FALTER

CHAPTER 42: Ghosts in the pale light.

The screen showed a blurry, barely discernible CCTV screenshot of a woman in a blue coat. Imti's face had turned into a very unusual frown, his eyes darting around desperately to find any identifying details.

"You see," He said, slightly tilting his head at the person beside him. "We've seen her before."

Chai adjusted his posture and leaned in closer, putting both is hands on the table. "At the diner, yeah," His glasses reflected the screen. "So she was following u- you?"

Imti inclined back in the old, dusty office chair. "I guess. But why? How does she even know about it?"

"You don't know if she does." Chai continued staring at it for a few more moments before pulling out his phone and taking a picture.

"I can just send you the screenshot, that just makes it blurrier-"

"Oh, it does, it does,"

Imti pressed a shortcut on his keyboard. "Who are you sending it to, though?"

With a slight smile, Chai patted his friend's shoulder. "You called me here for help. I'm gonna help."

"Thanks." Imti tried to return the expression, but the frown had glued himself to his face. "I'm sorry, I know you're busy with the shows and-"

Chai shook his head. "Dude. This is nothing. I see this is weighing pretty heavily on you, and the least I can do is smooth the process."

"Okay... what exactly are you-"

"You ask too many questions." Chai smoothly stood up again as somebody else walked into the doorway of the decrepit, cramped security room.

"Hey, is- WOAH!"

It was Rachel, dressed in her usual giant, green jacket and skinny jeans. There was a flabbergasted expression on her face as she came face to face with her two idols.Chai smirked, lowered his head and tried his best to look nonchalant, but Imti gave her a weak smile, forgetting all about the secret identity thing. It didn't matter, however, because the blurry screen somehow wrenched her attention away.

She pointed a finger at it, which looked comical coming out of her poofy sleeve. "That's the woman who helped me out at the fair!"

Both the men almost snapped their necks with the speed of their turn. "What?"

"She was- I was getting chased by some church weirdos," This prompted an extremely elevated eyebrow from Imti. "And she came up and beat them to a pulp. That's when- when Falter found me."

Imti and Chai looked at each other warily, causing a silence to follow, which was punctuated by more footsteps charging from outside.

Another young girl barreled into the room. It was Rachel's friend, Yuki, and her jaw immediately dropped to the floor when she saw the residents inside. She immediately grabbed onto her companion, but Rachel's eyes were now intently locked on the woman on the screen.She looked ghoulish in the dim light, with pale skin and dark shadows under her eyes. The shadows cast by the locks of hair on her forehead concealed the sclera, but there seemed to be a red glow coming from her eyes. Of course, this could've been a trick of the poor quality on the footage, which far exacerbated her haunting features.