Volume 6: Anaphase

Issue 4: Ghost Hunters

Jannette Adrian Churchwell

By Nova

The feet of the creature slapped wetly against the tile floor as we pursued it. The echoes mixed strangely with the thuds of our own squeaking footsteps. I caught up to Holly’s lead in moments. But, despite the gasp of surprise from her as I passed, I couldn’t quite reach the creature—which was faster than it looked. If it wasn’t for my dress and sandals, I was sure I could have caught it. But the sundress wasn’t quite loose enough to let me reach my full stride, and the sandals had me nearly slipping on the slick tiles every other step.

Fortunately, whatever the thing we were chasing was, it was no runner. While neither me nor Holly could reach it, it slipped and bounced off walls, fell on all fours a few times, and overall struggled to lose us.

We couldn’t catch it, but it sure as Hell wasn’t getting away.

We chased it through the twisting halls of Chapel High, past rows of lockers and empty classrooms. Holly’s breathing grew ragged behind me as she started to lag behind. The creature didn’t seem to be slowing down, however. And, if I stopped now, there was no way I’d be able to catch up to it. But if I left Holly alone… She’d be defenseless if there was another one of these monsters hanging around. And maybe we were charging headfirst into a trap—one where our escape would be cut off and we’d fall victim to whatever this thing was.

I had nearly made up my mind to grab Holly’s arm and wrench both of us to a stop when the thing rounded a corner into a dead end. I raised my hands, expecting it to turn around and leap toward us. But, instead, it slid to a stop and faced the wall.

Half-hoping it was just a human with some kind of fucked up power, I shouted, “I-if you can understand me, stay put, r-raise your hands.” Holly stood behind me, gasping for breath and leaning against a wall for support.

If the thing understood me, it didn’t show it. Instead, in one swift motion, it swung at an air vent on the upper wall with a limb that I thought wasn’t quite long enough to reach it. However—with a cracking sound—the arm jerked, twisted, and extended twice its original length. It grabbed the grille of the vent, wrenched it off, and dropped it on top of the lockers below. Before I realized what was happening, the same arm had grabbed hold of the wall and pulled the thing upwards.

“S-stop!” I shouted, charging forward. But it was too late. It had already squeezed itself into the duct, contorting itself as if its bones were made of rubber… assuming it even had bones. It managed to double over on itself, compress itself—enough to fit into a vent no more than a foot wide and half that tall. By the time I had reached the end of the hall, it had almost entirely vanished. Long, thin fingers pulled the grille back into place.

Had I not seen it, I would have assumed it vanished into thin air.

Creaks and squeaks sounded from the air vent as the thing made its way down the ductwork; a place to hide away from prying eyes. Holly staggered up behind me, her breathing ragged but more steady than it was a moment before. She looked at me with terror in her eyes. “W-what…” she muttered.

“I-I don’t know,” I said. I realized that I was breathing normally, even calmly—this exertion nowhere near what my powers could push me too. I artificially gasped for breath a few times, and made an exaggerated show of breathing heavily. If Holly thought that this was weird, she didn’t show it. Instead, she shakily sat on the ground, her back leaning against the locker.

“We…” I said, “…should get out of here. Who knows when it’ll be back.”

“You… You think it’ll come back?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But better safe than sorry, right?”

Holly nodded. “W-we need to… I don’t know, warn people,” she said, shakily rising to her feet.

I agreed. Our little ghost hunt had discovered an actual monster. As we headed down the hall, toward the school’s entrance, I considered our options. “I… have a friend on the police force,” I said carefully. “He could have people searching the school, maybe even lock it down for a little bit while they figure out where it went.”

Holly shot me a surprised look.“You meet a lot of cops as an EMT,” I quickly said.

She shrugged. “Alright, if you trust him.”

“I do,” I said, a little taken aback that I meant it. Thankful that I’d kept my purse on me, I pulled out my phone and dialed Ramirez. After a few rings, he picked up. “Matt,” I said, hoping he’d pick up on the fact I was out of costume, “I need some help.”

There was a pause on the line and, in the background, I could hear what I assumed to be the soft chatter of the police station. “What is it, Jannette?” Ramirez said, after a few moments of silence.

“I’m at Chapel Hill High School. It’s not important why, and we saw… something.”

“Chapel Hi… Something? What do you mean? Who’s we?”

“I’ll explain everything in a second, but it was a… monster. Maybe related to the other attacks that happened here? I need backu-” I cut myself off and glanced at Holly. She stared, eyes wide, at every air vent we passed. “We,” I corrected, “need help.”

Ramirez was, again, silent for a moment. “Alright, I’ll put together a team. We’ll be there ASAP,” he finally said. “Anything we should know about this… monster?”

“U-uh.” My mind tried to piece it all together. “It’s gray, featureless, vaguely humanoid… can squeeze into air vents. I think that’s all of it, we didn’t get a good look.”

Ramirez grunted. “Alright,” he said. “We’ll be there ASAP. Meet us by the main entrance.” The line went dead.

“They’re coming,” I said.

“W-who, the cops?” Holly’s breathing had leveled out a bit by now.

“Yeah,” I said. “I think they’re gonna search the building, try to find it tonight.”

“Last time they tried searching the school for a monster they didn’t find anything,” Holly muttered.

I didn’t really have an answer for that. “M-maybe they’ll look harder this time…” I said.

We didn’t say anything else until we’d gotten outside. The cold night air struck us like a sledgehammer. “I don’t know how long the police are going to be,” I said, taking a seat on the concrete steps in front of the school, “but I bet it’s safer out here than in there.”

Holly nodded but didn’t say anything, pacing back and forth while clutching herself. I stared out at the dark sky above us—not a star or even cloud in sight. If we weren’t in the middle of one of the largest cities on the western seaboard, it would have been a very dark night indeed.

“H-hey,” Holly spoke up. “Y-you must be freezing.”

I looked down at myself, and could see slight goosebumps on my skin. I was thankful that my power had released a few endorphins to slightly numb myself to the cold, but I wasn’t exactly comfortable. “Y-yeah, a sundress wasn’t a good choice for tonight…” I muttered.

“It’s cute though,” Holly said, managing a smile. “I-I have a jacket at my desk…” she trailed off.

“It’s probably not safe to go in there, especially when it knows where all your stuff is…” I trailed off, the whole situation sounded even worse when I put it like that.

Holly didn’t say anything but slowly sat down next to me, pressing in close. She was warm and—even as my power traced through her—I huddled up next to her; thankful that, in the dark night, Holly couldn’t see that I was blushing furiously.

It was nice. Really nice.

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

But I noticed she was trembling and, with my powers, could feel the huge amount of adrenaline that was still coursing through her. “We’re safe now,” I found myself whispering.

Holly nodded. “I-I know, I just keep thinking about… a-about how it was probably there yesterday. How close did I come to some… monster killing me like it did to…” She took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes.

“You know, I never met him,” she said. “Albert Howells, I mean. I just heard that he’d been killed, never saw the body or anything, but…” She didn’t have to finish.

I slowly reached for her hand. I took it. It was cold, colder than her shoulder at least, and I squeezed it tightly. “I-I can’t imagine how you feel…” I said.

She managed to smile and squeezed my hand back. “Oh, don’t lie,” she said. “I bet you’ve seen even crazier stuff before.”

My heart raced out of control at these words. Did she know that I was Stitch? There was plenty that could have given me away over the past few minutes… I opened my mouth to say something, to come up with some bullshit excuse, when she continued, “You’re an EMT. I bet you’ve seen hundreds of people in a worse state than me…”

I let out a sigh of relief. “U-uh, well…” I said. “That’s true but… they’ve never been you.”

Holly’s smile broadened, then fell as she looked me in the eyes. “All I can think about is how close I came to being just another victim… If you weren’t here, I-I….” She trailed off.

I didn’t know what to say, so I just squeezed her hand tighter. Holly didn’t say anything else, and rested her head on my shoulder. We sat there, shivering together on the stairs, for a few more minutes before the faint call of sirens started to get closer and closer. “That’ll be them,” I muttered, not sure I wanted this moment to end quite yet.

Three squad cars screeched to a stop in front of Chapel High and a host of heavily armed and armored police got out of them. I recognized their loadouts: automatic rifles and thick body armor… more generalized than SWAT, but capable of threatening a powered enemy if the situation called for it. Ramirez, it seemed, took my warning seriously.

Ramirez himself, not visibly armed and wearing his usual long coat, brought up the rear of this armed formation as they proceeded up the steps and streamed around us. “Ms… Churchwell,” Ramirez said when he approached.

“Matt.” I nodded.

“Come on, it’s fucking freezing out here, let’s do this in the foyer…” Ramirez muttered, “Everyone, move in, be alert!” he shouted.

The cops silently proceeded through the doors. Me and Holly shakily got to our feet and followed them. I exchanged a quick glance with her; the arrival of the police did not seem to have reassured her in any way. I suddenly realized we were still holding hands… and I still felt her trembling as we walked back to the school. I wanted to say something to the effect of “It’ll all be over soon,” but the words failed me. I just squeezed her hand again, something she reciprocated.

While it was nice to get out of the cold, as we stepped inside the atmosphere felt… different. The shadows grew longer, the lights dimmer—as if the campus held its breath. But for what?

“Alright, if we’re gonna do a sweep, you need to tell us everything you two saw,” Ramirez said. He turned to Holly. “Ms. Lin, right?”

“Yes. We met… once before,” Holly muttered.

Ramirez nodded. “I’m sorry we have to keep meeting under these circumstances.” He turned back to me. “Ms. Churchwell, what can you tell me about the incident?”

I told Ramirez everything—about what I had seen, why I was here in the first place, and, most importantly, where the creature had disappeared off to. “Fitzroy, Yee, I want you down there pronto. Everyone else? Teams of two, sweep the premises. Shine a flashlight into every air vent you pass,” Ramirez barked. “If you see anyone else, janitors, teachers, students, whoever, get them out of the building.” The police charged down the halls and—in a few moments—they were out of sight, the noise of their footfalls and callouts fading away.

After they had left, Ramirez continued questioning me. He made me repeat a few things, go over the sequence of events again… It was a classic interrogative technique that I had seen used on many suspects, witnesses, and persons of interest before. Of course, in all my years as a hero, I never once had someone question me like that. I was being treated like a civilian, which I of course appreciated, but nonetheless felt disorienting.

I was not quite sure how long Ramirez took to question me. But by the time he was done questioning Holly—who didn’t really add any new information—one of Ramirez’s officers had returned. “Fitzroy?” Ramirez asked. “Where’s Yee?”

“Being extra thorough. He’ll be here soon, sir,” Fitzroy responded.

Ramirez sighed. “You’re supposed to stick together… Alright, why the fuck are you here without Yee then? What happened to stick together?”

“Sorry, sir. We just wanted to report that we found no sign of the hostile where it was supposedly last seen. The air vent showed no sign of tampering either. Yee’s just double checking everything before we RTB.” Fitzroy looked my way, and—while I couldn’t make out his expression through his helmet—I got the distinct feeling he was looking at me with suspicion.

Ramirez sighed. “Alright. Well, when Yee gets back I can hear what he found.”

“With all due respect, sir, should we really be-”

Ramirez cut him off. “We’ll wait for Yee, alright Fitzroy?”

Fitzroy just nodded and turned toward the hallway, standing guard. “Ms. Churchwell,” Ramirez said, “can I speak with you outside?”

“Uh, Jan?” Holly asked.

I sighed. “It’s alright, Holly, I’ll be right back.”

“Fitzroy, keep her safe. Report to me when Yee gets back,” Ramirez said. Fitzroy nodded and I followed the inspector outside. I shivered as the cool night breeze rolled back over me.

“Alright,” Ramirez grumbled. “Why am I here right now?”

“W-what?” I stammered, confused by the sudden accusatory tone in Ramirez’s voice.

“I mean it. Why am I here?”

“I-I don’t know what you mean.”

“Look, Jannette, I’ve scrambled some serious resources that are supposed to be on standby right now. When Kelly gets word of this, he’ll come for my neck if I don’t have anything to show for it.”

“I didn’t take you for such a politician,” I muttered, the ice in my voice surprising even me.

“You know there’s bigger things than this going on right now,” Ramirez warned. “But I still came here, with a real tough team of operators, all because I trust you. But… Well, based on what you and your girlfriend have told me-”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I muttered.

Ramirez rolled his eyes. “Based on what you and your friend have told me, a normal human was capable of keeping up with the ‘monster.’ I know you can outrun a bicycle if you need to. Did you really slow down to keep the whole civvy guise in front of her?”

I gaped at Ramirez. “You try running in this f-fucking dress!” I said.

“Fine, alright. But you seriously expect me to believe a ‘monster’ that you two could not only keep up with, but apparently scare away, is really a right now threat? Plus, Fitzroy seems to doubt-”

“I know what I saw,” I said.

“And I trust Fitzroy as much as I trust you,” Ramirez said.

“Even after he broke protocol like that?” I said. “Even I could tell that that wasn’t normal for your guys to do.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“He split up from his partner, breaking protocol. Are you really telling me you trust him as much as me?”

Ramirez didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he pulled a cigarette from his coat pocket and lit it with a small lighter. The light of the small flame highlighted his features, and I took a better look at him than I had, perhaps, done in a very long time. His eyes were red and heavy-lidded, and large dark circles hung over them. His face looked more worn than I had ever seen it, like he’d aged years in the past month alone. The usual grizzle on his cheeks and chin was longer, verging on a patchy beard. While he usually looked tired, Ramirez had crossed the point of exhaustion and was well on his way to utterly fatigued.

“I have to,” Ramirez said, taking a drag from his cigarette. “That’s what my job is all about.”

“Fine, whatever, but I really don-”

“I believe you saw something, Jannette,” Ramirez said, cutting me off. “I really do. But it doesn’t look to be a current issue. When you called, I thought this was something as bad as the other attacks here. This might be related, but no one’s hurt.”

“Maybe not yet…” I muttered.

“That means it can be a ‘tomorrow’ issue. Unless my guys find something tonight, I’ll send some officers tomorrow to do a more thorough survey of the school. Maybe we can even get a hero to help out?” He looked at me expectantly.

“Costume’s still out of commission,” I muttered.

“Look, Jannette. We’re all sitting here waiting for what might be a terror attack big enough to make 9/11 look like a wet firecracker,” Ramirez said. “I don’t have the… Yes, political power to divert resources away from our preparations.”

“But-”

“But nothing. Chapel High was a big deal a month ago, but ever since the sarin was discovered…” Ramirez trailed off. “Look, Kelly thinks that it’s a minor, local issue. Something weird, dangerous, but not catastrophic.”

“There’s kids here, Ramirez…”

“I know…” His exhaustion crept into his voice, making him sound almost hoarse. But he cleared his throat and continued. “But whatever’s been happening here isn’t the First Way. Sasquatch confirmed that when we took him in. That means we need to look into it later. We can’t afford to waste resources right now.”

“You can’t afford to waste-”

“Jannette,” Ramirez warned. “Look, I think the reason you called me isn’t because of… whatever you saw, but because of her.” He pointed at the school’s entrance. “Am I wrong?”

I blushed, furiously. “I-It isn’t like that,” I hissed. “I saw something that-”

“Yeah, I know, something that could threaten the students, teachers, and everyone else. But, be honest. It’s not something immediately dangerous. I think you called me because you wanted to put on a show for her, to show her that she’s safe now, not later.”

I scowled at him, but didn’t say anything. We stood in silence for a few moments, there wasn’t really anything else to say. He was wrong, of course. There was some kind of monster loose in a building full of kids and Ramirez wasn’t calling everyone to clear it out? Even with everything going on with the First Way, I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Just because I also wanted Holly to be safe didn’t change the situation one bit.

We stood in silence for a minute or two before the radio on his belt crackled to life. “It’s Fitzroy, reporting in. Yee’s back, didn’t find anything.”

Ramirez sighed. “Copy that,” he said into his radio. “Come on,” he said to me, “let’s head in.”