Musing Asylum

Case files 1: the disappearance of a bully 

As they arrived at Alices home Nat starred a bit wide eyed and impressed before a little. “Damn.” Escaped. Quickly she followed after the other inside and to meet the Grandmother.

Being introduced Natalie gave a quick bow to the elder woman. Though then gave Alice as playful nudge with her elbow. “Hey now. I’m helping you out too.” Then Smiling to the grandmother with confidence. “I’ll keep her safe.” Then pondered at the offer.

“Do you have any like family recipes? I have a taste for, well, anything and everything~” Saying with a happy laugh. “And i’d love to try home recipes.”

The old women frowned a little. She knew of her granddaughter’s ability and the dangerous situations she got herself into.  As descendent of onmyoji was in their blood. Most of their family member inherited a six sense of sort but the power was mostly weak until the current generation.  The onmyoji’s blood in Alice was the strongest in the family.  

Alice’s grandmother smiled at their guest’s cheerfulness. “ Of course. If you don’t mind  traditional Japanese food then.” As an old Japanese women she took pride in her Japanese cooking.  

“ Thank you, grandma. I will....” she was about to to offer to help in the kitchen when her grandma interrupted her.

“ You can’t leave our guest alone.”  Her grandma scolded her. “ You two sit in the Livingroom and will bring some tea and snacks.” Honestly, her granddaughter was polite but she would make a terrible host. Before Alice could object, her grandma gently pushed towards the Livingroom.

The Livingroom was a traditional Japanese tatami style room with massive windows that looked over the small fish pond. 

“ Please have a seat.”  a few minutes her grandma come back  with tea and snacks.

“ I will call you two when the dinner is ready. Natalie, my dear, make yourself at home. If you need anything don’t hesitate to tell me. I am afraid Alice is a little awkward and cold but she is good girl.” She was excited that her little girl was finally was making friends.

Case files 1: the disappearance of a bully 

Her lips pursed a little at the counter offer. She had been wanting to get her hands on some good ol’ greasy fast food, but, maybe something homemade wouldn’t be too bad either. Probably better for the body anyways. “Mmmmmm…” Plus there was they were supposed enemies.. Well, more Tias hatred towards Alison, so, it might work out not to be in public places being chummy, at least so quickly. “Alllright. If you gotta pull my leg like that I guesss.” Exaggerating, but amusement in her tone.

With a grin Natalie took a almost graceful step and pivoted her posture to face Alison while she swung a extended hand to Alison, both to shake and help her up off the swing. “Nice ta meet'cha Alice, i’m Nat. Natalie Gothieair, but, everyone just calls me Nat.” Still having little sense of personal space. Not seeming to worry or have any fear about the whole spirit medium thing that Alison mentioned before.

  Alison stood up and shook her hand. She briefly wondered how her grandma would react if she brought someone home. Hopefully she wouldn’t mind having a guest over. She turned around to the spirts haunting the park and gave a polite bow. “ Thank you for your hospitality.”  then she turned towards the exit.  It was only a few minutes walk before they arrived to a big old fashion Japanese house. Alison opened the main gate leading to a small garden with a fish pond. An old women in her eighties feeding the fish while humming.

   An affectionate smile appeared on Alison’s usually blank face. “ Grandma.” The old women smiled but before she could say anything she noticed her granddaughter wasn’t alone. She looked rather surprised. Noticing her grandma’s shock. “ This is Natalie. She is a classmate of mine. I am helping her out.” Her grandma frowned. She knew what Alison usually meant by helping out. It was usually something to do with dead or the supernatural. She gave her a disapproving look, but said nothing. “ Be careful then.” 

“ Would it be okay to have a guest for dinner?” The old women smiled at her polite request. Sometimes, she wished her granddaughter acted l a little spoiled.

“Ah. Sorry about that one. Her being gone so long is partially my fault, and her parents. We found her in pretty bad condition, and it took a while to heal her body to a healthy condition. After that I, well, ‘Tia’ was grounded for a while for disappearing.”

Saying as she extended her arms and turning them around as if inspecting them. Though grinned some and rubbed her hands together, then slid them up her arms feeling her skin. “So good having a proper body again. Albeit temporary, but still~” She giggled. “Being able to feel properly is the greatest~”

Her attention snapped over to Alison. “Where’s good to eat around here? Eating is so wonderful. Having working taste buds is just. Mmmm~~ Until it’s gone humans really take it for granted.” Then making sure to add, well mock bribe. “Promise to get back on track if we grab a bite somewhere.”

 Well, that explained things. She founded odd that Tia’s parents weren’t searching for her. It would have been nice if they had informed the school about it. The class has been charged with emotions since Tia’s disappearance.  

 Watching a dead person enjoy being a life again was bitter sweet for Alison. She understood more than any living person the dead desire for live. She sympathized with them more then living sometimes. 

Her offer to go eat came out of nowhere. she seemed quite taken back. “..... I don’t usually eat outside much.”  since she had no one to hang out with she rarely eaten outside. “ But if you want food. we can come to my house.” She sure her grandma would be delighted to have a guest. “ I would also rather not run into any of our classmates.” They lived in a small town and chances of running into their classmates was incredibly high. 

musing-asylum

Case files 1: the disappearance of a bully  

“Fascinating~~” Saying as she leaned in close, probably too close, and took a look straight into Alisons eyes as if trying to inspect them and see herself in them. “Not even all spirits have that powerful of sight.” But she didn’t she away from being seen at all.

Natalie moved back and pulled back her focus from being so intent on Alison. Glancing over to the ghost who were trying to eavesdrop on them. She shot them a little glare and snapped her fingers, the sound louder than it should be and echoing to startle the ghost. Natalie grinning as she seem them scurry away, probably to find a new spot to try and spy from.

‘Tia’ took a breath and folded her arms before she let it out a little exasperated. “I don’t know, I wish she could tell me what it was, what happened, but she went through something horrible. Whatever it was maimed and broke her. Hopefully I can heal her, and, hopefully she can regain her will to live. Otherwise..” She looked back to Alison with a sympathetic look.

“About that actually. Do you happen to know anything? Or seen anything odd around? Like strange looking spirits? Or people with malevolent emotions?” Then her curiosity still getting the better of her. “And does that power of your work even if you’re blindfolded?”

Alison flinched when she leaned in close. Normally nothing good happens when people come that close and didn’t help that she was in the body of her bully. Tia rarely got physical with Alison but when she did it Alison was left black and blue. It didn’t help that having skin contact with people made her spiritual senses go high wire.

Alison’s eyes showed her pity towards Tia. She more than anyone knew Tia’s negative feeling regarding her family.  Alison was no saint, she was more interested in the mystery of what happened to Tia than helping her. 

“ Most people thought she ran away with her lover, a university student.... but her friend thought otherwise and I agree. Tia only thought of him as a walking wallet.” Alison remember how Tia would talk about her older lover like a love sick girl in front of other, however on the inside she didn’t love him at all. “she enjoyed that attention she got for dating a mature guy.”  Was he really? Dating a an immature high school like Tia? 

“ I saw noting unusual.... I have been looking for Tia for last week and until you showed up. I couldn’t sense her at all.”  She tried tracking her and seeing how weak Tia’s soul. it made sense she could find her.

musing-asylum​:

Case files 1: the disappearance of a bully

Natalie could only mentally scold herself for her tactless approach earlier. Of course someone starring daggers at her would of probably knew Tia. Plus that tension among the classmates when she approached Alison, you could of cut it with a knife it was so thick. Despite having done research, she didn’t do enough into who Tias friends, enemies, and victims were.

Whelp, what was done was done. Who knew, maybe this could could still work out in the end. Just depended on how things could play out.

‘Tia’ took the note and returned to her desk. Though murmurs could still be heard the rest of the day.

Once school ended Tia made it clear she was going to take care of things with Alison and have a chat with her, on her own. As well fortunately she had a phone to look up the address.

Natalies true form, as a spirit, presented itself as a mesh of different markings around Tias body, varying from, wires and string bindings, to long lengths of stitches, to even runic markings, but a otherwise bodily manifestation was hidden somehow.

'Tia’ smiled to Alison and chuckled. “But aren’t I Tia?~” Casually approaching, and watching the mother ghost quickly make her departure from them. Her expression became a more sober one. “Tia’s inside, but not well. So i’m taking care of her for the time being.” She almost took a seat on a swing next to Alison, though hearing it groan she decided against it and kept standing. “You’re turn. You seem to be able to see me. How?”

Usually when people discover Alison’s ability they react rather negatively. No one wants to show their true nature to a strange.  Her eyes were like a bottomless pit able to see the unseen and the hidden. It made humans feel expose and venerable to have her unnerving eyes watch them.

She was the first person beside her family to show curiosity not fear regarding her ability so she was a bit happy.

“  I always been to see things other can’t.” Her eyes shifted to group of ghost eavesdropping on then to prove a point. “ I also know Tia’s soul.... quite well....” she awkwardly trailed off.  Tia’s bullying was her way to vent her sadness and angry but it was also the way Alison -accidently- got to know all about her.  She couldn’t shut off her abilities at will.

“ It is like how normal people see colors. I can see people soul’s and their emotions. And just like you can’t stop seeing color at will, I can’t stop seeing the thing I see.” It was a part of her like a second nature.

“ That aside I neve seen Tia soul so dim before not even when her parents got divorced.”  That day Tia soul was in the weakest state. “ What could get her to such state?” 

Case files 1: the disappearance of a bully

midst-anima​:

The girl, Tia, was found in a position as if she were badly injured and about to kill herself, but it seemed her mind broke just before she could do the deed. Meanwhile half a males arm, elbow to hand, and some sleeve on it was all that was left of the boyfriend. From this some investigating was done while Natalie tried to work on the girls mind, and fix up her body as well as she could.

It seemed the city the two were from had a climbing case of disappearances, especially students from a certain school. So with this much to go on Natalie was given the job to look into it while seeing if she could reawaken Tias mind and soul if possible. So, Natalie took up a residence in Tias body and looking through the girls memories a bit tried to pick back up some of the girls life.

First returning to her home, but, it seemed parents were only upset she was gone so long without warning, not about her well being at all. This she was grounded for 3 days, which, Natalie found obsurd, but didn’t mind, it let her familiarize herself with Tias home and belongings.

Then came the day, Tia, returned to school. Of course she was bombed with questions, but Natalie was open she/Tia was in a accident. Lied it hospitalized her, but admitted it messed with her head a lot, and she didn’t know what happened to her lover but was still worried. The expressed hoping everyone would understand and help her out if she ever blanked out on something she’d normally know.

In class she didn’t even need to look to know Alison was watching her. Aside from the classmates making it obvious, Natalie could feel like someone was watching ‘her’ rather than Tia. So next break Tia got up and approached Alison, and stood before her desk.

“Hi there.. I’m sorta working on taking a new leaf. So if you have some issue with me you think we could settle it? Maybe talk after school today?”

 Alison wasn’t type to show her emotions on her face, however being approached by her bully she tensed for a second. Her interactions was Tai previously always ended badly.  As Tia approached she could hear their classmates whispering. They were anticipating  the usual one sided beat down. Alison never fought back with Tia. One might wander why would Tia target the quite girl at school and answer was simple Tia can holding in a grudge from ten years ago.

  It all started when they were six. Back then Alison didn’t know about her ability and she was incredibly naïve. She thought that all the other kids were like her able to sense other’s emotions and thoughts. She met Tia and her parents on first day of school. Alison's parent encourage her to befriend Tia and clumsily tried. Tia’s family life was a mess. Her parents thought of her as a burden as she was the main reason they got got married. For six year old who is ignored about adult relationship, Alison thought that if she made Tia’s parent make up then Tia would be happy. With good intention she blurted out their family’s dark secrets ( Both parents were cheating) and naively asked them to be friend because Tia was incredibly sad. Of course the entire situation backfired. It was the start of Tia’s family happy façade crumpling into nothing and Alison getting labeled the child of misfortune. So every time Tia saw Alison she was reminded of her family’s humiliation and she blamed her for destroying it.

The class was stunned in to silence. Was Tia a reconciling with the creepy girl? Has the world come to an end? Alison looked at Tia no she was looking at ghost masquerading as her bully.

“ Yes, let’s met at...” She wrote down the location of a haunted park near her house and folded  the paper before handing it over to  “Tia”.  She didn’t want anyone following them out of curiosity.

 After school she arrived to the empty park and sat on a swing. She was listening to the ghost of a mother proudly  praising her living son to Alison. The ghost was trying to play the matchmaker and Alison found it amusing how the dead cared more about the living when “ Tia” approached her.

  Her eyes clearly saw the ghost true form and she didn’t sense any hostile feeling from her, but she was still on guard.

@midst-anima

Alison has always been the town's out.At school, the students usually avoided her, however on some occasions she came to the target for them to vent their anger. She was the cursed girl who brought bad luck. .

So to her surprise on a regular school day, a classmate approached her. Her name was Hanna. She approached her with a strange plea. her best friend -Tia-had been missing for a week and everyone thinks she had run away from home with her lover but the Hanna claimed it wasn’t true. Alison who was a self proclaimed detective who usually helped people find missing pets or possessions. Despite being on bad terms with girls she decided to help them. The mystery integrated her.

After a week of investigation she knew more information about Tia then she ever wanted to, however her search was fruitless as one day Tia suddenly showed up to school like nothing happened. Normally Alison would have dropped the case and moved on, but there was just one thing off.

‘‘You didn’t do anything wrong,’‘ She tried to lighten the mood with a soft half laugh though her attention was brought to the photo that fell on the floor. 

‘‘Ah you dropped-’‘ When Tohru went to pick up the photo, she saw how torn up it was. It made sense now, maybe this was why the girl was so upset. If anything happened to the photo of Tohru’s mother, she would… feel the same way.

 They were complete strangers but… something pulled Tohru to wrap her arms around the other, hugging her closely. ‘’I know we don’t know each other but… no one deserves to feel sad. That picture was important to you I’m assuming, so I can understand why you’re so upset…’’

  Well, that was embarrassing. Alice stiffened in girl hug unsure how to react. She wasn’t used to anyone besides her grandma hugging her.

“ Thank you...” She had other photos of her parents. There was no need to get so upset over it, but this photo was special. It was the last photo taken with her parents before they died.

“You should care! That looks really swollen!” Leo was, unfortunately, all to familiar with the sorts of injuries that resulted from a couple of kids getting into a fight. His younger brother often came home with similar bruising and bandages, playing it off with all sorts of excuses. Perhaps it was the boy’s similarity to his brother that prompted Leo to start bothering him about his fresh injuries. “Have you thought about putting ice on that? There’s a gas station nearby that should have some, I’ll take you there if you want.”

‘‘I’m fine don’t worry’‘ Immediately waving her hands dismissively to assure her clumsiness wasn’t need of concern, ‘‘I’m glad I could help.’‘ Tohru admitted with a smile, though after seeing the girl’s reaction to the contents inside her wallet, Tohru blinked then panicked upon seeing the other cry.

‘‘E-Eh? Wha-’‘

Did… did Tohru maybe grab the wrong wallet or messed it up by accident? ‘’What’s wrong? Are you okay? If I ruined your wallet by mistake, I’m sorry!!’’ She’ll repay her with whatever little money she had if possible. The wallet seemed important to the girl afterall.

Alice wiped her tears in a hurry. There was no use getting upset. It was a waste of time and also dangerous for someone like her. She didn’t want to accidentally hurt anyone by getting emotional.

‘‘It’s no trouble at all!’‘ Tohru reassured, she was really always willing to help a person in need. 

‘‘Hm… . A navy blue wallet with a ghost emoji…’‘ She repeated, before going to check under a few bushes and trees, hardly minding that she got a little dirty while she did so.

‘‘Ah! I think I found it!’‘ Crawling near a tree trunk, she grinned when spotting the desired object. She held it up after grabbing it, hitting her head on a branch in the process. ‘’Ow, ow… ‘’ Tohru winced,

‘‘This is it, right?’‘ She questioned when holding it out to the girl,

“ Are you alright?” She asked as she took the wallet from her. They actually hid it that far? “ thank you so much for your help.” She opened the wallet and checked it's content. Her money was all gone along with her school ID.  The only thing inside was a small photo ripped in half.  Alice has always been the calm type who rarely got angry, but everyone has their breaking point. She didn’t expect her bullies to actually rip her parents' photo in two.