Ghost Chapter 2

*To understand what’s going on in the story, see the previous issue for the Prologue and Chapter 1.
It’s highly recommended to do this first before reading Chapter 2, so you don’t feel disoriented.*

A staff member opened the door to a room named “Executive Office”. Needless to say, there was a
mouthful of tension. Never had I saw a place be so authoritative, as well as a person carrying such
authority on their shoulders as they sat in front of their desk near a window. Several other maids and
butlers stood in several corners of the room, looking like statues. Their faces stood for nothing more
than servants performing their duties that could grant a 50/50 chance of survival.
One maid caught my eye, and not in the ways you may think. She had a little smile on her face,
differentiating herself from the other statues, as if she was saying, “Welcome.” She had jade eyes and
olive skin, darker than my rose-skinned, black-eyed stature. Her hair was bobbled in a raven’s nest of
hair, i.e. in a mess. Kinda like my hair, though in life I never had the energy (or time) to do my hair fancy.
I turned my attention to the person sitting in a luxurious, ruby chair. He turned to face me, prodding his
glass up as he cleared his throat to speak.
“Hello, you must be the new girl, ArinaMartin,” he started, after a moment’s pause. His words sounded
forceful as if his heart wasn’t into this line of work. “Head of the Ghost Maids’ Agency: Mark Offins, you
can just call me Mark.”
“Charmed to meet you, Mark,” I reply with a forced smile. My body did not bode well in tensional
climates like this. “I hope we can be well acquainted.”
“Rest assured, we won’t. Now onto business,”Mark was a no-nonsense kind person. He reminded me of
Jude, though I would have the angel of Death looming over my head if I admitted that.
“Since you’re new, let’s start you off with a simple task. You appear to be a very tough and determined
person, taking on the challenges of yore and such.”
“So it’s been said. I’ve more than my fair share of complications with life.
Mark laughed. “Anyways, there’s a couple of thieves are at the Flays’floral shop, breaking in and
demanding their supply. Go in and take the main guy into custody. Understand?”
My eyes opened wide. This is what these people do here at the agency? I mean, I could handle taking
care of this castle and such, you know as maids and butlers do. This is more of an undercover job!
“Y-yes!” I blurted out, needing to say something to accept my first mission. Eagerness and overwhelming
nerves bend my will. This was more than I bargained for, but there was no way I could refuse if it meant
a chance to clear the questions that plagued my mind.
“Good. Allow me to introduce your partner forthis mission and possibly further missions down the line.”
He beckoned the jade-eyed olive-skinned girl I caught a note of to my side. She looked anxious as if she
never did this line of work before. Up close, I was able to mark some similarities between us. There was
a faded, blood-red “X”engrained on her chest, the same way it was on me. Glad to know I wasn’t alone
in this situation. I shook my head back into reality, as Mark started speaking again.
“Her name is Mel Ash, and she’s a veteran ghost maid. If anyone needs help in the biz, you can consult
her. You are very fortunate to have her as a partner.”
Indeed.
“N-nice to meet you,”Mel timidly replied, her hand quivering for a handshake. She did notseem to be
comfortable in front of Mark. At all.
“Same here, I’mArina. No need to repeat your name.”
“T-thank you,”Mel stopped, feeling the cold presence of Mark’s stare. “Now, shall we get going?”
“Indeed you should,”Mark interrupted. He seemed dead serious now, time was NOT on our side after
all. “Yard contacted us a few minutes ago, and they’re overwhelmed on what to do. You two are all we
got. Go time.”
Mel and I agreed and started to head out to leave the castle. So many more questions popped in: Who is
this “Yard”? Why are they so useless? And worst of all, what does everyone know about this situation
that I don’t? The silence between Mark and the other servants is more than suspicious. Something was
hidden behind all this, and maybe this mission might get me closer to an answer.
As we got outside, a winter chill passed us by, but yet we paid it no mind, as we were ghosts. Out of her
pocket, Mel pulled out what looked like a GPS and pointed it out to Flays. There was one in my pocket
too, but I barely noticed at the time.
“There’s our destination.”
“Good. Let’s go catch us a thief.” I cracked my nonexistent knuckles and let out a heavy exhale as we
started to go towards our stop.
We passed through people as we were leaves in the breeze. No one noticed, and we didn’t have a wit to
care. I never knew how refreshing it felt, to feel the winter breeze of a cool morning in the city. It felt
like taking a dip in the sweet, warm water of the ocean for the first time in summer. Turn after turn we
took, and soon we caught sight of Flays, and better yet the commotion that “overwhelmed” the Yard.
A man in a hood, along with some goons wearing masks, were holding up guns to the shop owner and
employees.
“Golden flowers! Give it here, now!”The hooded man demanded, acting like he was in a rush. His trigger
finger was itching to let loose. The poor occupants appeared white with fear, then again who else would
feel the same if you were getting robbed for a specific type of flower that you never even heard of?
“I’m sorry, but we can’t give you what we don’t have!”one of two employees said.
“Shut up! We know you have it, and we’ll kill you to get it if that’s what we have to do!”One of the
masked men start letting loose on the shop, one of his bullets hitting the other employee in the knee.
She collapsed to the ground in pain, as if she was injected with a needle full of acid. Her jeans seared
away to reveal a bloody wound, looking like a deep hole dug in the ground. It was all nasty. The
employee that spoke went over to her, pulling out a bandage from his apron and covering it over her
wound. The owner was forced down on the ground and tied up by another masked man, reacting to his
fellow’s shooting.
“Aightthen, we’ll give you something to have! Ready lads?
“Yep!” “On target!” “Locked and loaded!”The masked goons simultaneously finished their tasks, picked
their guns back up, and aimed them at the owner and male employee. They looked like they would fire
at any moment. Suddenly, Mel signaled at me to take action, and she started running towards the
masked gunner that shot first. She kicked the gun out of his hands!
“What the?”Poor lad didn’t even have time to react, as Mel then leg-dropped him and pinned him to
the floor. Afterward, she muttered something under her breath, and out of nowhere a vast e xplosion of
blue dust appeared around them. I ran over to the hostages and covered them from the possibly toxic
dust.
After the dust settled, I went for the mask that tied up the owner, karate-chopping his neck and
throwing him over a flower stand. They looked wilted anyway, so I didn’t feel pity for them. No water or
sunlight, no care.
“What in blazes is going on ‘ere?”The hooded man, with no mask during this whole time mind you, was
stunned. He probably was in a flight-or-fight response, which could have contributed to the way Mel and
I dealt with his goons. Although, maybe he was MORE bewildered by the blue dust cloud that originated
from Mel’s attack on his masked goon.
“Arina, free the hostages, I got these guys!”Mel said as she called reinforcements from the Yard to take
the masks in. Mark wasn’t playing when he said she was a veteran. Regardless, I took her order as I
freed the owner, the two employees, and called an ambulance for the injured one.
“Oh my god, thank you both!”The owner breathed a sigh of belief, I believed him shed tears in his eyes.
“I have no idea how you did it, but you took care of those guys in no time! We are so glad you stepped
in.”
“Speaking of which, how did you do that?” The remaining employee asked as the other was taken off to
the ambulance as it arrived as soon as I freed them. “It looked like magic! And they didn’t even see
you!”
“Well, it IS magic,”Mel replied, finishing her task of taking the masks away to Yard’s HQ. However, the
ringleader was giving her trouble. “Arinahelp! This guy’s getting too much for me to handle!”
As soon as she said that, the man broke loose and knocked her out. I screamed, “No! Mel!”, as I threw
out my hands without thinking. Suddenly, a burst of purple energy shot out of my hands and it
immobilized him, rendering him unconscious.
“The heck? You too, Arina?”Mel now was bewildered herself. The owner and male employee started
jumping up in the air and cheering.
“I knew it! They’re part of that agency that be taking care of the city!” the owner loudly whispered to
the employee.
“You hear of us?” I asked. They even knew about me?
“Who hasn’t? And you’re a new one, right? You have great potential as one of their ranks!” the
employee complimented.
“I’m flattered. Name’sArinaMartin, and this is-”
“Mel Ash!Oh great heavens, it IS you!”
“Um…indeed it is,”Mel didn’t seem to take well to popularity “No time for chitchat, we have bigger
things to worry about.”
“Oh yeah…” I went over to the hooded man and carried him over my shoulder. We said our thanks to
the shop and got two flowers as our reward.
As we walked back to HQ, we contemplated these “golden flowers” the men were demanding. I had no
clue about them at all, but Mel seemed to have a lead on them. She started thinking about it, out loud
to be exact.
“Golden flowers? Could it be?”Mel sounded worried now, even though I could feel her heart skipped a
beat.
“You alright Mel?” I knew something was plaguing her mind, yet she would never say anything about it.
“I’m ok. Let’s take this guy into custody and inform Mark about our completed mission.”
“Oookaay.”We continued back towards the castle, and soon the man awoke.
“You foolish women. No, you foolish maids,”he said, and both of us froze solid. Now everyone knows
about us.
“You two have no idea what you’re getting into. What Mark is doing to you.”
“Care to explain?”Mel asked after a brief pause.”
“The time will come and they will tell you.”
“Shut up!” I knocked him out again. I was not having that superstition nonsense again. Scoffing at him, I
beckoned Mel to continue our path, though now we started running towards HQ. We were no closer to
answering the questions that plagued our minds. Maybe if we keep going, we’ll eventually reach them.
In the end, we decided not to.
It was for the best.