#sparvely

Sympathy For The Ghosts

"Ugh... why couldn't it have been a warmer night..? I'm freezing," grumbled the voice of one shivering Moon Caddy Pérez. Currently, the sun was starting to make it's descent above the mountains, the sky starting to phase between a bright, dark orange to a dark, subtle violet. The growing dusk certainly wouldn't help with the coolness of the air, but at the very least, there was no threat of rain that night. So there was one upside.

Moon himself was carrying nothing more than a flashlight, which he had just turned on. As the night started to seep it's way in, the forest that the short paranormal detective found himself walking in was starting to grow darker and darker. Thankfully, there was a visible path to follow, so anyone who wanted to walk down it could easily find their way back. Of course, no one ever did. Who would, after all? An off-the-road path heading into a wooded area filled with who knows what? Most people would pass on that opportunity.

But not Moon. No sir, not tonight. With the rumors spreading around town of ghost sightings, he made sure to keep an ear out for any more stories, or perhaps a lead. Some would say that he took to these sorts of events like a few other paranormal detectives, who had quite the infamous reputation around town.

For tonight, however, he was by himself, carefully treading below errant tree branches and stepping over roots, huddling into his arms a little to help stay warm. Normally, to hear about ghost sightings, one would venture out to the local cemetery. After all, why wouldn't a large area filled with the dead bodies contain ghosts? However, Moon knew that whatever was happening around town wasn't occurring because of the cemetery. He had been by there quite a few times before, and had never once had an encounter with the paranormal. So where should he look? From various stories around town, the sightings took place around the side of roads, usually coming from people who liked to jog early in the mornings, or those who drove around at night.

A little research on Moon's part revealed that there was once an abandoned graveyard, all the way back in the 1800s, that used to be located on abandoned property. Age and nature took a hold of the old house that resided there and destroyed leaving, letting it rot away into nothing. Soon, the forest grew over the entire area, leaving it forgotten for years.

The ground became a lot more uneven as Moon found himself heading up a small hill of sorts, dead leaves littering the ground, crunching beneath his footfalls. The path started to fade away, the trees thinning out a little more. As he abandoned the pathway, he tried not to remember that one movie about three kids being lost in the forest and continued on.

He made sure not to wander too far away, otherwise he'd become lost, and with night approaching, that was the last thing he wanted. As Moon flashed his light around, he tried to look for any semblance of a flat surface area. Fortunately for him, he found that just, not too far away from where he strayed off. While there were trees growing, they weren't nearly as tall as the others he had encountered, and were quite thin, showing that they were no more than mere saplings.

With dead leaves scattered all about the place, he remained cautious, not wanting to trip over any rocks. Speaking of which, as he continued to shine his flashlight around, he found cracked stones sticking up out of the ground. With how they looked, they were far too big to be natural. Moon gently bent down in front of one, letting his fingers gently feel along the jagged edges. As his fingertips rubbed across the surface, he realized that there were markings on them. However, they were horribly scratched, almost as if an animal had gotten to them.

The air was growing colder and colder, making Moon shiver a bit more. What made him freeze up, however, was the sound of dead leaves shifting around, crunching gently beneath... something. The footfalls were uneven, and almost sounded like they were moving closer. 'Ghosts can't make noise like that...' Moon thought to himself, quickly standing up and flashing his light towards the source. He almost wished he did see a ghost, as the sight before him was very unexpected, causing him to gasp out.

Moon's light shone across a man's face. Despite his large smile, he didn't look too welcoming. He sported two, tired, yet wide-lidded eyes, heavy shadows underneath them. His hair was a deep dark brown, which he had lazily styled to hang to the side. His face was scruffed with dark facial hair as well. The man wore a large, purple hoodie, which he kept his hands buried in, along with dark blue jeans and black sneakers. The boy realized that the man was limping somewhat as he moved closer, unfazed by the sudden bright light in his eyes, which remained unblinking.

"Who are you?" Moon questioned quickly and sharply, showing that he was not a fan of being scared, especially by some stranger he's never even met before. Add in the scenario of a dark forest, and it was downright creepy.

The odd stranger's smile cracked even further, if that was even possible, and let out a slight, dark chuckle. "Caught ya by surprise, huh?" He asked back, stopping in place and lifting up one of his hands, waving it some. The man's voice was deep, yet very gruff, with a distinct Southern accent. "My bad. I have that effect on people sometimes," He joked, chuckling once more. Since Moon had his light on the man, he could easily see that the skin on his hand was... incredibly scarred. Moon remained on guard though, even as he shoved his hand back into his hoodie pouch.

"Yeah, you did," Moon huffed out, his voice softening up a little bit, lowering his light somewhat. "Still, that doesn't answer my earlier question."

"Hm," The man began slowly, flipping his hair a bit. "Just a traveler. Heard about Crystal Cove's... reputation, and it piqued my curiosity." As the strange, tall man continued on, Moon tried not to be freaked out by how he didn't seem to need to blink. "Most just call me the Detective. As well as some other... impolite names, but I doubt you'd want to use them," He finished, giving another small laugh at his own joke.

Disregarding the fact that he never gave an actual name, Moon sighed and fixed his own hair somewhat. "I'm Moon. I don't suppose you're here for the same reason I am, huh?" He asked, hoping that was the case. While it wouldn't have been nice to classify this man as a serial killer... he almost fit the part.

"Might be," He replied nonchalantly, shrugging. Despite the fact that Moon let out another unamused huff and put a hand on his hip, the Detective continued on. "Heard this place has some history. This area in particular."

"Yeah, that's right," Moon answered, feeling slightly more comfortable enough with the Detective to move forward a little. "A graveyard used to be around here before it was grown over. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the recent ghost sightings around town."

"I've heard those stories as well," the Detective responded, his smile still nice and big. "Only been here a few days, and that's all I've heard. Have ya seen anything yet?" He asked Moon, tilting his head somewhat.

He shook his head in response. "Nah, not yet. Hopefully it's not just a group of troublemakers trying to pull a prank or something."

"I highly doubt it," The detective said, shaking his head. "If two people have a similar story, it's a coincidence. If three, it's concerning. Four, you've got a mystery to solve," He said, his smile flashing even more widely.

"Heh, almost sounds like something Fred would say..." Moon chuckled, seeing the man's smile quickly turn back into a grin, which looked a lot more subtle than his previous expressions. When the Detective said nothing, the young hippie clarified. "Oh, uh, Fred Jones? Of Mystery Incorporated? Surely you must've heard of them. They're, like, kind of a big deal around here."

The man said nothing for a few more seconds, instead taking a hand out to scratch his chin, as if thinking. His grin widened a little more, the man looking off to the side. "...sounds familiar. Will have to look into 'em."

It was hard to tell if he was actually telling the truth in this regard or not, but something else caught Moon's attention before he could press on about the current topic. A shadowy silhouette, dimly illuminated by a white light was moving slowly from behind a tree, almost as if it were peering out from behind it. The moment he blinked, however, it had drifted away. This didn't stop the hippie from gasping out and saying aloud, "I saw one..! It was just there, looking at us..!"

The Detective whipped his head around to where Moon might've been talking about, his expression looking marginally more excited. His voice still sounded as deep and almost monotone as before, however. "Probably curious," He answered.

Moon shivered a bit more, the air becoming oddly colder, the night sky growing even darker at this point. However, the wind had not picked up in the slightest. "I don't think that was the only one around here," Moon stated.

"Definitely not," the man said, pointing a finger in Moon's direction. "This place used to be a graveyard of sorts, right? Can ya tell me who it was for?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

At this, Moon did his best to regather the information he could. "Uh, let's see... there was a house connected to the property... a farm, of sorts. Big family, I believe."

"What else?" The Detective encouraged, quite interested in what else he had to say. From the looks of it, he too was familiar with the story.

Moon continued on. "Well, they made a name for themselves, and were not liked by competition so..." The hippie let out a gasp, realizing why so many ghosts were seen. This gave the Detective the opportunity to finish his sentence.

"They burnt their barn down," He replied grimly. It was hard to tell if he was still smiling or not, but the man was looking elsewhere, making the shadow on his face look more intimidating.

"That's... awful!" He gasped, trying his best to not become over emotional. It was difficult though, his voice already showing how he felt. "But... why would they go through the trouble of burying them in a graveyard..?"

"They didn't," The Detective replied again, his voice sounding even more grim.

The weight of his words hung in the air for awhile as Moon took that statement in. Once the barn was burnt down, their bodies were left to perish with it. As the hippie thought about this horrific event, the Detective spoke up once more.

"...I think they're here to see us themselves," He stated simply. Slowly, Moon lifted his head, looking directly across to the Detective. His eyes were scanning around quickly, darting from one place to the other in a rapid manner. "Look around. Slowly. Carefully," He warned quietly, his voice a harsh whisper.

Moon's eyes scanned around, slowly adjusting to the night sky. More silhouettes were starting to circle around the pair of investigators, slowly floating into a ring of sorts. While their shapes were vaguely humanoid at best, their heights often varied. As he turned his head around to see even more ghostly apparitions start to appear, he noticed quite a few short ones. They made a motion as if to hold onto a taller ghost's hand.

The two humans said nothing as they all stopped, forming a tight circle around them. The ghosts stopped moving, instead turning their heads to the small group that had wandered onto their old property. For awhile, no one did anything, both Moon and the Detective trying to figure out what to do. Then, the hippie's own eyes widened in realization, letting out a small 'oh!'.

The Detective, as well as the circle of spirits, watched as he got to his knees and gently pulled up the old, jagged stone from earlier. He situated it into the ground, making sure it was more upright at this point. He pulled together a few smaller stones around it, making it look more decorative and professional. It didn't take long for the Detective to know what Moon was doing, as he had finished up by making a small cross out of sticks, tying it together with the stems of dead leaves. A little memorial.

One of the taller figures slowly floated towards the memorial, looking towards it. It would get to it's knees(?) and get into a position that made it look like it was praying. Soon, all of the other spirits would do the same, bowing their heads and following along. At this point, however, Moon had no real idea of what to do. Sure, he had properly memorialized them, but what next?

Thankfully, the Detective had an idea. He gently limped towards the kneeling spirit, letting a scarred hand hover over the shoulder. Then, he began to recite a prayer in Latin. "Pater caram habeant animarum ire nocuit regni posuit animam requiescere..." He recited deeply, his voice sounding oddly... calming.

Sure enough, with small, yet audible, gasps, the spirits began to fade away, slowly lifting into the sky. The one kneeling would the the last to go, being lifted up above as it was still praying. Soon, only Moon and the Detective were alone.

The two remained silent for a little bit longer before the Detective began to walk past Moon, heading back towards the path. "...I believe they're put to rest now," He stated simply, his grin as wide as it ever was.

"You know Latin?" Moon asked, turning his body to keep an eye on the man.

"Yup. When you read as much sacred works as I do, you get a tongue for it," He chuckled, continuing on.

Moon hurried to his side, deciding it was time for him to head back as well. "Thanks for helping," He responded, looking his way. "It's awful to know that they had to... well, die in such a bad way. But knowing that ghosts can't leave our world until they're put to rest. Or, in some cases, finish some sort of motive they had when they were alive."

"Yup, pretty much," The Detective replied with a slight nod. "Thankfully it was simple, this time. Some spirits are harder to get rid of than others. Hell, some of 'em can't even leave our world, even after death."

"Phantoms, right?" The hippie reaffirmed, gaining a nod from the taller, lankier man.

"Seems like you know a lot about this kinda thing," The Detective said, raising an eyebrow in Moon's direction.

"Yeah..! Ghosts are neat. I think that's probably the first time I've ever seen that many all at once," Moon replied. After a few seconds of walking, Moon spoke up. "...so, are you gonna tell me your actual name yet?"

A few more seconds of faux thinking later, the Detective flashed a big smile to him. "Nah." Moon rolled his eyes again, giving a wry smile in return.