"Sweet room." Aatami says, rolling his eyes and setting his bag down on the bed. I laugh dryly and cross the 2000's- era room. Garish wood paneling covers the walls, and the partition in the middle of the room is decorated with fake metal beer bottles. The whole room stinks of cigarette smoke.
"Is this the only motel they could afford?"
Claire pokes her head through our door. "Hey, staying at a crappy motel is a hunter rite of passage. That, and dying multiple times, but let's hope no one does that this time."
"Yeah." Aatami says. "I don't want to die without being kissed."
Claire chuckles. "Trust me, it's not all it's chalked up to be. You guys settling in okay?"
"Yeah, I think so." I respond. "Kinda weirded out by the beer partition, though."
She frowns. "Yeah. Apparently, Sam and Dean used to stay in rooms like this all the time, but it seems a little nineties to me. Anyway, I just wanted to come and tell Nydia that she can come out of the bathroom."
I'm about to say, What? When the bathroom door opens and a guilty-looking Nydia steps out.
"How did you know?" She asks.
"You're not the first person to sneak out to go on a hunting trip. Besides, I know how close to home this case is. I convinced Sam not to get you in trouble, so you're good. See ya." She winks and closes the door.
I turn on Nydia. "What the hell? What was she talking about? Why are you here? How are you here?"
She looks at the ground and bites her lip. "I used to live here." She says in a small voice. I take a step back, shocked. "This- this ghost is the reason I'm at the school."
"Oh." I say in a small voice.
"I need to kill it. Do you understand that?"
"Yeah, of course. But- how did you get here?"
She smiles sheepishly and ducks her head. "I overheard Jody talking about this hunt, so I kind of, uh, snuck out and took a bus?"
"Nydia, that's super badass." I say with awe. She blushes and smiles wide.
Aatami speaks up. "Hello? Lovebirds? I'm here too."
My face flames. "We- we're not- what?"
He rolls his eyes. "Whatever. I call this bed. Someone's gonna have to take the couch."
"I will." Nydia volunteers.
I wake up to Nydia opening the curtains. I groan and pull the covers over my head.
"Jeez, Nydia, you're blinding me. What time is it?"
"Five!" She chirps happily, somehow not ready to murder everyone, even though it's five in the freaking morning.
"Why are you up?" I ask groggily.
"I'm used to it. At the fost- um, at my house, my parents always made us get up really early." I notice her slip-up, but I don't push. Instead, I sit up and yawn.
"Got any coffee?" I ask as I get out of the bed, looking to my right and seeing that Aatami is still asleep.
Nydia makes a face. "You like coffee?"
"Not really. But it gets me awake, so I drink it when my friends wake me up at five o'clock in the morning."
Nydia rolls her eyes and points to one corner of the room. "I'm pretty sure there's a coffee maker over there." I slowly pad over to the machine and start making a cup, making sure to add a buttload of sugar so it's bearable to drink. Meanwhile, Nydia makes tea- freaking tea- and wakes up Aatami.
When she tries to shake him awake the first time, he just says "no" and rolls over. The next time she tries, I suggest that she slap him, but she shushes me and tickles him instead. That effectively wakes him up, and just in time, because a few minutes later, Sam pokes his head through the door and says to meet by the van in five minutes.
When we get down there, along with Jordan, Daisy, and Liam, Sam addresses us. "The ghost we're hunting has been haunting a scratch of road a couple miles away. Judging from a witness report," He glances at Nydia as he says that, "This seems like a Woman In White. So we need to research women who have died within the same time frame as their children recently. I'll take a group to do research and interviews at the library, and Claire will keep a group here to do research on the laptops. Jordan, Aatami, Liam, y'all are coming with me, and Delilah, Daisy, and Nydia will stay here with Claire."
Aatami waves goodbye and grimaces as he climbs into the church van.
"Okay. This ghost has only killed three people so far, so if we can get the jump on it before it kills the next person, I think that'd be a win." Claire addresses us. "So let's go. Yell if you find anything."
I go on the website she showed us and search the records for women who have died in the past couple months. Then I cross-reference that list with children who've died recently, but there aren't any matches.
Suddenly, I have an idea. "Hey, Nydia." I call. She comes over to me. "Do you recognise any of these girls?" I ask, pulling up pictures of all the recently deceased girls in the mothering age range.
She narrows her eyes, skimming down the list. "Her." She says, pointing at a sad looking middle-aged woman. I quickly read her obituary.
"Lydia West. Died two months ago, suicide. Fits the time frame, and age range. Let me see if she had any kids." I search and find two obituaries from over a year ago. "Michael and Julia West. Twins, no cause of death listed. If this is our girl, she dealt with the guilt for over a year before she committed suicide."
Nydia takes the computer from me. "Here. She's buried at St. Marys Cemetery. Claire! We think we found her."
A/N: Hey! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, my grandma is visiting, so I've been a little busy. Anyway, happy pride month! Please fav, follow, and review this story! Love y'all!