Nightmares Vs Magic

Annabelle was grinning widely behind her, bouncing on her heels as Dove noticed Bence from the corner of her eye, come back with a traditional looking, leather suitcase. It somehow matched the rest of his outfit which isn't easy to do unless you were to dress like an old school detective, which Bence wasn't. 

Instead of a suit jacket, today it was a grey button up shirt, the sleeves rolled mid-forearm, and a brown leather vest, his black-tie tucked in. Although, his tie didn't look normal, it looked like there was something hidden underneath the fabric. I didn't question it, I did however want to ask where he got the black suit pants, but I didn't.

"Will you be coming with us? Laurence told me to wait for you in case you might be interested." Bence told her, adjusting the position of his tie to sit more comfortably on his chest. 

He then noticed the notebook in her hands. 

"Oh! Are you planning to use those notes for the case? They might help."

Dove looked down from him to the notebook, flipping through more of the notes, before flipping all the way to the front page and finding an organized table of contents. Laurence, despite the mess he can create in the conference room when doing research on a new case, is very meticulous and organized when it came to finished notes. 

There was information on more than just sleep warning, but also lists of other supernatural creatures or nightmares that appeared commonly. The notes contained all sorts of instructions for them and everything. I think this was his old journal when he was starting out, the dates give evidence for it.

"Yeah, I think it might be useful. Laurence did say he gave me this to help me." She said, gently shutting the book and tucking it under her arm.

Her white button up long-sleeve was a great contrast to Bence's outfit, and she may have felt a tad left out when noticing Annabelle was also in an all-black outfit. Only Dove's dark grey pants prevented her from feeling self-conscious.

Likely an outfit provided from the gym floor that she wasn't changing out of.

Bence had made one last check that both girls were prepped for the case before leaving. Claire was waiting in the magic store, taking lots of pictures of each of the products there as she spoke with Liora. 

They had a more friendly chat; she ranted about the knowledge she had on Pagan religions and the wiccan stuff she enjoyed during Halloween, Liora would respond back with questions of any possible items she may want to stock up on for any possible rituals. When Claire asked about any occult items for a possible video idea she had, Liora led her to the isle with the straw dolls.

Dove looked at their interaction with envy whilst standing next to Bence who was having a talk with Lucia. Mostly about the situation and her advice on any supplies in case the ones he had weren't right. Always good to get supernatural advice from an actual supernatural creature. He held back pinching the bridge of his nose when she mischievously spoke back in riddles.

"Liora sure knows how to entertain people like Claire." Annabelle popped up beside Dove after watching how the two women interacted as they came back and Liora had already bought some new candles and protection charms. "As expected from a magic retail worker."

"I sure wish I knew how to converse as pleasantly as them." Dove forced herself to lightly chuckle as she quickly moved her eyes to Annabelle, just to be polite, playing with the wide cuffs of her mid-length sleeves. 

"But, most people aren't worth your company, so you don't get to act as pleasant, don't you?" Annabelle nudged her arm playfully. 

Dove gave her a confused yet grinning face, until Bence then told them it was time to go. Dove gave Claire another awkward and curt nod of apology, before then being playfully and gently shoved by Annabelle to Bence's car instead of her own. 

Okay so I guess some Fae might be aware of their strengths, otherwise Annabelle definitely would've played rougher, if I recall all the times she played around with the others and me.

"I'm guessing Joon isn't coming with this time? Since there's no material he can take back to the labs?" Dove asked as she watched Annabelle and Claire have some light banter from a distance, walking over to Claire's vehicle, which was also topless, like Dove's. 

Bence unlocked his car. 

"That, and he's also banned from going on any field cases until he passes a proper safety test that Enzo is making him take." Bence told her simply as he opened the car door for her before walking around to the driver side. 

Dove could hear the light banter between Annabelle and Claire, mostly about Claire complaining about her sun hat not staying on properly, while Annabelle pointed out her many sunglasses in the car. 

-

On the fourth floor, in a different room down the hall from the labs, Joon is trying his hardest to pay attention while listening to Enzo debrief on the proper etiquette to deal with rude people during cases. There was a whiteboard on the wall, with rules of what not to do with weapons on hand, where Enzo had to repeatedly add a new rule each time Joon pointed out a loophole. 

"You know I'm starting to think you've forgotten the whole original purpose of why these batons were made." He said as he was presenting Joon with his custom-designed baton, which is much heavier and thicker than what the interns received. 

Joon, resting his head on his elbows, shrugged his shoulders. 

"I'm starting to think it's getting dumb of me to point out the loopholes you now made rules against, when I could've just kept my mouth shut and done them on the field instead." Hsi face then lit up as a thought came to him.

"Oh dangit! I should've thought like Canada during World War II."

Enzo's places his hands on his hips as he tilts his face up to the ceiling, sighing. 

"This must be how Bence felt with the twins."

-

Dove sat silently in the car beside Bence as they followed Claire's car up ahead. 

He glanced at her every so often from the side but also stayed silent. 

Claire lived in the beach area, so while her and Annabelle continued driving in towards her house as the road got narrow, Bence chose to stop and look for a parking spot outside the neighborhood. The buildings were surprisingly in an old area, just with remodeled homes. 

"This neighborhood is filled with people who wave their phones around, waiting for something interesting to record. You and Annabelle might appear that way to them." Bence suddenly spoke up as he parked the car. 

Dove hummed, just as she was beginning to unbuckle her seatbelt. 

"If anyone so much as takes their phones out to record you or Annabelle without your consent, tell me immediately." He says to her firmly. 

"I will break their wrists and then their necks if I have to." He says calmly, without any verve or vigor. 

If he could, he has no reason to prove he would. It was easy to see for someone like him. Despite his nature of always being around ancient tomes, his reading hours did nothing to hide the hours he clearly spent on the gym floor.

She just nods as they get out of the car. 

I always knew he would do more than just go to visit a pair of twins I still haven't met. Jalal and Malicka... was It? Those names sound Arabic. I think that's a spoken language in Egypt. Mom never taught me how to speak any languages spoken in Egypt. I think she despised the thought.

Bence and Dove walked past the houses where there were many people out and about. Most were on their phones typing, others were recording and making videos. They slowly caught up to Annabelle and Claire, who were still having some light banter, just outside her house now. 

It was certainly a strange neighborhood. The only signs of technology besides the people were the powerlines. The only signs of modernity were the remodeled beach houses. I noticed that in the distance was an older house untouched by people or modernity. It had a lighthouse construction attached to it. 

"Now that I think about it, I didn't just get weird visions of a black and white face in my dreams. Sometimes I did get a weird feeling each time I went back inside my house, but I always ignored it." Claire admitted as she rubbed her arm, staring up at the beach house before them. 

"Ever since I moved in, everything was fine, but these weird feelings started a couple days ago."

"Can you give us a specific time of when you got these feelings?" Bence asked her as Annabelle took a look around the place. 

With her athletic outfit on, Annabelle seemed to fit in nicely along with the other beach goers, if it weren't for the coat she wore to keep up professional appearances. 

She was truly like an embodiment of summer.

Bence and Dove on the other hand, with their suit-oriented styles, stood out. 

Some neighbors or friends of Claire's waved and hollered at them. 

"Hey Claire! Did you get a new video idea?"

"Who's the stiff looking people?"

Tick marks appeared on both Bence and Dove. Bence gently asked for Claire's attention. 

"May we enter the house so we can search for any clues relating to your nightmares? A paranormal intervention such as having consistent dreams of a black and white figure might have clues in your home. If you are not comfortable with me searching your home and rooms, I will understand and only assign Annabelle and Dove to go instead." He said in a stiff and stoic tone. It was like a practiced line he had for when he didn't feel like conversing but was forced to speak in order to get anything done. 

Claire shrugged her shoulders and responded with that upbeat personality she had from this morning. 

"Yeah! The latter choice defo works out a lot for me! Sorry handsome, it's nothing against you, I just didn't get any of the rooms ready for any guests, especially guys unless they're my besties."

"It's fine. I completely understand and our agency has protocols to make sure all our clients are comfortable and safe." 

He turned to Dove and Annabelle, giving them a nod to start following Claire towards the front door for her to unlock, only to see she never locked her front door and was just opening it for them to be polite. Dove still gave her an awkward nod as she walked in.

Bence had planned to wait outside the house or check the perimeters, if it weren't for Claire's curious friends. 

"Dude! Your outfit is pretty hot."

"Yes... While I understand it's not suited for the beach, I didn't exactly plan to come here."

"No, I meant like you look like a rugged guy from like that one game about a guy in an apocalypse."

His friend playfully nudged his shoulder, beginning to squeal as she began to point at the old house with the built-in lighthouse in the distance. 

"Oooh! He looks like one of those detective characters who would go to explore buildings like those, and like fight mutated monsters there."

The man in the grey shirt internally groaned as the two continued to talk at him, until his ears picked up on something useful. 

"I bet he'd actually know what to do if he heard rumors about someone secretly living in that place." 

Bence finally decided to clear his throat to gather their attention, pointing to the old house untouched by people. 

"Is there a rumor about someone secretly living in that building?"

-

While he questioned them, inside Claire's house, Dove stood to the side, almost making herself invisible as Annabelle and Claire conversed. Although, it didn't completely sound like they were getting along, just ignoring the tension.

Claire was one of those people who easily maneuvered from one conversation topic to another as she gave them a tour and look throughout her house. From her living room to her kitchen, to her bathroom, and her bedroom, all the while showing off the assortment of items she has from very different topics.

"And I got this cool little trinket at another occult store I found, the salt in here is supposed to ward away evil spirits." She said as she held a small purple bottle containing what appeared to be salt crystals. 

She tapped the sides with her manicured nails like some would do in an ASMR video as she showed it to the interns. 

"Ever since I started having those weird dreams, I would pour these over my bedroom threshold, and my bedroom windows, to stop any bad spirits from getting in."

She put the bottle down and then pointed to the dreamcatchers hanging above them.

"I also bought a lot of those to stop the bad dreams, but then it just made them weird. Isn't that crazy?"

Annabelle nodded, her smile not exactly reaching her eyes. 

"All your items vary between the pagan beliefs and voodoo, to scientific and historical posters. It's always so interesting meeting people like you." She said, to which Claire gave her a funny look. 

"I always wonder exactly which side people like you would be on."

"Oh! Thank you! I find that it's good to be a multi-faceted person."

Dove stepped away from them and took another look around the room, underneath her stoic face she was grimacing.

So, this is what it feels like to be on the good side of girls who can easily give backhanded compliments.

With the notebook tucked under her arm, she decided to first go for the practical method of searching for any signs of possible break-ins or theft. She looked at the glass of the windows, testing the locks.

"You said in your dreams, the people will acknowledge the figure, and then tell you to lock your doors and windows. And that always triggers you to wake up?" Dove asked her as she turned to look back at Claire, while keeping a hand on the lock of the window. 

"Yeah, it's weird. I read about them and apparently some people say it happens to them where like a ghost is trying to warn them. But it can't be possible for me, I mean, I did research on my place before buying it, and no one has ever died in here." Claire shrugged. 

"Oh, I doubt the lack of death history in a home would prevent evil spirits from creeping in. Some say even mirrors can act as portals for spirits." Annabelle told her. 

Claire hummed in curiosity. 

"Do you mind if I open your windows? I want to test something, and I promise not to break-"

"Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. So, what's this about mirrors? Like, does that explain those old games of saying a spirit's name three times in a mirror?" Claire eagerly asked Annabelle, who beckoned her to the restroom and explain further. 

Annabelle looked over her shoulder to Dove quickly, nodding her head to her, as if beckoning Dove to continue her work. 

Dove didn't really understand why Annabelle was acting like she was distracting Claire but shook it off as she began to open the bedroom windows, one by one. 

She looked carefully at the frames, and for each window she would test the climb-ability of each one by carefully sticking her body out to sit on the edge. Dove looked at the brick walls, and how the two bedroom-windows were a good height away from the ground level. 

I'm about 5'5, so if there were to let's say be a male who was trying to climb the windows, they need only get a good leap and grip. But doing that would cause noise and she has neighbors on either side of her house. Not much room in between houses to get a running leap. The other option would be to get a stool that he could easily step on to peer inside the window, and then easily carry around when he's done, maybe even one that's foldable and easy to hide.

Dove pulled herself back in halfway after observing the outer parts of the window, leaning back on the bottom of the frame as she tested pulling the window up and down by grabbing it from the outer bottom edge. 

I think there's some type of equipment in some gyms that mimic this movement and position. Either way it didn't help me figure anything out, I already opened the window.

She pulled herself back in and stood up, shutting the window closed and locking it. 

dove walked past the two were talking about paranormal games in the restroom as Annabelle told her about some more old children's scary games. 

"Never play 'One Man Hide-and-Seek' unless you have a large container of salt on you. It has to be enough to at least pour a salt circle around yourself twice, so that you can end the game." 

Claire rolled her eyes. 

"Oh please, those are called games for a reason. They don't actually work, people only died from those games because they played them in sketchy buildings. And who likes hanging out at sketchy buildings more than dumb kids? Serial killers and dangerous addicts."

Annabelle tried her best to hide the twitching of her eye. 

"And yet you believe in salt crystals."

"Because they have natural remedies! How can you be from Ireland and not know this?"

"Annabelle. Claire. Can you two please come with me?" Dove said quickly, snapping them both to focus on her. 

She spoke sternly and stiffly, in case there were any strong tensions that may lead to argument. 

"I would like to test something. I believe that your dreams may not be caused by ghosts, but your own human instincts."

If what Laurence's notes say are true, then even without ghosts, the body can have rare moments of waking itself up if it senses danger. This could be like that theory of how our brains will sometimes scare us with the feeling of falling to make our heart race, because our heart rate was too low, and so the brain is testing to make sure the body is alive.

Without further explaining, she brings them out and asks Claire to show her to the backdoor. 

Dove takes a close look at the door, inspecting the hinges to test for sound, and wiggling the doorknob to see how loose or tight it was. 

"Do your door hinges normally squeak?"

"No. Since I can't have any background noise interrupting my video recordings, I always make sure to put some oil on them. My friends sometimes like to come through my backdoor and I don't exactly have a fence around my backyard, so they're usually passing through."

"Even at night?"

Claire let out a hum, frowning as Dove's words were beginning to unnerve her, a gift and a curse that Dove has a tendency to subconsciously use with regrets afterwards. 

Years ago, I had a lot of dark humor come to me easily. Now, I had some unfortunate training to just disturb people with words. Man, I hate that stupid therapist...

"Well, I don't know. I'm not in my house until dawn and I think I just pass out soon after, and sleep till noon." 

Oh, just like my old sleep schedule. Us women are alike in more ways than we realize.

"Is the doorknob supposed to be this loose?"

"What?!" Claire ran up to stand next to Dove, pushing her hand away as she grabbed the knob next, wiggling it and noticing how much it was able to tilt out of place, and even pushed and pulled to see how almost out of socket it was. 

They noticed cracks on the edge of the frame right next to the plate of the door jamb, and cracks on the edge of the door, next to the latch.

"Yeesh, someone doesn't know how to use a chisel." Annabelle said in an attempt to lighten the mood as she could see Claire's hands begin to tremble.

Dove observed her actions closely as she closed the backdoor as they all stood outside and proceeded to look at the ground. 

Because it's all sand that's covering a wooden deck, footprints are easy to hide. Unless the sand was just more wet or condensed enough to leave an imprint...

"I'm sure my friends are just rough with the door." Claire said in a nervous tone. 

"Sometimes they're drunk and need a place to crash." 

Annabelle raised an eyebrow while still keeping her grin, though it didn't reach her eyes. 

"Are you implying that you often leave your door unlocked for your friends, and you only began having dreams a couple days ago? Did you perhaps anger any of your friends?" Annabelle questioned her. 

Dove didn't join in on the conversation between them, letting Annabelle who she considered more pleasant in conversation, to interrogate the now nervous woman. She drifted further away when she stepped back to pick up her phone. 

Bence was calling her now. 

Are you both ok?

Yes, but we have evidence that Claire's dreams were less paranormal, and mostly due to her gut instincts. Her backdoor has a loose doorknob and signs of a possible break-in attempt. 

I see. That evidence actually has some plausible connection to some evidence I found. Did you or Annabelle notice an old building a good distance away? A house with a short lighthouse connected?

Yes, why? Is there someone secretly living there?

Bence seemed to lightly chuckle at the other end from her quick guess, but then quickly cleared his throat, trying to cover it up.

I can't say for sure. I went inside, found some wrappers and flashlights. I heard the other residents like to explore and make videos here, so, I'm not certain whether this trash was left by an actual camper, or just some people looking for content.

Do you want me or Annabelle to go over and help you look?

No. I highly advise against it. Don't get me wrong, you seem pretty sturdy, and Annabelle is,,, eccentric, but I don't like the idea of either of you coming here if there really is a possible addict or camper. Especially if I have no idea what their state of mind is like.

Well, I don't like the idea of you being alone in that big house then if your fears might be true.

He sighs from the other end.

I see your point, but I would like it if you stayed with Claire. If you're suspicions about a possible break-in are true, then stay with her, call the police, and have them send some people to check her house at night.

His advice was met with silence.

As Bence continued his walkthrough of the old house, only just now exploring the lighthouse part of it, Dove finally responded with some hesitance.

... I don't think the police will send anyone, I mean, I think they might come check, but I don't think they'll watch her house at night. They might just tell her to record everything herself to give some more solid evidence to them later. 

... Are you speaking from experience?

He asked her, also beginning to speak more carefully.

No, I'm just, speaking out of concern and doubt. Sorry. I'll call the police and have them take care of her then.

No, wait. Stay on the line first. You might be right. I could be rushing this. That's on me.

That's not what I meant! - o-other than a possible break-in, Annabelle and I still haven't found any other clues as to what could be causing her dreams. 

Dove began to stammer.

Claire believes there were no records of death in the home, she does small rituals and has knick-knacks to try and prevent bad dreams. She's even bought some stuff from the magic store; I think some are fake while others are legit. I sifted through Laurence's notes, but I can't find anything on what can cause haunted dreams.

Dove. It's okay. I'll let you in some information that's difficult to put on paper, and a possible reason for why Laurence never wrote it down. 

He could hear Dove's breathing on the other end, along with the tone of her voice.

On her end, Dove was watching as Annabelle tried to ease Claire's worries while also still urging her to begin being more wary, a very thin line to tread. 

"I'm sure your friends are pleasant but it's time you start asking them to not bother you so late at night."

"But I'm not usually home, even late at night! Who would be waiting this long to stalk me?!" Claire responded, her voice becoming more frantic. 

Dove hesitated to go over and put a heavy hand on her shoulder to calmly weigh her down, but she doubted her ability to comfort others.

Sometimes, people will subconsciously, and unwillingly give themselves scary thoughts. No other reason, sometimes, some people just end up imagining scary things all on their own. If a person stares into a mirror in the dark long enough, their brain will just get bored and play tricks on them. People who aren't haunted have a tendency to do this.

I s-see.

If Claire has a tendency to often look into occult stuff and do research on serial killers like other influencers do, it's possible her brain just received enough inspiration to begin creating an original nightmare. Combine that with your idea that her gut instincts are telling her someone has been trying to break into her home, and I think it could be one of those rare cases. The ones where the brain is having this strange ability to know when something's wrong, and Claire's has been attempting to keep her safe.

True, she did say she didn't have a habit of locking her doors until her dreams started telling her to.

Then there. you've gathered all the evidence you could. There's only so much evidence one can gather when it comes to circumstantial situations. Now then, I have found nothing here except what I fear is a condom on the floor. Stay put if you can, I will be coming back after having regrettably wasted my time. 

His sigh was very audible as he began walking past some more trash he found inside the disrespected home.

"Please excuse me." He said seemingly to the house as he began to leave.

What was I thinking? Even if there was someone possibly camping here, they're too far away to spy on the client's house, or anyone's house in general.

Dove stifled a bit of laughter on the other end, making him grin. 

If you have doubts about the police helping, that's okay. Less paperwork for us anyway if we don't transfer the case to someone else's hands. Say, do you like tales about merfolk? 

Um, kind of embarrassing but yeah. I read a lot on them. Why?

When I get back, we'll be heading back to Macabre House, and you and the others might get a chance to meet some real-life sirens, if they're available to help us with some guard duty.