The Living Among Us (white x pink)

Chapter 2

Whyn's POV

I sat alone in the darkened cafeteria, pouring over a bowl of tomato soup. Mr. Brookie was the SpaceStation's cook. He had already retired for the night. He had a son he needed to get to bed early but he had left out a bowl of soup and plate of bread with my name on it. The SpaceStation's food was surprisingly good for us being out in the middle of space. I just assumed Mr. Brookie was actually some kind of magician who could make anything taste good. He was an older man with soft features, greying brown hair and a brown spacesuit. His son looked exactly like him except much younger. I didn't know their story or why they were aboard the ship, they seemed happy though. I assumed Mr. Brookie was one of the only people aboard who knew everyone else on the ship because of his job.
Him and the Commander of course.
I shivered slightly at the thought of the Commander. Commander Reeves. I had met him once, similarly to everyone else, on Initiation day. I'll admit he was intimidating. His stern features made him immediately off putting and I had decided to try to interact with him as little as possible. Little did I know I wouldn't interact with him at all since that day.
Which was fine by me.

I finished my slightly room temperature soup and got up to dump the tray in the trash.
A flash of color in the corner of the room caught my eye, I paused and  squinted in the darkness. It was the corner by the trash bin. I looked harder as I dumped my tray but nothing seemed to be there.
Weird, I thought and turned to put my bowl and plate back on the counter where Mr. Brookie would find them in the morning. I noticed for the first time a second bowl of soup sitting out just as mine had been. It was probably cold by now. The name tag on the top read Phoebe. I couldn't recall who that was. I checked my watch, 15 minutes past 20 hours. Whoever Phoebe was they were going to miss their dinner if they didn't hurry up. I sighed and glanced warily around the Cafeteria one last time before making my way down to my room.

--- The next day ---
I pulled the mop bucket behind me, its wheels whistled loudly. I pursed my lips and absentmindedly copied the sound. As I made my way through the Storage room I suddenly glanced down and groaned inwardly. For the third time this week, streaks of oil lined the floor. Whoever worked with the oil occasionally spilled and then I got assigned to come clean it up but this was the third time there had been random oil spills all over the storage room without any warning. Luckily I had just finished mopping the cafeteria and still had the mop out.
I reached down to ring out the mop but a glint in the corner of the room stopped me. It was just like yesterday in the cafeteria. A quick flash of color and then nothing.
What the heck, I thought pausing for a moment. I shivered a bit and grabbed the mop, slopping it onto the oil spill. Maybe all these extra tasks were stressing me out more than I thought.
I inhaled and let out a loud sigh.
"Something wrong garbage boy?"
I yelped and jumped back, my foot slipped on the oil as I felt myself tumble backwards. I reached out to a nearby shelf attempting to catch myself but it was too late and the whole shelf came crashing down on top of me. Work supplies tumbled off and crashed loudly onto the floor, I watched helplessly as tools, wrenches and hammers came flying off the shelf and scattered all over the floor.
I groaned and sat up, holding my head.
"What the heck" I muttered to myself, my ears were ringing, no that wasn't ringing- it was laughing?

My body bristled- someone was laughing? At me? I looked around wildly trying to pinpoint the person.
There. In the corner of the room the same flash of color I had seen earlier but this time it didn't disappear, in fact it seemed to be taking shape. I squinted and rubbed my eyes harshly. Maybe I had hit my head?
The figure of a girl slowly materialized. She was thin and pale, with short blonde hair, a bright pink spacesuit- and she was laughing hysterically.

"Erm", I groaned and pulled myself up off the ground.
Her laugh was sharp and harsh and filled with something else I couldn't describe. Passion? Suddenly I was really annoyed.
I glared at her harshly. When had she come in? Did she work down here? Why on earth was she so.. pale? As I studied her I noticed something was.. off. Her skin was glistening softly- 

She cut off my thoughts exclaiming, "That was hilarious! You should've seen your face!" She burst into another fit of giggles.
I was taken aback by her outburst and felt heat rising to my cheeks.
What was this girl's problem?
"I'm sorry did you need something?" I looked down at my mess sheepishly and began picking up some of the supplies, placing them back on the shelf.
The girl in the pink space suit inhaled sharply, finally collected herself and said, "As a matter of fact yes. I need your help Whyn."
I tensed up at my name and glanced back over at her. Another crewmate who remembered me from Initiation day and I couldn't remember them. Great.
I noticed her reach up and tug at her hair. Gosh, was this girl sick or something? I was really taken aback by her complexion. Her skin was pale and pasty, her eyes seemed sunken and tired. Maybe it was from being in Space for too long? She certainly didn't look healthy.
"Uh- sure yeah-" I picked up a wrench next to my feet and placed it back on the self, "what's up, did you.. need something cleaned up?"
I glanced down at the mess she had basically caused then glared back at her.

"What? No I need help with.. something else" she seemed confused and didn't seem to notice my annoyance towards her.
I glanced down at my watch, no way I was going to get all my tasks done today, not now. I might have to skip dinner tonight, it looked like this would take awhile to clean up.
"Okay well if it doesn't have to do with cleaning up or downloads then I suggest taking it up with someone else- cause those are my tasks and at this rate I'm not-"

She cut me off, "Whyn, I need help figuring out who murdered me."

My heart stopped and the hair on my neck stood up.
What the heck.
"I- I'm sorry?" I stared at her, her face twisted in an unreadable expression.

"I-" she started again but this time I cut her off.

"Listen uh- what's your name?"
She perked up, "Oh, I'm Peony!"
"Listen, Peony, if you're sick or something I can take you up to the Medbay and I'm sure the doctor can help you out I-"
Suddenly, she reached her hand out towards me, instinctively I backed away. "What are you doing?" I exclaimed and watched as her hand suddenly went straight through my chest. The room seemed to drop at least twenty degrees. My chest constricted-  cold ice seemed to spread through my entire body.
I breathed in sharply staring at her hand, through my spacesuit. I felt my heart pounding as I slowly looked up at her.
She was smiling softly, her eyes a striking, electric blue. Her face inches away from mine, I could suddenly see her skin was softly translucent. Her hair floating strangely, seeming to defy gravity. I tore my eyes away from her face and looked down at her feet, her entire body was delicately floating at least two inches off the ground.

"You're a ghost" I heard myself whisper.

Her eyes shined brightly for a moment as I watched her face light up into a smile and then the world went dark.