where's Mr. Jeron?" I quickly changed the topic.
 

"The personnel said that he left our club's manuscripts inside the lab." She then went inside the lab. I followed her in and searched for Bea, but she was no longer there. 
 

We directly went to the school Theatre after getting the script handouts.
 

On the stage is our moderator, Ms. Lorna. She is strict and pretty scary when she gets mad. She shows only a smile when she's mad and talks in a very strict tone. Other than that, she is a very good drama coach.
 

While everyone was busy memorizing lines or listening to members practicing on stage, I simply had a blank look on my face as I sat at the side of the stage. 
 

What Bea said to me earlier is stuck in my head. 
 

Stay away from that place. She will only get angry.
 

Who was Bea talking about? What did she mean by "she"? 
 

And what place did she refer to? 
 

Could it be... the retreat house?
 

But Bea referred to a "she", and as far as I know non-bloody boy was definitely not a she and bloody boy was reported to also be male. I think I should really get to the bottom of this. 
 

My wrist was still a bit cold.
 

The club meeting ended at 6:50pm, ten minutes until the Thursday curfew.
 

Club members began rushing out the auditorium and headed home directly to evade the logistics members, who were now surveying all over the school.
 

I bid farewell to Yen and Tris, and I headed to the HQ.
 

Shrug was at his favorite spot atop the lockers. I greeted him, "Good evening, Shrug. Have you thought about what i told you last night?"
 

He tilted his head in confusion.
 

"You know, about the retreat house."
 

He placed his hand on his head. Please tell me you're actually trying to think! He then placed it down and looked at me.
 

"So? How many are in the retreat house?"
 

He didn't answer. I felt like losing hope when suddenly, Shrug raised his right hand and showed two fingers.
 

Two? So there really are two in that retreat house. Then that only leaves the possibility of bloody boy and non-bloody boy. Then, who is "she"?
 

Maybe I shouldn't ask Shrug more questions. He easily gets confused from so much talking, and he ends up passing over to the other room.
 

After all the regular students left the campus, I began walking around some buildings to see if there were any delinquents tonight. I'd see the usual crowd of ghosts on their usual spots as I pass.
 

Everything was normal tonight. Well, normal to us anyway.
 

I honestly didn't want to go to the retreat house tonight because I still had that strange feeling after what Bea just did. However, non-bloody boy said he'd tell me his name, so I might as well go. It's not every day you get to meet a friendly ghost who's not Casper. 
 

He doesn't seem dangerous at the least.
 

I then stopped thinking about what Bea told me earlier, and headed to the retreat house.
 

‡--+--‡
 

"You're late." an arrogant smile was plastered on his face as he beamed down toward me from the 2nd floor terrace, "Again."
 

I rolled my eyes with a smirk, "I'm not entitled to come here as you please."
 

"Come up here." he said then disappeared.
 

I did as he said and got to the 2nd floor. Four doors were aligned meters apart in the second floor. They faced the railings of the terrace. I walked a few steps forward.
 

"Ugh..." I wanted to call out to him, but I realized that I didn't know his name yet and I have no plan to call him non-bloody boy. Which reminds me... I must also ask him about bloody boy.
 

I tried to say something else, but then an arm outstretched from the door beside me and grabbed my arm.
 

I'll admit. That happened the second time today, and this time, I really screamed as the arm pulled me. I was being dragged toward the close door. I closed my eyes for a painful face-door impact, but then something unexpected happened.
 

I went through the door. I like literally went all ghost mode and passed through a solid object.
 

My short term scream ended when I realized that I passed through a door and that I was now in a very dark room AND that I was pulled in here by some unknown being.
 

Quickly, I used my free arm to hold the wrist of what was holding me. Using an advanced type of Psychokinesis (moving objects), which is called Scalar Manipulation. As soon as I grabbed hold, I sent a large invisible force which pushed away whatever held me. Scalar Manipulation includes changing the capacity of force and speed of objects. It actually manipulates many other aspects relating to Physics. 
 

As soon as I was free from any hold, I tried to open the door to let a bit of light escape through to the room. The retreat house was always illuminated inside because of the big cracks and holes in a lot of walls. The door wouldn't budge. It seemed locked from the outside.
 

"Ouch!" I heard a voice say.
 

"Huh?" I looked back. That was non-bloody boy's voice.
 

Candles began to light up at the sides of the room. I was in the private study. 
 

He looked like he was trapped in a corner.
 

"Hey, make it stop!" he called out.
 

"Oh, sorry!" I realized that I didn't release the manipulation yet. As soon as I released hold, he fell over.
 

I finally relaxed as I thought that him as a ghost falling over is quite funny. I stifled a laugh, "S-Sorry."
 

"What was that about?" he complained.
 

"You shouldn't have scared me if you didn't want that to happen." I crossed my arms.
 

"Oh, really?" he whizzed in front of me in a second, "Wouldn't someone who got pushed back by some whatever get more scared?" He made a sad look.
 

I chuckled again, "Yeah, sure."
 

The thought of the dead being scared of the living made me chuckle again.
 

"Okay, Ha. Ha." he gave a grin.
 

"Okay, now tell me." I looked up at him.
 

"What?" he asked.
 

There was slight silence.
 

"Your name!" 
 

"Hmmmm...." he thought again.
 

"Hey! You promised!"
 

He laughed, "You'll have to promise me something first."
 

"Huh? And what would that be?" I raised a brow.
 

"You have to come here every night." he smiled.
 

"What?? Why?!"
 

"You're so fun to be around." he smiled
 

I felt shocked, yet a bit happy as he was.
 

"So, do you promise?" he said.
 

"I can only promise Monday night to Thursday night." I said.
 

"Why's that?" a tint of sadness was on his face.
 

"Because it's like a day-off for me."
 

"Three days off, actually."
 

He looked sad, and ....lonely.
 

"I would if I could." I tried to cheer him up.
 

"Why can't you?" he asked.
 

"I'm not allowed here at night during those days."
 

"Then how am I supposed to talk to you?" he asked eagerly.
 

"You can't" I smugly said then made a sarcastic remark, "It's not like you have a phone or anything."
 

"I actually do." he beamed.
 

"What?!" 
 

"Well, it's not a phone. It's like... I dunno. I could like send messages or make calls out of nothing. I can't explain it either."
 

Ah, I see.... ghosts can do that as I remember.
 

"Then I'll just contact you, then." he said.
 

I already felt weirded out since I'm about to have a ghost contact.
 

"By the way, tomorrow is Friday night." I said.
 

A smile was wiped away from his face, "Oh."
 

I sighed, "I already promised to your terms. So now tell me your name! It ain't fair that you get to know my name."
 

"Maybe not now." he smirked.
 

"But!"
 

Then....like always.... 
 

...he disappears.
 

The door behind me creaked open. As I got out, the candles in the room blew off and the door closed.
 

He is so unfair.
 

I marched out the retreat house outraged.
 

My phone rang. 
 

I almost slipped when I read the message:
 

"Don't be mad, Celestia :)" it was from an unregistered number that had way too many zeroes to be real.
 

I didn't have to be genius to figure out that it was him.
 

If he doesn't tell me his name, then he can forget that promise!
 

And right on cue, when I was about to turn off my phone, another message popped up:
 

"My name is Nite. :)"


 

4: Night Four

So non-bloody boy's name is Nite. It's quite the rare name. It fits his appearance as well.

I decided to go inside the retreat house again. There's no way he just decided to disappear but was able to text message me like that. He even uses emoticons! I virtually face-palmed at the sight of the message.

"Nite!" I called out. The only thing that answered was the echoes of my voice.

“I know you’re just there!” I called out again.

He’s not answering, but I can sense another being inside the building. A chance of it being bloody-boy is high, but there’s that possibility that Nite is just messing with me again.

“Nite!” I yelled this time.

After yelling, I heard a sound coming from outside.

“Students…” I thought. I dashed outside.

No one was outside, but I sensed a crowd. I walked across the eastern portion of the building until I reached the back. There, I quickly spotted students getting inside the retreat house from one of the large holes on the wall.

“Stop right there!” I called out.

They snapped their heads toward me. They began quickening there pace and all got inside.

I ran to catch up, but when I got to the hole, they closed it off with something from the inside. I would like to use Scalar Manipulation, but I’m only supposed to use it on emergency cases. You see, using ESP too much can cause migraine and other brain related sicknesses.

I tried my best to push the blockage with all my strength, but it would seem that whatever they placed there was pretty sturdy, and they probably added more from the inside to help blocking it.

Finn Gregory and the gang were at it again, and this time, with back up.

No choice, but to run back to the front and get in from the main entrance.

I did so, and just when I was about to make a sharp turn toward the front foyer, something hard hit the left side of my head. I stumbled down and was able to balance myself from the wall to my right. Damn, that hurt a lot.

My head feels like my brains were rattled very badly. I tried my best to raise my head and look around to see who did it.

No one was there, though.

I touched my head and felt the worst thing in the world.

Blood was pouring out from my head. I removed my hand and stared at it. It was painted with a deep red color.

I can’t help but feel very dizzy, and my stomach just did a 360Ëš backflip. It wasn’t the pain that was making me feel like I’m going to pass out, but it’s the fact that I saw my own blood escape from my head and unto my palm.

I looked around again trying my best not to dramatically faint over seeing my blood. There was nothing that could possibly be the cause of the injury. I looked up in case it was from falling debris, but above me is just the night sky. My head dropped to see my blood drip across the pavement.

I swear I felt like puking on the spot, but I noticed something. My blood formed words on the ground. I had a hard time reading the words, but when I finally read it; my feet quickly got me up and carried me away from the spot.

It said: GO AWAY!

There was now blood streaming on my shoulder and onto my shirt.

My eyesight was now very hazy. Maybe now it was the effect of the blood coming out from my head. Even the thought of it made my head hurt even more.

I was now leaning my back on the wall just beside the main entrance of the retreat house.

I have a strong feeling of passing out any time from now.

“LES!”

Huh? That’s Yen’s voice… I can’t mistake that voice for anyone else. What is she doing here?

But I feel too dizzy to look up.

I sensed three people running toward me, and then as my senses were completely drained, I passed out.

‡--+--‡

“…a”

“…tia!”

“…stia!!”

“Lestia!”

“LESTIA!!!!!!”

The last one was done with three people screaming now, so it definitely got me to sit up straight.

“Yes? Huh? What?” I blurted out fast.

“What do you mean by ‘What?’ Look at your head! What happened to you?” I came face to face with the ever so tender-not- Yen.

“I dunno.” I touched my head and realized that it was now bandaged. I looked around and saw that I was now in the infirmary.

“Chill out, Yen.” Kor was beside her, “She just woke up.”

“How dramatic,” El joined in, “You know, fainting and all that.”

“Thank you…” I mocked by acting like I was bowing after a performance.

“Seriously, what happened?” Yen asked.

“I was hit by something, but then there was no one there.” I said, omitting the part of the blood-written message, “Where are the students now?”

There was some silence.

“Students?” Kor asked with a small grin.

“Wait, you didn’t know there were students who went in the retreat house!?” I was now almost getting up from bed.

“No!” Kor said back in a panic.

“Maybe it was a student who hit you.” El suggested.

“How long was I out?” I asked in a similar panic mode with Kor.

“About twenty minutes has passed since we saw you and rushed you here with a wheelchair.” Yen said.

“We need to get those students!” Kor said.

“I’m coming with you!” I got up.

“No! Can you not see your current condition?” she protested.

“I’m fine! It’s not like I got in a comma or anything.” I rolled my eyes and wore my sneakers.

“At least bring an extra roll of bandages or something in case blood leaks out.”

I shook at the thought. As I stood up, I felt dizzy again, but I made sure not to make it obvious.

“You okay?” Kor asked.

“Yep. Let’s go before another person gets in this infirmary.” I said.

“Okay, let’s get going!” Yen added.

I turned to them with a serious face on, “You two stay here. You’re not even supposed to be here tonight!”

“Well, we’re here now, and you promised to take us there.” El said.

“Not when it’s a potential danger zone at the moment. So for now, you two will stay here until we get those students back.”

“Tsshhh, fine.” Yen said.

“You should be staying in bed too, Les.” Kor said.

“And you are honestly going to go alone to the retreat house?” I intimidated her.

“I will tag Jemson along.”

“As if you could just randomly interrupt his serious night shift mode.”

“Fine! Let’s go already!”

We headed out leaving Yen and El inside the infirmary.

I knew Kor wasn’t the type who would go out alone into unfamiliar grounds. After all, she does have the lowest level of us three since she just recently got ESP. How did she get ESP? I have no idea. She never really did explain it. She’s also the type who easily gets after effects from using ESP. That’s why she got the least ghost-bearing areas in the school. Other than that, she’s improving every day.

For once, Kor ran faster than me because I was keeping myself from fainting again because of my throbbing head.

We got to the retreat house and were already greeted by Carla’s screams.

As we rushed inside, we saw about three boys who passed out on the ground. Injuries were all over them. Carla was on the second floor and was dangerously near the terrace. If one would push her, she would fall off and join the three boys lying unconscious on the floor.

Kor and I got to our knees beside the boys and checked their pulse. They were still alive, luckily, but were definitely badly beaten up.

Another scream ran through the empty hall. I looked up to see an unconscious Finn Gregory thrown from the second floor and falling toward us.

“Kor! Move!” I yelled as we both moved away as Finn landed on the ground.

Lots of blood streamed on his head.

I got up and headed for the stairs. Kor followed.

“Watch your step.” I told her.

We got up to the second floor and saw Carla crying like there’s no tomorrow. She saw us and pointed toward a room.

I know that room. That’s Nite’s private study.

Kor rushed first toward the room because I was still catching my breath and balancing out my dizziness.

My vision was double at the moment. I tried breathing exercises to relax and focus myself again.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” I heard a very high-pitched scream. I turned to see that it came from Korinne. My vision returned to see her shaking and running away. She ran past me and down the stairs until she got out the building.

Whatever she saw… caused her to run frantically like that.

Could it have been... I gulped at the thought …bloody boy?

I looked toward Carla, and then my attention was to what was in front of her. Rafael Digby was lying on his stomach in front of her.

She looked toward me and screamed the way Kor did and also ran out the building.

I have a feeling something behind me triggered her scream.

I turned around and came face to face with exactly what Martin Regal described: a boy washed over blood, with a face that seemed to be scraped off at one side revealing inner skin.

Usually, I would’ve slammed this guy to a nearby wall with my Scalar Manipulation, but my head was basically bleeding all over again due to the tension. It made my dizziness worse!

I almost yelped and he grabbed my wrist. Fainting is seconds away now.

He stared at me with dread written all over his blood-washed features. I noticed something, though. He was flickering.

When the flickering stopped, I swore I could’ve fainted right there and then. (Wow, so much fainting today. Last time, it was all about the word bloody!)

His appearance changed and there was no blood on him anywhere.

“Nite?” I was stunned.

His grip tightened.

“What are you doing?” I was out of quick words to say.

“I’m holding your wrist.” He answered.

I finally decided to relax my shoulders and even gave him a you have to be kidding me look, “Ugh… I can see that. Why?”

My mind was stressing out from controlling myself from fainting and from getting a mini heart attack because of discovering that bloody boy was actually Nite.

He looked down whilst still holding my wrist, “So that you won’t run away from me…”

Silence overwhelmed us for a moment.

I was at a loss for words, but I managed to say something while shooing away the fainting feeling, “I’m not going to run away.”

He looked back up, “Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

He let go of my arm. I turned my head a bit to see Rafael who was still unconscious.

“What happened to your head?” he asked.

“I was… attacked earlier.” I lied.

“See? Look how evil these people are. They did that to you. I even warned them not to come back.” He said.

“But… you still shouldn’t have done that.” I rubbed my wrist.

“They broke my private study…” he gritted his teeth.

With a closer look at him, he definitely looks more of a delinquent than an innocent ghost.

I walked toward the study and saw the door broken into piles of wooden planks. The inside was ransacked. Nothing was left, but broken pieces of furniture.

“Why…” I tried to speak.

“They’re nothing but bullies who pick on the weak.” He appeared beside me, “They deserved it all.”

“They’re still students, Nite!” I looked toward him, “They’re helpless against you. You should at least set limits! Look what happened! You beat up 5 more people into a pulp!”

He had an angry and confused expression on his face.

“Nite… I’m breaking my promise.”

He frantically looked up, “What?”

“I’m going to make you promise instead. I’ll only visit you here if you promise me that you won’t allow this to happen again.”

His expression looked even more confused.

I still had a serious look on my face.

He finally looked like he made up his mind. He got closer.

I thought he was going to attack me, but instead he gave a hug, “I promise. Just please don’t leave.”

I don’t know if it’s considered a hug because I can’t exactly hug back because my hands would most probably just pass through, but I do feel a certain warm force tightening around me.

Will the shocks never cease to end?

‡--+--‡

Finn Gregory, Rafael Digby, the three other boys with them, and the two others who were sent to the infirmary days ago were now sent to a state hospital for thorough examinations and treating.

Jemson, Korinne and I got a major scolding from Mr. Ramon.

The first two were forgivable because we were still unaware of the circumstances, but it has been days since the shift at the retreat house began and now there are a total of seven students hospitalized without rational reasons to offer the authorities.

Kor reported about the bloody boy she saw at the retreat house that caused all the hospitalizations. I commented nothing because I can’t just tell them that I decided to befriend the ghost who did all that.

Yen and El were caught by Jemson, but after Yen started ranting at him, they didn’t get in trouble, and even decided to come back on Monday night as planned.

Mr. Ramon almost snapped until he noticed the injury on my head. I guess he presumed that it was caused by those students, so he just gave me an air-pat on my head and told me to rest up over the weekend.

It’s Friday and there’s no night shift.

At least I’ve finally cleared up the whole bloody boy and non-bloody boy business.

Nite has been text messaging me since this morning. I can only occasionally reply because the teachers have hawk eyes.

I tried my best to act normally toward Nite again because I couldn’t easily shake off what he did to the students.

Maybe not seeing him for a few days will clear up my foggy mind—credits to my head injury.

I have another mystery at hand. I tried to sleep last dawn, but I wasn’t really sleepy, neither am I sleepy now.

There are two ghosts at the retreat.

Since Nite is both non-bloody boy and bloody boy, it leaves another person. It could possibly be a female this time, according to Bea’s recent interaction with me outside the Biology Lab.

Another mystery is about who attacked me last night. There is a very slim chance that a human did that considering how I basically saw nothing that could cause me to get injured that bad on the area and how there was a message done with my own blood.

There goes that shiver down my spine.

“Celestia?” our teacher snapped me back into existence.

“Ah, yes, Ms. Ann?” I replied exiting my trance.

“Here’s next week’s homework.” She handed me a sealed envelope. Ms. Ann Lee is our foreign languages teacher, and also one of the closest teachers to me.

“Thank you, Ms. Ann.” I smiled.

As she left the room, El turned to me, “Now what really happened back there? Kor said she saw bloody boy.”

“You saw him too, right?” Kor joined in.

“Yeah, right after you decided to run away and leave me alone there.” I eyed her accusingly.

“I came back! At least I brought back up!” she referred to Jems.

I sighed, “I think all the accidents would stop already.”

“Why so?” Kor raised a brow.

I quickly answered omitting my deal with Nite, “Because all those persistent students are in the hospital.”

“Probably, but Carla is still quite well.” Kor said.

“Let’s hope she doesn’t do anything stupid like the others.”

“How’s your head? Are all your brain cells still intact?” El asked.

“Probably, I do still feel light headed from time to time.”

“I told you not to come to school today so that you can have a proper checkup.” Kor said.

“It’s fine. The school doctor already said that it’s nothing that extreme.”

“Your head was bleeding a flood. How was that not extreme?”

“Hey, I’m no doctor.” I said, “At least there’s no shift tonight and I can rest up at home.”

“Will you really be at home?” El accusingly looked at me.

“I promised nothing…” I diverted my eyes.

“You’ll just start mall hopping or house hopping with Yen and the others again, won’t you?”

“I deny everything.” I quickly replied. “Are you still going to go to the retreat house this Monday after all the drama on that bloody boy incident?”

“Yep.” El said, “I want to see what made Kor run away like a little girl.”

“Whatever, El. I bet you’d run if you saw him too.” Kor said.

“Au contraire. I can’t see ghosts, yet.” El replied.

Classes went on and I finally was able to sleep during the late afternoon sessions.

Class was finally over and news of house parties filled every classroom. Students got out from the buildings and headed to their cars with excited faces. These were usual scenes when it’s Friday dismissal.

“Celestia.” Someone called me as I zipped up my bag. I turned to see Peter. He’s a classmate of Jemson and another friend. (Not a Master, though. Masters are all females.)

“Peter?”

“Dmitri is holding a house party tonight and told me to invite you guys--- Whoa….. What happened to your head?”

“Long story.” I said, “You think it’ll be fine for me to attend a party in my condition?”

“Wear a hoodie.” He laughed, “Bring the others.”

“Okay.” I rolled my eyes and saw him off.

I rounded up my gang.

El. You all know El.

Gia. She’s like the fashionista type of the masters. She is also very slim and skinny, but in a model type of way. She’s also considerably tall, but not as tall as Yen. You’d never see that girl in a regular shirt or jeans.

Celia. AKA the body-slammer. She’s the complete opposite to Gia when it comes to body figure. Not only was she the short type but she also has a huge rack. And when I say huge, I mean it. It makes all the insecure girls in our class feel even worse about their chests.

Charle. She’s basically what everyone calls the perfect girl. Perfect height, pretty face, quite smart, musically inclined awesome singer, and a graceful dancer. I guess not everyone knows her flaw. She can be VERY weird among the masters. And by weird, I mean it in a friendly good way where she just breaks out of the tender girly shell and goes all childish with us.

Ray. Line curve ahead!

Alice. She’s considered my twin. We don’t exactly look alike but once when I cut my hair short, she followed and then we instantly became twins that way. She was also my first new friend when I entered high school.

Yen. The primadonna… I mean guy-magnet… I mean, ah you know who she is!

Kor. The one who knows my feels…(sees ghosts like me)

Trista. Drama Club President last year.

Karmine. Probably the most intense mood swing striken person I know. She's highly conscious about her height and weight, and is very unpredictable in her own weird ways.

I told them about the party at Dmitri’s house and most of them agreed to go. Gia and Karmine, as always, weren’t allowed to go because they have the strictest parents of all. Kor as well since she does only go home on Fridays ‘til Sundays. El would reject it, but since we’re neighbors along with Trista, she decided to go. We can simply go home together after the party.

I doubt the party is going to be like those extra wild types because my group of friends has different interests compared to the usual brainless student crowd.

‡--+--‡

And I was wrong. I forgot that Dmitri was a wild type.

The house was packed with people. Plastic cups were everywhere and loud music filled the air. There were even disco lights. The Masters decided to climb upstairs to the Movie Room with Peter, Jemson and all the other non-wild and reasonable crowd of friends.

Instead of mindlessly dancing and drinking alcohol downstairs, we began watching a horror movie. These types of movies basically have no effect on me whatsoever anymore. Seeing the real deal sort of adds standards to the horror movies I see.

I checked my phone when I took a seat on one of the bean bags lying around. Yen and Jems were picking the movie while everyone was opening bags of chips and bottles of cola.

I received a few texts from Nite. He asked if I was home.

‘Nope. I’m not home right now.’

‘Huh? Then where are you?’ he replied.

‘Don’t try to act like you don’t know. :P I texted you earlier.’

‘Pssh, you’re no fun to joke around :P’

‘:P’

‘Nice red shirt :)’

My eyes were wide open as I read the message. What? How would he know? Ghosts can’t leave there area-natural habitat as I call it. I looked around for any sign of Nite. He wasn’t anywhere to be found.

‘Ugh… how do you know that?’

‘Look outside the window.’

My attention shot directly toward the large French window to my right. All I saw were branches from the tree outside.

‘I see branches.’

‘Look closer’

I did as he texted and I saw something move slightly on the branch. It was a crow.

‘Now I just see a crow -_-‘

‘;)’

‘Wait huh?’

‘Have fun with the movie!’

I looked toward the window and the crow flew off.

The movie then started.

~~~~~~~~

 

5: Night Five

I practically dragged Yen and home with Tris and El because we were all so full after eating more than 5 bowls of popcorn as we watched 3 different horror movies. She didn't want to leave and wanted us to a sleep over at Dmitri's, and we gracefully declined.

We stifled yawns on our way home as we dropped Yen off at her house. I checked my phone for any messages and was shocked to see 34 missed calls. My phone almost slipped from my hands as I hurriedly checked who was calling me so much.

"Everything okay, Les?" Tris eyed me.

I gave out a big sigh of relief and motioned a thumbs up. It was from my mother. She calls from time to time to check on me, but she usually understands if I don't answer right away. I wonder why she eagerly called me so much I decided to call her back.

"Mom?" I slowly said as she picked it up.

"Celestia Stryke!" she said my name with such horrifying articulation at every syllable. Uh-oh. What did I do?

"Uhm...yes?" I tried to sound as innocent as possible.

"Do you know what time it is?!"

I moved my phone away to see the time then placed it back against my ear, "It's 11:39?"

"Where are you?!"

"I'm on my way home..." I answered honestly because I know that if I lie, it'll get found out sooner or later.

"At this hour?!"

"Mom..." I calmly answered, "It's Friday night. There's bound to be a party out there somewhere."

"You could have at least told me and your father earlier!"

"But you told me not to! You said that I'm free to go where I like as long as I keep safe." I stated while skipping mentioning my dangerous job at school, "And you said that my text messages flood your inbox."

"I sent you a text message 5 hours ago, young lady!"

Young lady?? Really?? Wow, from what century does my mom live in.

"You did?" I honestly replied in question.

"Yes." she said and sighed, "We're at the house right now."

"Which house?"

"The house you live in. W---"

I choked after hearing her words. What??? They're at home right now?!?!

"Celestia? Are you alright, dear?" she asked from the other line.

"Ugh yeah, just passed a..... smokey street." I lied.

"Uh-huh.." I imagine her giving me a yeah, suuuure look, "Get home pronto! We have a surprise."

"Okay, mom. I can't wait to get home." I answered in fake excitedness.

She ended the call.

I gave a not-so-scream- scream.

"What??" Tris and El eyed me again.

"My parents! They're at home right now!" I answered dramatically.

"So?" El semi-squinted her eyes.

"Well, if I must remind you." I pointed toward my head bandage, "This is currently plastered on my head!"

"Tell them you slept too much and your head got so red that it had to be bandaged." El smirked.

I gave El a dry laugh. She knew all too well that once I place my head, specifically my forehead, on any hard surface for a period of time, it begins to form a red patch that looks like a big round stamp on my head.

"Very helpful." I replied sarcastically, "Any other brilliant ideas?"

"Just tell them you hit your head and it had a little bruise." Trista answered this time.

"I don't think a little bruise would need my head to be mummified at the side." I sighed. How am I supposed to explain this to them!

Guess I'll have to hide it with my hoodie for the mean time before I can find a good enough excuse. Luckily, I chose to take Peter's advice and get my hoodie in my HQ locker. I flipped my hoodie up my head, "This is probably the best I can do for now."

‡--+--‡

I courageously opened the door to the house and silently tried to see if the area was clear.

"Finally!" I heard my mom's voice too loudly that it rang in my ears.

"Get in here quick."

I closed the door behind and fixed the hood properly dropping it just across my forehead concealing the mummified left portion of my head.

"What are you doing walking around like that? You look like a murderer waltzing around at night." my mother scolded as I approached them, "You're lucky we'd know you a mile away or else we could have mistaken you."

"Better than getting mugged by an actual one." I gave an innocent smile.

"Right..." She eyed me, "Tomorrow, we'll pick you up. You better have changed into a formal attire by then. We're attending a party. You can bring your friends if you wish."

A party!? Not good... Unless I would decide to wear a huge headdress on then they will definitely see my mummified mantle.

"Are you going to sleep here?" I quickly asked.

"As much as we'd love to, dear, we cannot. We have meetings early in the morning and it would be much easier if we stay in a nearby hotel in the city." My mother explained.

If you're wondering why my dad is very silent, he's always like that. He lets mom do the talking.

"But if you want us to stay..." She continued, "We can make arrangement."

"No!" I answered way too suddenly that they raised a brow toward me, "Uhm... Don't. Like you said, mom. It would be easier if you stay in a hotel. I mean... It's like our topic in economics class.... Why must you choose something less beneficial? The opportunity cost would be too high. Think about the time and effort you will be wasting if you stay here in house. You'll end up waking up early and waste perfect sleeping time..... And-"

My mom cut me off, "Alright, alright!"

They stood up and approached me, they gave a light(thank goodness) kiss on my head, "I'll send you and your friends a ride. I'll just text you the details tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, mom."

"Wear something presentable, Les." My dad finally spoke, "I hope I will not see you in jeans again in a party."

"No promises, dad." I laughed, and he gave me a playful angry look.

I waved bye as they closed the door behind them.

A few seconds later, I heard dad's Chevy whiz through from the parking space.

After making sure that they weren't going to return again to tell me something, I took out my phone and dialed the first person who wouldn't deny a party ever: Yen.

"Hello?" I heard her chewing something from the other line.

"Yen, there's this party tomorr---"

"Can I go????" she eagerly interrupted me.

"Yes." I smugly answered, "It's basically the point why I called you..."

"What type of party is it?"

"Probably a business party. Mom and Dad are here, by the way."

"Oooohhh... Fancy..." I can hear her excitements even just by sound.

And on cue, her usual statement, "Let Ray go too!"

"Go call her while I call the others." I said.

"Okay, okay!" she said and I ended the call.

Now who else wouldn't most likely take down an invitation....

There's Trista... Peter, definitely... Jems would go too... And Kor, but she needs to ask permission... Celia, tricky... Charlea and Gia, tsk, strict parents... Alice, also very tricky... El, no comment... Dmitri, yep...

I also thought about all my other close friends who would like to go, but I began to limit because I might bring an entire battalion into a formal party.

I climbed upstairs and went in my room. I removed the hoodie and directed my attention to the mirror on the wall where my desk was positioned against. The bandages look like a halo forcibly stuck to my head titled a bit to the right so it may cover the left side of my head, the part that got injured. There's no way, the injury could disappear after only a day.

I looked closer and thought up a plan on how to cover it up, but I'll need Yen to help me pick my attire. It's not that I need any fashion help, it's more of a need for someone to openly yell at me if I refuse to wear frilly clothes. Yeah, it's a problem...

My phone buzzed as I was still looking at my head in the mirror. It was a message from Yen:

"Okay, here's the list of who'll be going: ME, Peter, Jemson, Korinne, Rayla, and Dmitri..."

--Wow. I haven't even... Just, wow. This girl sure can invite.--

"... Ralphy would have wanyed to go but had to attend to some family matters. I texted the others and they weren't allowed either coz of parents or because they have their own things to attend to OR there are just people like El."

I replied, "Okay... Tell them to wear formal attires. I'll give more details tomorrow. Oh and Yen! Can you come by the house tomorrow morning? Bring Ray."

"Okay, I promise nothing that I will be early mehehehe." she replied with a mischievous emoticon.

Translation: she can't wake up early.

I'm not shocked, though. I got used to it. Unlike me who barely gets any sleep, she can sleep a whole day without any intention to wake up if she doesn't want to.

I received another message, "How's your head?"

Ah, it's Nite. I replied, "It's fine, I can't remove the bandages yet, though. By the way, are you anywhere near? ugh... maybe on crow mode or something?"

"Nope. I'm just here at the retreat house."

"I have a question."

"What? :)"

"How did you become a crow?"

"I.... I don't know hahaha"

... No choice, but to research myself. I quickly opened my laptop and began to search about ghost capabilities. I know you'd think that would be creepy to search for, but hey I'm used to it.

It took some time because most sites I visit would just end up giving false stories and jump scares at the side. The only way I can verify the site is if it coincides with what really goes on with espers.

I finally found one that talks about ghost mediums. Skimming... skimming... skimming...

Oh... it turns out that ghosts can possess items or living creatures depending on how their spirit is built up... Uhh.. skimming... skimming... skimming..

Bottomline: they can possess stuff it it has a high value to the ghost.

For example, a lady who loves her red pumps. She can use it as a haunting medium to whoever dares wear it. Maybe Nite has an affiliation with crows... I do wonder how it relates to him...

"Celestia?" he texted me again.

It is so weird to say "text" and relate it with a boy who's dead.

"You can call me Les, you know. Celestia is too long." I replied.

At an instant, a reply popped, "But I like saying Celestia :) it's a very nice name."

I cannot count how many times I've smiled from getting such nice messages from Nite.

"Psshh, do what you want :P"

We ended up texting some more for about 45 more minutes until I began to stifle some yawns. Oh right... Today is supposed to be a day-off and I can sleep early. I told Nite that I was already sleepy and he typically replied, "Okay, Good Night! ;) Sweet dreams!"

I gave one last text message, this time to Korinne. I'll have her wake me up in the morning. I can't wake up directly from sleeping on my comfy bed. She already knows where I keep secret stashes for keys and the like.

I tossed my phone on the bean bag chair beside my bed. After setting my laptop on the table, I crawled under my bed sheets and savored the moment. I can only get to sleep in this ridiculously comfortable bed 3 times a week, after all.

A few minutes later(after that moment when you just lie down there and think about life's mysteries), I finally drifted to sleep.

‡--+--‡

Why is something tugging on my blanket...

Now, something is hitting me...

Am I being pulled...

I felt like I just fell...

My head is fine, though...

There are faint sounds of a voice...

.....

Something is tingling on my arm..

It's spreading through my torso...

Now I can feel something hit through my skin...

I know this feeling...

The piercing pain that numbs...

"Cold! Cold Cold! Ah! Ice!!!" I jumped out from the floor from where I fell from bed and came face to face with a flustered Korinne.

"Finally! I tried yelling at you until my voice hurt! Even after hitting you with my backpack or allowing you to fall to the ground, you still wouldn't wake up! What will you do if no one wakes ypu up?!" she lay on her back on my bed after setting the bucket for which she had ice prepared in it aside, "Luckily, I know that you can't tolerate the cold, and you'd definitely wake up at an instant."

I brushed away all the cold particles of frozen terror on my skin. I'm a heat-loving person. I can't stand being on a cold place without a jacket on for long.

I grunted and jumped back on the bed beside her and rolled myself under my blankets again.

"Oh no you don't!" she rolled me out from the sheets, "It's time to rise, wash up, then go to the kitchen to cook us both some breakfast!"

I continued to grunt while my face was still buried in my pillow.

My phone began buzzing so much that it started to make a sound against the material of my bean bag. At the corner of my eye, Kor stood up to retrieve my phone.

"It's Ray. She's coming over right now." she read the message, "Come on! Don't let Ray reach you still lazing in bed."

I didn't respond.

"Get up or else I'll make you breakfast." she taunted with a grin I knew was forming on her face.

I immediately rushed to my bathroom to the right of my room. There's no way I'm letting Kor in that kitchen. She can cook, but its the types I despise. She cooks overly healthy stuff like soups with veggies. It made my hairs stand on end.

After ten minutes of washing up, I wrapped myself in a bathrobe, and tied my hair up with a towel. I got out and Kor was on my bean bag chair, playing with my phone. She's probably reading from my wattpad.

I opened up the white shutter door beside my bathroom door. Inside is a walk-in closet. Yen just loves walking in it and tossing around my clothes and start doing mini ramp modeling as she exits back into the bedroom as if coming out from backstage. Luckily, my clothes are like what I mentioned before: absolutely nothing flashy.

I just chose a plain red shirt and a loose pedal. I'm going to change into something formal only when it's time for the party.

"Les!" Kor called.

"Hmm?" I got out fully dressed with slippers on as I dried my hair with a towel.

"Who's Nite?" she looked up.

It took me moments to drop my shocked expression to realize that Kor was reading my messages. I quickly swiped the phone from her hands, "Kor! You read my messages?! Not cool!"

I glared at her, and through the towel to her direction.

"Why so secretive?" she smirked as she set the towel aside.

"Last time I checked, people don't rudely read other people's messages! It's under law for privacy!"

She rolled her eyes, "Just tell me who he is!"

"You'll know soon enough." I squinted my eyes as I glared.

"He's your boyfriend?!?! How could you--"

"NO!" I quickly said.

She calmed down, "So an acquaintance?"

"Yeah, i guess."

"Is he handsome??" she gave me a I know you know what I mean look.

"Ugh.." I rolled my eyes, "You're beginning to sound like Yen more and more."

Before she could say anything else, I opened the door of my bedroom.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to have breakfast. Unless you'd drop the subject, you are not getting a bite from my 'world famous' pancakes." I waltzed outside. My phone is now safely in my right pedal jean's pocket. I flipped all my hair back because some of the strands were still blocking part of my vision.

Kor caught up with me as I got to the staircase.

"I only accept honey syrup on my pancakes! Nothing of chocolate or something with high-glucose particles." she mused.

"Yeah, yeah." I said as we descended downstairs and into the kitchen.

Kor was medicated for her stomach problems and was given by her doctor a LONG list of food that she can no longer partake, which include high glucose food, pork, soda, processed food and many more.

I even laughed as she sulked in a corner for hours because of the doctor's words. It was a comical sight. She got over it soon enough, but it's still fun to taunt her at times especially since she used to love drinking soda and eating chips.

The essence of being like some masterchef overwhelmed me as I began cooking some pancakes. Kor was sitting on the counter beside the stove.

The doorbell rang and Kor automatically ran to the door to see who it was.

A few seconds later, I found Rayla and Peter entering the kitchen.

"I smell pancakes!" Ray cheered.

"Hmm... pancakes. Thank you so much, Les, for taking the time to cook for us." Peter jokingly said.

"In your dreams, Peter." I rolled my eyes despite my back facing him.

After minutes of agonizing wait courtesy of the three visitors in my house, I finally placed a huge stack of pancakes at the center of the dining table.

I saw their hungered expressions and automatically slapped their quick hands from attacking at an instant, "Not so fast!"

They turned with pleading expressions.

"At least eat with etiquette. No stuffing of faces." I said, as I placed a tray on the table. 3 different syrups were on it: chocolate, honey, and blueberry.

Before the definite attack to begin, I quickly swiped the chocolate syrup and took some pancakes unto the plate before me. They also did their own lightning fast moves.

We all ate with some small talk in between.

I could hear( it's a rare phenomenon due to my defective hearing) the door slamming open from the main doorway, and closing quickly. Yen found her way to the dining room, and as she saw the last 2 pieces of pancakes on the center of the table, she quickly announced, "Dibs on the last 2 pancakes!"

"Never, Yen." Peter gave a menacing laugh.

They ended up having a fork fight over the last two pieces.

‡--+--‡

Jemson arrived right after the pancake war. Kor and Ray washed up the plates while Yen, Jems and Peter began crashing the television room by the staircase. I was sitting on the counter while I waited for Kor and Ray to finish.

My mom texted that the party would be starting at six in the evening tonight. I guess we have the whole day to mess around before the party starts. Dmitri would arrive by lunch time as he texted.

I was shocked, and a bit disappointed that Nite didn't text anything up until now. Maybe he was busy. Doing what?? He doesn't actually have a schedule for ghostly activity.

Thinking about it, texting with a ghost is basically a major horror scene in plenty of horror movies.

"Done!" Kor and Ray said and wiped their hands on the towel hanging on the refrigerator's handle.

We then proceeded to the television room and saw that the three had already chosen a horror movie--typical. It was Sinister. Gosh, I've seen that movie for almost 5 times already! The first time didn't have a single effect on me. I don't think watching it over and over will change anything.

And because I sat way too comfortably on my seat, I fell asleep as the movie started.

‡--+--‡

Huh?? Whe--- Wait. Why am I in school?

I turned around into all different directions and confirmed that I am in school right now. But I swore I was just at--- Oh I get it! I'm in a dream!

Tsk tsk. Well, better start exploring rather than wake up to watch Sinister.

Something was a little off about the school, though. There was something different about it. I'm currently standing on grassy area near the HQ. I've known the HQ for so long but I still sense something a bit different. Must be the curtains. The curtains I set were cream-colored. Now it's blue.

The power of dreams! Changing colors!

I do wonder why I'm so sure of me dreaming. Dreams don't work like that if I remember correctly. You'd assume it all to be true until the time you wake up. I wonder why I'm so aware.

Deciding to go in the HQ and say 'hi' to Shrug in dream-form, I motioned toward the office.

People were coming out of it and caused me to back up a bit. Out came familiar faces, but these familiar faces weren't supposed to be here or maybe its the dream-effect getting to me. The people who went outside were the Logistics officers from two years ago.

Two years ago... the retreat house....

I quickly turned and ran toward the retreat house. When I got there, I stood their stunned for a while. There was no barb wire fence, and no abandoned retreat house stood there. Instead, there stood a perfectly well retreat house that streaked out life from its clean and bright white paint and clear glass windows that line across the upper floors unlike the window-less and dirty retreat house I knew.

I honestly missed this sight.

It was one of my favorite places until one day it was abandoned, and left to just stand there as a new retreat house was made in a new location. It was closed off, and left to be go with the flow of time 'til it became ancient-looking. The once life-filled building in front of me became sad and lonely.

I remembered Nite. How did he end up in this place?

My feet took me inside the retreat house. I expected a comforting holy feeling to greet me as I enter the lobby. However, this fantasy was broken by the sounds of males fighting.

I turned toward the ruckus. It was at the foot of the staircase. I saw a group of boys, probably students from 2 years ago, pushing around a nerdy-looking boy. He reminded me of Martin getting beaten up. The scene brought major deja vu.

But my system almost made a major shutdown when I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! Let him go!"

"Oh shit, it's Nite! Let's get out of here!" the group of boys dispersed and left the weak boy to take balance on the floor.

I turned behind me and saw him. This time not as a faded ghostly figure, but as a living person. Shock was an understatement.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

6: Night Six

Nite looked more amazing in his living form compared to his ghostly figure. His skin wasn't completely pale-washed, but it had actual tints of color in them. His hair looked pretty much the same: tousled up with the strands ending up pointing in different directions. His features were clearer now unlike the semi-blurred out figure I come face to face every night since I first met him. His eyes were darker than I thought. It was completely black. So deep in darkness that I couldn't make out any other marks that form around the irises. If only there was a color darker than black then that would describe the color perfectly.

He quickly passed me and went directly to the beaten up boy.

"Kent!" Nite's voice was clearer and had more depth, "Are you alright?"

"You should really stop doing this." Kent slowly began to stand while ignoring Nite's outstretched hand.

"What are you talking about?" Nite put his hand down.

"The more you fight, the more hate will accumulate. You might get in bigger trouble in the end." Kent brushed his cheek and squinted when he felt pain shot up after brushing it.

"Hey, I didn't do anything to them this time. Plus, it's your fault  that I have to fight twice as much because you stopped fighting back! I can't just allow those thugs to beat you up dead."

"I don't fight back anymore because I don't want to be like those 'thugs' to which we used to be part of." he removed his thick-rimmed glasses.

As soon as he did so, I saw that he looked very handsome like Nite despite the bruises present. He also had black hair that was disheveled due to the process of getting beaten up earlier. Seeing those two stand together can make girls get a heart attack. Luckily, I'm not like normal girls. Plus I still remember that Nite is dead and getting flustered over him would be disturbing in a sense. However, I have been getting flustered a lot lately.

Nite glared at Kent for a second and decided to smack him on the head causing the latter to drop to the floor again.

Kent wasn't knocked out cold so the punch was probably not that strong because he quickly got up and began sending punches toward Nite. They began fighting. I wasn't sure what to do because the blows looked serious.

But then I realized that they were laughing in the process.

"Looks like you haven't completely forgotten how to give a punch." Nite was laughing as he rubbed his fist on Kent's head.

I've never seen him so happy before. I never even thought that he could look this happy. Not that I've seen him so much anyway.

"Hey, what's going on there?" a familiar-looking teacher looked down from the terrace toward the two boys.

"Run!" Both exchanged looks and ran out the lobby leaving me alone by the entrance.

I'd understand why they'd run at an instant. The teacher was Mr. Ramon-- 2 years younger. He can be VERY scary when it comes to student discipline.

I have a feeling that I can't be seen in this dream judging from the fact that neither Mr. Ramon nor Nite and Kent seemed to notice my presence.

"What are you doing here?" I turned to see a pale girl about a few years older than me with long dark hair and wore a white dress.

I could swear she looks like a ghost but the fact that this is a dream wouldn't make that possibility real. Her hair was so long that it practically touched the floor.

I turned to look around if she was talking to anyone, then I realized that she was actually referring to me. When I turned to look at her again, she ran toward me and tackled me to the ground.

She began hitting my head and yelling.

I swatted away most of her attacks, "What are you doing?!"

After I yelled, her own screams became deafening. I couldn't even understand one of them.

She just kept hitting me. I tried to use ESP but its not working.

"Stop!" I yelled again.

She pinned my arms away from me with her own hands and glared down at me. My back was now completely plastered against the cold cement floor.

I looked back horrified at her insane expression. Her hazel eyes were wide open and dark veins travelled across her neck to the temples of her extremely pale face.

"GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!" she pierced right through my ears.

‡--+--‡

I woke up in a cold sweat. A shocked expression was clearly fastened on my face because Yen and the others exchanged exasperated looks.

"Les, you had a nightmare!" Ray wiped away sweat across my face. As she pulled the towel away, it was painted red.

"Your wound opened again and it began bleeding heavily when you had a nightmare." Jems got inside the room with Dmitri behind him. They began bandaging my head again and added some slight pressure to control the bleeding.

I feel very light-headed again. I'm an anemic person and losing lots of blood isn't helping one bit.

"I'll call an ambulance." Dmitri in his amazingly fashionable attire(had to add that note despite my wheezy sight) began to dial on his phone.

I wanted to drift to sleep again, but I was scared because I might begin having a nightmare again.

"You're still shaking, Les." Kor held my wrist.

"What were you dreaming about?" Peter checked my temperature.

I wanted to speak, but my vision was dropping and I knew that I was about to faint.

I closed my eyes, but refused the urge to sleep. Events were spinning fast. I was lifted and brought to a vehicle, probably the ambulance, I was placed on a bed and was rushed off somewhere.

Medications were given to me in my semi-unconscious state. Moving around would hurt my head, so I continued to close my eyes.

I don't know how I know, but I'm sure Yen and the others are just outside my room. Slowly, I opened my eyes and was greeted with the bright fluorescent lighting of the sky blue-colored hospital room. My hand already had a dextrose injected in, and the bandages on my head were changed.

Am I scared right now? It's hard to explain. I don't know if the feeling is fear or worry or maybe a mixture of both.

My hands dug into the white sheets to where they were currently resting on. It has been a long time since I last stayed in a hospital bed. I was still a kid who had a serious fever the last time.

The room's door slowly opened and I saw my mother get in. She saw that I was conscious and ran toward me halting to a stop and caressing my cold face, "Lestia..."

I felt so guilty to see my mom's face filled with anxiousness, "... what happened to you?"

Before I could answer, someone knocked on the door and went inside.

"Sir Ramon?" I said with a coarse voice.

"Mrs. Stryke, I would like to speak to you and your husband to properly explain what has happened to your daughter." he said with a stern look.

My mom got up, gave me one last glance, and proceeded outside. Mr. Ramon opened the door for her to exit first. He looked back at me and gave a worried smile, "Get well, Celestia." He then left and closed the door slowly.

My eyes scanned the area, and I caught a glimpse of a little child sitting by the bench of my room. I wonder how she died and ended up here in this room. I decided not to interfere or show any sign of me sighting her. I closed my eyes and began to relax a bit.

"You must be careful."

I opened my eyes and shot a surprised look at the child. She was still sitting there looking like a porcelain doll. Her eyes had a blank expression. Her brown curly hair was perfectly flowing down her sides and ended at her waistline.

"What do you mean?" I have no choice but to continue on with the discussion.

"If you do not want to bounded, you must stop interfering." her voice was like a hush but it was clear.

"Bounded?"

"Not all of the dead end up like me because of choice, some are forcefully trapped by the stronger."

I didn't know if I understood what she meant, but I knew she was relating this conversation to what happened to me. I'm positively sure that the girl in my dream was not of the living. Her touch was too cold and her expressions were too stiff. By the looks of it, she might be the other one Shrug referred to be in the retreat house. Bea also did say "she".

"Is the one who did this to me... one of the stronger?"

The child nodded.

"Are you saying that she trapped the others?"

She nodded again.

"Why do you know this?"

"The portal of our beings are all connected."

This is definitely new information.

"What's your name?"

"Jane."

"Thank you, Jane."

She nodded.

"Will I get to speak with you some time again?" I never thought I could ask such. The only time I have done this is with Shrug.

She nodded, "When you leave this room, do not make interact with the man outside."

"Why?"

"He is of the stronger. Those who die in this hospital will remain by his order."

"That means you..."

"No. I remained by choice."

"Why?"

"The man outside is my father. I wish to stay with him. Make haste as you leave, Celestia, lest the lights flicker and fade at the strike of three."

I nodded, and she disappeared.

My head feels jammed. I checked the time and it was already noon.

The door opened and a nurse got inside holding a food tray. She placed it slowly over my lap. She checked the record tag on my table and gave me a sweet smile before leaving.

I ate my food like a hungry tiger. What? You thought I'd lose my appetite and just stare at perfectly good food?

I got discharged after two hours. Across the hall, I spotted Jane's father, but I pretended to not see anything. My mom and dad had already gone, and just left me a ride at the parking lot.

Down at the parking lot, I looked up toward the window of my room. Jane stood there. I gave a small smile that probably wasn't clear at all from this distance.

My parent's hired driver greeted me and led me to the car. As he opened the door to the back seats, Yen and the others were happily eating some cupcakes and other pastries inside. It's not a shocking sight. Not even one bit.

I got inside and was directly given a bag full of cookies.

I'd never decline cookies.

‡--+--‡

I won't be going to the party because of my injury. I told the others that they could go if they wanted, but they preferred to stay at home with me and completely zero-out my fridge.

My parents haven't contacted me ever since I got hospitalized. I do wonder what Mr. Ramon told them. Maybe he told them the truth, or maybe a well-planned and thought of lie. Either of the choices would still end up with the same result: I'll have to face the wrath of my parents.

"Les." Yen called my attention. I was obviously spacing out. We were all currently playing cards at the living room. Well, they were playing. I was just sitting and watching... and spacing out.

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry.." she whined.

"You just ate a bowl of chocolate sticks!"

"It's dinner time already!"

I sighed and took out my phone. I decided to order for some pizza and pasta.

My favorite food is, after all, Italian.

Before I could make the call, I realized that I had tons of messages. Most of them were from Nite.He seemed flustered by the fact that I haven't been replying. Maybe telling him what happened wouldn't be such a good idea. I just told him that I had to leave the house and I left my phone.

He quickly replied, "You were at the hospital."

Ugh... why bother lying.

"So?" I texted back.

"What happened?"

"My head started to bleed a lot again, but now it's a little better."

"Be more careful next time."

"Yes, mom :P"

":P"

My hands froze for a moment, and I wondered if Nite was one of the bounded. If he was bound, there has to be a way for him to be free. Maybe by then he can finally rest.

Despite all the drama and the scares I have experienced up until now, I still choose to help.

Go away... the words rang in my head.

As long as I am able, I am not going anywhere.

 

 

7: Night Seven

I want to know more about what happened to Nite before he died. I don't even know how he dies nor do I even know his full name. 

That woman in my dream. She has to be the other person in the retreat house. I've processed my thoughts long enough to say that she truly was a ghost in that dream. I've only known Nite for a few days and yet he caused all the recent drama that is going on in my supposedly normal life.

My head had stopped bleeding and is slowly starting to heal. My style has been trespassed with a head bandage for days.

"You're too slow! I haven't seen you for days, and you still come late." Nite was at his usual spot above the terrace looking down at me.

"So sorry, Your Highness." I fake bowed.

Yen, El and Kor are outside the wire fence. As promised, I shall bring them here, risk my position, and let them meet Nite. I told them a little stuff about Nite, including his name and that he's kind. I purposely omitted the dangerous and bad things he had done. I told them to wait outside for a bit and tell Nite in advance so that he won't freak out on them. I noticed that Nite wasn't so fond of other people who go in the retreat house, and he has had a lot of records on beating up students.

"Come on up! I have something to show you!" he dematerialized into mist.

"Wait!" I called.

He rematerialized in an instant, "What?"

"My classmates... They're outside..."

"And?"

"They want to meet you."

He kept silent for a while then replied, "No."

"What do you mean by 'No.'? You won't let them meet you?"

He nodded.

"Why not?"

He looked away, "They might--"

"They won't run away. I told them some good stuff about you."

He looked back, "Okay. But I won't come down."

He sounded so childish that I just had to roll my eyes, "What? Are you a shy type now?"

"Yes." he answered looking at me with a nervous face that I have only seen now.

For real? He's actually nervous?

"Don't worry! They won't bite. I promise. Two of them aren't clairvoyant, by the way. Do you mind allowing them to see just for tonight?"

"Okay. Please hurry, though. It's dangerous for many people to stay inside the retreat house all at once for a long period."

"Why? What happens?" I raised a brow.

"I'll tell you later."

I nodded and ran outside.

As soon as they spotted me, I gave them a signal, and they proceeded to enter through the wire fence's not-so-secret entrance.

Kor went in last and was fidgeting non-stop. She was probably being very wary of bloody boy. I haven't told anyone about bloody boy and that he is actually the 'kind' ghost I told them about.

"He'll meet you, but he said you have to leave soon." I told them.

"Why?" Yen asked.

"He's.... shy. Probably." I said.

"Is....bloody boy there?" Kor asked whilst hugging her arms. The campus is very cold at night and at dawn.

"No. Relax, Kor. I wouldn't want you to start running out on me again." I smugly remarked.

"Psshh.. That was out of the moment." she stuck her tongue out.

"Let's go." I turned my back on them and headed back inside the main lobby.

I glanced back at them to see them scanning the area.

"Nite." I said, "Meet Yen, El and Kor."

The three searched the area for where Nite was, until El looked up and spotted him looking down at them with an emotionless yet innocent face.

El tugged on Yen and Kor and made them look up as well.

"Hi." Nite softly said.

I've heard him so many times, but he can still send goose bumps around me. The good kind of goose bumps.

"Oh my...." Kor and Yen were now murmuring random gibberish, and now looked stunned in awe.

I think I also forgot to mention that Nite was... let's say... attractive.

El still remained composed, but I could also see the interest that formed in her sights. She noticed the two beside her were now frozen and decided to break their trance, "Mind closing your gaping mouths?"

The two snapped back into reality.

"Oh, you must be Nite! Hello! I'm Kor." Kor began the conversation.

Nite was somewhat taken aback as he landed his vision on Kor. He glanced toward me with a worried face, then returned it to Kor, "Hello, Kor."

He probably remembered the time Kor screamed at sight on him and ran away.

"Hi, I'm Yen." she didn't talk too much. Seeing ones like Nite was definitely a new thing to her, and she wasn't too sure what to say.

"El." El raised her arm for a second before putting it down. 

"Hello, Yen, El." he nodded to them accordingly as he said their names.

"How long have you been here in the retreat house?" Kor nonchalantly asked while resisting the urge to drool over him. I'd know their motives a mile away.

"A few years back." he curtly answered.

"Uhm..." Kor exchanged glances with Yen and El and motioned for them to speak too.

"How did you end up here?" El asked next, "You know. How did you di---"

Kor covered El's mouth, "Answer the first question she asked, Nite."

"How?" he looked away for a bit as if in thought, "I'm not sure."

Nite wasn't his friendly and open self. It could be because he's new to them, or maybe because he wasn't comfortable about all the questions.

"You must go. You cannot stay here for too long." Nite said while scanning the area as if he was looking out for something.

"I think we need to follow his advice." Kor said.

The three looked pretty bummed out. I looked up at Nite and gave him a slight glare.

"Uhm." Nite cleared his ghostly throat, then he gave out one heck of a sweet smile, "I'll see you guys next time."

I could sense Kor and Yen are now experiencing a major fireworks presentation in their heads.

El nodded, "See you, Nite."

She pushed the other two out the building.

I was about to follow them out, when a cold feeling wrapped around my arm. I looked to see Nite holding on to me.

"Nite?"

"Come back after a few minutes."

I nodded casually, and followed my three friends out. I refused to start fan-girling and leave my dignity.

We didn't began speaking until we completely exited out the barbed wire fence and sit on the gazebo a few meters away.

"So..." I started.

El gave a smug and lifeless laugh, "HAHA! I can see."

"Psshhh..." I laughed, "As if. I told him to let you guys see."

"If a lot of ghosts look anywhere near Nite or better then I wanna see them all the time!" Yen added.

"No." Kor quickly said, "You're just lucky that the first you've seen is hot."

"I still wanna see. Mind telling them all to let me?" El cut in.

"Just the handsome ones for me." Yen said.

"If only it works like that..." Kor face-palmed.

"Okay. Okay!" I broke their conversation, "Kor, your turn to tour them around your shift areas."

Kor dramatically ---and slowly--- slammed her head on the table, "Fine...."

El and Yen quickly stood up and exited the gazeebo.

"You two sure are excited." Kor glanced at them with her head still on the surface of the table.

"Too bad, you'll only be told of certain whereabouts and not get to see." I said.

"Kor will talk to them." El gave a sly yet smug smirk.

"Go off now." I told them as I still sat on the cemented bench.

"You're not going with us?" Kor sat straight.

"You may be very willing to leave your shift areas and risk getting caught by Jems, but I on the other hand will stay on my shift." I said, "It's not like there's anything new on your shift areas anyway."

"You have a point." Kor sighed, "Wait... that means if we get caught..."

"It's like I had nothing to do with it." I winked.

"Mean...." Kor prolonged.

"Just get going and be careful." I laughed and allowed them to walk away as I scan the area.

I stood up and began to walk slowly back toward the retreat house. I'm more wary of this place like Kor now because I'm definitely on the lookout for her.

I already reached the entrance and there was no sign of the girl in the dream, neither was there any sign of Nite. 

"Nite." I called out, but no one answered. He's probably at his study. I climbed up the staircase with my usual syncronized steps avoiding the empty spaces.

"Nite." I called out again, but no one still answered. 

To use my ESP, or not to use my ESP? That is the question.

I don't think my head is physically ready to handle another possible set of migraines.

As I reached the door of his study, I braced myself just in case I'd be comically pulled through the door again. I raised my fist ready to knock the door.

That was when I felt something wrap my ankle.

I looked down and saw a hand that grabbed my right ankle coming through from the floor.

Before I could properly react to that moment, I was dragged down in a quick speed and a shout escaped from my mouth like last time.

I closed my eyes for impact. I will not deny the horrifying scream of terror that escaped my mouth.

When I landed, I didn't feel a hard cemented flooring to hit me to my demise or just probably to my head's bleeding spree again. Instead, I felt a cold feeling wash across me. I opened my eyes to be directly face to face with Nite's curious face. He was holding me up bridal style.

I must probably look extremely pale and freaked out that after a short meep sound I made, Nite burst into fits of laughter as he placed my feet back unto the ground.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." I crossed my arms and forced myself to be composed again hiding the raging beats of my heart.

I rolled my eyes waiting until he stopped laughing at my pathetic scream of terror. Getting pulled into a room was one thing, but getting pulled on the leg and dragged down a floor, NOT COOL.

"Are you done?" I glared at him. He was tearing at the side of his eyes and flashed an amused smile.

"You should have seen the look on your face." he toned down the laughter and just continued on with chuckles.

"Yeah, I can imagine." I gave him a slight smirk, "Okay, where are we anyway?"

"Look around." he said. His figure flickered on and off as streams of light hit his body.

I did as he said, and I was taken aback. I was so busy glaring at Nite's reaction toward my dreaded scream that I didn't realize that I was in a amazing place.

It was a garden complete with large trees, bushes, flowering plants, a fountain, hanging plants and more. Although the place had an obvious look that it was old, it had a comforting feel around it. It's a greenhouse.

"How is there a greenhouse below the terrace?" I asked.

"We're not below the terrace." he chuckled, "We're at the back of the retreat house."

"Oh..." I looked beyond the ceiling to spot the stars that covered the sky, "Why'd you bring me here?"

"I thought you'd like it?" He smiled.

I returned his smile. Thanks a lot, Nite. I'm becoming more girly every day--do notice the sarcasm.

"Nite..." I began.

"Celestia." He grinned as he replied.

"Is what you said true?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He asked as we strolled around the greenhouse.

"When my friends asked you questions earlier." 

"Which one?"

"About how you got here." 

He looked away and didn't answer for a while.

"It's alright... I broke his silence. If you don't want to talk about it then I'll respect your decision."

"I was...killed." He said in a hushed manner.

"You were killed?" My eyes widened in shock.

"I don't remember the details, though." His face turned to a facade of depression.

"Can I help in any way?" I asked keeping a composed tone.

"Yes." His face brightened for a second then was washed over completely with regret and nervousness.

"What's wrong?" I asked again.

"It's dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt." 

"Judging from how I look right now. I definitely don't care about dangerous things."

He dematerialized then reappeared quickly directly in front of me, "If anything happens to you..."

"Nite, a lot of things has happened to me. No need for all the formalities."

"You need to leave now." 

"Why do you always make me leave by this time of night?" I couldn't help but ask.

He was taken aback with the question and was looked like he was arguing whether to tell me or not.

"I'm not going anywhere, Nite, unless you tell me at least that."

"It's not that easy to explain. You need to go." His face got more worried.

"Nite." I didn't falter.

"I'll tell you next time."

I quickly replied, "Tell me right now. You may not be aware, but I can be very stubborn when unanswered."

"Celestia... You've never been that stubborn. Now isn't the time. You need to go."

"What could possibly happen?"

"Serious things." He had a serious look right now as well.

"If you don't trust me enough to tell me then there is no more reason for me to keep on coming here." I turned on my heel and began to find the exit.

He appeared through mist in front of me again.

"Bye." I smugly and angrily said before walking past his side which was sort of not necessary since I'd probably just go through him even if i walked straight.

"Why are you angry?" He asked from behind me.

"Because you wouldn't tell me stuff. It's confusing already that I have to go through all the excess hauntings and--"

"What did you say?" His eyes widened when I mentioned 'excess hauntings'.

"Nothing. Bye." I ran to the exit. I haven't told him about how I was attacked constantly by something I'm not too sure about yet. Unless he's ready to tell me the things he knows, I'll keep my own information on hold.

My pace quickened as I saw a familiar passage in front of me. I was here at the same area where I ran at the other night and was hit horribly on the head. 

The area made my head throb on cue. I felt very uneasy staying here.  A cold feeling wrapped around my wrist again.

“Nite—“ I turned and my eyes flashed wide open when it wasn’t the boy I expected.

So we finally meet face-to-face in reality.

The woman who attacked me in my dream.

Probably, the same one who did major damage to my head.

I already prepared myself for another deafening scream of ‘GO AWAY’, assuming it's the only thing she knows how to say.

 “Why are you still coming back?” she looked at me with a blank expression. There are dark colored life-less veins that stream around her extremely pale skin. Her short sleeveless white dress reveals these veins that climb up her legs and arms. They even connect up to her neck. She looked absolutely horrifying, but as a person with much experience, I wasn’t affected. Her voice was icy and had a tint of calm anger within it.

I didn’t expect such a calm talking one to face me right now. I wasn’t able to answer.

When I finally decided to answer, she shifted quick and stopped directly in front of me. In this line of vision, she looked more gruesome.

My mouth was agape.

“GO AWAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!” she yelled to the depths of her chilled throat. I forcibly shut my eyes closed and cupped my ears as her voice continued to ring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

8: Night Eight

I was frozen to the spot as the eerie scream right to my face continued.

As soon as the scream died down, someone broke me off from my broken state.

"Lestia!" someone called out. That's Jemson's voice.

I turned around quickly only to see Jemson's shadow lurking nearby the front of the building almost able to see me.

My attention then returned to what was in front of me, but as soon as I did, the woman was gone.

"Lestia!" I heard our team leader call out again.

I turned on my heel and ran as fast as I could toward the front of the building.

I was panting frantically due to my heart beats that are currently malfunctioning due to a lot of skips in beat. I decided to rest by dropping to the ground and sitting up.

Why am I so terrified? I never get that scared.

What if its not fear I'm feeling... worry maybe.

I was shivering. That was the first time I encountered that much cold air right to my face. I would've been fine if it were hot air. I couldn't handle so much cold. My head is hurting. The wound is beginning to throb again. Hopefully, it won't open up.

"Lestia." I looked up to see Jemson with a worried yet angered expression: which is very rare since Jems is laid back most of the time, "What happened?"

I forced a smile on my face and gave a pathetic laugh, "Let me guess... I look like I've seen a ghost. So clichè for our case."

"I'm serious, Les."

I could already sense Jems serious tone.

"It's a long story..."

‡--+--‡

I threw my school bag on the couch where I sleep on after the night shift. Last night was intense.

I never imagined to meet that woman already. My head injury has gotten somewhat stable enough for me to remove the bandage. Finally! No more mummy days.

Thankfully, Jems was there to block off any more accidents to happen. I thought I was going to have an all-out supernatural battle there. I am definitely not ready for that.

Even right now, the cold chills haven't left my skin. The scream is still stuck in my head, playing over and over as if it was taped and got broken in my head.

I had go explain to Jemson about the woman at the retreat house. I also told him about Nite minus the parts that we're practically buddy-buddy and have each other's cellphone numbers.

He was there at the retreat house because he caught Kor with Yen and El. I had my own troubles so I got off the hook.

He decided to keep the information to himself until there are further reports. Tonight, he won't even allow me to take my shift at the retreat house. He's even planning to cut it off as my shift area until my head injury heals completely. I had to fight for my rights and all that stuff, so I'm only on leave for maybe tonight because he shall be taking patrol there to retrieve his own information. I asked if I could come, but he preferred for me to stay at HQ and rest up.

Fine. He is the boss when Mr. Ramon isn't around so I'll respect that.

I also owe him for not letting it reach Mr. Ramon because the retreat house might get closed off forever this time.

Nite may begin being dramatic--

Nite!

I wonder if he saw what happened last night.

I looked at my bag that lazily lay on the couch. I approached it and started taking out something from my bag: my phone.

Looks like I've had way too many missed calls and messages. Don't ask.

Most of them came from Nite with spammed messages of "I'm sorry! I'll tell you. I promise!"

He must have thought I was ignoring his messages.

When I was about to send a reply, my phone popped out another message.

":(" from Nite.

Wow.

I' m now fighting the urge to text him because I'd then have to explain later on why I won't be visiting tonight. Plus, I'm still a but pissed off about how secretive he is. I'm stubborn when it comes to getting information.

A slight tug on my sleeve broke me off from my "thinking" pose.

I turned to see Shrug.

Instantly, a warm smile enveloped on my lips. I haven't seen Shrug for a while and it's nice to see him (even if he doesn't smile back). He then began to crawl up on the wall to my right. I may never get used to seeing that.

As I watched him do little tricks on the ceiling, question formed in my head.

"Shrug..." I said, then he instantly jumped off the ceiling and materialized from mist unto the floor.

"Do you know anything about the two in the retreat house?" I asked him, "Anything will do."

He ran and hid under the my table.

"Shrug?" I raised my brow and lowered my head so that I could see him.

He didn't look up. I looked around the room in case he freaked out from something he saw. The HQ was its normal self.

"What's wrong?" I tried to pat his head (basically patting air in this case), but he inched more to the corner.

I have a feeling he doesn't like whoever that woman was. Everything is just so complicated now.

It was complex enough when I had to work as a Night Guardian for the school. Now I have to play detective and break the mystery of the retreat house or something like that.

The way Shrug is reacting isn't a good sign, though. It could mean that he is hiding something out of fear and worry. One thing is for sure. That woman, whoever she was, is not a positive-living spirit. Why do I know?

I don't think screaming into people's faces or throwing hard objects on people's heads is something the good would do.

"Come out, Shrug. I won't ask anymore."

He didn't move.

I sighed, stood up, and left. Shrug needs space too. He's becoming more 'living' by the second.

It was nearing curfew time, yet I could still see a few students nearby. Looking closely, I saw that they were upperclassmen. I may be younger, but enforcing rules is still part of the job.

"Excuse me, it's almost curfew. Please leave the school premises." I said as they chatted.

They looked up, then scanned me. One gave a short chuckle then stood up and approached me until he was merely 10 inches away from me. He was at least a foot taller than me but I didn't bother look up and just remained with my non-caring expression. 

"You should be more respectful to your upperclassmen." He bent down a bit to meet me in the eye.

Before I could shoot back a witty reply, I eyed him for a split second then my vision was redirected to all his other companions. 

This group. They are... I can't be mistaken.

These are the boys who beat up Kent in my dream. I can still distinguish their smug looks.

The one who was directly in front of me grabbed a fist of my hair then roughly pulled me closer, "You're too young to be checking us out."

"What's going on there?" A loud and angry voice broke the tension. It was Mr. Ramon. I was at the verge of beating up people, but Mr. Ramon arrives. My hero!---note all my glorious sarcasm.

"Time to go, Nick. That's one of the heads of discipline. One more report and we're suspended. Wouldn't want that now right, mama's boy?" the others began snickering.

The guy named Nick, removed his hand from my hair. I snatched a look on his face and held myself from laughing. 

They all started running off to who knows where. Their uncoordinated running made no clue to where they could possibly be heading.

"Celestia, are you alright? We have a lot of new students added to the campus today. I hope they weren't too much trouble." Mr. Ramon was behind me.

I flashed him a small smile, "Yep. I was just talking to them and telling them to leave. I guess hearing you made them freak out and run away."

"Okay. I'm off now. I have a meeting up north. By the way, I'll explain some details on the new batch of students in a print out tomorrow morning. Remind Jemson of the report details. He hasn't passed a report for yesterday's shift."

"Yessir!" I said, and he left in a hurry toward his car that was parked at the lot beside the Deans' building.

"And Les."

"Sir?"

"Please welcome a new addition to the Logistics team. Jemson already knows."

"Alright sir."

He got in his car and drove off.

Those boys. If Jemson won't allow me to take my shift there at the retreat house, then I'll have a different shift at the Records Vault tonight.

I was mentally laughing like a villain until Yen arrived to ruin it.

"Leeeessss!!!" she called out.

I turned slightly, but ended up having a complete 360 degree turn as she pulled my arm to drag me into the HQ.

"What? What? What?!" I continuously asked in monotone as I was made to sit on the couch.

She returned to the door and locked it.

I squinted my eyes, "Let me guess..."

"I have news! Super secret news!" she said enthusiastically.

"Let's hear it." I crossed my arms.

"Did you notice all the upperclassmen today?" she asked.

"Just a few. Why were they here anyway? I saw unfamiliar faces who were supposed to probably be at the other campus."

"Well, there were way too many enrollees in this semester. Since we have a some extra classrooms at our buildings here, some of them were moved to attend regulars here."

"So that explains it...." I nodded, "And how does that relate to your super secret news?"

Her smile was filled with so much eagerness, "Well, earlier I was scolding some of those new students and was basically getting told horrible stuff by those pathetic excuses of popular girls."

"Then?"

"There was this guy who saw me getting 'bullied' and stuff. He started making these funny remarks that made those girls dash away humiliated. It was the first time I saw someone as hot as him in my sixteen years of existence. Well, maybe aside from Nite, but I speak of the living."

I was honestly interested to listen. It's rare to see Yen really get interested in a guy. Maybe all the hopeless run-afters will end with this guy, "More details!!"

She then continued on as she sat opposite to me on Jemson's table, "Well, after saving me, he flashed me a bright smile and asked me if I knew any Logistics officers. I calmly..." -I mentally snorted at the 'calmly' - "said that I was a Logistics officer. We had some small talk about it until Jemson arrived."

Yen rolled her eyes at the word Jemson. I guess he ruined her fairy tale moment.

"They already seemed acquainted and stuff. Before they could go to the Dean's building, he turned his attention back to me and told me that he'll see me later." 

"Wow." I clapped in a mockingly fancy-lady way, "I have a feeling that he's the new recruit Mr. Ramon told me about earlier."

"New recruit? You mean that he's going to be joining the Logistics???"

"That's right." I said, "But it's still an assumption."

The knob of the door began moving. Knocks followed.

"Les? You in there?" Jems spoke from the other side.

"Yep! Sorry, Yen and I had our super secret news ritual." I joked as I got up to open the door.

I nearly dropped my mouth agape as my gaze fell upon the boy who stood behind Jemson. 

"Hey, Adrienne!" the boy waved as he looked inside to see Yen, he then smiled, "And hi, Les?"

I know what your thinking. No, I'm not dramatically freezing on the spot because of this guy's 'hotness' -Yen's description-, but because he's...

"Les, this is Kent Stone. He's going to be a new member of the Logistics officers." Jemson introduced.

"Oh. Welcome.." I curtly said while trying my best not to be hyperactive.

"Yen, it's curfew. You and Kent need to leave now." Jemson said.

"See yah tomorrow, Yen." I turned to wink at her seeing the chance for them to walk home together, while I hide the fact that I am seriously in shock.

"Kent, you'll get your ID tomorrow morning. See you guys tomorrow."

"Aren't you two going home?" Kent raised a brow in confusion.

"Three officers of Logistics have night shift. They like watch over the school at night." Yen cut in as she walked to my side.

"Isn't that dangerous?" 

"We have our ways." I grinned at his unknowingness.

"Can I join the night shift?" he looked eager with his playful smile. 

His playful expressions remind me so much of Nite. They really were best friends.

Jemson and I exchanged glances.

"Actually, there is a requirement for one to be part of the night shift." I grinned.

"What requirement?" Kent smugly smiled accepting the challenge.

‡--+--‡

"I wish I just went home." Yen hugged her arms as we trailed behind Jems and Kent walked a few meters ahead. Like I said, it's especially cold in this school at night.

"I told you that you could just go on home ahead." I said.

"Yeah, but its also rare for Jems to allow me to hang out at school for this night shift stuff."

"Not a good enough reason." I said, "You just wanted to make sure Kor doesn't spot Kent and do some moves." I laughed.

"Omg, I just realized that too!" she exclaimed.

I continued to chuckle.

We were now at the center of the school's football field that centers the entire campus.

I direct my sights toward specific areas in the school and spot the usual crowd. 

"Why are we here?" Kent looked around inconspicuously.

"Look that way." Jems looked at a certain direction to make Kent follow.

I looked toward the scene. Jems referred to this group of children playing tag.

Yen didn't even care to look because she knew that she couldn't make out anything.

Kent looked toward Jems then to me. He looked unsure what to say. He looked back at the scene, "Children."

Now my mouth was agape.

I turned to Jems, and he too was obviously shocked. Yen also understood what this means. Kent can see ghosts too. 

"Les, take them back to HQ and make sure they stay there. A lot of espers together at one place is too dangerous." 

"Follow me." I said and automatically walked back to the road back to HQ. Kent and Yen followed without questions.

It was a silent walk back. Jems was shocked for his own reasons since espers are pretty rare nowadays and that he knew that three espers together at night is mentally dangerous.

I remember that time when I was hanging out with Kor and our economics teacher, who also has clairvoyance, at the gazebo discussing about the lesson plan for the next day so that we could catch up quickly. It was too late when I realized that the place was too warm for how it should have been. It was then when we felt something heavy drop around us. Our sights raised and it was too late to run. We were surrounded by a crowd--no... an army. We felt like we were getting suffocated. We were saved by luck. Mr. Kris and his loud alarmed megaphone scattered them out. It was a glorious accident. He pressed the megaphone's alarm instead of the tiny radio device taped beside the handle. 

Back to what's currently happening.

However, his level of vision is unknown as of the moment. The level is crucial in order for him to survive the night shift. 

We arrived at the HQ. The silence was making things even more awkward than it already was. We were all unsure of what to say right after that little 'initiation'. 

"So..." I tried to lighten the mood. I was perfectly sure that we were safe in the HQ because on how I see it, Shrug is happily shifting around without care.

I was waiting for him to make a remark about Shrug who was practically staring straight at him.

"So, you guys can see stuff too?" his question took me a little longer to answer. It seems like his vision isn't so strong after all. He can't see Shrug. 

"Ugh, yeah... I hope your not weirded out or anything." I slightly laughed.

"Why didn't you ever asked me if I felt weirded out before, Les?" Yen smiled and raised a brow toward me.

I rolled my eyes then laughed, "Sorry for the sudden....ness of all this, Kent. Must be lonely being the only one from senior high in this branch of Logistics."

"Nah, you guys seem fun. Plus, its been a long time since I've talked much." I joked

"You kidding? You don't look like the type to talk at all." I laughed. He does look like the shy type.

His gaze fell and his bright smile became a sad one.

"Did I say something wrong?" 

"No.. Actually, I just remembered a really close friend who told me the same thing before." 

"Then why do you look so down?" Yen bumped her shoulder to his in the attempt to cheer him up.

He looked at her, and even from this distance, I could feel Yen's full-on mental fireworks presentation.

"He was the last person I talked so casually with." he gave a sad laugh.

It's a gut feeling, but I think I already know who he means.

"My best friend... he..ugh.." he didn't want to make things any more awkward, "Let's just say he went off, and I never saw him since."

"Where'd he go?" Yen asked innocently.

"Somewhere in neverland, maybe?" he laughed.

I rolled my eyes and laughed, "I see we have another ATL fan."

His laugh, his smile and his little gestures-- they all resemble Nite in a way. I wonder if Nite remembers having a friend like him. 

Nite, it's such a small world...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~