A Second Day with Olivia and Ashton
Ashton’s room at Galia Fortress
Olivia burst into Ashton’s room and went right up to him where he lay in bed reading a book. “Ashton, I’m going to look for ghosts!” she announced, her eyes sparkling.
“You can’t just barge in without knocking,” he said. “And ghosts, of all things? That’s stupid.” Ashton rolled his eyes, but Olivia, not to be outdone, rolled her eyes right back.
“You mean you haven’t heard about the ghost in the armory?”
“What? No, that rumor’s everywhere, so of course I’ve heard it,” Ashton replied. He closed his book and slowly sat up.
The rumors had started a week earlier, when a soldier patrolling the armory said they’d heard a woman’s wailing voice in the middle of the night. The other soldiers had sneered at the story until one, then another caused a ruckus when they claimed to hear the same voice. Now, many were apparently refusing night patrol duty.
“In that case, hurry up and let’s go!” Olivia said. She grinned and yanked on his arm, but Ashton slid out of her grip.
“‘In that case’?” he said. “What’s that supposed to mean? Why do I have to go with you, anyway?” The clock on the wall showed that it was already eleven. Certainly if a ghost were going to appear, this was the perfect time for it. At the same time, he wasn’t such a people pleaser as to get sucked into a hunt for an invisible ghost, nor did he have the energy. He had another grueling day with Otto waiting for him in the morning.
“Because,” Olivia replied, pouting, “for one thing, Claudia says there’s no way she’ll come with me.” Ashton was a little surprised by this. For all Claudia grumbled, she was soft on Olivia, and it was rare for her to refuse. He wondered if her job as aide kept her busy.
“So then you came to get me?”
“Yep. So let’s go.”
“Take this as my firm rejection. I don’t care about ghosts.”
Olivia looked at him for a moment, then said, “Does that mean you’re scared of ghosts too, Ashton?”
Averting his eyes, Ashton replied, “I-I’m not scared. How stupid would you have to be to fear something you can’t even see?” He trailed off in an unconvincing laugh.
“Okay, so let’s go.”
“Listen, I told you I don’t care about ghost hunt—”
“Please come,” Olivia said. She leaned towards him, her face forlorn.
That’s not playing fair at all, thought Ashton as he reluctantly got up from the bed.
“All righty then, where’s this ghost?” Olivia skipped along cheerfully, holding a lamp out to light their way. There was, of course, no sign of anyone else, and it felt as though he might be crushed under the weight of the darkness. Ashton held up his own lamp to look around when suddenly, there was a clatter from behind them. A tiny scream escaped him, making Olivia double up with laughter at the pathetic sound.
Ashton, feeling that for the sake of his honor he had to say something, explained, “I-I’m not scared or anything. Anyone would jump at a noise out of nowhere like that.”
“I didn’t,” Olivia pointed out.
“That’s because you’re special,” he began, but Olivia cut him off.
“Wait,” she said, holding a hand up to her ear. “I hear something. It sounds like a woman crying.” She pointed the lamp in her right hand towards a corner of the armory.
“I-I never even believed...”
“Huh?” Olivia said, stopping in her tracks and tilting her head to one side. “That’s weird...”
“Wh-What’s weird?” Ashton shook Olivia’s shoulder.
“It’s just,” she said, “I just suddenly felt this aura from behind you...” She turned around, then her eyes went wide and she cried, “Whoa! It’s really here!” Ashton knew that, for better or for worse, Olivia didn’t lie. Which meant he knew exactly what she must be talking about. He knew he shouldn’t look, but that most infernal quality, curiosity, took over and made him turn his head.
“Aaagh!” he cried. There stood a woman with her head half-severed, her mouth stretched across her face in a curve like a crescent moon. Ashton looked into her staring, mismatched eyes, and fell down in a faint, bubbles trickling from his mouth.
Some days later, Ashton could be heard loudly proclaiming to anyone that would listen that the ghost was real.
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