Understanding

Chapter 7

"AHHHH!"

Both Arthur and Lewis jolted upwards at the sound of the scream. Lewis turned invisible upon instinct and found that his powers were strong as ever. Vivi was holding a pillow in front of her, scooting backwards until her back was on the wall of the van. Mystery let out a low growl in Lewis' direction.

That's right. The dog could sense Lewis now that he had his powers back.

"What's wrong, V!?" Arthur asked, giving her a worried look. She shook a bit before pointing in front of her.

She exclaimed, "T-The ghost!"

Arthur's eyes widened and he turned to where she was pointing. There was nothing there, and he blinked at her in confusion. Mystery stopped growling and ran to the spot, sniffing around. Arthur turned to her and asked, "Where?"

Vivi fell silent. Her mouth was gaped open in surprise and her hand had a death grip on her pillow. She said, "I-I could have sworn I saw him in here..."

Arthur sighed and scooted towards her. He opened her case and handed Vivi her glasses. She put them on and rubbed her eyes, looking back at the spot. She blinked. "Huh."

"See?" Arthur asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "You were just imagining it, V. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a nightmare after what happened last night."

It took her a few moments to recall what happened last night. She felt in the midst of anger and fear. She damn well knew Arthur was still lying to her, but now that she knew the ghost was real...it changed everything for her. She didn't exactly know what to feel.

Mystery noticed this, and whined as he rubbed against her. She pet the dog with a smile and let him in her lap. He curled into a ball and nuzzled her, exhaling. It didn't take long for the dog to fall asleep again. She giggled and pet him, feeling a lot calmer. Arthur noticed this and took his chance to talk to her.

"I, uh...called the owner last night. He said the pay wouldn't be cut so long as we caught something. We don't have to record anymore because our equipment 'broke'."

To her own surprise, Vivi let out a laugh. "Oh, right! We should check what we caught last night, huh?"

Arthur smiled and nodded, happy as ever to see that Vivi was in a good mood again. He couldn't quite blame her for still being mad at him. He had his chance to tell the truth, but he didn't. The most reasonable thing for her to do was to constantly guilt-trip him enough that he'd tell her everything. But he knew that wouldn't work. He didn't want to die just yet.

Vivi picked up Mystery and set him to the side on her pillow. She rubbed her eyes once more before slipping her shoes on and unlocking the back of the van. Arthur noticed this and grabbed his jacket. He zipped it up before opening the doors and both of them stood outside. They took a moment to admire the morning scenery of the lake.

Dead Man's Lake wouldn't quite be the title for it. It wasn't humid at all, and the lake looked peaceful as ever. A gust of wind would blow here and there, brushing against the branches of the trees and dragging a few leaves with them in their direction. Arthur rubbed his arms and turned to his friend with a smile.

"Bit nippy, don't you think?"

To his surprise, Vivi ignored him and took a step forward. She grabbed the notepad out from her pocket and looked through it. She said, "Arthur, I'm going to need you to gather the cameras that we laid out last night. I'll get the audio logs after."

Arthur nodded and was about to go and do it until he stopped. Vivi noticed he wasn't moving and gave him a look. "What's the matter?"

He turned back to her and hesitated. "It's just....C-Can I bring Mystery with me?"

Vivi blinked at him, but shrugged. "Sure. C'mere, Mystery!"

She turned around to the back of the van and started to pat her legs for him. Immediately, the dog woke up and ran towards her. He jumped into her arms and she giggled. She put the dog on the ground and nudged him towards Arthur.

He said, "Thanks."

"No problem. Just get the cameras, okay?"

He nodded, motioning for Mystery to follow him back into the woods. Vivi yawned and went back inside the van to sit down and go through some of her homework.

--

Well.

He hadn't been expecting THAT to happen.

Lewis laid on top of the van, still trying to take it in. He meant to only get a couple of hours of sleep to at least give him some juice, but he wasn't expecting to sleep in. Perhaps his insomnia for the past couple of weeks prevented him from getting any rest? It was a surprise to him that he had any power to teleport at all last night.

When he glanced up, he noticed that Arthur was walking away from the van with Mystery by his side. The thought of murdering him didn't come into mind, but rather....disappointment. Why did he have to bring that dog everywhere with him?

Lewis heard some light humming coming from beneath him and he peeked in downwards through the roof. Vivi was laying against a pillow with several packets of papers in her hand. She casually hummed one of her favorite songs while she went through them. He knew what song it was because she always sang it when he was alive.

He sat back up on the roof of the van and rested his skull in his palm. The ghosts must be worried about him back at the mansion because of how long he's been gone. Not that he necessarily cared about them, but they followed his orders and were helpful when it came to things. He could use their help right about now.

But he couldn't go back there. Not just yet, anyway.

--

"V! I got the cameras!"

Vivi looked up from her book and saw that Arthur was holding up something from afar. She smiled and, setting the book aside, got out of the van with a smile. She said, "Great job, Arthur! And Mystery."

The dog trotted up to her and brushed against her leg. She pet the dog with a smile. He placed the cameras neatly in the back of the van, and exhaled whilst exercising his arm. Vivi took a step forward to observe it.

She asked, "You didn't put too much pressure on it, did you?"

"No." He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, V. Get those audio logs goin' so we can finish this mystery."

Vivi nodded and went to the passenger's seat to get her laptop. She sat in the back of the van, opened it up, and started to get to work playing the camera's recordings and gathering the audio from them. Arthur watched her silently. He had no idea how to maneuver any of those things, nor did he think he'd ever have the smarts to.

--

It took awhile before Vivi was finished gathering and separating everything. Once she was done, she excitedly turn to a napping Arthur and exclaimed, "I finished!!"

This woke him up in surprise, and he rubbed the back of his metal arm. He said, "Wow...that's great, V."

He was still a bit drowsy. Vivi ignored his as she leaned back and offered him a set of headphones. He looked at in confusion, but grabbed it, nonetheless. He asked, "What's this for?"

"To hear and watch everything!" Vivi said, excitedly scooting over so he could see the laptop screen as well. "You want to know if there's any ghosts, right?"

Arthur, putting the headphones on and biting his lip, shook his head. "No. I really don't."

Despite how many times she's heard that from him in her lifetime, Vivi still laughed. Arthur gulped down his anxiety and leaned forward to watch the videos and listen to all the terrifying sounds he didn't know about. Vivi smiled and readjusted herself constantly, obviously excited to finally watch everything.