A Fiery Friendship [1x1]

Janine felt her anger rising when she touched the beads. She didn't take much notice of it at first, but when she did, she figured it was because of the sudden pain that bit her hand. "Calm it? What are you talking about? You need to tell me who you are and what you're doing here right now!" Janine said as she slowly stood on her feet. Her body began to feel hot again, probably because she was getting berated with things she didn't know.

She was slowly but surely feeling something from the boy; he was acting very strangely. He started gasping and coughing once more, making him nervous and worried about something. She backed away when she saw him grab the beads, narrowing her eyes warily and slightly baring her teeth with a huff. "Keep that thing away from me!" Janine demanded.

Janine wanted to get out of the room for fear of revealing her other half, but she didn't know how to get out of her situation. Suddenly, the boy reached out and grabbed at her wrist, shocking her into being still while he stuffed the beads into her hand again. She gasped at the action and tried to jerk her hand back, but she ended up grabbing the beads as she closed her hand. She hissed at the quickly increasing pain and struggled to get it away from her. The contact was a bit longer the second time around, so the pain was increased by a small but notable margin, increasing her anger several times more. Janine half shouted, half hissed at the pain in her hand, and threw it to the classroom door, making sure it was out of both teenager's reach. She panted and looked at her hand, a few forced tears dripping down her cheek as she tried to lick the pain away.

After her couple of licks, Janine looked up to the boy and growled - her composure was wearing thin again. What was this kid's deal? He was talking about things that didn't make sense, but he was clearly claiming that this 'thing' was inside her. If he wanted to help her, he'd leave her alone. Now Janine didn't know which was more infuriating: his refusal to leave, or the fact that he was willingly and actively trying to hurt her.

The girl tried to keep her eyes from narrowing up as she approached the boy slowly, but she was loosing herself again. Perhaps now was the time to leave, but her demonic instincts were telling her to strike, as she was now being threatened. "Now that.... Really... Hurt," Janine stated with a low voice. She flexed her hand as she felt the pain ebb away, but more slowly this time around, and bared her teeth at the boy.

"You know, something tells me you aren't a normal kid. You talk about stuff that make no sense, and you expect me to trust you out of nowhere. My mom told me about a certain kind of person that would do anything to hurt someone like me.... I can't recall the word she used, but it smells to me that you might be one of them," Janine stated as she pointed at the beads hidden in the darkness. Then, out of nowhere, Janine snarled and rushed the boy, ramming him to the wall nearest them and pinned him with her hands. She drew in close to his face - her eyes slightly glowing - and glared at his eyes for a few seconds. Then she spoke up, "Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" Janine asked with a hiss.
 
Ethan winced at Janine's growing anger, feeling it in the air and in his head. He held his shirt collar up over his nose and mouth, making sure they stayed secure. "Stop letting it control you!" He barked, watching the rosary beads fly across the room and disappear into the mist. It had been a long time since they'd been blessed, so it was no wonder that they weren't that strong. Janine was lucky, in that sense; newly blessed beads might have just burned to the bone.

His head grew dizzy. Something was changing. His gaze turned to Janine's general direction, and spotted two light brown orbs staring back at him.

His heart froze over and goosebumps spread over his skin like an infectious disease. His mind wandered back to when he was younger, to one of his grandfather's lessons. "A possessed person's eyes do not glow," he had said, while pointing to a picture labelled 'demon in human form' in an old photo album, "but a demon disguising themselves as a human, their eyes will glow. Usually when they're angry or hungry."
When he came fully back to the present, he was only really there for enough time to watch Janine fly towards him and next thing he knew, he was pinned to the wall. She was close enough for him to see now, but he was practically choking on the miasma and his head was exploding. "You're...you're a demon..." he groaned, his voice a tiny whisper. He almost sounded like he was dying.

From outside of the classroom, Dodie could hear nearly everything. When she heard Ethan choke out his accusation, her eyes widened. That couldn't be right, could it? Demons didn't exist.
She was one to say that; she was a ghost.
In any case, she was way too curious about what was going on to keep on sitting outside. She would just wait for a few more seconds, and then go through. Just to see if Ethan had any proof.
 
Janine narrowed her eyes at the boy in her hands, a hiss slowly coming out of her mouth as she bared her teeth. All of them her a bit sharper than a normal human's, but there were four front teeth - two on top and two on the bottom - that were more notably sharper. They were separated from each other by about four teeth, and they were slightly curved back, reminiscent of a snakes fangs.

"So... You figured it out.... Not that I made it harder for you to notice," Janine said to the boy, her voice suddenly accented with a sharp hissing tone. "You were not supposed to find that out. I had tried for too long! Keeping myself at bay when things got crazy, hiding from the people I cared for most so they wouldn't know this part of me... And here you come along, managing to drag it out of me in one day," Janine snarled. She slammed the boy in the back once before continuing.

"I... Never had the pleasure of biting someone... My fangs ache for flesh to be bitten..... Perhaps you'll be my little..... Chew toy," Janine said with a hissing chuckle. After saying that, Janine opened her mouth wider to show her fangs -dripping with a clear mixture of saliva and some sickly-sweet smelling liquid - poised and ready to sink into his shoulder.
 
"I would have...found out...no matter what," Ethan whispered. "You can't...hide stuff from...folk like us." His eyes widened at the sight of the fangs. He tried to lift a leg to maybe try and kick her legs out from under her, but his limbs were like lead and they wouldn't move no matter how much he willed them to. He watched as ghosts from different parts of the school slipped through walls and ceilings and even the floor. This had happened before, when he got hit by a car a couple years back. He thought people were coming to his rescue, but it was just the ghosts - 'called by his soul', his grandfather had said. He was only found by someone alive an hour or so later, half way to death.

Dodie heard everything from the corridor. She gasped, and without one more thought, she sprinted through the wall and into the classroom.

She didn't notice anything different at first; the air seemed thicker, and she had a little bit of a headache, but there wasn't much else. She could see clearly, so she could see Janine pinning Ethan up against the wall, slit pupils, fangs and all. "J-Janine!" She spluttered, standing in the middle of the room. "L-let go of him!"

Ethan looked up from his half-closed eyelids. He struggled to make out Dodie's shape from the other ghosts in the room, but once he did, he tried harder to get out of Janine's grip. "D-Dorothy! G-g-get...get out of here!"
 
Janine had her fangs just above his shoulder when she sensed something in the room. She lifted her head away and saw multiple ghosts all over the room. She gasped as a wave of panic tore it's way to her head, and within seconds, a rattlesnake tail snakes it's way behind her, shaking it's signature rattle rapidly, trying to warn the entities of the 'danger'. She snarled at the ghosts, now torn between lunging at them or the boy who was quickly being deemed as her enemy.

But before she could choose at all, her ears pricked at the voice of someone she knew. With a growl, Janine turned her head to the voice's direction and saw Dodie - to her horror, she was able to see Janine's other side... Well, near other side.
Nonetheless, it surged a bit of anger in her, for she never wanted Dodie to know she was a half-demon, let alone see her while she was hissing and snarling. And her tail was out! Her greatest secret was now seen by her best friend.

'No! This can't be happening! I've tried my hardest, and now she sees me! Curse this damn boy!' Janine snarled in her head as she glared at her friend.

"You want me to drop him? Fine," Janine said as she dropped the boy and snarled at Dodie, slowly approaching her with narrowed eyes. "I never told you look for me! I ran away for a reason! It's because I didn't want you to see me like this!" Janine thrashed her tail around as she shouted, occasionally slamming on the desks nearby. When she was within a certain distance, Janine opened her mouth and gave a sound that was mixture of a snarl and a hiss, and raised a hand as if to push or attack her.

But before she brought her hand down, Janine stopped and realized what she was going to do, and quickly pulled it close to her body. She panted as she saw what her anger was doing to her, and forced her demonic-increased emotions down. Her tail went back to where it came from, and her eyes rounded out as regret and fear stepped in.

"I.... I was about to..." Janine couldn't even finish her sentence before she backed away with a whimper. "Dodie, I'm so sorry..." Janine backed away a few feet, then looked back to the boy behind her. "I never meant for it to get this far.... I... I..." Janine faltered in her sentence, genuinely unable to know what to say. She looked to Dodie with regret deep in her eyes before she dashed to her backpack and jacket, not even bothering to throw it on before she dashed out the room, tears already streaming down her face.

"Forgive me!" Were the last things Janine said before she ran out the door. She didn't stop there, as she continued on running down the halls, down the stairs, out the school, into the streets and straight to her home. She cried the entire way there, non-stop even when she was past the point of exhausted. She never wanted to go back to school again.
 
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The ghosts in the room seemed to have mixed emotions; some were obviously furious at the half-demon, and if they could have done anything, they would have, while the others seemed terrified, not for themselves, but for Ethan. A few seemed surprised that Janine could see them, but that quickly fell away when the tail came out; she really was a demon. When the panic grew greater than the anger, the miasma cleared somewhat and Ethan could breathe a little easier. He still couldn't do anything to fight Janine off, but at least he wasn't going to pass out any more.

Just as soon as it cleared, though, the miasma came back, even stronger. Ethan choked and fell limply to the ground when he was dropped, eyes closing right away. The ghosts immediately rushed in, their combined mass serving to quell the demonic smog to let just a little bit of fresh air get into Ethan's lungs. It wasn't enough to wake him up again, but he wasn't going to die any time soon. The smog did seem to be damaging them also somehow, as they covered their noses and mouths and groaned.

Dodie stared at Janine as she approached with eyes as big as saucepans. Before, she hadn't been able to see the ghosts around Ethan, but with every second that passed she started to see figures in the room. The angrier and closer Janine got, the thicker the air grew until it was like she was underwater. The pain behind her eyes grew greater, like someone was squeezing her brain. She didn't think it was possible to be in pain after you'd died, but here she was, barely keeping down a scream. As soon as even the ghost of a threat appeared, the pain ramped up even farther than it had done. She shouted out in agony, falling to the ground in a heap. She watched Janine run, feeling hollow and dead. The pain disappeared suddenly, and Dodie was left staring at the floor, not feeling any desire to run after her best friend. Was she her best friend? That just felt like what she was meant to think...

The mist disappeared from the room with Janine's departure, and everything seemed to return to normal. The ghosts around Ethan let out a collective sigh of relief, seemingly ignoring Dodie.
"She's gone," one of the ghosts said, all of them taking a step back. There were easily over fifty of the spirits.
"Oh, thank god," a female ghost gasped for air. "I didn't breathe the whole time! That was crazy!"
"Shut up, Lisa. We don't have to breathe. Ethan's the one that does," another ghost snapped, kneeling by Ethan's side.
"Is he alright?" Someone else asked.
"I think so," the one kneeling said, standing back up again. "We should watch him, though."

"N...n-no need," Ethan groaned. "Someone give me a hand?" Multiple hands went out, and Ethan took the one closest to him. "She left?" He asked, dusting his jeans off.
"She ran off after trying to attack-" whoever was talking trailed off, as the eyes in the room all drifted to Dodie, who was awake, but may as well have been dead for all she was moving.
There was silence for a moment, the ghosts waiting for Ethan to make a move. Someone spoke, "she's..."
"Faded," Ethan finished, mouth dry.

The room was silent. Ethan sighed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hand. "No...no!" He looked around at the other ghosts. "Why didn't you protect her?!"
The ghosts just looked back at him, some shameful, but the others blank. "It was either her or you," one of them explained. "You would have died, Ethan. She...she was gonna fade sooner or later."

Ethan ran a hand through his hair. "No, I could have saved her!"
"Her best friend was a demon!" Someone pointed out. "She was as good as gone already!"
Ethan stuttered through a few half-formed sentences, unable to fight against the truth. Eventually, he sighed and shook his head. "Let's...let's get her sorted," he sighed, walking up to Dodie. He crouched down slowly. "Hey."
Dodie slowly lifted her head, meeting Ethan's grey eyes with her own blue ones. "Who are you?" She asked.
"My name's Ethan Underwood. Your name's Dorothy Thompson. You died a week ago." He explained.
Dodie nodded slowly. "Is that why I don't remember anything?" She asked.
Ethan nodded back. "Yes. I'm alive, but the people behind me are all ghosts, like you. We're all here to help you."
Again, Dodie nodded, slowly standing to her feet. Ethan stood up with her. "What...what now?" Dodie stuttered.
Ethan hesitated. "I'll let you ask questions, and I'll answer them. We were in a lot of classes together, so I know a little about you from when you were alive."
"Okay," Dodie said. "But..." she looked at the ghosts that still stood in a crowd in the room, "do they have to be here?"

Ethan looked behind him at the other ghosts. He considered for a second. "No, they don't," he said, making very serious eye contact with them all. A few seconds later, they all muttered some goodbyes and disappeared into the walls and floors. Ethan sighed. "Here, let's take a seat, and we can start. School ends in a few hours, and I can stay a little later, so we have plenty of time."
"Alright." Dodie nodded, perching on one of the desks. She was quiet for a couple of seconds, but when they started, they didn't stop for ages. When Dodie asked about her friends, Ethan only spoke about the photography class and the yearbook club. Janine wasn't mentioned.
 
Three days later...​

After the rather emotional incident Janine had not gone to the school. Some students noticed the absence, others didn't, but those that did all figured it was because of Dodie's absence. Even some of the teachers felt pity for the teenage girl; luckily for Janine - and everyone else at the school - for two weeks, the school was going to give all of the students a small break; no homework assignments to take home, but the students will have classroom work to get through. It was a very good trade-off, and for some, it was a godsend for this break.

Nonetheless, on that Thursday, Janine had stayed within the safety of her home, where her mother - Roshana - had kept a close eye on her - hearing your daughter burst through the door in tears while heavily breathing would concern any mother. After hearing a good part of what had happened that day, Roshana had decided to keep her at home and keep a closer eye on Janine, fearing that Dodie's death had gotten the better of her emotions.

Besides, she still needed some time to register what was happening to her daughter. Sean's confrontation set Janine off, but the school incident had finished her off. From what Janine had told her, she had lost her control in an empty classroom after nearly hurting Dodie's older brother outside school. She believed what Janine had said, but she had a sense that there were things that Janine wasn't saying, or things that weren't being said exactly as it happened. Because, knowing Janine, the mother figured that losing control in an empty classroom would've made Janine nervous, but in the end still be insistent on going to school. In this case, Janine sounded regretful and even a bit fearful about going back, like something else was the reason for her strong reaction. As much as Roshana wanted to help, she was going to give Janine her space, because she knew that pushing an emotional demon was the worst thing one could do.

The concerned mother walked around the living room with papers in her hands, pausing to look upstairs with a sigh. She then walked to wherever she needed to be in the house, still keeping her mind forever close on her depressed child.

~~~~~~~​

Janine hadn't come downstairs for anything except for satisfying her hunger or thirst; at one point she just grabbed the last five slices leftover pizza from the box and a large thermos bottle filled with iced water and retreated to her room. She had changed into her pajamas and turned off the lights, letting herself wallow in the depths of her inner emotional turmoil. Consequently, the teenager's behavior had gotten worse since the incident. Thanks to her outburst, Janine's appetite had gotten slightly off key - on some occasions, she'd eat a couple of nibbles of pizza before laying back down, then she'd gobble down several pieces and gulp down some water before she was full. Then she'd fast for multiple hours at a time before she would scarf down the leftovers of the pizza.

Janine's attitude had become more sour and scary since the incident - on one occasion, her sister snuck in the room to see if she was asleep so she could take something without asking; one moment, Janine was laying down and quiet.... The next moment, she was suddenly behind the sibling with glowing eyes, a low hiss and a rattling tail. Her sister froze in fear, but Janine's anger had already spiked from that one action alone. In her fit of rage, Janine tossed her sister on the bed, snarling viciously while stating that she wasn't asked for her stuff. Their mother rushed to save the younger sister, and while nobody was hurt - but only because Janine had stopped herself in time - the mother had forbade the young one from entering the older sister's room without permission.

Janine sighed as she felt herself slipping from her own control. Why? Was it because she had changed in the school? Or was it because she was found out by that boy? Or perhaps it was because Dodie had finally found out her secret in a horrible way.... Nearly mauling a kid - and her ghostly essence - to a pulp. She whimpered and clutched her pillow in sadness. She wasn't in bed, but instead watching the outside world through a gap in her closed blinds, watching the few stray neighbors going about their business. She also hoped that the boy wasn't a good tracker, or that Dodie hadn't secretly told him where she lived. The last thing she wanted was to be stalked by some.... Kid exorcist. It would make her defensive senses go crazy.

'Oh Dodie, I wish you were here. Forgive me for what I had done,' Janine begged in her head with a deep sigh.
 
Ethan was the only one that knew the truth behind why Janine had left, along with the ghosts of the school. For most of the three days where Janine wasn't in school, Ethan had taken it upon himself to go around and show Dodie the areas of the school he'd seen her; the photography classrooms, the yearbook club room. He could even point out some of the pictures she'd taken. He showed her the little altar that had been set up in front of her locker, knowing that by the end of the two week break it would be taken away.

Before the break started, Ethan pulled a few strings.
"Sean. Have you still got Dorothy's phone?" He asked Sean one day in PE.
The twin looked at Ethan, confused. "It's Dodie. But yeah. Why do you want to know?" He spat back.
"I need Janine's phone number." He got closer to whisper the next thing. "I don't think the fire was an accident." Under his breath, he explained a fake plan: torment Janine from Dodie's number until she admitted that she started the fire.
Sean's eyes widened, but his face lit up with the possibility of revenge. "Alright. I'll give you it. But I want it back after the break, okay?"
Ethan nodded. "No problem. You give me your phone number and address, and I'll get it back to you as soon as I'm done with it."
When Sean gave Ethan the phone in the locker room, he said one last thing: "The code's 1909. Tell me if she admits anything. I'll take her on myself."

One more thing Ethan had to do.
"Miss Leeds?" He called into the staff room.
The office lady peered over her monitor. "Oh, hello Ethan! What're you needing?"
"I've been gathering Janine's school work since she's been absent, as well as the stuff for over the break, but I've not got her address to deliver it to her. Could you give it to me?"
Miss Leeds seemed hesitant, but then she remembered who she was talking to; Ethan Underwood, valedictorian and most trustworthy student in the school. She smiled. "Of course. Just wait a few moments."

As per usual, a few ghosts came home with Ethan for the long break. "You guys think Dorothy'll be okay over the break?" He wondered aloud.
"Oh, she'll be fine," one of the ghosts said with a wave of her hand. "The others'll take care of her, no problem."
Ethan nodded. "Right. More importantly, what about Janine?"
There was a collective sigh. "We need her away from us. Away from you."
"Yeah? How're we meant to do that?" Ethan asked.
"You got her contacts and all that, yeah? We'll figure something out. C'mon, I wanna play Monopoly."

It was around an hour later, and the four ghosts were all huddled around the monopoly board, struggling to move the peices, but succeeding in the end. Ethan sat on his bed, holding Dodie's phone in one hand and his own in the other. He'd just registered Janine's number into his phone, and was trying to figure out what text to send.

He finally decided on one.
'Were you born a demon?' He typed, and then sent it.
 
"Janine, I'm going to work! You need anything?" Roshana called out as she grabbed her keys to her car. The woman often worked in the afternoon, a little bit after school ended. This usually allowed the daughters and mother to have a short time to talk and eat before she left them alone at the house, where they would then be alone until nighttime. But now, Janine's mother was in her relative silence; it was as if Janine wasn't there at all.
After a moment of silence, it was apparent that Janine wasn't going to answer. So with a sigh, the mother continued her statement. "If you need anything, just call me please? And I know you're struggling, but please be patient with your sister. She doesn't know what's going on with you and she just wants to know what's wrong. So please control yourself?" The mother asked, knowing she'd get no answer. With that she walked out the door, locking it as she went.

Janine heard everything, but she was in too much of a funk to answer. She just wanted to be left alone. When she heard the door close and lock, Janine stirred slightly on her bed, focusing her ears to her mother's movements. The moment the car took off and drove down the street, Janine knew that she was officially alone.... Not that her being alone hadn't happened.

A few minutes went by before Janine got up out of the bed and on her feet, shuffling out of her room to get something to eat. She instinctively took her phone with her, but turned it down, unwilling to hear chime upon chime of texts from her worried mother. And she had a very good reason to be worried. But Janine didn't want to talk about it yet. She was too worried with how her mother would think about her situation. What if she told her to keep away from Dodie? Janine couldn't bare to hear those words.

An hour later, Janine finally bothered to look at her glowing phone. To her astonishment, she had gotten a text from an unknown number. Opening the phone up, she saw words that she never thought she ever would see in her life:

"Were you born a demon?"

Panic rose within Janine. Was she imagining it? Could her brain be playing tricks on her? No, she wasn't sleepy.... And she wasn't dreaming.... But.... Who else would ask the question? Neither her mom nor her sister would text something like this.... Perhaps it was... Dodie? Wait, she knows how to manipulate electrical components already?

She wanted to know who this mystery texter was..... But how to do it? She didn't know how.... Janine had never been in this conflicted in her life. And everything in her body had told her to not respond, to tell the other person that this was a wrong number.... Perhaps she could. Lifting the phone up, Janine tentatively typed her response:

"I'm sorry but you have the wrong number."
 
Ethan sat his phone next to him on his bed, watching the game of monopoly unfold.
"You wanna join in, Ethan?" One of the ghosts asked, a beautiful girl in her late teens called Annabelle.
"No thanks, Anna," Ethan said, lying down on his bed with a sigh.
"Oh, are you sure?" She purred, putting her elbows on the bed and holding her chin in her hands. "You never play games with us," she complained.
"Ease off, Anna," another ghost snapped, a short, but just as old teen boy named Griffin. "Ghosts and humans can't fuck, he'll go right-"
Ethan flushed bright red. "Chill, Griff!" He interrupted. The ghosts in the room laughed, but Anna just pouted.
"Just cus you can't get this, Griffin!" She snapped, swatting at him with the back of her hand. Griffin flinched as if in pain, but it didn't actually hurt.

The game of Monopoly continued for the next hour, with Ethan switching between doing the school work for the upcoming two weeks and checking his phone for messages back. Eventually, one came. He picked up his phone. He chuckled at the message, sighing and shaking his head. He turned to the ghosts. "Can you guys switch?" He asked.

Annabelle immediately let out a long whine. "But Ethan! You know I don't like it!"
"Yeah, I don't like it much either!" Griffin snapped. "Why do you need it?"
Ethan showed off the screen. "I texted Janine. She's trying to pass it off as a wrong number. If it is a wrong number, they'll ask why I'm sending a picture of an empty room. If it's Janine - which it is - she'll definitely react to four dead people."
 
The other ghosts looked to each other at Ethan's proposal, and none of them were not very happy about switching. They hated how they were able to do this sort of thing; it was like reliving your death all over again. But if he wanted to expose the Janine girl, and as long as it wasn't for a long time, then perhaps it as alright. One of the girls looked to Ethan - a long haired girl named Melissa.

"Okay Ethan, but I'm not staying switched for any longer than a minute, understand?" The female ghost said. The other ghost nodded solemnly. "Fine..... But even if it is to mess with that demon girl, I still don't like it.... Whenever you're ready," a boy named Henry stated. The two sighed again and closed their eyes to begin their transformations: Melissa laid down on the floor and pictured herself as she was - bloodied up from head to toe and beaten. Her head and neck were forcibly twisted, a sign of a broken neck from her death. Her clothes were torn up from the glass shards that dug into her body, and she had broken legs from them being crushed.

Henry was thankfully not as graphic, but he was still in a bad shape. Henry had fallen down the stairs, so the worst to be seen on him was a gash in his head and a bruised up face.
 
Annabelle watched the other two transform with minimal complaints, and she sighed and huffed. "Fine, but just for you, Ethan," she purred. She took a step back and closed her eyes. Just a second later, she was a murder victim; she was dressed in a cheerleaders crop top and miniskirt, but all of her revealed abdomen was covered in stab wounds so deep that you could see some of her internal organs. Blood was caked in her broken fingernails, which seemed to bother her more than anything else.

Griffin stuck out his bottom lip, the least willing of "Please, Griff?" Ethan plead, smiling. "I'll buy coffee loaf," he promised.
This seemed to sway Griffin. "Okay," he mumbled. He closed his eyes. His transformation was a gruesome one. All his face and all down his front was acid-burned down to the muscle. He caught view of himself in the mirror and shivered, quickly turning away.
"Thanks, Griff," Ethan said, voice really sincere.

"Let's take it like a party picture!" Annabelle squealed, grabbing Melissa by the wrist and pulling her to her feet. She took Henry's hand and dragged him over, then snatching Griffin's. In seconds, they were all huddled together in a line like you would see a normal group of teens pose at a party. Ethan held up his phone and snapped a picture, averting his eyes from the more gruesome parts of the picture. "Thanks, guys. You can change back now," he said.

Annabelle sighed, and in a second, she was back to normal, wearing a cute oversized jumper and a flared skirt. "Is it a good one?" She chirped, jumping onto the bed behind Ethan.
Ethan sent the picture to Janine. 'Are you sure?' He texted. "Yeah, it's good. I've sent it. You guys can go back to the game."
Griffin laughed. "Yeah right. I wanna join in on the texting," he said, back to normal again. He perched on the bed so he could see the phone from where he was sitting.
Ethan breathed in, then slowly breathed out, slower than a sigh. "Okay, but please don't mess with anything?"
 
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Melissa gasped when she was tugged by Anna to get in a group. How can she so giddy and silly with a Switch? Anna's cheerfulness puzzled Melissa sometimes. The moment the picture was taken, she switched back to normal, flipping her long hair to her back. "Hate doing that," the girl muttered.
Henry nodded, but didn't say anything until Griffin wanted in on this... 'Mission' of Ethan's. He sat up with a frown.

"So why are you doing this again? You have her address and phone number.... What you planning on stalking her?" Henry asked with a huff.


Janine thought that she had diverted the mystery texter, and began to relax a little; most often than not, people stopped texting a person after they claim 'wrong nunber'. But when a chime came on her phone again, Janine looked at the message with wariness. She opened it up and clicked on the picture message..... And screamed her lungs out. Terrible pictures of dead people plagued her phone, some more gruesome than others, but still shockingly horrifying. She threw her phone down on the floor and hid on the couch in the living room, hiding behind the pillows with short hyperventilating whimpers.

She kept away from her phone for an hour or so, trying to figure out what the picture meant. Was she talking to a killer? No.... Killers wouldn't start a conversation off with a question about demons. Unless they were religious. At that moment, the thought of this texter being that boy had crossed her panicked mind, but it was quickly scratched away. There was no way he'd get Janine's phone number in a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion.

'Perhaps it is a makeup artist..... Yeah, they do that stuff all the time,' Janine told herself. It was hard to believe, but she didn't know what else to think. Slowly, Janine crept to the phone as if it was a wild animal she was trying to capture and picked it up, reopening it to get to the messaging. Doing her best to ignore the picture above her fingers, and the queasiness in her stomach, Janine replied.

"Interesting makeup. You planning on being an artist one day?"
 
Ethan huffed and rolled his eyes. "I need to know what I'm up against," he said. "If she's always that bad, then she's a serious danger to me, and to all you guys," he pointed out, looking each of the ghosts in the eye. "If I die, and all of you turn, Hollowview is screwed."
Annabelle nibbled on the huge sleeve of her jumper. "He's right," she mumbled, shivering at the thought of becoming some nasty, vengeful thing. "What're you going to do, then?"
Ethan grit his teeth. "I want to see if I can convince her to not come back to school."
Griffin instantly laughed, throwing his head back. "Are you serious?!" He shouted between laughs, pushing his huge square glasses up his nose. "There's no way in hell. That's not gonna happen, especially if her parents don't know about it."
Ethan wrinkled his nose. "Well, if I can't do that, then I'll see if I can keep her far away from where we usually are. The library and the bathrooms." His eyes narrowed. "If I can't get her to do either of those things in the next two weeks, then I'll go to the headmaster."

Griffin raised an eyebrow. "What, you're gonna tell him she's a demon?" He asked, scoffing.
Annabelle's face changed to pity. "Ethan, honey, I'm sorry, but I don't think he'd believe-"
"No, I'm not gonna tell him that!" Ethan snapped. "I'll just...get her expelled. Frame her."

Before anyone else could give any input, his phone pinged again. He picked it up and opened the message. He snorted. "Bad cover," he muttered. He looked around at the ghosts. "Any ideas?"
 
Melissa and Henry looked at each other when Ethan stated his plan, concern and worry lacing their faces. They both thought this was a lot of work for the prevention of one person from coming to school. How was this going to work anyway?

He was going to say something when the phone got a reply. He sighed and watched as Ethan looked at the phone, soon to tilt his head at the inquiry.

"Well.... I could lay on the wall or ceiling.... Not many people can do that," Melissa said as she went over to the wall. She half jumped, half floated to the corner of the room, where the wall met ceiling, and crossed her legs as she sat down. "How's this?" Melissa asked.

Henry shifted uncomfortably, still wondering why a single girl needed so much negative attention.
 
Annabelle was obviously thinking hard, and she huffed when Melissa got an idea before her. "What about this, too?" She asked, walking over to the corner of the room. She grabbed onto Melissa's long hair and pulled herself up so that she was floating over the ground. She also crossed her legs. The end result was that it looked that Annabelle was hanging by Melissa's hair. Pulling her hair probably wouldn't hurt Melissa, because of the whole dead thing, but it might feel uncomfortable.

Ethan nodded slowly. "Yeah, that'll work," he mumbled. He lifted his phone and snapped a picture. "Got it."
Annabelle let go of Melissa's hair, slowly drifting to the ground. She stumbled to her feet and rushed over to the bed. "How's it look, how's it look?" She squealed.
"Fine, Anna, it looks fine!" Griffin growled, watching as Ethan sent the picture.
'No, not really' was the message he sent.
 
'Ping!'

Why did Janine feel a bit of dread at the noise? The half asleep teen hesitantly reached out and opened her phone to see a notification on it.

'Another message..... I must like this stuff if I keep answering these,' Janine thought with a tired sigh. Trying to steel herself for whatever else may come, Janine opened the message; her heart gave a pang of dread at the picture: two girls on the ceiling.... Well, one girl sitting upside down on the ceiling and another hanging from the other's hair. Her head was filled with sharp hisses as she stared at the picture. How does she respond to that? Janine didn't want to say anything to this person, but if she didn't, what would it mean? Janine felt trapped. Saying nothing would surely mean something... Defeated, Janine responded..... But without thinking, or, rather with desperate thinking, she added a question...

"Those are strange positions for girls to be sitting.... Tell me, is this Dodie?"
 
Annabelle peered at the phone, perching her chin on his shoulder. Normally, he would shrug her off, but he was far too engrossed in his phone for that. He jumped when it pinged again and clicked on it as soon as he saw it. He couldn't help but snort at the message. "Look at that one," he mumbled, holding up the phone for the others to see.
Annabelle smacked her lips together. "When're you gonna tell her about Dorothy?" She asked, draping her translucent arms across his shoulders so that they rested on his chest. He still didn't shrug her off.
Ethan shook his head. "I don't know. I think she'll figure it out herself," he said, opening up the text box. 'Not just strange.' He sent. 'No one alive could do that, I think.' He typed next. 'And no, no it isn't. Only non-faded ghosts and demons can control electronics.' He paused for effect. 'Speaking of demons...' 'How're you feeling after that little outburst?'
 
Janine knew she had practically confirmed that she can see ghosts. She had never been in this conversation. Before the only person who spoke to her was Dodie or her sister or mother.... Now this random personnhas her phone nunber. She couldn't help but think that she was talking to the government.

She looked at the message that came to her. Her fear slowly fading, Janine lools at the message. There goes that word again. 'Faded'.... But the way it was being said... Was it being suggested that.... Dodie...? No.... She hoped not. She hoped Dodie was alright... Hoped that she could forgive her.

Janine shook her head and read the rest of the message. Her eyes widened at the last sentences.

Demons.... Outburst? No, it couldn't be.... Could it? There was only one person that knows about the little outburst she had... It was that boy who gave her the rosary beads! Janine felt herself grow angry at how her privacy was being penetrated.

"How did he get my number?! That little CONNIVING sneaky sonofa-" Janine stopped herself when she heard the door begin to turn. Her heart bursting in panic, Janine dashed upstairs and into her room, closing her bedroon door just as the front door opened.
Janine's little sister came through, puzzled to see nothing when she thought she heard steps from up the stairs. "Janine? Are you up there?" Her sister called out. Hearing nothing, the younger girl went up the stairs quietly and knocked on the door.

Janine was pissed off when she realized it was that boy from a few days before. She growled lowly at the words presented before her. 'How I feel? How I feel? I'll tell him how I feel,' Janine thought as she typed her answer.

"I feel.... Bad about it... Truly. I never meant to hurt anybody... However.... I can't help but feel like this now that I know who I'm talking to...." Janine sent first as her first half of the message. She then went to a voice recording app and recorded her anger-filled roar - a sound that was a mix of a hiss and bellow. She stopped after it reached ten seconds, and then stuck it as her next message.

After she sent that she waited
for the two messages to get through. She thought about the boy, and what he was willing to do to get to her. And for what? Guilt tripping her? She could do that herself! In fact, she was doing that herself! After a short while she then sent her last worded mesaage:

"I don't know how you got my number, but you're pissing me off.... How dare you get the gall to text me, thinking you have an obligation to ask my life's story.... You want to talk? Fine. We'll do it at the school's large field in the back. Tomorrow afternoon. Public and private. Come... Or don't come. It's up to you. But know this: you have my number, and I have yours...."

She sighed in irritation as she heard her sister run away in terror. She'd have to talk to her later.
 
Ethan clicked on the message. He raised an eyebrow. "What do you think this means?" He wondered allowed, holding up the phone so that the ghosts could see.
Annabelle tilted her head. "I dunno. Maybe there's more coming?"
"In any case, she knows who you are now," Griffin pointed out, tapping on the screen with his fingernail. "'Now that I know who I'm talking to,'" he quoted. Just then, the roar came through.
Ethan clicked on it without even thinking, expecting a normal voice message, and jumped at the sound. "What the hell!?" He shouted, his phone jumping out of his hand and landing on the - thankfully - carpeted floor. He was glad he was home alone; his grandfather knew what demons sounded like.

He gently picked the phone back up, as if it was made of lit dynamite. "That bitch!" Annabelle hissed, reaching out to try and take the phone. Ethan held it tight, even though if Annabelle did manage to get it she wouldn't be able to use the touch screen.
Ethan furrowed his brow as the next message came in. He snorted. 'My grandfather could deal with you in a second.' He texted. 'Don't test me.' 'Stay away from me and the school's ghosts.' 'Or I'll turn you in to Father Smith.' Father Smith was the school's resident priest, and a very good friend of the Underwoods. 'I won't be coming tomorrow. I'm not an idiot.' 'See you in two weeks.' With that, he blocked the number so that he got the last word in.
 
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