Fillmore walked down the hallway, trying to focus and keep his mind sharp. Usually, this wouldn't be a problem, but right now, all he could think about was the whole ghost thing. Vallejo being possessed by a ghost? No way, not possible. Yet his friends seemed so into the idea, acting as if there was the slightest possibility that was what happened. But ghosts didn't exist, right?

Yet, for some reason, he felt like he was being watched. As if there was something creeping up behind him, watching from afar. But there was nobody, right? Yet the feeling kept growing, stronger and stronger until he couldn't take it anymore and turned around.

Nothing, no ghost Vallejo, no students hanging around. Just an empty and barren hall. Thankfully nobody was around to see how freaked and wacked out Fillmore was about this whole situation.

And then he turned back around.

And lost it.

Standing right in front of him, when there was nobody there moments before, was nobody but Vallejo, though he didn't exactly look the same. His body was translucent, his eyes were now completely white and he looked exactly like a-

"Ghost!" Fillmore screeched out, in a rather unmanly fashion, falling onto the ground and trying to slide away.

"Where?" His ghostly friend asked, before realizing what he meant. "Oh, right. Wait, you can actually see me?"

Fillmore nodded, too shocked to speak. Was this actually real? Was O'Farrell actually right for once? He waited for Ghost Vallejo to say 'I'm not real, you're just seeing things!' and then disappear, but it didn't look like that would be the case.

Instead, the ghostly figure in front of him let out a sigh of relief. "Phew, you can't even begin to imagine the number of people that couldn't see me! I mean, I guess that's what happens when you suddenly become a ghost, but that's beyond the point, which is, you gotta help me!"

"H-Help you?" Fillmore stuttered, standing up and trying to regain his bearings. "W-With what?"

I've been trying to figure out how I died." Vallejo muttered, walking further down the hall. Did Vallejo think he was dead? That'd make sense, considering if you suddenly were a ghost, you'd probably assume you died someway or somehow. Fillmore brushed himself off, running up to the Junior Commissioner.

"You're not actually dead, Vallejo."

"Huh? Then how am I-"

"I'm not really sure, in fact, I'm still a little unconvinced you're actually real and not just a hallucination."

"Typical."

"But some crazy stuff has been going on. There's another you at HQ who's been trying to get us to solve some dumb cold-case about a kid who went missing a bunch of years ago."

"What?!" Vallejo looked rather miffed at the prospect of there being another him running around.

"I know, it's crazy. You were acting weird and we were trying to figure out why. O'Farrell came up with the idea that you were possessed by the ghost of the missing kid and everyone agreed with him for some reason. I didn't think it was possible, but, I could be wrong."

"Just great, the moment I get a break, I'm suddenly taken from my body in some weird… body-snatching heist." Vallejo let out a sigh, sitting down and slumping against the lockers.

"It's okay, Vallejo, we'll-" Fillmore began to sit down beside his friend before he realized something. "Snap, that's it! All we have to do is solve the case and he'll leave you alone!"

Vallejo simply shook his head, he was very close to giving up, it seemed. "You don't just simply solve these kinds of cases, at least not in under a day. I'll probably be stuck as some weird safety patrol ghost forever!"

"We at least have to try. That's what being a safety patrol member is all abo- Are you crying?" The ghost's tears, as small as they were, were still very noticeable, at least compared to his now pupil-less eyes.

As soon as Fillmore said that, Vallejo turned his head away, wiping his eyes as best as he could. Even as a shell of who he used to be, he always had to look stoic and seem emotionless. "N-No…"

"Come here, man." Fillmore reached over, attempting to hug his poor ghost friend, but being that they were, well, a ghost, he slipped through and he ended up hugging the floor instead. Sitting back up, he brushed himself off and leaned against the lockers, trying to pretend that didn't just happen. "I meant to do that."

"Sure you did, kid, sure you did." Vallejo scoffed, looking at the ground, before turning his head away as if he was about to cry again. "Just give up, I have."

"I'll never give up! That's not what safety patrollers do! I'm not going to have you suffer-" Fillmore was stopped from his rant when he heard his friend sniffling. "Oh man, you really are crying, aren't you?"

Vallejo turned back around, tears now streaming down his face. "Y-You're… Y-You're the one who's… w-who's gonna be crying, F-Fillmore!"

"Dude, it's okay to cry. Not only are we hopefully the only ones here, but I'm also the only one that can see you, remember?"

The ghost nodded, sniffling some more as they wiped their eyes. "I… I guess. It's just… this isn't fair, I can't even leave this stinking place!"

"You can't?"

"You don't think I tried that? If you woke up as a ghost and you were in school, don't you think that you'd try to, oh, I don't know, leave and go anywhere that isn't school?" Vallejo let out a rather strained sigh, before continuing. "I tried to, but there's like some sort of forcefield keeping me stuck in here!"

"That bites," Fillmore commented, fully understanding how awful it'd be to be stuck in school, forever. Sure, the school was more tolerable now that he was part of the safety patrol, but to not be able to leave? He could get where his friend was going at, that just wasn't fair! Yet, it also made him think about something else. "You know, this gives me a whole new perspective on this ghost of ours."

"The guy who stole my body and committed literal identity theft? Gee, what about him?"

"Think about it, Vallejo. You've only been a ghost for a couple of hours, right? You think this is absolutely awful, and it is, but imagine being stuck like this for nearly a decade. Not able to leave school, nobody can see you, and you can't have your sweet, sweet, delicious hot cocoa anymore. That'd be even worse, wouldn't it?"

While Vallejo might not have been paying attention before, as soon as Fillmore mentioned cocoa, he fully turned this attention to the matter at hand. "No cocoa?! For a decade?! Okay, I take back what I said, this kid might have it worse than me."

"Might?"

"Okay, okay, he does have it worse than me, happy? I've only been off the stuff for a few hours, but I'm already getting withdrawals, if ghost withdrawals are even a thing. That raises another question. How is it that you're able to see me when nobody else can? It's obvious by now that ghost boy couldn't be seen by anyone and he's been around here for presumably ten years!"

"That is a good question." Fillmore struggled to think of an explanation for such an unusual occurrence. "Maybe it's because you're not really, for a lack of better words, deceased? Your body is still up and running, it's just being inhabited by someone else right now. But if that was the case, wouldn't other people be able to see you as well?"

"If this was a story or something, I'd say your ghost spotting skills are only possible in order to get the plot moving." Vallejo grumbled.

"But it's not, this is real life and we gotta do something. We can't just sit around twiddling our thumbs, waiting for the situation to be fixed!" Fillmore stood up, giving Vallejo his hand. "You ready?"

"You know I can't actually take your hand, right?" As he watched the boy make an 'Oh right' face, Vallejo got up. "Doesn't matter. I'm ready when you are."

Meanwhile, at the headquarters, O'Farrell was being O'Farrell. "So what are you guys going for Halloween? I'm still debating between going as a zombie or a werewolf!"

Tehama looked up at Anza, pleadingly. "How much longer until we can all go home?! I can't take this anymore!"

Her partner looked up at the clock on the wall. "About… three more hours. Hey, maybe after this, we could hit one of those haunted house tours or something?"

"I've had enough shenanigans involving anything haunted for an entire year," Tehama groaned, putting her head on the desk. "Where's Fillmore? I figured he'd be back by now."

"Maybe, heh, he got possessed by the ghost as-" Anza was interrupted from his light taunting by the door opening and Fillmore walking in. "Oh, nevermind, he's right there."

"We're back." Was all that their friend said.

" We're? Fillmore, you're by yourself," Ingrid stated, looking around for anything behind Fillmore, though she didn't see anyone. "Unless you've seen the light and brought some… unexpected company back with you as well."

"I… uh…" They couldn't see Vallejo, that's right! Fillmore looked back at his ghostly friend, who looked rather nervous at the confrontation, despite not even being noticed. "Well-"

"Anza's right, he's possessed by the ghost as well!" O'Farrell screeched, grabbing a broom that was leaning against the wall and holding it up in the air. "Get him!"

" No, O'Farrell," Fillmore held his hand out, defensively. He most certainly didn't want to get assaulted with a broom today, or any day, or that matter. "Put the broom down, let me finish talking."

While the boy was apprehensive for a few moments, he eventually lowered the broom, though he still didn't break eye contact. "Very well, what do you have to say for yourself, ghost? We're waiting."

"I wasn't possessed by a ghost," The Safety Patroller started, looking back at Vallejo for encouragement, though his friend didn't have any idea what to do, simply shrugging. "But your theory on a ghost possessing Vallejo? That might not actually be too far from the truth."

"It's not?" The photographer mumbled, taken aback by the fact that Fillmore was suddenly agreeing with him. However, he took a defensive stance, glaring at his fellow patroller. "Why do you say that now, Fillmore? You were the one to call me crazy! What happened on that walk to make you change your mind?"

It was silent as the other patrollers, minus fake 'Vallejo', who was somewhere else, stared at the two, conflict and tension brewing in the room. Fillmore took a deep breath, deciding on how exactly he should go about with the truth. "You want the truth? Fine. The real Vallejo is right here and he somehow got turned into a ghost when he was possessed, so we need to convince Bartholomew to unpossess him."

The silence erupted into laughter as everyone started laughing at him. Even Tehama, who was usually rather serious about matters like this, was chuckling ever so slightly. "Thanks for that, Fillmore, I really needed a laugh today and not one from O'Farrell, thank you very much."

Vallejo squirmed closer to Fillmore, rather uncomfortable by the laughter and the fact that they didn't even believe them. "Okay, so let me get this straight. When O'Farrell of all people comes in here with a weird theory, you all agree with him, but when I do it suddenly I'm the laughing stock of the entire patrol?"

"O'Farrell did have some evidence for this theory," Anza began, smirking. "While it wasn't great evidence, it was evidence, nonetheless. For all we know, you might just be saying this so you don't feel alienated from the crew."

"I don't!"

"Then prove that Vallejo is with us at this very moment."

It should be so easy to prove to Anza, along with everybody else, that their Junior Commissioner was right by them. Wait what if they…

Fillmore looked at Vallejo, feeling determined. "You wanna prove to these people that you exist?"

"I guess."

"Who are you talking to?" Ingrid asked, quizzically.

"Here's your proof. Vallejo will knock over this very chair, right here." Fillmore stepped aside, pointing to a desk chair sitting idly by them.

"What?! Fillmore, I'm a ghost, I'll just go right through it! Besides, what if I damage the chair?!" Vallejo looked rather panicked, either by the prospect of this plan failing or damaging the chair and the Safety Patrol being forced to pay for it when all this was said and done.

"I don't know, summon all your ghost strength or something!"

O'Farrell looked at Fillmore talking to what appeared to be thin air. "I told you guys, Vallejo and Fillmore are both possessed."

"We're not po- okay, I'm not possessed. Anyway, do it, Vallejo."

For a second, nothing happened. Before everyone could start laughing again, the chair suddenly toppled over, landing on the ground. Fillmore could only hope that they believed him now.

"Hmm, interesting," Ingrid mused, walking over and inspecting the fallen chair. "There's no wind, no loose parts, so it appears that this chair was indeed toppled over by supernatural forces. "

"There, see! I did it! Does everyone believe him now?!" Vallejo grunted, slightly proud of himself for being able to pull such a feat, especially being in this limiting spectral form.

"So Vallejo really is a ghost, cool! How come only you can see him, Fillmore?"

"Honestly, O'Farrell, that has to be the smartest question you've asked so far, and truth be told, I'm not really sure why I can. But you all believe me now, right?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Listen, I don't know what this fake body-taking Vallejo wants, but we're going to find out, alright?"

"I think I can speak for everyone when I say it's nice to have the real Vallejo back," Tehama stated, stretching. "Even if we can't see him."

Vallejo was rather touched by the comment. "Uh… nice to see you too."

"Now, first things first, we need to find this fake Vallejo and get him to spill the beans."

Thankfully, before Fillmore could say anything else, the fake Vallejo stepped in, rather nervously. Vallejo saw the fake and growled, not happy to see his body-snatcher in person. As if the fake Vallejo could see the real one, he instantly became more nervous and started backing up towards the door, but Fillmore was quick enough to beat him there.

"Not so fast, Vallejo, or should I say, Bartholomew."