Author's Note: This is a story I wrote quite a while back and will upload in two parts. Enjoy!
A Ghost Story
Part 1
Vash was late for breakfast. Meryl found this troubling.
Usually, Vash was such an early riser that he was the one who cooked breakfast for the rest of them. But this morning, Meryl had come into the kitchen to find Knives grumpily digging through the cabinets demanding to know where his brother was hiding the coffee. Normally, Meryl wouldn't be concerned. After all, everyone slept in once in a while. Perhaps Vash didn't feel well that morning. But it was the latest in a long list of uncharacteristic behavior from him.
It had been some time since Vash and Knives had faced each other and, in the days following, things had been rough. There had been a lot of yelling. At one point Knives was treating Vash so harshly that Vash had had to ask the girls to go out for the day and left Meryl wondering if the tiny house they were renting just outside of town would be there when she got back or if she would only find a crater. At another point, Meryl had punched Knives in the face.
Then things calmed down and the stress was replaced by an unhappy quiet. Knives became sullen and spent all his time holed up in the boys' bedroom. Vash became ill. The girls didn't fare too well, either. It was as if they all felt like the worst was finally over and, as a result, it all seemed to catch up to them and they crashed, physically and emotionally.
But things were starting to look up now. Vash was showing signs of his old self, the kind of person he was before Knives forced him to sober up, and the girls were starting to feel comfortable again, even with Knives around. Knives spoke a little more politely (meaning he was able to talk to everyone without spewing venom and death threats), but mostly spoke when spoken to, and even joined them at the table for meals.
And then Vash started to... go a little strange. Stranger than usual, that is. He had gained the habit of suddenly stopping in the middle of what he was doing and looking away as if he were listening to something. When asked about it, he would always say, "Did you just hear something?" or "Did something just move over there?" No one else ever saw or heard anything. And then he started staying up at night. He would go to bed with the rest of them and then, after a short time, creep back out of his room again. They all heard him doing it at night, but no one knew what he was doing. He seemed to just go to the living room and sit there for varying amounts of time before slinking back to bed again. Once, Meryl had caught him alone in his room talking aloud as though there were someone there he was holding a conversation with. She hadn't listened to what he was saying, but walked in expecting to find Milly or Knives there, but he was alone. When she asked why he was talking to himself, he laughed, and lied, and said he hadn't been talking at all and that she must have been hearing things.
And now he was sleeping in. She shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, who knew how late he had stayed up last night, doing whatever it was he did when he stayed up.
"You're burning the sausages." Knives said.
"Oh!" Meryl had stared at the hallway toward Vash's room and gotten lost in thought. The sausages were, indeed, getting rather black. "Oh goodness! I'm so sorry!" She picked the skillet up off the stove and made a face as she wondered what to do with them. "Oooooh! I'll make new ones! Shoot!" She scooped the sausages off the pan and into the trash and returned the skillet to the stove so she could fetch new sausage links.
Milly came into the room, dressed but with hair still ruffled, and yawned hugely as she sat down at the table.
"Good morning!" she sang.
"Morning, Milly." Meryl answered. Knives ignored her.
"Is something burning?" Milly asked. "I think I smell smoke."
"That was me," Meryl gave her an exasperated look. "I burned the sausage. I'm making new ones."
Milly cocked her head to one side. "Oh? Why didn't Mr. Vash make breakfast? Is he still in bed?"
"I think so. I guess he's not feeling well."
"That's too bad! Do you think I should go check on him?"
Knives had been sitting beside her sipping his coffee and butted in. "He woke up when I got up. I don't know what he's doing in there."
Meryl was a little relieved. At least he wasn't sick. She pushed Vash from her mind and finished with breakfast. Then she set the table, included a place for Vash, and the three of them started on breakfast.
It wasn't long before they heard a door open down the hall and the sound of Vash's footsteps. He came to the table looking like he always did, spiked hair and all, and then stood behind his chair and said solemnly, "I have an announcement to make."
The other three looked up at him, surprised and curious.
"I am being haunted." Vash informed them.
The three didn't react. They just kept staring at him. There was a long pause. Finally, Milly asked, "You mean like... by a ghost?"
"Yes." Vash answered firmly.
They exchanged looks. Meryl and Milly looked concerned and Knives looked confused.
Still solemn, Vash added, "You may ask me questions if you like."
"Um... what?!" Meryl asked.
Vash's attitude faltered. "You're... going to have to expound on that question if you want me to answer it." he said.
Meryl gave him a look and grumbled, "It was rhetorical."
Vash lightened. "Oh! That's good, because I didn't know how to answer it!"
"Vash, you can't be serious," Knives said, sitting back and folding his arms. "There's no such things as ghosts."
"I think there are." Vash said simply.
"Vash," Meryl, still looking concerned, looked up at him. "You... I mean... You've had a lot of stress to deal with recently. Are you sure you're feeling okay? I mean, you've been acting a little... funny..."
"Have I?" he asked, looking surprised. "What have I done that's funny?"
"You stay up at night," Knives said. "You think you're sneaky, but you're not."
"Oh, yes, that. I've been staying up just a little bit to see if the ghost will do anything. I thought maybe without other people around I might notice things better."
"What things?" Meryl asked.
"Well, sometimes I think maybe I can hear someone talking." Vash looked thoughtful. "And sometimes I'll catch someone walking past out of the corner of my eye, but when I look no one is there. And sometimes when I leave my room and come back, things have been moved a little, like someone picked things up to look at them and set them down again, or rummaged through my things."
The girls both looked to Knives, who shrugged. "Don't look at me. Vash's stuff is all worthless to me."
"But," Meryl started and then cut herself off. She had started to say that surely Knives had rummaged through the house looking for the angel arm guns that Vash had hidden. She knew that was the only reason Knives was still with them even though he had healed. But she felt it wouldn't be a good idea to actually say it.
When Meryl didn't say anything else, Milly asked, "Mr. Vash, aren't you scared?"
"No," he said. "I've thought about it, and I'm sure the ghost isn't malicious at all. It's been here for a while and it hasn't done anything threatening." Vash shrugged. "I've had plenty of good friends in the past who have died. Maybe one of them just wants to hang around a bit. Or maybe we're renting a house that someone's already living in. They seem to be polite enough, though, not to try to throw us out."
"But," Meryl said again, only this time she didn't know how to finish it. "I... Vash! You can't be serious! I mean, a ghost?!"
Vash gave an embarrassed laugh. "Hey, look, everything's okay! I decided this morning that that must be what's going on. I wanted to tell everyone so that if anyone notices anything strange going on, they'll know not to worry."
There was a pause in which Vash tried to give a reassuring smile. The other three looked back at him, Meryl looking exasperated, Milly still looking uncomfortable, and Knives giving a look that seemed to say, "You've outdone yourself in your stupidity this time."
Vash slowly began cringing under their looks until it was hard to tell whether he was smiling or whether he was going to be sick. "I'm just... going to... get some breakfast now... okay?"
A few days passed without incident. Vash didn't mention the ghost again, and didn't stay up late at night. But Meryl found herself uncomfortably paranoid. She remembered what Vash had said about the ghost moving things and began second guessing where she had left things and if anyone had moved them. The worst was when the stack of dishes in the kitchen sink shifted with a small clanking noise and made Meryl jump. She thought instantly that the ghost was messing with things in the kitchen before catching herself and realizing how stupid she was to think such a thing.
One day, though, as the girls were settling down in their room to sleep for the night, Milly sat up in bed for a moment, frowning.
"What's wrong?" Meryl asked.
"I think maybe there really is a ghost."
"What? Not you, too!"
Milly frowned thoughtfully. "Well, you see, I didn't really notice until Vash had said something, but now that I think about it... I've been having this feeling lately like there's someone else in the room. You know how sometimes you just feel someone else there when they walk in and you don't have to look to know they're there? It's that feeling, only when I look there isn't anyone around. Just yesterday I was doing the crossword in the newspaper, and I was sure someone came into the room and sat down nearby. Since I didn't hear them say anything, I thought, 'Oh, someone just wanted some company, so they came to sit by me.' But then I looked up to ask them for help with the crossword and no one was there."
She said all of it very calmly and then looked to Meryl to see her reaction. Meryl stared at her a moment and then groaned.
"Milly, you're just letting what Vash said get to you. He's put ideas in your head."
"No, I don't think so. I'm sure I had that feeling before Vash said anything. I just didn't pay any attention to it before."
"I... You... Milly..." Meryl rubbed her face and groaned again. "There's no such things as ghosts, Milly."
"But there are souls, aren't there?"
"What?" Meryl said looking up.
"I mean like our souls. We have souls and when we die, our souls will go to heaven, right? Well, so, maybe some people decide to stay here instead of going to heaven. Or maybe it's like Vash said, and one of his friends went to heaven and then came back to visit."
Meryl looked at her a little helplessly. She didn't really know how to argue with her on that one.
Seeing her expression, Milly added, "Don't worry, Meryl, it's nothing to worry about. Like Mr. Vash said, I'm sure the ghost is friendly. It hasn't done anything mean to anyone and it's had plenty of chances to. It's just there. It's not hurting anything."
"Uh... yeah... right..." Meryl decided to take the opportunity to end the discussion there. "Okay, whatever. Goodnight Milly."
"Goodnight, Meryl."
Milly didn't mention it again, either.
Another few days passed, and Meryl began to calm down and forget about the ghost. It didn't last long. One day when Meryl got home from work, she found Milly making dinner and Vash and Knives gone. Milly said the two had gone out not long ago.
"This is the first time those two have gone out just the two of them, isn't it?" Meryl asked.
"That's right."
Meryl sat down at the table and leaned on an elbow. She laughed a little and said jokingly, "Those two out together. I don't know whether to be glad or to be worried."
Milly smiled. "They'll be fine. Mr. Vash said he wanted to go into town and that he wanted Mr. Knives to go with him. Mr. Knives didn't want to, but he agreed to. I think that's a good sign."
"Hm." She was quiet and thoughtful a moment. Then she said, "I know Knives has been on pretty good behavior lately, but... I don't know... I just can't help wondering sometimes if he's trying to lure us into a false sense of security or something."
"Mr. Vash trusts him," Milly offered. "And maybe, he really is becoming good. Maybe living with us is showing him that we're not so bad after all."
"Maybe." She smiled. "It's not surprising that Vash trusts him, though." She laughed a little. "Sometimes, Vash is a little ridiculous. In a good way, I mean."
The front door burst open and Knives came storming in shouting, "Vash is absolutely ridiculous!"
The girls looked to him in surprise. Knives strode up to Meryl and slammed his hands down on the table as he bent down to face her.
"What's happened to me?!" he demanded.
"Um... what?"
"I had such high hopes! Such grand plans for the future!" Knives cried. "And now look at what's become of me! I'm living with that fine specimen of an idiot!" He pointed back toward the door, although Vash was yet to make his appearance. "And I've somehow ended up agreeing to participate in that... that... thing!"
"What thing?" Milly asked.
Rather than answering, Knives sank into a chair and laid his head down on the table with a thud.
"Attention everyone!" Vash's voice called, and the girls looked to the door. Vash was framed in the doorway and was holding a flat box over his head as if it were a trophy. "I have a plan!" he announced grandly.
Knives groaned.
"A board game?" Milly asked, looking thrilled. "I love board games!"
"Not just any board game!" Vash proclaimed. "A Ouija board!"
"A... what?" Meryl asked, staring at the box.
Vash strode to the table and lay the box on it reverently, as if he were placing crown jewels on a cushion. Then he lay a hand on it and, with head solemnly bowed, he said, "With this board, we will communicate with the ghost in this house... and become friends with it."
Milly leaned over, looking at the box, delighted. Meryl looked at Vash as if he had just suggested they all wear their underwear on their heads.
"What?" she asked again.
"That's right!" Vash looked to her, smiling from ear to ear. "You'll play, too, right? I want you to be friends with the ghost, too! It'll be great!"
"I... I..."
Vash continued beaming at her.
"Knives?" Meryl whimpered.
"Yes?"
"I think I sort of know how you feel."
Knives lifted his head. "We could start a club." he grumbled. "The My Life Became Something Humiliating Because of my Connections to Vash the Stampede Club."
Vash burst out laughing. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Open it, Mr. Vash!" Milly urged him, and Vash lifted the lid off the box and pulled out it's contents. There was a board that had printed on it the alphabet along with the numbers 0 through 9, plus the words: "yes," "no," "hello," and "goodbye," There was also a heart shaped pointer with a lens near the point.
There was a moment's silence while everyone studied the board. Then Meryl said, "Um... Vash... this board is decorated with a skull with horns and bat wings."
"Hm." Vash looked at the board thoughtfully. "Oh well! We can fix that!" He retrieved a marker and began drawing feathers over the bat wings. When he was finished, Milly asked, "What about the horns?" Vash drew hair over the horns. Then, for good measure, he put a halo on as well. There was a pause while the three looked over his work.
Milly commented, "The skull has your hair. It looks like you on the board now."
"Yeah, except you're dead." Meryl said.
"If only we were so lucky," Knives murmured, his head still down on the table.
"That's too bad," Milly said. "I like you better when you're alive."
"Yeah, me, too." Vash agreed.
"Well, I need to finish making supper. It'll be ready soon, so don't run off!"
Milly returned to the kitchen, while Meryl took a seat beside Knives. The two viewed Vash unhappily as he continued drawing on the Ouija board.
"Meryl," Knives said, leaning toward her slightly. "How long has Vash been like this?"
"What, you mean with the ghosts and the Ouija boards? This is all new. He's never done this before."
"No, I mean, how long has Vash been like that." Knives said, pointing at him.
Meryl looked Vash over. He was drawing hearts and peace signs on the board while singing to himself, "Love and peace, love and peace, la la la la love and peace..." As he bent over the board, he wiggled his butt back and forth to the tune of his song.
"Oh." Meryl said. "That. He's been like that for as long as I've known him."
"Ah. OK." He was quiet a moment and then added, "I was just wondering if maybe he'd lost his mind a little bit because of what I had done to him."
"No, he was definitely like this before you showed up." Meryl said firmly. "Although, it might have been Lost July. Do you think?"
Knives gave her a thoughtful frown. "I don't know. Maybe." He turned the frown to Vash. "Hmm!"
"Hmm!" Meryl echoed.
"I don't know."
"I don't know either."
Knives laid his head down again.
That evening, Vash lay the Ouija board in the middle of the floor and called, "Okay, everybody! Come here!"
The gang assembled, Milly instantly plopping down beside the board, while Meryl and Knives grudgingly joined them at a much slower pace. Meryl noted that across the bottom of the board, Vash had written, "This board is made of love and peace."
In his efforts to dawdle, Knives noticed a box sitting beside Vash, and made his way toward it.
"You bought donuts?" he asked, and took one from the box.
"Hey! Don't eat that!" Vash cried, putting his hands onto the box to stop Knives or anyone else from taking another one.
"Too late," Knives said with his mouth full.
"You spit that out this instant! These aren't for you! They're an offering to the ghost!"
"Offering to the ghost?! I thought you bought them for us to eat while we play your stupid game!"
"No! They aren't for you!" Vash repeated. "Now put it back!"
"Put it back? I already bit off of it!"
"Well then cut off the part that you bit off of and then put it back!"
Knives narrowed his eyes at Vash. Then, without taking his eyes from him, he very slowly licked the rest of the donut all over.
Vash gave a start and watched with horror. Then he too narrowed his eyes at his brother and said, "Yooouuu! You licked someone else's donut! I knew you were bad, but I never believed you'd sink so low!"
"Um, Vash?" Meryl said, interrupting them. "How is a ghost supposed to eat donuts? They don't have a body."
"Ah, see, actually they can," Vash said. "They just don't like to do it in front of people."
She gave him a skeptical look. "Oh really?"
"Yes, really," Vash said with a firm nod. "See, there are some religions (but I don't remember what they are now) in which people will try to win over spirits with food offerings. So I decided that's what I'm going to do. This is my offering to the ghost! It's a good idea, right?" He looked proud and thrilled that he had come up with it.
Everyone was sitting now, Knives tossing the last of the donut into his mouth. Meryl ventured to ask, "Are we going to turn out the lights and light candles or something?"
"Naw," Vash waved it off. "The ghost doesn't care if the lights are on or not!"
"Oh. Yeah, I guess."
"Alright!" Vash sat up and asked, "Is everyone ready? I will now ask the spirit to join us!" Vash clapped his hands together and then bowed low. When he rose again he kept his hands together and spoke loudly and solemnly and with his eyes closed. "Spirit... we come in peace! We have become aware of your presence, and we wish to become your friends. We have brought you a food offering to show our good intentions, and ask that you please ignore Knives, who so rudely licked your donut. We have brought a Ouija board so that we may communicate with you. We would like to know who you are, and if you have any specific intentions in being here, and if there is anything that you would like to say to us. Please feel free to participate whenever you are ready." Vash looked to the board and said eagerly, "Okay, let's do it!" He reached out and laid a pair of fingers on the pointer. "Everyone touch the pointer thing!" he called happily.
They all reached forward and put a finger or two onto the pointer.
"Spirit," Vash called, "We await a sign from you that you are here and willing to participate."
They sat there.
Nothing happened.
And then nothing continued to happen.
And then, much to Vash's annoyance, nothing happened some more.
Finally, Milly asked, "Did I leave the stove on?"
"No," Meryl answered, sounding bored. "I would have noticed when I did the dishes."
"Oh, good."
"Maybe," Knives said, leaning one elbow on his knee, "your ghost isn't real."
"Maybe he's just not home right now," Milly offered.
"Maybe he's mad because you ate his donut!" Vash snapped.
Meryl sighed. "Look... Vash... there's no such things as- oh! Whoa! Hey! Who's moving the pointer!?"
The pointer was indeed moving, ever so slowly inching it's way across the board.
"It's not me!"
"Not me!"
"Not me."
"Well it has to be somebody!"
"That's right!" Vash said. "It's the ghost!" He was watching the pointer with hunched shoulders and a grin that made him look like a kid on Christmas morning.
"No, seriously!" Meryl snapped. "Vash, stop moving it! You're being stupid!"
"It's not me, though!"
"Oh, it's not is it?!"
"No! It's not!" Vash lifted his fingers off the pointer and held both hands up for Meryl to see. The pointer continued moving.
"Then it's you, isn't it?!" Meryl looked to Knives. "You're moving it just to mess with Vash, aren't you?"
Knives, looking annoyed, also lifted his hands to prove it wasn't him. The pointer kept moving.
"Milly?!" Meryl looked incredulously to her.
Milly ignored her, watching the pointer. "Oh! It stopped!" Everyone looked to the board. "It landed on 'Hello.'"
"Of course it did!" Meryl cried, throwing her hands up. "What else would it say on it's first move!"
"Hello, Spirit!" Vash called happily. "It's nice to meet you!"
Knives frowned slightly and looked between the pointer and Milly and said nothing.
"Now, look. Just... just listen a minute." Meryl said, holding her head as though it hurt. "There's a reasonable explanation for this." They all looked to her. She looked round at them and faltered slightly. "Uh... look... look, it's like this! See, Milly really wanted there to be a ghost. And "hello" is the reasonable thing for the pointer to land on while on it's first move. So, subconsciously, Milly wanted the pointer to move to that word and began moving it herself without realizing what she was doing!"
"Oh? Was that what happened?" Milly held up the finger that had been on the pointer and looked at it questioningly. "I didn't mean to make it move."
There was a pause while everyone considered the idea. Finally, Knives said, "Well there's an easy way to test your theory. We'll try it again and leave Milly out this time."
They all reached out to the pointer again, while Milly sat back and watched. Then Vash said, "Alright, Spirit. Are you still there? Do you still want to talk with us?"
There was only a brief pause, and then the pointer began slowly moving again.
"Okay, seriously!" Meryl cried. "Who's moving it?!"
Once again Vash pulled his hand back, and the pointer continued without him. Meryl looked to Knives again, who also let go of the pointer. Then, to Meryl's horror, she found herself watching the pointer as it went slowly on it's course with only her finger touching it.
"Oh, look!" Milly said. "You're the one who's moving it without meaning to!"
"No! No, it's not me!" Meryl jerked her hand away as if the pointer were red-hot.
The pointer continued moving without a single person touching it. Vash and Knives both sat up, shocked. Meryl gave a cry and threw herself at Milly and clung to her, while Milly reflexively held her and said brightly, "Oh, look! I knew there was a ghost!"
"Make it stop!" Meryl cried, still clutching Milly and trying to scoot away from the board at the same time. "Make it stop moving! Stop it! STOP!"
The pointer stopped.
Everyone stared at it. It wasn't on any letter or word. Meryl had told it to stop and it had stopped.
There was a silence.
"What just happened?" Knives asked.
No one answered. The silence stretched on a moment longer.
Slowly, Knives started reaching for the pointer.
"No! Don't!" Meryl was still hugging Milly and looking at the pointer in horror. "Don't touch it! It's... it's possessed or something! Vash, get rid of it! Get it out of here!"
"Uh... but..." Vash was looking very uncomfortable, and kept looking between the pointer and Meryl. "Meryl," he said gently, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do anything that would scare you."
"Just... just get rid of it!" she demanded.
"Um... Spirit..." Vash said cautiously, "Do you have any ill intentions toward anyone here?"
There was a pause, and then the pointer moved again of it's own accord. It slid quickly and smoothly across the board until it landed on the word "No."
"Do you have any hard feelings against anyone here?" Vash asked.
The pointer slid off the word, then looped around and landed on it again.
That seemed to satisfy Vash, and he looked to Meryl. She stared at the pointer. At the ghosts answers, her fear was slowly dying down, but certainly not gone altogether.
"S... Spirit?... Um..." Meryl swallowed hard. "Promise me... Promise me that you aren't going to hurt anyone... And don't lie! I want your word! You have to promise me!... Do you promise?"
There was no hesitation this time. The pointer instantly moved to the word "Yes."
"That was a sure answer," Knives murmured.
There was a pause. No one seemed very sure what to do or say after that. Vash's enthusiasm had been deflated, and the ghost seemed to be waiting to be prompted before moving the pointer again. The silence was broken when Meryl said quietly, "I don't want to do this anymore."
"Meryl, I'm sorry. Really." Vash said. "We'll quit. Spirit, thank you very much for talking to us. We're going to quit now. Good bye."
There was no response from the ghost.
Another pause followed and Vash, looking increasingly uncomfortable, finally murmured something about being thirsty and got up and left.
As soon as Vash had disappeared into the kitchen, Knives pounced on the Ouija board, snatching it up and running his hands over it.
"What are you doing?" Meryl hissed, horrified.
"Magnets, maybe," Knives said by way of answer. "They might be inside the board, and in the pointer... but... would he have to make the magnets move inside the board?" Knives held the board at arms length, frowning at it.
Meryl slowly detached herself from Milly. "Do you think that's it?" she asked, hopeful.
"I don't feel anything, though." Knives seemed to be talking aloud to himself rather than to her. "Maybe telekinesis. Maybe."
"What's that?" Milly asked.
"The psychic ability to make objects move with your mind," Knives answered. "It's the same ability Legato used to control other's bodies."
Meryl cringed at that, while Milly said, "Mr. Knives, I don't think Vash is the kind of person who would try to trick someone like that, especially if it scared anyone. If Vash was just playing a trick and it scared Meryl, I'm sure he'd stop right away and tell her it was a trick. He wouldn't want her to be scared."
The hope that Knives had been kindling in Meryl was snuffed. Milly was right.
Knives considered the idea, and then threw the board down in aggravation. "Oh, forget it!" He stood and headed down the hall grumbling, "Stupid Vash and his stupid ghost! It's all ridiculous! I'm going to bed!"
To Be Continued...