Rebel Just For Kicks: Kol Mikaelson [1]

49: Ghost World

a/n: Today's chapter is a fun game of which Mikaelson will spot her next lmao. About time too considering she's been seeing them since By The Light of the Moon

The worst time for MJ to be swamped by spirits was when she needed to act as a photographer for a town event. How was she supposed to take good pictures when she wasn't sure who was real and who wasn't?

She'd woken up, looked out of her window, and found the Tunic Man walking up and down her street, as well as a few other out-of-era characters.

Her first thought had been to call in sick.

Except, she couldn't.

The local paper hadn't intended to buy photos off a teenager, but Carol had sent them in anonymously, and now MJ was on their call sheet, and she didn't want to blow that. If she could get paid for art-based things, beyond just her website prints, she could genuinely justify dedicating her whole life to being an artist.

She was going to have to deal with the haunting the way she did at school.

She arrived at the Night of Illumination Set-Up, was given a list of things to photograph as well as a volunteer job, and focused on work instead of the cold breezes consuming her whenever she entered a new street.

Once she'd done her first rounds, MJ had found Bonnie and Caroline, helping them with decorations.

She could see him again.

Tunic Man.

A guy with longish brown hair, walking through Mystic Falls in an outfit from the end of the Middle Ages, hungry, and looking for somebody.

Maybe she should try talking to him?

Given her last run-in with a ghost, 'maybe not.'

After a moment of steady breathing, he was gone, nowhere in sight.

As if he'd never been there.

MJ was going to act like that was the truth.

He was nothing but a flicker in her imagination. Some apparition she'd created because she'd survived a stressful experience, and ghosts were something she was familiar with, even if she didn't like them.

"So," MJ looked to Bonnie, "The Original Witch sent Vicki?"

"That's what she told Matt."

It felt bizarre to refer to the woman as the Original Witch, since she wasn't the first witch in history, but they still didn't know her name, so it was what they were going with.

"En serio?" MJ scowled, picking up a lantern and moving it into a box, "That's the third time she's tried to kill me."

"Technically, Vicki tried to kill you," Caroline said in an attempt to comfort her.

"Which is worse!" MJ scoffed, "Yes, she ended up dead, but I saved her life, more than once, the ungrateful lit – "

She cut herself off.

"Then again," MJ took a beat, "She misses Matt, and she's all alone, and she is dead...and it's not like she actually killed me."

"Well," Caroline tried not to smile, "That was an emotional journey."

She sighed, "Trying to keep everything in perspective."

MJ took two boxes of lanterns, Bonnie and Caroline having their own, all heading over to the other side of the park.

The Night of Illuminations was run by the Historical Society, and it was some Founders Tradition Carol had learnt about over the summer.

The entire day was like a town picnic, and MJ and Elliot had managed to hijack it. People could bring food, but people were lazy, and if they brought cash instead, they could buy food from Victoria's Voices and feel like they contributed to a good cause. MJ had made about three food trucks worth of stuff in the Lockwood kitchen during the week following the back-to-school bonfire, which meant Elliot was in charge of selling it.