049: An Inconvenient Haunting
Neopronouns: nae/nym/nyr/nymself which follow the same rules as he/him/his/himself
Replace himself with nymself
"He is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as he gets a fence set up around his yard so the puppy can go outside without him having to walk it. His uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he’s letting him use, since he lost his. He's going to buy toys and train the puppy himself.”
"Nae is going to adopt a new puppy soon, as soon as nae gets a fence set up around nyr yard so the puppy can go outside without nym having to walk it. Nyr uncle is going to help set up the fence, since he has a set of power tools he’s letting nym use, since nae lost nyr. Nae's going to buy toys and train the puppy nymself.”
Nae tapped nervously on the desk with jittery fingers as nae stared at the notification for a message that had just come in through nyr SocialHub's message center. From the icon, nae could tell it had been forwarded by nyr account on the Ghost Hunters For Hire network.
Nae was afraid to find out what nae would find when nae clicked it. Nae dithered and procrastinated for a few more seconds, turning nyr office chair into a slow spin, but when nae finally came back around to facing the desk in front of the screen again, nae knew nae had to click it.
It was a BF-PM from Maelvywin, which was a relief. SocialHub didn't yet allow you to distinguish between private messages sent by best friends, and other types of messages, but apparently they were working on it and hoped to release the update next month.
But, when nae clicked to open the message, nae was both disappointed – and relieved, on another level – that nyr friend was not just messaging to say hi or to update nym on her garden. No, Maelvywin had heard from another friend that they'd had trouble with ghosts two years ago, back when they first started appearing, and they'd gotten help from The Hartgraves, a pair of freelance experts in the supernatural who operated within a pretty big area, which included nyr house.
They were good at what they did, according to Maelvywin's friend, and they hadn't charged anything at all for their services once Kar (Maelvywin's friend) explained their rocky financial situation.
The Hartgraves had taken care of both of the ghosts that had started haunting their neighborhood, and had apparently made sure that no more hauntings would occur there. None had ever since, but, Maelvywin cautioned, that could just be random luck. No one knew how ghosts or hauntings worked yet.
Not officially, at least, nae thought to nymself. Nae'd heard rumors – as everyone had – that ghosts had been around for a lot longer than two years, but just so rarely that if they were reported, everyone just thought it was a hoax or a local legend that was just for fun.
(These rumors were always followed by scathing comments that there had been plenty of hauntings before 2065. It was just that they always happened in low-income communities where the majority of people were people of color, so none of the rich white people had given enough shits to acknowledge the problem, let alone do anything about it. These people always said it was no coincidence that the first “Official” ghost haunting had taken place in a rich white man's mansion.)
Nae wasn't sure what to think of the rumors, but nae trusted Maelvywin's judgement, and if she said she trusted Kar's judgement, nae was going to, too.
Maelvywin's message said she would send another once she'd found the Hartgrave's contact information for nym, since it changed depending on where they were at the time.
Knowing nae'd have to wait, nae grabbed nyr cup, and pushed backward away from the desk, trying to get the chair to roll as far as possible under its own momentum. When it rolled to a stop on the smooth wooden floor, nae used nyr good leg to push it further, aiming for the water cooler that, for some reason, nae'd decided to put on the far side of the room from where nae sat.
Then again, nae'd set up nyr office space before this mess with nyr knee began, so, though nae couldn't really remember, nae was pretty sure nae'd been thinking something along the lines of “it'll be good exercise for us to walk to the cooler and back during the day so we aren't sitting the whole time”.
Cool in theory, not so much in practice now that nae couldn't walk even a few steps without nyr knee buckling under nyr weight.
Rolling across the room in the office chair was inconvenient and time consuming, because the wheels didn't really want to spin freely, and nae had to push nymself backwards and hope nae didn't run into the water cooler.
But eventually nae made it, without knocking the cooler over, and refilled nyr travel mug to the top, drank enough that nyr mouth wasn't dry anymore, then filled the mug again.
And now came the more difficult part – getting back to the desk without spilling the water. Nae'd misplaced the lid at some point. Or maybe the ghost had stolen it. They seemed to enjoy taking nyr things.
Getting back to the desk took twice as long as leaving it, but nae eventually arrived, no water spilled, but nyr good leg – or maybe, nae should start saying 'better' leg – was starting to ache again, which meant the pain medication nae'd taken was starting to wear off.
Relying on nyr better leg to push nyr chair around nyr office wasn't the only way nae'd been leaning more weight on it than usual since nyr knee was hurt, and all of the added stress was taking its toll.
Nae'd been hoping that Maelvywin would have gotten back to nym by the time nae got back to the desk, but was disappointed to see that nyr inbox was still empty.
Less disappointing, though, was the absolutely adorable and hilarious picture that one of nyr other friends had forwarded to nyr SocialHub page of two kittens playfighting, with the picture taken at just the right moment so that their expressions were so emotive nae couldn't help but laugh out loud when nae saw it.
With it came a link to more “Verified Cute” (by people, nae was assured, who actually understood animal body language and wouldn't post pictures where animals were in danger or distress as though it was funny or heartwarming) animal pictures and videos.
Glancing once more at nyr inbox to check that it was still empty, nae decided to follow the link. Nae had time to kill, and nae might as well kill it having fun.
Nae reached for nyr mug to get another drink – and nyr hand met empty air. For a shocked moment, nae simply stared at the empty spot on nyr desk where nyr mug had been two seconds before. Nae'd seen it out of the corner of nyr eye.
And now it was gone. Vanished without a trace.
Nae closed nyr eyes and sighed out through nyr nose, trying to keep from screaming in frustration. That had been nyr last cup in the whole house. The ghost had already taken the rest of them. And had started taking the bowls, too.
Nae spent a minute doing breathing exercises, then resolutely opened nyr eyes again and clicked the link.
Hopefully Maelvywin would get back to nym soon with the contact information for The Hartgraves.
Otherwise nae was going to have to start buying bottled water.
