Something Spooky This Way Comes (Open to all at Xavier's)

[hauntingyou]

It had been a long journey, but finally, she was here. She wasn't tired, exactly, she wasn't sure she could get tired now, at least not in the same way as before. But, she was mentally weary and glad to have reached her destination.

She passed through the metal gates protecting the entrance and paused to admire the random and colorful pattern that appeared on the monitor embedded into one of the posts. She stuck an intangible finger through the screen and dragged it around, watching the pixels swirl and follow. It was pretty. Much prettier than the considerably lower tech ATM she was playing with... when was that? It was so easy to lose track of time, now. That ATM had bleeped and blooped and spat out a snowstorm of twenty dollar bills. Pity she couldn't use them now, or even touch them, but it was fun to watch the crowd of people scrambling for them.

She drifted away. The monitor flickered and flashed, then displayed a rebooting sequence. She moved further in to the mansion grounds, invisible and intangible. There were people here. Maybe she could make one of them see her.

Comments

[hauntingyou]

Since her previous attempts at communication had gone so spectacularly well, Julia decided to be more cautious this time. She hovered, examining the room and the boy with the book.

He looks like he's killing time... no! Don't think the K word! That's bad!

"Baaaaaaaaad-aaaaad-aaaaad-aaaad." The word echoed softly through the lounge.

Oh no!

"NoooooOOOOOOOooo...."

Quick, think of something nice! Puppies! Lots and lots of adorable puppies!

Julia didn't know it, because she no longer had a sense of smell, but the aroma of wet dog wafted through the lounge.

[eidolon34]

"What the...," he muttered as he looked up from his book. Richard could have sworn that someone had said something, but there was no one around to do it.

Returning to his book, a second noise was made, and this time he was sure that it had happened. "Alright, whoever is there had better show themselves right now."

Of course, he still couldn't see anyone, which meant that either they had camouflaged themselves or he was losing it.

Then the stench filled his nose, and he quickly covered his mouth and nostrils. "Great, I'm hearing voices and someone left their wet socks lying around."

[hauntingyou]

Smell? Oh my God, did she smell bad? How totally gross and embarrassing.

Dead people smell bad. But I'm not dead? I don't feel dead...

Julia thought of the summer that they found the dead raccoon under the porch. The aroma she remembered drifted through the room, replacing Eau de Wet Dog.

Oh God, am I gonna start craving brains next?

"Brainnnnnnnnns..."

Julia flailed helplessly. Her arm passed through the TV, turning it on. Despite being an LCD flat screen, it displayed old school static. The speakers hissed.

[eidolon34]

The smell was getting much worse in the room that it was starting to make him gag, and Richard wondered what foul thing could possibly be emitting such a stench. It wasn’t like the institute wasn’t cleaned so someone had to be playing a joke on him.

Then the eerie voice started saying brains in a foreboding tone of voice. “I don’t know who you are, but if it is brains you are after then I think you may have picked the wrong guy. Mine isn’t the best one to choose.” It was sort of sad for him to admit that, but things were getting sort of creepy.

His eyes shifted to the television screen that was acting odd, and then when the speakers went off he quickly covered his ears while he rose to his feet. “What is it? Who is there?”

[hauntingyou]

Me! I'm here!

"EeeeeeeeEEEEEEeeeeee..."

I give up. This isn't working.

The TV crackled. From the speakers came a distorted sound: "Give up."

Julia flipped the TV the ghostly bird.

[eidolon34]

"E? What is this Wheel of Fortune or something," he asked. Richard wasn't a fan of guessing games, and this one wasn't even fun.

Then the speaker asked him if he gave up, and under normal circumstances he would have gone with 'no'. These were hardly normal by any standards.

Grabbing his book, he looked at the television. "Yeah, I give up," he said before turning into vapor and drifting out of the room.