Mona Liza Lies

7 | Willy Wonka's Hat Collection

Disha led them to the lesser-known part of the town, beyond the small shops and the untidy park. Mona, in her 29 years, hasn't been there, simply because she never had a reason to be.
And if the day wasn't weird enough, Mona was met with more surprises, or well, one very tall surprise with a distinctive silver pork pie hat.

"Hello there." The creepy guy from the other night was standing in between the trees, his long trench coat a vivid shade of silver. The red vest and the black rings all made him look like-

"Willy Wonka, hi." Mona groaned, tired. "What do you want?"

"Who is this? What is that?" Disha asked, pointing to his hat.

"Wait, you can see him?" 

"Why wouldn't we see him?"

"I'm not your hallucination, miss." The creepy guy threw in, his face bored. He shook hands with Dennis, who looked too weirded out to say anything.

Mona felt panicked. She had thought he was the result of all she drank last night, but apparently not. She was sure he was following her, though she didn't know why.

"Can you guys excuse us?" She asked, then grabbed the creepy guy's wrist and pulled him away from the group.

"No riddles. Who are you?"

He sighed. "My name is Lucien, and I want to help."

Mona wanted to laugh, but she wasn't amused in the slightest. He stood there, too serious for someone selling something so ridiculous.

"Lucien as in the one from our stories?" Mona asked calmly.

"The ones where they portray me as the big, bad wolf of Larnswick? No. I'm simply Lucien, the nice immortal you're lucky to have."

"That's it, I'm reporting you to the cops," Mona said, determined. He chuckled.

"You don't wanna do that. I'm of lots of help to you. Especially with matters concerning Liza." Lucien said, shaking his head.

"How do you know Liza?" Mona narrowed her eyes.

"How am I handsome and immortal at the same time? The world is full of mysteries."

"Alright, the cops it is."

"Wait!" He sounded desperate just for a second, but then his expression went back to being sly. "One evening. That's all I need. If you trust me by the end of it, you should accept what I am."

Mona scoffed. "A ghost?"

"Your friend." His eyes were sincere, and his voice low.

Mona checked her options. She could simply walk off. Or call the cops. Or tell Disha and Dennis that she has no idea who this strange man is. But it was as if his voice was hypnotic. Maybe she wanted it to be hypnotic. She wanted to not think and blame it on him, as much as ridiculous as that sounded. Most importantly, he didn't look like a person to back out of his word so one evening being stuck with him was a small price to pay to be rid of him forever. She gave in.

After a slight nod, they walked back to the irritated-looking Disha. It was evident she and Dennis were bickering in their absence.

"I spoke to him and well, he's going to be with us to visit the friends," Mona informed and watched Disha's jaw drop in disbelief.

"Are you sure you can trust him?" She hissed to which Mona gave a shrug. "Who even is he?"

Lucien smiled. He shook Dennis's hands again. "Well, I'm Luc-"

"Casper." Mona interrupted. "He's Casper the fucking friendly ghost."

Lucien didn't seem to care. A smile spread over his face. "Well, I do go by a lot of names."

"And why was he waiting for us? Here?" Dennis said, observing his hands, as if Casper had painted them blue.

I want to know the same. She thought while Lucien seemed eager to reply to that.

"I'm her advisor. She texted me to be here." He took out a bunch of cards from his pockets and handed two of them to Disha and Dennis. The latter tilted his head in surprise, reading whatever his card said like it was a math formula he didn't understand. Mona craned her neck to read the card off Disha's shoulders.

"Luke Mackintosh. Professional Mourner and Butcher." Mona read it out loud, and Lucien snatched them off their hands.

"Wrong cards!" He gave them two other ones. 

"Casper with no last name. Professional advisor to Mona Rubins. Do not call me." Disha read.

Mona blinked rapidly, looking at him in shock. "How did you know I was gonna introduce you as Casper-"

"He's not Casper then?" 

"Good God, I would never lie!" Lucien patted down the front of his vest. "I was her advisor since she was three!"

"How could you possibly think they'll believe that?" Mona asked, throwing her hands into the air.

"Because it's the truth. Remember when I scratched your babysitter's face because she didn't let you stay up longer?"

"What are you talking about?"

"And when you were 14, you had this horrible crush on your classmate and he called you a weirdo so I cut off his hands?"

"Your jokes aren't funny, Casper." She said, resigned.

"Mortals do seem to be humorless." Lucien agreed.

Disha rolled her eyes and they all moved ahead, Lucien chattering on about magic and mayhems. If Dennis wasn't so tired, he'd have pretended to act interested.

"You know there's a very good chance that we're all going to get murdered?" Mona fell into line with Disha's pace, who frowned.

"The people we are going to meet are friendly. Just don't say anything you wouldn't say to someone who has guns. Lots of guns."

"And are you a part of the street gang?" 

"No, Torrin was once invited to buy some not-so-legal fireworks, which is how I came to be friends with them."

"Who the hell is Torrin?" Dennis yelled.

"My boyfriend," she stated. Her voice was softer than before.

Mona made no comment. She didn't trust whatever they were going to do. Vague answers only meant more secrets.

She kept an eye on both Disha and Lucien. It was getting dark, and she could see no stars.

She remember what Liza had once said; "If you can't see the stars, don't stand around to figure out why. Stars are the main things that make the night sky beautiful. Without them, you're lost. Without them, it's a warning."

Of what? She hadn't asked. Liza said a lot of deep things while she was drunk, each one more ridiculous than the last. Even then, she felt the cold breeze tingling her skin, and involuntarily she looked at the duo behind them. Dennis was positively ignoring the rants of Lucien. On catching her glance, Lucien smiled widely. Like she saw a ghost, she tore her eyes off his and continued on.

"They usually meet at night," Disha explained, using large hand gestures. "They're not expecting us so don't look hostile."

"Hostile?" Mona rolled her eyes. "We look like the fucking cast for SpongeBob Squarepants."

Disha shushed and pointed to the corner, which seemed to be more spacious once you were past the dirty wall. Everything about the place was suspicious too.

Mona was afraid. For a fraction of a second, she wanted to run. 

Before she could voice her concerns, Disha spoke up. "I'll be right back."

She walked off to the said corner, leaving all of them alone. Mona felt the familiar instinct of being watched. Her eyes found Dennis's.

Then the shadows of the woods came forwards.

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