It had been a while since Suze had gone on all of those wacky adventures during her youth, but now she was an older woman, and had no time for any stupid shenanigans dealing with those ridiculous ghosts. Now all she craved was an ordinary life with an ordinary family, and that is exactly what she worked towards. She married a sensible and plain man by the name of Jerry, because shipping yourself with sexy, but dead, ghost boys was considered illegal in most countries.
Together, the two of them then worked towards buying a new house. Jerry was a very financially responsible husband, and with the money that they both saved they were able to use to buy a small humble home out in the country. It seemed like a dream come true for Suze to be able to live such a comfortable life at the age of 30. Sure, doing fun ghost stuff had perhaps been for for a short while in her youth, but the banality of modern life gave Suze a feeling of safety and comfort that creepy ghosts could not.
Soon, it wasn't long before they began to fill the new house with furniture, turning the empty place into a comfy home. Suze and Jerry were just taking a brief respite in the mostly empty living room after carrying in the couch, which had taken a lot of effort. The mid-July heat didn't help the feeling, but both of them knew that nobody else was going to get the job done for them.
"Jerry, honey, start bringing in the chairs, why don't you? I need to go to the bathroom." said Suze, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"No problem, sweetie, don't be too long though!" said Jerry with a wink and a smile. Suze couldn't help but smile too due to Jerry's infectious charisma.
But as Suze began to climb the old, creaky stairs, a new and more ominous fell upon the house, a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time. She soldiered forward towards the bathroom, even as her senses increasingly told her otherwise. She grabbed the knob of the door and jiggled it a little before opening the door. Unfortunately, she was met with exactly what her gut had told her.
"BOO!" shrieked the ghost as the door flew open before her. Despite the ghastly appearance of the phantom before her, she could hardly muster a sigh as she stared at the apparition. The ghost, not expecting such a poor response, did not know exactly how to react to the situation and gave a blank stare back at the woman.
"Ummm..." said the ghost, twiddling his fingers as sweat began to drip down his nervous face.
"Seriously? Does everywhere I go have to have ghosts?" said Suze, face deep in her palms. The ghost couldn't help but feel a little bad for frustrating the poor woman.
"Uh, do you see ghosts all the time, or what?" said the ghost carefully.
"You don't know who I am? Suze, the Mediator, nothing?" said Suze, as if her name meant anything at this point.
"Sorry, not ringing any bells. Honestly I've been living on this farm for like, 100 years." said the ghost.
"Darn, that must suck for you. Do you have any friends to hang out with?" asked Suze.
"Yeah, actually we've been waiting for some people to come around since we scared that last couple out. Been a hot minute since our last haunting." said the ghost.
"You mean this stupid place is haunted? Oh for god's sake!" said a frustrated Suze
"Everything alright up there, honey?" said Jerry from downstairs.
"Yup! Just gimme a second!" said Suze.
Now she had regretted ever buying the home. If she had known that the place was haunted, she never would've bought this crummy place. After all, she wanted a life free from ghosts, not a house haunted with them.
There was only one option left for Suze to take. She needed to go back in time. I mean, what are consequences when the main character can just time travel? After all, how did you think Suze's life ended up so perfect, just by chance? Ha! Don't make me laugh!
Regardless, she travelled back in time to the point right before her and Jerry bought the house. She decided to pull Suze aside when she had the perfect moment. Suze was surprised to see herself hiding in the bushes outside the realtor's place.
"Is that... me?" said the Suze from the past.
"Hell yeah that's me! Look, whatever you do, don't buy that house out in the country!" said Suze from the present time.
"Hold on for a minute... how are you here again?" said past Suze.
"Time travel? Remember you can do that?" said present Suze. Suze couldn't help but wonder if she was really that forgetful.
"Oh right! I remember now! Hey, while you're back here, can you fill in for me? I need to go back to this morning and add an extra sugar to my coffee, it was so bitter!" said past Suze, and before present Suze could even explain why she went back in time, past Suze was already gone.
"Darn it!" said present Suze, just as Jerry was walking out of the house.
"Hey honey, were you going to come and decide which house we want? Also, why are you sitting in the bushes?" said Jerry, looking at his flustered wife.
Suze decided if her past self was going to be so irresponsible and ditch her in the past, then she might as well do the heavy lifting for her anyways.
"Oh, uh, nothing... hehe" said present Suze with an awkward laugh as she brushed leaves out of her hair.
Doing what she was trying to warn her past self to do, she decided to sign on a different house and hoped that this one wouldn't be infested with ghosts. With her simple task completed, she looked for an opportunity to sneak back into the present. Fatefully enough, she was pulled aside by her past self back into the bushes.
"Hey, I'm back, and trust me, that coffee was so much better! By the way, what was it that you wanted to warn me about?" said past Suze.
"What? Oh nothing... It was no big deal really." said present Suze in a nonchalant voice.
"That's good to hear. Say thanks for filling in for me, you're a real pal!" said past Suze.
The two Suzes said their goodbyes as past Suze rushed out to the car which Jerry had already started and present Suze was finally able to return to the present. She closed her eyes and hoped for the best.
However, the present she came back to was far from what she expected. Instead of a comfy homestead, she was met with a dilapidated cityscape, ruined from what looked like a disastrous war. She couldn't believe her eyes. How could something go so wrong in such a short time? All she knew was that in order to fix it, it was going to need a lot more time travel.
TO BE CONTINUED...
