Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

Who're You Gonna Call?! Ghosthunters!

Wirt had thought that yesterday would be the strangest day here, but then it'd all go back to normal, and Wirt would be stuck worrying again, wondering if he should have gone with them, wondering if he made the right choice, going through the motions of putting his thoughts down on paper... but apparently, life would never go back to that again.

The first sign was when he'd found something in his mailbox first thing in the morning. By itself, this would not be odd, because there were a lot of people who could and would send him letters (Mabel had done it before, and even though he'd never told her, Wirt had thought they were funny), but the really strange thing was that when he opened the letter, it was completely blank.

Wirt blinked, looking over and around the letter for any explanation, but it was literally just a blank piece of paper. Weird, but Wirt didn't really think much of it. All he did was put the paper back in the envelope, and put it back in his mailbox. He forgot about it as he went to breakfast.

There's were another strange thing happened: Kai was there, talking animatedly to Mira. The two looked up as Wirt came in, and whatever Kai was saying petered out. Wirt froze, and he felt like he'd been caught spying again.

After a second, Mira waved, breaking the spell. "Hey, Wirt. How are you doing?"

Wirt rubbed the back of his head. "...Good?"

Mira gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Great."

Mira turned away from him, and back to Kai. "If it's really that cold, just get a jacket or something."

Kai turned away from Wirt, too. "I can't find one! And besides, it's not cold down there, it's just cold in one spot! And you know what does that? Ghosts!"

Mira scowled. "All basements are like that! You're probably imagining it!"

Awkwardly, Wirt went to grab an apple.

"I'm not!" Kai cried. "I can prove it, just come down and you'll see! Besides, what if it's... you know..."

Mira shook her head. "Kai, come on."

"But what if it is-?!"

"It's not, Kai," Mira snapped. "Adam is... he's gone, okay? Thinking like he's still around, it's only going to hurt us worth, okay?"

"But I have proof!" Kai argued, and Mira raised an eyebrow at him. Kai faltered. "Uh... there's a cold spot... in the basement."

Mira stared at him, and Kai frowned, stepping back. Wirt watched them, wide-eyed. He really hoped they didn't notice him.

Suddenly, Mira huffed, shaking her head. "I know you're sad, Kai, and... and I am, too. But pretending that he's still here, and looking for signs that he's still around, it'll only hurt you, you know?"

"...Yeah, I guess," Kai sighed. "But, um, he's not angry at me, right?"

Mira titled her head. "Angry at you? Why?"

"Well..." Kai rubbed his arm, nervously. "I don't really want to be angry if he IS haunting me."

Mira rolled her eyes, but she chuckled anyway. "He loved you, Kai, I'm pretty sure he's not going to become a poltergeist around you anytime soon."

Kai looked relieved. "Oh, that's good."

Mira laughed.

Kai laughed, too. "Right... Well, I guess I'll get back to that machine, I think I'm really getting somewhere with it-."

"Kai, you've been done there for weeks!" Mira chided him. "Come on, let's go hang out with Tulip. We'll have some fun, ok?"

Kai looked out of his death. "I mean, working on that thing IS fun..."