Chapter 17

Knock, knock, knock. Early Saturday morning, my door was tapping. I got out of bed and went to answer it; it was Micah.

Good morning, what are you doing out and about so early today, I asked her.

I wanted to know if I could have a conversation with Baby and figure out what we saw last night.

Oh, do you mean the ghost girl that you only saw?

Yes, I'm very anxious to figure it out—this strange phenomenon.

I called out to Baby, and she came down the stairs. She was in her dog form as she was in the house.

So that we may talk more freely, let's walk outside. I have a little tree in the rear of the house, just around the corner, where I enjoy sitting. That is if you want to accompany me there,

Micah said, " As long as we have a private place to talk, I'm sure it'll be fine."

We sat down in the trees. It was an essentially round, short oak tree, so it was almost like sitting in a chair. Once everyone else was out of sight, Baby took her human form.

So what is it that you need from us, asked Baby.

Yesterday, we encountered something very peculiar. I saw a petite young girl ghost as we were heading out of work and getting rid of the garbage in the back alleyway, but the other way makers, despite their Seer Powers, were unable to see her. I'm not sure why.

Well, this does not happen too often, but from time to time, ghosts visit particular people only for their needs. Maybe she favors you for some reason and does not wish to be seen by others.

I know I teased Micah a little bit, but I sensed that something was off when we exited the cafe.

She may be someone that you've seen in your life that you knew before she passed. Maybe a regular at the cafe or one of the staff members?

You know, I never really thought about that. I think I saw her somewhere before, at the cafe.

I think I'll go back to the cafe and talk to some of the staff. Besides my uncle, he's been there much longer than I have. I only started 2 years ago. Maybe my uncle will know something.

I'll come with you, Micah. We'll just head early to work. But let's first stop off and grab Beck from her house.

When we arrived at Beck's house, she was still in bed, and we had woken her up. Her hair was all messy, and she still had her nightgown on.

Hey Beck, we're about to head to work early so we can figure out what's going on with this ghost girl situation. If you want to come with us, we can wait for you to get ready.

Yeah, that's fine. Give me a minute. I just need to change and get ready. I'll make it fast.

When we arrived at the cafe, one of the shelving units in the back room had fallen over, and the staff was cleaning it up. Micah's uncle was chipping in to help, trying to get it done a little faster.

Hello, Uncle. There seems to be a lot going on for you already, and you seem busy this early in the morning.

Yeah, we ended up falling a bit behind in cleaning up this mess. We still have to cook some of the baked goods and set things out before we open them.

Don't worry. Kaysi, Beck, and I can help you finish some of that stuff since we're here early. Where do you need us the most first?

By the way, why are you so early, her uncle asked.

I wanted to ask you a couple of questions. I know right now is not the appropriate time, so when everything's done at the end of our shift, I will come to find you and talk.

That's alright. If you could complete the cleaning before moving on to your daily activities, the team here will begin the baking.

Man, this is one heck of a day to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Beck said as she sighed.

I'm sorry we woke you up so early for nothing. We wanted to walk with you and get some answers. Hey, this at least means extra hours since we came in a little early to work, so it was not for nothing.

Yeah, you're right about that there as the day progressed slowly and chaotically. During our busy time, Beck tried jumping in to help. She ended up dropping the tray of drinks on the ground, spilling them everywhere. I can't say that was anything unusual; Beck was always clumsy anyway.

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The day ventured on with bad luck happening left and right. Even one of our waiters accidentally missed tucking the chair underneath one of our regulars, and he fell to the ground. I couldn't wait for the day to be over. It was such a headache.

Once the last customer left and it was time to close, Beck dragged her feet across the floor to lock the door. All the mental and physical stress told you she was way down.

I signed; I never imagined this job would be this challenging. Even though it's only the second day, it feels like nothing good is occurring today. I am grateful for Micah's ability to occasionally pick up the pace because you were well-versed in everything. Most of the time, it seemed like both of us and I were holding you guys down. I felt awful when I spilled those many beverages on the floor.

At least they did not hit or spill on one of the customers, Micah snickered.

Just then, one of the girls screamed outside. We ran back to see what the situation was.

It was Micah's cousin. Her eyes were wide, and she was pale from something frightening her. We had to stay a little later, so she had been trying to assist us with some of the store closing tasks, including hauling the garbage out to the back alley.

The trash bag she had been carrying was busted and open on the ground.

What is it? Mikasa asked Micah.

As I was standing there getting ready to take out the trash, there was this pale-haired girl in a white dress, she described.

That's the same girl I saw the other day, Micah said joyfully.

Her cousin looked at her with concern at her reaction. I think that girl was a ghost, don't you realize that?

Yes, I'm sorry for my reaction. I am just happy to see that somebody else has seen her.

Oh, I see. Micah, we have thought you were so strange since you were a little girl. You claimed that you could see ghosts and even play with them.

Why am I just not hearing about this? I've known you since you were a child, too. You never told me about this when we were in elementary school, Beck pouted.

Don't take offense to this. I know you guys were close. But our family had told her that when she went to school, she needed to be quiet about this. We were all worried that it would make her make fun of, or worse, they might lock her up in a mental hospital. So, her keeping it a secret from you guys was our fault.

Oh, I see Beck said, with a sad expression towards Micah.

Please don't pity me, Becky; it was all for protecting my family and me.

Now you have friends that you can talk to about it. I spoke up, trying to break the tension.

We helped her cousin to her feet and cleaned up the trash. Afterward, Micah's cousin tagged along with us when we found Uncle. She also wanted to know if there was any connection to the girl. She must have been thinking the same thoughts as us, considering that the girl had some type of tie to the cafe or family.

When we walked into the office, we asked Uncle about the little girl Micah and her cousin had seen.

Tears begin to form in his eyes at the little girl's description. It was his daughter who had died at the hands of some murderer 10 years ago as of today. I must have stung more for him, knowing that this was the anniversary of the little girl.

If it doesn't mean too much for you to tell us, can we know what happened?

[uncle's context]

It was almost 18 years ago when I had my little girl come into this world. Her mother, my wife, unfortunately, passed away, giving birth to her.

As time went on, I took care and cherished my daughter. She always liked to play pretend and dress up.

She loved to have tea parties. When I would sit in my chair when I would come home from work. She would serve me her different handmade baked goods and treats.

It would always put a smile on my face, no matter how hard my day was.

When I became a bit more financially stable, I opened this Cafe and Bakery when my daughter was only six. I named it Tenshi-tachi because my little girl's mother was Japanese and called her Angel as a nickname before she passed. But two years after opening the shop, a group of gangsters in the neighborhood bought a bakery next door.

Later, I found they would do some of their dirty business behind closed doors while trying to run the bakery. At first, they asked me if they could purchase my building so they could add on to theirs. Before I knew they were gangsters I thought they wanted to remove their only competition in the neighborhood.

I knew there was something off about them. Ever since they came into the neighborhood, there have been many accidents with arson, shootings, and other unsightly crimes.

That night at closing, my daughter volunteered to help take out the trash as we were closing, and one of the gangsters shot my little girl.

Some of the passing customers who were leaving the store heard the gunshot and saw the man running.

The woman went to my daughter on the ground as her husband chased down the man who had shot my daughter.

The police came and took him off to jail just as the ambulance rounded the corner. Only a few seconds after they got to the cafe, my daughter took her last breath from the loss of too much blood.

After that loss, I almost closed the shop and left town, but all my faithful customers who love to see my daughter smile and many more of their friends who have heard the story came by and helped me keep the shop going.

The local officers did an investigation after my daughter's murder; and found all the dirty business that the bakery next door had been doing. They were using the bakery as an undercover to conceal some of the drug and money loitering they were doing. They would even have trucks that came and picked up fresh loaves of bread that contained drugs and money baked into them as a traffic back and forth.

They were shut down, and all arrested.

Continued.

Oh, I understand now. So, the Little ghost that we saw was your daughter. My other friends were more than likely not able to see her because they were not family. She wanted to be seen by us so maybe we could say something to you.

I just don't understand why this hasn't happened before. It has been 10 years since she has passed.

That's because recently, her gravesite was disturbed. They found that one of the gangsters had a son that he had put up in the orphanage not too far down the way from here. He got into some trouble when he found out the news of his father and started acting out through his pain. He's only 14 years old and has been having a hard time.

I see. So maybe her ghost is acting out because she is disturbed and trying to communicate to us all that has happened.