The door closed. Julian's eyes lifted to Sara as he walked toward her. The Ghost's story was already over, but whether it was true or not, it was all up to them.
Sara blinked once. Her fingers slid off the glass as she turned to him.
"Do you believe her?" she said softly.
"Yeah," Julian said. "But not the story."
"Was it all just a stage play?" she asked, slightly concerned. "Or do you think there's something more?"
Julian's head turned to Rachel. She was still sitting calmly, believing that she was the main character of this story. That all of her actions were under her control, but he knew better. There was more.
"Both," Julian said, closing his eyes slowly. He tried to gather all his thoughts. "It was a twisted fairy tale, dipped in blood. And there's also something we don't know yet."
Sara breathed out faintly. "Well, at least it's over. Simon was also done with that by now."
"Over?" he repeated. Sara stopped, half-turned. "Nah, I don't think so. It isn't over yet. Did you forget what you said before?"
"What?" She turned back to him. The same smirk played on his face.
"How can you kill someone who doesn't exist?"
"And where are you going with this?" she asked, slightly confused.
"You know, in old times, spirits, wraiths, or things like ghosts existed," he said casually, taking slow steps forward as he continued. "Though we really don't know if they existed or not. But there's one thing: you can't kill them. They don't die."
"Because they are already dead," Sara replied faintly to an unasked question.
"Yes." Julian stopped his steps. "They used to use something called exorcism: rituals, prayers, or burning sacred objects. That's how they did that. But did they actually disappear, though? Like, finally released from whatever couldn't let them go?"
He turned to meet her eyes. "Our Ghost will disappear just like the rest before. But, as always, there was a reason he appeared in the first place. Someone summoned him? Or was he born from someone's emotions?"
Then he scoffed slightly. "Either way, both reasons sound scary enough."
"So you're saying he's going to come back?" Sara asked in a low voice. Her palms turned into fists.
"Not exactly," Julian answered. "It's not that he's going to come back. It's more like...maybe in the future we're going to discover more about this ghost. Just think about it for a second. Why Rachel? Why Hector? Do you really think it was all just a personal tragedy scribbled on a blank page?"
"It wasn't?" Sara asked herself.
"It wasn't," Julian said in a steady voice. "There has to be something deeper. That Mike, Ghost, or whatever—they didn't choose Rachel out of nowhere. Varga, Hector, Raul—all of them were connected somehow."
He looked up, his eyes searching for an answer, then closed. He breathed out once. "To put it bluntly: The Ghost's story was just a prologue to the real story."
She moved her gaze to the wall clock, ticking silently. "Let's wait for Simon."
"Yeah," Julian replied faintly. Though I don't think he would tell us much, because, you know…
Both turned towards the door.
Julian pulled the door open, and then something clicked. "What's going to happen to her?" he asked casually. The door was left half-open. "She is the victim, after all."
Sara stopped walking. Looking at him, she replied, "She is, but...that's not an excuse for what she's done. And also, she wants to be held guilty, from the looks of it."
He glanced at Rachel, then opened the door fully. "Yeah. Let God decide."
Sara stepped out first; her breathing became normal. The air felt much more stable outside.
Julian walked past her, then quickly turned around. "Wanna grab something to eat?"
"Yeah, sure," she replied with a soft smile. The burdens were finally lifting from her chest.
"Alright, then." Julian walked backward, his eyes focused on her. "Your favorite, what's it called? That big chunk of rice with chicken and lots of gravy."
"Biryani?" she said, tilting her head.
"Yeah, that one." He pointed his finger at her. "I wanted to try that one out."
"But I'm not in the mood for that currently."
"Then whatever the great lady orders." Julian stopped slowly. Then bowed in an artistic manner, one hand on his chest, the other behind his back. "Your Knight will eat anything."
She smiled again. The air around them had returned to how they remembered it. She tapped his shoulder slightly, then said, "Then follow me to the end of the abyss."
…
The flipping of pages disrupted the silence. Simon carefully read the contents, absorbing every detail about his deceased friend.
Years ago, his friend was assigned a task and went to Neomar, to the edge of this island. A total of six people were assigned to this task, which, on the surface, was simple: they had to negotiate the supplies coming from overseas.
Simon remembered that he was busy with another job at the time and wasn't able to go.
The negotiation details were not clearly explained here, but it stated that they were able to reach some conclusion. However, before that, an accident occurred, resulting in the loss of three lives, including his friend.
The dead bodies were also not retrieved due to certain issues.
He flipped to the last page, recalling that one of them mentioned the bodies being thrown into the sea.
The last page mentioned details about his friend. His finger rubbed against the plain surface of the paper as he skimmed the details once again, confirming that his memories were accurate.
He flipped the page again. Nothing.
His eyes lifted to the boxes stacked in front of him, and he blinked slowly.
"Pages are missing."
...
Reina was walking in the hallways of the fourth floor, lost in her thoughts after a long day of work, her shoulders slumped with tiredness.
Then she noticed that the door of the Archive room was open. She slowed down a little, nudging her glasses up as she peered at the door. The next moment, a figure walked out: Simon.
She watched him as she walked closer. She wanted to call out to him, even just as a greeting, but something stopped her—his entire expression. She examined it carefully as they passed each other.
He looked tired. His clothes smelled of raw metal, and the marks on his face told a different story. She had seen him like this before and knew it wasn't going to be the last time.
She cast one last glance at Simon's back. Then, she recalled that Paul was just here yesterday and asked for her help.
Were they both connected? She wanted to believe so because Paul clearly mentioned that it was about the case they were following for weeks.
…
"Anyway, did you meet him?" Julian asked, while the fork in his hand swirled the noodles.
Sara chewed the noodles slowly, her gaze lifted to Julian. "I did... but," she said, unsure of something.
"But?"
She tapped the plate with her fork and said, "I don't know. I feel like something's off about him lately."
"In what way?" Julian's eyes shifted to her.
"He acts too normal, I guess?" she said awkwardly. "Like, I know he used to talk with me normally, not that much, but still. But when I met him today, he felt like someone else."
"Hm." Julian's eyes dropped low. He tapped his fork twice on the plate, then lifted it. "Well, I don't know, but shouldn't you feel assured that he is behaving normally?"
"Yeah, I kind of feel assured, but..." she recalled her meeting with Paul hours earlier, "his change of behavior is too sudden. I feel like this school life is affecting him more than we realize."
"I see." Julian nodded. "But it won't be for long. Alex returns, and everything goes back to the old version."
"Yeah, he said the same thing." Her gaze drifted to the streets outside. "But I'm not thinking about the future."
The clatter of dishes being served filled the air. The streets were already covered with a thick, dark blanket of night. The sound of cars reached her ears, some louder, some faint, but the streets never seemed to calm down, not even for a second.
She turned her gaze from the outside world.
"Dammit." She slammed her rolled fist on the table. The glass tilted slightly, and the people sitting around turned their gaze toward them.
"What now?" Julian asked, his mouth half full of food.
"You know what he said after meeting up with me?" she said, a slight irritation in her voice. "He wanted to go shopping? Can you believe something like that?"
"Yeah, it's hard to believe, but people change," Julian said casually.
"People change, yeah. But not like that fool, flipping his switch just 'cause he feels like it," she said, averting her gaze from Julian. "Said he wants to buy clothes because he's meeting with someone. Someone from school. A girl."
"Now that is something." Julian clapped his hands. "Didn't expect that kind of development from him. But did he say who he's meeting with, though? I hope the girl is not who I think she is."
"I was about to ask when you called," she said. "And who do you suspect?"
"Who do I suspect?" Julian repeated to himself. "The boss's daughter, obviously. What's her name again? Varsha, right?" he said, laughing under his breath.
"She isn't. I asked him," Sara said.
"Is that so?" Julian covered his mouth, holding back his laugh. "But can you imagine such a scenario? It'll be one heck of a show."
"Sure will." She focused on her food now.
"Now that you mentioned it, I remember something," Julian said. "He asked me to check on someone."
"Who?" Her eyes lifted up.
Julian recalled it clearly. That girl living alone on Dryden Street, she goes to the same school as Paul. What was her name again? No— wait. Paul told him clearly not to mention anyone about this.
Does it really matter?
"Mi—" His words stopped quickly as Sara's phone started buzzing.
Sara glanced at her phone. Simon. Both nodded slightly; it was time to go back.