The Mystery of The New York Ghost

Memories

"So what did you find?" I mumble
"The dude made lots of notes and corrections to this book... it seemed like he didn't approve of how it went. He especially hated every mention of the main character having any attraction towards Abel cause he crossed out Abel's name and replaced it with his own... like he thinks he's the right person for Ana..." Socrates responds, still flipping through the book that was on the floor
"Why can't you hold it?" I ask
"I get anxious when there's other people around... I don't like it when people look at me weird while there's a book floating..." Socrates hisses
"So... why do you think he killed whoever was in that house behind you?" I ask, sitting down in front of him and the book
"Not them but me... otherwise he wouldn't have burned that house specifically... he wanted me dead... but I haven't figured out why yet..." Socrates folds his hands over his mouth as if he were thinking
"I can ask him about the book..." I offer
"You can do that but a murderer would avoid all those questions..." Socrates glares at me
"I'll just find my way to force the answers out of him..." I mumble, taking the book and putting it in my backpack
"Doing some studying on the second day?" Mouse asks. I jumped to my feet, facing them
"No, I just found this book on the ground and I wanted to read it later to see if it belonged to anyone!!" I exclaim
"Oh... interesting... I bet it was one of the juniors, they are so clumsy," Mouse suggests
"Yeah, I'll return it to the library tomorrow after I find that out!" I lie
"As if, we need it!!" Socrates exclaims, also standing up
"I just gotta make sure it's from the library first and if there's anything wrong with it before I return it..." I clench my teeth, still lying
"Are you ok?" Mouse asks
"Habit..." I lie again
"Alright!! Have you seen anyone cute lately?" Mouse asks
"No..." I look away
"You have!!" Mouse asks
"No, I don't find interest in anyone yet... it's my second day at this school and everyone is already weird..." I mumble, fiddling with my hands. Mouse was cute with their peppy energy... lying made me feel worse the more I lied to them... I look at Socrates who was visually angry at me, still believing that I was gonna return the book to the library. He was... connected to me somehow... I wasn't gonna lie... I look back at Mouse who had puppy-dog eyes, begging me to know who the cute person was. My heart stopped for a second, I wanted to say them right then and there but I just met them yesterday!!
"It's just the second day, give it time," I sigh, closing my eyes
"Aww!! Boring!!" Mouse exclaims
"Alright, I'll see you after school at the cafe!! Don't go wandering off again!!" Mouse exclaims before skipping off. I opened my eyes again to see everyone going inside
"I'm not actually gonna return it, I was lying to avoid explaining that I can see ghosts," I say, turning to Socrates
"That name, Abel. It's familiar... like I've heard it before," Socrates sighs with relief
"Really? Do you think you were friends with him and my stepdad?" I ask
"I can't remember, being dead kinda means you can't remember anything before you died. It's basic ghost logic. Being a ghost means I had unfinished business but since I don't remember, I don't know why..." Socrates explains
"So that means you don't remember your name?" I ask
"Yeah... I just assume my name was Socrates Bonesparrow because it was the first name I saw when I became a ghost... I don't know my real name... so I became Socrates..." Socrates trails off. The bell signaling the start of school rang
"You should go, I'll see if I remember anything back at my old house..." Socrates mumbles before walking through the walls.

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I met Mouse at the cafe again. I was reading the book, page for page, notes and all. It was a really good story written by a great author.
"Hello? Earth to Mali?" Mouse waved their hand in front of my face
"Is that book addicting or what?" Mouse asked as I looked up at their curious face
"It is... it's got notes in it from Samuel Michaelis...?" I answer, acting confused and pronouncing his name wrong on purpose
"I bet he's cute!" Mouse exclaims
"Ok, Mouse, I'm not gonna lie... he's my stepdad..." I look at Mouse
"Malikai Michaelis?" Mouse asks
"Yeah, my mom always liked taking someone else's last name... she once said her last name was... uhm... something that had to do with a sparrow..." I never thought about what she said that one day when I asked about my birth dad.
"Wait was your mom Alexis Bonesparrow?! The famous detective?!" Mouse exclaims. Bonesparrow... It was the first name I saw when I became a ghost... Socrates Bonesparrow... His words echoed in my head... was... was he my... It can't be... he died the same year I was born!! Mom said dad died before I was born!! Unless he died months before I was born... I had to find out...
"Hello?" Mouse asks, snapping me back into reality again
"Are you ok?" Mouse asks, concerned
"Yeah, I'm just remembering my mom... she was Alexis but she stopped doing detective work after she started dating my stepdad..." I mumble
"I'm... sorry I asked... she must have been the best mom..." Mouse puts their hands over both of mine as if to comfort me. Their hands were... soft... so warm too... like a cozy cup of cocoa... tempting to taste... I snap back to reality
"The best... she would figure out if I lied about something before she can ask me..." I mumble
"I never knew my parents, they gave me to my grandparents after I was born. They never approved of me changing my name, my look, and everything else. They always wanted me to be their perfect little straight princess with a prince at her side..." Mouse hisses
"I bet you'd be the imperfect little poly royal with whoever you want at your side if they were supportive," I chuckle. Mouse smiles
"I'm glad you understand," they pulled their hands away and hid their face with their dark, medium-length hair. They seemed cute when they were shy... like a little mouse... fitting.
"I support everyone," I smile back, closing the book and putting my hands on their shoulders
"Can we talk about boys now?" Mouse squeaks. I giggled and nodded, taking my hands off them
"So the girls in my class are being catty as usual. The boys are being snotty and lazy because they don't care about their grades, and I haven't met any other nonbinaries yet!! It's outrageous!!" Mouse complains, facing me
"So you haven't met anyone you like?" I ask
"Maybe... I don't know... I may have feelings for someone but I'm not sure yet... they're cute and nice... but I wanna wait longer to see if these feelings develop into something beautiful..." Mouse mumbles, looking away again
"How about you?" they ask, looking back at me again
"Again, it's only my second day here... I'm still questioning..." I sigh doubtfully
"Understandable, get back to me when you finalized that as soon as possible!" Mouse exclaims
"I... don't even know what everyone thinks of me yet... I mean you were concerned about me talking to the snow the other day..." I mumble
"And the wall today," Mouse adds on
"Right... I just like talking to myself and I haven't heard that voice in my head ever since my mom died..." I mumble
"Well... I think you should tell someone about it... get some help..." they suggest with concern
"I'm... not sure..." I mumble
"It's just a way I keep myself feeling less alone when my mom is busy with finding a new job and my stepdad is out all the time until night..." I sigh, still lying. I couldn't lie anymore... I had to tell them about the ghost sooner or later before I break and yell that I've been seeing ghosts while everyone is listening...
"If you wanna talk about it, we can have a sleepover at my place so we can get those out of your head..." Mouse hushes, comforting me. I nod
"A sleepover sounds nice... my stepdad doesn't care what I do as long as I don't 'spill his secret to anyone'... he never even told me his secret to begin with..." I admit.

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"So, have you found out what it is?" Mouse asks, painting my nails in every color they had
"No... all I know is that he read Storyteller and he's insane enough to think he's a better match for Ana than Abel. Although he might have caused arson in that village you found me in... there are hints of him being there but I'm not a hundred percent sure..." I explain
"Well... Socrates-" Mouse starts
"How do you know that name," I demand
"She once wrote an article about meeting and marrying a man named Socrates Bonesparrow before she became famous," Mouse answers
"Anyways, Socrates did seem like a strange guy in Alexis's articles... she also wrote about Samuel being an even weirder guy..." Mouse explains
"How weird was Samuel?" I ask
"She always assumed he was cheating on her, doing witchcraft, summoning ghosts from beyond the grave that only him and his family members can see-"
"Ghosts?!"
"Yeah, have you seen any since you're his stepdaughter?"
"Well... to tell you the truth... yes... I have... He calls himself Socrates Bonesparrow. He doesn't remember his name or his story but he's the one I've been talking to and why I've been acting so weird... I didn't know why I was the only one who saw him until you explained that my mom suggests he made them visible to his family members..."
"Interesting... but I've read on summoning ghosts and the summoner can only summon ghosts who either have bad intentions or unfinished business involving the death of someone if the summoner also has bad intentions or wants to kill someone..."
"So... this ghost I see is bad but he can't remember it..."
"Yeah... just confront him about it and see how he reacts..."
"I've been trying to help him figure out why he died, who killed him, and what the killer wanted..." I thought about the mystery some more
"How about we get some rest and talk about it in the morning?" Mouse suggests with a slight smile
"Yeah... ok..." I nod. Mouse jumps into their bed and I tucked myself into the air mattress on the floor
"Good night!" Mouse quietly exclaims
"Night," I covered my entire body with the blanket they provided me but I knew I couldn't sleep. I sat up as soon as Mouse was sound asleep and saw Socrates sitting right next to me
"Can't sleep?" he asks. I shake my head
"Well, I heard the whole thing... I don't have bad intentions... I just wanna see my daughter..." Socrates crosses his arms in anger
"Are you insane?! If you didn't have bad intentions, you wouldn't be here!!" I whisper yell
"I may as well be insane because that man obviously wanted to kill someone but was disappointed with the results of what ghost he got!!!" Socrates spits
"You can't be my dad, I know my dad wouldn't look like some generic guy with a roll of Smarties in his mouth! I know he was the best dad a mother would ask for!" I whisper yell
"If I really am your dad, why wouldn't I wanna get revenge on the guy who took me away from my daughter?!" Socrates yells
"Quiet! You're gonna affect something!" I hush
"Who cares!? I am a good guy!! I know it!! I know I have unfinished business but... it's just hard finding what it was..." Socrates slowly started to quiet down
"Socrates... or whatever your name is... we need to show you to my stepdad... he will see you and he'll probably help you..." I whisper
"I can't get help from someone who wanted to kill someone... besides we don't know why he summoned me!! We can't just go up to him and ask!" Socrates claims. I look at Mouse who was still asleep
"We might be able to... Mouse won't know we're gone..." I whisper
"Fine... I'll meet you out front..." he sighs before getting up and phasing through the walls once more. I got up and put my shoes on before I went up to Mouse.
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon," I whisper to them before giving them a kiss on their forehead. I quickly shuffled out of the room and met up with Socrates in front of Mouse's house
"Are you ready?" he asks
"Let's find that no-good necromancer..."