Fawn flew over the streets, continuing her search for Ashley, hoping she hadn’t gone too far. She saw Ashley continue to stroll around the sidewalk, peeking through each corner.

How did she get out so fast? As far as Fawn could recall, the bathroom had no windows, unless the blonde girl escaped out the back without them noticing. But even so, how did Ashley run this far without running into strangers or vehicles? She seemed more chipper than before, almost like she didn’t have other people waiting for her miles back. Ashley hadn’t forgotten about them, right?

Fawn continued following her, hoping the worst-case scenario wasn’t true. Surely Ashley wasn’t using and scamming Richard out of his time and money, especially when she knew he had places to be himself. But what if she used that talk about her missing parents and crocodile tears to get their attention? That might explain why nobody paid attention to her prior, but it still doesn’t answer how she can see Fawn, even though she’s a ghost.

She may not know what Ashley was up to, but Fawn wanted to get to the bottom of things. She suspected the newcomer for a while, but if that girl had ulterior motives and planned to interfere…

“Hey!” She called out, trying to get her attention.

“Huh?” Ashley turned around and noticed her. “Oh, hi! What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Fawn mentioned, catching up to her. “Why did you leave?”

“I thought I saw some of my friends.”

“Was that really a good reason to ditch us, though? We were still waiting for you.”

“No, sorry.” Ashley lowered her head. “I think I lost track of them or mistook them for someone else.” Her eyes grew misty. “Are you mad at me?”

Fawn crossed her arms and sighed. Normally, she can read people from their eyes, but it didn’t look like Ashley was lying to her. In any other situation, Fawn might’ve pressed the girl for more info or called her bluff. But she didn’t have proof Ashley was behind anything malicious. It didn’t look like she had anything to gain from double-crossing her, either. Was she wrong about her assumption towards this girl and it was all happenstance?

“No, I’m not mad at you.”

“Really? But...”

“Calm down,” Fawn reassured her. “I’m sure we can find your friends and parents in record time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, we promise you. Now can we go back? Richard’s worried about you.”

“He is? Well, we better get going then.”

.-.-.-.

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Richard tapped on the table with one hand and rested his chin with the other. He looked out at the window as passing cars drove by. At the reflection, he couldn’t help but notice someone watching over him. Richard turned his head, as the attendee from before caught glances at him.

“Is something the matter?” He asked.

“Oh, um, sorry.” She muttered. “I noticed you were talking to yourself.”

“Oh, you did?” He scratched the back of his head. Well, this got awkward real quick. “Uh, I was communicating with a long-lost friend of mine who was important to me.”

“Can you speak to the dead? Maybe someone deceased?”

“Yeah?” Richard squinted his eyes and noticed her nameplate said ‘Lucy.’

She lowered her head. “I’m sorry to hear that. Whoever that was must be very dear to you.” Lucy raised her head back up. “I wish I could see, hear, and speak to the dead. It gets lonely and depressing, desiring to make it up to someone you care about or at least tell them some words one last time before...”

Richard ended up getting misty-eyed. “Yeah, I know that feeling.”

Lucy rubbed her eyes and then shook her head. “Sorry, I’m rambling again. Here’s your receipt.” She handed him the receipt and walked away.

“Hey wait—”

“Hi, we’re back.” Fawn greeted as she entered the place along with Ashley.

“Uh, hey...” Ashley said, waving to him.

“What’s wrong?” Richard asked.

“You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“No, I didn’t know you left outside.”

“Also, can I use the bathroom? For real this time?” Ashley asked.

“Sure thing, but this time, I’m going too.” Richard got up and followed her to the restroom.

.-.-.-.

Once Richard finished, he and Fawn waited outside for Ashley, who insisted she’d be fine by herself and wouldn’t take long.

The duo waited in silence as the former twiddled his fingers and the latter tried whistling a tune to pass the time.

“Hey, Fawn?” Richard spoke up and glanced over at her.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Fawn turned to him and asked.

“Well, I had this conversation with the checkout woman, Lacy, no Lucy.”

“Is that so?”

“Ok, to put it bluntly, it made me think of something.” Richard took a breather before continuing. “How did I get this curse? Or rather, why do I have the ability to speak to the undead?”

“I wouldn’t call it a curse,” Fawn replied as she shook her head. “More like, you’re born with or had received a special gift.”

“But, why did it have to be me though? What makes me so different from everyone else?”

“I guess you could say, well...” Fawn paused.

Now that she thought about it, he brought up a valid point. But how was she supposed to explain that to him? Sure, she had the body of a child, but what would make her mind and soul? Then again, would Fawn be the right person to answer a complicated question like that? She didn’t know much about Richard’s past life, but he didn’t seem comfortable talking about it either, from what she had seen so far.

“Fawn?”

“Look, everyone has that special something, we’re unique in their own way, and you’re no exception. And besides, if you still blame yourself for the past, just remember that there’s a reason for everything, I know—” She froze as she got goosebumps.

“You ok? What’s wrong?”

“I sense something bad’s about to happen.”

“Uh oh, let’s check it out.” The two nodded and headed off.