Chapter Text
After a long day of driving, the Chen family finally arrived in front of their new forever home, located in the middle of the defunct manufacturing district of the midwestern town of Brighton.
“Here we are, Chens!” Ruben said as he unknowingly stopped in front of an unsold, dilapidated house.
“That’s our new house?” June asked. The house in question looked like quite a fixer-upper, definitely not a place the Chens could call a “forever home.”
“Oh wait, you’re right June honey,” Ruben said as he quickly did a U-turn. “THIS is our new house.”
Ruben put the family van in park and the Chens exited the vehicle. “So, what do you all think?” he asked.
“It looks even better in person! I love the shade of blue,” Esther said.
“Looks like an upgrade over some of the apartments we stayed in. I like it!” June said.
“I love it!” Ollie said. “Let's go inside. Forever home, here we are!”
And so, Ruben, Esther, June, and Ollie Chen all entered the home with moving boxes in hand.
1 hour later…
“Alright, looks like all of the boxes are now inside. I think I’m gonna set up shop in the attic,” Ollie said.
“Suit yourself. I hate climbing ladders to attics, they’re so wobbly sometimes,” June said.
“Well, I think that’s pretty neat!” Esther said. “Do you want us to help you with your stuff or do you want to scope it out first?”
“Just going to scope it out for now. If it doesn’t have ventilation then that’s probably a bad place to sleep,” Ollie said.
“I think your Mom and I have it all handled here in the kitchen, so feel free to look around,” Ruben said.
“Thanks, Dad! I’ll be back in a bit,” Ollie replied.
Ollie climbed the ladder that led to the attic of the house and reached for the handle to the trapdoor. He opened it, fit his head through the door hole, and scanned the room.
“There’s ventilation in here, sweet! Looks like this attic now belongs to Oliver Che-” Ollie was cut off by a strange golden figure who materialized in front of him.
“Hi! I’m a ghost!” the entity said.
“Agh!” Ollie screamed as he jumped backward and fell to the second floor, alerting the rest of his family who ran up the stairs to see if he was okay.
“Ollie! Is everything ok? Are you hurt? What happened?” Esther immediately asked as her motherly instincts kicked in.
“Ugh, I think I’m fine, I just saw something that spooked me,” Ollie replied.
“Was it a ghost?” Ruben asked.
“If it’s a ghost, that would give me an excellent excuse to try this bad boy out!” June said as she pulled out her prototype Boo Blaster.
Visible only to Ollie, the figure silently phased through the ceiling and noticed June’s ghost-hunting equipment. “Don’t let them hurt me, please! I just want to be friends!” she yelled to Ollie from the ceiling.
Normally, Ollie would have ignored this cry for help, but something about this ghost was different compared to the ones Ollie had researched. This ghost wasn’t scary whatsoever, in fact, she showed genuine desperation in her eyes as if she didn’t want to be hurt. Her golden color was something that had never been documented before. Maybe this ghost is different, Ollie thought to himself.
He decided to spare the ghost. “No, it was just a spider. You know how I get around those eight-legged freaks.”
“A spider? Can I see it?” June asked. Ollie fumbled to make an excuse.
“Um, I think it’s just a house spider. Nothing crazy,” Ollie said.
“Aw, that’s boring. Oh well, just try not to squash it for me, okay? You shouldn’t hurt spiders unless they try to hurt you first,” June explained.
“Fine, if I see it again I’ll save it for you, but only because you’re my favorite sister,” Ollie said as he ruffled his sister's hair. “Fortunately, there is ventilation up there, so if I’m lucky I won’t see it again.”
“Well, that’s good. I’m glad you’re okay Ollie,” Ruben said. “I’ll leave you to set up your room. Your mother, sister, and I are going to convert the garage into our video production room!”
“Sounds like fun! When I get to a good stopping point, I’ll help out down there. Bye!” Ollie said as he ascended the ladder once more.
“Isn’t he forgetting his stuff?” June asked.
“Maybe he wants to envision where it will go first,” Esther suggested.
“That’s fair, I’m currently envisioning where our green screen will go!” Ruben excitedly replied as the sounds of their conversation faded.
Once Ollie closed the trapdoor he decided to try and get some answers from the ghost in his new house. “Alright, what’s your deal?”
“Perhaps I should properly introduce myself,” the ghost said. “Hi, I’m Molly! I’ve been haunting this house all by my lonesome for quite some time, but I hope we can be good friends!” She then extended her hand for a handshake.
Still anxious, Ollie decided to return the handshake at least and introduce himself. “I’m Oliver, but you can just call me Ollie.”
“I’m sorry for scaring you back there. I guess I can be a little too friendly sometimes,” Molly said as she scratched her arm.
“It’s fine. Truthfully, you seem a lot nicer than most of the people we’ve met over the years,” Ollie replied as his face morphed into a frown.
Molly raised one of her ectoplasmic eyebrows out of curiosity. “Have you been left behind before as well?” she asked.
“Well, I’ve never really had any long-lasting friendships because of me and my family being ghost hunters. People just don’t take us seriously,” Ollie explained.
“Do you think we could be friends?” Molly asked.
Ollie thought about it. He had been raised to believe that all ghosts were evil, but this ghost looked as though she couldn’t hurt a fly even if she wanted to. Maybe that was a manipulation tactic, but it didn’t change the fact they were technically moving into her house. He decided to accept the ghost's offer.
“I won’t lie, I’m not 100% certain I can trust you right now, but if we’re going to be roommates anyway, it’s worth a shot. We can be friends for now,” Ollie replied.
“Hooray! It’s so nice to meet you, Ollie. Just make sure nobody else in your family knows about me, I’m not trying to go to the after-afterlife, you know?” Molly said.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell them,” Ollie replied. “So, since you’re a real ghost, think you could tell me everything there is to know about your kind?”
Molly’s eyes lit up. “I would be honored!”