Young Writers Society

The cold air, having seeped in through the cracks of the floorboards above, began to spread throughout the first floor of the building. Griffith just kept staring at the ceiling - listening to the increasingly frequent creaking. It originally could have be passed of as the building settling, but this was undoubtedly something more now.

...It sounded just like footsteps.

"I think someone else is in here," Griffith said, trying to keep his teeth from chattering in the cold. He searched around for a set of stairs. "They must have gotten here before us."

He couldn't risk anyone else finding the partial first. Ghosts weren't something that could be gotten ridden of like in the movies - even partials needed the same kind of treatment as regular ones. But he couldn't call up one of the reapers he knew to take care of it, so he would have to solve this problem by a lot of improvising.

He hurried up the stairs, Kirux rushing after him.

And there, at the end of the hallway, he saw the partial.

The partial was a young girl - maybe eight, or nine, or ten if he was really pushing it. She had her hair up in two little transparent ponytails, and her sundress was a simplistic one with floral designs. Her feet were clad in a pair of white sandals. All of these details should have made the ghost downright adorable, but it had the opposite effect when paired with the injuries inflicted before her death - the blood staining the collar of her dress, the blood in her hair, the way her limbs just weren't right, and the way her neck was tilted far too much to the right.

He didn't bother checking her STATUS.

She had to be the partial.

Kirux skid a stop behind him, immediately throwing his arms around Griffith when he saw the dead girl standing before them.

"I want to play," the girl said.

Kirux's grip on him tightened.

"Yes, Carter," Nich hissed, leaning in a little closer, even as Ethan grabbed his arm to try and pull him off the other man. "Maybe you should listen to your friend."

"Nich--"

"Not the time, Ethan," Nich ground out, not looking at his boyfriend.

"Nicholas," Elizabeth said and touched his shoulder, her hand freezing compared to Ethan's on his arm. "Stand down. Now is not the time for fighting."

Nich scowled and abruptly released both the man, then shoved past him and his friend, and into the house. "Fine," he hissed, turning to face them. "Let's go."

And that was about the time he heard it. A slightly echo-y voice, from somewhere upstairs.

"I want to play."

Taber, placing the last few boxes in front of the back door, shivered. "I don't want to play," he mumbled, wrapping his arms around himself and looking over to Tact.

The hound pointed the knife they'd been sharpening against a counter at the ceiling. "It came from upstairs," they said. "Let the people with the guns figure it out."

Carter reluctantly put his gun down. He made sure to glare at Nich as he flipped the safety back on, hoping the person figured out how easy it was for the safety to be back off.

He didn't want to shoot anyone. But he would if he had to do so.

Bear wasn't quite sure what to do, putting his own gun down, and keeping a strong hold on the knife sheath hanging from his shoulder. The threat of the situation had relaxed. It was still very tense. It was still very dangerous, but not as dangerous as it was a few seconds ago.

He touched out to Carter's shoulder gently and asked, "Are you okay?"

Carter shook the hand off and marched off to follow the quickly retreating other party members.

"I want to play," the ghost girl insisted.

Partials hyperfixated on what they had been feeling before their time of death. He had some idea based on what the girl said, but he couldn't tell if her death had twisted it or not - if this was anything like the movies, she wanted someone to join her in the afterlife.

He might have been able to fulfill the requirement, but he couldn't reveal the truth. Not even when it was just Kirux - or maybe because it was just Kirux. Out of everyone there, Kirux was the one person he didn't want to scare off.

Kirux hesitantly peeked out from behind him.

"What do you want to play?" he signed.

The ghost gave him a blank look.

"What do you want to play?" Griffith repeated. The answer was just going to scare Kirux, but it wasn't fair that the ghost couldn't understand what he was saying-

The girl gave a shrug.

A small shrug, one that he might have missed if he hadn't been paying attention. "Play," she simply said, her gaze having shifted from Griffith to Kirux instead. She drifted over to them and grabbed onto Kirux's sleeve.

"Play," she said again.

Kirux glanced over at Griffith, then gave a nod.

The girl - her face emotionless - started to lead Kirux down the hallway. Griffith went to rush after him, but the girl came to a stop and crossed her arms - a flicker of something living on her face.

"She doesn't want adults," Kirux signed.

The girl gave a small nod - having understood that Kirux was translating the look for her - then turned back to Kirux. "Play."

He let her lead him into one of the rooms.

Griffith couldn't help himself. Despite the girl's request to just play with a fellow child - how old was Kirux, exactly? - Griffith had to make sure Kirux was safe. He slipped down the hallway in miraculous silence. When he finally reached the doorway to the room Kirux and the ghost had gone into, he peeked inside.

And then he stared at what he saw.