Chapter 3: the cemetery

The cemetery was a cold place, although it was near the Golden Dragon, it felt like a completely seperate world. It was foggy and the air was shrouded with mist, the trees stood bare and loomed over the graves. Jing looked really anxious to be here, Ai actually seemed to have an eager look on her face and Xinyue was just glad to get this ghost girl mystery done with.

Ai ended up buying the dress from the mall, she had it in a paper bag and carried it with her as she walked the cemetery with her friends. The grass was wet with dew and it crunched under the girls’ feet. Jing looked closer at some of the graves, some of the writing on them was worn off with time but it was still readable.

“So how do we even know which one is the ghost girl?” Jing asked fearfully. “Well, it’s a girl obviously, who died young, so cut out any male names, they can’t be the ghost girl,” Ai said. “Yes, but that still leaves a lot of female names,” Xinyue said sadly. “Well, maybe we can search online the cause of death and where they died,” Ai suggested.

“Good idea but…what about the graves from way older times, like the 1950s? There probably won’t be any online information documenting those,” Jing pointed out, crossing her arms, she didn’t seem to like this one bit. Xinyue couldn’t say she was a fan of it either exactly, the cemetery was cold and creepy and for some reason…Xinyue felt they weren’t alone.

“Well, I searched up the logo of the shirt the girl was wearing, Chuudream, and I found out it was from a cartoon produced in 1987 and based off the girl’s fashion sense and age…I am guessing she died from around that time,” Ai said. “That’s actually a really talented deduction Ai, I am sorry I doubted you,” Jing said apologetically, clasping her hands together in front of her. “No need to apologize,” Ai said softly, smiling at her best friend.

Suddenly Ai heard a beep from her phone, she picked it up from her pocket and her eyes widened, “Ai, what is that notification?” Xinyue asked curiously. “It’s Wei…he’s probably confused why we were gone for so long, I need to stall him,” Ai said. “Say that we decided to go eat somewhere and will probably take 30 minutes to an hour to come back,” Jing said casually. “Good idea!” Ai said, the other girls heard the tapping of her fingers as she typed out the text, with a beep it was sent and the girls all breathed a sigh of relief.

“Okay! Now that that’s done…let’s find this GHOST!!!!!” Xinyue shouted, pumping a fist in the air. The other girls nodded and the three of them went to different gravestones. “I will write the names and death dates on my phone, maybe tomorrow we can hit an internet cafe to research them and find our ghost,” Ai suggested. The other girls nodded and they started looking.

Ai decided to knock out the graves in the corner of the graveyard first, she sat down on a fresh patch of dew stained grass and she pulled out her phone and opened her list-making app. She felt a sudden chill although she didn’t know why, she ignored it, this was her idea after all, no time to be getting scared now. She sighed and looked at the gravestones.

Two of them were male names, Wang and Hiro, she still documented them in the rare case the girl had those names, the people with those names died around 1989. Ai typed the names out on her phone and then she saw another grave, it said Xin Yi, that was sorta a similar name to Xin Yue, but the death of Xin Yi was way too recent, at 2011, that was literally just a year ago! No way the ghost girl could be that recent!

Ai still wrote it down on her list app but wrote a note next to it that it was way less likely than the others. Ai sighed, she was finding nothing and she still had a ton of graves to search. Jing and Xinyue didn’t seem to be having better luck, they were using their phones to write names down too, but Xinyue had a confused look on her face while Jing just seemed bored as she sat down and crossed her arms.

Ai went towards the spot where Xinyue was sitting, she was sitting under an oak tree, staring at three graves. “The names here are Xiu Feng, Nami Takada and Wei Harbors, based on the last name of the third guy, I am guessing he’s a foreigner, probably from the states’” Xinyue guessed. “Death dates?” Ai asked hopefully. “They all died in 1990, they actually are pretty good possibilities, except for the last guy of course, also isn’t it funny he has the same name as your fiancé?” Xinyue asked.

Ai nodded and her lips curved into a smile, she quickly documented the two names but then, the girls felt a cold rush of air. “Agh!!!” Ai said, falling on her bottom, dropping her phone from shock. She looked up at the direction the wind came from, it came from above the oak tree, but sitting on the tree was a girl.

The girl sat comfortably perched on a branch, she seemed the same age as the girl in the restaurant, she had fair skin, an orange bob of hair and a white lace dress. Her eyes pierced coldly into Ai’s. “Are you trying to vanquish our spirits?” The girl asked, Ai was too stunned to speak. “We will get our revenge on The Golden Dragon, and you girls won’t dare be able to stop us, you’re next….Ai…” the girl said, Xinyue shrugged in Ai’s direction, Ai suddenly realized it, Xinyue couldn’t see the ghost.

Jing was also looking weirdly in Ai’s direction, no wonder they thought she was delusional in the restaurant, seems like Ai is the only one who can see ghosts.

Ai suddenly felt frustrated at these ghosts for causing her so much trauma, she gripped the bark of the oak tree, it was a bit damp from some rain that fell yesterday, she climbed up the tree to the branch the girl was perched in. Ai’s friends who were sitting below had awe-struck looks on their faces.

“AI STOP!!!!!” Jing shouted, but they could only watch in horror as their best friend climbed to the top of the tree. Ai saw the orange haired girl, she looked stunned to see Ai on the tree. Ai quickly lunged at her, wrapping her arms tightly around the ghost girl’s neck, the ghost girl fell back and they were both falling off the tree. Ai only had anger in her heart, the cold air swept at them but Ai didn’t care, as long as she got rid of this ghost girl. But just as they were flying mid-air, the ghost girl evaporated into thin air, and Ai was falling on her own.

Ai flailed desperately in the air, trying to grip for a branch or anything to hold her up, but she obviously found nothing, her eyes closed and she heard her friends scream, but she was now lying unconscious.

“Hmm…” Ai said, waking up, she heard machines beeping and felt a white blanket above her. “She’s awake,” a voice said joyfully, it was unrecognizable to Ai. She felt her eyes open and she saw a bunch of doctors near her, but the last she could remember was, falling off that tree while gripping the second ghost girl, then she disappeared and Ai fell and~huh? Ai was confused.

Ai then felt a stiff presence on her arm, she quickly glanced at it and saw a cast wrapped around it. “You broke your arm in that fall dear, you will probably be taking time off work,” a doctor said solemnly.

“But wait…how was I brought here? Last I remember I was in that cemetery,” Ai said, confused as she sat up, trying to move her stiff arm. “Your friends quickly called us when you fell off that tree in the cemetery,” the doctor said, she was wearing a white coat and had black hair tucked in a scrunchie, a stethoscope hung around her neck.

“My friends! Where are they?” Ai asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “They dropped you off here and they paid the medical bills so you could get your cast, they then left and said you should meet them when you are feeling okay,” the doctor said. Suddenly Ai heard her phone beeping, she checked the notifications, Wei…he probably knew she wasn’t just shopping now…

She saw many texts asking where she was and tons of missed calls. “How long was I sleeping?” Ai asked. “10 hours, that fall really knocked you out, we wrapped the cast on your arm while you were sleeping,” The doctor said, the label on her coat said Xinshi so that was probably her name.

“Can I take a few minutes to call my fiancé? I think he is wondering what happened to me,” Ai said. “Yes, you can go to that corner over there to get some privacy,” The doctor suggested, Ai quickly stumbled to the corner of the room and picked up the phone. She called Wei back and he accepted.

“WHERE WERE YOU!!!??????” Wei screamed, he seemed way angrier than he normally was. “I am…in the hospital..” Ai said, embarassed to be admitting it. “What happened?” Wei asked, more softly, he seemed concerned for Ai. “I fell off a tree and broke my arm,” Ai said, she wasn’t gonna mention the ghost part or he would probably send her to a mental asylum. Wei seemed confused, he was probably wondering that if she was in a mall, falling off a tree made no sense, but he asked no questions. “Well, get some rest at the hospital and call me when you need to come back home,” Wei said, then Ai hung up and she decided to get some more rest, her arm still hurt like hell and she obviously needed some rest.

She went back to the stretcher she was originally in, the doctors were outside, probably checking on another patient, she saw a cup of herbal tea and a note on the desk next to the stretcher. The note said “Drink some herbal tea, it will help you fall asleep and get some rest, -Dr. Xinshi” Ai sipped the herbal tea and it did calm her down, she went to the light switch and dimmed the lights a bit, so it wasn’t completely dark but also wasn’t super bright either.

She lied down on the stretcher and fell asleep the second her eyes closed.

Ai rubbed her eyes, she sat up from her stretcher, feeling a bit drowsy but well rested, her arm ached a little less now and she felt used to moving it in the cast. The room was dark, probably the doctor switched the lights off, Ai saw a window next to her stretcher and looked outside, the sky was pitch black and crowded with stars that looked reminiscent of powdered sugar.

“Hmm…what time is it now?” Ai muttered to herself, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the time, it was 12:01, she glanced at her phone wallpaper, which had scream, after what happened with seeing the two ghosts, she never wanted to watch horror movies again.

Ai sighed and stood up, she walked into the hallway, which was still bustling with doctors talking about patient conditions and some nurses pulling stretchers through. The hallway lights were on and they shone brightly in Ai’s eyes, Ai squinted her eyes painfully and she walked quietly towards a doctor, her hair was dark auburn like Ai’s but unlike Ai’s two buns, her hair was in two braids, she had emerald green eyes and wore a clean looking doctor uniform, a stethoscope hung loosely around her neck. Her nametag said Dr. Shai.

“Hey ma’am do you know Dr. Xingshi?” It was a stupid question for Ai to ask since they obviously did know each other, working in the same hospital and all. “Yes, I do, what do you need from her?” Shai asked, brushing a strand of hair that fell out of her braid away. “Well, can you tell her my fiancé will pick me up now?” Ai asked. “Yes but speaking of Xinshi, she wanted me to hand these sheets to you,” Shai said, handing some sheets to Ai.

Ai looked through them a bit, just quick glances to see what they were, they were mostly tips about what to do at home. Some of the tips included keeping the cast dry and clean, avoid putting weight on it and covering it when showering. There was also a prescription for pain medication that Ai would get tomorrow at the pharmacy.

“Thanks Dr. Shai,” Ai said respectfully, “No problem,” Dr. Shai said, waving to Ai as she left. Ai went to the elevator that went to the ground floor, she pressed the button and waited impatiently for a few seconds, then the elevator came up, the hospital patients in it exited and Ai went in.

Ai had mild claustrophobia but the elevator wasn’t too bad or cramped, luckily no one else was in it so she felt okay mostly. She kept thinking about how the second ghost girl disappeared though, when Ai was grasping her tightly. Ai couldn’t think about it much though because she needed to call Wei and ask him to pick her up.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket again and dialed Wei’s number, he answered the phone right away and she stated that she was well rested and needed to get home, “say no less, I’ll be on my way now,” Wei said softly, the call ended just in time, the elevator arrived at the lobby, the lobby was crowded and filled with patients of various diseases, some were in wheelchairs, while others were coughing and their faces were red from exhaustion, Ai grimaced looking at how much people were sick, she saw some free masks near the entrance of the hospital, she quickly grabbed one and headed to the exit doors. She went outside, it was raining and ambulances were parked in the parking lot.

Ai stood and a cold raindrop fell in her hands with a subtle plop. She glanced around the parking lot anxiously when she finally noticed: Wei’s car! It was parked next to the hospital and she saw Wei in the driver’s seat, looking…angry?

Ai walked towards the car, her boots sloshing in the puddles of the street, she opened the car door and went inside.

“Ai…can you freaking explain yourself?” Wei asked. “What…what do you mean?” Ai asked him, her tone shaking nervously. “I mean,you were in he mall!!! How did you break your arm?” Wei asked.

“I…” Ai stuttered. “Probably something to do with that ghost isn’t it?” Wei asked, frustrated. “Umm..” Ai said, shivering but she didn’t know if it was just due to the cold.

“You have been acting strange these couple of days and honestly? I am sick of it! There is no ghost, you have been acting stubborn and reckless with both me and your friends, and honestly I am done with you Ai, I think we should break up,” Wei said.

“What? Really? Over this?” Ai asked, confused, her eyes were starting to tear up, how could Wei leave her just because of this? “Yes, I was expecting to have a calm afternoon but I hear my fiancé got a cast probably due to imitating some ghhost hunter,” Wei said, frustrated. “We’ll sleep and sort it out tomorrow Ai,but I can’t put up with this anymore!” Wei said.

The rain was falling harsher and the wind seemed to blow colder, and Ai swore she could hear a ghostly moan in the air but it didn’t seem to matter, the person who she thought would stick by her no matter what had just left her and probably thought of her as a psychopath.