Who: Cole {closed, narrative} What: Holy crap, there's a ghost on my floor. Where: 802 When: After this. Warnings: None.
The music had unsettled him enough - who the hell was posting these things? - but when it started to sound like it was coming from beneath him instead of out of his computer he shut off the speakers so fast he nearly broke the On/Off knob.
He told himself that it was just someone's idea of a bad joke, even though that fucking 'We are here for you' kept ringing in his head. Just a bad joke, nothing more. It wasn't like there were actual dead people in the building.
Then someone had said they'd seen 804. On the eighth floor. Where he lived.
Cole tried not to believe it, tried to laugh it off - but he couldn't. He didn't know why, but he didn't doubt for a moment that whoever it was had actually seen Emil's ghost. He wondered if it was that woman, Esme, the one he could've sworn he saw disappearing into 804 a few times.
He's always vengeful. he wants blood for an unfair death.
"Fuck," he said aloud, pushing away from the desk his computer rested on. "Fuck, there's a goddamn ghost haunting my floor. A vengeful ghost who wants BLOOD. Oh, Jesus." Even though the person had said Emil wouldn't go after anyone innocent, it didn't do anything to calm him down. What if he did? What if he was the kind of ghost who could cause harm to the living? What if he took out his anger on anyone he came across - the man living one apartment away would be a perfect choice.
What was he going to do? Okay, first off, he needed to calm down. He'd read countless books about ghosts and how to ward them off, right? He made a beeline for the bedroom, throwing random books off the shelf until he found the one he needed. The book was old and warn, notes scribbled in the margins and numerous pages highlighted. Eileen had given it to him like that, and even though he cringed to see a book defaced like that, he had to admit the information was useful.
"Houseleeks. Damn it, I don't have those. Why don't I have those? Okay, okay. I'll go out and buy some tomorrow. What else... mirrors. Candles and mirrors." Cole went back into the main room, setting the book down on the counter and digging through the cabinets until he came up with an armful of candles. He set them up all around the apartment, then grabbed a pack of matches from the drawer and set about lighting them. "Good," he muttered to himself. "Next, mirrors." They were thought to be a portal to the mortal world, and he figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Once all the mirrors had either been taken down or covered, he returned to the book.
He was silent for a few moments, scanning the page until he found something that made his eyes light up. "I have that!" Another frantic trip to the bedroom - the closet, this time - and he emerged with an amulet, quickly hanging it around his neck.
Cole's breathing began to slow, and already he felt calmer. Tomorrow he would buy all the things he didn't have, like houseleeks and nettle and St. John's wort. If there was a ghost on the eighth floor, there was no way it was getting into 802.