What if I told you the monsters under you bed were real. The moth man and the werewolves; the evil spirits and the ghosts. They hide away in the woods flowing steadily into our dimension. Though some get restless. Sick of the shadows an army will ar...
Nick beams. Honestly, Cort was surprised at how white his teeth were because she felt blinded. Maybe it was the fact he hadn't stopped smiling for five minutes straight, teeth and all. Esme had shuffled them into another room. If this room were a person, Cort would describe it as Occult bad guy. A large round table sat in the center of the room, hosting a black metal hand with candles stuck into its hollow fingertips, circled with comfy looking padded wood chairs. The walls were an array of strange drawings of women and eyes and a large, mahogany framed mirror was in the middle of it all. A black and white photo of two young women clinging on to each other smiling.
"This!" Nick huffed, he seemed close to bursting with excitement. "This is why I had to come here!" He flopped down into one of the chairs facing away from the windows which glared at them through the dusty windows. "I knew you'd know," Nick pointed at Esme "Or at least believe me." He huffed again. "I, I just." he sighed before leaning forward. "It's such an honor."
"Thanks, I guess. Now," Esme replied taking a seat. "Let's not talk about honor again." She said with an aura so different from Nicks excited one. It was more like a 'Humph I remember why I don't like living people' aura. "To business," She transitioned the topics over smoothly. "What have you un-coded from this message?" The question was directed at Nick, though Esme's eyes were resting on Cort. Nick smiled even more and Cort honestly wished Esme hadn't asked the question. She then realized Esme's eyes upon her and hastily sat down.
"Okay, so, it started when I was on a hiking trip. I've always had some obsession with the paranormal you see and, this hiking trip was not only going to feed my craving but also help me finish my report for one of my classes in university." Nick went on with large hand gestures, suggesting he was directing an orchestra. "The main thesis of my report was whether or not there was a connection between the paranormal and science." Cort snorted as Nick gestured one hand as being science and the other being the paranormal and them merging together. He shot her a look. He tugged a piece of crumpled and folded paper from his pocket then continued. "It was on this trip I ran into an actual, fucking, Yeti! The thing was, I didn't realize how hostile these beings were towards humans." He turned his focus from Esme to Cort and a light switch went off in her head.
"That's when you got that gash and why you were covered in blood!" Cort exclaimed. Nick nodded.
"Exactly!" Cort scoffed yet again.
"Well no wonder they're hostile to you, you fricking killed one!" Nick's excitement faltered at that. Esme had opened a bag of potato chips from somewhere and, was munching away watching the whole ordeal.
"Well, the point is," Nick continued, recovering his dignity. "I got this message. Luckily I had brought Understanding Cryptids By Lachlan Toll with me and was able to crack certain parts of it." Esme who had looked quite entertained now looked frustrated.
"Would you just tell us what you de-coded already?!" I would say Nick didn't need telling twice but this is the second time he's been asked. He unfolded the crumpled piece of parchment and handed it to Esme and Cort to read.
"There are four main words I found. Humans. War. Rights and hiding. From that, I put together-"
"Yep, I see," Esme cut in. "Go to war with humans to secure our rights and, finally come out of hiding." There was silence from Nick. He obviously hadn't expected to be interrupted by his idol. Cort laughed at that. "You wrote it on the bottom of the page."
"Dumbass" Cort muttered. Then the memory of Nick drenched in blood on her doorstep popped into her head and she silently regretted her actions trying to shoot Nick an apologetic glance. It was useless he had rolled his eyes and moved on.
"Well, pretty good theory," Esme remarked, leaning back in her chair. "Though, you're missing a bit. Of course," Esme flipped her hands in the air. "You don't have the resources I do." Then she rose abruptly, hands on the table and knees straight, making the chair scrape across the floor. "I think it's time you met Osiris."
"Osiris? Like the Osiris? Or just a dude named Osiris?" Nick rambled.
"The second one." Esme walked over to the door. "Trigger warning, he's a bit of an asshole." She walked out. A few seconds went by before Nick and Cort realized they were meant to follow her and rushed out of the room.
"So, Ms Wally-"
"Esme"
"Esme," Cort tried again. " How'd you get into the whole 'foster home for ghosts thing?" She asked as they began down a warmly lit corridor.
"Sorry, I'd prefer not to talk about that at the moment." Cort nodded.
"Yeah, sure, sure," She replied swinging her arms together and clapping her hands before interlocking her fingers and turning to Nick. "Did you seriously kill a Yeti?" Her voice rang with slight annoyance and accusation.
"They attacked me first!" Nick responded hand on his chest while sounding offended and abash.
"Stop bickering you two." Cort looked forwards again and almost slammed into Esme. She had stopped in front of a door covered in stickers and signs saying things like 'Don't knock if you don't have food' and 'fuck off'. "Osiris, we have guests."
"Fuck off." Cort rolled her eyes.
"Twice in one day, it's almost as if you have feelings for me." She teased through the door.
"Who? the fuu...?" They heard him mutter from the other side of the sticker abused door. Soon enough the door opened and Cort was face to face with an almond skinned boy. He had curly dark brown hair and even darker eyes, like the night sky, if you emptied it like your bin on rubbish collection day and all that was left was an empty void. For a moment he seemed solid until he suddenly became translucent and Cort saw straight through him into the room beyond.
"You're the ghost we chased here." Nick realized, speaking his thoughts around in an airy, absent-minded way.
"Oh fuck, you are," Cort said surprised, unmoving. Osiris looked unpleased and took a step back from Cort before looking to Esme.
"Why," was all he said.
"Ahhhh, fucking hell Osiris, could you stop being a prick for a minute?" She replied in exasperation. Osiris rolled his eyes.
"Mi casa, sue casa." He said, dramatically sweeping his arm across his body, gesturing to the room and glaring at Esme.
"Thank you." She said, glaring straight back, shoving Cort and Nick inside.
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Ok, Oh my god!!!! I'm so sorry for such a late update!!! I know I said I come back with a big stash of chapters and, yet, here we are. It's the 6 of January 2022 and the last time I updated was sometime in April last year :) turns out life can get fricking hard. Any who, here is a new chapter and a new character. My son, Osiris. Lemme know what you think of him and, of course, Esme!!! That's all for now!
