"I already told you: I feel fine," Gadalik insisted. He was sitting up in his bed, the rising sun shining a perfect rectangle of light onto the mattress in front of him through the window above the headboard. "Honest."
Glacia was crouched on the floor beside him with her hand to his forehead. "You don't have a fever," she reported. "Can you breathe okay? Deep breaths."
The teen complied, if only so his adoptive mother would quit worrying about him.
"Alright, that's good... Now how long did you sleep last night?"
He froze.
"Gadalik," she said, stretching the sound into a warning. His striped blue eyes darted away from her. She repeated his name more sharply, "Gadalik!"
He flinched. "I still have a hard time falling asleep, but I'm getting in more hours than before," he said truthfully. "Why is this still so important to you?"
"Just five days ago you looked like you were dying," she reminded him. "I don't want that happening again...!"
"Hey, now... If he says he's alright, then let him be," a voice sounded from the hallway. Its owner--a man one year older than her, wearing a white tank top covered by a magenta vest and blue-violet scarf, both just shades darker than his eyes of the same colors, and black pants--leaned against the doorframe to Gadalik's room, stretching a muscle-toned arm across the top of it so that there was still space for either of them to pass through.
"That's easy for you to believe. You weren't there for his last spook’s job, Gale. You didn't see him shaking like a leaf and struggling to breathe and puking...!"
Gadalik stared absently at the comforter clenched in his hands. He hated the fact that he caused such a pitiful scene.
"But I was there with him for three out of the four doctors that you made him see. They all chalked it up to being overwhelmed in a stressful environment... A nervous breakdown. Not some deadly disease," Gale soothed his girlfriend.
"But that doesn't explain why he can't sleep,” Glacia went on. “Something's keeping him up, and those quacks were more eager to get their hands on my money than to figure out what's wrong with him!"
Gadalik dragged a knee to his chest, blanket and all, and rested his upper body against it. His miser of a mother rarely spent a cent more than necessary, yet she didn't bat an eye at forking over insane amounts for the medical expenses even when the last three times yielded the same result as the first. He felt a sense of guilt not only from making her fret but also from how much she spent on him.
"Stress can cause insomnia. The best thing you can do for him right now is calm down and give him time," Gale said, repeating what the last nurse had told them.
"...Fine," she gave in. "But if he doesn't start getting enough sleep like they told him to, I'm sending him to that reputable doctor next state."
Please don't, the spook silently begged, hugging his leg firmly.
Gale pushed a clump of his blue-violet hair, stylized in a medium length flowy mohawk with black fades, up off the side of his forehead, revealing the two sets of piercings above and below his left eyebrow. "Deal. Now come and eat the breakfast I made you, or I'll throw you both in the hospital for starvation," he joked.
Gadalik's stomach growled at the thought of eating those famous omelets of his, and although Glacia seemed hesitant to leave him, ultimately she walked under Gale's arm and headed downstairs.
The bounty hunter stood straighter. "If you're having trouble sleeping, try eating a couple of kiwis before bed. It helps me sometimes, anyway."
"Thank you... I really do need more sleep. They told me that was a big contributor to what happened," he shared. "If I could sleep, there'd be nothing to worry about. But ever since we got back from Mount Thaed, I just...can't–not for very long. Why...?"
"Did something unusual happen when you were there?"
The green-haired boy shrugged. "The spirit almost crushed my windpipe, but I've been through worse. Glacia had a small disagreement with me, but we worked it out in the end." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
"Maybe it wasn't something that happened at the place itself; rather, on the way there or back."
Gadalik tensed, his appetite fading. The journey there had been nearly identical to the last one he and his blood-parents had been on. The spirit was in the same consumed category as well. He shook his head. "...It was eight years ago, and I moved past it. I was over it until Glacia brought it up..." the sentence trailed off. "It wasn't Glacia's fault. We agreed on that." His voice was almost inaudible, as he was more so thinking out loud. "I don't understand why it's suddenly a problem--I..."
"...Something wrong?"
The teen brought his other knee up over top of the covers and lightly dug his fingernails into his lower calf, near some tiny faded pink scars that would be unnoticeable if they weren't more reflective than clear skin in the light.
"Woah, there--it's alright; calm down." Gale immediately stepped in and pulled his hand away.
Gadalik struggled for just a moment before realizing what he himself had been doing. "S-sorry," he apologized, humiliated.
"...What happened? You can talk to me."
The spook took a breath. "Our fight was about my parents... Their deaths must have been so hard on Glacia. I had no idea she shouldered that blame for almost a decade. But it wasn't her fault, and that's what I told her."
"...Whose fault was it, then, Gadalik?"
He glared at the pattern on his comforter. "It was their own fault. What they did was their choice... Not Glacia's, and not mine."
Gale nodded.
"I know I wasn't responsible for them dying... So why...why--do I feel so--" his hand suddenly fought against the man's restraint "--bothered about it all of the sudden?"
"Hey! Relax. It's completely normal. I still miss my father after eight years, too. Just because they've been gone for so long doesn't mean the grief is," he pointed out. "New kinds of stress can open up old wounds... And according to Glacia, you've been under a lot of it recently."
The spook didn't deny that, allowing his arm to go limp.
Gale released it. "Come and eat. We've got a surprise for you afterward, okay?"
"...Alright. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Take your time." He waited a moment before leaving to give the kid some much-needed space.
Gadalik hauled himself out of bed soon after, pulling on some decent clothes and then joining his family to eat.
"There he is," Glacia announced happily when her son moved to sit at the table. "Now let's dig in!"
Eating improved Gadalik's mood a lot. It helped that his practical father's cooking was superb. The flavor overrode his thoughts, at least until the omelets were gone.
"Now then, start packing," his mother demanded. "...Because we're going on vacation at a beach resort!"
The teen swallowed the last bite and stared at her in amazement. "Really?"
"Only on one condition," Gale specified. "That you're not going there on business. You're going to take this opportunity to relax and have fun."
"What do you say? Do you think you can manage that for a few days?" Glacia prompted.
"W-well... If there aren't any ghosts who need help there, I don't see why not," Gadalik agreed.
"If there is a ghost there, we're switching resorts," Glacia said sternly. "Maybe you can take care of it once you're back to your normal self, if you really want to. But not a soul until then! Is that clear?"
"Crystal," he answered.
"I already have our ride scheduled, so hurry and get ready," she chimed.
He showered, brushed his teeth and hair, and changed into a dark red button-down plaid short-sleeved shirt and tucked it into pastel-blue polyester slacks that slightly narrowed toward his ankles. Lastly he put on a pair of shiny deep red loafers. He rarely left the house without having ghost business that required the adorning of his protective robe, so dressing casually was a nice change of pace, and helped take his mind off things.
He tied his shoulder-length striped green hair back into his usual ponytail, then reconsidered and let it down again. Hm... He put it up once more and experimented with how loose to make it, eventually settling on a very low variation of the style.
He felt refreshed and ready to spend time outdoors doing other things he liked. He started packing into a suitcase when his gaze traveled to the staff by his bed, then to the duffel bag in his closet, and he debated with himself. Taking it doesn't mean working, he rationalized. And without it, unaware ghosts would look like living people to me. I don't want to accidentally talk to a ghost that nobody else can see...they'd think I'm crazy. So just in case... He swapped packs to make room for it.
As he left down the hallway, Glacia came out of her room wearing a sleeveless vertically-striped button-up purple shirt that was tied on at the waist, with straight-legged capri pants belted on just below her navel, a light blue color to match her short pearl necklace.
"Wow, I don't think I've seen you out of your spook's clothes in ages," she commented. "You look like a normal person now!"
Gadalik laughed.
"Ride's here!" Gale called them. He gave a one-note whistle when the two came down. "Lookin' good!"
Glacia posed as she passed him. "Why, thank you!"
"You're not going to put on something more fitting?" he asked the bounty hunter.
"Eh, no need. I'm comfortable in this," Gale replied. The only alteration made to his outfit was the addition of a sheathed sword at his hip. The three left together.
Gale had joined them a mere three days after they returned home from their visit to a haunted mansion, having left immediately upon receiving Glacia's urgent letter detailing her concerns for the spook's well-being.
She often dramatized the events of which she wrote to him, although this time she may have gone overboard; Gale seemed to believe the younger male had one foot in the grave until he saw Gadalik for himself, after which Glacia had 'appointed' him as her son's personal bodyguard...a role that the spook was certain the bounty hunter would have taken on regardless of her asking. Not that Gadalik minded it. In the five years they've known each other, Gale tended to be protective of him and Glacia, always covertly vigilant, and it gave him a sense of safety.
It was afternoon when they walked into the resort to get their room keys. When it came to traveling with his parents, Gadalik preferred having his own room, while the couple shared a separate one next door. Apparently the two had been planning this for a couple days, and while it was Glacia’s idea, Gale had been the one to reserve their rooms, which were on the upper floor. They headed for the elevator and there was a woman, perhaps in her forties, seeming upset with an employee in front of it.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you'll have to take the stairs. The elevator is still being repaired," the worker said.
"I would take the stairs except I don't know the code to unlock it." She placed a hand on her hip.
"You only need a code to reach the storage room below-ground," the employee informed her.
"I know this! I was hired to go down there. Didn't the owner tell you anything? I get he wanted this to stay under wraps, but I thought he'd tell at least one of his workers to let me do my job!"
Gadalik related to her situation. When it came to places as successful as this, any and all hauntings were kept secret by the owners to avoid losing business from scared customers until a spook could rid the building of it. Troublesome as it was, they usually paid a lot to compensate for it.
Glacia groaned. "We have to take the stairs? I wonder if it's too late to switch to a room on the ground floor..."
"Unfortunately they're all taken," Gale sighed. "Oh well. We could all use the exercise, right Gadalik?"
"Hang on," he said, and approached the woman. "Um, excuse me, miss..."
She looked down to face him, her long jet-black bangs falling over her dark brown eyes from the motion. She tucked them behind her ears. "Yes, boy?" She stared at him momentarily. "Do I know you?"
"I don't think so... My name's Gadalik."
"...Janna. Do you need something?"
"I was wondering if I could help... Can you tell me what your job is, that they want it 'under wraps'?"
"Oh." She glanced at her large pack and then to the employee. "I, uh...I'm an exterminator. Undercover. Just between you and me, there are reports of an infestation in the storage room. B-but I'm here to take care of it, so don't go telling all your friends, okay?" she said with an obviously fake smile.
"I'll page the owner for you right away, ma'am," the employee assured her.
It was plain to see she wasn't being honest, but with his family waiting on him, Gadalik let it go. Upstairs, he separated from them to unpack his belongings, including a first aid kit which he dismissively wrapped in his dark green spook's robe and tucked under the bed, a beach umbrella, towel, swimwear, and sunscreen, all of which he planned to use after the rest in his bag was put away. Then there was his staff. His adoptive parents knew he needed it to differentiate spirits from the living. Gale was even the one who gave him this particular staff to replace his real father's that had recently broken during a fight between Gadalik and a consumed ghost. Surely they'd understand he wasn't breaking their only condition by simply bringing it...right?
He sighed and decided to leave it in the bag. Then he took the bag and the beach supplies--besides the trunks and tank since he was now in them--within it along, meeting up with his family to go to the ocean. Glacia was now in a one-piece bathing suit and Gale without his vest but was wearing more casual shorts.
The beach was full of people chasing seagulls, swimming, and tanning, and Glacia instantly took to the water. Gale watched her from the shore, and Gadalik set up the umbrella over the towel he decided to sit on with the change of clothes and drying towels in a bag beside his own.
He took in the pleasant sight of shimmering waves and breathed the salty air tinted with the scent of grilling foods. The strangers and his parents all seemed happy. That's why he couldn't help but notice one man a few years older than Gadalik by himself sitting at the shoreline, his face a little scrunched with concentration. The spook slipped his hand into the bag, gripping the hardwood at the bottom of it. As he suspected, the man became slightly translucent. A ghost... He seems troubled. But I promised...
"I-I found one!" the man suddenly exclaimed. Since he was currently invisible, his voice was also silent to those who couldn't see him. He leapt up with something in his hand. "A real scalloped hammerhead shark's tooth! It took a lifetime, but I finally found one for myself...!"
Gadalik watched as the man spun while clutching the tooth to his heart, then flew off with the tooth. The spook relaxed some, relieved the spirit fulfilled his lingering goal. The heat of the sun was comforting, and his lack of sleep was starting to catch up to him despite the surrounding indistinct chatter. He started to doze off into a dreamless sleep.
Late afternoon, Gadalik rolled over and realized he was awake. Gale and Glacia were sitting beside him, talking quietly so as to let him sleep.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"...And then I finally told her off," Glacia was saying.
"She had it coming," Gale sided with his girlfriend.
"Ooh, she got so mad after that. You should've seen her ghostly face," she giggled. Gadalik pushed himself upright and stretched. "Oh, you're up! Did you have a nice nap?"
It was less populated than before, and the weather was a bit cooler. He looked at the sky to take note of where the sun was. "Almost two hours," he estimated. "I'd say that's pretty good. I feel better too."
"What say we grab something to eat?" Gale suggested.
"We can have a picnic here," she added.
Gadalik smiled. "Sure."
After they ate and washed the sand off at the public showers and dressed, they went browsing through the souvenir shops, Glacia picking out sponges and cards and a stuffed animal, among other things to add to the hoard in her bedroom at home. Gadalik fancied a small painting of an island. Gale didn't ask for anything, but his girlfriend bought him a mug with a decorative pattern, which he acted like was the best thing in the world.
Around evening they went to their rooms, and Gadalik moved the stool from the little table toward the window and watched the sunset over the churning waves. After the sun went out of view he replaced the stool, went to bed, and shut his eyes.
After a few hours of lying awake, he thought he heard something. He glanced toward the window and was jolted to complete wakefulness upon unexpectedly spotting a girl there looking out.
She heard his gasp and looked at the teen, confused at first. Then she covered her mouth with horror. "You--you can see me?! Are you a spook?"
He nodded, a little bit shaken, but calming down a bit since it wasn't a living person like he first thought.
"I-I'm sorry--please don't annihilate me!"
"Annihilate you?! Why--what horrific things have you done to deserve being wiped from existence?"
"I don't know, ask your lady friend!"
"Lady friend...?"
"Yeah! That spook with the black hair. Aren't you with her?"
The woman at the elevator... I knew it. "No, I've only seen her once. I'm actually off-duty right now, anyway, so don't worry about me."
"Phew... Glad to hear it."
"...Were you ever in the storage room, by chance?"
"Ick, why would I want to go down there? I'm not a poltergeist trapped in a dirty old room. I actually lived very far from here, in a landlocked state. All I ever wanted was to see the full moon over the ocean from a good vantage point with my own eyes before I died, and...it's finally a full moon tonight." She brought her focus back to the window.
Then there's another spirit here... He looked at his duffel bag. No--I can't break my terms with Glacia and Gale. Besides, that other spook is already handling it. It's not my responsibility.
"You know, it's nice being able to talk to someone living without them freaking out. Is it okay if I watch the moon from here?"
"...Sure." If I can't sleep, at least I'll have something else to do now.
The two witnessed the moon's reflection on the sea, which danced on the tops of waves. It was easy to forget that such sights were never seen by some people. He counted himself lucky.
"It's more beautiful than I could have imagined," she murmured. With those final words, she disappeared.
Gadalik yawned and covered up, eventually falling asleep.
It was a beautiful morning. He slept in for the first time in almost two weeks. Gadalik went through his routine and then stepped out of his room to see if his parents were up. Closing the door behind him, he saw a note taped to it, the words in familiar cursive handwriting.
'Morning! We thought you should sleep in, so we let you. Gale and I went on a walk by the water. We'll be back soon!
-Glacia
He passed by the broken elevator and went down the staircase, to be met with a crowd of worried people blocking the way. Gadalik tapped the nearest person's shoulder. "Excuse me, sir, what's going on?"
The bystander answered, "Apparently someone's hurt down there. We're waiting for help to arrive, but we think some kind of feral animal is in there with her..."
Gadalik's heart skipped a beat. He raced back up the stairs and grabbed his robe and staff as well as the first aid kit he was now grateful Glacia made him bring. I heard a faint thump last night, but I thought it was the ghost from out of state. I didn't think it could be from the storage room... Please, let her be alive...!
He pried his way between people and toward the code-locked door at the base of the stairs. An older man was blocking it off from the public. "Please go about your business. The matter is currently being handled and is not of your concern. As the owner of this establishment, I can assure you that this will not impact your stay."
The owner? This means I have a chance...! He buried his fears and copied the authoritative mannerisms he'd seen Glacia use to get her way with officials. He approached the man. "Let me through," he demanded in a collected tone, just loud enough to be heard over the crowd.
The owner took one look at his getup and immediately listened. "A-a spook?"
"Yes. I know about the ghost. Janna called me for backup,” he lied. “This is urgent; her life--and your business--is at stake."
The man stared him down for a second, then reluctantly entered the code and turned the handle. Gadalik stepped inside, leaving it open out of fear that nobody could rescue them if things ended badly, and silently descended the steps with bated breath. He waited behind the corner of the stairwell, listening to find out what he was getting himself into.
He heard the woman curse to herself breathlessly.
The ghost answered her with a reverent snarl. She let out a battle cry, her charging footsteps echoing between the storage crates and furniture cluttering the basement. There was a wail-like roar for a few seconds, followed by a growl, and then a scream.
The metallic smell of blood was sickening and at first overpowered Gadalik's other senses. He dared himself to peer around the wall. Janna lied on the cold concrete floor, wearing a shredded dark gray cloak with blood matting her previously-silky hair as well as gushing from a gash in her leg. Clutched in her fist was a staff shorter than his and more stake-like in appearance. She propped herself up with the weapon aimed at it.
Before them was a humongous transparent beast with a featureless head, its only two limbs being arms shortened from shoulder to elbow then lengthened there-down and ending with mole-like hands. A tangible energy field from a spell-tag she had used on it was confining its body, preventing it from shape-shifting, though its movements in its current shape were not restricted. Its muzzle ripped open where the mouth should be as it released a threatening bellow at the injured spook and prepared to deal a finishing blow. She angled the point of her staff to meet his attack, and the spell-tag attached Gadalik recognized was for exorcism.
Horrified, he darted out from cover. "Stop!"
The ghost paused its attack, distracted by the intruder.
"What the--?" Janna said, turning to see who was there. "Y-you!"
Gadalik put a shield spell on his staff as he rushed to her side. He took out the medical kit.
She grabbed it and tended to her leg. The confinement tag she'd used on the spirit timed out. "I should've known... You're Trent's boy, aren't you?"
She knew my father?
"...It doesn't matter. Get out of here. I can handle this."
He shook his head defiantly. "You're injured, and you've already lost too much blood. Besides, I can't let you annihilate this spirit with the exorcism tag... Even if it looks like a beast, it was once a human like us. It just...needs help."
"Ugh, I don't have time to deal with a rookie's delusions. This one is too far gone for help." She finished bandaging her leg and crawled out from under his protective barrier.
"You can never be too far gone," Gadalik disagreed. "I've only faced two spirits who were consumed this badly, but I still managed to at least talk to them. Please, let me try."
"Tch. It's your funeral, kid."
As the shield began to fade, he reached into his pocket and took out a tag for disfigurement. Attaching it to his staff, he used the claw-shaped steel tip to stab the beast's lashing hand. Upon contact, its wispy form dispersed into a cloud.
Gadalik propped the weapon over his shoulder, leaving himself open. "It's okay, see? I'm not going to hurt you."
The cloud began to reshape. It took the form of a similar, slightly smaller beast, this time with reptilian eyes that darted to and fro, assessing the danger it was in.
Janna watched skeptically, leaning against a crate to relieve the pressure on her injured leg. Both hands held her staff in preparation to fight at any second, but she held it low and stayed out of the way.
Gadalik remained calm and still. "You're safe. You don't have to fight anymore."
The large creature neared the spook. Then it roared in his face and moved in to bite his head off. Gadalik fell backward in fear, instinctively added another tag, then drove his staff into its temple. Again its form lost solidity.
"Are you done yet?" Janna snidely remarked.
Gadalik stayed down, shaking too bad to get up. He ignored her. "Please, listen... You're not a voiceless animal; you're a human. You can tell me what's bothering you. I can help...!"
The fog of the ghost’s shapeless body swirled aimlessly. "...All my life I've talked, and it never made a difference," the disembodied voice finally spoke.
"It's worth a try," he encouraged.
"Nobody cared or listened to what I had to say, so I gave up speaking at all... But I grew to accept it. I never needed them to hear me anyway."
"That's awful... Everyone deserves to be heard..."
"Yes... I learned that a few days ago. I was in the elevator when it fell from the fourth floor... Fatally injured and trapped, for hours I cried and begged for help, yet still nobody heard me. By the time someone showed up later that day, I was long dead."
"I'm so sorry... There may be some misunderstanding... I doubt everyone ignored you on purpose. I would have to ask the others involved so I can give you the full story. Either way, it must have been so lonely and painful," he said. "It's going to be okay now. Calm down and we can work through this."
"Too late..."
Gadalik gulped as the cloud's new form was more massive than before. "W-what...?"
The door slammed shut. Janna limped over to inspect it. "We're trapped," she reported, then staggered. Despite the bandage on her leg, she still had her head-injury and wouldn't be able to move very much.
"Nobody came to help me until it was too late," the spirit continued. "Now nobody will rescue you. You'll know how it feels for your screams to befall deaf ears until your deaths!" The beast swiped at Gadalik like a cat would a mouse. Caught off-guard, he was swatted against a sturdy crate, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs. It slowly, menacingly strode toward him. "Any last words...?"
Gadalik gasped in air until he could confess, "I already know what that's like..."
"What?" it asked, disbelieving.
"My parents were murdered by a ghost like you... I was a kid, helpless to protect them... For two days I was alone in a cabin after I buried them. I cried and screamed for help and when nobody came, I gave up. I know how hopeless you felt..."
"You can't possibly know how I feel... You survived!" The spirit lunged at him with its torn up jaws agape.
Gadalik blocked it with his staff by itself. There hadn't been enough time to prepare another tag, and now that he needed both arms to keep the blade-like teeth parted, it boiled down to a contest of strength. "Listen to me... You may have died, but you're still here...! As long as you exist, you can find closure," he reasoned. When it didn't acknowledge his words, desperation began to take hold. "Please, this isn't the answer...! Killing us isn't going to help you move on!"
The ghost simply growled, all traces of its humanity lost. It was mere inches from the boy, who had now been forced onto his back in his losing struggle. Just as it was about to kill, a stake-like staff pierced its shoulder and knocked it off balance. The stun spell-tag attached electrified the beast, which opened its mouth wider to roar, allowing Gadalik's staff to fall from it.
He took a second to recover, then retrieved his weapon and turned to Janna, who had thrown hers.
She was on the verge of passing out by the stairs. "What are you waiting for? Confine it, then exorcize it!"
"I... I don't have any exorcism tags," Gadalik said. "Annihilating a spirit... I-I can't do that...!"
"Argh! Stupid kid! Why did you become a spook in the first place if you're not prepared to kill a ghost?"
He was shaking, both from terror and emotion, and he realized he was out of tags completely. He hadn't brought many in the first place since he wasn't supposed to be on business.
"Come and take mine before the stun spell wears off," Janna instructed, barely able to sit up. "We don't have much time."
He ran, exhausted, to her side and looked through the tags she handed him. "You don't have any stun spells left?"
"No, but you don't need them."
The beast regained mobility, reached back with its giant clawed hand, and tore Janna's staff from its shoulder, tossing it to the back of the room. Then it rounded on them.
"Hurry, kid...! Before it...kills us..." Janna lost consciousness.
Gadalik panicked. Time appeared to slow down drastically as he escaped to his mind. It was like he was nine years old again, unable to do anything but watch as the consumed spirit tried to kill someone he cared for.
Nothing good ever came of violence. All it brought was death. He had never so much as touched the tags necessary to annihilate a soul. The thought of doing so went against everything he stood for.
"I became a spook...so I could help spirits...!" he cried, answering Janna's earlier question. The beast was getting closer by each eternity-long second. "It was my parents' fault they died...because they chose to fight...!"
Janna lay motionless at his feet. But this ghost isn't giving me a choice... Could it be the same for the others, like Janna...?
He stared indecisively at the tags she gave him. His mind was going blank, unable to think at all under the pressure.
Before he knew it, the spirit shoved him against the wall where he was pinned , the abrupt motion scattering the tags he'd unintentionally released upon impact. But he still had a strong hold on his weapon.
Gadalik could scarcely breathe under its increasing pressure. He shut his eyes in acceptance of his impending death. Then his mind tuned back in. No. He angled the steeled end of his staff at his attacker. I'm not a helpless child anymore...! I won't stand by while Janna dies the same way my parents did!
He struggled to free his arm from under the increasing weight of its massive palm. Janna didn't choose to die... Neither did Mom and Dad.
His arm broke free. Its sudden absence let the pressure that had been on his arm befall his chest; he cried out in agony when something cracked, but he refused to be withheld by the pain. The teen glared at the void inside the creature's mouth. It was purposely not finishing him, opting to make its victim suffer by crushing him slowly, like a preying snake.
A spirit chose to kill them. "You chose to kill..." he accused it quietly. "It's your fault..."
It snarled, pressing harder. His chest felt about to burst.
"It's your fault!" Gadalik exclaimed, simultaneously driving the speared edge up through its chin and blocking out the sound of its pained bluster. It recoiled and released him–his body dropped, feeling both too light and too heavy at the same time. He forced himself to stand while clutching the staff offensively. "You're not a human anymore... You're a monster...!" He charged at the spirit before it could recover, running the staff straight through it with all of his might.
It was beginning to back away from him, but Gadalik didn't let up. He swung, beat, and stabbed the monster in a flurry of movements derived from pure rage. Now it was the beast pinned against the wall. The staff was designed to be able to strike spirits even when they were intangible. The ghost was bound to the room regardless; it had no escape.
In the back of his mind, the spook knew this. Yet his assault never ceased. If he stopped, the monster would kill Janna. It would kill him. So he didn't.
The ghost's struggles were weakening. Its muzzle was wide to emit endless wails that the teen couldn't hear over the blood rushing through him. Its body was being ripped apart with bits of white fog clinging to the steel claws every time he withdrew the weapon only to strike again and again. Eventually, there was nothing left.
Still, he battered the ground where the last of it had faded. He distinctly heard the door unlock but his focus didn't leave the floor that was soaked with blood...Janna's blood. Blood that the monster had spilled.
He didn't hear Glacia yelling his name, or Gale's approaching footsteps. He let out a contumacious scream when his practical father restrained him in an arm lock until the injured spook couldn't fight anymore. The teen choked and coughed out blood, gasping for air. More people came in through the open door but Gadalik couldn't see who they were through his fading vision. The world dissolved into blackness.
Everything was silent. Gadalik's body was sore all over. It hurt to move, yet he blindly reached for the staff he kept propped on the nightstand beside his bed. Nothing was there. Panic set in. He opened his striped blue eyes, his heart sinking when he saw he was in a hospital room. Again.
How many times do I have to tell Glacia my breakdown didn't mean anything? he complained silently and tried to stand up to leave, whimpering slightly from the terrible ache in his upper back and in his chest every time he inhaled. Looking down he was confused to find a bandage on the side of his chest where it hurt the most.
"Sir, you shouldn't be up yet," said a nurse who caught him at the door. "While your injuries aren't life-threatening, you were crushed pretty badly. Fractured your rib and it punctured your lung. You need to rest. Your guardians are in the waiting room, so I can tell them you're awake for you."
Crushed? When was I ever...? Memories flooded back. "Janna!" he cried.
"Sir, please calm down--"
"Where's Janna? Did--did she--?" he couldn't bring himself to say the word 'die.' The image of her still and bleeding body stuck in his mind.
"She's alive, and she's making a great recovery. Now you settle down so you can recover too, okay?"
He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "Can I see her...?"
"Sure. She's right across the hall there."
"Thank you so much," he said wholeheartedly. He knocked, and upon hearing her invite, entered.
"Well, if it isn't my hero," she greeted him sarcastically. He looked away, ashamed he hadn't used her spell tags to end the fight sooner. "Hey, cheer up. I'm proud of you, boy. I didn't think you had it in you to exorcize a spirit, let alone beat one to into annihilation."
He felt sick as the memories returned. "...He just wanted to be heard..."
"...What?"
"...And I--I stopped listening to his cries while I--" his voice broke. "What...What have I done...?"
"You did what you had to," Janna answered simply. "I saw you try to reason with him. He was too far gone."
"But you're never too--"
"Oh, spare me that wishful thinking. You realize spooks are hired to make spirits leave this world, right? That doesn't always mean sending them to the netherworld--it means getting rid of their spirit for good."
"...How can you be okay with that? Denying their soul their right to the afterlife..."
"You're, like, the only spook who isn't okay with it," she explained. "Consumed spirits are the most dangerous and difficult to help with your method. They feel entitled to their rage and despair, so they just want to vent it out on innocent people for as long as we spooks let them. Ending their existence is the best thing we can for everyone, including them."
Gadalik processed this, sitting in the chair by her bed. The events from that morning felt like it was all a dream or a distant memory from long ago. The details were hazy but his bruised skin reminded him that it was very much real and recent.
"I know it can sound heartless... It took your father years to start taking on jobs involving consumed ghosts because of that mentality."
"Who were you to him...?"
"Trent was my partner before he met your mother. He used to act a lot like you when we first started out. But then he learned that annihilation is the best thing we can do to help ghosts who are too consumed by their fates. It puts an end to everyone's suffering."
"But what if there was still hope for him...? What if I could've saved him--"
"You can't help someone if they don't want to be helped, kid. They'll just drag you down with them...human, or ghost. The sooner you realize you're not a perfect little hero capable of saving everyone, the happier you'll be."