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They say the highest of holidays comes but once a year, and Brighton was no different as its stores prepared to open for their biggest day of the year: Black Friday.
It almost seemed like a dream, not just for the shoppers but for the small business owners as well. Just a few short months ago, local department store Davenports had nearly forced all of Brighton's local businesses to shut down with the introduction of their delivery app, but with some intervention from a young girl named Molly McGee, Davenports backed down and the businesses were saved.
Davenports itself unfortunately shut down not long after their app was delisted, an ironic victim of an economy where the big fish always eat the little fish. Fortunately, the opening of a Bizmart just outside of Brighton’s city limits ended up having less of an impact on the local businesses than was originally thought. The quality of their products left a lot to be desired, even if they were able to maintain competitive prices. A lot of folks had made big plans for what they’d be buying on that day, but there was only one item that one of Brighton's newer residents was looking to obtain.
That resident was Juniper Chen, and that item was a book known as the Pop-Up Book of the Paranormal.
Just three days prior, June had come to realize that her knowledge regarding ghosts was fundamentally flawed, a result of being brought up to believe that they were all evil. That didn’t stop her from making incredible gadgets that could deal with the bad ghosts, but it made it difficult for her to understand the true nature of the good ghosts, as was the case when she and Darryl experimented with a sample of Scratch’s ectoplasm.
There were many things that June had trouble fully understanding as someone on the autism spectrum, but her and Darryl’s fascinating creation proved to her that she needed to understand ectoplasm more than she needed to understand anything else.
June got dressed in her favorite yellow sweatshirt and blue skirt, put some of her chore money into her pocket, and walked downstairs, where she saw her parents in the kitchen. Her mother, Esther, was beginning to prepare breakfast, while her father, Ruben, was watching Joanie Pataky on KWP6 and trying to make sure his wife didn’t overspice the eggs.
“Good morning Mom and Dad!” June said to her parents.
“Morning, June honey! You’re up early today, do you have any plans?” Esther asked her daughter.
The digital clock on the microwave showed 8:06 AM as the current time. Ollie was still in his room, probably trying to sleep off the insane amount of tofurkey he had the night before.
“I was planning on walking to Book Marks the Spot and maybe grabbing some new books. I figure they must have some kind of sale going on,” June replied. “Would that be okay?”
Ruben and Esther looked at each other. This normally wouldn’t be something they’d want June doing all on her own. After all, she was only 11 years old and (to their knowledge at least) still on edge after what happened with the Frightmares on Halloween.
At the same time though, they knew the owner of the bookstore from parent-teacher conferences and were aware that her daughter was good friends with Ollie, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. It wasn’t a far walk anyhow. Somehow, without exchanging any words, they both came to the same conclusion.
“Sure! Just make sure to be very careful out there, and be back in time for breakfast!” Ruben said to his daughter.
“Before you go, do you have enough money?” Esther asked.
“I think so. As long as I have enough for this one book I want it’s fine,” June said.
“Ooh, what book?” Esther asked, genuinely curious.
“I actually don’t know its name, funnily enough,” June said, a little defeated. “If I can find it, I’ll show it to you when I get back. I think it’s gonna be really helpful for my future gadgets.”
“Sounds mysterious, but in a good way. I hope you can find it!” Ruben said.
“Me too. Good luck June! Have fun and be careful!” Esther said.
“Will do. I love you both!” June said as she hugged both of her parents. She then exited the front door and began her journey towards Brighton's premier bookstore.
The walk towards Book Marks the Spot was surprisingly quiet. June planned on this, knowing that things would get easily overwhelming if she left later in the day, with a high chance of sensory overload. That was never fun.
After about 12 minutes of walking, June had made it to the front door, which chimed as it opened. This chime caught the attention of Libby Stein-Torres, human best friend of Molly McGee and daughter of Leah Stein-Torres, who owned the bookstore.
Libby was tasked with getting the shelves and displays all set for the influx of shoppers and holding down the fort while her mother took advantage of some deals of her own. Libby didn’t mind, she didn’t have any big plans to buy anything today anyway, and she was always happy to help her mother with the family business. Libby was putting the finishing touches on a sales rack when she greeted her first customer of the day.
“Welcome to Book Marks the Spot, how can I help- oh, hello June! How are you doing today?” Libby said as she recognized who walked in. She and June weren’t very well acquainted, but they had previously met when she offered to help June with her supplies a few days ago.
“I’m fine. I’m actually really glad to see you, there was something I wanted to ask you about,” June replied.
“Oh? What might that be?” Libby mused.
“I was wondering… if you had any spare copies of that pop-up book? The one with all of the information about ghosts? I don’t know its name, but Ollie said something about it when he was telling me about what happened at Brighton Video,” June recalled to Libby.
“Do you mean the Pop-Up Book of the Paranormal?” Libby asked. She was pretty sure that was the book June was referring to, but June came from a family of ghost hunters, so maybe there was another book she could be looking for.
“That might be the one? Ollie told me that it was ‘spooky accurate’ and I think I need some more accurate sources after what happened with Junior,” June said, a little embarrassed.
She truly was proud of what she and Darryl had created, but the fact that it stole all of Brighton's electricity and nearly exploded was beginning to bother her. She felt as though she needed to be more careful in the future, and doing that would require knowledge regarding ghosts that she simply lacked.
“Who’s Junior? Oh wait, do you mean the big green ectoplasm monster that ate all of the electricity and got Molly to confess to your brother?” Libby never got to actually interact with Junior, so that was the extent of her knowledge regarding him.
“That’s the one. I have no idea where he went after he did that, but he taught me that I still have much to learn about the nature of ectoplasm,” June replied.
“I actually have the book on me right now. I’m pretty much done getting things set up and we have a little time before we officially open, so we can skim through it if you want,” Libby always had the book on her, even before she met Molly and Scratch. As weird as it may sound, she always had more interest in the dead than she had in the living.
June nodded and the two girls moved to the lounge chairs, where Libby opened up the book onto the round coffee table that the two chairs flanked. They looked at various pages, from Howlin’ Harriet to Story Sprites, to wraiths-
“Wait, what’s a wraith?” June asked, suddenly very invested.
“It’s the result of a living person ‘giving up the ghost,’ so to speak. One of Scratch’s friends once described it as ‘your body’s alive, but no one's home.’ Molly could tell you more about it than I could though. She actually had to become one once,” Libby recounted, much to June’s shock and awe.
“I really do need to experiment on Molly next,” June said to herself. As far as she was concerned, a human who became a ghost while still alive needed to be documented and studied ASAP. Imagine if she knew that her best friend Darryl had gone through the same experience as well.
“What was that?” Libby replied, not intending to sound confrontational but likely coming off that way.
“Oh, um, I said I really need this book for my experiments!” Not the best cover-up June could have used, as Libby was able to see straight through it. She didn’t call herself the “Bloodhound of Truth” for nothing.
“Sorry, I was embarrassed to admit what I actually said. I’m not sure if Molly told you, but I’m autistic and I have a habit of speaking my mind without thinking first.” June usually didn’t go around telling others about her diagnosis, but she trusted Libby enough to tell her.
“No worries. To be honest, I was also incredibly impressed when Molly did it,” Libby recounted once again.
“Learning about ghosts is my current hyperfixation. There are a lot of things about ghosts that you just never get to learn about when your family's favorite pastime is hunting them down, you know?” Libby didn’t really relate to that, but she could at least understand where June was coming from.
“I can only imagine. I bet you had lots of questions when you met Scratch,” Libby said.
“I think he had more questions for me, to be honest,” June said, recalling all of Scratch’s very frivolous and self-indulgent ideas for experiments.
“Forgive me if this is a personal question, but is it hard?” Libby asked, to June’s confusion.
“Answering Scratch’s questions? Not really, a simple ‘no’ usually does the trick-” June said before being cut off by Libby.
“No, I mean… having autism. Is it hard?” Libby’s social anxiety increased after asking that.
“Um, I mean, it can be. There are certain advantages and disadvantages that come with it. Why do you ask?” June was initially taken aback by that question, but she was happy that someone seemed to be genuinely curious about her personal life.
“I was just wondering because I just remembered something Rabbi Katz once told us at synagogue.” Libby may not have adhered to every Jewish tradition, but it was always important to her to keep in touch with that side of herself, especially after how things went with her father.
“What did he say?” June said, her curiosity peaking. She was mostly at peace with her neurodivergence, but she had moments in the past where she felt out of place or wished she was more like the other kids her age.
“He said that there is inherent value and dignity within everyone, and specifically that children with autism possess pure souls. I don’t know which religion you identify as, but I thought maybe you’d appreciate hearing that.” Libby’s anxiety regarding asking that question melted away as a soft smile stretched across June’s face.
“I really appreciate you telling me about that. Like I said, there are advantages and disadvantages to it, but hearing that makes it a lot easier to see the good side of it,” June said as Libby smiled back at her.
Hearing that gave June a healthy boost in her confidence and self-worth, knowing that she has a place in the world regardless of what anyone else says.
“I think we might have lost track of what we were doing,” June realized.
“Oh right, the book. I’m afraid this is the only copy I have, but since I haven’t really had to use it recently, I could let you borrow it for a while if you want,” Libby suggested.
“Really? I would love that,” June said as she put her hands together in excitement. “When would you like to have it back?”
“Just whenever you see me again, or you could have Ollie return it to me when you’re done,” Libby suggested, happy to share her knowledge with her new friend.
“I’ll get it back to you as soon as I’m done with it. This is gonna help me so much with my research and gadgets and everything. Thank you so much!” June said as she went in to hug Libby. Libby wasn’t expecting it, but she gladly returned the embrace just as she did when she became best friends with Molly.
“Well, I better get home for breakfast. Thank you again for letting me borrow your book and have a great day!” June said as she began to leave the bookstore.
“You too! Also, tell Ollie I said hello!” Libby said with June giving a thumbs-up in response.
June put the book under her arm and began to cheerfully skip her way back home. She was looking forward to using the information in this book for the betterment of both human and ghost-kind, and while she wouldn’t have it forever, at least she had a new friend who would gladly let her hold onto it for a while.
She arrived back home right as breakfast was being served at 9 AM sharp, and Ollie had just walked down the stairs to join the family at the dining table.
“Hey, sis! What were you up to?” Ollie said as he noticed his little sister enter the house.
“Nothing much, just getting my hands on this!” June said with unbridled excitement in her voice as she presented the book to her family.
“So this is the mystery book you were looking for?” Ruben mused.
“Sounds interesting. You said you think it will help with your gadgets?” Esther recalled.
“I’m only borrowing it from Libby, but I think it will be very helpful. Oh, also she wanted to say hi to you, Ollie. When I’m done with it she said you’ll be able to give it back for me,” June said.
“I’d be happy to! Libby’s such a nice person, I’m glad you got to talk to her,” Ollie replied. He owed a lot to Libby, from her letting him be a part of the Ghost Friends, to her helping Molly confess her feelings to him.
The rest of the day was fairly quiet. All three meals passed and not much else of note occurred in between. June was just about ready for bed when she remembered to open her journal and write her entry for the day, which began with the following lines:
November 25th, 2022
Dear Journal,
I think I made a new friend today.