Dead men do tell tales

"Probably new people, and dead people"

As the morning rays peeped in through her closed blinds she awoke from a forced slumber and stretched as she stepped over to her dresser and pulled out a small black dress and black fishnet tights. She threw her long blonde hair back into a low ponytail and walked out the room her mind still repeating the previous night's events, the shadow that seemed too human to be a figment of her imagination and the voice unlike any modern voice she had heard before. Before meeting up with her parents in the kitchen she stopped by the library for what she presumed was going to be a quick visit, but things never seemed to be that way for Luna. Because though she may not be aware, she possessed a power no other human had contained. And poor Luna was about to find this power in a most unconventional way. The book from the night before was still open on the desk, its long passages seemed to be forgotten and replaced with a new page, a piece of paper that had gone discoloured over the years, on its plain canvas was four types of handwriting, a messy one with none of the letters being of same size and none of them being connected. One in blue ink that was overly extravagant and used an increased vocabulary with long words and flowing letters, one in normal black ink but was similar to the blue one, the only difference was how each I was dotted with a star. A final one being in ink similar to a pen it seemed the most normal out of the writing, the one you would expect to see in a modern-day schoolbook. A quick examination of the writing proved that someone had in fact been there the night before, she was once more confirmed to still have sanity, however small it may be.
A voice unlike the one she heard last night rang out "what are you doing here?" It was similar in that it was a man's voice but different in a way or formality and accent, it seemed more sympathetic and calmer. Yet had a sense of aggression hidden deep down. Luna twisted around dramatically getting close to her limit of fear, "what?" she spoke thinking that she could communicate with whatever was tormenting her and preventing her from moving on with her life. But like the night before no response was made. Instead, whatever or whoever it was placed a hand on her shoulder, the voice spoke again but with aggression bubbling to the surface like boiling water. "I said what are you doing here, answer my question first" Luna rolled her eyes and tried to maintain control over the situation but deep down she knew that she was the one at risk. Sighing with tiredness she obliged and spoke "I live here." She crossed her arms and once more put on a mask of fake bravery. "now answer my question, who are you?" she was enveloped in silence once more. Her famously short temper was ready to blow and whoever was torturing her with fear would have to face it, like the inevitability of war. Just less gruesome, she was prepared to play mind games.
"well, if I'm not going to receive any answers I might as well leave"
"wait."
"so now you want to talk, answer my question, who are you?" A pull on her hair forced her to look at the figure, right in the eyes. The one thing she assured herself that she should never do. Her hands shook like the first steps of a baby deer. She stumbled backwards trying to compose herself and place a mask over her unbridled fear, yet it was no use. The figure outstretched its hand and slowly took a step towards her. Looking for the closest weapon nearby she held up a hefty book above her head and struggled to take her eyes away from his. "say my name." the figure spoke as he pointed to the piece of paper on the desk, the writing she examined so closely held answers that she needed. Cautiously she stepped and picked up the paper "the blue one." He spoke his voice still sympathetic but held a more robotic tone, she looked at where he showed her and saw in curled letters and blue ink the name 'Damien' she looked at it then looked at the figure once more before inhaling deep air it seemed up until that point that she hadn't breathed at all. She opened her mouth and said the one word the figure needed to fully appear "Damien." Suddenly the black shadow with piercing blue eyes was changed to a man with dark brown hair like melted chocolate, he wore a black suit with a mayor badge displayed proudly near the collar, in his right hand he held a black cane with a decorative silver topping, He looked at his own pale skin and then looked at the confused girl in front of him with eyes that were a mix of gratefulness and confusion, similar to Luna whose eyes were wide with fear and confusion.
"Thank you... where are my manners I'm Damien Diaz, you are?" He held his hand out respectfully as if Luna had earnt his trust by performing a type of miracle, which to him she had. Hesitantly, she shook his hand in return before speaking up "Luna Duce and it's quite alright, I do have a question though" she trailed off as if picking her next words carefully. "what the heck just happened?" sensing the confusion and urge for answers Damien nodded his head slowly and started to explain, "we all died, and our souls were trapped in this house held back by a barrier until someone says our name and lets us take back our form- unfortunately, no one else can see us but you" Luna took in the information like teaching a genius with a high IQ then she looked confused once more, she spoke her voice quiet and trying to hold back fear "we?" Damien nodded then filled with excitement like a child high on sugar, he grabbed Luna's hands and pulled them towards his chest "oh right the others, you can help us all- you must accompany me to them" he, still holding Luna's hand, ran out the room happily. Luna following along blindly like a dog on a lead.
There was a tower to the house it went up one of the cold spots where the lights were dimmed and the walls seemed to close in, where the paintings eyes seemed to follow you and observe like omnipotent gods, it was one of the placed where Luna felt most uneasy, so it made sense for Damien and the 'others' to reside there. And Luna had never been to this part of the house since she was a child and heard yelling and saw a shadow unlike the calm one she met before, his eyes pink and yellow swirls and chaotic. Now she thought back his shadow was similar to the one she laid her eyes on last night. She felt her heart rate pick up like the chords of a piano song become more frequent. Her hands shaking slightly in Damien's grasp. "Why are you scared? Oh, right probably new people, and dead people. But you'll do fine" he reassured tightening grip on her hand as they began the climb up the towers staircase, a feeling of dread and denial filling Luna's head, like a gunshot being heard and causing the aftermath of ringing or the silence after a bomb, a clash between stress and calm. The grey area between. Soon they reached the old, polished door, Damien's hand pressed gently on its surfaced as he opened the large oak door and peaked Luna's nerves. She thought about running but the house had its limits, and she was sure her parents would question why she fled the house as if she had just found a dead body. So begrudgingly she followed the ghostly figure through the door...
She saw three other shadows, the pink and yellow swirling eyes, the deep red eyes like the wine from a glass, and deep brown eyes like bitter coffee. Damien smiled and stepped forward, their eyes widened showing the shock and terror they felt upon seeing Damien as himself, He pointed the tip of his cane towards Luna.  "She's the one that can help us pass. But first I need to see you all as who you were" he put his hand tight to his chest as if mentioning who they used to be hurt. He then smiled and stared at Luna "say their names! Go on!" Luna laughed before sarcastically speaking up "if I knew their names I could do it, but alas all they are at the minute are voiceless shadows" she crossed her arms them remembering the paper, "wait- tell me who's writing is who's?" Damien nodded before using his bony cold finger to point the name to each shadow: Abe, William, and Celine. One by one the shadows lined up and a simple name converted them, it was more effortless that she expected. Like gliding across ice instead of the carpets friction.
William's eyes remained the same, but his hair was the same as Damien's deep brown, but it had more of a curl to it. Abe was older than the others, he had little hair still on his head and his eyes were brown and calming but also wise and mistrusting. Celine took the longest to convert to normal her eyes almost black and her hair short and of the same colour. And a black dress that reached almost to the floor a silver necklace of an upside-down triangle was placed neatly around her neck.
Damien stood dumfounded before rushing over and hugging Celine first before moving to hug William and finally Abe. He then once more met Lunas eyes, walking over slowly he had his arms outheld and welcoming, Luna although hesitant at first eventually walked forward and accepted his hug, she had helped them but her role in their story was far from over. "thank you, you don't even know my full name- how rude of me- I'm William White" He in similar fashion to Damien held his hand out for Luna to shake, she took a step forward like walking along a factory line of introductions, Abe spoke dismissively simply stating his name and nothing more. "Abe Anderson." And finally, the girl reached Celine who seemed to be a mix of thankful and hateful, "Celine Diaz, thank you" she added the last part quickly to the end as if she didn't want to come off as rude but alas nonetheless she did. "wait. Diaz? Isn't that Damien's last name?" Celine rolled her eyes and spoke matter of flactly "He's my twin brother of course we have the same last name" Luna felt stupid for not realising such an obvious link. They looked similar and by the way he seemed to prioritize her over the others it was context clues that for once Luna didn't pick up on.
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence, the kind of silence that gave a ringing to your ears and the kind of silence that felt like cold shivering up your arm, the kind of silence no one preferred to have. Damien looked at the book Luna had been carrying since they met "the house rules? God I haven't seen that book in ages where was it?" Luna confused spoke bluntly yet also felt as if she had to tread carefully around the others "It was on the kitchen table when we moved in why?" Damien seemed confused "it went missing years ago when the house was built, why would it just appear- I was certain that that something happened to it" Luna now took her turn to cock an eyebrow and spoke uncertainly.
"It was recovered years ago; from what I know about the house at least- 1945 I think"
"1945? Your funny that's 20 years away"
"20? Damien if you think that's far away- it's 2020" Luna trailed off upon Damien's conflicted face. "no no no- its 1925 not another decade stop lying" Luna then realised as ghosts time didn't pass for them, hence the rule where the furniture couldn't change, what happened to them?
"Damien it's really not what you think it is- ask the others I'm sure they agree" Damien laid eyes on the others who simple shrugged "it's 1925 we all agree!"
"you're all dead too! And I'm still unaware of what occurred if you're comfortable with telling me I can at least help"
Damien tried hard to conceal the mental war he fought with himself, but he wasn't a good actor.
"please....." she trailed off staring trustingly into his eyes. Damien sat on a stack of old paper filed carboard boxes and sighed before speaking-