Chapter Text
Adaine didn’t sleep very much that night.
She kept having nightmares of ghosts and ghouls breaking in and choking her.
She kept seeing Doreen’s face.
Lifeless.
Swinging.
She got up extra early the next morning, eager to get out of her house. As she got dressed and ready, she thought about what had happened yesterday.
Logically, she realized she’d most likely never spend time with those kids from detention again. They shared a traumatic experience together, but was that enough to make them want to stay around? All of the kids were very different from one another, and Adaine wouldn’t be surprised if they preferred to simply pretend that it had never happened.
Still, despite her best instincts, Adaine held onto a glimmer of hope.
Adaine skipped breakfast in order to leave for school earlier. She didn’t particularly appreciate the morning company, anyway.
Meals were not exactly pleasant with her family. The minutes would drone on as her parents exchanged small talk, praising Aelwyn for her achievements while shooting passive aggressive remarks towards Adaine.
Adaine had come home late last night, and nobody had said a word about it. Dinner was over, and making a meal for yourself in her house was a recipe for disaster. Adaine’s parents didn’t care if she missed a meal, but they’d give her hell if they found Adaine eating without them. So Adaine had skipped dinner last night, and gone right to her bed.
This morning, Adaine hopped on her bike, ignoring the emptiness in her stomach, and peddled off to school.
It was a bit colder than yesterday, and the chilly air almost stung against her skin. In fact, it did sting against the frost burned skin of her ear, as well as the red edges of her face, where the ghost had grazed her.
Despite this, Adaine felt herself enjoying the ride.
The sun had hardly risen, casting a brilliant orange hue over the road as she raced by. The street was surrounded by a dense forest of tall pine trees that reached up towards the stars. Wisps of spirits faded and died in the morning light, disappearing back into the surrounding woods.
Riding her bike, Adaine felt free. Away from her parents, away from her schoolwork, away from her sister, away from all that scared her so intensely.
She felt that if she peddled hard enough, she could race up to the sun and dance among the stars.
HOOOOONNNKKKK!
Adaine was brutally snapped out of her fantasy as an obnoxiously loud horn sounded directly behind her. Startled, Adaine swerved on her bike, trying to turn around and see what the horn was while simultaneously trying to continue forward normally, resulting in her failing both objectives as she swerved off the road and crashed into the ditch.
She landed hard, her elbows and hands taking the brute of the crash. She could hear teens laughing maniacally as they drove down the bend.
She didn’t have to look up to know it was her sister and her friends.
She’d recognize Aelwyn’s screechy, pompous laughter anywhere.
Adaine felt her face grow hot with fury and shame. After a moment, she took a deep breath and stood up, accessing her situation.
Luckily (or maybe unluckily, depending on your outlook), Adaine seemed to have taken most of the crash herself. Despite a few scuffs, her bike looked in perfect working condition.
Ignoring the stinging from the scrapes on her hands and elbows, Adaine grabbed the handles of her bike and dragged it out of the ditch.
Distantly, Adaine thought she heard screaming. The yell of some sort of boy, around her age.
But the sound was gone in a second, and with no idea where it came from, or what to do about it, Adaine simply mounted her bike and continued her trek to school.
When she finally arrived at Aguefort, Adaine noticed Fig sitting on the front steps, smoking casually.
This struk Adaine as a bit odd. Adaine was at least thirty minutes early to school, and Fig didn’t seem like the “early riser” type.
Fig was decked out in all sorts of ghost themed clothing pieces, from dangly glow-in-the-dark earrings to socks with black cats drawn on. It was certainly a bit… much, but at least she was enthusiastic.
She caught sight of Adaine and smiled wide, quickly putting out her cigarette and running over to her.
“Hey! I figured you’d be an early riser. Riz too, of course. You’re Adaine, right?” Fig grinned brightly at Adaine, and Adaine untensed just a tiny bit, though she continued to pick at her hands.
“Uh, yeah. Fig?” Adaine returned, somewhat lamely.
“You got it!” Fig exclaimed, hyper for a reason only she seemed to know. “Okay, here’s the deal. Yesterday was insane, and probably traumatizing for multiple of us!”
Fig sat on a railing and gestured excitedly, even as she spoke of immensely concerning manners. She continued, smiling wider as she went.
“But. We. Were. Awesome. We beat up that phantom lunch lady like it was nothing!!! So. I have a proposition for you.”
With that, Fig pulled a paper out of her bag and handed it over to Adaine. Adaine took it and gazed at it incredulously.
It was a small, seemingly hand-drawn flier that Fig had made. In the center there was an inky sketch of a ghost, with white skin and fierce black eyes. At the top of the page, in scribbly bubble-letter handwriting, it read, “Ghost Detective Agency: Investigating Hauntings Since High School.”
“I think that we should keep doing this. Investigating ghosts, that is. I think we should keep the dream team together! I mean, think about it- clearly something is going on in this town! Or even just in this school! Yesterday has left us with so many questions, and if we want to find answe-“
“I’m in.” Adaine cut her off, casually handing the paper back. Fig looked taken aback by this, but quickly broke into a grin once more.
“Hell yeah!!” Fig cried, wrapping her arms around Adaine. Adaine tensed slightly at the touch, and Fig quickly pulled away, continuing. “I thought you’d be way harder to convince! I prepared a whole speech and everything!”
Adaine smiled a bit at this comment, but Fig’s cheery disposition seemed to falter suddenly, causing Adaine to drop her face in confusion.
“Woah, wait, what happened to you?” Fig asked, concern and confusion leaking through her voice.
Adaine looked down at herself and noticed just how disheveled she looked. The elbows of her obnoxious uniform were torn, revealing her scraped arms. She was covered in dirt and leaves and whatever else lived in that god forsaken ditch. The frostbite on her ear vaguely burned, and Adaine knew it was probably flushing bright red.
She also duly noted that she was trembling a little bit, either from exhaustion or malnutrition or cold, or possibly a combination of the three.
Overall, not a great way to start her day.
“Ah. I- uh. I crashed my bike.” Adaine mumbled, shrinking in on herself awkwardly. Her face grew hot once more, and she looked down at her feet in shame.
“Oh, dude, that sucks! Do you have a change of clothes or anything?” Fig asked Adaine, looking at her with genuine concern. Adaine awkwardly shook her head, and Fig hesitated for a moment, before shrugging off her hoodie and handing it over to Adaine with a smile. “Well, you can wear this for today! I’ll get it back from you after our first gig.”
Adaine stared at the hoodie being offered to her. It was all black and a bit oversized, with large graphics of cartoon ghosts painted over it like a pattern.
“Are… are you sure? Won’t you get cold?” Adaine gestured to Fig, who was wearing just a T-shirt now. Fig shrugged and grinned once more.
“Eh, just take it. I run hot anyway,” She winked, tossing it to Adaine, who caught it by reflex. “SEE YOU AT LUNCH!” she called, skateboarding off to who-knows-where.
After a moment's hesitation, Adaine slipped on the hoodie and walked inside.
———
Adaine’s morning classes seemed to fly by, and soon it was time for lunch. For “unknown” reasons, the students were instructed to have lunch outside today.
Adaine tried to pay little attention to the police cars in the parking lot.
Stepping outside, Adaine took a breath of fresh air and looked around. There was a decent sized grassy area behind the school, with scatters of pine trees and various foliage. She could also see a football field nearby, with some jocks hanging around it.
Students were scattered throughout the clearing, sitting in their usual cliques and eating whatever lunches they brought.
Adaine walked up to a large bin nearby the door, and grabbed herself a bagged lunch. She pulled her small blue lunch card out of her bag and handed it to a middle aged man who was serving as the lunch lady that day. He had bags under his eyes and yogurt stains on his shirt.
The lunch lad took Adaine’s card and tried to hole-punch it, but the hole puncher snapped into two pieces, one of which richoched up and smacked the man directly in the face.
After a few moments of confusion, the man sighed and pulled out a pencil, stabbing Adaine’s lunch card until the pencil pierced through, and then handing it back to her. Adaine mumbled a quick “thank you” and hurried off.
Adaine sat under a tall pine tree, somewhat distanced from the other students, and began to eat her lunch.
More students began to file out and fill space throughout the clearing, and soon Adaine saw Fig rushing over to her.
“Okay, so I got everyone in on it and we’re gonna talk about our first gig over this lunch! I’m gonna go grab everyone and bring them here.” Fig spoke energetically and almost too quickly for Adaine to understand. She turned around and began to speed walk away, before suddenly stopping and pivoting back towards Adaine.
“Except Fabian, he’s not sitting with us because he wants to hang with the popular kids or whatever.” Fig added, then quickly spun back around and hurried through the sea of students.
One by one, the kids from detention began to join Adaine under her tree.
First was Riz, who walked quickly over and sat down silently, a little bit away from Adaine. He seemed to have just gotten his food and immediately began chowing down.
Adaine noticed him pocket a yellow food card, meaning his family was a part of the “free lunch” program. She remembered her father scoffing about it over dinner, complaining that his hard-earned money was going to some commoners just because their parents were too lazy to work.
Adaine didn’t really believe her father’s words, but she felt bad for thinking about it nonetheless, and quickly looked back down at her own lunch to continue eating.
Soon after, Gorgug showed up. He sat down awkwardly across from Riz, on the other side of Adaine. He mumbled a brief greeting, which Adaine returned. Riz simply grunted, too absorbed in his meal.
Gorgug pulled a giant sack lunch out of his backpack, and began to scarf it down nearly as ferociously as Riz.
Finally, Kristen showed up, being led by Fig. Kristen looked nervous but overall excited, as if simply sitting with this group was a grand adventure. Kristen sat criss-cross applesauce down across from Adaine, while Fig remained standing, seemingly counting the five of them.
“Alright, that’s everyone!” Fig beamed, immediately plopping down next to Kristen.
Kristen had a small metal lunchbox, with shiny edges and a colorful engraving of a nativity scene. Her lunch box was filled with healthy foods and protein bars, and Kristen took a bite of a small sandwich made with wheat bread.
Fig dug through her backpack for a moment, before triumphantly pulling out some newspaper clippings.
“Okay, you all remember each other I assume?” Fig asked, seemingly trying to prompt conversation. She was met with a tiny chorus of shrugs and nods. Satisfied, she continued.
“Sick! I’ve gathered us all here today because we are the best of the best. The gifted few. We can see things!” Fig exclaimed, wiggling her hands in front of her as if she was trying to be spooky.
Adaine and Riz had both finished eating by now, and were quietly sitting, looking at Fig. Riz broke the silence, interrupting Fig’s spooky “oooo” noises.
“You said something about a gig?”
Fig looked over at Riz and smiled wide.
“Oh yeah. So there’s been some complaints recently over at Krom’s diner. There's this old abandoned car garage thing nearby, and people keep hearing banging and voices and stuff coming from it.”
“…And you think it’s ghosts?” Riz asked, incredulously.
“Only one way to find out,” Fig grinned, “We’re gonna head over after school today. So, you guys in?”
There was a slight pause as the teens exchanged glances.
“…I’ll have to double check with my parents, but I can probably come.” Gorgug responded through bites of food.
“Alright, I’ll come, but if my parents ask, I’m at an after school bible study, okay?” Kristen added, smiling hesitantly.
“I’m in,” Adaine shrugged, trying to hide her overwhelming excitement.
The four of them looked over at Riz, who seemed deep in thought. They waited for a moment before Riz finally looked up, making eye contact with Fig.
“I’ll join on one condition.” Riz stated, looking at Fig firmly. Fig shrugged, seemingly taken aback a bit.
“Uh, yeah, sure. What do you want?” Fig gestured vaguely as Riz spoke once more, brow furrowed.
“I think we should investigate the missing girls. There’s gotta be something paranormal happening there.”
At the confused looks from his companions, Riz sighed and continued.
“A while back my babysitter, Penny, went missing. It was really weird, her parents had no idea what had happened, and the newspapers hardly talked about it. I looked into it more, reading all the newspapers for the past few years, and I found out that recently a bunch of girls have been going missing in town. In the last year or so, around 5 girls have vanished without a trace: no body, no note, nothing.”
Riz sighed in frustration, crumpling the paper lunch bag in his hand as he clenched his fists. After a beat, he continued.
“…I just- we just need to find them. My mom’s been working so hard at it— but the police just don’t have much of an idea of anything and they’ve nearly dropped the case— I just think we should… Help. I guess.”
After a moment's hesitation, he looked back up at the group, seemingly waiting for an answer. Fig piped in quickly, her voice low and serious.
“We’ll find them, Riz. If anyone can, it’s us.”
Riz slowly began to smile, and the tension quickly dissipated. Suddenly, Gorgug chimed in.
“Uh,” he mumbled, mouth still mostly full of food, “I was thinking about tools and stuff. We did a good job with the iron stuff we had yesterday but I think if we’re going to seek out ghosts we should be more prepared. My parents are both, like..”
Gorgug paused, seemingly looking for the right word.
“..Self taught engineers? So I know some stuff from them on how to build good tools and stuff. And we’ve got a big scrapyard I can use for the iron.”
Fig snapped her finger and pointed at gorgug dramatically, finally sitting down on the grass across from him.
“YES! I LOVE that idea! We’ll be professional ghost hunters in no time!”
The kids spent the rest of the lunch period discussing plans for their newfound “extracurricular”. Adaine didn’t add much to the conversation, but she found that she liked to just listen to these people talk. She felt comfortable around them in a way she’d never really felt before.
Before Adaine had any time to ponder this further, the bell rang, and lunch ended. The kids went to their separate classes, but agreed to meet up after school for their first ghost hunt.
Adaine couldn’t wait.