[ Laura ]

"So, is there anything about the Guest Room you want to share?" I asked.

She didn't say anything at first but I urged her that it could be important. And it was.

"Actually, the guest room isn't actually a guest room. It's a room where John used to keep all his important office files and stuff." She replied.

"It would all be so simple if the area was under surveillance." I sighed. If it weren't for Sara to flinch, the case would never have been solved. I insisted Sara not to hide anything.

"Actually, yes. There's a camera footage if you would want to check out. Actually, I happened to notice it today morning, while locking up the room. The cops don't know about it. " Sara said after a long pause.

"What? There is. Mrs. Sara, you realise you were hiding stuff from the cops. It's a crime." I replied not because I felt it that way but I always wanted to play real FBI. I wasn't going to miss any opportunity.

"I'm sorry. Please, don't let the higher ups know about this. I just wanted to make things less complicated, you see, if the cops got all his files, it could be harmful to the company. I just want all this to be over soon so that as soon as this matter is settled, I'm going to sell this house and company and start over somewhere far away." She pleaded.
Selling everything and running away did seem understandable for a rich widow.

"Look, I'll show you what I saw." She said while frantically looking in all directions.

She led me out of the house, towards what looked like a security cabin and told the watchman to play the footage.

I saw John messing up the room, pulling out drawers. Then he sat on bed and held his head as though everything was over. He stayed like that for a few minutes, finally went over to the dressing table and pulled it so as to separate it from the wall. He then turned the dressing table so that the back of the mirror faced him. He showed a gesture of relief and unstuck a previously hidden key attached to the mirror's back . He then pulled out a golf stick from a cupboard and tore down a part of the wooden wall. There was a metal cavity inside the wood, like a secret storage unit. On looking closely, I realised it was a safe.He then fiddled with his pocekts, removed the key and opened the safe. That's when the video went bizarre and stopped.

"What happened next?" I asked curiously.

"That's what I've got." She said.

"First you hide this from cops and now the footage is incomplete.You sure you are not hiding anything?" I asked. Before she could answer, I heard a car's horn. It was Sebastian.

"Yes, I swear" she swore. She did look true.

"If you know anything, just call." I said. She nodded and I left with the pendrive, the one containing the footage.

"Found anything?" I asked Sebastian once I got in the dusty chevy.

"Nothing much. There's definitely a strange mark on the body. But it's nothing, just an injury. I'll show you the pic once we get home." He promised.

"And yes, what that 'Lady in White' said turns out to be the truth. John did play dirty in business. He had killed his business partner, Ryan, four years ago. But I don't know why the ghost is acting up now, after such a long time." He continued.

"What did you do while I was gone?" He asked after a few minutes.

"Lots. I got something you would never have got." I said boastfully.

"And what's that, Agent Peters?" He asked wondering what it could be.

"I'll show you once we get to the motel". I didn't want to spoil the fun just now.

We got to our room, freshened up and he pulled out a a folder. He flipped through pages and handed me the report.

It was a disgusting photograph, naturally, ever heard of non-disgusting, beautiful dead bodies. There were three holes in his chest.

"What are those?" I asked.

"Burn marks, because of bullets." he answered.
Guns didn't seem like a ghost thing and the room was messed up by John himself. If it wasn't robbery nor something paranormal, What was it?

"Now your turn. Tell me what did you get. " he said.

I gestured him to pass on the laptop which was beside him, connected the pendrive.

"It's probably nothing." I said.

The video started. I watched it again intently in order to find something appealing. But again I didn't notice anything.

"Where did you get this?" Sebastian asked surprised.

"There was surveillance in that room." I answered. "Anyway, Michael won't talk, the video's incomplete. We've got no leads." I said disappointed.

"Laura, you did an amazing job! The answer is hidden in this footage itself. See."

He slowed down the last part of the video where it turned bizarre and paused quickly.

I couldn't believe what I saw. When John was opening the safe, I saw a figure right behind him. A figure in what looked like a ruined black suit with a washing of red near the chest part.

"Is that" I opened my mouth in awe. Even if I was chased by demons, ghosts did manage to surprise me.

"Yes. That's a pale, stinky, ghost version of Ryan Williams". He answered.

"Now what? " I asked Sebastian wondering what was the next step in ghost hunting procedure.

"We dig the grave, salt and burn the bones." He said casually.

"We do what? Digging up a grave. You can't be serious. You are" I asked definitely surprised.

He nodded.

"But first, we gotta eat." I looked out. Night had already fallen. We then went to a nearby restaurant. I realised how hungry I was when the smell of the delicious food hit my nose.

*******

"

So, we are heading to the graveyard, right? " I asked Sebastian once we got in the car. He nodded. Fortunately, we were saved to search where Ryan was buried as the locals buried the dead in one vast graveyard. But that did mean searching dead Ryan in a pool of the dead.

"Where exactly is his grave?" I asked once we reached the graveyard. He was busy removing a dusty sack from the trunk.

"Don't know."he said while putting the sack on his bag.

"What's that?" I pointed at the sack.
"Ghost burning equipment" he grinned. So digging up graves and burning down the bones amused him. Sebastian sure was weird.

"We gotta search the grave. You take the left side, I'll take the right." He said casually.

Now, I was a normal human and walking in a graveyard when the dark had fallen did bother me. "Dude, can't we go together? "

"So Laura's a scaredy cat." Sebastian teased.
"Fine. Let's search separately." My self respect was greater than my fear. And after being scared to death by those demons, how much would Mr. Bones scare me? I reassured myself.

I walked through the mist reading the gravenames. Then I stumbled over a grave. "Sorry!" I muttered when my senses returned , and continued my search. I controlled my urge to call Sebastian several times and the rising cold and mist was making the situation worse. I searched one row after another ignoring the weird noises, praying that a skeleton hand won't grab my feet and finally I came at the grave.

RYAN WILLIAMS
MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PEACE
WE ALL MISS YOU

The stone tablet said. So much for R.I.P, I thought. I called Sebastian who came after a few minutes. I passed the time watching at the beautiful graveyard scenery.

As soon as he came, he started digging up the grave. One disciplined stroke after another relentlessly. His clothes started to become dirty but he didn't seem to care - day to day business, I thought. This explained his fit muscular body. Digging up a grave was better than any other work out. Then a werd smell started coming from the have dug grave, the rotten flesh smell. Finally, the spade hit something. He stroked the wooden surface one last time and the wood fell off. Horror struck my eyes as I saw a skeleton dressed in some ruined clothing which once would have been a nice black suit. Panting, Sebastian reached for the sack and pulled out two smaller sacks then sprinkled the skeleton with loads of salt and some powder, a fuel perhaps. Then he took out his lighter and set the bones on fire.

"Done?" I asked while watching the bones burning.

He nodded and we left the house of the dead. I was so glad we left.

"So where are we going now?" I asked after settling in the car, slightly hoping he would say to my father.

"My uncle, he should be knowing what's going on and why were demons hunting you." He answered. We didn't speak much later.

"Is the ghost thing over? I mean, how do we know for certain?" I asked to break the silence.
"Yeah, the ghost should be crisped up by now. But there's no way of knowing." He answered.

"However one thing bothers me. Usually, when I dig up graves and set the bones ablaze, the ghost comes to offer some resistance. Here, things went pretty smoothly."

"Perhaps you are my lucky charm." he smiled. Wow I never thought a grave digger would flirt with me.

Before I could say anything, my phone buzzed. I checked who was calling. It was Sara.
I picked up wondering what was wrong.

"Agent Peters. Can you please come to my house quickly. Look, you won't believe me. But there's a ghost in my-" Sara said hysterically through sobs.

"What happened?" I asked but she hung up, or perhaps her mobile was now broken as I heard slamming and breaking before it went off.
I

told Sebastian what happened and he quickly reversed the car.

"I knew it. The ghost isn't gone." he said.
"But we did exactly what you said. We salted and burned the bones."

"Many times, a spirit is bound to the material world by it's remains, that is, the dead body or bones. So when the bones are burned, this bondage is broken and spirit returns to its rightful place. But sometimes, it's not just the ruins that bind a spirit. I think Ryan is bound by something else." Sebastian explained.

Well, there was a lot to learn about this weird stuff, I thought.

We got there and hurried towards the house. I pressed the doorbell and knocked the door but Sara didn't come.

"Sara, open the door. We are here" I shouted.

"Look, Laura, it's dangerous. Get back to the car. Now!" Sebastian sounded dead serious. But I wasn't going to leave Sara and her kids. "No" I said.

Sebastian asked me one more time but realised he was just wasting his time. He warned me not to get in the house anyway and ran towards a window. He grabbed a potted plant and slashed the glass. I tried the same thing to another window which, however, didn't shatter. I wasn't strong enough. Anyway I followed his lead after he had gone inside.

"Sara!" I heard him shout when I got in.
"I'm here." came a frightened voice from upstairs. We ran upstairs and found Sara banging against a closed door. The ghost had locked her up.

Sebastian and I hurried towards her but when we got there, I heard a scream and she was no longer at the door.

Then Sebastian told me to get out of his way and he kicked the door. He kicked it again and finally it broke off. Sara was lying on the wooden floor, her head covered in blood. Were we too late? Was she already dead? I gulped back the unpleasant thoughts and hurried towards her despite of Sebastian's warnings.

I wasn't going to budge now that I could see injured Sara. But Sebastian wasn't talking about that, what I ignored and had ran into was a ghost. While I helped Sara rise, Ryan stood behind me ready to grab my heart. I saw terror in Sara's eyes before she passed out. I tried to get away from the ghost but it appeared right before me. I froze and watched in horror as his icy hand reached my forhead. My skin tingled as his cold hand touched me.

As soon as he touched me, I felt an incredible amount of pain. I couldn't bear it and fell on my knees. Then another weird thing happened. Ryan looked me in the eye and it burned with pain, not physically but mentally. A vision rose in my eyes. I saw John and me playing as children, then at a business meeting. In the vision, I was Ryan. Then the flooding memories stopped and just one memory played.

I saw John holding a gun at my chest.
"Where is the pearl? Hand it over." John threatened me.

"John, It's not with me. What has happened to you? Look, the gun's real, man, I could die." Ryan pleaded.

"Where's the pearl?" John repeated again threateningly.

"Fine. I'll tell you. The pearl is on its way back to Maria sea trench where we found it. Look, the pearl is weird. I say we forget about it and look into other details."

"You kidding me. After all the efforts we spent on that pearl you simply throw it away. I'll kill you. "

"No" Ryan yelled. But before he could move, John pulled off the trigger and shot three bullets right in my heart. I felt my chest wetting with blood and the pain dullimg my senses.

Then the scene changed and all the pain faded. I heared a voice in my head. "Ryan? Do you accept it. Your soul for your revenge." The voice was cold but very familiar but it was much later that I realised it was Delroy's.

"Yes, I do" I heard Ryan in my head.

Then the vision changed again and I found myself, as Ryan, inside a grave. I felt itching in my right back palm. I looked at it and a mark had appeared, the same mark Sebastian showed me in the report. Then, I saw myself rise. Not my body but just my soul rose through the grave.

Then the vision changed again and I saw me, as Ryan, killing John against Ryan's feeling.Then my vision went black and I heard two clear words in my head.

Save Me. I identified the voice. It was Ryan.
I was just puzzled as you guys are now when I saw all this. Why was the ghost sharing his memories with me? From what did he want protection? I didn't get much time to think as I was snapped back to reality.

The pain reappeared in my chest . I was about to breath my last breaths when Sebastian slashed the ghost with the golf stick. It disappeared but returned again, this time, his attention focused at Sebastian.

"Laura, you okay?" Sebastian shouted.

I took a deep breath and nodded. I checked my dress whether I was bleeding. But I was fine. I helped Sara in a sitting position. She was unconscious. I tore up a piece of her gown and bound it against the wound.

"Laura, the safe. What was in it, any lucky guess?" Sebastian asked. What was wrong with him? This was life or death. We needed to know for sure, we cannot afford a guess. He was about to get ghostraped and he was still joking about 'lucky guess'. But as I spent time with him, I understood, surviving a hunt always required luck.

As a matter of fact, I did actually have a guess. Ryan and John were fighting regarding that big black pearl which Sara was now wearing. Maybe, it was the pearl to which Sebastian was bound. I quickly plucked off the pearl from Sara's necklace and threw it at Sebastian.

He removed his lighter and lit the pearl. As I saw the pearl burning, the ghost of Ryan too caught flames and got burned. His ashes then disintegrated spiritually maybe as nothing was left behind, except for the ruined pearl.

It took me a few minutes to realise what had happened. Sebastian hurried towards me to check on me. "You okay?" He asked me again.

"Physically, yeah. But my mind is doing gymnastics. " I answered. I took the ruined pearl as a souvenir. Much later I realised the pearl was way too useful for a souvenir. (In second book)

He helped me rise Sara on the bed. I saw Michael and his brother, Rick staring through the door, frightened. As soon as I looked at them, they froze. They perhaps were thinking we were the bad guys.

But Sebastian went over to them.

"Hey, which one of you is Michael? " Sebastian asked curiously.

Rick, the smaller fellow, pointed at Michael.

"So Michael, you did see what happened to your dad and now mom too?"

What was he doing? Telling a ten year old the truth! I was about to interfere but Sara stirred in bed.

"Michael, how old are you?"

"Ten" Michael replied. I didn't think he would say a word.

"Look, Michael. There's no point in telling you that nothing here happened. You saw what happened. But you also saw how I ganked the ghost. It's your choice. Whether you choose to be afraid of ghosts or destroy this fear and be a brave man. Look, after your dad, it's you who has to take responsibility. It's your choice whether to mourn over your loss or help your mom and brother get over it. Because that's what big brothers do. So tell me, Are you afraid of ghosts?" Sebastian asked.

Michael shook his head

"That's my boy." Sebastian patted his back.

He had a gift with children. Rick and Michael no longer seemed frightened. Sebastian told them to go downstairs and they obeyed. I felt bad for the kids. Yesterday their dad died and today, their mom was about to die.

I couldn't help but notice how Sebastian was talking with Michael. As though his past and Michael's past were similar. Later I found out Sebastian's past was darker, much darker.

We left after Sara woke up. She walked us to the car and thanked us many many times. And before leaving, Michael ran towards Sebastian and hugged him. Then we left for Sebastian's Uncle.

It felt so nice. The feeling you get after saving people is the best. First I used to wonder why Sebastian and all other hunters accepted hunting. Perhaps it was because of this feeling you get. Later I realised there were not just one selfless kind of hunters but some extremely cunning and selfish. And Sebastian was a selfless kind but there was more to his character.

"I'm sorry. " Sebastian said after a while.

"About what?" I asked.

"Back there, I was careless. I was all about killing the ghost and because of me, it grabbed you. I should have never brought you there and should have locked you down. You could have died." He said worriedly.

"No, that's not true. It was no one's fault. Even if you had locked me in the car, I would have slipped away." I said comforting him.

"Look, Laura. All this we are doing is to save you from the crazy and you yourself are willingly involving with the crazy. We hunt down these creatures because we are trained to. You, unlike us, had a normal non-risky life. You are not a hunter ; don't try to become one. To become a doctor, that's your dream, isn't it? Treasure it. As soon as you get back, forget me as a bad, really bad nightmare." Sebastian continued.

Why was he saying this? He wasn't a nightmare, he saved me not once but twice now.

"I agree I wasn't trained to be a hunter. But every hunter has his reason, doesn't he? Now I am here, trying to survive from those demons. Becoming a hunter is not about wish, Sebastian. It's what life makes you. Agree it or not, I am a hunter and survival is my reason." I answered back.

"Why do you want to become a hunter so badly?" Sebastian seemed annoyed. "Just look at the shitty lifestyle I live. It's all new to you that's why it might seem awesome to you , to beat down the evil and to save people. But believe me, being hunter sucks. It destroys your dreams, your life." Sebastian suddenly flared up, his voice full of bitterness.

"You know what, becoming a doctor isn't my complete dream. When I was not more than 14 , I had winessed an accident. I saw a man die right before me and I couldn't do anything. It was helpless. No one was around to answer to my cries and that poor man gave his last breath infront of me. If I were able to do something then, he would have lived. That's why I wanted to become a doctor. I wanted to save lives. And being a hunter is no different. Obviously the risks you need to take increase exponentially, but even the number of lives you save increase. I think, my dream is still the same essentially, just a few details changed." I answered.

"Fine. If you want to become a hunter, I'll recognise you as one. But remember, in the longer run, it will gift you nothing but sadness and grief. After all, it's your life, your choice." Sebastian surprisingly agreed.

Perhaps he was confident I'll encounter something so terrible in my journey that I would want to return to my old life. But who knew I didn't actually have a choice since even my old life, my house and the people I knew was all about to crumble. One thing was certain, irrespective of what path I chose, my life was about to fill with endless grief and darkness, the likes of which would make even Hell seem better.