Disclaimers: I don't own Digimon; I'm simply using the characters for my and my muse's entertainment. And for the little ghost girl that haunts the kitchen I work in and follows me around. :D Really…
Notes: Going to graveyards is a hobby of mine, but being stuck in the middle of nowhere California…I don't get much time to travel and see anything. I've gone to two graveyards in neighboring cities and took some picks, so naturally that's where this idea came from. Cause I take pics around dusk time to get pics of orbs or anything unusual. But it's all orbs so far D: And the haunting thing from the hospital I work at. I work in the kitchen, but our freezer and fridge actually used to be part of the old morgue. Now it's right across the hall from where I'm sitting. And there's a little girl that haunts the kitchen and likes to follow me and two other people around while we work alone on the weekends. Most of the others have caught glimpses of her too. Or she'll make herself be known by either playing in the ice machine or pushing racks off the top of the oven, like she did to me yesterday. And I've got a spirit back home in Indiana that I was fortunate enough to see right before New Years 06-07 once again :D I thought he had left…Anywho, if you have any questions or whatnot, feel free to ask me :DDD
Future Taito/Yamachi
Of Broken Headstones by Yaoi Girl
Hikari's had this weird obsession with graveyards lately, mainly later in the evening, right when the sun starts to set.
Ever since she had last hung out with her friend Takeru, she's been asking me to go along with her so she's not as scared. Scared of what? Dead people? Rotting flesh? Mounds of freshly dug up earth?
She's been taking pictures every time we go, showing me later when she uploads the pictures to her computer of things called 'orbs' which are supposedly the souls of dead people. And I have to admit that you don't usually see them in 'normal' pictures, such as at school or out at the park. Maybe one 'orb' here or there in 'normal' places. But in the cemeteries, they're everywhere in the pictures, varying in size and opacity. It is a little creepy, but nothing to be afraid of.
Because the naked eye can't see them. Only unbiased objects can.
The way I see it is that people either go looking for the paranormal, know it's there but avoid it, don't acknowledge it at all, or are completely oblivious and uncaring about it.
Me? I'm one of the "I know it's here but I'll stay away from it thank you much" people.
But Hikari loves it. And so does Takeru, who claims that we now have a spirit living in our apartment.
I highly doubt it, considering that he is a little 'different'. Besides, no one's died in this place, so why would we suddenly have a spirit among us? I know for a fact that's no one's died in this apartment because we were the first to rent this room once the complex went up.
But still he insists that there's one here. Hikari believes him and often 'looks' for it by running around and taking pictures of the rooms, but she believes a lot of what that boy says.
"Taichi, dinner's ready!"
"I'll be right there!"
A few minutes later, Hikari, myself, and my mother are gathered at the dining table, eating something our mother just learned in her cooking class and chatting away with one another. And it was then that Hikari wanted pictures of us.
It's understandable and all seeing as she has a photography assignment due in a couple days with the family 'acting normal' as her subject.
No sooner than she was done eating, she ran off to her lair and began to upload the pictures, calling me to her room shortly after.
"What is it? I'm in the middle of my homework!"
"Don't sound so disappointed! It's not like you actually complete your homework anyway. But here's what I wanted to show you!"
And with that she clicked an image of me from the dinner table.
"Yeah, and?"
"Look at it closely!" she says to me with excitement pouring from her very being.
"I see nothing!"
"There!" she says as she points.
"It's just the light reflection off of something, Hikari," I sigh as she had pointed at a supposed orb.
"Then explain this."
And with that she went to the next picture at a different angle with very few reflective surfaces, and the orb was there again, though in a different location and opacity. Then two more with me and my mother, and the orb seemed to be hanging around only me, seeing as the ones of my mother alone were from nearly the same angels as my solo images, but no orb appeared in her images.
"Stand over by the door!" Hikari cries excitedly as she grabs her camera with one hand and shoves me across the room with the other before she backs away, camera aimed towards me.
And blinding me with flashes she goes from all angles.
"And just what are you trying to prove?"
"Wait and see!" she says as she begins to upload the images. "Look!"
There it was again, floating around me in all the pictures, one with a white streak across it instead of the orb.
This is a little unnerving to say the least.
"Now take pictures of me standing in the same place."
And so I did, from different angels just as she had done to me, albeit a little slower and not nearly as excited.
Upload.
"See, nothing! The spirit likes you!"
Same place, same lighting, same camera, no orb in her pictures…
"Okay, I'm going to bed!" I say as I turn on my heels and walk to my room.
"Chicken shit!" she calls after me while laughing.
"You'll eat those words!" I call back as I stand just inside my door, turning to face my bed some feet away, blinking a couple times as I thought that I had seen some kind of light just dance across my bedroom in the dark.
But I don't see anything now, so maybe it was just my imagination since it just had a jumpstart from those images.
What if we really do have a spirit in the house now?
Calm down now Taichi, it's just your imagination! Wow, my room suddenly seems so much bigger and darker…
And with that, I walk across the room, pulling my shirt off and tossing it into my closet just before I fall onto my bed face down, hugging the pillow to my face and inhaling that just cleaned smell.
Did my floor just make a creak? Or was that the computer chair turning and making a squeak?
Curse you Hikari! Now you've got me jumpy for no reason! There's no…!
"Who's there?!"
That light flashes across my room again.
Something's not right here…
"Hikari!" I can't help but yell, unnerved as hell now. I'm a total wreck even though I'm fairly sure that my mind's just overreacting.
"What is it?" she asks a few moments later as she shoves my door open frantically, not used to hearing me yell.
"Something's here."
"What do you mean something's here?"
"Look, I think you're crazy as hell for believing that there are 'orbs' in our house, or rather a dead person's soul in my room, but there really is something here. And I don't want it here so get rid of it!"
And for once, Hikari didn't know what to do or say. She and Takeru had only taken pictures, so she had no clue about actually having anything follow her home or how to get rid of it.
"Call Takeru or something! He knows all about this stuff, right?!"
"I can't. He's not in town for the next week and I have no clue how to get a hold of him until he gets back! I just think you're imagining things anyway," she says in an attempt to console me, but I know and she knows that something else is in here with us. "Can't you go stay at a friend's house or something? Takeru said that once a spirit finds a suitable place, it shouldn't leave until it's satisfied with whatever it needs to do."
I took a few deep breaths, gathering myself. It's just a trick of the light…I've never believed in any of this stuff, and what makes a little odd light in a picture so frightening anyway?
"Sorry, Hikari. I'll be fine," I sigh, though still a little shaky. "You can go back to doing whatever it is that you do. I'm going to bed now."
She nods, not quite understanding the change in attitude.
"Good night, then," she says, backing out of my door and flicking off the light.
"Night."
See, nothing. No odd little light dancing around my room. It was all just my imagination…
The week had come and gone that Takeru had been on a mini-vacation if you will, seeing as I still have no clue as to where he was for that time frame, but neither Hikari nor I had brought up the subject of the odd light in my room. Or if she had said something to him, he said nothing to me about it, or at least around me.
And I'm too afraid to say anything now.
Since that night, I've seen things, not just the light 'playing' in my room, but also things out of the corner of my eye, yet there's nothing there when I look directly to where it was. And things have been vanishing for days on end and magically reappearing in a different location in the house. It's becoming a pain in my side coming up with new excuses as to why I don't have any homework…a.k.a this thing has been hiding my homework papers, even if I put them in my backpack! Or Hikari could just be playing evil little mind games with me…
Now, here I am, sitting with Hikari and Takeru doing homework with my mom checking in on us every so often. But who could blame her seeing as I haven't turned but one or two assignments in this past week and its Thursday night.
And I had noticed Takeru turning his head quickly every so often, turning back to his book with a puzzled look upon his face.
"Everything all right?" I ask him after seeing him doing this several times.
"Yeah; I just a little tired, I guess…I keep seeing things…" He then laughs a little while shaking his head, focusing back on his book, scratching the side of his head with his pencil.
Hikari merely shrugged it off. I've not said anything to her about anything other than the light in my room that night several weeks ago.
"Finished yet?"
"Almost, mom," Hikari smiles up at her as I look just over Hikari's shoulder with wide eyes, seeing as I'm sitting across from her at the dining table.
And there that thing was. Sitting on the couch with its back to me.
And I must've scared everyone just as much as I was scared because Hikari, Takeru, and my mother all jumped as I abruptly jumped out of my chair, knocking it backwards behind me, planting my hands on the table.
The thing turned its head and looked over its shoulder with sad azure eyes. Directly into my eyes…
Then it was gone.
"Taichi?" my sister manages as I blink rapidly, trying to regain myself. That was just altogether frightening, yet…I don't know how to describe how else I felt. Maybe something along the lines of I'm glad to be sharing my house, my room, with such a beautiful spirit. "Are you okay?"
Just as I opened my mouth to speak, I heard a faint, pleading male voice in my ear.
"Find me…"
That's it! I need to get out of here!
"I'm going out for a while!"
And with that, I was putting on my shoes and running out into the drizzle and the warning thunder that the wind carried into town, leaving behind me very confused people as the wind blew into the apartment through the wide open door.
No one knew what to think of me the next day when I came trudging into the school with drenched clothes and very unruly hair. Not to mention the lectures I was sure to get from not only coming to school like this, but also from not having any homework on me…
And the first person to ask me what had happened is
"Morning, Mimi," I smiled sheepishly as she stops just in front of me.
"What in the world happened to you?!" she gasps in disbelief.
"Looks like he tried to take a shower in the sprinklers!" one of the school preppies laughed as he walked by.
"Piss off," I say as I turn to him with a full force glare. You'd think they'd learn not to say anything to the best soccer player in the school…I've got a kick to be reckoned with!
"Taichi!"
I turn back to Mimi, sighing.
"Can we talk elsewhere?" And she nods.
We venture out to the empty football stadium and I begin to tell her of my haunting problems at home. I know Mimi of all people will believe me. I've known her since I can remember and she knows that I would never lie to her about something like this, let alone anything. Mimi's wrath is something to definitely fear if she finds out you lied to her or did something behind her back…
"…and I was so scared that I just ran out of the house knowing that the storm was coming. I just couldn't stay there knowing that there really was something else in my house other than humans and a cat! I've been trying to convince myself that it was just my imagination, but even Hikari's friend Takeru has been seeing something moving around…I just stayed out on the streets all night and couldn't even bring myself to go back this morning."
She stayed calm throughout the entire thing, trying to come up with some solution to my dilemma.
"And it said something to me…"
I whispered, staring at the ground, trying not to recall anything more, but it came to me anyway.
"Find me."
"A lost soul…" she replied without a hesitation, though with sympathy in her voice.
And this snapped me out of my daze. I had been more or less talking to myself for the past few moments, but she had been listening.
"Maybe it thinks you can find where it belongs. It wants its eternal rest, Taichi."
"So what am I supposed to do about it?!"
"Help it."
"It's not like I can call it forth and talk to it when I please!"
"Talk to Takeru tonight. I'm sure he can be of some help. Just don't tell him any details about what this spirit looks like. It might bring up bad memories for him; it's too soon for him to handle anything like that."
And with that, she turned and left, looking rather regretful about telling me this, whatever 'this' was supposed to be about.
And she knows who that kid is? Hmph…I'm always the last one to find out anything. But what exactly is she talking about, referring to his past memories…?
"And Taichi," she calls back over her shoulder some yards away. "Go home and rest. I'm sure you're mother would understand."
I sigh. My mother never has, nor probably ever will, believe in spirits. Maybe I can come up with a story just so I can rest today. I can't be at school like this…
"What in the world were you thinking, running out into a storm like that?! You had me worried sick last night!" my mother cries as she more or less shoves me to the bathroom to make me strip down and shower. "I've never seen you behave like that before!"
"Sorry, mom. I was just shaken up about something last night and had to get away from everything."
"What's shaken you up so much that you ran out?" she asks a little more calmly, though in a loud voice seeing as she's in my room pulling out dry, clean clothes for me.
I can't tell her…she'd never believe me and she'd probe me for the 'real reason' until I can come up with something to appease her.
"A ghost…"
"A ghost?" she blinks, staring at me while setting my clothes in a neat stack on the hamper in the bathroom. "Where did you see a ghost?"
Very odd…
"Here, in the house last night," I reply, not sure exactly where this was going.
"You're sister's seen one too."
"When?!"
"In the mirror last night right around the time you jumped up at the table. She was looking at me until she was done talking, then when you jumped, she happened to glance into the mirror there in the hallway and seen it on the couch. She was so scared last night; she couldn't sleep a wink. But she's finally calmed down and she's resting. And that's what I suggest you do after you take a nice long shower! Unless, of course, you and Hikari are plotting against me to get a day out of school?"
"Of course not, mom! Why would I, like you said, run out into a storm like that for no reason and come back home wet and muddy? We're not making anything up, mom. He's really there. I know that you don't believe in spirits and stuff like that, but you know Hikari would never lie."
"I know. But I'm just worried that her new hobby and Takeru has her poor brain overreacting right now and she just thought that she saw something that's not really there. But since you've both seen it, I know something's there that I can't see." And then she gives a gentle smile before leaving that bathroom.
"Thanks for understanding, mom."
And once I'm completely alone in the room, I can't help but feel like there's something here with me, that something's watching me. But it can't do anything to me…ghosts aren't like that. At least I hope not…
I gather myself and take a quick shower, peeking out from the curtain every once in a while to make sure that I'm still alone. And I am. As far as I can tell anyway.
But by the time I get dried and dressed and back to my room, sleep is overtaking me and I can't help but collapse on my bed, my lids drooping shut then slowly back open, though I can see less and less each time as they come closer to meeting.
And right before my eye lids meet at last, he's standing over me, watching me…
TBC
The 2nd chapter's been in progress for a while now, but as I said earlier in the notes, I don't get much time to go graveyard hopping anymore, so I don't have anything new to inspire me yet. Hopefully I'll be able to go here within the next two weeks :D