Phantom of the Apartment

Delving Deeper

     Jason awoke in his room, cocooned inside his sheets. At first, he shut his eyes again, trying to go back to sleep. Then he remembered the night before and shot up in bed. The hedge, the house... How did I get here? He tried to stand, but his tangled sheets made him trip awkwardly. He felt suddenly relieved that his friends hadn't seen that. He ripped off the sheets, stumbling into the living room. Sure enough, there was Rebecca and Thomas."Well," Jason said, "this feels a bit like deja vu. Anyone know how we got back here?"

     Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "I carried both of your sorry a—"

     "Rebecca," Thomas cut in sharply, glaring daggers at her.

     She cleared her throat. It wasn't exactly an unknown fact between them that Thomas was not a fan of cursing. "Sorry. I carried both of your sorry butts home. Better?"

     Thomas nodded. Jason frowned. "You carried us both home?"

     Rebecca nodded. "When I woke up, you were both out cold and I decided you needed your beauty sleep."

     "You carried us home. Both of us. By yourself," Jason repeated, still confused. Rebecca grinned in response, rolling up her hoodie's sleeves and flexing.

     "Strong like bull," she said, grinning. Jason rolled his eyes.

     "Did no one question you?"

     "Of course they did. You can't carry two unconscious guys through the city at night without attracting notice. I just told them we'd been drinking and couldn't drive."

     Jason sighed. Then, a concerning thought came to him. "I thought you didn't need sleep," Jason said. "You fell asleep before I did."

     The grin slid from Rebecca's face. "I was thinking about that too," she said slowly. "Technically, I shouldn't be able to nod off like that. I have to make the conscious decision to fall asleep."

     Thomas frowned. "So what does that mean?"

     Rebecca actually looked concerned, and that worried Jason more than anything else. "I honestly can't think of anything that could do that. Then again, I'm not the worlds most experienced ghost."

     "Could you ask one?"

     Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Ah, yes. Thank you, Jason. Let me just get out my ghost phone and get on the ghosts connect hot line to talk to the local master ghost and ask him about it."

     "That'd be great, Rebecca. Could you get me a ghost coffee while you're at it?"

     "No."

    "Wow, rude. Speaking of coffee, guess who found the world's greatest coffee brand?" Thomas asked, a grin spreading across his face. Jason knew what he doing, however. He was trying to take their minds further from the thing he felt was troubling them. He'd been doing it since they were kids. Fell and scraped you knee? Thomas had superhero band aids and was gonna drag you into a conversation about who your favorite hero was. Broke up with your partner? Thomas just so happened to have a great playlist of songs for that and oh this singer is lovely in concert you should see her in fact we should go together. Got in a car crash? Well, he hadn't really had anything to say after that one, which had been fine with Jason. They'd simply sat together in silence, Thomas's hand clasped on Jason's knee. It had said more than distracting words ever could have.

     "I'm guessing you did," Rebecca said, jerking Jason from his thoughts. "But I don't care what the answer is. What we should be focusing on is the fact that we missed the murderer."

     Jason cleared his throat. "I've been thinking—"

     "Dangerous business, that," Thomas interrupted.

     "Is that why you never do it?" Jason shot back, earning laughter from Rebecca. "As I was saying, I've been thinking about last night. We all fell asleep, including Rebecca who shouldn't physically be able to do that, before the murderer came. That raises some questions about how much we're willing to write off as coincidence."

     "What are you trying to say?" Rebecca asked.

     "It also raises this question: how old was that article we opened on Rebecca's death?" The others frowned, leaning forward as Jason opened his laptop. "The answer to which is... two years."

     Rebecca nodded, sitting back. "That checks out. It's when I died."

     "A lot can happen it two years," Jason said quietly. Rebecca frowned, but Thomas simply cocked his head. 

     "I don't think I follow you there."

     "How thoroughly did we research?"

     Rebecca looked almost embarrassed. "Not very..."

     Jason nodded. "So, the killer was named... Let me check... Oswald Smith. And a quick google search on good old Mr. Smith reveals..." Jason paused, frowning. "Rebecca, did you ever actually open those articles on where he was spotted?" Rebecca actually blushed at that, the blush turning pale blue instead of red.

     "Look, I was excited and in a rush. I may have skimmed the headings—"

     "Skimmed the headings?" Thomas repeated indignantly. "you sent us chasing a murderer based on leads you found by skimming the headings?"

     Jason put up a hand to stop him, not taking his eyes off of the screen. "We probably weren't in much danger anyways." he said slowly. "Ever wonder why the police gave up? Listen to this. 'Several citizens claim to have seen murderer Oswald Smith at abandoned buildings across town, with the most recent being the old Walter's Printing Press. Skeptics have reasons to hold back, however, the primary being that Smith was shot and killed one year prior to the first sightings—'"

     "He was what?" Thomas yelped.

     Rebecca actually paled, though on a ghost the expression looked less like paling and more like turning invisible. "Oh god. The police never gave up. They got him."

     "Wait! I'm not done yet. Where was I? Oh yeah. 'Skeptics have reasons to hold back, however, the primary being that Smith was shot and killed one year prior to the first sightings. However, those who claim to have seen his spirit claim there is a connection between the recent deaths of Sandra Jones and Justin Tyler, both of whom died of cardiac arrest.'" There was horrible silence that seemed to stretch an eternity before Jason spoke again. "Guess Rebecca isn't the only ghost around here. And if these articles are true, the other one isn't nearly as nice."

     Thomas shook his head slowly in disbelief. "Oh my god," he whispered.

     Rebecca forced a grim smile. "Y'know, when I said it would be cool to meet other ghosts, my murderer was not exactly the type I had in mind."

Author's Note: Hey guys! Did you like this chapter? I hope so. Anyway, I've got a bit of news. I'm gonna be trying my hand at Wattpad's Just Write It thingy. My story is called... *drum rolls on knees*

Flower Crowns for May! I'm pretty proud of how it is coming along so far, and it would mean the world to me if you'd go check it out. I really appreciate that you take the time to read my works, and I'd love to do the same for yours. Got a book you're working on that you think I'd like? Comment it right here. I'd honestly love to read your stuff. Thank you for everything, guys. You're all the greatest.