Ghost Kisses

Anthropophobia

The moon was full, bathing the whole cemetery in a soft light. Shadows crept along the ground all around me. I held my emf detector out, heading in the direction of the well. If the ghost was anywhere, it was probably there.

I reached my destination, but the emf reader stayed quiet. I furrowed my brow in annoyance. If it wasn't at the well, it had to be somewhere in the graves. I beelined towards the spot where I had felt the cold the day before. As I got close I shuddered, remembering the handprints. I couldn't back out of this now. I was ghost hunting. And to no one's surprise, and my annoyance, the emf beeped and lit up in the same spot from the prior day. The ghost was here.

I sucked in a breath and dropped the duffle bag on the ground. I quickly pulled out a rem pod motion detector, some salt, and a spirit box. I set up the rem pod and the salt before sitting down on the ground. The emf detector was still going wild. I reached over and shut it off, opting to use the spirit box instead.

I flicked the little lever on and the static of the spirit box blared. I set it down on the ground in front of me. For a moment, I hesitated. This was stupid. Did I really believe in ghosts? Yes. Yes I did.

"Hello. I mean you no harm. I'm Tango, the night guard here? I was wondering if you'd like to communicate with me. I understand that Scar has tried to talk with you and you've been a bit shy. If you feel like talking to me, feel free to communicate by touching the rem pod or speaking through the spirit box." I waited. Nothing happened. The roaring static of the spirit box still buzzed in my ears. Then, only for a split second, the rem pod went off. I smiled as the air started to chill and I started to see my breath in front of me. The ghost was listening.

"I know you're here. Were you the one who touched me yesterday?" The rem pod went off. That was a yes.

"Ok cool. If you could not do that in the future that would be great. Really scared me and my buddy Impulse." There was no response.

"Not much of a talker are you huh? Scar said you liked his cat." The pod beeped. I smiled.

"Yeah I like Jellie too." I thought back to the articles I had read about communicating with ghosts. They said you should generally ask personal questions like names and ages. I figured that I should probably do that.

"So do you have a name? I mean, of course you have a name... but like... what is it?" I waited eagerly, looking at the spirit box. The static noise didn't change. Suddenly, the rem pod beeped again in rapid succession, long and short beeps. Morse code.

I didn't have a pen and paper, so I resorted to using the notes app on my phone. I quickly noted down the pattern:

.-.. --- --- -.- / .- - / - .... . / --. .-. .- ...- . / .. -.. .. --- - .-.-.-

I quickly copied it into a morse translator. I was excited. The ghost had said something to me! This was amazing! Until I saw what the ghost had said. I facepalmed at the message:

Look at the grave idiot.

I am so stupid. Of course the ghost would hang out by his own grave. I turned and looked at the gravestone I was sitting next to. Zedaph. His name is Zedaph. Why did that sound familiar? And, for a second, I stopped to wonder why Zedaph was seemingly the only ghost in this graveyard? But that was a question for another time. I knew his name, now to find his age.

"Zedaph huh? Thats a cool name. How old are you?"

.-.. --- --- -.- / .- - / - .... . / --. .-. .- ...- . / .. -.. .. --- - .-.-.-

The translation was surprisingly the same as the first:

Look at the grave idiot.

I felt even dumber than the first time. Graves had birth and death dates on them. I looked at it. 1982 - 2003. He died at 21. He was 2 years younger than me when he died. 

I didn't have time to dwell on that sad thought as another one entered my brain. 2003 was 10 years ago, I would have been 13. Around that time, a big business lost their main engineer in a car crash. There's no way this is the same guy....

Then it clicked. That's why the name was so familiar. Zedaph was the name of the very young, very innovative engineer of Hermitcore Technological Institute (HTI for short). It was an institute that focused on futuristic tech. No way!

"Wait, are you Zedaph Playne? Like, the famous engineer?" The rem pod beeped in agreement. I smiled excitedly. 

"That's crazy! You had my dream job! I bet you loved working for the Hermitcore." There was a spot of silence. I waited for more morse, or maybe even a noise from the spirit box other than static. But to my disappointment, there was nothing.

"What? Did you not like being the best engineer at HTI?" Once again I was met with silence. After a few seconds, the pod sounded with morse:

... -.-. .- .-. . -..

Scared

I sat there for a moment taking in the word. Scared? Zedaph was scared of his job? Of being the head engineer maybe? Of being famous? I mean, Scar had said that the ghost was pretty shy.

"Scared of what?" The response was almost instant.

.--. . --- .--. .-.. .

People

"People? Aww, did lil ghost boy have social anxiety?" There was a pause in response from Zedaph.

.--. . --- .--. .-.. . / .-- .... --- / .-- .- -. - . -.. / -- . / -.. . .- -..

People who want me dead

I was stunned as I read the translation. It couldn't be right. I ran it through the translator again just to make sure there were no errors. But the sentence was correct, and the implications behind it were dark. I felt the air growing colder around me. 

"Wh- why? Why did they want you dead?" There was no answer. I felt knots twisting in my chest. Something wasn't right. Suddenly, I felt what seemed to be a cold pair of arms wrap around me. Is Zedaph, hugging me? Is he ok? 

 I waited a bit longer, praying for a response. At some point, tears had entered the corners of my eyes. Not sure when or why. I felt the cold arms slowly leave me before the rem pod beeped more morse. As I translated it, I felt the pit in my stomach grow deeper. The sentence revealed was equal parts cryptic and horrific.

-- -.-- / -.. . .- - .... / .-- .- ... / -. --- / .- -.-. -.-. .. -.. . -. - .-.-.- / ..-. .. -. -.. / - .... . / ..-. .. .-.. . .-.-.- / ..-. .. -. -.. / --. .-.-.- / .... . .-.. .--. / -- . / - .- -. --. --- --..-- / .--. .-.. . .- ... .

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NOTE: Morse code will be used in the future and I won't be translating it for you, This is a mystery y'all will have to figure out! And it won't be used for Zed for long... it has other purposes...