Who: Henry and Kenzi What: A ghost interrupts what should be an evening of drinks and talking When: Recently Where: Local bar Rating/Warnings Lowish mostly Status: Complete!
Henry’s apartment seemed to be coming up with new and interesting ways of creeping him out. Just when he thought he had gotten used to the random manifestations, something new always seemed to happen. Strange things weren’t just limited to his apartment anymore, either. More and more Henry was seeing things he was fairly sure should not be seen. There was a shadowy figure that liked to lurk in one of the elevators of his apartment building. He’d seen a woman looking as though she’d walked off a set of a western walking along the street on his way into work. And now, here he was trying to enjoy a drink with Kenzi and unwind from a long week and there was a hollow-eyed child standing in front of the table next to them and just staring at Henry with shadowy sockets.
He was trying to ignore it. So far the child hadn’t come towards him, hadn’t tried to draw any of Henry’s energy to himself, but the way he was staring made the hair on the back of Henry’s neck stand on end.
Kenzi needed the unwinding. Moping had been on and off when it came to her mother - because suuuuurprise, she’d shown up on a lie of her leaving her douche boyfriend when in reality she’d been sent, by him, to get pity money because the shitbag was in debt. Killian had smelled it from the start, and she couldn’t deny she didn’t smell it either. But parents, man. They were so complicated.
“So I’m totes thinking of hosting a Cards Against Humanity party - I’ve got all the expansions, and made some customizeable ones all OC-relevant?” Henry seemed to have a liking to rum so that’s what they were sipping on, slowly. No crazy parties. Just to take the edge off, but she did notice him a little...off. “You okay there??”
Henry was only half hearing what Kenzi was saying. Unlike Chloe, Henry didn’t have any way of communicating with the ghosts he saw. He occasionally heard them moan, but he could never make out any actual words. He also had no way of knowing if they understood what he said to them. Telling them to go away and leave him alone certainly never seemed to do any good. If anything, once he acknowledged they were there, they just became more persistent in following him around, sticking their hands into his body and draining him.
The hollowed-eyed boy was just standing there and staring, and that was almost worse. Henry was trying not to stare back, but he couldn’t help but glance in the boy’s direction, if nothing else than to make sure he wasn’t getting any closer. Henry had been nursing his beer, hearing Kenzi’s voice and trying to pay attention, but the way that kid was staring at him, it was creepy.
“What?” Henry started, looking back at Kenzi. She had asked him a question. “Yeah. Cards Against Humanity. I’ve played that a couple of times. It’s fun.”
Uh-huh. Totally convincing there, Henry. Kenzi couldn’t tell if he was just bored with her or not, but that didn’t seem right either - he kept looking at something. Even if there was nothing there to see.
Unless…
“DUDE!” she called out and flailed a teeny bit, before figuring out she should probably quiet the fuck down and lowered her voice into a whisper. “Is your apartment acting up again?? Is there a ghost here? You’re having a sixth sense moment, aren’t you. Should we throw salt somewhere?”
Henry practically jumped right out of his seat when Kenzi flailed at him. She certainly had his undivided attention now. “sixth sense moment, what?” He kind of stared at her, then shook off the obvious reference he just didn’t get. “Yeah...I think?” He hunched his shoulders up and leaned a little closer to her, even though the bar was loud enough that it was doubtful anyone would hear anything either of them said, or even care. “There’s a little boy over there,” he nodded his head towards the table next to them. “He’s been staring at me for the past twenty-minutes.”
Henry cast a sideways glance towards the table. The little boy looked as though he was seven or eight years old. He looked normal enough, if you ignored the obvious out-of-date clothing he was wearing. He even looked solid, but most ghosts did to Henry. It was weird to see a little kid who clearly did not belong in the bar be completely ignored by everyone around him. And his eyes. They were just so creepy. Black orbs so dark it was hard for Henry to tell if the kid even had eyeballs at all.
“We’ve been getting eavesdropped on by a ghost this entire time and now you tell me,” Kenzi deadpanned, though unsurprised considering their location of hangout - by now Henry’s apartment was notorious for creepy encounter variety, though she’d never been able to actually see much. Chills here and there, goosebumps, that feeling of someone watching you when her eyes registered only absence. It didn’t take a medium to be on the receiving end of all that, but -
To see what could be causing it, nope. Definitely not a gift to have, and she was happy to not have it anyway. Home girl would not be getting any shut eye, that’s for sure.
Her plan hadn’t been to get sloshed or anything, but she thought it appropriate to knock back her drink and tap the bottle of the glass to make sure every single goddamn drop made it into her mouth. “Christ, man, do they ever just show up when you’re on the toilet? Or in the middle of the naked mambo with your girlfriend? That’d be such a boner killer.”
Henry turned his eyes back to Kenzi and in an equally deadpan tone of voice said, “I have Satan’s Arsehole in my bathroom. Sometimes it blows cold air on me while I’m trying to piss.” He couldn’t help to cast a weary look at the ghost again. He was still standing there, just staring, unblinking. Henry let out a breath and fought back the shiver that threatened to run up his spine.
“And no, I haven’t seen any during the times Chloe and I have slept together,” Henry added. “We tend to spend more time up in Chloe’s apartment. She doesn’t feel real comfortable in mind. It’s hard enough being a necromancer not being in a haunted apartment.” Henry finished off his drink and set his glass aside for the bartender to refill. “She’s pretty good at keeping her apartment a ghost free zone…”
Henry’s voice trailed off. The little ghost boy was gone. Henry hadn’t seen him disappear, but that wasn’t unusual. Though Henry still had the feeling of something watching them, maybe listening in.
Kenzi had to snort a laugh a little there because, yeahhhh, having Satan’s butthole fart a cold one on you while whizzing would be really unsettling - and it was a reason why she, uh, always did her best to never do that private business here. No audiences while she was squatting on the potty, thanks. Her bladder was shy.
But she’d been around enough all things supernatural to assume that her senses were a little extra-honed to feel when something was off. There was something always off at Henry’s, anyway, but it wasn’t often the sort of feeling that felt like a breath down her neck.
“How do you keep it a ghost-free zone? Is there anything you do that kinda makes ‘em piss off for a little bit before they come back?” she asked, glancing around in heightened paranoia. “I hear sometimes candles and muttering special words work sometime. Sage sticks too.”
With the little ghost boy gone, Henry could once again refocus his attention on his friend, who he was supposed to be hanging out with here. “Well,” he said thoughtfully. “Chloe’s a necromancer and she’s gotten pretty good with her powers, so generally speaking she’s able to keep them away....or summon them, if she wants.” Little accidents in which Chloe had inadvertently summoned a dead person had become much fewer and far between. Though there was still some concern regarding zombies…
“My Dreams also give me white candles.” He went on before thoughts could wander to the walking dead. “I think they’re called Holy Candles. When a haunting starts, I burn one and it stops it. Usually.”
“Usually,” Kenzi deadpanned, biting down on her bottom lip. “You wanna try burning one? Just in case? Could keep anything else away while we, uh, drink like responsible adults.” Imagine dealing with ghosts hella wasted, right? She’d done a lot of stupid supernatural things hella wasted (like summoning Baba Yaga, that was a hoot) so that’d be an awful idea.
Same with playing the ouija board here. Henry could seriously make his itty-bitty apartment into a legit haunted home tour for Halloween.
“I don’t have any with me,” Henry said and held his hand about a foot over the table. “They’re like this tall, so I can’t really shove one in my back pocket. Besides,” he lowered his hand, “they work for my apartment, but that’s all Dream related.” He hoped it was at least. “I don’t know if they’ll work on non-dream related ghosts.” He took a sizable drink. “It’s gone now anyway.”
But perhaps Henry had spoken too soon because no sooner had he put his glass down again then that feeling of being watched intensified. A quick glance around and he saw the little ghost boy with the black eyes had reappeared, this time right next to their table. He was looking at Kenzi first as if trying to decide what to do about or with her. Those unblinking eyes made the hair on the back of Henry’s neck prickle. He reached across the table and started pulling Kenzi a little closer to him and away from the ghost.
Nope, nope, Kenzi had a strange, sinking feeling and went to Henry’s side easily, thank you - because what good was she gonna be against something she couldn’t see? She swallowed thickly, crossing her arms. “And here I hoped you had extras lying around,” she blanched. “Are you sure it’s gone? You’re acting like something’s still there.”
And her gut said there was, too.
“Well, it was gone,” Henry said wearily. The ghost didn’t seem to appreciate that Kenzi had moved out of his reach. Those black eyes turned slowly towards Henry and the photographer got a really good look at them. The whole eye -- area around the iris and all -- was completely black. It was as if Henry were staring into two unforgiving holes. Henry had heard urban stories about black-eyed children, how letting them into your house was a good way of inviting torment into your life. It was easy to simply shut a door on them, but what the hell did you do when one took an interest in you out in public.
Not for the first time, Henry wished he actually did have one of those candles in his back pocket or that his Dreams would give him one of those medallions that also seemed to stop hauntings. But sadly, he had neither with him.
“Go away,” he hissed at the creature standing next to him at the table. He’d heard Chloe tell ghosts to scram all the time, but he lacked her power to actually make them do it. The little ghost only seemed to have more interest in Henry now that he’d acknowledged it.
Dude, what. Kenzi didn’t know how to react to something she couldn’t see - she guessed its location from the direction Henry was looking, and she had to wonder what it even looked like.
Not that she actually wanted to know, but.
“Yeah, fuck off,” she piped up in support and gave it the bird. Was it just going to stand around visible to only one person and look creepy? Was it here for something? “I mean, unless ghosts can get drunk or something then by all means, have a drink with us??”
Casper the Friendly Ghost. C’mon. Let it be a thing.
Now that it had their attention, the ghost seemed even more interested in them. If he understood what either Henry or Kenzi were saying to him, he gave no indication, other than tilting it’s chin down slightly and eyeing the two of them without blinking. The black eyes made it hard to distinguish any kind of emotion or thought, and Henry wasn’t sure if ghosts felt the same way the living did.
“Don’t say that,” Henry cautioned. When Chloe’s powers started manifesting, Henry had read everything about mediumship he could get his hands on. There were a lot of different forms of mediumship and communicating with the dead, but every source Henry had read cautioned about inadvertently inviting a ghost to stick around. “It might think you’re serious and actually stay. I don’t want this thing following you home.” Because Kenzi didn’t need that shit in her life.
The ghost pulled back a little bit and then reached up a small hand towards Henry, as though he wanted to touch the man’s face. And Nope! Henry was done. He practically shot out of his chair, pulling Kenzi up with him. “I think we should go,” he told her, not even waiting for a response before gently nudging her towards the exit.
Whoa, whoa, okay, okay. Kenzi hadn’t a clue what they were dealing with so best to follow the opinion of a pro - if Henry was telling them to jet, and then they needed to jet. “Don’t have to tell me twice,” she mumbled and not-so-gently tugged him out. “Next time I’m coming in with an arsenal of sage sticks, salt, and candles inscribed in holy juju-words or whatever. Those things never give you a break, do they, Monster Boy?”
Next Halloween: they should just get a group and dress up as Ghostbusters and try to vacuum up ghosts.