Two-Faced

Chapter 4

        Stretching her exhausted muscles, Asriel got out of bed, giving up on any chance that she would get some sleep. Carefully, she slipped her journal into the shallow nightstand drawer, placing the mechanical pencil next to it. She started for the door slowly, struggling to keep her eyes open.

        Just outside her bedroom door, Asriel heard the tired shuffle of feet pause. Oh no, not this again! she groaned internally. Backing away from the door, she didn't take her eyes off of it for a second. She found herself mindlessly running her fingers through her messy brown hair. A knock sounded into the room from outside. Even though fright coursed through her veins, she couldn't help but laugh. At least the ghost's considerate. To her relief, though, her mom carefully opens the door.

        "Good morning, Asriel," she yawned, smiling sleepily.

        "Good morning, Mom," Asriel beamed, easily hiding her anxiety from her tired mother. "How'd you sleep last night?"

        "Good, good... You chose a great room for me. What about you?"

        "Could've been better," she admitted, shrugging it off to try to lessen the reaction. "It's alright though. I'll be fine."

        Leaning down and hugging her daughter, Asriel's mom whispered apologetically in her ear. "Oh, Azzy, I'm sorry. I promise you'll get used to this house eventually."

        "It's not the house per se, more what's in it." Asriel tried to think of a way to explain, but to no avail. She figured being blunt would be better. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

        "Hmm... Why don't we talk about this while I make breakfast? That way we can eat before 10. That sound good?"

        "Sure. Sounds good." Asriel agreed, trailing down the stairs behind her.

        While setting up the table for breakfast with cereal and orange juice, they didn't say much to each other. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence though. Just a patient one. Once they were both settled in their seats with a bowl of sugar-coated corn flakes, Asriel's mom finally spoke up.

        "So, ghosts huh?" she started, swallowing a mouthful of cereal. "Well, I don't know what I believe really. Some parts, sure, but not everything."

        "Well, what do you believe?" Asriel probed, willing her to continue.

        "I guess there really are some things that you can't explain is all I mean," she admitted apologetically. Placing her spoon in the ceramic bowl with a soft cling, she continued. "Even if there IS some sort of 'being' that stays in this world after you die, I don't think it would actually be able to do anything."

        "What about the footsteps though?" Asriel countered desperately, racking her brain over what else could have caused them.

        "I'm not sure, Azzy. I'm sorry. I wasn't here when that happened, so I don't know. But I don't think there are ghosts in this building."

        "What if I could prove it to you?" she insisted stubbornly. "Then would you believe me?"

        "It's not that I don't want to believe you honey, but ghosts aren't real," she trailed off, resting her arms gently on the table. Asriel's gaze dropped in disappointment, her shoulders sinking. Noticing this, her mom hastily added, "But, I guess if you can find some good proof, I'll believe you."

        "Thanks, Mom! I'll find proof, I promise!" Asriel beamed excitedly, rushing to finish her breakfast without making a mess.

        As she ran out of the room, her mom chuckled, shaking her head after her. Asriel didn't notice. Turning back to the room, she sighed and began straightening up. Upstairs, Asriel immediately started searching for her phone, but without any luck.

        "Hey Mom," she called loudly down the stairs from the hallway. "Did we ever check the car for my phone last night? I can't find it in my room."

        There was a short pause before her reply finally came. "No, I don't think we did. Here, you can check now. I'll unlock it."

        The car honked, confirming that it was open. Rushing out the front door, she shouted "Thank you!" to her mom.

        Opening the passenger door of the pale blue Nissan, she scanned the interior quickly. Her gaze fell on the maroon case of her Motorola sticking out from between the seat and the center console. It was warm to the touch. What the...? Did I leave it on? Pressing the power button, she hoped that it would turn on. After a few seconds of waiting, the restart screen popped up, much to her relief. Closing the car door, her phone buzzed in her hand. Stopping just outside the house, she absentmindedly glanced down to read the text. It was a text from her phone.

        "Good luck with research~ =)"

        Confused and determined, she ran right up to her room. Hours upon hours searching through blogs like Reddit for other experiences that people have shared, taking a break quickly for leftover pizza. Unfortunately, most of what she found was explained away in the post. Giving up on Reddit, she tried looking for professional paranormal investigators. She found a few, but most were obviously just looking for some sort of fame.

        By the time the sun began to set, she didn't find very much that would help her find proof. Before she powered down her phone, one more website caught her eye. 'Old camera captures ghosts, and skeptics are baffled!' It was a newer article, but the pictures shown must've been taken decades ago. The blurry, black-and-white images showed regular landscapes and portraits, but the backgrounds all had something in common; an extremely unfocused, translucent silhouette of men, women, and children with mangled forms. There was no way these could've been faked. Old pictures like these weren't digital, they were film. They can't be easily replicated, let alone altered to this degree.

        "Maybe this'll work!" she grinned, bookmarking the page. "I wonder if Mom still has Dad's old camera?"

        Searching for more about old cameras and ghost pictures, she found a few more articles that proved the same thing. Many people, even some skeptics in the comments, admitted that they couldn't explain the photos. After a few minutes, a cold surrounded her out of nowhere. She felt a presence behind her, but couldn't bring herself to turn around and face it. Goosebumps rose on her arms, and she wrapped her grey fleece blanket around her tightly.

        "Pictures?" a soft giggle came from directly behind her. She twisted around, seeing nothing but the fading sunset outside. "Good luck finding me!"