Ghosts

The Plan and Reveal.

The next day, Sam had woken and stood surveying a tarnished room, holding up two strips of colour samples. "Hey boo-boo!" Jay called, entering the room. He and Cassie strode over to Sam whilst Jay commented, "The water, from the tap, was disgusting. So I went to the gas station and I got us some coffee. Besides, it might wake Cassie up more."

"I'm not an early bird, and you know it."

"Yeah, you still have your jammies on to prove it." Jay smirked, handing a cup of coffee to Sam.

"Aww, thank you."

"Carl says hi, and he called me a snowflake for wearing flip flops."

"Classic Carl." The girls said in unison, one in joy, the other in amusant.

"Okay, g*n to your head. Canary Yellow or Lavender Mist."These choices made Cassie spit out her drink and point aggressively to her mother, a signal her dad understood as a 'you promised it was a weekend! FIX IT!'

"OK, we're putting up paint." Jay noted, attempting to stop his wife while she was ahead. "Haven't decided if we're staying, but we're putting up paint. Y'know what? I think we should just knock the whole wall down while we're at it." Sam then began knocking on random areas of the wall, causing her husband and daughter to laugh at her actions. "Do you think it's load bearing?"

"What? What is this?" Jay chuckled, mimicking Sam's actions. "What are you doing? Do you even know what sound you're listening for?"

"Not sure," Sam informed, still lightly tapping on the wall. "But it makes me feel like Joanna Gaines and I'mnotmad at that."

"Oh no." Cassie murmured. "Please, God no."

"Wanna come be my Chip, big boy?" Sam asked seductively, grabbing Jay's jacket and pulling him close. That was the final straw for Cass. "NOPE! I'm out!" She called as she scurried out of the room, whilst her parents continued oblivious to Cassie's exit. "Yes, please." Jay said, edging closer before stopping. "Wait, why do we only role-play couples from HDTV?"

"Please don't kink shame me." A coo from a pigeon nearby grabbed the couple's attention as they turned to stare at it. "Oh, it's adorable!" Jay spoke. "There's a bird in our room because, of course, there is."

"Okay, you're right. This place needs a little bit of work."

"It needs a bulldozer." Cassie commented, having entered the room again, occupying a space between her parents. "HERE HE COMES!!" Jay yelled.

"HIT THE DECK! HIT THE DECK!" Sam screamed as all three collapsed to the floor.

"I hate this place." Jay grumbled.

********

*Once night had rolled around.*

Sam and Jay were nestled in bed and sleeping while Cassie was still staring up at the ceiling, being kept awake by several bird noises echoing throughout her room. " I hate my hearing at times." Footsteps passed by her room, silencing the teen. However, curiosity got the better of her. She threw the covers off of herself, grabbed her slippers, causing herself to look like a red plaid blur, and aponed the door swiftly. Poking her head around the door, she wondered if it could be ghosts again. 'There's no way. That had to have been my younger mind. Ghosts aren't everywhere, surely.' She gained the ability to see ghosts at the age of 6 due to an accident. No one would believe her, though, and played it off as her having a wild imagination, which was only partly true. A loud thud struck her ears, her head searching for the source. Her eyes landed on the door, where a leg was all that she could catch walking through the door. Peering up and down the hallway, Cassie decides to follow the ghost. 'OK, so they are everywhere then. Cool.' She carefully opened the second door and poled her head through again, hearing a man's voice speak before entering the room, further unoticed. A skill she had been quite good at since a toddler. "Now let's take inventory of the skills at our disposal." The Revolutionary led. 'Skills? Oooh. Ghost powers!' Cassie thought, still hidden in the unlit area at the door. "Thor, as we all know, is able to do that thing with the electrics because he was struck by lighting." The man continued before handing off to Thor, who demonstrated his talent on a nearby lamp. 'That's not gonna be creepy at all.' The others all clapped in delight as the lights flickered in the living room. "I am powerful." The viking declared.

"Oh, Isacc. What about your thing?" Hetty asked the Revolutionary. 'What thing?'

"Yes, yes, yes." Thor agreed, gesturing for Isacc to contribute with his ghost power.

"Oh yes, no, I don't know to what it is that you refer." Isacc rushed, clearly embarrassed.

"You died of dysentery." Hetty giggled.

"Yeah. It smells like a fart when livings walk though you." Trevor added, causing him and the other ghosts (minus Isacc) to start laughing. Cassie had to bite her lip hard to prevent giving herself away from laughing at this ghost power. 'Now that's a first.' "Nasty." The jazz singer commented.

"You stink, you stink," Flower chanted.

"Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha, OK!!!" lsacc snapped, silencing the others. "I get it. We all get it. And trust me, you don't need to be so harsh in your comdemnations. It's far worse for me than it is for they." He reminded. "OK, moving on. What else?"

"Well," the scout trooper replied. " I was thinking since Alberta was a singer in life, and can project her humming into the world of the living, what if we had her hum the song from the movie 'Ghosts' to scare them? Huh?" 'The what?' Cassie thought puzzled. She had never heard that movie in her entire life till now. "It's kind of thematic, right?" He asked with a huge smile, proud of his plan. The Lenape rolled his eyes and reminded him, "Y'know, we don't know what that is, Pete."

"Oh, right. The movie thing."

"Welcome to my hell." Trevor greeted.

"You guys would actually love it." Pete explained. "There was this amazing scene where the main girl was making pottery and,"

"We don't have time for that!" Isacc yelled, whilst Cassie realised that she had actually seen that part of the movie. Pete finished off his description, despite Isacc's protest, "And then this hunky shirtless guy comes in."

"Well, we do have some time. The haunting isn't imminent. Go on." Isacc encouraged. 'Oh yeah, he's defo gay. Good for him. Wonder if he has a boyfriend yet?' Cass wondered. "It's fine. I get it. I'll hum something scary." Alberta ensured.

"Oh!" Hetty exclaimed. 'OMG! It's red-head!' Cass realised. "Trevor has to do his amazing thing. That must be the topper!" Trevor smirked as the ghosts all shared their agreement on Trevor's power and encouraged him to do it while he tried his best to act humble. 'What is sooo special about him then?' Cassie was about to be answered as Trevor shook himself and reached down to a nearby cup. Grunting, he inched his finger close to the cup, but it went through. "Alright, hold on." He said.

"You got it. You got it." Pete and the others encouraged. Taking a deep breath, Trevor tried again, his finger phasing through once again, while his face contorted in what Cassie hoped was concentration and not pain or constipation. 'Could ghosts get that? Oh well, that's another day's issue.' However, as Trevor grunted and screamed, the cup moved slightly. Not enough to fall yet, but enough for Cassie and the others to notice. Finally, Trevor was successful in pushing the cup from the table to the ground. His fellow ghosts applauded and cheered for him. "Yo T-Money did it." Trevor celebrated, making a giant T with his hands. "Scary!" Pete enthused.

"Troops." Isacc announced, gaining everyone's attention. "I believe we are ready. Tonight, get your sleep for tomorrow, we strike!"

The others whooped and cheered as they were one step closer to having their own house again. Trevor, stood beside Pete, felt a huge temptation and flicked Pete's arrow, causing Pete to gag as if he was being choked and turn to Trevor, who was feigning innocence by looking up at the ceiling, but had a huge smirk plastered on his face. Cassie couldn't help the laugh that escaped her, causing several pairs of eyes to look at her, shocked that they didn't notice her sooner. "What?" Cassie asked innocently.

"Why are you here, girl? You should be asleep!"

"I can function on three hours of sleep red-head! Besides, you're not my mom."

"You can actually see us?" Trevor asked curiously.

"Yup. Been able to see ghosts like you for a while. Nine years, to be exact. That's a story for another day, though T-Money." At the use of his nickname, Trevor perked up and smiled fondly at the girl, feeling something he always wanted to feel, an instant brother- sister bond. But, he pushed that aside, reminding himself about the hotel closing.

"Please don't call him that infernal name."

"Okay, Hetty."

"Wait. Are you going to tell your parents?" Isacc quizzed the teen before them.

"No. A) They wouldn't believe me. They'll just say it's my crazy imagination. B) I've kept several ghost secrets for a while, so I'm pretty good at it and C). It's only my mom who's excited about the whole B&B thing. Me and dad are more city people. Dad loves it, and it's all I've ever known so. I won't tell a soul. Scouts honour." Pete gasped and smiled at the girl. Nodding slightly to show that he trusted her to keep a secret.

"Right. I'm off to bed. Night guys." Cassie bid.

"Goodnight." The ghosts responded, still reeling from the reveal thrust upon them. A girl who could see ghosts wasn't the first weird thing to happen - but it may be the most important.