Chapter 4 ➳ "Buzzing... Humming..."

At eight o'clock in the after noon that same day, I returned to the intersection.

Not alone of course. Many unexpected things can happen to me while I'm interacting with a lost soul. I might experience physical effects on my body like pain, or worse case scenario, I might faint. Mostly it affects my sense of hearing, since that's the sense I use to locate ghosts. It's a struggle to find souls just by using only one of your senses, for I can only hear ghosts and not see them. It's almost like being blind, but I've learned to manage. It's also possible that the lost soul would posses me (though that has never happened) so it's really important to not go by yourself.

I mostly ask Zian to accompany me, but he often uses the excuse that he's "too busy minding his own business" or "too tired from his own activities" to come with me. At those times, I ask my friends for company, but without giving away the real reason why.

(I'm not supposed to tell others that I'm a soul guide and I'm proud to say I'm doing a good job keeping that secret.)

I could ask my mother as well, but I prefer not to since I know she has her own soul guide responsibilities.

This is one of the rare times Zian agrees to join me. It's not like he does anything anyways, he's just sort of a look out if there's trouble.

"Tell me if we're done." Zian said in a bored tone. "So we can get the hell out of here."

"It's not my fault if the soul decided they want to deal with me the hard way." I reasoned.

I concentrated on the sounds coming from my surroundings. As I have expected, I can hear the buzzing sound.

Mmmm...mmm..

I realized it wasn't a buzz, but a hum. The humming seems patterned, like it wasn't just random humming. It's almost as if it's a message.

Perhaps it is a message. If only I can determine what it means...

"It's freaking cold here." My brother complains, wrapping his jacket around him. I glared at him for disrupting my concentration. "Why choose to investigate at night when it's unbearably chilly?!" He whined.

Annoyed, I shushed him. This is why I'm sometimes thankful he isn't the person coming along with me. He complains way more than the times where he's actually helpful.

I went back to focusing on the sounds. This time I hear a faint ticking.

Tick... tock...tick...tock...

The sound of the ticking isn't very far...and I'm almost certain that it's from a clock.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...
Mmmm..Mmm..Mm..

The sound of the ticking fastens it's pace at the same time the humming sound gets louder.

But the ticking is familiar, and there's only one possible clock where it could be coming from.

I rummaged my pockets for my pocket watch.

And indeed, it was coming from there.

The hands of the clock is moving at an abnormally fast pace.

"Violeta!" Zian shouts. "Vi! It's freezing! Let's get out of here! Vi-"

I couldn't hear the rest of what he said because the humming got too loud. Too loud I can barely recognize any other sound except for it.

There was a sudden shift, the humming changed into screams.

V-VIOLETA!

The voice was calling out my name. I put my hands on my ears to cover them, but I can still hear the voice loud and clear.

VIOLETA! VIOLETA!

My pocket watch hands were spinning like crazy, making me dizzy.

TICKTOCKTICKTOCKTICKTOCK
VIOLETA!!! VIOLETA!!!

I couldn't bear it! The sound was ear-splittingly loud, like alarms that just won't turn off.

"STOP!" I shouted back at...whatever it was. I knelt down, covering my ears as tightly as I could. I was pressing so hard I feel like I'll give myself a headache if the screams coming from the spirit wasn't already giving me one.

And to my surprise, it stopped.

The clock struck to midnight, twelve o'clock.

Violeta...

And with that, I blacked out.

☙ ♡ 🕛 ♡ ❧

I woke up in the familiar pitch black darkness.

The same darkness where I had my encounter with my grandma. Was I at the spirit realm? Am I about to meet my grandma again?

I want to see grandma again. I need someone to guide me.

This has been the worst encounter with a spirit so far. For the first time, I felt scared. Whatever spirit I'm dealing with, it's powerful.

But I couldn't show that I'm scared. I need to stay strong, that's what my grandma would tell me if she was here. I need to show the spirit that I can handle them.

In a blink of an eye, the scene changed. I was back at the intersection, but it was hazy, like a dream. That means I'm still in the spirit realm.

"Hello?" I called out. No reply.

The intersection was in the same state as it is in the real world. There wasn't any changes, except for one tiny detail.

There was a crack right smack in the middle of the road, right where all the roads would meet from north, east, west, and south.

I approached it cautiously.

A hand suddenly broke the crack open, making me jolt in surprise. What in the world-?

The hand thrashed around, trying to grasp whatever it could grasp. Unfortunately, I was standing too close and the hand reached out to grab my ankle.

I screamed and tried to wiggle my limb free.

"VIOLETA!" The voice coming from the crack shouted. It's the same voice I heard moments ago, "I'm stuck! Help!"

The voice was clear enough for me to recognize that it was an adolescent male voice. It was deep, yet youthful.

I'm not dumb to fall for this trick. It could be a trap. "No! Let go of me this instant!"

"Please! Help!" It pleaded.

The crack was big enough that it wasn't a crack anymore, but a hole. I peered down, I couldn't see anything but the darkness of the realm in it. If I want to find out who this spirit is, I have to help them get out of the hole.

"Please-"

Before I could think twice, I grabbed the hand and pulled up.

Please don't make me regret my decision...

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A/N:
This has been the most fun chapter to write from all 4 chapters so far. (Not including prologue. If prologue was included, that's the one I like best.)

Just curious, but how do you guys picture Violeta? Maybe Zian and Violeta's friends too? Describe them because Im curious on what you think my characters look like.

(If you check the previous chapter, I have a little sketch of Violeta there, so you might like to look at that... or you can guess entirely without any help, that's fine too.)