Hellen coughed slightly to remind the two young men that she existed, else they might start fighting in her house. Elias must have poked Aiden really bad for him to react like this. She remembered Aiden was a person who almost never initiated any kind of conflict.
“Let me talk first.” Aiden declared.
“There are human lives at stake.”
“Then why attend university lectures?”
“It wasn’t urgent then, it’s becoming urgent now. One more murder has taken place. We need to solve this quickly.”
“I don’t care, my life is at stake too. Shut up now.”
“You—”
Hellen intervened again, not willing to see them escalate the matter. “Stop it you guys. Aiden, speak up. Elias, there is plenty of time to solve the murders, we don’t know about anything yet. Would you, telling me the information a few minutes early, be going to magically help with anything?”
Elias stepped back with a frustrated look on his face.
Why do they not understand? I am not that petty about wanting to speak first. It’s simply that if madam Hellen listens to the entirety of what is happening to Aiden, and if he also discloses what I did to him, she will be more likely to deal with the specter in his house straightaway.
If I had managed to convince her first, madam Hellen might have managed to gather some clues from the numerous murders which have already taken place and then confront the ghost which would’ve been much safer. Foolish people.
Aiden turned back to Hellen and continued recounting the rest of what he thought,
“If hiding turns out to be one of the conditions it has to fulfill, doesn’t that mean if we manage to see it, its progress will reset. In such cases will its target on me reset too? Or will it stay locked on me? If it does reset, what if it targets me again?”
Hellen gestured Elias to sit as she replied to Aiden,
“That’s a lot of questions, calm down. Normally, when the conditions reset, the target resets too. Which means the ghost will no longer be locked on you. But yea, I can’t tell if it will target you again, so we’ll have to see that later if we do manage to see it in the first place.”
“Also, Elias here used me as an experiment to see how the ghost acts, since he didn’t believe me when I said it was just helping me.”
Hellen gave a sharp look to Elias but commented no further. When it was clear that Aiden was done telling everything to her, she prompted Elias to speak up.
“Murders have been happening in the town. I figured I should tell you before it gets worse since you seem to have the same special license which my dad has. Maybeeeee there’s something special about you? Multiple murders have already been committed, I want to invite you to look at them before you confront the ghost in Aiden’s house so you have more advantage against it.
“It’s only 3 in the afternoon right now, I can take you to one of the sites of murder before the sun sets. With today’s information which I gave to Aiden, we’ve already deduced a few things ourselves. Please, can I take you there first?”
Aiden knew it was only logical that they should gather clues first, but listening to Elias, it seems that the ghost can target multiple people. What if his sister is already locked on? What if she is unknowingly accepting help? Wouldn’t it be better to confront the ghost first in that case? Maybeee with the help of aunt Hellen they could finish the ghost once and for all?
When he conveyed his concerns to Hellen, she instead looked at Elias and said, “Do you have any information at hand? It would be easier for me to decide the further course of action.”
“I’ll ask for it from the head of the police department of the town. Could you wait for a few minutes?”
“Sure.”
She then turned to Aiden and instructed.
“Now, for the last point, the incomplete information. Like I’ve already talked and about to do, ghosts can indeed be confronted. And they can indeed die, but not in the literal sense. You see, the abilities which these ghosts have, they can be destroyed. You need to crush a ghost’s heart to destroy their ability. Once their ability is destroyed, they are nothing but normal immortals.”
“Immortals? So it is indeed true that ghosts can’t die?”
“Yea, any wound you inflict on them regenerates no matter what body part it may be. The regeneration speed of different ghosts is different according to the Bureau's statistics, but still, you can’t damage it and retreat to plan for the next step. The ghost would have most likely already healed by then. The heart regenerates too, but it is sufficient to just crush it once to snuff out their ability. The body of the ghost is then bound and transported to the Bureau.”
Elias stood to the side as he texted the local administration while he listened to their talks. Hellen hadn’t said anything against it so he absorbed the information being exchanged.
“I see.” Aiden muttered with a look of contemplation before he suddenly asked, “Wait, that point about specters being thought about as ghosts for people who confront it, I can accept it because the Bureau has instructed so. But you didn’t answer my question of why people are given incomplete information. Wouldn’t it be better if they knew ghosts could be confronted?”
“That defeats the point of it being information which would help them escape.” Elias butted in as he kept his phone to the side, likely having conveyed the situation over to them and waiting for their response.
“I found this file under a folder which explained what to do in emergencies and keep yourself and people under you safe. It was hidden very deeply in my father’s office laptop. I don’t know why he didn’t take it with him while going on an emergency task but I am thankful he didn’t.
“If this information is meant to keep people safe in terms of emergencies, it would be foolish to include how to fight a ghost when you could instead effectively run away which has lesser danger and more chances of surviving for everyone. Am I right madam Hellen?”
Hellen had walked over to her phone in the meantime and began typing something as she kept listening to Elias. When he asked for her input, she glanced at him and approved, nodding her head before giving her opinion.
“It’s true. But that’s not the whole reason. Say, what if even humanity has people who possess abilities?”
Both of them looked shocked about the fact, Aiden less so. She didn’t know if it was because Aiden had more emotional maturity and mental fortitude or if it was some other thing but she enjoyed the look on their faces nonetheless. Both of them were quite, unable to gauge the intent behind her question, prompting her to answer it herself,
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“If humans who possess abilities are similar to ghosts, by giving away a method to combat ghosts, aren’t they shooting themselves in the foot?”
Elias was immediately agitated upon hearing the reasoning.
“The Bureau would rather sacrifice the common people than simply show a vulnerable side of people who possess abilities? Do they want us not to oppose them? Is the Bureau made of such people?”
Aiden wasn’t surprised by Elias’ response, instead he even saw it coming. Hellen gave Elias a once over as she re-evaluated and adjusted her perception of him. She calmly replied to him, “Again, I don’t know what’s going on at the Bureau, I am not a part of them. I am only telling you what I know. Another thing to note, these people are called supers.”
Elias could only ball his fist at the side before he heaved a sigh.
I am powerless to do anything about it right now, but I swear I’ll change it.
Meanwhile Aiden had a different thought budding in his head.
That female murderer’s name was Marsha right? Could it be that only she was an ability user while that man wasn’t? Aunt Hellen just said even common people could go against these people - supers. Maybe they both were supers, maybe not, who knows.
Ding
The sound of notification cut through the uncomfortable silence as Elias picked it up to check what it was. After reading through it, he passed it to Hellen.
“Here, the information has come.”
Hellen perused through the information which had been gathered on the murders.
One house is murdered each day. Starting from 1st march.
Each house of a murdered family has one shoe of each member inside it.
“Mmm, is that it?”
“For now.”
Helen turned to Aiden and asked, “Just to be sure, you said the weird happening in your house has been happening since 1st march correct?”
“Yes.”
Helen had a pensive look on her face as she returned Elias’ phone and leaned against a wall.
A few seconds passed in silence before Hellen spoke again, this time a bit hesitatingly as she looked at the two boys.
“There… might be two ghosts. Not one, as we originally imagined.”
Their eyes widened and face went a few shades paler as Aiden managed to form a reply, “Wait, how did you deduce that?”
“These are completely different patterns.”
She told Aiden the information and explained, “Of course, I can’t be completely sure yet. Maybe there is only one ghost, maybe it was helping everyone, very subtly, and those who died happened to accept the most help and fell victim to it first, one house a day. Maybe leaving a shoe behind is some kind of side effect or condition we don’t know of yet. But if it is the same ghost and you have stopped accepting help, you should be far down its list, there are definitely more people way less cautious and astute than you.”
“What do you think we should do?”
Hellen didn’t reply to them but instead went through her phone after noticing a couple replies to her messages. She addressed Aiden, “The people I asked have replied, no such thing as random acts of kindness were happening in their house. We can almost conclude that your ghost is a separate one which is likely targeting you alone. But even if it’s a separate ghost, it hasn’t resorted to more insane acts to get you to accept its help yet, and if it’s the same ghost, like I said, you should be far down the list. Either way, you aren’t at immediate harm yet.
Hellen looked at Elias and said, “We’ll first visit the site of murder, I am more experienced in this so maybe I can deduce a few things, and know once and for all what is going on, or at least if it’s one or two ghosts.”
Aiden had nothing to say to it, aunt Hellen was more experienced in this matter, and as clearly explained by her, he wasn’t under immediate threat to his life, yet. He could keep aside his emotions and look at the bigger picture while staying cautious as usual.
When they were moving out, Aiden walked over to a glass of water and chugged it down to relieve his thirst, putting him at the end of the group. Walking out on the lawn, Hellen turned her head to face Aiden and said, “On that note, I am quite thankful you forgot to close the gate on your way in, or things might be different.”
Aiden sent her a startled look before putting on a faint smile.
Hellen led them to her car and drove to the site of the first murder under instructions of Elias.
When she reached the site, the police instantly gave way to her without so much as a cursory inspection.
Impressive.
Aiden thought, sitting in the backseat along with Elias. He looked around and discovered they were on the very edge of the town. The house they were visiting could be said to be the first one from the wall.
The trio got out of the car and headed for the house, which was currently under lockdown by the police.
Elias and Hellen talked with the police while Aiden stayed to the side on the walkway, looking around.
The house was, as expected, like the rest of the houses in the town. The lawn was beautifully turned into a garden and had plenty of area in the middle. It was simple but classy.
There was a shoe rack nailed to the wall beside the door, filled with numerous footwears of all kinds, and a few hanging flower pots neatly arranged to give the entrance a homely feeling.
Just as he was continuing observing around, Elias prompted him to follow Hellen inside the house. The scene of murder was in the bedroom.
Everything which stood out was circled with chalk.
The most noticeable thing was an outline of a body, followed by a few small circles not far from it.
He heard a person speak from behind, followed by a series of footsteps,
“The body was lying there when we entered the house, with a bottle of pills in its hand. From how the room looked at the time we entered, it seemed like he tried to take the pills but knocked down several bottles in the process. But judging from how the bottle in his hands wasn’t opened, we believe he didn’t even get the time to open it before dying. One of his shoes was lying beside him here.”
The person pointed to several circles on the ground as she explained the entire thing, notifying them which circle belonged to which item. Only as she turned around to greet Hellen that he got a good look at her.
“Hello, my name is Valeria. There should usually be a crime scene investigator, a forensic pathologist and a forensic analyst to do the job, but not to mention how the government can’t afford to place so many experts for each and every town, there aren’t so many experts existing in the first place. I am the one who does the work of all three in this town, and also the one who’ll guide you through the cases.”
She had an appearance that was on the cuter side, light freckles on the nose and specs which gave her an intelligent edge. Her voice was soft and soothing to hear, he almost felt as if she was in the wrong profession. Hellen made some small talk with Valeria while both of them looked around if they could notice something.
Both of them heard Hellen asking the crucial questions a couple seconds later,
“What do you think happened here?”
Valeria exhaled lightly, giving a fleeting glance to the two young men before looking at Hellen, who simply nodded as if understanding her. The guide gestured towards the drawing on the floor, replying professionally, “There is nobody here, so I’ll tell you, I do know about the specters, and I’ll be assuming it to be the ‘murderer’. Please don’t speak of it outside, not even the police know about it. You both should know the rules assuming that madam Hellen brought you here. You can’t speak about specters out in public, it’s a very strict rule and most of the time you can be executed for it. If you want to engage with the police, use the term ‘murderer’, it’s a standard procedure.”
Both of them had a startled look on their faces as they turned to Hellen. Valeria, who understood the situation, realized that Hellen had not informed the young men and gave her stern look. The latter simply shrugged and said, “I thought it was common sense.”
Valeria ignored the woman and faced the young men, “Well, you know now.”
She then continued, “There isn’t much to look at in this crime scene. Only an old man lived in this house. As you can see, and probably deduce yourself, when the specter entered the house, the old man was looking through pills to take, spilling them in the process due to fright when he witnessed the specter, and well, dropped dead. There wasn’t a single wound on his body, so I only have a few conjectures as to what caused his death.”
Aiden quickly questioned her with the doubt which cropped up as he listened to her, “Wait, you said the old man got scared looking at the specter, does that mean it has a proper visible form and not something fog like? Like they are often depicted?”
“Nope, specters have the form of a corpse. A rotten corpse.”