To seek and to find

An unusual Case and The beacon

Walking along the busy plaza one finds people of all kinds: men, women, children, the young and the old as they make their way through a busy Wednesday morning. However, some individuals might be a bit more peculiar than others. A man hunched walking with a limp carrying along with him a child the colour of porcelain barely holding on to a hand as it fades in and out of view. A pair of schoolgirls carrying their bags upon their thin, frail shoulders, their uniform tattered and dripping with droplets of crimson. Across the street looking into a shop window, a middle-aged woman with unruly raven hair lays standing there with her hands clasped around a bracelet made of beads, a noticeable tremble in her fingers as she utters the same mantra under her breath over and over again.

At first glance one might wonder what do these sets of individuals have in common...simple, they are dead.

Ghosts, spectres, phantoms, spirits call them what you want, at the end of the day it makes no difference for him.

Among the busy people bustling towards work and school and amid our peculiar guests lies a steady force sitting in the middle of the plaza sipping from a cup filled with earl grey tea, legs crossed and posture straight as he observes. Earth Pirapat, the town's artist and occasional poet, tall, dark, handsome and also your friendly resident Ghost hunter. Not just any ghost hunter, the best, others may rely on fancy apparatus and even luck, Earth relies on something else, his sixth sense. Seeing the dead in front him, no matter if pure or with malicious intent, Earth sees all, and they can see him.

"Hello.... Hellllooooo, you with me?"
"Heyyyy Pirapat you better answer me right this moment or els----"
"Neo, ok calm down I'm listening, no need to bust my ear drum too" Earth whispered through the device in his ear. He can hear Neo snickering on the other end thinking that he can't hear him joking about his old age finally catching up.

"Hello? Neo are you done now; can we finally start?"
"Ok hold on I'm sending the coordinates now, I know that we work with the actual dead but Earth this case is a real weird one, No one seems to understand what the hell is wrong with this house, Luke went there too a couple hours prior, and he couldn't make sense of anything".
"Received, I'm heading there right now, I'll keep you updated Neo"

Approximately an hour later, the coordinates that Neo had sent led to a large two storey house, made up of cobbled red stone with an accompanying fence which might have been white at the start but has now turned to a mottling green. Well at least it doesn't look like your typical stereotypical haunted house Earth thought. Aside from the fence.... well, it actually looks pretty nice with steps leading to a cosy looking porch covered with the biggest grappling plant Earth has ever seen. The house looks almost idyllic.

As Earth makes his way closer, he spots a woman approaching him at a hurried pace with a visibly distressed expression on her face.
"You must be the man that they promised they would sent right, please tell me it's you I---"
"Ma'am calm down, yes please take deep breaths everything is fine now "Earth puts his arms around the woman's shoulders as she tries to calm her breath. As Earth is about to start his questioning the woman speaks up
"Don't ask me what's wrong with the house.... I don't know. I really don't know how to explain, I just moved in, but it just feels so wrong, so wrong. I.... please help me... I don't know what else to do, I feel like I'm going insane", a sob breaks as the woman tries her best to reel her tears in.
"Ok ok, here is what we'll do, you stay here, and I'll check the house out yeah...I promise everything will be alright" Earth reassures.

Eyes alert and focused Earth makes his way slowly towards the porch noticing nothing out of the ordinary, no flying objects trying to take his head out yet so that's already a good sign. Just a few more seconds and we reach door, Earth goes to touch the door handle....

"AHHHH FUCKKKKK", Earth splutters truly lost for words...ok what the actual fuck happened. The door handle felt like touching a naked flame, the force that came with it throwing Earth off balance and onto the ground. Maybe it's just a fluke Earth thought making his way towards the door again only for the same thing to happen again and again. Well, that's weird, what the hell is wrong with this house!!!
"Hey...Neo, you were right this house is strange it won't even let me in" Earth brings Neo up to connection again.
"What do you mean won't let you in, didn't the owner let you in?"
"You won't believe this but as soon as I go to touch the door handle the house just repels me, like a strong force pushing me back....and Neo what pushed me I have never felt something like this before.... It just felt so wrong"
"Shit..., This is worse than I thought Earth, come back to my place, I'm getting the whole team here". Earth looks up one last time at the house before leaving for Neo's, the aura Earth felt now was menacing and laced with something like anger.... Yeah, we are definitely dealing with something big.

"Ok guys, I think you all know why I gathered you all here, If Pirapat can't make sense of a case we know we are in some deep shit" Neo started as Phuwin, Luke, Earth and Boom gathered around Neo's living room.
"I think we all know what the next step is" Phuwin said as he looked around the table..." We have to call Jan"
A knock sounded at that exact moment, the gang all looking perplexed at each other." No matter how many times she does it, its still fucking weird" Neo mutters as he gets up and makes his way towards the door.

A few moments later accompanying Neo is a pretty woman with bangs covering her eyes wearing a slim fitted dress the colour of olives.

"Nice seeing you again boys it's been a while" Jan smirks, she always loved a good entrance, especially with the entire witch thing going on, being dramatic comes with the job.
"Nice to see you too Jan" Boom winked, coming up with the others encircling Jan in the centre "And I'm guessing you already know why we need your help right?"
"Of course, you know me too well...Well there is no use sugar coating this. You are all useless to deal with this AND before you all start squabbling like hens let me explain... I already thought this case strange from the beginning, the previous owner never had any problems with that building, he went to join his family abroad, selling it to the owner you have met now... so why has this started now?

"Moreover, this isn't like anything you have ever seen before, you have never failed to see a ghost before right Earth or at least you have always sensed a presence before, right?
"Jan I couldn't even tell what that thing is never mind see it, only that it felt wrong" Earth said.

"Well, that's because what we are dealing with something that doesn't want to be seen, powerful enough to mask itself in your presence and yet able to still exert some physical show of ability... what we need is to attract it to reveal its presence" Jan exclaims

"And where the hell do we find something that does that, is there an object that can do this?"

"Not something Luke but rather someone, just like Earth has the ability to sense the presence and even see ghosts, there are certain individuals that are born different to others, they attract spirits more than normal people do, like a beacon they attract ghosts to them without even trying, an enticing aura so to speak" Jan Concludes.

Earth now definitely intrigued leans forward with one eyebrow raised "And where do we find someone like that?"

"Well.... I happen to know someone, worked with him in the past before, Mr Wongratch probably one of the strongest beacons I have ever witnessed"

"Well great then let's go find this Mr Wongratch", Neo claps his hands together already prepared to start tracking this guy down. Jan wrinkles her nose, tapping her right foot against the ground:
"Well.... uhm mm you see Mr Wongratch...well he died a few years ago".

Earth scoffs "So what do we do now?"

Tilting her head upwards Jan smiles teeth showing" Something like this, call it a gift or a curse gets passed through blood generations down the line getting stronger and stronger and lucky for us Mr Wongratch has a son"

"The person you are searching for, our beacon is Mix Sahaphap Wongratch"