Chapter 87 - A Haunting in Oregon

Morrigan stared at Pepper, her brow furrowing. “Your… sister? You’ve seen her spirit?”

Pepper nodded silently, her expression somber.

Morrigan hesitated before asking, “How long ago did she…?”

“There was a car accident,” Pepper began, her voice trembling. “A truck ran a red light and hit the driver’s side of our car. My father and sister died instantly, but my mom and I were rushed to the hospital…” She hugged her knees tighter, as if trying to hold herself together. “My mom didn’t make it either. She never regained consciousness and died a week later. Me, though… I was awake that very same day. I had a concussion and some bad bruises, but no broken bones or anything… They said I was really lucky…”

“Lucky, huh?” Morrigan’s voice hardened as she clicked her teeth in frustration. She sat up, leaning forward. “Damn, I hate how people say that. There’s nothing lucky about that.”

Pepper’s gaze dropped, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I know... It didn’t feel like luck at all.”

Morrigan’s tone softened. “I’m really sorry, Pepper. That’s horrible. Nobody should have to go through that.”

Pepper nodded again, her silence more telling than words.

“How long ago did this happen?”

“Five years. I was nine, and Juniper was twelve. She... She was a good sister. She was always protective of me…” Pepper’s face hardened as she stared forward and bagan her story.

“Juniper was the only one who ever believed me when I talked about ghosts. Um… I could always see them, but they weren’t very clear when I was little. They’ve become more and more clear over time, especially after the accident. I don’t understand why, but that accident did something to my sixth sense. Before then, it was usually more of a sense, and if I looked really closely, I could barely make out their silhouettes. On rare occasions, they would be clearer, and no matter what, I could almost always hear them if they were sad spirits. Some are quiet and mind themselves, others...” She blinked, her gaze frozen as if recalling something traumatic. “Anyway, after the accident, they all became as clear as normal people. Most don’t talk to me either way… not like my sister did anyway… I mean… not like she did at first... before... before she started to change.”

Morrigan felt a chill go down her spine. If Pepper’s sister never passed on, she would have eventually turned into a hollow. If she had maintained regular contact with Pepper throughout the transition, Morrigan could only imagine what witnessing that would have done to Pepper.

“The first time I saw her after the accident, she really was like her normal self. She was just lingering around the place where it happened. I went there on my own with flowers one day, hoping—maybe even expecting—to see her, and I did. I was so happy. She tried to hug me, but we couldn’t touch. I asked about Mom and Dad, but she didn’t know where they were. But she was just happy that I found her and we could still see each other. Even if she was a ghost. After that, she started following me… She’d just be with me all the time.”

Despite the sadness in her story, Pepper’s face lit up with a bittersweet smile. Her eyes sparkled with the memory as she continued, “She was always there—at school, she’d be standing over my shoulder, even helping me with my work, giving me the answers when the teacher called on me and I was too nervous to speak. She would tell jokes and comment on the things going on around me. Her presence made me feel confident. It felt like I always had someone in my corner helping me and looking after me. I kept her presence to myself, though. I knew nobody would believe me. She understood because she remembered how it was when she was alive. She was the only one who ever believed I could see ghosts, and she knew how people treated me when I tried to tell them about it.”

Morrigan listened intently, her heart aching for the girl beside her.

“But, as time went on… she started to change.” Pepper’s smile faded as she clutched her knees even tighter. “It started with little things. She used to listen to me talk all day, but then she started getting annoyed, telling me not to talk so much. Then, she’d get upset when I was with other people and had to ignore her.”

Pepper’s voice dropped to a whisper as she continued, “She became possessive. If I was talking to friends or doing something without her, she’d get really angry. Not just annoyed—furious. She’d demand I go somewhere we could be alone. If I didn’t, or couldn’t… she would.” Pepper’s voice choked. “She started to make things happen... Objects would fall, doors would slam shut. It was like she didn’t want me to have a life outside of her. She even started threatening to hurt the people around me. Like, if I made a friend, she’d tell me if I didn’t stop seeing them, she’d make something bad happen to them… and eventually… she followed through on that threat.”

Pepper’s face paled, her voice barely audible. “Th-there was this girl, Lucy. We met in middle school, about a year after the accident. Lucy was kind and funny. She didn’t mind my weirdness, and she even stood up for me when other kids picked on me. We became really close. One day, Lucy invited me over to her house to study. I was so excited. It felt good to have a friend again.”

Morrigan’s heart clenched as she watched Pepper relive the memory.

“Juniper didn’t like Lucy from the start. She kept saying things like, ‘You can’t trust her, she’s just using you,’ or ‘She’s going to hurt you.’ I tried to reassure her that Lucy was a good friend, but Juniper wouldn’t listen. That day at Lucy’s house, Juniper was more agitated than ever. She kept telling me to leave, accusing me of forgetting about her. She cried, and even if I tried ignoring her, she wouldn’t stop screaming at me. Of course, Lucy had no idea what was going on, so I hid in the bathroom and tried begging Juniper to just stop. I was crying, telling her to leave me alone… I—I said I wished she would just go and that I’d never see her again. Juniper looked so hurt, and I felt guilty… but she left me alone in the bathroom, and I thought she was gone…”

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Pepper’s voice broke as she sobbed, her small body shaking with the force of her grief. “I’m sorry. I’m not meaning to cry.”

Morrigan’s expression softened with concern. “You’ve never told anyone this before, have you?”

Pepper shook her head vehemently. “No! How could I? Nobody would believe me.”

“Then don’t apologize. Feel free to tell me everything…” Morrigan moved to sit beside Pepper on the bed, offering what comfort she could. “So what happened?” She could tell it wasn’t going to be good.

Pepper sniffled, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “I heard a scream, and when I came out of the bathroom, I found Lucy at the bottom of the stairs. She’d fallen. Juniper was nowhere in sight, but I knew it was her—she pushed Lucy!”

Pepper buried her face in her arms and sobbed. Morrigan hugged her and rubbed her back. She was never very good at emotional support, but she hoped just listening and being here was enough. She couldn’t imagine how devastating it must have been for Pepper.

Eventually, Pepper’s sobs subsided, and she continued in a trembling voice. “Lucy broke her arm and had a concussion that healed, but other than that, she was okay. She had no idea how she fell—she thought she must have tripped somehow… but I knew it was Juniper. I knew if I stayed friends with Lucy, Juniper would hurt her again. So, I started avoiding her. Lucy didn’t understand. She thought I didn’t want to be friends anymore. It broke my heart, but I had to keep my distance to protect her. I gave Juniper what she wanted… and I stopped trying to make friends.”

Tears rolled silently down Pepper’s cheeks. “The foster parents I was with got worried over how anti-social I was becoming. I’d just sit alone so Juniper wouldn’t feel threatened, but even then, she wasn’t nice to me. She was always irritated, or she’d cry and accuse me of hating her. But I didn’t hate her—I really didn’t. Despite how scary she had become and how bad she made me feel, I didn’t hate her. I just knew she was in pain, and I felt helpless to make her happy.

“Juniper’s moods got worse and worse until she would just start screaming and wailing all night long. Even her appearance started to change. It was subtle at first, but more and more, she would lose… her features. Like the ghost in the basement—how it looked more like a mannequin than a person. That’s what started to happen to Juniper. Her eyes became this sick color—like milky yellow—and when she’d stare at me, it was like she wasn’t seeing me. She wasn’t really herself anymore… she was just a tortured shell, following me around everywhere. We didn’t have conversations anymore; she wasn’t capable of that; if she spoke, it was just vague accusations or begging me not to leave her, but I’m not sure she was even talking to me anymore. That was preferable to the screaming, though. Sometimes, she would just scream and scream while knocking things over, and nothing I could do would make her stop!

“Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore, and I did the only thing I could think of. I started running. Every chance I got, I would run from wherever I was living until someone stopped me or picked me up again…” She wiped her wet cheeks on her sleeve. “And it actually worked. Eventually, I got away from her, and she stopped finding me. But I know where she went because I go to check every once in a while. Every few months or so, if I get a chance, I’ll bring flowers to where my family died. Every time, I hope and pray that Juniper won’t be there. I hope she’ll be gone and that I can take it as a sign that she finally passed on. But she’s always there… she... she doesn’t even look like herself anymore. She’s just this floating thing that paces around and screams. I can’t even get close and try to talk to her because I’m afraid if she notices me, she’ll start following me again.”

It seemed Pepper’s story was over. She just stared forward, hugging her knees, tears now silently streaming down her cheeks.

“Pepper… I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to go through that, and witness it. But… listen, that isn’t your sister anymore, and it’s nobody’s fault that she turned out that way. It’s not because you did something wrong, and it’s not her fault either. That’s just what happens to lingering spirits… they eventually turn into hollows.”

“But why? Why did that have to happen to her? The Juniper I knew was so kind. She’d never hurt anyone, especially not me!”

“It’s probably because she formed an attachment to you after her death, and as she lost more and more pieces of herself—the things that made her the Juniper you knew—that attachment turned into more of an obsession. That’s how my mentor explained it to me anyway.”

“Your... mentor? Somebody else who hunts ghosts?”

“Well, that’s probably not the best way to put it. But yeah... I’m kind of new to this whole thing, to be honest.” Morrigan exhaled, quickly calculating whether or not to tell Pepper about reapers. Ultimately she decided not to. She had only met Pepper yesterday, after all. Not like Emma, whom she had known for years. “Anyway. That’s just what happens when spirits turn into hollows. They begin haunting certain places or, in your case, people. She was haunting you, but at a certain point, it wasn’t her anymore. Like you said, it was just a shell.”

“I know… I know that wasn’t Juniper. That’s the only thing that makes this bearable—reminding myself who Juniper really was. She wasn’t selfish or angry. She was kind, and she would go out of her way, even sacrificing herself, before ever hurting someone else. But… I just can’t stand to see her this way. I know it’s not really her anymore, but it’s what’s left of her, and I can’t stand seeing what she’s been reduced to.” Pepper turned and grabbed Morrigan’s hands, looking directly into her eyes. “Morrigan, can you please at least help her move on? Like you did to the ghost in the basement?! Please! Can you help my sister?”

Morrigan nodded and pulled her hands away. She was happy to comfort Pepper but was still wary of the fact her touch could kill. Even if she had gloves on, she preferred to avoid contact.

“Yeah, I can help. I don’t know how we’re going to sneak out of here again, but if you can show me where she is, I’ll help her pass on.”

“It’s about four miles from here… but… can I come with you when you go?”

Morrigan hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

Pepper’s face fell, her eyes pleading. “Please, Morrigan. I need to be there. I need to say goodbye. Even if she doesn’t understand me, I have to at least try.”

Morrigan finally relented, knowing Noir or even Death might disagree with her decision. But she couldn’t deny Pepper the chance to say goodbye to her sister. “Alright. If it’s four miles, it’ll take at least an hour each way. If we can sneak out at night, there won’t even be any traffic to slow us down. We could be back before anyone notices. But how are we supposed to get out?”

“I don’t know… but I’ll think of something,” Pepper said, her voice full of determination. She looked Morrigan in the eyes and smiled faintly. “Morrigan. Thank you.”

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