#memory mess

“Oh, I’m so excited!” said Vivi as she practically bounced in her seat.  “At least two weeks of traveling, maybe more, and all sorts of fun stops!”  She turned to Arthur.  “What are you looking forward to the most?”

Arthur hummed in thought for a moment.  “I’d have to say the Techno Expo.  There are some really interesting exhibits there besides mine.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to take some time to check ‘em out. There’s a one about using body heat to power electronics that would improve my arm.”

Vivi very carefully did not look at Arthur’s new arm.  He didn’t enjoy people staring at his prosthetic, especially if they were the nosy sort who asked questions.  Yeah, that probably didn’t apply to Vivi, but she still felt Arthur ought to be treated like he still had both his arms.  “I have no idea how that would work, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out no problem!”

Arthur smiled at her. “Thanks.  What about you?  Anything you’re looking forward to?”

“I’m just hoping we see something supernatural this time,” said Vivi.  “I know that the hoaxes with get us some more funds for traveling, but they’re just so disappointing, ya know.”

Arthur chuckled nervously.  “I’m not really sure which I prefer.”

“That’s fair.  At least we only have four items on that itinerary.  Well, if you don’t include the Ripley Museum we’re going to.”

“It’s haunted? I don’t remember seeing that in the brochure…”

“Not so much the museum as the items inside of it.  Some of them are cursed or haunted or magical.  Fortunately, Ripley was aware of this and put up all sorts of protections,” explained Vivi.  “So do the regular triple photographing.”

Triple photographing was the term they’d given to the method of photographing when they were ghost hunting. Nothing complicated.  They just took three photos in quick succession.  It helped them determine if anything odd that showed up was just a weird artifact instead of a spirit of some kind.

“You and Ripley would’ve gotten along,” commented Arthur.

Vivi giggled.  “Yeah, we would’ve, wouldn’t we?”

“Hey, random thought, if you could, would you-what the heck?”

“Hm?”

“The engine just stopped!” said Arthur.  Sure enough, the van had gotten a lot quieter, and they were slowing down quickly.  “You gotta be kidding me!  I went over every part and made sure it was in tip top shape before we set out!”  Arthur glared at the various displays in front of them.  What were they even called?  Was it part of the dashboard?  Was it all considered part of the dashboard?  Should she ask?

Vivi’s thought process was derailed as a large mansion came into view.  It was old, dark, decrepit, and generally creepy looking. What was weird was that it was visibly beating.  The three stared at it for several moments before Arthur broke the silence.  “Vivi?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s a haunted house, isn’t it?”

“Or a very good fake,” admitted Vivi because she has learned that you can fake anything with the right technology.  “But if it’s real it would explain why the van stopped working.”

Arthur groaned. “Great…”  He turned to look at Vivi.  “I don’t suppose I can talk you into helping me push the van out of range?”

Vivi did consider it. “I’m not sure we’re strong enough to do it, and we were planning to check out haunted houses on this trip.  I mean you can stay here if you want to. If it is an actual haunting, it’s probably a pretty powerful ghost.”

Arthur bit his lip but shook his head.  “Nah, I-I’ll be f-fine.”

Vivi smiled and gave Arthur a peck on his cheek.  “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” That got a thankful smile from Arthur.

And that was how they found themselves walking up to doors (that opened on their own and then closed on their own) into what looked like a fairly fancy if damaged manor. For some reason there was a lot of purple.

“Hey, the candles are burning purple,” commented Vivi.  “Think we’ll be able to tell if they’re those specially made rainbow candles if we take them apart?”

“Uh…I’d avoid breaking anything,” said Arthur as stared at a painting with glowing eyes that seemed to be staring back.  “’Cause I’m starting to lean towards the ‘actual ghost’ theory.”

Vivi made a pleased sound.  “Well, better say hi.  Hello! We don’t mean to intrude, but our van broke down, and we’re kind of stuck.  We’ll be out of your hair once we figure out how to fix it.  If you aren’t happy about our presence, let us know, and we’ll leave.”

“Just, uh, p-please don’t, you know, try t-to k-k-kill us,” added Arthur.

Mystery didn’t react to what either of them said.  He was more distracted by the familiar scent he was picking up.  He let out a few barks.

And that was when several purple bedsheet looking ghosts started popping out of the woodwork and floating around the group.  Vivi let out an ecstatic squee.  Arthur recoiled with a shriek.  Mystery barked at them.

“They’re so cute!” squealed Vivi.

“Why are there so many of them?” questioned Arthur.  “Isn’t it usually just one or two ghosts?”

Vivi paused in thought before carefully reaching out towards one.  When it didn’t react badly to being touched, she gave it a pat.  “Actually, you’ve got a point.  These guys don’t seem to have enough power to manifest. Maybe if they were pooling their energy together (which would explain why they all look the same) they could manifest.  Or maybe there’s another, stronger ghost that’s helping them manifest.  That does happen sometimes.”

Arthur blinked as he tried to shoo several of the ghosts away from his prosthetic, which they seemed to have taken a strong interest in.  “Uh, how much st-stronger are we t-talking ab-about here?”

Before Vivi had a chance to answer, something tugged his arm up with a surprising amount of strength. The surprised look on Vivi’s face made it clear it was not one of the tiny, purple ghosts.  Arthur gulped and slowly turned around.

The first thing that came to mind upon seeing the ghost was ‘big’.  The second thing was ‘skull’.  The third was ‘purple pompadour?’ because the ghost did indeed have a glowing purple pompadour sprouting out of its jawless skull.    Arthur wasn’t sure what to do as the ghost studied his prosthetic for several moments.  “You have a metal arm.”

Arthur nodded.  “Y-y-y-yeah.”