The Phantom Crystal

Welcome to the Weekend

I play with my fingers nervously as I wait down in the lobby for Ian to pick me up. My tablet sits on my lap with some articles that Phantom helped me locate in the last few days. Honestly. For a being who is rather important for the Ghost Dimension there are barely any outside sources on him or his siblings. My eyes shift over to the transparent form of the Phantom as he glides over to the front desk where some flyers are hanging. Since I woke up on Thursday with him hanging above my head, grinning from ear to ear, I haven’t had any issues with him following me around or with me sharing my body with him. Sometimes, I do forget that he’s there and he nearly gives me a heart attack, like when I took a shower last night and he just APPEARED in the stall with me as I was about to climb inside. I nearly died! And he sat there laughing. But, well, a deep part of me can’t even be mad. Who knows when the last time he has been able to have this amount of freedom from that crystal with someone not just dying seconds after the crystal was placed within them. 

My nose wrinkles at that thought and I quickly push it away.

RIP!

A sigh escapes me as I turn just in time to watch a paper banner that one of the CAs and RAs just put up. Phantom offers me an innocent look and I roll my eyes.

‘Would you come over here and stop destroying my dorm’s decorations?’ I think, sighing. The Phantom shrugs and floats back over to me.

‘It’s not like I MEANT for it to fall. They should have used better tape if they didn’t want it to just collapse like that,’ Phantom says sniffing with his nose up in the air. I roll my eyes.

‘Yes, well, they didn’t really expect some ancient entity to fly up and poke it. Besides, Ian should be here any minute.’

The Phantom floats back down to me, his crimson eyes studying me.

‘Why are you even going to him? I already promised to answer your questions.’

I rub my palms on my jeans.

‘Yeah, you did, but well, it would be nice to get off campus and he’s a ghost expert. Maybe he knows something about possibly releasing you from the crystal or knows someone who might be able to help.’

Phantom snorts at the word ‘expert’.

‘I HIGHLY doubt that. Not a lot of mortals know about the existence of me and my siblings, so I’m not going to hold my breath on any of that.’

‘You don’t have to breathe.’

The Phantom smirks at me, crimson eyes dragging down my body.

‘Caught me there, sweetheart. Maybe sometime I can show you what a being who doesn’t need to breathe can do.’

Heat rushes to my cheeks as he winks at me before he floats off to some more flyers in the entryway. My eyes drift up toward the ceiling. And why did I think this was a good idea again? He’s done nothing but tease me since I agreed to share my body with him. I scrub at my forehead. I even had to tell him to stop peeping on the other guys on the floor. Some of them were starting to complain about feeling watched in the bathrooms during the last few days and I’m afraid that one of them is going to involve Ian’s paranormal students or worse, ask ME to check to see if the bathroom is haunted. Which, I mean, it kind of is when I’m in there since the Phantom has to follow me in there. But I don’t need people thinking or knowing that I have an entity attached to me, that’s just going to cause trouble for me in the long run.

‘Your campus has a paranormal group called ‘Ghosts & Ghouls’?’

My focus snaps back to the Phantom as he points at one of the flyers on the wall and I push myself up from my seat to get a closer look. The paper is black and has a very ghastly skeletal woman emerging out from behind the words ‘Ghosts & Ghouls’ in a spooky font. I tilt my head to the side as I skim the paper.

Love ghosts and ghouls? Hear things going bump in the night? Want to have a little scare added to your life? Come join ‘Ghosts & Ghouls’! A real ghost hunting paranormal group that meets every Tuesday night at 7 pm and go on ghost hunts each Saturday. First meeting is this Tuesday at the Upper Union! Come join us for a GHOST of a time!

My lips twitch. That…was terrible. I really hope Rose wasn’t the one who made these signs. I really don’t think I could lie to her about how terrible these are. Olivia possibly lying to spare Rose’s feelings? Yeah, probably. But me? Oof. I just don’t think so. A sudden thought hits me. Actually…this humor feels a little bit more like Ian… A chuckle escapes me as I readjust my hat on my head.

‘That’s certainly interesting. Good thing I agreed to go before reading that otherwise, I might have just skipped out.’

Phantom turns toward me, eyes narrow.

‘Wait, you’re actually GOING to this meet-up? Your parents are ACTUAL ghost hunters. Why hang around these children?’

‘I’m going because a friend asked me to,’ I state, rolling my eyes. ‘And who knows, they might actually be pretty competent. Ian IS their adviser after all and he just as professional as my parents.’

The Phantom opens his mouth when a thoughtful look crosses his face. His white eyebrows knit together and his mouth forms a thin line. His fingers slide into his pants pockets as a faraway look appears in his eyes.

‘Who do you say this ‘Ian’ person is again?’

My head tilts, confused about the sudden change in the Phantom’s mood.

‘Um, his name is Ian Winters. He’s been ghost hunting for longer than I’ve been alive, meeting my parents here when they were in school. He actually teaches here at BSU and he’s also my sister’s godfather.’ Suspicion rises in me as the Phantom merely nods. ‘Why?’

There is a short pause before the Phantom jumps and looks back at me. A frown forms on my lips when that innocent expression replaces his thoughtful look.

‘Oh, it’s nothing. I do believe I have heard of him. It has certainly been a while. You said that he was taking you out for lunch?’

Turning fully toward the entity, I study him as he stares back at the flyer on the wall. Every fiber of my being is telling me that the Phantom knows something that he doesn’t want to tell me.

‘Phantom,’ I start slowly, regaining the tall white-haired being’s attention. ‘Is there something about Ian that I don’t know?’

The Phantom bursts out laughing causing me to jump slightly.

‘I mean, sweetheart, I’m sure there is a LOT of things about your sister’s godfather that you don’t know about. Like how many people he has or hasn’t f****d. What he does in his private time. Whether or not he likes to—’

‘OKAY, I THINK I UNDERSTAND,’ I say loudly in my head cutting off that string of sentences very quickly as my face and ears burn. The Phantom merely stares back with a triumphant look that has me contemplating whether or not it’s a good idea on flicking an entity with access to my body off. What if I just flick him in the forehead instead?

‘I heard that.’

I huff and open my mouth just as my phone buzzes. The Phantom shoots me a sideways smirk and I roll my eyes as I pull out my phone.

Ian: Here Jackie :D

A soft laugh slips past my lips and I shake my head.

Me: All right I’ll be right now

Hitting send, I shove the device back into my back pocket before readjusting my hat once more to hide my bangs.

‘All right, Ian’s here so you’re off the hook for now. But I expect an explanation later.’

The Phantom merely hums as I lead him out of the building toward the shining black sport’s car waiting in the parking lot. My eyes flicker up to the grey sky and I sigh quietly.

I just really hope Ian has some possible answers for me.