Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

Accused of Snitchcraft

Father Arlen frowned, before shaking his head. "Right. Now, Mr Grier, you can describe the crime in full and present the evidence."

Mr Grier seemed to visible radiate with excitement, like he had been waiting for this, be he seemed to try to hold it back. "Of course, Father."

Grier stepped up, throwing his arms up as if to present the boy on trial.

"This boy!" he started enthusiastically. "Has been lodging in my Inn, just down the street for the most of the past week. While he was lodging there I heard him talking to someone, someone I know I did not see enter or leave the room. In fact, when I opened up his room one day for cleaning, I found him conversationing with unsee creatures, EVIL creatures!"

"I see..." Father Arlen said, nodding. "And you believe these creatures to be malicious?"

"I do," Grier answered. "When I asked him who he thought he was talking to, he told me he was talking to Nobody."

"Nobody?" Father Arlen's eyes widened. "Like the stories-!"

Finally, Norman spoke up. "I wasn't talking to a person named Nobody," he told them. "I just meant that I wasn't speaking to anyone. I had been talking to myself?"

"A one-sided conversation?" Grier asked him, sounding skeptical. Norman winced before he nodded, slowly.

"Y-Yeah... I guess..." he said, as quietly as he could.

Grier turned back to the audience. "He's lying."

"They'll be the judge of that, Mr Grier," Father Arlen corrected. "Now, is that all you have or is there more?"

"There's more, there's more," Grier said quickly. "As is CLEARLY obvious, this boy was lying to me, so I listened in on some of his conversations, and though I could only hear half of the conversation, I heard a lot of interesting things..."

At this, Grier turned to give Norman a look. Norman gulped and tried (and failed) to keep his worried expression off his face. When Grier turned back to the audience, he was smirking.

"Yes, the first thing I learned is that this boy was using this... 'Nobody'-." Norman opened his mouth to protest before he seemed to think better of it. "-To gather information on the town. Information that he, nor I, could have known otherwise. For instance! How could I have known about the extra money Kiley had been saving up."

Father Arlen straightened, looking startled. He frowned, surveying the crowd until he found who he was looking for. "Miss Kiley, if this true?"

All eyes turned to the person in the third row, who had a face of shock on before it soured into annoyance.

"Yes," she grumbled, she glared at Grier. "How the hell did you guess that?"

"..." Father Arlen seemed to collect himself. "I... I suppose that proves it. Miss Kiley, come talk to me later, please. You know that's against the rules. Now, Mr Grier-."

"No, there's more," Grier told him, and this time, his face took on a grave expression. He didn't look like he was playing around anymore. "I also learned the true identity of whoever this guy is talking to. He said he was talking to the DEAD!"

The church gasped, and Mabel and Kris exchanged glances.

"So, like... a ghost?" Mabel whispered. "Those things are the worst! I think..."

"Ghosts?!" someone else cried out.

"No, that can't be right!" Father Arlen cried over the talking of the church. "Ghosts don't exist. As the Book explicitly states, everyone either moves to Heaven or to Hell! The Lord doesn't permit the dead to stay behind!"