How to handle a haunting Who: Zania and Justin When: Mid-morning Where: Eatzy’s
Justin was beginning to seriously consider closing up. He had sent the cook and waiter home, able to manage the place on his own, given he hadn’t had any customers since Clementine left. It was looking decidedly worse outside, and there was only so much paperwork he could tolerate before he got bored. He decided to give it a bit longer, and he sat in one of the booths by the window, drinking his coffee and watching the increasingly high winds. It was bizarre, the weather. He recalled talking about it briefly with Riley. But nothing in the dome was surprising to him anymore. If he could claim to be a werewolf, and have a sister who was a vampire, odd weather wasn’t going to throw him.
There was one good thing about bad weather in Zania’s book, and that was that it allowed her to roam from the house during the day. When the sky was this ominous looking, she didn’t worry about the sun catching her, though she did carry an umbrella just in case. If weather like this could come out of nowhere, it could disappear just as quickly. When she walked in the diner, she was ready to head towards the office, then spotted her brother in a booth. The rest of the place was empty. “Hey! Slow day?” she asked, heading over to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee.
“Slow isn’t the right word for it,” Justin said, watching her as she started toward the coffee. It was still something he was getting used to, not being able to hear her heart beating. He realized it shouldn’t have been abnormal to him, since he had gone his entire life without being able to hear hearts beat, but now that he could… not hearing one seemed strange to him. “I’ve had a few customers here and there. Ended up hiring Clementine to work here part time, when she came in for a bit.”
“Oh good!” Zania smiled, “She’s a sweetheart. I think she’ll be good to have around. People like waitstaff with a good disposition and that’s definitely her.” Plus, if their shifts overlapped, she could hang out with her friend. If both Clementine and Lily ended up working at the club, she could even coordinate with her brother to make sure they didn’t overlap shifts, since Zania knew the club would only be open in the evenings and probably not every night. “So, what’d you want to talk about?” she asked, walking back over to the booth, coffee in her hand. “Or did you just want to see my pretty face?”
Good disposition and she was attractive, so Justin didn't think Clementine would have any trouble bringing home good tips. The more help he had, the less work Justin would have to do in the front. It wasn't that he hated waiting on people, but his particular brand of customer service didn't always sit well with people expecting smiles and friendly chatter. He watched Zania approach, setting his coffee cup down on the table top. "I'm being haunted," he said simply before lifting a brow. "Though it's always nice to see your pretty face."
“Haunted?” she said with a little laugh. “Like, Poltergeist haunted or Paranormal Activity haunted?” Both of them were pretty creepy, but if her brother just happened to be living over an Indian graveyard, at least he could move. “I know there’s ghosts in town, but I didn’t know any of them were actively haunting anyone. Do you think it’s the house? Or you in particular?” She thought of Cody and wondered what he’d been up to lately. It might be nice to talk to him again… if she could find him. It was hard to track down someone without a home.
Justin shrugged, his smile small and not filled with much humor. "I don't know. Not sure what the difference is. One was ghosts, and the other a demon, right? Pretty sure this is a ghost. I thought at first it was the house. Small shit, you know? Glasses moving, lights going on and off. Two days ago, it happened again, only this time something threw something at me. And then there was a voice. I didn't recognize it, which seemed to piss her off." He had been thinking long and hard about who it could have possibly been, but he had known so many people before the domes, and after that recognition was slow coming to him.
“No, I meant more like, are things moving on their own, or are you getting thrown around or possessed,” Zania shrugged, deciding it was a non-issue which movie her brother better related to. “Ghosts are like people, except they can be invisible. I didn’t know they could move things, but I guess that makes sense. You’re sure it’s a she?” It definitely didn’t surprise her that Justin had managed to piss off a girl at some point, and if he didn’t remember her? That would make her even more mad.
He shook his head, because he hadn't been possessed, or thrown around. Justin really hoped that kind of shit didn't go down, or there would be a real problem. "It's a she," Justin said with a nod. "She talked to me. I've been trying to place where I know her, but she didn't give me much to work on. Said if I couldn't remember, then I didn't deserve to know." Pausing, Justin reached for his coffee again. "I need to figure out how to get rid of her."
“Well, unless you know an exorcist, I don’t think you’re going to have much luck with killing a ghost,” Zania said. She was finding this much too amusing, but her brother was being haunted. By a girl. “So she’s just throwing shit at you? Not knives or anything, right? Or chairs? Is it just at home or at work too?” she asked, her eyes darting around the diner. There could be a ghost there right now and they wouldn’t even know it.
Justin sighed, because he knew she would say that. "There's got to be some way to repel a ghost. If exorcism is the only way, maybe I can research it. Try to find someone in the dome who knows a bit about that shit. I don't know. All I know is I'm not going to spend the rest of my life sharing a house with some woman who wants me dead. If I wanted that, I'd just get married." He glanced over at the counter before his eyes found Zania's again. "There's been some light flickering in my office before. Cold spots. But not as bad as home. She hasn't thrown anything really dangerous at me. I don't want it to escalate to that point."
Zania laughed at his idea of marriage, shaking her head. “Maybe you could try talking to her again? She’s obviously targeted you for a reason. Did you kill any lovers on the outside or something?” She had a hard time envisioning her brother with a girl. That would mean he’d softened up a bit, something she wasn’t entirely sure was possible. In that way, they were like oil and water. Zania wanted people close to her, craved affection, while Justin seemed to push them away. “The ghost I met was just like a normal person, but dead. Maybe you could try resolving the issue like you would with someone you could see.”
Justin reached up to run a hand through his hair as he thought that through. "I killed a lot of people on the outside. Zombies. I didn't kill any lovers. I wasn't with anyone to really call them lovers." He reached for his coffee, giving her a mild look. "You want me to try mediation with an angry ghost? How does that work? She won't even show herself." And maybe if she did, he would recognize her, but he still wasn't sure.
“It was just a thought. Spurned lover makes sense for a ghost.” They had to have some reason to hang around, right? And if this one was hanging around Justin, then she figured there was probably a reason there, too. Unless the ghost just picked him at random, but why would she do that? “There has to be a reason. I think you’d be too boring to haunt otherwise,” she teased. “If you know she’s around again, ask. Can’t hurt, can it?”
“If it was a spurned lover, the spurning would have had happened before the world went to shit,” Justin explained. “I guess it’s possible, but I’m not sure. And you’re right, I am too boring.” He grinned and stretched his leg out. “I work, I go home, I sleep, and I get up and do it all over again. Maybe that’s why she’s so pissed. Stuck in eternity, watching my boring ass life.” Well, not now that he was a werewolf, but how exciting did that really make things? “I’ll ask her next time I think she’s around. I don’t know if she’ll talk to me, but… fuck, never hurts to try, I guess.”
“You need a life,” Zania said, shaking her head. “And yeah, if she’s stuck watching you, wishing she had one, and seeing you waste yours? That would piss me off too.” Not that he was wasting it, but she wondered if her brother was even happy. He seemed to be just going through the motions. “I’ll ask around, see if anyone I know knows any ghosts. Just because she won’t show herself to you doesn’t mean other people might not’ve seen her.”
“I have a life,” Justin countered easily. “It’s just not the kind you think I ought to have. I don’t need to have a woman, or a full calendar of social activities, to be happy, Z.” No, he couldn't say that he was happy, but he didn't think it was her place to imply that he was wasting his life. Justin slipped from the booth and took his coffee cup with him. "Thanks, I appreciate it. Let me know what you find out and I'll let you know if she comes around again."
“I know,” she sighed. “If you’re happy, then I’m happy for you. Not about the ghost thing, though. Hopefully that either goes away or you work something out.” Because being haunted was only fun for a day or so, then it got old real fast. “Sounds like a plan,” she said, turning in the booth as he moved to exit. “Is it cool if I take some spaghetti to go?” she said, nodding towards the kitchen. “I’ll even pay for it.”
He somehow doubted that, or she wouldn’t have commented that he was wasting his life. But Justin didn’t feel like arguing with her, so he let it go. “Take as much as you want,” Justin said, rounding the counter to drop his cup on the bin of dishes he needed to wash. “Don’t worry about paying for it. It’s fine.”
“Thanks!” she called out to him with a smile, though she hoped she hadn’t upset him. Zania worried about her brother, even when he didn’t think there was anything for her to worry over. Perhaps it was because they were so very different. She didn’t understood what kept him running, but if he was cool with the way things were, then there was little she could do to change it. He couldn’t be too upset with her, if he was giving away free spaghetti. She might as well take enough to share.