𝑨𝑹𝑬 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑨𝑭𝑹𝑨𝑰𝑫 | four, six underground.

iii. IT MEANS WE FIND A SEVEN

     All he could do was pray that the war within her mind would ceasefire. All he could do.

     The weather was now sunny as the little boat rocked on the sea. How dare the sunshine, Iris thought to herself. How dare the sunshine on a world with no Six. How dare the warm rays peek through the clouds. The seagulls scream in the sky. The fish race in the water. Like he was never taken. Like he wasn't gone.

     Iris wanted to scream at the world. It stole her best friend from her. However she wasn't able to open her mouth since the boys went collect the lifeless body. Now it was just her and five ghosts, on a rocking boat on the sea, emptiness dancing through the air.

"Here's a toast to a kid I liked." Three broke the silence.

"Are you crying?' Two questioned.

"We didn't even know his name."

"We don't know any names."

"What was his name?" Three looked to One.

"It doesn't matter. He was a good man." One replied slowly.

"Jack." Iris croaked. "Jack wilder." A little louder this time.

     Everyone's heads turned to the silent girl, wrapped in a blanket, starring at the floor. Starring at that wooden planked floor as if it was the one who took Jack from this world.

"You knew!" One raised his voice.

"What does it matter? Huh. What harm can it do now he's in that plastic bag. He was supposed to be dead months ago, we all were." The girl snapped, staring the older man down.

"Our numbers are here so we don't get attached, we aren't supposed to care if one of us dies. Now you fucked it up and look where it's gotten you." One instantly regretting the words flying out his mouth.

"When will you learn dickhead, we will get attached fucking names or not. You -" Four began to rub the girls back, she knew this was a sign to stop before she pulled a knife on One.

"He... he promised me he would get out safely." The girl squeaked.

"Thought I managed the risk. I'm sorry." One looked down. More silence passed.

"What does this mean." Four asked as the ghosts picked up the body.

"It means, we find a seven." The loud splash meant the boy was finally gone.

Californian desert

     And a seven is who they found.

"There's this trick that we all do to get through our day." One started.

"We take a box, and into that box we place all the fucked up horrors of the world, all the wrongs humans do to one another. And then we close that box and pretend it doesn't exist." Zero cut in, already hearing this speech five times previous.

"Thank you. Only some us spend too much time inside the box. We've lost our ability to pretend. We know there's too much unfinished business in this fucked up world. Our job as ghosts is to do the dirty work the living can't or won't. And we do it from here."

"This ,seven, is our haunted house." Zero grinned.

     The group was now sat in an abandoned plane, explaining the rules to the newcomer. No visiting cities you've been too. No meeting people you've already met. No names, only numbers.

"This, is our target hit board. These nine men, been placing too much shit inside our box." One led Seven into a new room. "And now they answer to us."

"First mission, dictator of turgistan. Rovach Alimov." He spoke coldly.

     The ghosts now relocated to a diner, a half hour drive from their base.

"When you're dead you get to stop all the bullshit. No move DMV lines, no more Christmas shopping." Three explained the benefits to seven.

"Or back stabbing girlfriends." Four joined in. Zero winced, she remembered Four's ex, let him fall from a building as they tried to escape the police. Classy. "No more tax. No more criminal records. No more getting arrested by the pigs for just being naked or just usual stuff. Ya know, being naked, getting drunk. Casual stuff."

"Causal." Zero replied sarcastically, taking a sip of beer.

"No more immigration lines." Five sighed. Seven shot her a confused glance. "Don't look at me like that. I'm fucking American."

"I'm illegal." Three replied bluntly.

"I'm not supposed to be here." Iris giggled in her thick accent.

"You guys sure are cynical." One stated.

"How about high blood pressure? Fuck you, high blood pressures. I'll eat whatever the fuck I want. Thank you very much." Three ranted as he took a bite out of the streak and eggs on his plate.

     Iris laughed. Not a fake laugh or a giggle. The type of laugh that make Four's stomach leap in the air and bring a shy smile to his face. This was the first time she laughed since they lost Six.

"You realise you're actually still alive, right?" Two mentioned.

     Three simply took another bite and reached for the salt. One flicked the screen on a phone like device. Magnets compelled the salt to run from his grasp. A giggle from the young Aussie drove One to mess with Three even more.

"Fuck you too, technology." He spat, finally grabbing the salt.

"You guys got it all wrong, best thing about being dead. The freedom." One looked up from his phone. "I mean we're all gonna die. May as well do it while we're alive, right? When you're young, you lock yourself into all these bad decisions. You know. Marriages. Mortgages. All that kinda stuff. But you die, it's all erased. Poof! Gone. From that point forward, all that matters is what you choose."

"You know, I like the idea of clearing criminal charges." Zero, ruining the moment.

"The point is, Princess, is we should bring seven behind the curtain." One chuckled. "You wanna hand me those over there?"

     Three handed the boss a couple of cups, salt shakers, mugs.

"Here we go. All right, a little demonstration, no technology." He smiled, arranging the plastic cups. "This, seven, is how we stage a coup in three not-so-easy steps."

"All right, you got a country, turgistan, yeah?" Pointing to the base layer of four clear cups. "These are the people, nice people, just going about, doing their thing."

"Then you got the four generals, very bad guys." He placed the new red cups over the clear ones.

"Cuatro cunts." Zero giggled.

"But there's one worse guy, that's the piece of shit dictator." He placed a sugar shaker on top of the cups. "Right there at the top."

"Don't forget his brother." Two spoke as she handed him the salt.

"Democracy-loving brother." Three informed.

"He's the key." One started calmly. "So, were gonna hit the four generals. They're gonna lead us to the brother."

"You kill top generals, you fuck a dictator's day." Three grinned.

"Second thing we are gonna do, free the brother. The last thing that we're gonna do is we're gonna say goodbye, to piece of shit dictator." One, swapping the sugar for salt. "And hello to democracy-loving brother."

"It all goes down in four months" Iris grinned to Seven.

"El día de los muertos. The day of the dead."