Turn Back Time - The Ghost and Molly McGee Story

Chapter 2

Scratch wasn't surprised when a black, void-like portal had opened up before his eyes. He instead just moaned. "Ugh, not now..."

His bosses, the Ghost Council, summoned him often; he was fairly used to it by now. They usually only summoned him to waste his time by calling out little errors he makes or rules he always tried to get away with breaking. Once they summoned him specifically to rat him out for forgetting the e in scare on his monthly scare report (or, scar report, as he had written that day). Most ghosts were terrified of getting summoned. Scratch wasn't. It was just annoying to him at this point.

He was sucked into the portal and flung out seconds later. He instantly splat the ground right in front of his bosses, but got up quickly and proceeded to fix his ectoplasm to make himself look presentable.

"Scratch."

"Alright, what did I do wrong this time?" Scratch asked sarcastically. 

"We need to talk with you."

Scratch rolled his eyes. Maybe this time he forgot the a and wrote scre report instead. "About what?"

"Your recent misery numbers have been quite... how do I put this... miserable." One of the councilmembers snapped his fingers to show a floating meter, then pushed it towards Scratch to let the little ghoul examine it.

Scratch grabbed the meter and looked down at it. The meter had two sides to it, one indicating misery and one indicating happiness. The meter was half and half at this point. Ah, this again. 

Brighton, the town he was assigned to track and spread misery at, recently had a spike in happiness. It happened more often nowadays than it did before, but Scratch was always able to fix it quickly. No big deal. He was never worried about it, unlike most ghosts, who constantly feared the worst. Scratch was thankful he learned early on to be as calm as he was in these situations.

"Hmm. Alright. I'll see what I can do. Thanks for reminding me, I--"

"That's not all we're here to talk about with you, Scratch."

Scratch raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what else do you need to tell me?"

All four of the barrister ghosts looked at each other. They then looked up at a black, ominous figure standing behind them. The Chairman hissed, glaring directly at Scratch, and the rest of the Council turned back to face him. "You have been assigned to Brighton for years now, and you have always been able to keep it miserable. But, over the past few months, your misery levels keep going down. Happiness has never spread like this before in Brighton. Do you know why?"

Scratch shrugged. "No. I'm doin' everything I'm supposed to."

"We know - or, at least, we hope you're doing your job. You know the consequences if you don't." Another member motioned towards their surroundings. The Flow of Failed Phantoms. Scratch had never been worried about the Flow before, but after recent encounters with the Ghost Council, he always felt like his turn to get banished was constantly wheezing down his neck, waiting to pounce and pull him into the heck-ish place. He knew how bad it would be if he got sent there; how much of a disappointment he'd be to those who didn't already see him as a disappointment. He still remained calm and nodded his head in response.

"We didn't quite understand why Brighton suddenly started becoming a joyful place, but after further inspection, we've found the source of the happiness. We want you to do something about it."

"Okay." Scratch said. "What is it? Pet adoption center? New arcade? Free cookies?"

"It's a human."

Scratch went silent. A sick feeling started to rise up in his stomach, but he tried his best to ignore it.

"She's a very bright, happy, and cheerful little girl. She also loves to spread positivity wherever she goes. Her happiness is rubbing off on a lot of people in Brighton. Her joy has spread to practically everyone at this point. She's preventing Brighton from reaching its true miserable state, which is a big problem."

Cheerful little girl who spreads positivity? Scratch thought. That sounds a lot like...

"Her name is Molly McGee."

Scratch's calm personality was instantly washed out with panic. He felt his ectoplasm bottle up and he went speechless, like he did whenever he was anxious. Thoughts began to race through his mind as the nervous feeling got worse. Molly? What do they want me to do with Molly?

"Your task is simple - make the girl sad. Force the happiness out of her. Kill any hope she has. If she's sad, then all of Brighton is. Do whatever it takes to crush her spirits. Got it?"

Scratch didn't respond for a while. He just stared up at them with pure fear. He knew he had to say something, so after a few seconds, he swallowed what little confidence was left inside of him and nodded. "Got it."

"You have two days, Scratch." Another member stated. "We want to see Brighton's misery go up If we don't, then..." The blue councilmember pointed to the green ghosts they were surrounded by, warning him about the Flow once more. 

He was sucked through another portal and was immediately spat back out in the living realm again.

"Scratchy! There you are!" He was instantly embraced in a hug. "I missed you!"

Molly always hugged him whenever he returned from the Ghost World. Deep down, he actually really enjoyed her hugs, but he would never admit that aloud. Her embrace felt warm and loving, like usual, which only made Scratch's feeling of utter guilt even worse.

"Scratch? You okay?"

The ghost reached over and hugged her friend, knowing it was the only way she'd let go of him. A thought in the back of his mind told him that that was probably going to be the last time he'd ever hug her again, but he tried his hardest to deny it. "I'm fine." He replied softly, hiding his fear with a smile.

Molly smiled back, squeezing him tighter. "Good."

Scratch chuckled as his smile faded, and he looked down at the floor again.

"Force the happiness out of her. Kill any hope she has." Scratch shuddered. He couldn't be the one to make her sad. He couldn't crush her spirits. He couldn't do this to her. He couldn't hurt Molly.

I can't do this, I can't hurt her, I can't do this to her. Anyone but her. Please.

He looked back up at her. She was smiling so happily. Scratch couldn't imagine that smile being broken. He couldn't stand to see whenever she was sad. It hurt him more than it hurt her. She didn't deserve to view the world as he did, be as grumpy and sad as he was. Her misery scared him the most. He couldn't do this to her.

I can't make her sad, I can't make her sad, I can't make her sad. He repeated the phrase over and over again in his mind. I can't do this, I can't make her sad, I can't do this...

He had two days to make Molly sad or else he would be banished. Ripped away from her. He couldn't let that happen, but he also couldn't destroy her spirits. It wasn't right. Molly was his best friend, he couldn't be the one to crush her dreams.

Two days was never going to be enough time.