"What the actual hell is this place?"Lovino asked looking up at a rusted sign, barely hung on by a couple screws. The door to the place was in a alley that gave him bad vibes. The whole place seemed to be operating under a shoe string, as everything seemed shoddy and falling apart. The paint peeled off the painted brick and the sign read 'Spiritual Curiosities' in badly scribbled cursive.
"It's the place I was talking about! It doesn't look that great on the outside, sure, but it looked really good online." Antonio replied sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck.
"The yelp reviews won't save this place" Lovino grumbled.
"Silly Lovi, yelp reviews are for restaurants." Antonio chuckled while rubbing Lovino's hair good-naturedly.
"well, what fucked up dark side of the internet did you find this place?" Lovino peeled Antonio's hand off his head with a scowl.
"Uh..." Antonio's eyes shot around the dark alley nervously , like he was quickly looking for an answer and he could find it somewhere in the dark. "That's not important right now."
"No, where did you find this place?" Lovino cut in.
"Well, it's Francis's ex's sister's shop, but I found the actual address to this place online ." Antonio explained while opening the door to the shop, the little bell ringing.
Lovino squinted at him, like he was trying to get on the same brainwaves as Antonio, like a radio trying to get a good signal.
"I don't need to know the entire story." Lovino mumbled while rolling his eyes and slipping in the door behind Antonio, nearly getting closed in it.
"Thanks for opening the door for me, bastard." Lovino grumbled sarcastically while glaring up at Antonio.
"I'm sorry, but nobody can really see you, and I kinda don't wanna..." Antonio paused towards the end."Look insane."
Lovino huffed in response and glared at the store before him.
The industrial fluorescent lights flickered and hummed, some blown out and some still glowing left the place slightly dark. The isles where littered with items like crystal balls, voodoo dolls, and books on items of the sort, all labeled and separated neatly by little wooden signs. The walls were covered with shelves littered with glass jars full of different herbs and ingredients.
Towards the back of the shop a ginger sat behind the counter, her piercing emerald eyes flicking over a giant leather-bound book. Antonio smiled and approached the desk, Lovino tailing behind him. He rang the bell on the desk and his smile grew as the annoying ring rang.
"I knew you were here, you didn't have to ring the bell." The girl snapped, her eyes not leaving the page. Antonio's smile faltered, but he still grinned.
"Sorry, I'm just here for special counseling." Antonio mumbled.
The girl lifted her eyes from the book and flicked a piece of sandy ginger hair from her eyes.
"You don't seem to be that troubled..." She grumbled while turning a page, her eyes falling bag down to the manuscript and minute drawings of different herbs on the page.
"Uh, actually I am, and you're the only person in the area who would be able to help me." Antonio physically forced out a polite reply, and Lovino chuckled. This woman seemed to be the only woman in existence to actually annoy Antonio slightly, it wasn't like Lovino wanted to be on his shit list, but he found the woman's fiery temper hilarious, and Antonio's reaction even better.
"Have you tried a priest?" She sighed.
"Well, I don't think a priest could help me with this." Antonio continued.
"This?" Lovino scoffed but Antonio gave no reaction.
The girl leaned forward and closed her book, making a large sound echo throughout the whole store.
"What do you have that's so strange a priest can't handle it?" She asked.
Antonio sighed a little, but continued to hold his composure.
"It's kinda hard to explain..." He mumbled while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Lovino realized the conversation was going nowhere and sighed, he knew the woman couldn't see him, but Antonio's air-headedness wasn't getting them anywhere. It was time to take matters into his own hands. He plucked a book from one of the isles and padded over to the front counter where he set it down.
The girl's thick eyebrow rose sky-high in surprise. "That book just levitated." She calmly stated. "What the hell did you bring into my shop!?" She snapped.
"Uh... My friend." Antonio tripped over his words.
"Friend?!" Lovino seethed and slapped him over the head with the same book he had set down.
"Ow! Sorry!" Antonio said, while the girl just gave a bewildered look.
"He's dead." Antonio calmly said, the girl blinked again.
"He seems to be haunting me, and only I can see him do things." Antonio explained. "Sounds weird, huh?"
"Eh, I've worked with a case like this before." The red-head commented while standing up and crossing her arms.
"Oh really?" Antonio asked dumbfounded, and Lovino chuckled at his facial expression. The man had went to a professional and expected a beginner.
Lovino sat on the counter and watched the woman closely. There was something about her emerald eyes that reminded him of Antonio, they had the same deep kindness, though her's was hidden. Her's had a hardness to them, like a knife cutting through you, while Antonio's were soft and easy.
"I need to ask you a few questions though." The woman's head leaned forward as she spoke and Lovino had to move back a little so their heads wouldn't bump.
"Uh, okay." Antonio complied with his eyebrows knit worriedly.
"When did all of this start?" She leaned onto the counter and propped her head up with her elbow.
"Well..." Antonio mumbled while scratching his chin. "A day or two ago..."
The girl gave a shocked expression and stood up once more.
"Intriguing, you came for help early in your haunting." She commented.
"Is there a problem with that?" Antonio asked, confusion lacing his voice. Lovino could tell from afar that he was nervous, he kept tapping his feet and flicking his eyes everywhere.
"No, not really. It's just kind of unusual." She grinned and chuckled, while Antonio made an 'o' with his mouth.
"So any who," her eyes flicked over to Lovino's book on the counter "What were you doing before the haunting started?"
"Well, I went out with my friends." Antonio explained.
"OK"
"And we were drinking and talking."
"alright"
"Damnit! You guys had a Ouija board, tell her that!" Lovino grumbled, trying to make the conversation run a little faster. Hell, he was pretty sure if he weren't here, the whole story would take all night, maybe till next week.
"Oh! We used a Ouija board!" Antonio added. The girl's eyes widened and she covered her mouth.
"You did what?!" She snapped, her eyebrows knitting into concern more than anger and Antonio visibly shrank. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"
"Well, yeah..." Antonio scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and Lovino laughed at the sight.
"No, not even some professionals would dare to even do that, why would you do it?" The red-head grumbled.
"Well, my friend Gilbert said it was a good idea..." Antonio reasoned quietly. The girl just groaned and rubbed her temples in frustration before brightening.
"Alright, anyway..." She sighed. "How did it go?
"Well, nothing really happened. I mean we tried everything, and nothing happened." Antonio explained.
"Okay."
"So we looked at the board and everything, but we're pretty sure it's a dud." Antonio continued.
"Wait, you looked at the board?" The girl asked, narrowing her eyes.
Well, yeah... but we saw nothing, at least nothing out of the ordinary..."
"Yes, but did you look through the piece?" The girl cut in.
"What piece? The board has more pieces?" Antonio rambled while Lovino facepalmed.
"No, the main triangle piece." She sighed. "Did you look through it at all?"
"Well yeah, but what does that have to do with the haunting?"
"Well, that explains everything!" The girl smiled and began looking under the counter and digging around before pulling out a small triangular Ouija board piece. Tiny scratches were littered around the piece and it was burned black in some areas, Lovino rose an eyebrow at that, what exactly had this woman used this piece for? He was pretty sure the marks weren't from any kind of cat or small animal.
She put it up to her eye and looked right at Lovino, he felt like her eyes were staring right through him. The girl jumped a little in shock when she looked at Lovino, and he did the same.
The girl is supposed to be Aph Ireland, there isn't really a good official thing about her/him, but I thought I'd put her in the story anyway, just because I felt like it. Reviews are always appreciated!