Between Heaven and Hell | A Rain-Ghoul Fanfiction

6. The Bag of Money

Papa's office was dusty, apparently none of the other cleaners had taken the time to clean it. I couldn't do it anymore since the thief stole my key.

We were all sitting in front of Papa's desk. Roy had a broad smile on his face, probably because he was relieved that Dewdrop didn't mess up again like he did 6 years ago. He had come back to us as soon as he could after fixing Phantom's sleeves. Along with the paperwork and a dial phone, there was a bag full of money on Papa's desk.

''Eve, Swiss, Dewdrop, Roy, I appreciate the effort but... This isn't all of the money. Besides that,'' Papa looked at me with a stern look in his eyes, ''Eve, you have been very irresponsible with the use of your keys. You can't just break in and look through someone's stuff. Even though your intentions were good. I doubt that Phantom was the thief, he didn't have the key now, did he?''

Papa had a point. Phantom didn't have the key. And why would he only hide part of the money in his room?

''Then why shouldn't we just ask Phantom about the money, Papa?'' Swiss asked. Papa nodded. ''That is an excellent idea, Swiss.'' He picked up the old dial phone and dialed Phantom's number, that he for some reason knew at the top of his head. It took Phantom a while to pick up the phone. ''He must be busy shredding bones or something like that.'' Dewdrop mumbled. The phone dialed a few more times before Phantom picked up.

''Ah, yes, hello Phantom. You are speaking with Papa. I need you to come to my office right now. Why, you ask? You'll see when you get here. Just get here right now.''

And so Phantom did, because 2 minutes later he sat down in a chair next to me. ''Why the urgency? What's going on?'' He asked, looking around with a confused look in his eyes. Until his gaze fell upon the bag full of money. ''What are my savings doing there?''

Papa gave him a friendly smile. ''These 4 people broke into your room and found this.'' He pointed at the bag of money in front of him. ''Can you explain this?'' ''That is just some money that I saved up for a new guitar! I had the money on my bank account in hell first, but there was some trouble putting it on a bank on earth, so I just kept it in cash for now.''

Phantom didn't seem to be mad at us for accusing him. He just seemed... disappointed. I immediately felt bad for him. Could we be wrong? It seemed like he had a believable excuse.

''I think that you're speaking the truth. I'm sorry for falsely accusing you, Phantom.'' I put my hand forward so that Phantom could shake it, which he did. ''Apology accepted.'' Swiss and Roy also apologized to him. Dewdrop seemed to find it hard to accept that we were wrong, but apologized anyway. Phantom stood up after that, and grabbed his bag full of money.

''You 4 troublemakers must understand that this can't happen without consequences for you.'' Papa said. Phantom was already standing at the door when he heard this. ''No, it was just a misunderstanding, Papa. You can let them go, I don't mind it.''

After that, Swiss, Dewdrop, and I went back to The Great Hall. Roy still had some work to do, so unfortunately he couldn't come with us. ''I can't believe that it wasn't Phantom!'' Dewdrop yelled so loudly, that everyone around him turned their heads. ''I mean, he must have been lying!'' Swiss sighed, annoyed at Dewdrop's inability to see that he could be wrong about something. Or maybe he just really wanted it to be Phantom, because he still felt threatened by the new guitar player. ''No Dew, we were wrong. That can happen, just accept it already.'' Swiss patted his hand on Dewdrop's shoulder. Dewdrop sat down at one of the tables, his head in his hands.

''You were wrong about what?'' Rain asked, he was holding a bowl of soup. Swiss, Dewdrop, and I exchanged some panicked looks. ''Nothing.'' Dewdrop said, in an attempt to save me. ''Guys, don't lie to me. You can tell me anything, you guys know that, right?'' He sat down and took a sip of his soup. ''Uh, you're not going to like it. But we broke into Phantom's room, found money, and then uh... We sort of falsely accused him?'' I admitted.

Rain spit out his soup. ''What? What did I tell you? Leave this to The Clergy! Satan, you can be so stubborn sometimes!'' I stood up from the table. ''What? You think I'm going to listen to you like I'm some sort of pet? I am an adult woman you know, I can make my own decisions!'' ''Apparently not very good ones! Who knows what could have happened if Phantom caught you. We don't know him well, what if he hurt you? You should stop trying to find out who did it! I'm telling you this for your own safety!'' I rolled my eyes at him. ''Ugh, you're unbelievable! Why do you think I brought 3 strong men with me?'' I was so done with him right now that I threw his hot soup all over him. Not that it mattered that the soup was hot, because ghouls can't really feel temperature anyway. So it was more like normal water to him. The point was to humiliate him in front of everyone in The Great Hall. And it worked.

Rain also stood up from the table now. He curled his hands into fists while he looked down at his shirt, which was soaking wet from the soup. ''Strong? You call that little ghoul over there strong?'' He pointed at Dewdrop who wanted to come at Rain, but Swiss stopped him. ''Swiss and Roy are strong men.'' The little parts I could see of Rain's face underneath his mask turned red after I said that. ''If Swiss is so strong, then why don't you go and be his girlfriend, huh? Because he is so strong, and doesn't care about the rules, and Satan, sometimes even I wish I was his microphone stand.'' ''Rain, don't be ridiculous, you know I love you-'' ''Then try to listen to me for once! I'm only this mad at you... because I love you.'' I could see his eyes behind his mask filling up with tears. I crossed my arms. ''Oh, so now you are trying to control me by trying to be vulnerable and all? Honestly Rain, you can fuck off!''

I hadn't noticed that everyone in The Great Hall was staring at us until now. ''Fine.'' Rain said, his voice cracked because he was crying. ''I'm... I'm sorry, okay?'' He held his head down as he walked out of The Great Hall. His clothes were still covered with soup while everyone stared at him. The sight of him being humiliated in front of everyone and the fact that he was sad while he just cared for my safety all made me feel regret. The tears were stinging in my eyes. I never wanted any of this to happen. I wish we could have just talked about this in private, in a normal way. Maybe things would have gone differently if I didn't already feel sad about Aether and Sunshine leaving the church. I knew that I never would have reacted the way I did if I wasn't bullied by almost everyone in this church.

All of the siblings of sin and ghouls around us immediately started saying things about me and Rain. ''That lying bitch only falsely accused Phantom so she could make herself less suspicious!'' The green eyed brother of sin yelled. Of course he only dared to open his mouth now that Rain was gone.

''Okay!'' I screamed out in frustration. ''I get it, everyone thinks that it was me! And I get why people think that. But you have to trust me, this time, I'm really innocent. I've only made it worse for myself by accusing the new, unique, popular ghoul. And we don't know who did do it, but all I know is that my friends and I are the only ones who are at least trying to uncover the truth.'' I was bawling my eyes out in the middle of The Great Hall when Phantom walked in. He looked very worried when he saw me.

''What's going on?'' He asked, while he wrapped his arms around me. ''They... They think it was me.'' I softly cried into his ear. Phantom let go of me. ''Everyone can stop staring now! The show's over. She thought it was me, but she was wrong, that's all. Mistakes can happen.''

Phantom hugged me tight, while he made little circles with his fingers on my back. He was a good hugger, but still I couldn't help but wish that Rain was the one hugging me right now. He was the only one who always succeeded in making me feel better. I couldn't stop feeling guilty about everything that I just said to him. But I guess that ghouls aren't the only ones who can lash out when they are feeling an intense emotion.