Locklyle - The Story after The Empty Grave

Part 5: The Unexpected Ghost

Lucy's POV:

Mrs Holden's ghost was one of the easiest ghosts I have ever dealt with in my 8 years of Agent work. Lockwood and I simply walked through her front door, put our bags down and were shown the bathroom the apparition had appeared in. George had done research on the house and found nothing to have ever happened here. We knew it must be an object inside the house that was causing the ghost.

Mrs Holden was a frail old women, her hair white as paper, her skin wrinkled like a walnut. Her hands were shaking as she pointed to where her grandchildren had seen the ghost. She quickly left us to do what we had to do, shutting a door with iron slates behind her. We only had to wait 20 minutes before the apparition appeared. It was only a shade. The ghost was a man, just as Mrs Holden's grandchildren has stated. He wore a grey and white striped suit and a bowler hat. His hair looked greasy, almost as if a can of oil had been tipped onto it. He stood there facing a large vase to the left of the toilet. He took no notice of us, seeming to not realise we were right there.
'Do you reckon that that vase there is his source, Luce?' Lockwood asked, pointing to the one the shade was staring intently at. I nodded my head. It seemed the most likely. I took a silver net from my belt and tossed it over the vase. Instantly the ghost was gone.
'Well that was easy.' I said. I was almost disappointed it had been such a quick and easy job. It was so unlike everything else we did. I was fully expecting for the vase to turn out to not be the source and then the ghost turning out to be a type two pretending to be a shade. Luck was on our side today.

Lockwood picked up the vase wrapped in the net and carried it out the door. Mrs Holden was shocked to find out that the vase was the source.
'I only bought that two weeks ago! It was supposed to be brand new. I'm going to sue who sold me that! They can't be selling sources! That's illegal!'
We took the name of the seller, intending to report them to DEPRAC as soon as we arrived home. We picked up our bags, Lockwood placed the vase in one, and went on our way. We were going to stop in at the furnaces on the way home. As we waited by the road for the night cab, we sat on the white picket fence outside Mrs Holden's  house. Lockwood and I were discussing the vase and how easy this case had been when I looked past Lockwood's head and saw a light. A floating light. And it was headed right towards us. As it got closer I realised it was a human shape. And that meant only one thing. It was a ghost.
'Lockwood.' I whispered.
'Yes, Luce?'
'Please tell me I'm imagining things and that is not a ghost.' Lockwood turned around lightning fast, his hand already reaching for his rapier.
'Oh no. Your right, Luce. We do indeed have ourselves another ghost.'

I wanted to curse. And scream. Of course a simple easy case was not all the night had in stall for us. Of course we had to encounter a strange, unknown ghost that we had absolutely no clue to where the source may be.
'I think it might be a type two, because it seems to want to do something to us, so be careful, Luce.' Lockwood warned. This time I did curse. Not only was it a ghost, it was a fucking type two. I reached for my rapier while Lockwood already had his in position. The ghost had slowed down, stopping about 4 meters away from us. It was a women, a long flowing dress trailed behind her. Her arms were covered in bloody scratches, her eyes wide. It looked as if she had been attacked by an animal. Lockwood gestured for me to grab the chains out of the bag all while continuing to face the ghost. He was waving his rapier in warning, making sure it wouldn't come any closer. I quickly made an iron chain circle around the two of us before closing my eyes and tuning into my psychic listening.

I couldn't hear much for a while, before as if a radio had been turned on, I heard a static sound. Muffled voices were talking, but I couldn't pick out the words. They continued to be muffled until a few seconds later they cut out all together. I kept my eyes closed for another minute, hoping I would pick up another noise, but there was only silence. I would have continued trying, but I was interrupted by Lockwood bumping into me.
'Oh, sorry, Luce. I didn't realise you were right there. The ghost is moving again.' I looked over his shoulder, and sure enough, the ghost was moving towards us. As she got closer and closer, she stretched her left hand out as if to grab us. Just as she reached the iron chain she disappeared. 'We've got to go before she appears again.' Lockwood said. 'We won't be able to contain her source because we have no idea where she's come from.' I nodded my head in agreement. If only the night cab would hurry up and arrive.