Reflections of the Past | Ghost and Pals fanfic

2# One step away from disaster

After taking the bus ride from the graduation ceremony, although all the other students were picked up by their parents, Cakey had finally entered her house and went to her room to change her clothes. Once she was done, she walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, searching for anything that bring her some taste and filled feeling into this empty, flavorless day of hers. Much to her surprise, there was still half a bucket of ice cream left. She grabbed it, shut the fridge and went to get the spoon.

Just as she sat down and was about to get scooping, the house phone rang its usual tone. She jumped up from her chair and rushed to the living room, finally picking up. "Hello!"

"Oh hi Cakey!" Slurpee said on the telephone, the noises of the wind blowing into the speaker, making it difficult to understand her words. "How was the ceremony?"

"It was okay!" "Okay" actually meant "okay-er than expected", which meant "meh." Listening to all of the long speeches of hundreds of students she never met nearly made her fall asleep. Although prom was two nights ago, it still messed her sleep schedule up.

"Admit it," Slurpee said, "it was boring."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Told ya," she laughed. "I know you too well. Anyways, have you checked out the bakery already?"

"Oh right, the bakery! I almost forgot. I haven't had the time to even open it yet." The signal got weaker, giving Cakey a worse audio quality of Slurpee's voice. It was just a bunch of distorted noises. "What? Could you repeat that?"

"— signal — weak! — call you later!" From the little amount of words she could understand, Cakey knew what Slurpee meant and got hung up.

Cakey looked around the seemingly empty living room. Nothing but depressing white walls and that one old couch with a few scratches on which her mom usually slept. This was where Cakey had been living for the past 18 years. If she had to spend any more time there...

No, she didn't want to stay.

She grabbed the key to the bakery and walked to her room. She ripped a piece of paper out of a notebook and quickly wrote a short note.

Hi Mom!

I will be at grandma's bakery. If you need me, you know her house phone number, so call me!

Love, Flower

~~~

And there she was, standing in front of the old house in the small city. Unlike the other, boring modern homes around, it was painted a soft pink, which fitted just perfect for a bakery. Cute ornaments decorated the frames of the dirty windows. A big sign above the doorframe said "Maggie's Muffins." Couldn't have been the name of Cakey's grandma for sure. Cakey admired the outside of the building, her heart suddenly beating fast. So many generations had this house, and now she had the honor to own it as well? No way!

Barely being able to contain her excitement, she quickly pulled the key out of her pocket and stuck it into the door. Just as soon as she heard the locks do a click noise, she pushed it open.

The polished wooden boards quietly creaked under her feet as she entered. When she was going to inhale the scent, she had to cough hard. Dust was lying everywhere, on the well-placed furniture, the floor, literally everywhere. It was even flying around in the air. Cakey decided to be more careful to not breathe more dust in and closed the door.

The room was big and had a few little tables and chairs, probably for the customers to sit down and eat cake. Cakey walked around a counter that was separating the guest room from the kitchen. Full of curiosity, she opened every counter she could find, and to her surprise, they were filled with utensils, plates, bowls and everything a baker would need. Even the newer-looking stoves and oven still worked, perhaps they were brought in a time later. All she would need were the ingredients.

But she wasn't going to start right away. She still had to pep this house up and bring it back to life. Searching for the cleaning supplies, she looked around, until she discovered a door, which lead to a stairway. Must be the living area. Cakey proceeded to climb those stairs up, looking at the framed pictures hanging on the wall.

The first one was a photo of a young woman standing in front of the bakery. She looked a whole lot like Cakey: Short hair, that black streak, dark eyes, even the little nose was just the same. She was smiling proudly at the camera with a whisk in her hand.

Then Cakey carried on, and the more steps she took, the stronger the deja vu hit her. That was until she came across the last picture.

It was an image of Cakey's mother sitting on a chair as Cakey, still a toddler, was on her lap. The mother wore eye bags under her half-lidded eyes, while the chubby little child was smiling. Slurpee, a kid at that time, was peeking from behind the mother and sticking her tongue out.

Cakey laughed. That was so Slurpee.

And that's when the memories hit her. When Cakey used to go to elementary school, she and Slurpee would always be at their grandmother's — or mother's — house. Flower already knew that the warm smell of the house was so familiar.

But now she graduated highschool, has to collect money and in about five years, she would need to study in a university. Life would become so much more stressful than it already was. Oh my, wasn't elementary just great? Always playing tag and spraying water at each other with their bottles.

After a long moment of walking along memory lane, it was time for her to discover the second floor. A long hallway lead to a few rooms: A bedroom for grandma and the children's bedroom Cakey and Slurpee used to share, a washroom and a playroom filled with many toys, its origin year ranging from 1920 to 1990. Many of them were probably broken or moldy already, but she would sort them out soon enough.

At the end of the hallway, another door was waiting for Cakey. One that she didn't remember, but has surely entered before. Unlike the other doors, that one was shut with a lock. How strange, why would grandma do that? Or was it Slurpee? Or did another family member do that?

Uncertain if that would work, she stuck the same key into the lock again, and it opened.

Cakey was prepared for the worst. She pushed the door open, carefully peeked in...

...just to find an ordinary, messy storage room. "Phew," Cakey said to herself. "I already thought there would be a dead body! Jesus Christ..."

Everything was a disarray there. An ancient rocking chair was flipped upside down, tons of used calendars were piled up in the corner and millions of books were placed next to a big, broken teddybear with a cut open chest. Too many things to count. No wonder it was locked, nobody should lay their poor eyes on this mess.

But what sticked out the most was something at the end of the room. It was a tall object covered in white cloth, perhaps a wooden board. Something made Cakey feel uneasy about this... but she wanted to know more.

She grabbed the cloth and pulled it off, revealing a mirror.

A mirror through which she could not see herself.

Cakey stepped back, staring at the reflection of the room. She rubbed her eyes multiple times to make sure she was seeing it right, but the image hasn't changed even one bit. Perhaps it was a painting of the chamber? She wasn't sure.

She touched the surface, and instead of feeling the texture of a canvas, her hand went through. She quickly pulled it back and stared at her palm: It was still the same.

What even was that? Her curiosity grew each second, despite her fear of what might be at the other side of the... painting? Portal?

No, mirror.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and stepping in.