AfterLife

Chapter 18: Lies

We had managed to get back to the house just as the sun began to rise. I was laying down in one of the few rooms that still had a full roof. It seemed like it was used as an office at one point; there was a turned over desk in the corner with a broken lamp, and there were papers scattered around the mess. Void was exhausted and went to go to sleep. He insisted he sleep in the other room which is kinda weird. He was never bothered about staying in the same room before. I wasn’t sleeping because I wasn’t tired at all. I mean I had gotten a full 48 hours a sleep so I think I’ll be good for a while. I was going through the papers Abe had given us. He managed to find some really good information on about five people which will be good enough for now. He went into a surprising amount of detail. It creeped me out knowing someone could find out so much about people; he even had pictures. Here’s an example:
Target 1-
Sex: Male
Occupation: Hazards Department In Raven Headquarters.
Bondspirit:  Fire Poltergeist
Address: 355 Walgreen Road.
Marital Status: Unmarried; no children.
Family: Only Child, Both Parents Passed.
Blood Type: A.
Eye Color: Greenish-Gray.
Hair Color: Platinum Blonde.
Hair Length: Short.
Height: 6”4 And 1⁄2.
Age: 48.
Full Name: Edward Aaron Krakowski
Crime: Is believed to be not only a high-class sex offender but has also been seen robbing several houses. Both eyewitnesses and videotape evidence was presented to the Head Ravens, who only gave him 2 weeks time and allowed him to keep his job. Sentence should have been life in jail.
Current Location: Still Resides In The Residence Stated Above.
See what I mean? Kinda creepy right? I looked through the first four then got to the fifth. I stared at it in shock then read through it.
Target 5-
Sex: Male.
Occupation: Young Raven Apprentice.
Bondspirit: Fice
Address: Address Not Known.
Marital Status: Never Married.
Family: Two Younger Twin Sisters, Age 10.
Blood Type: O.
Eye Color: Reddish-Brown.
Hair Color: Dark Brown.
Hair Length: Short.
Height: 6”6.
Age (From Recorded File From 6 Years Ago): 18.
Full Name: Aarav Baldwin Shires.
Crime: Was believed to be the one who bombed the west wing of the Raven headquarters 6 years ago. Despite there being no evidence, he was convicted. Is believed to have escaped the private jail.
Current Location: Unknown, Is Said To Be Dead By Head Ravens.
I finished reading it and crumpled it into a ball. It burst into flames and I threw it across the room and watched it burn to ashes. Lies. All lies. He didn’t escape. The guards killed him after months of harassment. He refused to ever fight back even to save his own life. He didn’t even do it. I don’t even know who did it, but I know it wasn’t him. Aarav would never do that, I know my own brother he would never… my thoughts were interrupted by the floorboard underneath the paper catching on fire. I stood up and quickly put it out. Void would no doubt ask why there was a large burn mark on the floor. I’ll just tell him I burned one that was useless and people weren’t even sure if the Raven who it mentioned was still alive. I don’t want him to know about Aarav. The reason is because how uncannily similar they look. Void has close to the same eye color for pete’s sake. He’s supposed to look like me but I also look very similar to my brother so that just loops around. The one thing that made me so different was my eye color. His was a dull red mixed with brown but mine, mine are a fiery red. No brown or any other color, just red. It always did creep people out… Suddenly I heard the door creak open. At first I thought more Ravens had found us but then I heard the voices of what seemed to be 3 young boys. 
“A-are you sure we should be in here? What if the floor caves in on us?”
“C’mon ya chicken! This’ll be cool!”
“Yeah! Ben said he saw two ghosts come in here! What if we run into one!”
“B-but they’ll hurt us!”
“Whatever four-eyes we could care less. You’re the one going up there not us. Now go up there and come back alive, and we won’t beat you up or steal your lunch.”
“Yeah chicken, you wanna be a cool kid right?”
“O-okay I-I’ll do-do it-t.”
Damn this poor kid. I was bullied in 4th and 5th grade for my eye color so I knew his struggle. I heard small, quiet, ginger steps coming up the stairs. I suddenly got an idea. 
“Remember if you scream you lose!”
One of the boys yelled from downstairs. Quietly from behind the door I whispered.
“Kid, don’t scream.”
Looking through the crack through the door I saw the young boy was about 12 or 13. He looked terrified.
“Ar-Are y-you a gh-ghost?”
“Psh of course not. I just come here to chill. It’s kinda peaceful.”
“Ho-how do I kn-know you’re not a ghost?”
“If I was a ghost, would I really be talking to you right now? You’d probably already be dead.”
“Y-you have a point.”
“I heard you’re conversation downstairs. Those guys sound like jerks huh.”
“Y-yeah.”
“EY! What’s taken so long noodle stick?”
One of the boys yelled from below. He was about to respond when I interrupted.
“Wait wait! Don’t say anything back to them! I know a way we can get back at them and make you seem awesome.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Just stay quiet until they yell up again. I’ll kick something over and you yell or scream or something. I’ll sneak down then scare the pants of them, then come back up. You can go to school tomorrow saying you fought off a ghost.”
His face lit up.
“Thats sounds perfect! You sound awesome! How often do you come here?”
“Not that often.”
“Could I come and see if you’re here and we could talk?”
“I don’t think so.”
I couldn’t have this kid barge in every day, no way.
“Aw,  why?”
“I might be moving soon.”
It was a bad excuse but the best I could come up with at the time.
“Oh…”
His head drooped.
“C’mon let’s do this!”
With that he perked right back up and got ready.
“Four-eyes? You up there? You better not be playin with us or we’ll give ya a good beatin’!”
He kept quiet.
“Four-eyes?”
“Alright, hide in that room to your rig- no your left. Yell or something after you hear me knock over this lamp over here.”
“Ok!”
I went to where the old lamp stand, picked it up and smashed it against the desk.
“AUUUUUGGGHHH!”
The boy with the glasses had a surprisingly good fake scream.
I slipped through the floor and snuck up on the two other boys. One was short and stocky and the other was a bit taller and fat. They both were grabbing each other and looked terrified.
“You boys should know better than to invade my house.”
I came out from the shadows. The two boys screamed and ran out the door faster than a pair of frightened cheetahs. I quickly made it sound like I went up the stairs, then went back through the floor. I made the door creak so it sounded like I had entered a different room.
“It worked!”
I said from the other room. I heard the door burst open.
“Awesome! Where are you?”
“In the other room. I’ve gotta clean up this lamp. Don’t try to come in here this floor is weak, I don’t think it can hold more than one person.”
“Ok!”
This boy was easily convinced.
“Also before you leave don’t tell anyone about here. I don’t want to get in trouble for being here. My parents are really strict.”
“Alright, thanks for the help!”
I heard him run down the stairs and through the door. I sighed and sat down. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. The other boys would tell someone and this place could be inspected, but I still felt like the boy with glasses would squeal and say who helped him and say it was a person. He didn’t seem like a person that would be good at lying. Besides, I felt like scaring the shit out of someone anyway. It’s the one fun thing you can do as a demon. As a ghost you could fly but I fucking can’t. Should I tell Void? He’d probably be pissed though. If he didn’t wake up through the whole thing maybe I won’t. If he asks about the lamp I’ll just say I broke it. It’s not a lie it’s a… a white lie. I’m not lying just not telling him everything. I sighed. Today has just been filled with one lie after the other.