I was in the office elevator, and instead of the speakers spilling out calming background music, it was thundering. The metallic walls vibrated with the booming, both distant and close, and my reflection ahead of me became distorted by the sounds rippling off the surface. As my face wavered and split and came back together, I thought about all the Tays I used to say I had inside me. Silly caricatures like the guy who played badminton and the one who beat the drums. Bits of myself I'd sliced away to observe and – more often than not – battle. Tays who were reacting to new experiences and feelings in ways I'd never had to before, and so I didn't know what to do when they appeared other than to disassociate.
A pause in the thunder brought a pulsating stillness to the elevator. It wasn't even moving, I could now sense. I glanced at the display above the buttons and it seemed to be out. Nothing was illuminated, only the lights were getting any power. My reflection merged into one and stared back at me, fuzzy at the edges like my ghost photos. I thought I could even see a slight glow.
That was definitely me, then. I raised my hand and waved. Smiled. My long fingers and big teeth mirrored me perfectly. I didn't know what would happen to me next, but thinking about all the scenes before, I wasn't afraid of the ones to follow. I was glad I'd lived, and I was glad I'd lived again as a ghost.
New's reflection appeared beside mine. It grinned, patted me on the head, linked its fingers with mine.
"Which one are you, then?"
I turned and Ayre clicked her tongue as she dropped my hand.
"Clever boy, aren't you."
"Not even in this world would New hold my hand before telling me off for not going to speak with my father," I replied cheerfully enough. Ayre hooked her glasses with a pinky finger and swung them off her face.
"I suppose Mild or Oab would have known that a bit better than me, true," she said. She began searching the pockets of her oversized, brown wool cardigan.
I cocked my head to the side. "Why did you have people spying on me, exactly?"
"They weren't mine, just old coworkers, but if protocols haven't changed, which I very much doubt they have, it was in case you broke the rules." Ayre took off her shoes and peered into those too.
"What rules?" I asked.
"The deal you made when you died and agreed to come back as a ghost."
"Excuse me?"
Ayre gave a clap of realisation and reached around to her back, to the waistband of her trousers. There was a stiff crinkle and then she was flapping a yellowed document in front of my face.
"Mild's reaper gave this up a lot easier than I expected. It seems my reputation has persisted!"
I raised an eyebrow at Ayre. She schooled her smile into something more dignified and began thumbing through the pages. She paused after a second and leaned around me to press a button on the elevator, which immediately lit up. We began to rise, slowly, and I could feel my heart pulling towards the ground.
"I haven't had a chance to read this in detail yet, but it looks pretty standard," Ayre half explained, half muttered. I scratched at the old calluses on my fingers. They felt more pliable than they had in a long time.
"Are you saying all ghosts make a deal when they die?"
"We can't very well force anybody to stay," Ayre hummed in response. "I never liked the memory wipe though, it's basically the reason I defected."
YOU ARE READING
The Ordinary Haunting II
Fanfiction~Sequel to The Ordinary Haunting~ Tay Tawan was not expecting to get tied to New Thitipoom when he died. He used to be a happy-go-lucky kind of guy; the kind with no real troubles or regrets that he considered important enough to stop him from his e...
