Chapter 5
Good and Evil
Another tough week at school went by before Molly and Libby decided to hang out at Ollie's house. After all the weeks they got to know the Chens, this was the first time Molly and Libby got to visit the Chens' house. They obviously couldn't bring Scratch along, but he didn't really care that much, anyway.
Once they were ready, Molly and Libby made their way to the Chens' house. They knocked on the door before being greeted by Ruben and Ester.
"Molly! Libby! It's so good to see you two!" Ruben smiled.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Chen! Is Ollie home?" Molly asked.
"Of course! He should be in his room right now!" Ester explained before calling out for her son. "Ollie, your friends are here!"
"Coming, Mom!" Ollie called from his room.
At that moment, the Chens let Molly and Libby in the house. As Molly and Libby looked around, they felt that it looked like a normal house. It was kind of hard for them to believe that this is a place where ghost hunters with high tech gadgets live at.
"So, what do you think of the place?" Ruben asked.
"It looks nice, Mr. Chen!" Libby said, admiring the house. "I can see why you would want to move to this house!"
"Yes, Brighton is a nice place to live at, especially when you live next to wonderful neighbors like the McGees!" Ester commented.
It wasn't long before Ollie walked into the living room. He looked over towards Molly and Libby and gave a wave, happy to see his friends.
"Hey, Molly! Hey, Libby! I'm glad that you two can come over!"
"Hi, Ollie! It's good to see you!" Molly smiled.
Happy for her son, Ester said, "I'm so glad that Ollie has wonderful friends like you two! If you are still friends with him in the near future, perhaps you might consider in being ghost hunters with him."
That was when Molly and Libby remembered that Ollie's parents still don't like ghosts. This ghost hunting stuff has gone on long enough, so Molly tried to convince Ruben and Ester that ghosts aren't as bad as they think.
"Actually, Mrs. Chen I don't think Libby and I will ever hunt ghosts. In fact, I think it might be better if we just befriend ghosts! They might actually be really nice!" Molly explained.
Ruben simply laughed in response. "Befriending ghosts? Good one, Molly! Everyone knows that there's no such thing as a nice ghost!"
"I'm not joking! Ghosts really can be nice if you give them a chance!"
This time, it was Ester's turn to laugh. "Oh, Molly! You are starting to sound a lot like Ollie! He likes to be positive and look on the bright side of things too! Considering how much you two have in common, I can't help but imagine what it would have been like if you ended up being his girlfriend!" Ester joked.
Annoyed with his mom, Ollie covered his face in embarrassment. "Mom, can you please just stop! Molly has a girlfriend, and she's right over here!" Ollie gestured towards Libby.
Ruben soon broke the awkward silence as he said, "Okay! Let's not embarrass our son anymore, Ester! Don't forget that we still need to get some more materials for our new ghost hunting equipment! Ollie, are you fine with looking after the house for awhile as your mom and I shop for supplies?"
After getting over his embarrassment, Ollie nodded. "Yeah, Dad! We'll be fine!"
"Alright! We'll be back in about an hour!" Ruben waved goodbye before leaving with his wife.
Once the parents left, Molly and her friends were the only ones left in the house since June was currently hanging out with Darryl. As they were alone in the house, Molly, Libby, and Ollie sighed, feeling disappointed that they couldn't convince Ruben and Ester that ghosts were really nice.
"So, I guess that you didn't have any luck talking to your parents about ghosts." Libby guessed.
Ollie shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. After being ghost hunters for so long, it is going to be tough trying to convince my parents that ghosts aren't the enemy!"
"Don't worry! We'll figure something out!" Molly assured with a smile. "Besides, at least you and your family hadn't succeeded in capturing any ghosts, right?"
Instead of responding, Ollie rubbed the back of his neck as he appeared to be nervous about something. Molly and Libby could tell that Ollie was hiding something from them. Fearing the worst, they had an idea of what he was thinking.
"Ollie, you didn't!" Libby gasped.
Knowing that he couldn't keep it a secret, Ollie decided to confess. "Okay! I admit it! Right before we moved to Brighton, my family and I captured our first ghosts, but I swear, we had no choice! The ghosts were the ones who attacked us!"
"So, you captured them in self defense?" Molly tried to understand the situation.
"Exactly! It just made it hard for me to believe that ghosts can be good."
"Well, maybe we can talk to them and try to figure out why they attacked you in the first place." Molly suggested. "Can you show us where you are keeping them?"
I don't know." Ollie replied with a look of hesitation. "I really don't think they are ghosts you have interacted with before."
"Ollie, please! I should at least try to help them!" Molly begged.
With no other choice, Ollie finally gave in. "Alright. Follow me!"
At that moment, Ollie led Molly and Libby down to a part of the house that contained a secret lab. As they walked deeper into the lab, Molly and Libby were surprised to find all kinds of traps and blasters. They could only imagine how terrified the ghosts must feel from being trapped in here for so long.
A containment unit at the end of the room caught Molly and Libby's attention. Swirls of ghostly energy can be seen flowing from the inside. Curious, Molly and Libby stepped closer to the containment unit before a ghost with a skeleton-like appearance flew in front of them and screamed at them. This caused Molly and Libby to scream in unison as they fell back in shock.
"Wh-What are those things?" Libby asked, still recovering from what they saw.
"I'm not sure. When I first saw these things, I kind of assumed that's what all ghosts looked like." Ollie admitted.
After recovering from her shock, Molly took a closer look at the ghosts. Unlike the other ghosts Molly saw, these skeleton-like ghosts had sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. If that wasn't scary enough, they were all surrounded by a green flaming aura. Molly stared at the ghosts for a few moments in silence before she remembered what the Ghost Council told her on the day she officially became the Chairwoman.
"They must be the Frightmares." Molly whispered to herself.
"What was that, Molly?" Libby asked, not quite hearing what Molly said.
Molly then turned to Libby and replied. "Do you remember the day I entered the Ghost World to save you and I ended up destroying the Flow of Failed Phantoms? Well, the Ghost Council told me that it ended up freeing these dangerous ghosts called, Frightmares."
"Wait, are you telling me that these creatures are Frightmares, and you're the one who set them free?" Ollie asked in shock.
"Uh, maybe?" Molly said with a nervous smile.
After taking another glance at the Frightmares, Ollie approached the containment unit, silently wondering to himself.
"You don't think that is possible to reform the Frightmares, do you?"
Libby could tell that Ollie really wanted to give the ghosts a second chance. She understood where he was coming from, but the Frightmares were too dangerous to be released.
"Look, Ollie. I know that you like to be optimistic just like Molly, but you need to understand that not all ghosts are good. There are good and bad ghosts, just like how there are good and bad humans." Libby explained.
"I know." Ollie sighed. "Looks like there's nothing we can do for them. Let's just go back upstairs."
With a nod, Molly was about to leave the lab with her friends. They only took a few steps before the electricity suddenly went out. This left everyone in complete darkness, apart from the glow of the Frightmares.
"What happened?" Molly asked in shock.
"Looks like the power went out. Luckily, the Frightmares' containment unit is running on backup power!" Ollie explained before he noticed a signal on his ghost tracker. "That's strange! My tracker is picking up a ghost signal."
"Uh, yeah. The ghosts are over there." Libby pointed over towards the Frightmares as if it was obvious.
"No. It's a new signal coming from nearby." Ollie corrected. "I think a new ghost just entered the house."
Hearing this caused Molly and Libby to share a couple of concerned glances with each other as they silently wondered what kind of ghost would want to enter a house of ghost hunters. It was at that moment when Molly and her friends noticed a quick glimpse of a ghost before it flew upstairs.
Giving chase, Ollie followed the signal to where the ghost is hiding. As they walked through the hallways of the house, Ollie's tracker got louder and louder, indicating that they were getting closer to the ghost.
"According to my tracker, the ghost should be nearby." Ollie said, still keeping his eyes on the tracker.
She didn't know why, but Libby started to tremble. Even though she encountered all kinds of ghosts before, there was something that gave her a bad feeling about this mysterious ghost she was following. With a trembling hand, Libby held on to her girlfriend's hand.
"Molly, I'm scared!" Libby trembled.
With a reassuring smile, Molly replied, "Don't worry, Libby! I promise that I won't let anyone hurt you!"
Feeling reassured, Libby gave her girlfriend a grateful smile before following everyone upstairs. It was at that moment when everyone took notice of a ghostly glow in the darkness. As Molly and Libby stepped closer, they gasped in shock to see that the ghost was Jinx.
With a sinister grin, Jinx floated towards the group of friends with her scythe in her hands. Seeing Jinx again filled Libby with dread as she started to have flashbacks of the day Jinx killed her.
"Hello, Molly! How nice it is to see the one who murdered the Chairman!" Jinx retorted.
After seeing how scared Libby was, Molly stepped forward to protect her from Jinx. "What do you want, Jinx?"
"I think what I want is obvious! I want to free the Frightmares that you are keeping captive down here!" Jinx answered.
Surprised by what she heard, Libby asked, "Wait, the power going out was because of you?"
"Yes. I have overheard Molly's conversation with the Ghost Council. The Chairman is able to control these Frightmares, and that gave me an idea! If I gain control over these Frightmares, I can take over not only the Ghost World, but the Human World as well!" Jinx explained.
"You want to take over both worlds?" Molly's eyes widened in shock. "But you're not even the Chairwoman!"
"I will be once you give me the cloak! You'd better tell me where it is, or else!" Jinx threatened, getting ready to swing her scythe.
"Wait!"
Both Molly and Libby were surprised to hear Ollie suddenly speak up. He slowly approached Jinx, much to Molly and Libby's dismay.
"Ollie, what are you doing?" Libby whispered in fear.
Ollie simply ignored Libby before he tried to reason with Jinx.
"Look, I don't know what happened between you and Molly, but there has to be another way! I know that you can be good if you tried and every ghost deserves a second chance. If you give me a chance, I can be your friend, if you like!" Ollie offered his hand in friendship.
Surprised by this unexpected turn of events, Jinx's expression softened before lowering her scythe. "Wow. No one has ever talked to me that way before. I think you might be right." Jinx replied as Ollie smiled. Suddenly, Jinx's expression turned to a sinister grin as she said, "I can't believe you just fell for it! As if I would ever be friends with a human!"
Taking Ollie by surprise, Jinx raised her scythe in an attempt to kill him. This caused Molly and Libby to gasp. Thinking fast, they tackled Ollie to the ground, avoiding death by an inch.
Disappointed that she wasn't able to kill Ollie, Jinx was about to swing her scythe again when she took notice of Ollie's parents parking the car outside. Once she realized that more of the ghost hunters arrived, she put her scythe away.
"Very well! I'll let you three live for now, but don't think that this is over! You can't keep the Frightmares locked up forever! Someday, I will find that cloak and gain control over the Frightmares!"
With that, Jinx opened a portal and retreated into the Ghost World. Once Jinx was gone, Molly and Libby checked on Ollie, who was visibly trembling from what happened.
"Ollie, are you okay?" Molly asked, concerned.
"Jinx didn't hurt you, did she?" Libby asked.
It took a moment before Ollie was finally able to speak. "I-I thought I could reason with her! I thought I could convince her to be good!" Ollie then slammed his fist on the floor in frustration before covering his face with his hands. "I'm such an idiot!"
"No, you're not!" Molly tried to comfort Ollie. "It's not stupid to want to see the good in others! It's just that Jinx doesn't want to change."
"Ugh. I'm so terrible at this! I really thought I could redeem myself this time!" Ollie sighed.
Libby raised a confused eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"My whole life, I was taught that ghosts were evil, but it was because of that ideology that I nearly hurt Scratch without thinking!" Ollie stared at his two friends with sadness in his eyes. "Do you want to know why I was so desperate to capture Scratch? It's because I was scared! You two are the first friends I ever had, and I didn't want to see you two getting hurt by ghosts! In the end, I nearly ended up hurting someone Molly cares about!"
"But, Ollie! That was a long time ago, and I'm sure Scratch doesn't think about it anymore!" Molly explained.
"Molly, why are you being so forgiving of me?!" Ollie yelled with tears of rage in his eyes. "I don't deserve your kindness! You should hate me! It was because of my hasty actions that I nearly took Scratch away from you!"
At that moment, Ollie buried his face in his arms, crying softly. Molly soon placed a hand on Ollie's shoulder to comfort him.
"Ollie, you're our friend! We could never hate you! I'm sure that Scratch isn't holding a grudge against you. If you are really feeling that bad for what you did, maybe you should apologize to him the next time you see him." Molly suggested.
Soon, Ollie calmed down as he looked up at Molly and nodded. "You're right! Once I see Scratch again, I'm going to make things right with him!"
"We know you can do it, Ollie! Until then, Molly and I will be there to help you!" Libby assured.
With a grateful smile, Ollie stood up and embraced his two friends in a group hug.
"You two are the best!"
The group of friends were soon surprised when the lights turned back on. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness of the house.
"Ollie, we just turned the power back on! Are you okay?" Ruben called out for his son.
"Yeah, Dad! We're fine! We're coming down now!" Ollie replied.
Once they were ready, Molly, Libby, and Ollie walked down the stairs to meet up with Ollie's parents. After the intense day they had, they desperately needed to get some rest.
Now that they knew what Jinx was planning, Molly and her friends knew that they had to be more careful than ever. If Jinx ever gained control over the Frightmares, it could mean complete chaos for Brighton and the Ghost World.