Author's note:

This might be the last chapter I wrote (no I'm not quitting), cuz I will come back to school next week after days staying at home.

Yeah, let's just called it a break.

Anyways, back to the chapter!

Chapter 12

Ghosts and Spirits

7:20 AM

Houser's thinks about it again, the more he thinks about it, the more headache his head got from thinking it. That girl, the girl that Houser bumped into yesterday, she is so... familiar. Yet, he couldn't remember who she was. Maybe he had met her before, but just glancing? Or he noticed her on some kind of school magazine or newspaper? Or maybe, they're long lost childhood friends...

Don't think about it too much. Or you'll just confused again. Houser muttered in his head, while chewing his sandwich which his aunt made. It was good, it was good every time he gets to eat it.

"Going to the library again?", his uncle asked him, who's sitting on the armchair besides him, eyes always focus on the newspapers. "If so, you should take a break today."

"I-It's alright. I don't get exhausted.", Houser responded while chewing.

"I say you need to take a break. Besides, today is Saturday, acted like you're still going to school.", Joe reasoned, even if Houser didn't listen to him, he won't tell yell at Houser. Joe knew that, he isn't Houser's dad, yet. Joe is just Mary's husband, the couple who couldn't have a child. And yet, he could be a fine and normal dad. John thought that he isn't ready for the responsibility nor his wife. "It's not that hard, and you even got dark circles under your eyes as well. You should really get some rest. You can wake up late tomorrow."

Dark circles. There it is again, the word that always itch Houser, felt like a sudden warm coming from his stomach, discomfort, uncomfortable. This word should not be mentioned in front of him. But Joe knows what he's try to mean.

"D-Don't worry. I'm not tired.", Houser lied. He is tired, but hold it down, not trying to express it. Soon, he will forget the feeling of tiredness, and move on, again.

"Yes you are. Don't try to hide it. I know you're not good and lying.", Joe said, slightly heavy his voice.

"N-No, I'm really am fine."

"No your not."

"Y-Yes I am."

"No."

"Yes".

"No."

"Yes."

"No".

"Yes."

...And somehow this became funny. Both of them grinned at eachother, smiled like father and son. They rarely arguing, very very rare, cause one knows that the other one won't be able to handle the rage, and might got hurt in the feelings. So Joe tried to make it gently and slowly, hoping it will change the atmosphere, hoping it will change Houser's decision.

sigh* "Look, I know you have to do your things, but... do you really have to push yourself that much? You have friends to play, go play with Jeremy, you'll feel better."

Houser said nothing, but keep on chewing. Why? Cause Joe is his uncle, Joe is a grown-up man, Joe is an adult. Houser could not argue back, that is disrespectful. Silence is needed. Or maybe, if he keeps aguring, he might get himself more exhausted from the sentences he had been saying.

Houser still haven't got some good sleeps, though, the creaking sounds has stopped lately. Strange, but at least he got some short good rest. On every night, he thinks of that thing, that void thing. When Houser dreams with his friend in it, he didn't know if that's really Jeremy or not. But when that thing grabbed him at the end, he could see a glimpse of its appearance before black out.

It was a robot, it looked a black bear.

Wait...no. But does it? It was too dark, and the lights around him was dim too. And the only thing he can see is its red, bloody, crimson eyes. If looking at its eyes is already a death wish, but its entire body? Well, that might be a deadly neverending curse. Apart from the void colour, its eyes were the most attracting one, as well as a golden bowtie just below its jaws and a small golden top hat too.

Weird.

Why would a "bear" would wear such things...unless. It kinda looked familiar though, but I couldn't think of what it is. Houser thought, and instead of thinking till he gets himself a headache, he continued eat the sandwich.

"Jeremy will be here in a moment.", his uncle said, interrupted Houser's thought.

The boy awaken from the day dream, gained back the focus, blinked a few times, then replied, "W-Wait... Jeremy?".

"Uh huh.", he responded, "He called me last night. He said that he'll come here at half past seven."

"He called you?", Houser remarked. Weird, he could've just came.

"Well he called me not to let you go anywhere, but wait him to come. So I've been convincing you to stay at home and wait for Jeremy just now. That's why.", Joe explained.

"O-Oh...", Houser said in enlightenment. "Fair enough...". Just after he said that, the sandwich is finished. Time to clean up. Houser carefully brush of the crumbs onto the plate and bring it to the kitchen, where he placed it next to the sink. After that, he takes a rag to temporary cleans the table's surface, and put it back to where he took it. Houser walks through the frame door, which later heading upstairs, but interfered by a door chime.

*ding-dong*

"I'll open the door.", Houser said.

"Ok.", his uncle responded from the living room.

Houser walks forward the front door, hand on the doorknob. Who could it be? It's almost half past seven now, his aunt Mary just headed to the mall for groceries, so it might now be her. So that's mean the only person chiming at the front door would be.

"Heya!", it's Jeremy.

"Oh. Hi Jeremy.", Houser greeted.

"Can I come in?".

"Sure.".

And Jeremy followed Houser to the living room, where Joe is still sitting on his armchair reading newspapers.

"Oh, you actually came. Make yourself at home.", Joe said.

"Thanks.", Jeremy replied as he sat down on the crouch, besides him is his friend, Houser.

"So, why did you come here?", Houser asked.

"I'm here with another announcement.", Jeremy answered elatedly.

"W-What?", he asked again, confusedly.

"We're back with the jogging.", Jeremy exclaimed.

"Oh..."

Well, normally Houser doesn't like exercising much, because most of the P.E classes ended up him having hard time breathing. Asthma, the doctor said. He has asthma, though it wasn't really serious. The boy can breath normally, unless if it was physical activities such as running, jogging in a duration of time, lifting, push-ups,... which simply known as exercising. But hey, since Jeremy is his best friend, he knows when to stop and take a break.

"Don't worry, you can take a break whenever you want. Not like last time, when you've gone too far.", Jeremy reassured, knowing that Houser might not interested in jogging.

Although, for some reason, Houser liked walking to a far destination, mostly the library.

"Y-Yeah... I'll...think about it."

"So, that's for today.", Jeremy wrapped up, "If you changed your mind, just call me ok?"

"Ok.", Houser casually responded.

"Say, if you have time, we will play some No-U. Sounds good?", Jeremy asked Houser, invited him to play a card game.

At this moment, Houser really wanted to go to the library and continued his research, but this is Jeremy he's talking to! He doesn't want to make him upset, though, even if he played, Jeremy would still win. Houser was kinda questioned about how Jeremy can almost guarantee a win in every match he and his friend play. Interesting, but that's like cheating. Although his friend didn't cheat, that's just pure luck. Still, it's really give him a headache just from thinking about it. No one could ever had a luck like that, but hey, Houser doesn't believe in superstitious so much.

Now, back to reality, how can he answer his friend invitation?

"I...uh...um.", there it is again, trying to come up an appropriate answer.

Jeremy just stare at his friend. Oh shoot. I made him nervous again. He had to be cautious when talking to Houser, or else his friend would ended up lost the sea of mind again. "Uh...You know, we can play cards later. You can go to the library."

Immediately, Houser looked up to his friend. "W-Wait, I mean...w-we can play...a-and...".

"Nah, it's fine. Not like we haven't play No-U for eternity.", Jeremy said, somewhat frowned.

"S-Sorry...", the quiet kid apologized, innocently.

"Well, if you go to the library then, can I come to?"

"H-Huh...?"

"I might find some book to read, even though I don't like reading much. But hey, at least it isn't as bored as staying at home."

It's pretty rare seeing Jeremy at the library by himself, since the library itself didn't do anything related to him to entertain him. Instead of that, Jeremy goes to the field to either spectate a football or baseball match, or might as well playing it with his friends.

"S-Sure..."

"Cool thanks."

"I'll be back before lunch uncle Joe.", Houser notified.

"K, have fun kids.", Joe casually responded, before reaching for a remote control for the TV.

Meanwhile...

yawn*

Looks like someone had a good sleep last night. Jack who supposedly just started to sleep, is now energised by seven hours of sleep. Though it might be not enough, but still, a peaceful sleep is just what Jack is dreamt of. The boy wakes up, eyes half opened, hedgehog hair, but remained the dark circles. Jack folds the blankets and tidies the bed.

"Damn, that was nice.", Jack murmured to himself, nice indeed. Now he has to get ready for the day, brush the teeth, take a quick scrub and change his clothes. After done preparing, Jack heads downstairs. Taking a few steps down, Jack's nose caught up a sudden scent. What the...this smell. He then hurriedly arrived to the first floor, somehow the wooden floor underneath is feet felt... moisture, then there was the sound of mopping from the kitchen. Wait...it couldn't be...

The scent that Jack had just smelled was very fragrant and sweet. With it scent coming from the floor itself, and the moisture Jack felt under his feet, there's only one conclusion.

"Mike?", Jack said in mere confusion.

His brother, Mike, or Micheal, is suprisingly, and apparently mopping the house. Jack and easily notice the neutral face of displeasure on his brother's frowned face. It seemed like Micheal didn't like doing the chores at all, true enough. But the thing that worth noticing is Jack's brother's voluntarily in doing the chores.

"What?", Micheal replied back in constrainment. Yep, he didn't like doing this at all.

"Uh... You're mopping the floor?"

"Duh.", he exclaimed, somewhat sarcastically. "What else do you think am I doing?"

"Mopping the floor?", Jack answered confidently, accidently mocked his own big brother.

tch* "Just...don't interfere while I'm doing it."

"Why are you mopping the floor anyways? Did dad told you to do so?", Jack asked, as he walked to the living room, and sat on the sofa, watching his brother doing the job.

"Yes.", Michael replied, pungently. "Lucky for you that you're his 'favourite', or I'll make you do all of it otherwise."

Jack said nothing but snorted, which triggered Michael. "Hoh, sucks to be you."

tch* "Whatever, just... stop making that face. If you're thinking about provoking me, then a death wish will be granted."

"Yeah, sure.", Jack casually said.

A while later, after Jack got breakfast from his brother's not-so-bad-but-not-that-great bacon and toast, Jack remembered the book that he borrowed Quinn yesterday. "Magic of History", the book labelled, the title is kinda intimidating. To normal people, it might just be another Sci-Fi novel. To Jack, it's a nother whole new level. Such an unbelievable thing would even exist in this world. Maybe religions were somewhat right about it. He goes to his room, opens the drawer besides his bed, inside a leather cover of a book can be seen, with the "Magic of History" titled big and clearly.

Woah, I didn't know it's this heavy! Jack is a suprised at the book's heaviness, at least four half a pounds (or just a little heavier than two kilograms). Apart of its thickness of an inch (approximately three centimeters), Jack took a quick glance inside the book, quickly turning the page like normal people do and man! That took a while! Even though Jack didn't look for the final pages number, he already knew that this is something not be made fun of.

Welp, that is really thick. He thought in awe. His house right now is not great for reading a book, best to leave his brother alone. Besides, staying at home is boring, and they might've just jumpscaring the soul out of him. Jack needs a quiet place for him to read this. The field might be a good choice, but if there's a match going on and people started cheering, then could have distracting. The park? Too sunny, means too hot. Under a tree? Well, since the park is a bustle and noisy place, especially in summer and in weekends, where people have picnic in the early morning, or might as well throwing frisbee and hit him in the head or chest. Nope.

One last option then.

8:01 AM

Took a solid fifteen minutes to arrive and fifteen minutes of preparing, turning on and waiting for the computer to be turned on. Welp, that took long for a computer to be turned on.

"Ugh, finally...", Houser let out a sigh in distress. Jeremy stared at his friend from behind. Woah, he can get mad too? He puts his hand on Houser's shoulder, said.

"Technology will be more advanced from the future, we just gotta wait. Don't ya worry."

"Yeah...I guess.". After that, Houser opens his backpack, takes out a black notebook, just a bit smaller than a size of an average book, he turns to the page he was writing in.

"Page 13?", Jeremy asked himself. "You even marked the page's number?"

"It will be easier at making a list of content and category.", Houser explained.

"Heh, you sure is working like a scientist huh."

"Oh.", he grinned, "I-It's nothing...You wanna read something?", Houser asked, he then took out another book from his backpack, this one seemed familiar.

"Wait, isn't this this book I gave you when at your birthday?", Jeremy asked, why would someone lend their birthday gift to the one that gave them? Nonetheless, this is a scientific book, Jeremy might not enjoy reading this. "It's yours, why lend it to me?"

"I...uh...I think you would read it?", Houser said, obscurely. Looks like he didn't understand.

"Besides, I don't like read these types of books ya know. It's for you, not me."

"Oh...", said the quiet kid, now enlightened, "Sorry...I forgot."

Jeremy looked at his friend, somewhat felt sorry for his shyness and softness of the boy. Did I went too far? He thought. Well, I think that he's just overthinking. Jeremy sighed, a hand on his hips, and a hand on his friend's head, patting.

"It's ok.", he said, "I'll just look for a book."

Somehow, Houser seemed to feel comfortable when his friend is patting his head.

Weird flex but ok.

"Ok...". Note that both of Houser and Jeremy have been whispering to eachother, since this is a library, silence is needed.

Later...

Jack has just arrived at the library, he doesn't often come here, so is his brother. And this place is perfect for nerds and book readers, such a calm, quiet and peaceful atmosphere. With it and the book Jack is carrying, time to find a place to read.

After a while, he had found a perfect place to read, an empty table with no one is sitting there. Perfect, just what Jack is needed, no peeking in his book, no privacy violations, no distractions. Jack felt pleased, so he sat down, and slowly opened the book.

At the first page, there is a big symbol of two circles and a pentagram inside it. Wait, isn't this at Quinn's basement? Jack thought in confusion. There's a description underneath it.

"The Gate." It firmly said. "The door that connects the realm between Hell and Heaven. It has many names, of which is Limbo, Purgatory [...] and Void being the exception."

Jack examined the symbols for a short while, before turning to the next page.

"The Origin.", it titled. "Magic is absolute, this does not mean that it is infinite. Magic can not bring back the death, nor creating complex biological life from nothing. It is not formally sure about its origin, best to not question it. Some said that it is God's leftover, and we human gets to inherited it. And by repaying Him, we believed, we prayed, we used the magic [...] ".

Man, just how long is this chapter? Jack murmured in his head, this sure is long, but at least it is interesting. Jack turns to the last page, we he would expect to be a list of content, and sure he was right about that.

"Holy shit! Three thousand pages!?", Jack whispered in suprise, knowing that this is a library, which is very weird if a kid sworn and everyone heard it. Thought asides, Jack is looking for a category he might interested. Although mostly is about history of magic, some of them is entities's introduction and information about them. He takes a look at the category, the "Entities and Fantastic Beats" section is not much of a big deal, since this is a history book, it only mention about its origin, a first look, and historical encounter about them. Fair enough, Jack looks at the page's number and find it.

"Every living things are all called Entity. A flower is an Entity, a dargon is an Entity, a hu-"

Wait...DRAGONS!? Jack thought in awe, he thought dragons were only in fantasy movies and stories. Well, that's a way to ruin a kid's childhood. As as usual, dragons do exist! That's really impressed to say the least. Anyways, back to the book.

"...A human is an Entity, ghosts and spirits, also, are Entities."

Well that's explained everything, what about their origins? As Jack quickly turning the page hurriedly, ignores all the uninterested things, only to ended up in the "Ghosts and Sprits" category. He remembered that Quinn had told him some types of ghosts, with this book she lent him, Jack might be able to know more.

"A spirit, simply known as the SOUL inside in any of entities, each with different kind of spirits. When deceased, what remained will be a spirit of that entity, and that spirit will either go to Hell or Heaven."

Hmm... Interesting. Maybe Jack can go to Heaven, maybe, just maybe. But something tells me that G.Freddy won't be able to get a happy ending, just deja vu.

"A ghost is the indication of evil spirits. Those who had fallen onto His land and blinded by the sins. If a ghost can redeem itself, then its sins will be forgiven, and ghost, now as a spirit, will go to Heaven."

So this is the origins of the Nightmares then. Jack thought. If what Jack had thought was right, then they, the Nightmares, have been a human being before. But wait... didn't animals had spirits as well? So they can either go to Hell and Heaven as well! Jack might be wrong, but the fact that that golden bear could speak English already made him suspected. Jack started flipping the pages again.

"There were many kinds of ghost, none of them are neither bad of good. They only care about themselves. Teamwork is rare, friendship is rarer, and love being the impossible one."

So mine is rare? Well, that didn't make things any better. Yes, Jack's problematic is a rare occasion. Which has four of them! And yet the boy tried to survive for six years straight! Imagine the pain, the sadness, the horror inside his eyes when he first encountered them. Pitiful, yet, it's no one's fault, no one but him.

"The most common one being the Haunting. Haunting ghosts don't usually evil, they tend to have high expectations of life, optimistically. In the end, those who had had that trait didn't simply gave up on life. The powers to keep them as a spirit on the Overworld - DETERMINATION - a power all ghost and even HIMself thrived to have. Haunting ghost usually wondering around the place that most important and most memorial to them, but since ghosts were nothing but invisible to the Overworld, their DETERMINATION will be drained out, sooner or later."

Well, that explained the paranormal in haunted house. Jack thought again. Though, this is like seeing the behind the scenes of a magic trick, eventually, people got bored and not watching anymore, like the Haunting ghosts.

"The Vengeful being one of the most aggressive, the one filled with bloodlust, murder intentions, and most of all, vengances - one of the unforgivable sins on Heaven. With their 'unfisnished" work, the Vengeful used their own HATRED - one of the main iconic power of HIS favourite - as a replacement of DETERMINATION to be able to stay on the Overworld, until their vengances is full filled."

Ah, so this is what happened to the mysterious missings? I hope not. Still, I wonder, how can such a common thing like determination is so powerful, that even Satan himself so urged to get. No, that's not the determination we're talking about, aren't we? The other one is the one that needed to be questioned about.

"The Nightmares, is in fact, the most mysterious and complicated types of ghosts. They don't tend to have any killing intensions, nor vengance, nor DETERMINATION. But the Nightmares are known of their remarkable ability of transformation, while ghosts can only, and only take control of an inanimate, soulless object. They don't use DETERMINED nor HATRED, but fear. And somehow, those 'creatures' were the creation of the worst fearful thing any Entities can imagined. As fear being used as their main source of power, the Nightmares will drain nothing but fear untill it's victim couldn't take it anymore. Such, an unimaginable power, yet HE, cannot simply obtain this by scaring Enitites."

And somehow I ended up having literary four of them following me! Jack thought in awe and wrath, he might act like that, looked like that. But the boy still, couldn't even stand a chance confronting them. He decided to read more of it, but only to be cut short by a voice, actually, it's not a voice, but a sound of a chair being pulled.

Jack looks up, he spotted a boy wearing a white plain shirt with an orange diamond-patterned sleeveless sweater as well as a dark brown shorts.

"Uh... Jeremy?", Jack quietly asked.

The boy, who supposedly Jeremy, looked up to see who was speaking. In front of him, a boy with a black and two white striped T-shirt as well as a gigantic book lays on the table. He too, confused.

"Jack?", Jeremy whispered. "You're here too?"

"I should be the one asked that...", Jack remarked. "Why are you here though?"

"Well.", Jeremy said. "I came here with Houser, since it's boring at home and my friends were busy at the moment, ya know, it's still pretty early. People gotta sleep, right? It's summer after all."

"Mhm.", Jack agreed.. "Fair enough. Anyways yo-".

Jack's sentences was cut shorted by a "shh" from another table. Oops, looked like they've talked too much, best to go outside.

"Uh...I think we should head outside.", Jeremy recommended.

"Yeah...", Jack replied. Both of them stands up, push the chair back, while Jack is waiting for Jeremy to put back the book where he had taken it.

Later, they both head outside to the wooden bench nearby.

"That's your book?", Jeremy asked as he pointed his fingers towards the book Jack was holding on his laps.

Jack looked down to see the book. "I borrowed it from someone."

"Oh ok.", Jeremy replied. "So... How's weekend?"

Jack didn't know what to say, apart from exorcism, neverending nightmares, and a close-up encounter one of them last night. "Uh...fine?"

"Dude, that's not an answer.", Jeremy said, raised one of his eyebrows. "Well, in case of that, either am I."

"Cool then."

And everything went silent again, for a short while.

"Uh...There's something I gotta ask you.", Jeremy said.

"What's that?", Jack asked.

"Uh...", Jeremy thinks of a question. "What do you call when you know that you're dreaming?"

"Uh...", Jack said, while thinking. "I don't know?"

"Oh...Ok."

"What did you dreamt about?".

"Nevermind that."

"Um...Sure."

"Whoa.", Jeremy said, now took a clear look at Jack's book's cover. "History of magic?"

"Uh...Yeah?", Jack responded.

"Huh weird. Why would someone write a book about none existing thing.", Jeremy said.

"What do you mean?", Jack asked.

"Well I don't think the Christians mentioned this in their books. Thought it only about gods, angels and stuff.", he explained.

"If you can explain something magic, then it would ended up being scientific.", Jack quoted.

"Huh?", Jeremy, now really confused what his friend had just said. "What does that mean? You didn't answer my question too."

"I said this book might be a Sci-Fi one. Writers can write whatever they wanted. Right?", he explained.

"Right...", Jeremy said, as he gave a blank stared. "This book is really old, isn't it? Judging by its leathery cover."

"You think so?"

Jeremy just shrugged.

He's right, this book looked really old, and somehow the papers seemed to be in a very find conditions. Jack murmured in his head. "Maybe you're right. It looked old enough."

"Actually, it might be a valuable relic!", Jeremy exclaimed.

"Really?"

"Really. You should sell this to the archeologists, you could get tons of money from it."

"Really...", Jack has lost his interested in the topic, now expressing a blank, emotionless face.

"Duh.", Jeremy snorted.

"Whatever...", Jack said, as he opened to book, to where he was reading.

Jeremy takes a glance at it, reads it with his friend for a while.

"Whoa.", he seemed overwhelmed. "That is some serious stuff. Ghost and spirits? Sure that is magic.

"Well, would be terrifying if they were real...", Jack said, sounded tired.

"Yeah.", Jeremy said, as he chuckled. "The first thing I do is run for my life. Next is pissed myself."

Both of them laughed, before continue reading the book.

"If an entity is created out of nothing, would it still have a SOUL?"

Dreams are dreams, they're just random events that had occurred in our day life. Although, dreams can be sometimes a sign of future predictions, of some kind of a symbol.

I wonder, what does this had to do with the dream Jeremy had had? Or should I say, Houser and Jeremy had had.

As always, stay tuned!