Exorcising Aaron Nguyen

Proof or Dare

We'd gone upstairs pretty much enemies—Hiroki and me versus the Bishop—but we came down as something else. Not friends, definitely, but after answering questions about what we'd witnessed and how we'd found Rachel, we walked back down the stairs and into the corridor as a trio, connected by some invisible tether. None of us spoke, as if everything that had just happened were still catching up with us. We turned toward the center of the school in silence.

The Bishop's hands were in his pockets and I imagined them clenching around Aaron's rosary. Part of me wanted to leave him alone about it—I still felt guilty for saying he didn't care, but at the same time... that rosary could be evidence. It might not prove anything with all the new DNA we'd put on it, but if our stories matched up with Rachel's, the rosary might be the bit of proof they needed to really turn the investigation onto the lacrosse team.

Just as I was about to open my mouth, though, Hiroki spoke.

"Aaron possessed him."

The Bishop and I both halted, staring at him. "Wait," I said. "Possession is really a thing?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know what else would have caused Eddie Keel to jump off a roof."

"Aaron wouldn't kill anyone," the Bishop said.

"Look," Hiroki said. "Being a ghost fucking sucks. You're not the same person you are when you're alive—you're an amplified embodiment of your last moments, which, for Aaron, were pretty terrible and violent. On top of that, you're sort of stretched between this world and wherever you go after, desperate to move on but unable to for whatever reason. In Japan, there's a kind of ghost we call gaki—it's a hungry spirit. No matter how much it eats, its hunger is never satisfied. From what I can tell, vengeful ghosts are like that. The need for revenge drives them crazy, and they'll do whatever to get it. If Aaron's reason for not moving on is that his murderers haven't been caught-"

"I'm telling you, he wouldn't kill anyone!" The Bishop stepped forward, threat in his posture and in his voice. God, he was tall. Seeing him next to Hiroki just made it more obvious—his silver Starfleet pin was level with Hiroki's nose. They matched glares, though I'm pretty sure I saw Hiroki swallow. The Bishop wasn't exactly a football player, but I think Hiroki was wrong about him not being capable of bashing someone's head in.

Both of them were tense, simmering. Neither willing to give up his side of the argument—it just wasn't in their natures to back down. I was going to have to break this up (possibly by smashing their heads together cavewoman-style) before they started shoving and drew the attention of the officers, who were now jogging down the hallway with camera bags and crime-scene equipment.

"Look," I said, and turned to the Bishop. I snapped my mouth shut around the blank space that came up when I reached for his name. The hell was his real one? I couldn't actually call him by his nickname. Whatever, there were other ways to get his attention. I put my hand on his shoulder, turning him away from Hiroki, and lowered my voice so the approaching cops couldn't hear.

"Look, that rosary is evidence. It could be the proof they need to make our stories seem viable. You should probably hand it over to-"

"To the police, where it will sit in a tupperware container on the shelf in the station for five years? No."

"But if Aaron needs his murderers brought to justice-"

"No." This time the refusal came from Hiroki. I whipped my gaze to him, incredulous. He glanced at the officers hustling past us, their heavy belts squeaking in time to rapid footfalls. He dropped his voice, more urgency in his tone than I expected.

"There's so much friggin' energy on that thing, it's got to be significant. It might actually be a sort of...spiritual conduit. Spirits are usually tied to the place they died, but some of them can move within a larger radius based on the amount of time they spent there. Like Aaron and the science hall. Sometimes, though, I've heard of spirits actually being able to use objects as anchors."