The Seer (#JustWriteIt #OnceUponNow)

Strange Study

Cassandra got back to her cubicle and tried to start working like nothing had happened. Her nerves had actually begun to settle when a sudden purring noise came from her potted plant. She looked over to see the creature from the alleyway happily rolling in the dirt and snuggling around her sickly plant. But that wasn't the strangest thing. The more the creature rubbed against the plant the greener and healthier it looked. Cassandra watched in silent amazement as the plant grew taller and taller. Suddenly she realized that if the plant kept growing it would poke right over the edges of the cubicle. Without thinking she quickly reached over and scooped the thing away from her plant. It let out a whimper of protest but then, deciding her lap was more preferable then the plant, it let out loud purrs of contentment as it laid down.

Cassandra leaned over the now sleeping creature and logged into her computer. She went to a web browser and typed: nature spirit. The search was to broad and there was no way she was going to look through all of those suggestions so she tried, mystical creatures with connections to nature. That one brought up some good creatures but none fit the description of the one snoozing in her lap. After multiple attempts, that lasted till her lunch break, Cassandra finally found an article about sprites. Upon finding a name Cassandra instantly looked up pictures; though none looked like the little animal in her lap she had a strong belief that she was right and that Michele had indeed found a real sprite. Cassandra stroked the warm, glowing mass on her legs and it let out a happy sigh, while snuggling into a tighter ball.

     Michele's slid into Cassandra's cubicle. "Ready to go to lunch and talk about," Michele glanced around to make sure no one was listening, "you know what?" Michele looked at Cassandra's plant and did a double take. "What happen here?"

     "I'll explain on the way." Cassandra lifted the sprite off her lap and moved to get her coat.

     At lunch Cassandra tried to explain everything she had learned since that morning.

     "Gosh, when did you have time to do any work?" Michele took a big bite out of her Chicken Salad Sandwich Special. "You know how the boss gets if you use the computers for personal reasons."

     "I know." Cassandra handed a strawberry from her Strawberry Garden Salad to the sprite contentedly hiding in her pocket. "But I was to curious to wait; you saw what it did to my plant."

     Michele nodded halfheartedly. " Its just too weird. Its kind of hard to wrap my head around." She took another, thoughtful bite of her sandwich. " You sure its not dangerous?"

     Cassandra laughed. "This thing, dangerous? Trust me, I would be in more danger with a dog than with this little guy." Cassandra rubbed the sprite's head gently. " I'm planning on going to the library after work to do some more research anyway. Do you want to come?"

Michele shook her head and placed some money on the table. "Can't. Ron's taking me on a date tonight."

     Cassandra stood placing her own money on the table. They headed back to work and Cassandra was bored out of her mind. More bored than she'd ever been at work before. Finally she stood up and began slipping on her jacket, after which she glanced down at her computer screen to see that her internal clock was still on point. As she looked down the tiny time stamp in the bottom left of the screen changed from 4:59 to 5:00. She smiled, she was already heading out the door when other employees began to pack up.

Cassandra caught a cab and headed straight towards the library. Book upon book piled around her as she found more about sprites. The little sprite would climb up, down, and around the piles of books like it was a play set. Cassandra laughed at its antics. Soon the library would be closing and Cassandra decided she would help the librarians out by putting some of her books away. She gathered up a armful and headed away from the table with the sprite close on her heals.

She started with a book called Fairy Lore and Myths by Edward Thatcher. While she searched for the books rightful place Cassandra felt a strange chill run down her back. At first she shrugged her shoulders and ignored it, but a small whimper emanated from around her ankles. She looked down at the sprite to see it wrapping tightly around her leg. That's when she looked up. Just behind her, about a foot off the ground, there floated an opaque figure of a man. He looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties with a shock of black hair, slight stubble around his smiling mouth and jaw-line, and deep brown eyes. The apparition was looking at her intently; white teeth shining despite the fact that they were see through. Cassandra let out a small gasp and dropped the cornucopia of books in her arms.

The man jumped slightly. "I'm terribly sorry," he had a slight English accent that Cassandra found somewhat charming, even though she was terrified, "I didn't mean to frighten you."

Cassandra took a step back and found herself trapped between the ghost and a bookshelf. "Um... It-it's really n-n-not a pr-problem." Cassandra knelt down and slowly began to pick up the books, keeping her eyes on the ghost the entire time.
    
     Her entire body was shaking and she clutched the books tightly to her chest to keep from dropping them. The man just floated there. He seemed to be studying her and she bit the inside of her lip nervously. There was something familiar about this ghost; Cassandra couldn't quite put her finger on in but for so dreading she was sure she had seen him before. Like a slap she realized where she recognized the apparition from and proceeded to faint.