Edited by: Kuro and Lille
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For Nora and Emery, it wasn't their first time helping someone go into the light, but they felt like their job was worth every bit of their time and investment. They didn't make a lot of money doing this, but the feeling of helping someone like this was rewarding for them.
As for Grey, he felt the moment was magical and something that he would remember even after leaving this world.
This was what he did for a living, though it was being portrayed on a larger scale than this. It was the first time he had ever seen the smile of contentment and peace on a spirit's face as their wishes were fulfilled. Was this how the original souls of each body he went into felt like? Like they got everything they wanted and didn't need anything else? It warmed his soul to see this.
"I wonder where people go when they go into the light," Emery mumbled to himself. He was also a spirit albeit still stuck here, but he couldn't help being curious. He also saw the light just now but he knew he couldn't go in just yet.
Grey looked over at Emery and smiled. "Waiting to reincarnate. There's a bit of a queue, but eventually, they will be reborn once more. Sometimes, they find themselves in another world."
Emery and Nora were surprised that Grey knew what was beyond the light.
"Don't look at me like that, I will have you know, I've already died many times. Of course I know what happens after death."
They knew he had been around for a long time, so they didn't say anything. It made sense though, he had been to so many worlds and lived so many years, so they weren't too surprised.
"Let's get going. We have to report to the agency," Grey said as he shooed the two, one spirit and human, to the car.
Grey didn't look back as he walked to the car behind Emery and Nora. He knew that Mr. Winter was gone and there was no one else there…
*****
The next day, Nora got a phone call from the agency telling her to come as there was someone who wanted to meet her. They also had another case for Emery to look into. Nora left by herself while Emery and Grey stayed behind to look at the details for the next case.
Grey looked at his phone and saw the contents of the case.
A family had bought a two-story house in the suburbs and everything was going well at first. A couple of months into living at said house strange things started to occur. Lights that were on would turn off on their own and vice versa. Doors would open and close, even if the residents could see that there was no one there. Sounds of footsteps and laughter plagued them at night. When people were sleeping, their blankets would get yanked off.
The thing that was the most concerning for the family was that their youngest son could see these spirits, and there was more than one.
Their mission was to find out why these spirits were still in the house and try to help them move on if possible. This was the usual when it came to each case. They just needed to be careful as there were multiple spirits this time around.
"This is the first time we've had to do a case with more than one spirit. Let's be careful." Emery said as he floated behind Grey and read the encrypted email over his shoulder.
"Understood." Grey put the address into his GPS and saw that it was 30 minutes away. Just looking up the address, he could see that the neighborhood was a lot older than most, dating back to the founding of the city. The house they were in was almost 200 years old but it had been through many refurbishments. The layout and style had stayed the same to keep the antique look.
A house with a long history was bound to have something going on.
Grey got into the car and drove to the house with a history that was as old as the city. From the research Grey and System 225 did, there were many families that came and went into this house. No one could live in the house longer than a year because someone had always died in that interval.
The ones who died were children and they always died in that house. Though luckily, not all the children were attached to the house.
If so many people died in a house, the agency should have already brought someone to deal with it. Well, they did, but these people were never successful, so the number of people who died continued to increase.
After their last successful mission, the agency thought that Emery and Nora were ready to try their hands at this house that plagued the agency for over a decade.
Grey pulled up on the driveway and could feel the presence of many spirits coming from the house. With the Host in Emery's body, his senses were heightened, and could see more than the original. Emery could see spirits but their faces were always fogged as though there was something protecting the privacy of the spirit. As for Grey, not only could he see spirits clearly without the fog, he could see the presences and the energies emitted by the spirit. He could also pass along energy when he touched the spirit, that was why spirits could only touch him when he initiated it. Grey's soul was more powerful than any of the souls in this world, except for God System's soul which was someone else in this world.
Speaking of God System, Grey hadn't seen him in the past couple of days, but it didn't matter, Grey could go looking for the man when he finished all his missions…
Anyway, the house looked just like the picture, a two-storeyed Victorian-style house. The walls were a pale yellow with a tannish roof. There was a swinging bench on the front porch to the left of the front door. There were two kids swinging on the bench but he knew those kids were ghosts, so to normal people, it looked like the bench was swinging on its own. There was no garage so the cars were piled up on the driveway, but there seemed to be a car missing. It was reported there were three cars for the family, but now there were only two.
Grey rang the doorbell. He waited for a moment and looked over at the swinging bench with the two children. Their clothing looked like it was from a different era.
"Hello, Mister!" The boy with simple brown pants and a white shirt said. This style was long out of fashion.
The girl on the left wore a puffy and frilly dress but the blue coloring on the dress faded and the white parts seemed stained. She playfully slapped the boy on the shoulder. "Dummy, he can't hear you. He's just scared that the bench is moving by itself."
"Hello you two, are you having fun on the bench?" Grey smiled as he knelt a couple of feet in front of the bench so that he was at eye level with the children.
The two kids were shocked and jumped off the bench and ran inside. They ran through the door and didn't look back.
"Maybe they were scared I could see them," Grey said, chuckling. "I wonder how many children are stuck here…"
"I took a glance inside and saw there were more than ten children in here. There are a few other presences but I can't seem to make out their location as they are a bit far. One of them is extremely powerful though." After becoming a spirit, Emery's ability has gotten stronger but definitely not as strong as Grey's. He could now see their faces though.
"Good to know. I hope that my fears about this place are unwarranted and that there are no demons lurking in the shadows." Grey mumbled to himself.
As he finished that sentence, the door finally opened. It was an older man who looked like he had rushed to get to the door. He had messy blonde hair and an unkempt beard. He had bags under his blue eyes showing that the man was lacking sleep. He looked a bit skinny, so it seemed he wasn't eating well.
"I apologize, I was in the bathroom when you rang the doorbell. May I ask who you may be?"
"Hello Mr. Alston, my name is Emery and I am a Spiritual Investigator. I am here because of your request to the Spiritual Light Agency. Though I was told to warn you that this house has been requested to us for more than a decade with no decent results." Grey felt a little weird to use Emery's name when the original Emery was right next to him, but most people could not see Emery.
"I know, I just, I just want you all to do something so that we can survive until I find another home." The man was so stressed out, he was willing to take anything just to get out of this house and keep his family safe.
"I understand, can you please show us around and tell us what you have been experiencing while you have been living here? We will interview your family members when the time comes."
"Of course, of course, please come inside."
He let them in through the front door. Grey could immediately feel a change between the world outside and the world inside the house. It wasn't too cold but the presence felt heavy, like a leech latching on to someone and had been latching on for a very long time.
Emery wasn't affected by it and was able to roam around freely, while Grey felt like he had to put a lot of effort into moving around.
'System 225, scan the area and tell me how many spirits are here. Let me know if there are any demons.'
[*Chirp* Understood, Host. Scanning the house now… There are 14 children and one adult spirit in this house.]
'A lot more than I thought.'
As Grey entered the living room, he saw children running around the first-floor playing tag. They moved through couches, chairs, and tables as though they weren't there in the first place. They seemed unbothered by the new people coming into the house.
"This is the living room and the spiritual activity is high here. My son runs around playing tag with some of these spirits and he gets hurt forgetting that he can't go through the couches or something." He said this nonchalantly as though it was a normal occurrence.
"There are six children in your living room. A lot to play tag with." Grey mumbled as he followed Mr. Alston to the kitchen.
The kitchen was fitted with the latest technology, but it seemed like they barely used it. It was clean though, but it was a bit too clean.
"We try to eat out as often as possible even if it hurts the wallet. We make more than enough money, so it's not too bad."
After that, he showed them the dining room and then led them up the stairs. The stairs were made of wood so they creaked with every step. There were no pictures hanging up on the walls and they seemed to be stored elsewhere.
"We used to hang our pictures but they were always ripped off the walls as though someone was jealous. Since then, we just kept our family photos in a box hoping to move out soon."
Valid reasoning. Reminded him of a famous horror movie from another world.
There were two guest rooms on the first floor but they didn't use them for much. It was just a storage area so they weren't shown. As for the second floor, there were three rooms. A master bedroom and two rooms for their kids. Their oldest son was in high school and stayed at school or a friend's house most of the day. He didn't want to be at home. As for the youngest son, he was in elementary school. There was quite an age gap between the two so although they got along, they didn't talk with each other too often.
"My youngest son can see the ghosts of this home. We know it's not rare to see spirits, but after coming to this house, it was his first time seeing them, and a lot of them too."
For some reason, ghosts and demons liked to target young children as their eyes were open to a certain extent, so this was pretty normal. Kids start off a bit sensitive but usually, an event opens what people like to call "their third eye."
"This is our house. Well, there's an attic but no basement, but the attic is difficult to get to. You can try to go there by yourself when you have the time. I… I don't want to go in there. I feel that there is something in there that might hurt me if I go inside."
Mr. Alston's instincts were always right so he trusted his gut more than anything else.
"Thank you for the warning, Mr. Alston. Also, do you mind me asking where your youngest son is?" Grey asked as he looked around. It seemed like Mr. Alston was the only living being in the house at the moment. Well, of course, Grey was there too, but he thought he would at least see the youngest son.
"That… My youngest is in the hospital. He fell down the stairs the other day saying that he was playing with someone and he slipped. Luckily, the only thing he broke was his arm. We were afraid of him hitting his head too. Ah, my wife is accompanying him right now and my oldest son is still at school. I took him to school today as his car needs to be fixed. He tried to leave the house, but his car wouldn't start up no matter what we did."
"I see, it is good to know that your youngest son is alright. Would it be alright if I went to visit him and asked him about what he has been seeing in this house?"
"That's fine. Actually, I was going to go visit him before you came, so let's go together."
Mr. Alston didn't want to be home alone in this house any longer, so he jumped at the chance to get out.
Grey and Emery jumped into their car and followed Mr. Alston to the hospital where his youngest son and wife were at. The three of them were pretty happy to leave that house that felt weirdly suffocating.
In the car, Grey discussed what he felt and observed. "The children seem pretty harmless but there is someone in that house that has this negative energy with them. Not so much as they are evil but it was more overwhelming than when we helped Mr. Winter go into the light that night. It's oppressive but there were tinges of envy and grief. Those feelings were extremely strong, creating a heavyweight kind of feeling."
"I noticed that as well," Emery said as he sat in the passenger seat. "It seemed to be in the attic where Mr. Alston refused to go. I don't blame him though. As a spirit, I felt that if I went in there on my own, I would be stuck there, so I stayed by you."
"We need to do more research. See who died in the attic and why they died. That place and the one inhabiting it seems like the reason as to why these children died and some who stick around."
There were many things they needed to do, so Grey couldn't think about anything else for too long.
*****
While Grey and Emery were investigating the house, Nora went to the agency and found her supervisor waiting for her in the lobby. Nora was wearing business attire because she thought her boss needed her for something. She also had her laptop in her laptop case just in case.
"About time you showed up," The man said as he rubbed his temples, "There's someone who knows Mr. Winter, and is requesting to see you."
"Okay, Boss, did they say their name?" Nora asked as she followed her supervisor to the visitation room used to let the agents and clients talk in a safe place.
"His name is Hunter Winter, the oldest child of Cameron Winter."
Nora was a bit surprised that he came to find her, but she did remember telling him that it was okay to contact her if needed.
"I understand, I will see what he wants."
When Nora arrived at the room, she saw Hunter pacing back and forth in the room. He looked just like his dad with wavy black hair that he kept long. It was put up into a bun though. Though it was long, he looked nice with his hair like that. He had brown eyes and a small nose. He was about the same height as his dad, which was about 5'10 (178cm).
But he looked stressed and worried.
Nora knocked on the door to get his attention and then opened the door. "Hello, Hunter, I heard you called for me."
"That's right. I remembered that you were investigating my father and I was wondering if you found out what happened to him. My mother won't tell me anything."
It must've been frustrating to be left in the dark about what had happened to a loved one. It was no wonder that Hunter came looking for her.
"I do know what happened to him but I must ask the agency as to whether I am allowed to disclose that information."
He gritted his teeth but he knew those were regulations set by the government. This was a government agency after all. "I understand…"
Nora stood up and walked out the door. She called her supervisor in the hallway about Hunter. She was given the all-clear to tell Hunter as he was Mr. Winter's son. Hunter had the right to know what had happened to his father even if it could ruin his mother.
She came back and sat down on the couch and motioned Hunter to sit down. "Do you want anything to drink before we start?" She could press a button on the coffee table that was between the two couches and ask someone to get them drinks. It was customary to ask when talking about information pertaining to a client.
"No thank you, I have a water bottle with me." Hunter came with his school backpack and brought out the reusable water bottle his father bought him. It was silver but it had all sorts of stickers on it. It seemed to mean a lot to him.
"Okay, then let's get started." Nora took out her laptop that she brought along with her and brought up all the information that Grey sent her.
She showed him the recording between her and his mother, phone records between his mother, Audrey, and her new husband, as well as other evidence that it was a murder like the pictures of the oil trails.
After that, she took out her written report stating everything that she had witnessed when she was helping Mr. Winter, everything he had told them about Audrey, and what he remembered that day.
Hunter didn't say a word as he listened and looked at everything Nora had on his father. Tears slowly streamed down his face as the guilt began to rush in. "I knew it, I knew my father wouldn't have killed himself."
"My father was a wonderful man who cared about our family. Even though my mother was always yelling at him, I knew he still loved her. He loved me and my sister and was always there for us. He did everything he could for us. Why, why did she have to take him away from us?"
Hunter was still grieving as though his father had been taken from him the day before. He felt like he was going back to the day when they all found out that his father had died in the fire. Hunter was at his friend's birthday party and was sleeping over that night. His sister had gone out to stay with her friend as per usual as she was tired of her mother and father fighting with each other every night.
He felt guilty that he wasn't there that night with his dad. If he was there, his mother wouldn't have killed his dad.
Nora gave him some tissues that were always on the coffee table and patted his back. She let him cry because she knew that it was what he needed.
After a while, Hunter stopped crying. He was a little embarrassed to have cried in front of someone, but he felt that she wouldn't judge him.
"Hunter, I understand you are grieving for your father. I just want you to know that it isn't your fault that your mother killed him. It is impossible for you to stay glued to his hip, so you need to understand that this was out of your control."
It was very blunt, but Hunter knew she was right even if it hurt. She hit the bullseye when it came to his feelings about what had happened.
"This may not mean much but your father talked about how he forgave your mother and didn't blame her. He said that he didn't need us to bring this to light and have your mother arrested."
"How can he still be so nice even after she killed him…?" Hunter was in awe that his father was still the kind man he knew even in death.
"I do not know for sure… but even if he doesn't want to bring this to court, you do have that option, Hunter."
Hunter was startled and looked up at Nora to see if she was joking, but she wasn't.
"If you would like to have her charged for her crimes, we can assign a lawyer to your case and help you gain justice for not only your father but also for you and your sister who had their father taken away like so.
"She does have her rich husband who could help her side, but with the evidence we have, it is very unlikely that she would be able to get away with homicide. This will be up to you though."
Hunter was torn between wanting to get his mother arrested but also wanting to respect his father's wishes. "Can you please give me some time? I need some time to think about it."
He was only a high school student. Not only did he lose his father but he would also lose the person he called "mom" for 17 years of his life. It was a tough decision even for an adult.
"That's fine, Hunter. If you make up your mind, let me know and we can arrange a lawyer for you." She brought out her business card and handed it to him. "Here's my number so you don't need to call me from the agency."
"Thank you, Miss Nora, for everything."
"It's no problem at all."
After that Hunter left the room. He had a lot of thinking to do so he wanted to head home early.
Nora watched him go before finally going back into her car. She gave a long sigh before grabbing her keys.
As she was about to turn on her car, she saw someone sitting in the passenger seat. The person was humming an eerie tune in his deep voice.
Nora knew it was her father, a demon that followed her around, tormenting her at any chance he could get.
"What do you want?" She asked but didn't look in his direction.
"A tone so cruel to your one and only father." Her father, Jon, was a demon who had antagonized her ever since he was killed by Nora's mother.
"I said, what do you want?" Nora was firm as she stopped trying to turn on her car. She was afraid that he would try to get her into a car accident.
"I was wondering why you didn't push that kid to condemn his mother. You know she deserves it and it's not fair that she's roaming this world free." He was the definition of a demon whispering horrible thoughts into someone's ear.
"If you were him, you would have jumped to have her put into jail where scum belongs. If you were him--" Nora cut him off.
"That's if I was him, but I am not him. I have no right to say what happens to her, only he does."
"You disappoint me as always. I've never liked you or your mother. Goodie two shoes, but wait, your mother killed me, so she's just as bad as I am, don't you think?"
"You deserved to die. Mother did the right thing killing you. Now leave me alone."
"Fine, fine, I will leave you alone for now, my goodie-two-shoes daughter."
And with that, Jon disappeared but Nora still felt bitter.
One day she would get rid of him. She didn't know how but she would not rest until he disappeared from her life and this world.