Under the Floorboards (and In the Walls)

Hungry?-Lucy

A magnesium flare lit up the night sky. In its light I could see my friends, Lockwood and George, fighting for their life against a changer. We were surrounded by green fog. Lockwood cut an imposing figure across the night sky. His coat was flapping in the wind as he made complex patterns with the sharp blade of his rapier. George took a less intricate but no less effective course of throwing bombs at the visitor.

I played in the dirt. At least that's what we've been calling it. Lockwood's decision. He said we need to be more "positive" about our job. To be fair, George did start writing a "give this to Flo if something happens to me tonight" letter every time we left on a job. We both wore silver dog tags in case we died and our bodies weren't found until after they were decomposes and/or eaten by rats. I made Lockwood and Co my POD (payable on death) on my bank account. George and I even wrote Last Will and Testaments and had them notarized and stored in the high security storeroom. It all came to a head when we were doing laundry and I was folding my favorite skirt. I showed it to the boys, pointing out defining details so that they would remember it and asked them to have me buried in it. Lockwood got very grim. He sat us all down the next day and said we needed to be more cheerful about our job. Ghosts can sense when you're discouraged and yadda yadda yadda. We'd been on the "Positive" trip for a while now but I think it is waning.

Furiously, I flung gravel and dirt aside. I blocked out George's panicked yelling. Lockwood was characteristically quiet, deftly swinging his rapier. Finally! An arm. Quickly I unearthed the skull. I grabbed a silver net and wrapped the skull. The fog receded. I breathed a sigh of relief. On one case the ENTIRE skeleton was the source and the ghost wouldn't vanish until we had found and secured every bone. Thankfully, this one was limited to the skull.

George flung himself down on the pile of dirt panting. Lockwood grinned down at me. He looked disgustingly fresh and at ease for having just fought a murdered type two. He climbed down in the hole with me and took the skull. "Is this the third murdered body we've found in this park this month?"

"Fourth," George groaned. He swiped sweat away from his forehead creating a streak of mud. 

"I think we may have found the evidence of a serial killer." Lockwood looked happy about it. Well, as long as we got the commission. "This will look great in the papers."

"Do you think anyone ever gets tired of reading about gruesome murders in the paper every morning?" I asked.

Neither boy answered me.

"You know, if we really wanted to know more about this supposed serial killer..."

"No Lucy," Lockwood cut me off. "You're not doing that."

"C'mon Lockwood. I could find out who the murderer was. Or what their method was. It would be more ways we can tie the bodies together."

Lockwood shook his head as he began gathering together our kit.

"George, back me up, it would be cool research."

George shrugged, "I don't mind sacrificing Lucy's sanity to get a little clout."

Ok I didn't mean it like that, but I'd take what I could get.

"Please, Lockwood. It wouldn't be dangerous. You and George would be right here. Plus, it's getting closer to dawn. It won't be so powerful."

Finally, after George and I joined forces, we broke our leader down.

"Ok fine. You can do it. But you're going to be ten feet away from it. I will have this net and if it so much as gives you a dirty look, it's going on."

"It's a dead person buried for years. All of its looks are dirty."

"You know what I mean."

We set up and I stood back. George gripped his rapier. Lockwood frowned and then made them switch. Lockwood held his rapier and George pulled the net off the source and leapt back. I closed my eyes and felt the tug in my heart.

I could feel ropes tight on my wrists. Despair. I was hungry. Hungry. Hungry. The man wouldn't give me any food. But he promised. He said if I went with him and didn't struggle anymore, he would give me more than I could eat. I could hear soft rustling in the leaves? We were outside. In the park. We were right here. Where was the food? I was so hungry. Suddenly, the man kicked me. Hard. I fell forward down into a pit. I cried out.

"Lucy." I heard Lockwood.

"I'm fine." I managed to say while trying to hang on to what the ghost was showing me. My leg was broken. Shattered in the fall. I twisted in the dirt. I gagged. The man was throwing stuff at me. Dirt. He was burying me. Burying me alive! I tried to scream but my mouth was filled with dirt. I choked and fell to my knees. My actual knees. The vision stopped. I was gasping for breath. Lockwood gripped my shoulders.

"You are never doing that again." He always said that.

I looked up at George. He had wrapped the skull and was putting it in a knapsack. "He buried me."

Lockwood frowned. "We know that."

"No," I corrected myself. "He buried them alive." 

This is the first fanfiction I've ever written so I'm a bit nervous about this. I hope you guys like it. Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Again, this is fanfiction and the characters are not my own.