Ghost Hunt: The Return

The Return IV

Chapter 4: Their Paths Cross

June 4th
5:39am

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Ugh, shut up." I turn in my bed, groaning at the loud noise that dared wake me from my slumber. My veins pump in a wave of annoyance.

BEEP! BEEP! BE-

Jesus! "I said, shut up!" I yell, a current streaming through my veins and zapping out of my fingers as I punch the stupid alarm clock.

That shuts it up. One of my eyes peek open to look at the floor, where the now electrocuted piece of metal lay. Looks like I'll be buying yet another one.

My hands drowsily reach up towards my face to rub the sleep out of my eyes. Unfortunately I couldn't rub the sleep from my body, because for some reason I'm still tired after all that sleeping. What time is it? Huh. Maybe I should've looked at the digital alarm before I destroyed it. Sleepily, I sit up in my bed as my hands search for my phone in the dark.

"Here it is," I mutter to myself quietly. I squint and bring the phone up to my face. 5:43 am. My first lecture of the day is at 6:45 so maybe I should get up.

... Yeah, I should get up.

Eventually I give in to the rational part of me and stumble out of bed, almost tripping on the broken clock. There's a pounding in my head but I ignore it, I've dealt with worse. After opening my blinds and fixing up my bed, I take a quick cold shower to wake me up and then get dressed. Blue jeans and a graphic tee sound fine for a day at school. The kitchen beckons for me to use it so I make myself a cream cheese bagel, grab my bag, and am out the door of my apartment in a flash. I fish my phone from my pocket and check the time again.

5:58. The headache hasn't gone away yet, which is sort of unusual. I usually get aches like these when I'm forgetting something important, but what am I forgetting?

He ignores my pleas and continues to drag me across the floor, my short dress riding up to my thighs and providing no comfort to my scratched up legs.

I freeze.

Flashes of images speed through my mind at an alarming rate as I tried to process just what had happened last night in my nightmare.

A girl...

A girl had been kidnapped?

***

6:10am

It's time like these where I start to wonder why I even bother trying to communicate with the inferior species called humans.

"No, I requested one pot of Earl Grey tea. Not one measly cup of Darjeeling. No. They are not the same thing. ... No. ... I do not want green tea. Did you hear me or are you suddenly deaf? E-A-R-L G-R-E-Y. Earl Grey. ... Hello? HELLO? Great."

I slam the phone down in its place. The stupid idiot hung up on me. He hung up. Why does no one understand the concept of tea these days? Despicable.

Lin's out doing... Lin things for most of the evening, and I need to get to SPR asap to unpack the equipment. And so that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I hail a cabby and direct them to the office building. Again, I'm greeted with the quiet as I saunter up the stairs and into the workplace. The couches seemed dreary, the walls plain and white, the kitchen... unused. Part of me wanted to brighten up the place, get some new furniture, open the windows, and just make it feel less dreary. Another part of me just wants to unpack and get on with it.