Chapter Seven: New Game
I had scoured my apartment from top to bottom, on the verge of panic. I couldn't find any of my supplies; no seals, charms, rock salt, candles – nothing. I always assured I had an extensive stock of things, since I could never predict when I'd be in desperate need of them. I kept everything in either the trunk of my car or in the lockable chest at the foot of my bed so to have everything just disappear like that was immensely frustrating.
I fished my keys out of my pocket, stomping towards the door. I needed to head out and get some more things but, the problem with that was that the shop I frequented was on the other side of the city so it would take me at least two hours to get there, especially with the traffic and all.
But I knew I had to, not just so I can deal with Ben but so I can deal with everything else too.
I stormed out into the hallway, slamming and locking the door behind me. I tore my hand through my loose strands of white hair, resting my head against the door for a moment, sighing heavily. I soon turned away from the door, heading off down the hall. I don't know why I was so impatient to get this done, despite having left the exorcism for so long.
I started down the stairs at a jog, steadying my hand on the peeling, yellow plaster walls. There had to be some materials left in the trunk of my car from earlier – I always have emergency supplies tucked away in a 'secret' compartment. As I walked down the stairs (shitty place had no elevator), I made an effort of telling myself that there was really no need to rush. I quickly believed my words and slowed my pace.
Upon making it to the ground floor of the apartment – a dingy dump of a place with patchy leather couches, stain speckled coffee tables, dusty plastic pot plants and a stingy old woman by the main desk – I strode towards the wooden doors that led out onto the street. I headed over to the stairs that lead down into the car park below the building, wondering if the lights were working (which they often weren't). I slowed my pace as I walked down the steep, winding staircase, not wanting to trip.
I raised my defence as I stepped into the carpark, letting the heavy steel door slam behind me. Thankfully, the old halogen lights were functioning today, if not flickering every few minutes. A white glow was cast upon the sprawling, concrete room, reflecting off the sparse number of cars. Cautiously, I walked towards the back of the carpark, where I always parked my car.
The musty smell of mould, rust and petroleum hit my nose as I headed further into the place. Pointlessly, I made a beeline around the various spots of black on the ground, detested by the fact that there was so much old bubble-gum plastered onto the ground.
I had gotten ambushed here much too many times by amorous strangers so naturally, I was always on guard in here. As always, there was a small gathering of homeless men in the centre of the decrepit car park, toasting their hands over a fire lit in a steel barrel. They shot me a wary glance as I passed them by. I returned their glares with a smirk, making eye contact with the nearest one. Startled, he turned away.
I had almost made it to my car when my phone's familiar ringtone came to my ears. I fished the phone out of my pocket, checking the caller ID with a painful grimace. It was 3, one of my least favourite of the trio for a number of reasons. Figuring that I should answer, I put on a fake, sickly sweet voice as I answered.
"Hello, cutie," I greeted with a voice as sickly sweet as honey. I then turned away from the phone, disgusted by the sound of my own voice. Holding back a gag, I decided to quickly drop the act. "Are you calling to issue another warning?" I questioned in my regular, stern voice.
He chuckled somewhat nervously before answering. "Not exactly," he mused. Curious, I leaned against my car, eagerly awaiting his words. Another chuckle crackled through the receiver, his voice jolting slightly. "We're close." My mouth dropped open as I scrambled words together; about to question him further when the phone delivered a succession of beeps, meaning that he had hung up on me.
I called out in frustration, tangling my hands in my hair as I rested my forehead on the cold metal of my red KIA. This was bad, very, very bad. Who knew such simple words could make me react in such a way? I knew all too well what they were here for – punishment.
They were most likely going to go after me, kill me or take away my sanity as payment for being so disobedient. But first, of course, they'll kill my father, then my mother, Oliver and finally, me. That's just how bad guys work; they kill off all the people close to you before finally coming to you and taking away your life in cold blood.
I couldn't let that happen. I didn't need many people in my life (people were too annoying) but that doesn't mean I didn't appreciate their presence. Sure, I may lack empathy for them most of the time, but they were useful, valuable – something I needed to keep. I had surrounded myself by people who irritate me the least, namely Oliver. But, most of all, I valued my life too highly to risk myself getting killed.
I knew that if I just went and did my job as soon as possible, they would let me off with a final warning. I can't believe I've been stalling like this. I guess that's just what happens when you're as lazy and hot tempered as I am. I need to deal with Ben first, of course, which brings me back to the reason why I came down here in the first place, supplies.
I unlocked my car and thrust open the trunk, prying open the secret compartment. To my relief, it was chock full of everything I needed for the ritual. I began pulling things out as my thoughts wandered once more to my assailants.
I could handle them, if I tried hard enough, for sure. But if I dared to lay a hand on them, the Operator would most likely take it as treason and kill me for my insolence. And, like I said, I value my life. I gnashed my teeth as I slammed the trunk with a kick since my hands were full. I didn't offer the homeless men a glance as I briskly made my way back to the ground floor of the apartment.
I kept up that pace all the way back to my humble abode, trying my best to keep the thoughts of those three out of my head as I locked myself back inside my room. I relaxed somewhat at that point, pleased to be back in my own space. I took a deep breath, assuring myself that I would get things sorted after I finish dealing with Ben.
Much to my curiosity, I found that the generally warm, yellowish lights of my room had changed colour. Now, they were a sort of electric, lime green. I slowly placed down my supplies before the television, looking around to see if anything else was amiss. I soon found that apart from the lighting, my apartment was exactly as I had left it. I assumed it was just Ben messing around again, passing it off as usual as I began to set up for the ritual.
As I did so, I noticed that the Statue of Emptiness had appeared on top of my television, right beside the Majora's Mask cartridge. Its eyes, instead of being their normal blue, had been entirely blacked out, save for a red dot right in the centre of the abyss. I chuckled at its lame attempts to look 'frightening.' I have seen many a monster with those very same eyes; it appears to be a cliché of sorts.
I picked up both objects and placed them within the chalk circle I had drawn onto the wooden floorboards. Working off muscle memory, I made another ring around the chalk with rock salt before promptly setting five candles around the circles in the shape of a star. I sliced my finger with a kitchen knife, reluctantly making another ring around everything I had already set up. I rarely used my blood during rituals since there were many risks associated with doing so but, since Ben was a powerful ghost, I figured I'd need an extra layer of protection.
Using my blood as a barrier worked in such a way that I would be actually using my own strength to hold him back. I was very strong mentally but not so much physically therefore I would have to work very hard to pull him back into the inner circles but it should work – even if I have serious muscle cramps afterwards.
Sighing and clearing my mind of any residual doubts and annoyances, I opened my mouth and began to chant lowly. The words were an ancient spell or something (I couldn't remember) commonly used for exorcisms. It always works when I use it so I've never doubted the strength of it. The practiced words flowed easily off my tongue as the spell came into focus. A hazy electric green bubble formed over the circles. It always takes a darker shade than the lighting in the room so that didn't bother me.
I watched as the cartridge jolted forward in the circle, clearly being affected by the ritual. The statue beside it began to teeter ever so slightly. I smiled to myself, pleased that things were already going so well. I focused harder, increasing the volume of my chants. Moments later, both objects began to move about more violently in response. Soon enough, the statue crumbled completely, a shattering sound vibrating through the air as pieces of ceramic scattered everywhere.
Good, that meant that Ben's spirit was still attached to the cartridge. Due to how mobile that statue was, I had a theory that Ben may have gone and possessed it but I now know that was not true. One can never be too careful.
Therefore, I placed my entire focus on that game. Before long, I noticed the card begin to violently glitch, squares of green, blue and yellow blurring the object. Slowly, a green mist began to rise from the cartridge, meaning that I was finally separating the spirit from its object. I heard the sudden roar of the Shadows in the darker corners of the room, meaning that they were now more aware of Ben's presence. This was the point where I needed to concentrate the most, in order to keep the ghost within the circle whilst simultaneously banishing it to the other side.
Red orbs suddenly appeared in the center of the green mist, gazing at me intently. I ignored them, persisting with my task wholeheartedly. And it was a good thing I was so focused because the ghost began to fight. It struggled against the intangible bonds that wrapped around it, the green mist swaying back and forth violently. For a moment, pride surged through me at the thought that I had almost got it.
I then realized that it was holding back, that it had much more power than it was letting on.
As if it had guessed what I was thinking, the mist parted slightly, revealing a sharp, toothy smirk. The bastard knew exactly what he was doing here. I frowned, anger surging through me. I quickly tapped into that emotion, using it to further strengthen the circle. The mist's grin grew, its glowing red orbs increasing in size. Simultaneously I felt an immense tug of power from his side, one that sent a tremor of fatigue through my body as I tried desperately to maintain my control. He was indeed powerful, just as powerful as I had been expecting him to be.
He continued to struggle, my grip on him inevitably slipping. With little warning, the green bubble that hung over the circles glitched, as if it were a holographic projection. I heard something snap, followed by ebbs in my strength. I realized with a scowl that Ben had broken the chalk innermost ring. The shadows eagerly responded to this, taking this chance to move forward, making their way towards the circles slowly. This had happened to me before with other powerful ghosts so I didn't let it distract me for long. I pushed more power into the candle and blood barriers.
The green mist trapped within what was left of the circle began to grow, reaching out towards the candles. What a reckless ghost – obviously ignorant of the fact that it will get seriously burnt. Just as the mist brushed against the flickering flame of one of the candles, all five of them erupted in a great burst of inferno, engulfing the green mist entirely. Very few spirits have ever surpassed this barrier before and as such, I placed a lot of faith into it. I noticed that some of the Shadows were exorcised by this, their gaseous bodies quickly burning away.
The way I usually exorcised ghosts was through burning the corpse or bones of the associated being. But, since Ben drowned at the bottom of a lake, I decided to use different method since there was no way I was going swimming out there. Yuck.
Yet I didn't let my resolve fade; this barrier has failed twice in the past which meant it wasn't foolproof.
With an odd popping, fizzing sound, the fire all but disappeared. Now that the circles were clear, I noticed that the candles had been completely melted by the fire, wax oozing out all over my wooden floor. I'd have to scrape that off later, much to my annoyance. I momentarily felt my energy being sapped at again; alerting me to the fact that Ben had broken the candle barrier.
I had two main problems now; I couldn't see that green mist anymore and that I was going to start hurting now.
Pain tingled throughout my entire body but, since I had been expecting it, it failed to have much of an effect on me as I placed everything I had on that final barrier. The bubble covering the circles was wavering violently now, glitching up here and there. Smoke began to spew from the cartridge, along with small sparks of blue electricity. Yet that green haze did not appear again, indicating to me that Ben had somehow shielded himself from my vision.
The pain within me began to strengthen, quickly and steadily. I resisted the urge to double over as I kept muttering vehemently, kept focusing on getting rid of Ben. I soon discovered that I could still feel Ben's presence within the ring of blood; undeterred by my methods. At this point, I wasn't sure what else I could do except continue persisting with the ritual. He must be getting tired – even ghosts grow tired of exerting themselves overtime.
Oh, how wrong I was.
My veins suddenly felt like they were on fire, pain tearing and ripping its way through my thin frame. I felt a scream develop in my throat but I held it back, not wanting my neighbors to be alerted and rush in here without warning. The lights began to spark and flicker, the shadows moaning louder and louder as they tried to claw into the circle. Despite my best efforts, I could feel my control over the ritual begin to fade – something I hadn't experienced since my early days of exorcising. My eyes widened as the pain became unbearable, my entire body shaking violently as I slumped to the ground.
And thus, I lost all control over the Ben and I was way too tired and pained to do anything about it. I could taste iron at the back of my throat as liquid rose from my gut, forcing me to vomit up blood right in front of me. I almost vomited again at how gross that was when something else came to my attention.
Worry.
Where the hell was Ben's ghost? I had just broken it from its bonds to that cartridge which meant that it was temporarily free to do whatever the hell it liked without its powers being restricting by the bond. Ben wasn't lying when he had said he was powerful and, as much as I hated to admit it, he was probably the most powerful poltergeist I've encountered thus far.
Therefore, I needed to get up off my sorry ass and find him. My chest heaved painfully as I shakily pushed myself into a sitting position, ignoring the puddle of bloody vomit on the ground. My pounding head spun as I surveyed my surroundings.
The room was pitch-black now, since the lights had been destroyed with the power surges. I could hear the low, quiet moans from the various Shadows hidden in the darkness but their sounds were partially drowned out by the thudding in my head and heart. I could feel their bodies brush against mine as they moved, prompting me to shudder coldly. I needed to do something about these things at least before I attempted to find Ben. Grabbing some seals I had kept aside just in case of an emergency (which this was) and, with a lot of difficulty, got to my feet.
I wiped some bile and blood off my lips as I went about the walls of my apartment, sticking seals down here and there. I heard the hiss of the Shadows as they retreated for the time being. The seals would keep them at bay for now at least (I would have exorcised them if I had the energy). I felt my way through the dark until I had passed by the spot on the wall where I had begun.
Too weary to think of anything at all by that point, I pulled myself over to the couch, collapsing. I stared at the television as my eyes continued to adjust as best they could to the darkness, gathering what little specks of light there was. I recognised the television switch on, the dull, green light hitting my face, forcing me to squint.
Code began to glitch across the screen diagonally, a series of unreadable numbers and nonsensical garbage. I then noticed that it began to stream off the screen and into the actual environment around it, running straight into the wooden floor boards and into the roof. Slowly, ever so slowly, stray pieces of code and glitchy green squares began to form a figure standing before the television.
Gradually, the code began to take the form of a boy.
I studied his appearance, my eyebrows knitting together as I began to piece together what was going on. His eyes were first to form – red orbs surrounded by an abyss of darkness; empty eye sockets I presumed. The rest of his face soon began to form, just as a very soft tune began to play from the speakers – the Song of Healing backwards.
His features were chubby, childlike, but extraordinarily pale. His dirty blonde hair clung to his face, as if it had been dampened. His lips were twisted into a sharp-toothed smirk, his head tilting to the side as he studied me. His attire was quite similar to Link's from the very game he haunted though they were faded, as if they were very old. He was short of stature and his body hovered a good half a meter off the floor. His entire form was outlined with a hazy, diffuse green.
I didn't need to think at all to realize who was floating before me. It was Ben.
"You shouldn't have done that," he whispered as he continued to scrutinize me with his gaping eyes. His voice echoed throughout the room, sounding almost exactly like I had remembered it. It pitched up and down once again, glitching, just like his body. Yet it sounded like a child's – cheeky and naive.
"Ben," I chuckled heartlessly, unsure what to say or do to him in the current state I was in. "Finally, you showed up, you bastard."
He chuckled suddenly, prompting my heart to beat faster for a moment with recognition. That damn laugh, it was too familiar. There was no denying that this was the Ben from all those years ago; despite his warped appearance and personality.
"It's BEN, in all capitals to you, Vivi," he replied after his laughter died down. I smirked at the fact that he pointed that out. It doesn't make any difference in the pronunciation, just how it was written – what a meaningless fact to point out. He tilted his head to the other side, grinning at me. His orbs burnt with malice and excitement as he opened his mouth once more.
"Too tired to do anything about me? Or even think about me?" he mused. "Such a shame, I thought there was more fight in you." A lame pang of anger vibrated through me at his insults but I couldn't help but agree with him. That ritual had sapped away all my power, leaving me in the hands of that dick. Great, just fucking great. Well, I guess it's all up to what he decides to do with me now. I'll show him my side of the argument after I rest for a while (if he doesn't kill me first of course).
"There is," I answered. "And you're right; I am too tired to give a shit about you." He giggled and his body glitched up in response until he calmed down again.
"Then you wouldn't mind if I made myself at home?" he questioned rhetorically. What the hell did he mean by that? He better not go and possess something else. Then again, with this current form he's assumed, I'd doubt he'd feel the need to do so. After he's shown me all that power he has, I wondered why he even bothered hiding away in his game anyway.
"Nope," I sighed heavily. Just because he had overpowered me, doesn't mean I was going to let him do whatever he wanted without even voicing my disapproval. He smirked again, clearly not caring about my words. He glided towards me, my skin prickling at the cold air he was giving off. He didn't stop moving until he was only inches before me.
"You have a reservation tomorrow; sleep," he whispered again, his cold breath fanning my face. I grimaced as he swiped his hand over my eyes, pulling them closed. I heard him shush as I quickly felt the onset of unconsciousness. I tried desperately to fight away the urge to sleep but I quickly gave up, unable to fight any longer.
When I wake up, that damn ghost is going to get it. I had shit I needed to do which means I definitely didn't have time for his nonsense. An exorcism was definitely out of the equation now, which meant I would need to seek new ways of getting rid of him since; of course, I had never found a ghost who could bypass a ritual like that.
He really was going to be a handful.
And so I fell asleep, giving BEN complete control without my permission.
I heard a faint voice before I fell asleep, something I had grown accustomed to lately. And now, I finally knew who was speaking.
"Let's play together tomorrow, just like old times."
