City of Witchcraft

Investigation

Kaylee Jones was a paranormal investigator. People from all across Cantrix City and the surrounding small towns would come to her office with their paranormal cases. Sometimes she would go and help, sometimes she wouldn't, but she was always willing to listen. But Kaylee had herself a bit of a secret: She didn't believe in the paranormal herself.

The people of Cantrix City widely believed in the supernatural- it was one of the places that had the most "supernatural sightings" in the world, following closely behind Culustra City and the catacombs of Paris. Kaylee had learned when she was young to simply ignore the supernatural beliefs of her city, but as a broke young adult fresh out of high school, she had an idea to make a quick profit. While Kaylee acknowledged the unethical nature of her career, she defended it to herself by saying that these people were simply coming to her to revalidate their own beliefs, not in search of what she truly thought on the matter.

While Kaylee's skepticism had been challenged before in years past, she had never been quite convinced of the supernatural occurrences of her home city. But one unsuspicious day, ten years after Kaylee had started her career, everything changed.

And it all started with a simple knock on the door.

~~~

It had been a slow day in the office. Kaylee chose to blame it on the weather- nobody was coming to her office because of the heavy rainfall. While there were likely other factors, the rain was truly quite bad- it was like a sheet of water, never stopping. Kaylee had never seen rain like this before- a fact that meant she would likely see an increase in customers in the days following. The people of Cantrix City were incredibly superstitious, in a way Kaylee found comparable to early people groups who lacked scientific knowledge. And like children.

Kaylee had been staring out the window, watching the streaks of rain run down the glass when there was a sudden knock on the door. Kaylee jumped in her seat, nearly falling out before quickly gathering herself and calling, "Come in!"

The door opened slowly with a loud creak. For a long moment, no one came through the door, and no one could be seen. Kaylee felt her skin crawl and she grew tense, as the shadows around the door seemed to grow, seemed to move. Her heartbeat quickened, and some strange fear began to fill her. But it all dissipated when a woman came through the door, her feet shuffling on the floor.

The woman was older, her hair gray and thin but grown out long, well past her shoulders. Her eyes seemed sunken and filled with sorrow, and her face was heavily wrinkled. Her lips were thin, her cheeks shallow, and when she looked at Kaylee it was with a face devoid of emotion. The woman was short -couldn't have been much taller than 5 feet- and wore something resembling a nightgown. Kaylee noted how the woman was strangely dry for the weather she would have just come through to get here.

"Are you Kaylee Jones?" the woman asked, her voice high-pitched and shaky. Kaylee nodded, gesturing to the seat on the other side of her desk without a word. The chair was once of great value- at least that's what Kaylee assumed. She'd found it in a dumpster in an alleyway, stained and with tears running through it. Kaylee had repaired the various tears in the chair, but no matter how hard she'd tried the stains still remained, looking as if nothing had been done about them.

Most would've been reluctant to take a seat -or just refused to sit to begin with. But the woman took a seat in the chair without hesitation, not seeming to mind its filth. Kaylee shrugged it off before leaning forward, her elbows on her desk and her mouth nearly touching her clasped hands.

Kaylee raised her eyebrows, giving the woman before her a look welcoming whatever it was that she'd come here to talk to Kaylee about. However, the woman didn't seem to take a hint, so Kaylee cleared her throat before asking, "So, what brings you to my office today?"