not your ideal haunted house

[specifiercity]

WHEN: OCT 23-25
WHAT: haunting in the suburbs

The ghost of a girl haunts an old house in the suburbs. For unknown reasons, she has recently become violent. And she may have a connection with you or someone you know.

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Comments

OCT 24; Open to First Response

[specifiercity]

The next morning, Arthur's sitting in a coffee shop staring unhappily at his laptop. Knowing who the ghost is and why she's angry the first vital step to solving this mystery and making sure she moves on in peace, but Arthur's stumped.

He found the names of the couple who lived there, but beyond that it's hard to make a connection. He might just drop it if this were any other case, but something about this one is nagging at him. He needs to figure this one out, or else it'll bother him and he'll always feel responsible for it.

That's probably why, after an hour at this coffee shop, he looks just a little bit frustrated. Nothing's turning up. He needs to come at this from a different angle.

[whatmatters]

Ringer isn't usually one to bother people, even if she recognizes them from around Hillingdon. There's something about seeing people she knows to be hunters in the natural world that she finds uncomfortable, like seeing a secondary school teacher at the market. When she catches sight of Arthur in the coffee shop window, however, not having moved in the last hour or more since she was first on her way to class, she wonders what he might be working on.

After a moment's hesitation, she steps inside the shop. Arthur isn't quite a stranger - they met once, spoke briefly, got along decently - but he isn't really a solid ally either. For now, he's a professional acquaintance and Ringer focuses on the hope of turning that relationship, thin as it is, into another job. She orders two coffees and waits until she has both in hand to approach the table, setting one near him and keeping hold of the other. "You look perplexed."

[specifiercity]

Arthur isn't so much startled by the coffee on the table so much as he is shaken out of the stupor he had fallen into staring at his laptop. He looks at Ringer as if he's just woken up, shaking his head to bring himself back to reality.

"Oh, I'm... just working on something," he says as he drags a hand down his face. He indicates the chair across from him and adds, "I could use a break from it, actually."

A break from staring at his laptop, more like. He gives Ringer a moment to sit down and then asks, "have you heard of this haunted house, up north?"

[whatmatters]

Ringer takes a seat when indicated, setting her own coffee on the table before folding her hands into her lap. She furrows her brow at the vagueness of his response until he finally looks at her and seems to be elaborating. It's not like he owes her anything, but it would be nice to be useful.

"Rumors," she replies dryly. Rumors aren't worth much in Hillingdon House for how few of them turn out to have a degree of truth to them, let alone that extremely rare event in which one might turn out to actually be entirely factual. It makes her wonder at his deep research.

[specifiercity]

"I went there," Arthur says as he closes his laptop and slumps down in his chair. The frown on his face is thoughtful and tired; he's definitely been thinking about this far too long.

"It really is haunted. By a little girl. I think she used to live there."

[whatmatters]

Ringer's expression changes. She gives a small nod in acknowledgment of his experience, trusting it much more than House rumors. Her eyes search his face, surprised to see such anxiety and dedication there for the ghost of a little girl. She wonders if it's a job and his potential failing that bothers him or if he actually cares about the fate of the girl. Ringer doesn't know Arthur well enough yet to have any clue.

"A ghost." She thinks back to her conversation with Clara. "Does she have an anchor? Someone living who might remember her."

[specifiercity]

He shakes his head. "The house has been empty almost a year. There was a couple who used to live there - they must have been her parents - they moved out last December and the real estate agent hasn't been able to sell it."

Arthur picks up his coffee and sighs. He's still frowning, thinking back on his time at the house. He feels obligated to get to the bottom of this somehow. "I don't deal with ghosts a lot but it seemed like she was reacting to me being there. I just can't figure out why."

[whatmatters]

"You might be able to talk to them if they're still alive," she offers idly. Clara said something about anchors and people remembering her helping to keep her sane as a ghost. If the little girl is angry, it might mean that not enough people remember her. On the other hand, it might also mean one of any number of other things, which makes the thought less helpful. "It could be unfinished business, or a gruesome death. Do you know how she died?"

Ringer's no expert and she has a feeling that Arthur is probably as skilled a researcher as she is, if not more so. If nothing else, she figures she can try to help by acting as a sound board to organize his own thoughts and ideas.

[specifiercity]

"No, I don't," he says with a sigh. "I looked back through news reports for five months before her parents moved out and I searched through missing children bulletins but nothing matches her last name or her description."

He takes a long drink from his coffee cup before he continues. "There should be something. Why would a little girl's death be covered up like that?"

[whatmatters]

"A hundred reasons," she replies with a soft shrug. Ringer turns her cup idly in her hands, keeping it to roughly the same position on the table. It's something for her hands to do while she thinks. "Politics, the murderer engaging in other crimes, something supernatural. I saw a film where a mother accidentally killed her son and he haunted her to lead her to the realization."

A beat. "Maybe she wants you to find the truth."