That was more than I had needed to know. I'd started to think with all the shit she was blabbing that maybe she knew more than she should have, but when Jade let it slip that she was actually one of the victims it made sense. It all made fucking sense, she'd studied up on the topic, more than an average person would, because she was being haunted, and she'd actually had an open enough mind to consider the possibility that the "bullies" were, well, not natural.

I tried to assure her that I was going to get rid of them, without making myself sound too fucking insane. I mean, I was saying that I was going to get rid of goddamn spirits, that was insane sounding within itself no matter how I put it, but, how the fuck else was I supposed to put it?

She didn't seem to put off by it, and that was good, I thought?

I gave her my number, telling her to call it if anything changed, or blah blah blah. Basically just reassuring bullshit.

To be honest, really, I was beginning to care what she thought of me too much for my own good. It was probably good that I'd gotten to the bottom of the whole thing so quickly, the sooner I got out of there, the better.

"Pretty batshit, right?" I blabbed over the phone to my sister, Rose, who no doubt was balancing the phone on her shoulder whilst typing away on her laptop.

"Not particularly, I've heard worse, and so have you, Dave." She said, sounding disinterested.

"Can't you handle your own research?"

"I could, but it would take a lot longer." I groaned.

"You're pathetic."

"Shut up, you're worse." I retorted.

"Be quiet, you are the one who is endlessly pining over some normal girl that you've known for a mere two days, if anyone is pathetic, it's you. You're endangering yourself, Dave. What's going to happen when she falls in love with you, hm?" She taunted.

I felt a sudden burst of anger surface, and I was ready to yell, but before I could, Dirk took the phone from Rose, interrupting the conversation.

"Dave, this is you, right?"He asked, casually.

No fucking shit, Dirk. Who else would Rose be doing research over the phone for, whilst balancing the ability to aggravate at the same time?

"Yeah, what's up?" I shrugged.

"Nothing, I think we're pretty close to our end game over here, what about you? You about to gank those bastards?" He persisted.

"Yeah, nearly. Rose just has to give me the names, though I think I pissed her off."

"You did, but she already has the information here on the screen, fortunately for you."

Dirk told me the names, and the cemetery, and I scribbled it all down carelessly.

"Thanks, man." I said, and I was ready to hang up, and go salt and burn those douchebags, but he stopped me.

"Hey, what's all this shit about you pining over some chick?" He asked.

Great, here we go.
He just had to hear that part.

"I'm not fucking pining over her, okay? That wouldn't even be the right word."

"I dunno, dude. Rose is pretty damn good with words."

I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see me. I couldn't stand this type of confrontation. First of all, nothing was going to happen, and second, Dirk didn't know what the fuck he was talking about.

The dickbag was always so guarded on that topic, that Rose and I would never even know if he'd developed feelings for someone. The guy tried too fucking hard to be a role model for us.

I'd never even heard him talk about another human being with romantic intent.

"Look, she's nothing, okay?" I tried to keep it vague, though in truth, "nothing" wasn't the right word. She was something, but I'd never tell my brother and sister that.

"All right, all right." Dirk half dismissed it.

"Just tell her as little as you can, okay? Keep it on the down-low."

He was treating me like I was 12 again.

"I know." I said, clearly agitated.

"Just…this shit's serious, all right, Dave?" He went on, even though I'd gotten the point already.

"One slip of the tongue and she'll be involved."

I thought over those words.
Was she already involved? Had that slip of the tongue already happened? Nah, she was a vic, her involvement was different.

It was a different type of involvement, I hadn't gone too far yet.

"Okay?" I'd let the line go silent, so Dirk pestered on, trying to get me to respond.

"Okay."

I hung up the phone, more paranoid than ever. I couldn't fuck this up.

. . . .

Digging up graves was harder than the movies made it out to be.

I saw handsome model-like actors digging up graves with just a shovel, uncaringly like it was the easiest thing in the world. In reality, that shit's hard.

In my case, my hands were pretty callused from years of doing it.

So my hands didn't bleed anymore, thank god.

But it wasn't just the digging part that was tricky, it was not getting caught.

There I was, sneaking into a goddamn graveyard in the dead of night, a shovel and one of those dumbass battery power lanterns in hand.

It was no picnic in the park, digging up three graves, in the dark, and not getting caught.

Emphasis on the fact that this time around it was three different graves. Usually, Dirk and I would dig up a single grave, salt and burn the body, put the grave back together, and run like hell.

But there I was, all on my own. See how it might be something to grumble about?

The process wasn't fast, even with all the experience I had.

I dug up the graves one at a time, burning them all, one by one.

I was lucky enough not to run into trouble that night, it was almost a first. Almost always someone would drive by, see what was going on, and call the cops.

Unfortunately, by the time I was through with all of it, it was nearly 5am, and I was barely able to keep my eyes open on the walk back to the motel.

Fuck me, I can barely walk to the room.

I was famous for my lack of good sleep, but this was ridiculous. I was almost contemplating just collapsing where I stood.
That was how pathetic I was.

I grumbled to myself, not even quite sure what I was going on about, and half-assdedly, I stumbled into my motel room, basically falling into bed and instantly passing out.

. . . .

My phone went off an hour later, though, it wasn't the alarm I'd set, which was meant to go off at 6:30.

This goddamn thing went off at 6:00. Are you fucking kidding me? I could have slept for another half hour!

I reached over to shut off the alarm, only to realize, it wasn't the alarm at all. Dirk's phone number lit up on the screen.

Really? Dirk knew a whole lot better than to fucking call me so early. He knew I'd had three graves to dig up, and that it wasn't going to be pretty.

Dumbass.

Nonetheless, I picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I answered groggily.

"You sound absolutely dreadful." Rose's voice taunted me on the other line.

"Rose, I swear to god, I've had an hour of sleep, and I can't put up with your BS, so what do you want?"

She laughed quietly, seeming amused.

"Dirk finished off the witch last night, we're headed back towards you now." She told me.

"Shit." I grumbled, glancing at my watch.

"How long til you get here?"

"An hour, hour and a half, tops." She informed.

"Why? Aren't you finished with the hunt?"

"No, it's chill, I wrapped it up last night." I said.

There was silence for a second.

"This about that girl, correct?" She pestered.

"No, Rose. Just shut up about her, already." I grumbled.

She sounded aggravated.

"I presume we should pick you up at the highschool?" She said, sounding partially annoyed.

"…Yeah."
I hung up, and instantly groaned, and fell back onto the bed, running my hands through my hair.

I was wired now, there was no way I was going back to sleep, too many thoughts plaguing me, and other dumb shit.

I was just going back to school to tell Jade that it was over, that was it. I didn't care about anything else. I'd tell her and that would be our last interaction. It had to be.

A half hour passed, I'd showered, threw everything into my backpack clumsily, this time including everything else I'd taken along.

I didn't have room for it all in the one bag. I had brought along a duffle bag as well, which was where I kept any clothes, and weapons (which were concealed in the clothes, in case someone ever opened the bag, god forbid.

I slipped the other bag over my shoulder, and went to the front desk to turn in my motel key and check out.

Just as I left the main area Jade was leaving her room.

Shit.
Okay, be cool. Reassure her that it's all over, and leave it at that. Be chill. Be distant.

"Hey Dave!"

Fuck, who was I kidding?

I was glad I had my shades to hide the undeniable dark rings I had under my eyes.

"Sup." I answered, as the two of us started walking side-by-side down the sidewalk.

"What's with the duffle bag?" She questioned.

"Oh, right." I said, hoping I didn't sound as tired as I felt.

"My brother and sister are coming to get me today, I just checked out."

Her face visibly dropped.

"Oh." She went silent for a moment, as the two of us walked.

"But what about the—"

"The vengeful spirits? Gone. I took care of it." I said, almost sounding cold and uncaring.

Which, I wanted to fucking slap myself for, but, on one hand, I was supposed to cut all ties with her, so maybe if she thought I was an asshole it would be better for both of us.

She nodded slowly, looking at the ground.

"Already? I honestly thought something like that would take a lot longer." She told me.

"Nah, I've done this before."

Fuck.
Shit.
Goddammit.

That was it, wasn't it? That was the slip of the tongue Dirk had been talking about? She was gonna wanna know what I meant now, maybe she already knew? What if she pursued the topic?

That was it, I was the biggest jackass on the planet.

To my surprise, she just gave me a weird look, and then shrugged it off as if it was nothing.

"…You're sure it's over?" She asked.

"Yeah, pretty sure."

"Oh."

Once again, the two of us fell silent.

The two of us stopped outside the school, and sort of just looked at each other.

"I'm not sad that it's over." She said, a little, slightly sad, smile touching her lips, as she looked up at me.

"I'm just a little sad you have to go so soon, I hadn't anticipated that you'd be gone, just like that, you know?"

I sighed.

I was tired, and overwhelmed with emotions I couldn't really begin to comprehend.

I had to be straight with her.

"Look, Jade. You don't wanna get involved with a guy like me." I said, avoiding the BS, and instantly regretting it, because now she was gonna question it.

"What do you mean?" She tilted her head, confused.

"What do you mean "a guy like you"?"

Just then, I caught a glance of my brother's red mustang pulling into the school parking lot.

I looked at Rose, holding up a finger to tell her to wait a minute.

"I'm just… not a good guy, okay?" I said.

"I'm a mess, and… well, it's probably a good thing that this was short-lived."

I wanted to go on, but I knew I'd say shit I'd regret.

"That's your brother and sister?" She asked, looking over at the recently pulled up car, that was about fifty feet away from us, in the parking lot.

"Yeah." I told her.

"…You'll keep in touch?" She asked, slowly.

I didn't answer.

"I gotta go." I told her.

She opened her mouth to say something, looking slightly hurt that I hadn't answered her previous question.

"Okay." She said, softly.

Before I could stop her, she threw her arms around me, taking me by surprise.

"Thank you." She said.

"For what?" I asked, standing still, still surprised.

"Believing me, not calling me crazy, putting a stop to it? I dunno, a lot of things." She said.

I shrugged.

"It was nothing."

I awkwardly put an arm around her, returning the hug, lightly.

And with that, I walked away, getting in the car.

I had to stop myself from glancing at her, as Dirk drove away.

"I saw that." Rose informed me quietly.

"Rose, give 'im a break." Dirk grumbled.

I felt… I didn't know what it was I felt in that moment. Half-dead from lack of sleep, first of all.

I was in the back seat for once, I just felt like curling up, and passing out, so I wouldn't have to think about anything.

That's what I ended up doing.

. . . .

I woke up again by the sound of the phone ringing, or really, in truth, I probably would have slept through it, if Dirk hadn't loudly proclaimed that my cellphone was ringing.

I once again, groggily, answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Dave?"

I instantly sat up.

"Why'd you call this number?" I demanded, trying to sound cold, and uncaring, even though I instantly felt my heart skip a beat when I realized that Jade had called my number.

"I-I just—" She sounded startled by my tone.

I felt bad, hearing her sound hurt like that, which led me to sigh, running the fingers from my free hand through my hair.

"Jade…you can't call me, okay? We can't be in contact." I said, trying not to sound too audibly sad. I didn't want Dirk and Rose questioning the relationship again.

"But Dave, it's important!" She announced, sounding determined not to be bothered by my tone anymore.

"This one time, what is it?" I told her, still attempting to sound uncaring.

"It's not over, Dave." She told me.

What the hell did she mean "not over"?

She didn't mean…?

"No, Jade, it is. We can't be in contact with each other, and that's that."

"Not that, you dumbass!" She retorted, agitated.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"The spirits you "got rid of", well, they're not gone, okay? I think you made a mistake."

Shit.

"Okay, got it."

Without another word, I hung up the phone. I should have known not to back off the hunt so quickly. What kind of hunter was I? Believing that I was finished before I looked over all the possibilities?

"What's going on, Dave?" Dirk asked, glancing back at me.

"Turn this car around." I said, without explanation.

"What—"

"Now."

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry this is sort of late. I didn't get this done until /just now/. If there are any grammatical errors/typos, I'll go over it again later, which I'll do anyway because I'm paranoid. Not my best work, I'll admit, I guess this week wasn't my best? I'm not too proud of this chapter, but what am I gonna do, right? I can't think of a better way to portray it. Thank you for following an reviewing! I've been excited about the feedback I've gotten thus far. Until next week (or sooner, maybe). Review and/or follow, because that really helps me out! Later, guys.

-Raiden