Nightmares Vs Magic

Many went outside to check the weather. Some were already out, checking the status of the weather on their smart devices.

"It's not supposed to be foggy today!" One exclaimed.

"Is this a prank? Are we gonna get mobbed?"

"Who turned on their fog machine?"

The young women walked past each of them without garnering any attention, as they were all distracted trying to figure out the weather and making their own theories.

It's difficult to run in sand, no wonder people always say, "take a walk out on the beach" or "jogging on the beach". It also explains why most beach goers are always barefoot. But I had no plans to take my shoes and socks off, I can't stand grains or crumbs on my hands and fingers, like hell I'm gonna let it touch my feet!

The neighborhood shouldn't have been that difficult to navigate, but of course, it wasn't a normal neighborhood. There were rows of houses, but then also the spaces in between, and different spots where fires would be made for groups of people to sit and chat. Then there were the yards with hot tubs, and if you turn down a certain path in the neighborhood, watch your feet, you could end up tripping on the stairs.

The houses are on more concrete surfaces, despite what all the scattered sand will have one think, and if you want to actually go for a swim, there's a wooden path you can follow out to a desk, where the stairs are. Don't worry about falling, there are guard rails and fences.

The stairs only lead further down the beach, where visitors and residents have direct access to the ocean. It's also where the sand increases, unlike the surface above the short stairs on the deck, where it was just a few layers of sand here and there, making it easy to trip.

Dove squinted her eyes to scan the beach, leaning onto the railing as she had not chosen to go down the stairs yet.

The sand could no longer be seen, she could hear some people behind hear tripping and falling over items dropped or left on the deck or the ground. You could almost cringe after hearing some poor souls who managed to trip and fall face first into the fire stoves in the social circles. The fires were put out hours ago.

Back to the beach, aside from sand, there was more. Some tanning chairs with rows of large umbrellas, drilled into the sand and all closed. The fog gave the illusion of such a flat land, until some rocks could be spotted just a bit farther out.

Right on the shore, between the sand and ocean, I spotted Claire, sitting on one of the large rocks. It looked natural at first, but you could easily tell that it was manually put there. I mean, large rocks big enough to lounge on, just sitting half sunken into the sand, in a picture-perfect spot on the beach? Such a perfect place for influencers this was.

Dove carefully walked down the stairs and onto the more-difficult-walk-on sand, having to move very slowly, not like she wasn't earlier. From how much tripping she witnessed earlier, of course one would have to walk slow, but each step into the sand on the beach officially close to the water was like a hindrance.

It's a smart move, making the fog thicker near the ground so that anyone sneaking around will trip and draw attention to themselves, but man is it a nuisance to people who are just trying to get around. Why does that remind me of certain laws we have?

When she reached Claire who appeared to be sitting on the rock, the young girl then noticed how the woman had been taking selfies. For how long? Dove guessed that Claire had been doing this since way before Dove found her.

"Claire?" She asked, quietly calming her breath as she looked up at the rock where the woman was perched.

",,, How did you even get up there?"

Claire seemed to scoff and huff with laughter as she stopped angling her phone's camera and looked down at Dove.

"Please, me and some other people here climb this rock all the time for photos. Sometimes when the water rises, sometimes when it lowers. It gets especially crowded during the fourth of July and New Year's."

"Uh-huh." Dove hummed, noting and remembering the fact regardless of its relevance.

"Well, anyhow, can you come down now? We should probably head back inside since it's getting late. If this fog gets any thicker, we might not be able to find out way back."

Claire groaned but begrudgingly began to get down as she continued to look towards the ocean, and surveying the rest of the beach. The brunette was suddenly beginning to have this faraway look in her eyes, an expression that was very unlike her character.

"I just thought those hot bodyguards would be here by now. If not at my house, then maybe here." She said with a slight daydream in her tone, looking out into the ocean.

Dove frowned in curiosity. Looking towards the ocean and then at their surroundings, growing suspicious.

"What made you feel that they'd at least be here?" She asked.

I know we all made sure that she didn't know her bodyguards were Sirens, they never even spoke to hint at their Siren voices.

"Just a feeling." Claire shrugged.

Dove stepped forward and lightly patted her shoulder. That action or physical contact seemed to bring the woman's focus back to her, causing her to blink away that faraway look in her eyes.

The silver-haired girl had no words, other than giving Claire a curt nod before gently herding her to walk back to the docks that led back up to the beach houses.

She politely gave the woman her elbow to hold onto whilst they walked back to her house, for it seemed that only just now noticed how heavy the haziness was heavy. She looked down in an almost childlike amazement at how her feet were near completely covered by the heavy mist as they walked.

They walked slowly, both so that she could admire this strange occurrence of nature, and so that their feet can feel for any tripping hazards they can't see.

When getting to the house, Annabelle's silhouette could be seen, and soon, she was then seen running out of the house and towards them. She called the two over.

"Dove. You odd little detector! You!" Annabelle called out as she met them halfway, as Dove was signaling for her to run lest she wanted to trip.

Dove quirked up an eyebrow at her.

The half human cleared her throat and waved her hand theatrically, beckoning the two to follow her.

Back inside Claire's house, the living room was neater than how it was left before. The different assortment of makeup palettes had their lids closed and stacked in different columns based on size. The racks-on-wheels of hanging clothes were gently pushed to the walls, and the clothes that were thrown from their hangers were respectfully placed on her sofa.

All of this was so that Bence could make a polite amount of room for a new guest to appear, just as Annabelle had beckoned Dove and Claire back into the house. She shut the door behind them, and the curtains were already pulled.

Sitting in a circle of candles, the little box was sitting open, with the mirror facing everyone.

Claire stepped out from behind Dove and gave a confused look.

"Um, why is my vintage mirror sitting out here? And which one of you touched my stuff without my permission?"

Dove immediately knew the answer to that, but instead of answering, she silently ushered for Claire to pay attention to the little ritual Bence was about to perform on the mirror. The well-mannered and slightly stoic necromancer was politely waiting for everyone's attention to avoid too much of a surprise as he knelt by the candles.

While he looked to the little mirror box and began to murmur an incantation to himself whilst hovering a hand over it, Dove gave a knowing look to Annabelle.

'When I said catch the ghost, I didn't mean touch her stuff.' She thought to herself.

Annabelle could read her face loud and clear, standing behind Claire and shrugging with a cheeky and innocent acting grin.

'I was helping you.' She thought back.

Their mental conversation ended when a flash of light emanated from the box, and they both turned their heads, first seeing Claire's mouth fall agape as she looked up, then shifting to focus on the now more translucent spirit in front of them.

She was standing on the floor just like them. Not floating like one would expect from a ghost, but she was dressed in outdated clothes.

Looked like she was from the 1950s based on her poodle skirt. She died from strangulation based on her ribbon that was cute based on the color but looked disturbingly tight wrapped around her neck.

Claire stumbled backwards as the translucent women who looked about the same age as her, appeared out of thin air. Dove outstretched her arm for to lean on as she kept her eyes on the ghost, studying her.

She looked to have brown hair like Claire, only it was shaped differently with wavy curls, and wore a neat white blouse that suited her green poodle skirt. There was an Eiffel tower silhouette stitched into the fabric. Her shoes looked like old style heels; ones appropriate for an office. Even though she looked to be about Claire's age, she dressed like an office women who had been working longer than her.

The 1950s woman tried to give a polite but visibly nervous smile as she reacted to Claire's frightened face. Annabelle returned it with a grin, and Bence gave a curt nod with a wave of his hand in a quick greeting.

"Who?! Stranger! Ghost?! M-my vintage- Ghost!?"

"Ma'am please, you'll both end up scaring each other." Bence attempted to calm her as he switched between the ghost and her.

"If I may have your name for this conversation miss? We have questions for you." He asked the woman in the poodle skirt.

She smiled and nodded.

"No need to say miss to me. I was younger than you when I died, but you can call me Nancy." She spoke with a tone far gentler than any speakers today. Her voice was both audibly loud enough to hear her gentle on the eardrums.

A strained, panicked and confused scream escaped Claire's mouth as she tried to make sense of this.

"WHAT the hell is this?!"

"Claire, I understand your panicking but breathe." Annabelle grabbed her gently by both shoulders from behind and looked over her shoulders at her. 

"Long story short, Dove and I learned there's a ghost in your house. Turns out your vintage mirror box was haunted by Nancy the ghost standing before us!" She told her in a chipper tone, a great contrast to Claire's shocked expression as she looked from Annabelle to Nancy.

Nancy gave her a friendly, sheepish wave as she smoothed out her poodle skirt, preparing to introduce herself.

"It is so good to finally talk to you Claire! My name is Nancy Williams; it's a pleasure to finally properly greet the current owner of my makeup box!"

There was an awkward silence as the living woman could not figure out, much less find the will to utter out a response as Annabelle grounded her by holding her shoulders still.

Nancy made a sound of clearing her throat.

"I am what you may consider a poltergeist. My spirit became attached to my box after I died. I hope that doesn't disturb you too much. And I have never done anything or will do anything to harm you." Nancy said as she crouched down to lift the music box with her ghostly hands.

Nancy rotated it, admiring the sides before looking at the mirror. She sighed in reminisce, unable to see her face but she could certainly remember back when she could.

"You've taken such good care of my makeup box. I was so glad it ended up in the hands of someone who would appreciate it the way I did."

The tension was still thick with uncertainty, but the panicked brunette was slowly warming up to her ghost.

Bence exhaled in relief and gave Dove a look. She gave a glance to Annabelle who continued to hold her shoulders and tapped her arms to meet go.

The necromancer, now hoping to move past introductions, began to politely ask the first question.

"You may call me Bence, and the two young girls are Dove and Annabelle. We are here to help Claire with an investigation. If it's not too much to ask, would you be willing to help us with a case we currently have?"

"Oh of course! I've been worried about Claire's safety for a while now."

"Are you aware of a stalker that has been snooping around Claire's house recently?"

The brunette's eyes shook as she began to completely focus and remember every reason for why they were here and why everything was happening. She looked to the ghost who frightened her more. Not because she was a poltergeist but because of her worried face and answer.

"He appears at night and lately has even been coming during the day."

A shiver almost visibly crawled up Claire's spine, you could easily see how disturbed she was. The color drained from her face. 

Bence nodded, brows furrowing. 

"Any idea of what he looks like? From what you could see at least?"

Nancy frowned, her expression turning grin as she held her mirror box close to her chest. The lid gently closed. She shook her head.

"He's clever, that little monster spawn, always wore a mask and a big jacket. The kind with those attachments that go over your head." She said as she used one hand to mimic or draw in the air, a shape of a hoodie. "I can't say for sure, but I know it must be the guy I'm thinking of! Someone who looked musty, a face that's got stubbles, messy, blonde-brown hair, these disturbing eyes."

Dove tilted her head and frowned.

Her description didn't exactly sound like the one Claire gave about the guy in her dreams, at least from the beginning. But then again, different people view and describe others differently.

"He only managed to break inside a couple times when the door was unlocked. Usually, it was when Claire wasn't at home, but he's been getting bolder, because he stopped wearing gloves. I think you should be able to find one of his handprints or at least a fingerprint on one of the windows outside. That's probably the only place you'll find his prints, as he never touched anything else inside. The door would be left open, sometimes even at night, the creep would walk in, and he'd just snoop around the house. Now, he would sometimes avoid bumping into Claire and just wait until she was out of the house, but I never liked the look in his eyes, or the way he acted."

"Why? How did he act?"

"He'd come in from the backdoor usually, then tread through the living room all cocky. But worst of all is that he was genuinely smart about all his movements. He somehow knew the carpet is too thin to capture his footprints. Would put bags on his feet before walking in."

"Was he perhaps looking for something? He didn't carry a weapon but if he broke in multiple times a night, then did he at least have a camera? Or sneak into any other rooms?" Dove asked next.

"So far, it didn't seem like he was planning to take anything. But one thing is for sure, he's got his eyes on Claire." 

Nancy shifted in her spot, and then adding to Claire's already big shock, the ghost held the mirror box as she carefully made moves to step out of the circle of candles. Bence had attempted to make the circle of candles as big as he could to give her plenty of space, but Nancy likely wanted to approach the woman and comfort her. 

He held out his hand for her like a gentleman.

"Here, I made this in a hurry but hold on to my hand for a moment, and I'll make it to where you can stay visible outside of my spell circle." He told her. 

She nodded, quietly thanking him as she used her other hand to lift her skirt a bit. Nancy stepped out of the circle fully, her appearance flickering a bit until Bence gripped her hand more firmly. 

Clair, out of curiosity, tried to reach out for her too. Her hand passed right through. The woman continued to stay speechless. 

I noticed how Bence's palm seemed to glow under Nancy's hand. He was focusing on a spell, so I thought I'd ask some more questions while he worked.

"When was the last time you saw the stalker?"

"Just a couple hours earlier."

Everyone in the room frowned and flicked their eyes to her, worried, curious, frustrated, and quick to react.

"Earlier? As in during the time we were gone?" Annabelle asked, keeping her hands on Claire's back. The brunette was beginning to look paler. 

"And you didn't choose to tell us this sooner because...?" She tilted her head at an eerie angle, eerie enough to disturb even the paranormal. An example of that is poor Nancy. 

Nancy's lips thinned as she looked away with a sort of guilt before looking back. 

"Well, I didn't want to scare. I mean, I know it must already be a shock to see me. And my dear Claire is here, and I know I've been scaring her enough lately. I don't mean to but it's the only choice I have."

Claire frowned, upset. 

"Scaring me? Hang on, I thought you said earlier that you would never do anything to harm me, but you've been scaring me?!-" 

Dove gripped her shoulder when the woman attempted to stomp towards the ghost. 

"Hold on, and think."

"Think on what-..." Claire whipped her head around to almost berate Dove before she had an idea and remembered.

"The dreams..."

Nancy gave another look of guilt, just as Bence finished his spell, his palm having planted a seal on the back of Nancy's hand. An unrecognizable symbol but it allowed her to let go of his hand and move to try and place her ghostly hand on top of Claire's shoulder. Dove let go and moved back to give them space. 

Claire couldn't feel the touch, but she could see what Nancy was trying to do. Or, perhaps not as she was staring blankly and thinking. 

"The dreams, the ones with the guy, and the same directions to always lock my doors and windows... That was you."

"I never wanted to scare you, but as a ghost, there isn't much I can do."

"And yet, as a fellow woman and a victim yourself, you had to try anything." Annabelle stepped forward, past Claire and standing beside Nancy, eyes glancing down at the ribbon wound tightly around her throat. 

Nancy nodded sullenly. 

"Annabelle." Bence said in a warning tone. "Don't cause any discomfort right now."

The girl raised her hands up as a way of saying 'relax' while she stepped around the two women, putting her hands behind her back. 

"Still, you should kindly tell us everything. We've got our own intel but the more the merrier."

The blond girl then spun on her heels and pointed at Dove with her eyes. 

"Dove! I didn't pay attention to much; can you list everything we've got so far?"

The silver-haired girl stared at Annabelle with an unsure look. She looked to Bence who they were technically supposed to shadow, and he nodded his head upwards to her. 'Go on', his body language said as he stood there, hands in his pockets. 

"Before," She carefully started, staring back at Annabelle, then looking to Nancy who shifted her gaze back to Claire who had her head staring at her floor still. 

"Before, I found evidence that she was likely being stalked. First the door with a loose handle, like it had been pulled and abused, along with marks on the window frames, Claire's habit of leaving her house unlocked, and the routine of people casually passing through her house. Next was the handprint I found on the window outside." She pointed to the window that was now covered. 

Bence looked up surprised and in the direction of where she was pointing. He only then thought back to the tape she had requested earlier. As Dove continued, he began making his way over to the window and check. 

"Our suspicions got confirmed thanks to Nancy, who also helped to answer my question of what was giving Claire such vivid, similar, and specific dreams. Next is the suspect list... Claire." Dove gently called out. 

"She's calling you." Nancy looked down to Claire, attempting to pat her shoulders for her attention, before remembering that Claire can't feel her. 

Annabelle reached out, bowing forward and putting her index finger underneath the woman's chin to lift her head up. The action woke her up from her train of thought, along with Annabelle's next action of guiding her head to look to the side where Dove walked over to stand beside her. 

"Claire, do you remember the photos you showed me? Of the possible suspect?"

The girl pointed to the woman's hand, where Claire had never let go of her phone. A surprisingly incredible feat in this day and age where nearly everyone drops their phone on impulse. 

Slowly and nearly sluggishly, Claire pulled her phone up to unlock and then go to her photo gallery. She scrolled down until landing on the selfie she took some time ago, and in the background, the same man with that scowl, stalking tailing her and her group from a distance. 

"That's him! I'm sure of it!" Nancy proclaimed, pointing at the photo.

"If you're sure, then we might be able to confirm soon." A voice suddenly cut in. 

"Dove, I'm afraid your marked handprint was tampered with. Come outside when you can." It said to her. 

Somehow, without any of them noticing, too enamored by Nancy, the back door was opened. Dove brushed past the others to go to the window she just pointed at. It seemed like she was the only one who heard the disembodied voice.

The curtain was pulled back and there on the window she marked from the outside, the handprint was gone, the spot sparkling clean. It looked like only one piece of tape was torn off before the unknown cleaner was interrupted. Peering outside the window, she saw Bence standing out in the fog, conversing another person. Not wanting to waste any time, she made a beeline for the door.

"Annabelle! Can I trust you with the rest of the questions?" She said over her shoulder before leaving, one foot already crossing the threshold.

The smiling girl waved, with her other hand on her hip. 

"Of course, I'm very good at asking specific questions!" She said with glee. 

Dove threw her a suspicious glance.

"It's just questions. Don't make them uncomfortable."

Annabelle placed a hand on her chest in mock offense.

"Just ask more about anymore suspects in case we don't have the right guy, and if we do, just more about him!"

Annabelle bowed forward at an angle and gave a salute. 

"Aaaffirmative!"

She resisted rolling her eyes as she ran out the backdoor to go meet Bence.

There, next to the house, Bence was talking to a man who didn't look anything like the one in Claire's selfie. Actually, he looked like one of her neighbors, certainly a resident here. Shirtless with nothing but beach shorts and an opened flannel. No shoes, sunglasses hanging from his necklace. What he also had was some cleaning material. 

"Oh Dove, did you also notice the handprint was missing?" Bence asked her soon after noticing her presence. 

His arms were crossed as he stood by the man, who was currently standing awkwardly and slightly guilty. As if Bence was just scolding him or something. 

"Right when I pulled back the curtain to look at what you marked, I was met face to face with this man cleaning it off." He said, politely gesturing with his hand to the person beside him. It's rude to point. 

The guy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he made eye contact with the young girl. 

"Oh, sorry. You marked it? For like, evidence or something? Man, I'm sorry. I thought it was a prank someone did to scare Claire."

Dove stood there racking her brain, almost slack jawed until she could find the words. 

"If, wait, who told you it was a prank? I mean with the way her house is placed, there's no way you'd just so happened to be walking behind people's houses."

While some beach houses had garages built into the backside of the building, the cars were typically parked in front of the houses here. 

The guy put the cleaning spray bottle into the bag he brought. That seemed to be what he was planning to use to clean the sticky residue after peeling off the tape. 

"Some guy came up to, said that someone messed with Claire's house. We all heard the news that Claire was being stalked, and that someone left a handprint on her window as a prank. It sounded pretty mean, so I went to go clean it before she could see and maybe get more scared."

After hearing this, Dove and Bence shared a quick look, as if understanding something about the man simultaneously. 

"I'm really sorry. If I knew it was genuine evidence left by an actual stalker, I wouldn't have touched it." He said sincerely, with those puppy-like eyes of his. 

Whether he knew he had puppy eyes or not, it was likely not as he would've made lots of eye contact to seem innocent.

"As I've said before, considering how we didn't use any caution tape to keep trespassers away before, we can let you off the hook, for a trade. In exchange for taking away one piece of possible evidence from us, you give us another."

He nodded for Dove, gesturing for her to come closer.

She nodded back and asked the same question she did for Nancy and Claire before. 

"The guy who told you about the handprint, he must've known that I'd marked it and needed it to be cleaned off in a hurry but was smart enough to not come here himself."

That old quote about criminals coming back to the scene of the crime becomes more and more false as the years pass.

"Do you remember what he looked like? Did he look like he lived here?"

The puppy-eyed guy shrugged, rubbing his arm as he kept eye contact with her. Though, the same way he was with Bence, he still seemed nervous and skittish even with Dove. Maybe it was that look she had. She's been told her eyes tend to always look disappointed or studious. Unnerving if she's truly upset. It's a good trait to have inherited, in the right scenarios.

"I mean, looked kind of scruffy, his hair was brushed back a lot, but people who live here can tell that brushing your hair back all flat like that means you haven't cleaned your hair in a while and are just trying to look neat. He walked around shirtless like some of the other residents here, only he was wearing jeans. I just thought he was filming or was about to film a video of pretending to be a farm hand from the south."

"Hmm, it sounds like he matches the description we've received from Claire and,,," She cut herself off, being careful not to mention Nancy the poltergeist. 

While thinking of her next question, another disembodied voice spoke to her. And it seemed this time Bence could also hear it.

"He left this area after telling this guy to clean the handprint. Someone picked him up in a car. Bence, go back to that old house you checked hours ago. Dove, go check scout out the rest of the neighborhood in case he returns. We've got your back, even if you can't see us. Claire will be safe inside with Annabelle."