"Trying" Normal [Editing In Progress]

Chapter 6: Greta's Request

The two of us stood in silence. Despite her earlier outburst, Greta seemed afraid to speak now. She watched me as if I were some wild animal about to attack. I flashed her a smile. 

"Hey, you look like you have questions, but I don't-" Her hand flew up, a finger pointed at me. The shouting that followed drowned me out.

"You murdered him!" Greta gave no time for me to answer. "Where'd he go?" Her words flew at me in a frenzy, "What did you eat?" Another question, "Why can you see us?" The woman refused to stop. "Oh god, what's happening?" The older woman threw her barrage of questions at me.

Rude, just coming into my condo like that while I make content. Guess it saves me some time. At least I'm not coated in ghost blood anymore... that should make me less terrifying. 

I locked eyes with Greta, her hand trembling as it pointed at me. While the seconds flew by for me, time seemed to drag as the dread in her expression deepened. 

"Oh no, it's ok. He was already dead." To mimic Greta, I pointed at her. "Like you! So it's not murder." I moved towards her. With the distance between us shrinking, she let out a panicked noise before raising her arms up. I stopped my advance and watched as she trembled like leaves in a breeze.

"Stay away from me! I'll scream!" Greta said. I fought the urge to laugh and antagonize her further. My eyes went silver. As the world changed colors, I saw the dull gray ball that sat inside of her.

Neutral, I can't devour her soul. Though I can exchange it.

"What are you?" She asked, a sigh escaped me.

I promised Cassie an explanation. I'm not giving one twice today.

"Ok, first, you're not my type. You don't need to worry about me hurting you." Greta refused to lower her arms. In response, I reached for her wrists. She let out a shriek. "You know I'm seeing why you aren't getting into heaven. Trespassing, you don't listen, and worst of all, you point at people." Bewildered and at a loss for words, I brought her hands down to her side without resistance. "There we go." I said, then took a step back from her.

"What are- " I shushed Greta and put a stop to her second attempt at an answer I was unwilling to give. 

"I'll answer some of your questions, but you better listen." She gave a nod. "By my standards, ghost hunting isn't murder. I just hurt him enough to break his manifested form." Greta's eyebrows rose as she tried to process my answer. "He would have eventually come back if I didn't devour his soul like I did." She let out a gasp.

"Devour?" Greta asked. I first gave a nod, then came my answer.

"It's how I send them to hell for their eternal damnation." Greta stared at me in abject terror despite the cheer I put into the last part. "Oh... you don't need to think about that. It doesn't apply to you." My suggestion resulted in the opposite. Tears fell from her eyes.

And she's gripping the sides of her head while crying out to god. To be fair, Eunie is the expert at comforting people. I'm the one who likes to hunt things. But... guess I can try to help her.

I clapped my hands together to catch her attention. She flinched, her eyes darted to me.

"Ok, let me put it this way." I thought about how to word my response. "He was bad and bound for hell. I deal with the bad things that should be there." I paused and looked at her. Despite her terror, she nodded. "You don't need to worry about me since you're not hell bound. In fact, if I were to devour your soul, I'd get put to death for it." The elderly ghost watched me. Skepticism filled her gaze.