Knock knock knock
The police officer firmly stood in front of an apartment door
"Hello… Anybody home" he exclaimed
He turned his head looking down the empty hallway, then glancing back at the apartment door displaying the number "9" proudly on a metal plaque
"Yes, just a second" a muffled voice expressed from behind the door
The door swayed open, the man coming face to face with the police officer on the other side
"Oh.. hello um.. officer"
They both stood at average heights, the police officer was outfitted with the standard uniform, except for a set of three scarves tied around his arm, while the man standing inside was dressed in a white button up shirt, black dress pants and shoes that subtly reflected the hallway light
"Hey, I'm Mike" the officer spoke with a calm and firm tone "Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"
"Yeah. Sure. I don't mind, and I'm kage by the way"
"No worries" Mike replied whilst he opened a yellow notepad and flipped through its contents
He scanned over Kage's appearance and writes down a short description
Average height, long brown hair, well dressed
"Okay, where were you yesterday afternoon" Mike glanced up from his notepad
"I was at the coffee shop around the corner, I usually head their after work for something quick to eat"
Mike scribbles Coffee Shop and After work
"Great" smiled Mike "I haven't been there but i heard it's a nice place"
"Well, there's a reason i go their after work everyday" Kage said jokingly
"Well could you tell me if you saw a girl, she had black hair, red shirt and jeans, she was last seen at that coffee shop yesterday afternoon"
"No i don't, recall anyone fitting that description there at the time"
Mike writes a little into the notepad once again
"She went missing right after she left that coffee shop, we thought you might have more information, but it's fine"
A shocked expression came over Kages face "Oh my god, thats horrible, sorry i couldn't have been much help"
"It's alright, thank you for your time, call the station if you remember anything, have a good day" Mike places his notepad back into his pocket and stepped away from the door, walking further down the hall
Kage closed the door behind him and stood facing away from it for a moment
THUD his legs gave out collapsing on the floor, shaking in fear
"HOW"
"H-how did they manage that, no ones gotten this close to me before" Kage wrapped his arms around his head, bunching up his hair with his hands, with a look of desperation in his eyes
Outside Mike was pacing back and forth talking on a radio "Yeah so i asked that kage grant a couple of questions about that girl who went missing"
"We might push him about it at a later date but first lets ask the other people that might have seen her, you know i tried to word it like that we didn't know shes dead to try and get him to say something that he shouldn't know but it didn't work"
The voice on the other side of the radio came through crunchy and static "Yeah, alright come back to the car and we can try the other people"
Mike lowers his radio, placing it inside his pocket, He lights a cigarette and begins to walk towards the end of the hall
Kage slowly opens the door his hands shaking, a small smirk forming across his face and began walking towards Mike
I know they suspect me
Once he had gotten close he slowly revealed a knife from his pocket, He gripped it tightly, gritted his teeth and
SLAASH!
Kage cut the back and the side of mikes neck, the blood pooled out from the wound falling down his back and onto the floor, Mike stumbled forward gripping his neck with his hand
COUGH!- COUGH!
A scarf around his arm bursts into flames, releasing embers into the air before disappearing completely
The large cut on the back of Mike's neck was now a freshly healed scar, He stood back up, turned around and with a large gesture pointed his gun towards Kage
"Isn't this interesting, for what reason would you attempt something like that, you didn't kill that girl did you, 'cause for what other reason would you have to do this"
Kage stood shaking, the knife still in his hand
"This is enough evidence to convict you anyway"
Kage glanced at his knife then back at Mike
"WHAT! I cut your neck, H-how did that happen" Kage trembled, his eyes shaking with fear and anger
"HOW DID THAT WOUND HEAL!!" Kage grabs Mike gun with his hand and points it up, his gun fires into the ceiling
"YOU ASSHOLE" Kage drives his knife into Mike's stomach
Blood stains his shirt and covers Kages hand, Mike stumble back with the knife still inside him
A second scarf on Mike's arm burns away, The knife gets pushed out and falls to the floor by the wound swiftfully healing itself
"One more left" Mike muttered
"How!" kage yells in anger
He rushes to the floor and grabs the knife still covered in mikes blood, and lunges at mike once again
BANG!!!
Mike pulled the trigger once again, the bullet grazed Kages hand and hitting him directly in the chest, cracking his sternum along with a few ribs
Kage fell to his knees, his knife fell out of his hand and onto the ground, with that sudden movement one of his ribs cracked and pierced his lung
"AAAAAHHH!!" His screams echoed throughout the hallway
With pained breath Kage is left lying on the floor, choking on his own blood, pooling in his lungs. He looks up towards Mike, then back down to the hole in his chest
How, How did he do that
Kage fell onto his back, an agonising jolt of pain surged through his body, he could hear Mike on the radio
"Holy shit Mike!"
"Look it wasn't my fault, i was trying to shoot his hand to disarm him"
"We are fuuuuuuucked, you know that right"
Kages nervous system began to shutdown, his eyes lost all signs of life and his vision faded to black
RIIIIIINNNNNGGG!
"Wake the fuck up Connor, its the end of school"
The sound of the bustling class assaulted Connor's ears as he looked up in his drowsy state
"Thank god, It's the end of the day" he Yawned
Connor hoists his bag over his shoulder and meets his friend Oliver standing at the door waiting to leave
"So what are you going to do this afternoon?"
"I'm going to go do a job, then go to sleep" HAHA
"What job? Did you apply to maccas or something" Oliver pulls a smug face at Connor
"Ha Ha very funny, I'll tell you another time, but i gotta get going" He points out the gate as he walks off
"See ya then haha" Oliver waved
Connor pulled out his phone and placed both his earbuds into each ear
If i told you my job you'd probably thinks its bullshit
He stared at the ground as he walked
Recently there's been a large increase in superstition, so people have been naturally blaming ghosts for things such as accidents, injuries and deaths
Connor kicks a small rock on the side of the footpath
In a ghosts presence usually misfortune follows, and so I have found a way to capitalise on this phenomenon, I investigate areas for ghost activity and cleanse them to remove the risks that ghosts bring
Connor had become a self employed ghost hunter in response to the uptick in the public's belief in ghosts, It allowed him to make a little money on the side and despite his amateur status he had gotten a lot of emails for his service
He finally made it to where he was sent to investigate, it was an old run down house, its front yard was overgrown to the point where the grass started to cover its footpath to the front door
He glanced down at his phone with an email open, It detailed where the house was and what was needed of him, the owners planned to demolish and replace the house with a newly built one, but just for reassurance and to reduce construction accidence they employed Connor to investigate and/or remove the ghost if any were present
Connor swung is bag around on his shoulder reaching in and pulling out his EMF reader, It was a device that read the area for electro-magnetic field which was a common sign of a ghost
He walked up the steps into the entrance of the house, He knelt down picking up a rock with a spare key placed under it
The key goes into the hole, it turns and CLICK the door was open
It was dark inside, the dust particles formed a thin layer on the walls, Connor was afraid that if he moved to fast he could send them flying filling the air with dust
He saw a row of stairs leading to a separate floor
Maybe i should start up and work my way down
Connor clicked his torch on, its beam shot out in front of him illuminating his way
Slowly he ascended the stairs, they creaked and some even shook and wobbled when he stepped on them
He searched each room on the top floor individually, the EMF was switched on the whole time but it didn't pick up anything he eventually made his way down the stairs
No luck so far, it could be down stairs but i think my EMF could have read its presence through the floorboards
He found himself in what seemed to be the lounge room, The wallpaper was torn of the wall coiling towards the floor, the lounge was tipped over onto its back and a CRT TV placed opposite to it
"Oh nice" He said in a slight whisper
Connor knelt down before the CRT TV, placing his EMF reader to his side and holding his torch up with his other hand
I've never seen these types of TVs before
He looks around the rooms
There doesn't seem to be any ghosts here so it should be fine
He fiddled with the dials and switches, nothing happened, he searched around the back flicked a switch and then with a blinding flash the screen turned on, the low hum of static filled Connors ears
He stood back up, admiring the TV in all its glory then a small flash of yellow appeared in the top of his vision, he turned his head slowly upwards
His eyes widened in shock, a cable emerging from a hole in the the ceiling was now slithering through the air towards Connor
"Holy Shit" Connor stumbled in an attempt to get out of its way
It was too late, Connor felt its rubber casing on his skin, its draped around his neck and torso along with tangling around his arms, The exposed wires from the cable finally connected with His skin sending a surge of electrical current through his body
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
He was in excruciating pain, he felt his limbs twitch sporadically in response to the electricity, the cords wrapped around his body feeling as if they'd gotten tighter, static from the TV filled the room with its crunchy sound
He writhed, squirming on the floor in one of the worst pain one could feel, his skin felt like it was melting, the rubber melted to his skin merging its fibers exposing his skin to more of the copper wiring
EEEEEEEEEE the high pitched wine of the EMF reader rang out, its LEDs lighting up
1…
2…
3…
4…
5…
With the EMF reaching level 5 the electricity stopped, the TV static continued though masking the sizzling of Connors skin, his body laid lifeless on the floor, his eyes were wide but all sign of life had left them, Connor had died
The Morning sun rose in the sky, its rays shone through the open window hitting the face of a sleeping Connor, His eyes jutted open
He hesitated for a moment, laying there in silence, a light SIGH came from his mouth as he sat himself up
"Now that was a fucked dream"
Connor rationalized his experience as a dream how couldn't he, how could he have died and woken up in his bed, there was no other explanation for something like that to occur
Now standing Connor checked his phone laying on his bed side table, it was 6:54, a few minutes short from when he would usually wake up but resting for that extra 6 minutes wouldn't have mattered. Sleepily walking down the hallway he comes to the entrance of the bathroom, he walks over to the sink and hurriedly brushes his teeth.
I need to get dressed after this Connor Thinks
Connor spits out the toothpaste, and comes face to face with himself in the mirror, He jolts backwards falling to the floor with his hand supporting the rest of his body
"W-What" He slowly rises from the floor, unveiling his face, it was just like usual except for his eyes, they weren't there normal dark brown they were red and blue being overlaid on top of each other
His hands reached towards his face "How are my eyes like that"
A static hum filled Connor's ears, it engulfed his senses pushing aside the silence, He covered his ears in response but he couldn't escape the confronting sound
Ring Ring Ring
His phone alarm goes off for his usual wake up time, the static disappeared, he glances over to the mirror his eyes are also back to normal
"Wait, how~"
A wave of pain came over Connor, it lasted no longer than a second, but it felt just like the pain he felt when he was wrapped up and electrocuted by the cables.
"Why am i remembering that"
He rushed back to his room and searched through his bag frantically, there was nothing, he was looking for his EMF reader, this proved he'd lost it
"Back at that house, I dropped it, so that really all happened"
This new knowledge overwhelmed Connor, it was hard to wrap his head around, He had died? How could that have happened, how was he standing right now
He checked his arms, no burn marks
There were absolutely no signs of any of that happening, except his EMF reader was missing
"I got to go back to that house to see if it's there"
"Oh yeah, school"
His face turned from distressed to annoyed in an instant, the fact he had to wait the whole day to go back and investigate that empty house to reclaim his lost EMF reader, yet it was still a bone chilling thought to go back to the place he had died, would he find his body? He thought
Connor begrudgingly went about his normal morning routine which consisted of getting dressed, packing his lunch and finally walking his way to school
Once he had reached his school he saw Oliver standing at the front gate, he was lent backwards resting his back against the fences metal bars
"Huh… Why are you so early today" Oliver glanced up from looking at the ground
"Hmm, what do you mean?" A confused look washes over Connor's face
Oliver pulls out his phone and turns its screen to face Connor, "Its 8:30, you're usually not here for another 10 minutes"
The sound of static filled Connor's ears, it was exactly like it was this morning, the static overlapping his hearing, drawning out any other audio in the area
"...Hey, Connor? Are you alright"
"Oh yeah" Connor shook his head slightly "hey, Is there something wrong with my eyes?"
Oliver looks closely "No, have you been smoking haha"
"What, no you know i've never touched anything like that"
"Hmm, well did you get pink eye again"
"NO!" Connor looked flustered "-And what do you mean again?!"
Oliver laughs at Connor
"I'm just fucking with you, your eyes are completely fine"
Oliver turns and walks into the gate with Connor trailing behind, He pulled out his phone, swiping to the camera, His eyes were blatantly red and blue, the exact same as they were earlier
What the hell is going on?
He went through classes, and breaks, all the while the thought couldn't leave his mind, how was this happening? Why was his eyes changing and no one could see it, and he needed to go back to that house, these didn't leave his mind for a second, it was almost tormenting
The final class of the day, fifth period Math, all he needed to do was wait another hour, he zoned out staring at the digital whiteboard hanging on the wall, The static sound returned, it made Connor jump in place, luckily no one noticed
The whiteboard began to flicker and glitch, as people glanced upwards to see next lot of notes they needed to write down they noticed the visual deformation on the screen
"The fuck.." Connor muttered
A humanoid figure stepped through the wall, it appeared to be made entirely made of electricity, as it entered the room the lights began to flicker, It slowly began to walk around the classroom, the lights dimmed and brightened in accordance with its presence
"What the hell" One student said
"Oh my god, its a ghost" another said jokingly
Everyone in the room laughed except for Connor who was very much terrified at what was standing before him, A humanoid figure made entirely of electricity with sparks flying off itself, It continued wandering the classroom glancing at Connors class mates
Eventually it made its way to Connor, blankly staring at him as he wrote notes, its featureless face not moving its gaze for a second, Connor began to silently panic
Does it know I can see it?
He raises his hand quickly "Hey Miss, Can i go to the toilet"
The teacher looked up from their laptop on their desk "Oh, yes thats fine Connor"
A sigh of relief came from Connor's mouth, He stood up trying not to acknowledge that "things" presence, its gaze followed him out the door unbroken
Click the door shut, A deep exhale followed by nervous laughter from Connor as he stepped away from the door
A whirring sound echoed through the hallway coming from inside the classroom, the creature let out a loud bellowing screech that caused the lights of every classroom in the school to flicker, It limped through the closed door, coming face to face with Connor
Connor immediately turned and began running
What is that thing?
It could phase through walls, so it could be a ghost like that guy joked but... but since when did a ghost look like that?
Connor turned to look behind him, The ghost gave chase, it wasn't the fastest but was still making ground, He turned around Corners attempting to lose it, he turned back around again, It wasn't there anymore
Looking around he saw a storage room instantly he ran to its door and hid inside it, It was a small cramped room, it was used to house all the old electronics that the school refused to throw away, old TVs piled up along the wall and cables hung from the ceiling
KSSHHHHHH
A sizzle was heard from the other side of the door
Connors static returned in his ears, The spirit stepped through the door, the TVs turned on despite the lack of power outlets in the room, it slowly approached Connor, the singular light bulb flickered in its presence
The ghost reached out attempting to grab Connor, and with a reflexive response he pushed over one of the TV
CRASH!
It was staggered from the impact allowing Connor to quickly exit the room back into the open hallway, The ghost turned and lunged at Connor
Kssshhh
A red and blue scythe appeared from his hand, Blocking the ghosts on coming attack
Hehe "I could have been fried"
Connor swings his scythe knocking the two back, He looks at the scythe that had materialised in his hands with shock for a moment, with it held high he swung downwards using all his strength in the process
SLASH-CRASH
The ghost had caught his scythe by its blade with its power surged hands, this allowed the electricity to flow through the scythe and into Connor's body
AAAH Connor yelled out in pain
The electricity flew through him just like it did the previous day, his hands in response to the electricity gripped the scythe tighter forcing him to endure the currents flow further
the scythe disappeared out of both their hands, freeing Connor from its shocks
Connor panting, hunched over and with short of breath
He rose, dawning a more composed stance and expression "Let me try that again~"
He reached his arm behind his head, the scythe materialised in his hand, he swung it down to meet the ghost and once again it held out its hand to catch it only this time the scythe disappeared before they could converge and reappeared on the other side
The curved blade carved through its chest, tearing through its structure causing the particles of electricity that made up its figure to disperse into the air and loose their form
Connor fell to the ground, collapsing onto his knees, smoking rising from his shoulders, the scythe faded away and his eyes that were once split combined again reforming into their brown colour
What is going on?
He was exhausted, he just wanted to go home and go to bed but he had to get his EMF reader back, coming to his feet a stumble he walks back to class, opens the door and slumps back into his chair
Sigh
Connor fed up with today, puts a wireless earbud in and reaches into his bag for his phone, he planned to play some music to hopefully get through this class
KKSSSSHHH
His eyes changed and the static returned but now it was lighter, it didn't reduce his hearing as much as before but now he could hear the sound of (Don't fear) The Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult playing in his earbud
He stared in disbelief at his phone, he hadn't even unlocked it, let alone pressed play on a song
Wait what?
Can I control technology? Wait no its probably a glitch
Before when the digital whiteboard glitched and flickered, was that him? He previously thought it was that electricity ghost but now he wasn't so sure, he was spacing out while looking at it so maybe it was subconscious? He thought
Before Connor had much of a chance to grapple with his situation the bell signifying the end of school rang, He quickly closed his bag, swung it over his back and left the room, he walked down the halls then eventually the footpath to the front gate all the while listening to music, Glancing at his phone
This is so weird He thought about all that just happened, he died the previous day, got attacked by a ghost and now he found out he can control technology, this all felt so unreal to him, but there he was right now operating his phone with his mind, opening and exiting apps, adjusting the volume he had complete control over it
"I'll never have to touch my phone again" he laughed
Connor exited the school gates and began making his way to the house, walking across streets and crossings until an overwhelming sense of being watched came over him, he turned around but no one was there, he continued walking until he reached the old house
A dry wind could be felt blowing through Connor's hair, he walked along the overgrown footpath and unlocked the door, it was still dark as it was previously
He ventured his way to the lounge room, the cables motionlessly dangled from the ceiling, he didn't want to get even remotely close to them and there it was his EMF reader laying on the ground, he quickly snatched it and walked quickly to the door way
As he got closer, a figure appeared in the door way
Ting Ting Ting
The sound of clanging metal filled the air as it approached the door, it stepped through the door and Connor saw it was a girl with black hair wearing a red hoodie, a pair of washed out jeans, bandages tied around her eyes and chains flowing around her that fell to the ground in rhythmic succession
"Why are you here?" She spoke