In all honesty, I should have been able to recognize him the moment he stepped out of the car that he made look like a toy with his hulking stature. Izaya was always a bigger kid; even when I met him in elementary school, he towered over our peers. Eventually, he put on some muscles and joined the football team. After Ram’s death, Izaya was able to snatch his starting spot on the team. Despite how he looks, he has a heart of gold and has been a long-time friend of mine since we met. Seeing him here calmed me down immediately, so I ran to the window I entered through and jumped out, sprinting towards him. I reached the fence and yelled to him, giddy with excitement.

“Yo, Izaya!” He was taken aback instantly upon seeing me, dropping the crowbar and running over to the fence.

“Al? What the hell are you doing here? You gotta get the fuck out of there, man.” His words were frantic; he was on edge. On top of that, I'd never heard him curse in my life. I brushed it aside and climbed back over the fence, jumping off and landing beside him. “What's—what—are you…what are you doing in there?” He stuttered at first, then stopped himself and slowly spoke in a firm voice. I'd rarely heard Izaya stutter. The only times I could imagine were whenever his mother would catch him doing something he shouldn't be doing and he fumbled his words making up an excuse.

“Yesterday, Ruby came over here with a couple of friends and no one has seen her since, so I thought I’d look for her,” I said, softening my tone. Something was very wrong with my friend. I looked him up and down. He wasn't paying attention to what I was saying; he was thinking…planning. “Hey, man, are you…all right?” I placed one hand on his arm to try to comfort him. Then, within a split second, he grabbed me by my shoulders and kneeled, pulling me to the ground with him. He looked around sporadically as my heart raced.

“They're not here. Thank God,” he whispered under his breath to himself while his eyes began to tear up. He then turned his head to me, tightening his grip and focusing on me directly. “You…you were NEVER here.” I listened to him, still completely stunned. He nodded his head, his eyes swelling up as if to say that it was the only way to keep me safe.

“Izaya, what’s going on?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

He shook his head vehemently. “A raccoon. It was just a raccoon” At this point, he was talking to himself, Constructing an albie. After a few minutes of thinking he stared back at me never releasing his grip on my shoulders ”Get in your car and drive home now… Do NOT call me… or anyone for that matter. You were never here.” I shook my head in compliance again not needing to speak cause my face said it all. I wore a horrified expression fearing what possibly could have gotten to my friend to frighten him this deeply to his core. He wore a face of true bitter sadness, Just a boy who got too deep in over his head. He simply hugged me got up grabbed his crowbar and drove away. He was here with me one moment and gone the next. I sat there on the ground trying to process everything that had happened to me in the past 30 minutes. I placed my hand on my forehead while my mouth hung agape.

I soon noticed Heather's ghost standing next to me, her mouth also open in shock but forming more of a smug smile while her arms hung straight down. She chuckled to herself before speaking up. “What the hell was that about?” She stared at me with a grin. “I would never let someone grab me like that and then just walk away. But of course, you just sat there shaking your head like an agreeable little puppy.”

Her attempts to get a rise out of me were ineffective. I was still unable to wrap my head around what could be going on. I picked myself up and got in my car, the encounter with Izaya replaying in my mind. The only thing I could focus on was the sound of my heart beating in my chest, a relentless reminder of the fear and confusion I felt.

Heather appeared in the passenger seat, her presence now a constant, unwelcome companion. “Soooo… are you just going to sit here or—”

“Are you fucking following me now? I thought you had to stay in your house or some shit like that,” I snapped, my frustration boiling over.

“Well, now I'm stuck following you.” She pointed at the palm of her hand, showing the same mark that had formed on my hand after our handshake.

“Wonderful,” I said as sarcastically as I could muster, the weight of the situation pressing down on me.

Heather rolled her eyes, leaning back in the seat. “Oh, come on. It’s not like I wanted this either. But now we’re connected or whatever. You help me, I help you. Simple.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I sighed, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Simple, sure. Because having a ghost attached to me is just a walk in the park.”

Heather smirked her expression a mix of amusement and impatience. “Well, it’s better than you fumbling around on your own. Besides, you need me if you’re going to find your girlfriend.”

“Well, she's not my girlfriend—” I started, but was cut off once again.

“Wait, so you’re doing all this for some random bimbo? What changed? I felt like you went girl to girl without a care in the world. The fuck is so special about this one?”

“I need to do right by someone… time and time again, I let people slip out of my life… but not this time.” I gripped the steering wheel tightly, my knuckles turning white. I quickly pulled a U-turn to follow Izaya. Heather grabbed onto the overhead handles of the car as I recklessly spun the car around.

“What the hell are you doing, Al?” Heather's smugness turned to a worried expression.

“Izaya’s clearly in some deep shit, and I have a suspicion that whatever's going on with him has something to do with Ruby’s disappearance.” My tone sharpened as I accelerated faster and faster down the dimly lit road.

“He said to just go home, remember? What if you put him in more danger by following him?” Heather suddenly sounded reasonable. I didn’t respond; I focused and drove. I quickly barreled around corners and sped through stop signs. Then finally, I came to a halt in front of Izaya’s house. I hopped out of the car and quickly approached the door. I could see through the windows that no lights were on, and by slamming on the door, I learned no one was home.

“What now, genius?” Heather said sarcastically.

I looked around, my mind racing. Izaya’s house was eerily silent, the darkened windows giving off an unsettling vibe. I felt a chill run down my spine, but I pushed it aside and focused on finding a way in. “There has to be something here, some clue as to where he went or what’s going on.”

Heather floated beside me, her expression a mix of impatience and concern. “This is a waste of time. He told you to leave him alone, and now you’re just making things worse.”

Ignoring her, I walked around the house, feeling the cool night air bite at my skin. Shadows seemed to dance around me, and every creak of the old wooden fence made my heart skip a beat. The wind rustled the leaves, creating an eerie symphony that heightened my anxiety. I spotted a slightly ajar window, its curtains billowing out gently as if beckoning me inside.

I took a deep breath, my pulse quickening as I approached the window. I glanced back at Heather, who rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. Slowly, I pried the window open wider, the hinges protesting with a loud squeak that echoed through the stillness. I froze, holding my breath, listening for any signs of movement inside the house. After a few tense moments, I hoisted myself up and slipped inside, landing softly on the carpeted floor.

Heather followed, her ghostly form passing effortlessly through the wall. Inside, the house was eerily quiet, the only sound being the faint hum of the refrigerator. I moved cautiously, every step amplified in the silence. The shadows seemed to stretch and twist around me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched.

I started searching, opening drawers, and rifling through papers with shaking hands. “Come on, Izaya, where did you go?” I muttered under my breath. In the living room, I found a notebook on the coffee table. Flipping it open, I saw Izaya’s familiar handwriting. It was a journal, detailing his recent activities and thoughts. One entry stood out, an address accompanied by a drawing of a warehouse I'd never seen before in town.

Just as I was about to place everything back where I found it, I heard a floorboard creak upstairs. My heart pounded in my chest as I froze, my ears straining to catch any further sounds. The house seemed to hold its breath, the silence pressing in on me from all sides. I turned to Heather, who was staring intently at the ceiling, her ghostly form flickering slightly.

“Al, we need to go. Now,” she whispered urgently, her earlier bravado replaced by genuine fear.

I nodded, placing the notebook back as quietly as possible. I retraced my steps to the window, my movements slow and deliberate to avoid making any noise. Just as I was about to climb out, the sound of a door creaking open upstairs sent a jolt of terror through me. I scrambled through the window, my heart racing, and dropped to the ground outside. Peering back through the window to find out who was in the house, that's when I noticed the steps I heard were merely Izaya’s cat that jumped on the counter and watched as I fell through the window. I let out a sigh of relief as I stood up and brushed myself off.

Heather followed her ghostly form shimmering in the moonlight. We hurried back to the car, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins. “This is a new level of batshit for you Al,” Heather added nervously with a tint of anger in her voice.

“What do you have to be worried about? You're already dead,” I said, amused by how our attitudes had flipped.

“Yeah, and if you die, I’ll have no one left to do my dirty work. And if my soul is bound to yours for eternity, I’d flip shit.” She pauses for a few moments before speaking again. “Where are you dragging me now?”

“Now?” I thought what the best course of action forward was, To put it bluntly, I wasn't prepared and my only lead was a warehouse I didn't know how to get to. “ Now, we head home. We have to regroup for tomorrow.” My eyes steady on the road ahead appreciating the simplicity of driving because I could tell things were gonna complicated.