Nebula Resort

Kian was woken up by a loud knocking on his door. Looking over at his bedside table, his alarm clock blared an all-too-early number at him. Groaning, he tossed the blanket aside and stumbled out of his bedroom and groggily made his way to the door. Opening it up, he looked at the man in the suit in front of him. “Are you Kian Sinclair?” the man asked, hands behind his back.

“Yeah, unfortunately, that’s me. What can I do for you?” the spirit guide answered. The man looked around, making sure no one was around. “Can you get rid of spirits?” he whispered. “I can, but not unless I have more information.” Kian answered, and the man nodded. “Then come with me. It will be better if you see it in person.” The man motioned for him to follow. The spirit guide didn’t want to find this man in an unknown location; he didn’t have a choice in the matter at this point.

After getting dressed, he meets the man at the elevator, and they take it down to the first floor, exiting the building. Kian is then led to a building where an individual is pacing in front of it. This person looks up to see both the spirit guide and the man in the suit walk up to him. “Is this the guy?” the man questions, eyeing Kian suspiciously, who in return responds that yes, he is indeed Kian Sinclair, Spirit Guide. “I’m the owner of the building. Lately, a shadow has been wandering around at night. I renovated it for apartments.” said the man.

“You’re afraid that if the shadow continues to wander around here, then no one will want to live here due to the rumors.” Kian says, knowing what this man wanted done. The owner wrung his hands together. “So you can get rid of it?” he questioned, handing over the keys and a business card. “Of course, I can.” replied the spirit guide. The owner bids him farewell before leaving with the man in the suit, as Kian watches them drive away.

He enters the building using the keys. Inside, it looked like it was in the process of being renovated, and currently, they had been halted due to the shadow. Looking down one of the halls, he hears footsteps coming towards him and the large numbering shadow that they belong to. What happened to this guy? the spirit guide thinks to himself. Upon first glance, the shadow’s leg was turned to a strange angle, its neck stretched and twisted.

It let out a gurgled rasp, getting closer to Kian, who backed away slowly, getting ready to turn and run. As the spirit guide ran, he frantically tried each door along the way, finding each one locked. “Shoot!! C’mon, one of them has to be open.” Kian nervously panicked out loud to himself. Finally getting one of the apartment doors open, the spirit guide went inside and shut the door. He needed to establish some form of defense against the man who was pursuing him.

Kian had no idea what happened to this man, but he knew that his spirit needed to be put to rest. The door rattled, and a fist pounded on the door. The spirit guide began to draw with a grease-type pencil on the tile floor. Each symbol was intricate and precise; he dug into his jacket pocket, finding packs of salt. Making a face, Kian didn’t have time to wonder how long those had been in there.

He shook his head, grateful that he had it.”Okay big guy, let’s get you over to the other side.” said the spirit guide, his breath shaky. The door slammed open, hitting the wall. A ghostly groan filled the air along with shuffling and dragging of feet. Kian cleared his throat. “Ashes to ashes, spirit to spirit, take this soul and banish the evil!” he chanted, ripping open the salt packets and throwing the contents at the proceeding spirit. Its form twitched and shuddered, staggering onto the symbols, letting out a distorted scream.

The spirit of the man locked eyes with him, mouthing the word “elevator” before vanishing for good. Great…of course it’s an elevator, thought the spirit guide to himself, stepping around the symbols and making his way out of the room. He headed towards a closed elevator and wedged his fingers into the grooves, pulling the doors open. Using a mini flashlight he fished out of his pocket, he looked around and saw that above him the elevator was stopped on an upper floor. Then at the bottom was… “Geez, what a way to go.” Kian muttered.

At the bottom was the man’s body, twisted and tangled in rope and wire. The spirit guide took out his phone, calling 911 and the man in the suit who brought him here. Both arrived at the same time, and when the man in the suit saw the body, he paled. Kian figured that he must have known who this person was. “Did you know the guy?” the spirit guide asked curiously.

The suit nodded, crossing his arms. “He worked with me but went missing some time ago,” the man replied.

“Do you think someone pushed him down there?” Kian continued his questioning. The man in the suit only frowned, looking towards the police officer. This was information that the investigators needed to know. “You have to tell them the truth,” said the spirit guide. If the man in the suit told them, then that was on him. Other than that, Kian was getting out of here since he was no longer needed. The spirit was gone, and the body had been recovered.

That night on the news, he watched as the building owner had been arrested for the elevator spirits’ murder.

Kian was glad that at least this case had a happy ending.