This time, Colby was the one who was scared. Quite the opposite of Taylor, who found the whole thing super funny.

"S-she needs to be locked up. She wants to sniff my farts?! She really wrote that?! S-she's insane!"

"You've got some interesting fans," Taylor laughed.

And another message from Harper on Tinder popped up:

Colby?

You don't need to be afraid.

I'm your biggest fan.

Is there any way I can help you?

"Fuck that, she can kiss my ass!" Colby exclaimed in disgust.

Taylor laughed even louder. "Looks like she'd love to do that."

Tears were streaming down her face from laughing so hard.

"Come on, Taylor! Help me out here. I'm always there for you," Colby pleaded.

Yeah, okay. He had a point. Colby was always reliable and ready to help Taylor.

"Okay, I'm sorry," she said, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes. "But it's not that bad, really. She has no way of finding us. Or you. Well, mostly you. Just you."

She grinned again.

"Really?" the ghost asked hopefully.

Another new message from Harper. She doesn't seem to want to give up.

It's okay, Colby.

Take your time with your reply.

I've found you; everything else is just a matter of time.

Taylor looked at the message. Would it be worth considering? He would never agree.

"What are you thinking?" Colby asked after an awkward silence.

"You know…" She crossed her arms. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think we should meet her."

"What?!" Colby teleported quickly to the apartment door, making sure it was really locked. "Why the hell?!"

"Just think about it. She seems to be your biggest fan. She must have read everything about you. Everything."

"And?!"

"And?" Taylor repeated. "Think about it. If anyone has clues about your case, it's her."

Colby shook his head vigorously. "No way. Absolutely not. Didn't you read that? She wants! To smell! My! Farts! As if they were damn scented candles! No way!"

"Well, she wouldn't see you at all. Just me. We'll say that I've been studying your case and I'm a huge fan of yours, so I pretended to be you just because I love you so much. Maybe she'll share some information with me."

"Are you crazy?!" Colby tried one last time to dissuade Taylor. "What about your fear of people?! And then you want to meet some random lunatic?!"

Taylor grinned slightly, but much warmer this time. "Believe it or not, Ghost Boy, but you're worth the risk to me. Plus, you'll obviously come with me; I'm not going alone to meet this creep. And if all else fails, you can protect me, strong boy." She gestured to the dumbbells. "Or is that all just for show, huh?"

"You can't force me. Nope, no way."

"But think about it, with her help, we might crack your case. Don't you want to know who logged into your MySpace profile? After your death?"

"Yeah, but…I really don't want to go meet that creepy bitch."

"Okay, then another try. At Amazon, you can get more than just dumbbells. If you accompany me, we'll go shopping afterward. Clothes, protein stuff, series, movies, and much more. We'll buy everything you want for $100."

"$100 is a lot…" he said skeptically. "Are you sure you want to spend that much?"

"You're like a therapist to me. I've paid a lot more for that. And somehow, you're the only one I see hope in." She held out her hand. "Deal?"

Colby rolled his eyes and then finally shook on it. "Fine. Deal. Message her." Taylor immediately sat down at the laptop. "But we'll meet at her place. And for God's sake, don't tell her where we live. That's how stalkers are born, Taylor."

She typed. "If she only knew whose ghost she's about to meet."

"What are you writing to her now?" Colby also looked at the screen.

"Hello Harper. I'm sorry, but I'm not Colby. My name is Taylor…" she read aloud and then glanced at Colby. That was the first time he heard her last name. "Taylor Lautner," she continued, but Colby showed no reaction. Of course not, he doesn't know Twilight.

"So, that's why you made such a fuss about your last name? That's just a normal name."

"Jesus Christ, that's the name of a famous actor who played a shirtless werewolf. His abs shine brighter than the sun, and believe me, he's even creepier than our Harper. Just the fact alone of him naming his lover after the Loch Ness Monster. And who his lover is, I don't even want to think about that. Be glad you didn't experience Twilight. I am hotter than you."

"You've got some tough competition right in front of your eyes, but yeah, I agree," Colby joked.

"Guess what the actor's wife's name is."

"How am I supposed to know that?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Taylor. Since the marriage, also Lautner. Taylor Lautner, married to Taylor Lautner."

"You're making that up."

"I wish I were. I'm firmly convinced that one of my fears has to do with being named after the Twilight mutt. But whatever." She continued reading the message she wanted to send to Harper. "And no, I'm not the one from Twilight or his wife, I just happen to be named Taylor Lautner. I almost have to write that every time. Whatever. At. What. I'm just a normal girl and a huge fan of Colby. After seeing your profile, you'll understand. Could we maybe meet up? Not as a date, but you probably know a lot about Colby, and I'd be really interested to hear about it. Is that okay?"

"Living Girl, so you're really going to go through with this, huh?"

"Oh, absolutely."

Harper replied immediately, of course. It was convenient that she also lived in Proxley, so Taylor was invited directly to her apartment, which was only half an hour away. Even though she found it strange that Taylor had pretended to be her idol on a dating site. But was it really justified for her to question things like that?

Arriving on the third floor, Taylor cautiously knocked on the door. Colby stepped back a bit but still touched Taylor's hand. The door was immediately opened by Harper, who looked at Taylor skeptically.

"Taylor Lautner?" she asked emotionlessly.

"Y-yes."

Harper grinned. "Well then, come in! Come in! I'm Harper Cannaway!" She let her visitor in and then energetically shut the door. "You can't imagine what it's like to finally meet a kindred spirit!" Interesting choice of words.

Taylor nodded briefly and watched Colby as he secretly inspected the apartment. There were pictures of Colby everywhere on the walls. Some were cut out from newspapers, sports pictures, and even a polaroid where he and several other men were depicted. That seemed to particularly interest Colby.

"Where did she get all this? She has more pictures of me than I do," he remarked.

Harper offered Taylor a seat on her couch and then sat cross-legged on it herself. "So, what do you want to know?"

Taylor was still distracted by Colby, who was currently looking through a wall. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Well, what you want to know. About our god of beauty."

Taylor, still distracted by Colby's behavior, sat on the offered couch and took a moment to collect herself. "Well, first of all, thank you for inviting us, Harper," she began politely. "Uh, me. Honestly, I'd like to hear everything."

Harper grinned from ear to ear. "Oh, I have so much to tell about Colby. He was simply fascinating, wasn't he? And incredibly hot!" She leaned back once and looked at Taylor with an intense gaze. "But before I reveal anything to you, I want to show you something first." Now Colby was interested and leaned against the couch. Harper pushed up the sleeve of her sweater and presented a bracelet full of white cowrie shells.

Colby froze when he saw the bracelet, his eyes widening with surprise and disgust. "That's my bracelet, you bitch!" he exclaimed disgustedly. "Take it off immediately! That's my coochie bracelet!"

Taylor's head turned quickly to Colby. She must have misheard. She turned back to Harper. "I-is that really from Colby?"

"Absolutely," she said proudly. She took it off and placed the bracelet on the coffee table. "Darknet. I paid almost $40,000 for it. But it was still a bargain, and I just had to have it. It seemed like it was waiting for me." She turned to a huge picture of Colby on the wall. "It must have had a strong connection to him. I can feel that it played an important role in his life."

Colby looked at the bracelet with mixed feelings, a mixture of nostalgia and discomfort. "Taylor." He turned to her, sounding nothing like Colby anymore. He sounded much sadder. "I don't want her to wear that. Please. Do something."

Taylor pondered for a long time what to say now. How could she possibly take the bracelet away from her? The way Harper was behaving, it would be easier to survive a wolf attack than an attempted theft from that girl. "Do you have any other items from Colby?" she finally asked. Colby crossed his arms disappointedly.

»Yes. I have everything that could be found of him on the internet. Someone once offered a soccer ball, which - and now hold on tight - was kicked by him!" Her eyes sparkled. She obviously loved being able to talk about her idol.

"The fucking soccer ball doesn't matter to me, but I want my bracelet, you sick bitch," complained the ghost, but Taylor didn't pay attention to him at first. What was she supposed to do anyway?

"Wow, that's really interesting," she instead lied. "But there's one thing I'm really curious about. I just created my Tinder profile a few minutes ago. How did you manage to find it so quickly?"

"Oh, that was easy. I have many Google Alerts set up for our handsome guy. Whenever there's a new search result that's even remotely similar to Colby Vance, I immediately get a notification on my phone. Convenient, isn't it?"

"That's damn creepy, that is" Colby interjected again.

Taylor asked another question. "So, how do you think it happened? His disappearance?"

Harper was about to respond, but she shook violently and Colby disappeared. The girl opened her eyes, quickly took off the bracelet, and threw it to the bewildered Taylor.

"What the- Colby?!" she asked, stressed, and swiftly tucked the bracelet into her jacket pocket.

"If you won't do anything, I'll have to do it myself, sorry, but I want my bracelet back," Colby said through Harper. "Oh shit, this is creepy in here. I have kinky fantasies, but holy shit. No, I don't want you licking my toes, and I don't want to nail you somewhere, you have issues, you do!" the girl screamed to herself.

"Get out of her!" Taylor whispered, stressed. "And what was I supposed to do, huh? Rip that thing off her arm and then let myself be attacked? Sometimes you really think-" Suddenly, Colby was back behind the couch, and Taylor fell silent immediately.

Harper looked around, confused. "Sorry, what did you just ask? I think I had a blackout or something."

"H-how do you think Colby disappeared? Or why?" She breathed out cautiously. What a luck.

"Don't worry, I've taken as many memories with the bracelet as I could. But she still knows she bought it, I can't take everything from her," Colby interjected. "And no, sorry, but that's definitely not how it happened." He must have seen her theory in her head.

"To be honest? I'm sure he's still alive."

"But why?" Taylor asked skeptically.

Harper stood up and went to the Polaroid picture that Colby had examined so closely earlier. She took it off the wall and handed it to Taylor. "But be careful, this is an original picture."

Now Taylor's eyes widened. "Seriously? And how did you manage to get that?"

Harper pointed to the young man to the right of Colby. "That there? That's Brad Johnson. He was one of Colby's closest friends. I interviewed him once and secretly took the picture. Please don't tell him, he probably thinks he misplaced it. Please. From Colbian to Colbian." Colby snorted annoyed. So that picture was the next thing he was going to grab today. "Anyway, the reason I'm showing you this is because most of the football team is here..." She pointed to the young person below Colby and Brad. "But him? I can't find anything about him. Nothing at all."

"Wait a minute, shit, the creepy bitch is right. I don't know that dude," Colby interjected again.

"He's not mentioned anywhere, and every living person in this photo couldn't tell me who the hell that is," Harper continued.

Taylor examined the person closely. Somehow creepy. Especially with that grin. "What does that have to do with Colby's disappearance?" she asked.

Harper took Taylor by both shoulders, visibly uncomfortable for her. Colby prepared to tackle her away from his Taylor. "Taylor, please don't think I'm crazy now. But do you believe in ghosts?"

She widened her eyes, trying not to look directly at Colby now. That would be way too noticeable. "Ghosts? Seriously?" she asked instead.

"Just think about it. Colby was in this room and then he was gone forever. No one else went in there. Or rather, no one saw anyone go in there. What if it was a ghost? I know it sounds crazy. But there's no other explanation. It must have been a ghost."

"T-there are no ghosts."

"You say so," Harper countered, then noticed her sleeve was still rolled up. Uh-oh. She quickly pulled her hand back towards her and patted her entire arm. "Wait a minute, where's my bracelet?"

Taylor took a step back. Colby teleported towards the door, ready to snap his fingers. "Living Girl, on three, you run. And you damn well run as fast as you can. One..."

"Where is Colby's bracelet?!" Harper breathed heavily and then looked at Taylor, who had dared to take another step back. Then she saw the Polaroid in her hands. "D-did you steal the bracelet?!" She gasped in shock, clutching her heart.

"Two..."

Taylor gripped the picture tighter and looked back towards the exit.

"Three!" The ghost snapped his fingers, and the apartment door flew open all by itself, making Harper scream in shock and fear.

Taylor quickly tucked the Polaroid into her jacket pocket next to the bracelet and started running. She was already at the apartment door when she heard Harper breathing even heavier now. She paused briefly, allowing herself a glance back into the apartment. Harper was leaning heavily on the couch, still holding her hand to her heart.

"Come on!" Colby shouted in distress. "Run, girl!"

"W-wait," Taylor whispered cautiously, still looking at Harper. Then the Colbian collapsed to the floor, and Taylor realized what was happening. "Oh, shit! She's having a heart attack!"