"My family history?" I ask, feeling a little attacked.

"Yes, you said you came from a long line of physics, right?"

"Well mystics, yeah, but..."

"Did I say something wrong?" Jin asks, obviously noticing my expression change. I've never had a poker face—resting bitch face for sure, but definitely not a poker face.

"No," I answer back quickly, "It's just a sensitive subject because of my mom and how she died."

"...Can I ask how?"

As Jin asks, Mom's hair pops into my head. It was my hair, Maeve's hair, grandpa's hair.

"She went crazy, I guess." Maybe apples don't fall too far from the tree after all.

"I don't understand."

"She was having an "episode," and she hyperventilated and fell and hit her head..."

"That's terrible," Jin says, slumping down onto the floor. "But, you said Maeve put her there in the first place, right?"

"Yeah," I say, sitting down beside him.

"Why?"

"My mom has always been eccentric, and Maeve's always hated that about her. I don't really remember much about the events that led up to it besides Maeve trying to explain to me that something wasn't right with mom and that I'd have to come stay with her and Jaxson. But I do remember mom always walking around the house at night, ranting things I couldn't understand. Maeve told me Mom had schizophrenia when the doctors came to take her. She assured me that all Mom needed was help and medicine, and then she'd be home. She was there less than a week before the accident..."

I pause as Jin looks at me. He should be running away from me like the first time he saw me, but instead, he's here, and the only one trying to help me. He gently pushes my head onto his shoulder as I continue.

"Honestly, I thought I was developing it until I met you." Shit. Maybe that would explain why the hell I'm itching.

"Schizophrenia?"

"Yeah...I mean, if Mom had it, there's a good chance I could. I mean, I was watching myself leave my body. That's just isn't normal."

"You said you would see your mom walking around rambling at night, right?"

"Yeah, but that's different..." I know what he's getting at.

"Are you sure? What if what's happening to you was happening to her?"

I sit up quickly at the thought. "You really think it could have been?"

"Anything is possible at this point."

"But my mom was never violent when she would wake up at night rambling and sure as shit wasn't haunting a house," I say, searching my memories of her.

"There are so many unknowns here," Jin says, shrugging. "I think we need to find out more. Do you or Maeve have any of your mom's medical records?"

"She might? But," I say, jumping up to grab the box sitting outside of the closet, "I have this." I bring the box over and plop it down in front of Jin.

"What?"

"My mom's crap. Her tarot cards, her ouija board, her astrology book. She used these for work, and she studies them relentlessly."

As soon as I pull out the ouija board, Jin flinches. Holy crap. He's superstitious.

"Seriously?" I say, trying not to laugh. "You know these things are fake, right?"

"With everything going on with Red Lady, I'm not so sure," Jin says, defensively.

He has a point. But there's no way all this is real. "Jin, I spent my childhood helping my mom set up illusions to trick her customers. If any of this shit were real, I'd know. Tarot cards can't tell your future, ouija boards can't summon the dead, and the stars can't tell you if your husband is banging the next-door neighbor. Witchcraft isn't real. Psychics aren't real. Mystics aren't real. They are artists; they use illusions to hypnotize people into hearing and seeing what they want to."

"What about ghosts, spirits or possessions," Can those things be real?

"Is that what you think this is? You think I'm possessed?" I hadn't thought of that.

"I'm not sure I'm just trying to think of all the possible explanations."

A cold, unfamiliar feeling runs through me. I'm terrified at the thought. Jin could be right.

"Process of elimination," Jin says, opening up his notebook.

"What now?" I ask, watching Jin turn to an empty page.

"A ghost is someone already dead, right?"

"Right," I agree as Jin writes the word and then puts a giant X across it.

"A spirit is the non-physical part of a person. Red Lady could be your spirit," Jin says, circling the word before moving on. "Last, we have possession, which is when a ghost or demon or some type of dead thing takes control of a living body."

The hair on my arms rise as Jin circles the word possession and then draws a line connecting the three terrifying words: spirit, possession, and Red Lady.

"Jin, I don't see how an evil spirit is possessing me. It happens when I'm asleep, and my physical body never even moves."

"Well, we need process of elimination to figure it out," Jin says, flipping to the prediction page in his notebook.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning we need to decide if something is possessing you or if your spirit is doing this."

"That doesn't even make any sense. I don't even know if I believe if people have spirits or souls inside them, let alone that there are evil spirits out there trying to possess people."

"How can you not? Each night you watch yourself leave your body?!"

He has a point. Before I can argue back, he is shoving the notebook in my face. "Read it."

"Prediction two," I begin to read. "If Vel Shamrock stays awake and Red Lady doesn't come out, then she's not being possessed."

"So, you're saying if I stay up all night and nothing happens, then there's nothing taking control of me?"

"Yes, it would prove that it's YOUR spirit or something within you that is causing Red Lady to come out. BUT if you go all Red Lady without falling asleep, then it could be something possessing you."

What if it is me? I'd almost rather some scary evil demon thing be taking control of me than know that the problem is something within me.

"But you said we need to figure out why this is happening, not just try to stop it from happening."

"It's like kinetic energy."

"Seriously? More Science?! You know I failed that class last semester..."

Jin ignores me and continues his madness. "Meaning, things stay in motion or out of motion until something causes them to move or not move. We already know that Red Lady WANTS the bedroom, for whatever reason, that's her mission. Before finding out WHY Red Lady wants the bedroom, we need to figure out HOW she's manifesting in the first place. HOW is she being put into motion? Is it when you sleep, or is it something possessing her to do it. We need to know if Red Lady is you or if she's someone else."

"For someone who thinks science sucks, you're hella interested in our science experience," I say, trying to lighten the mood because I honestly can't take anymore ghosty talk.

"I'm starting to love science," Jin says, grabbing my hand.

My hand tingles under his as my face flushes red at the surprise.

"Why?" I whisper, suddenly breathless.

"When you have the right study buddy, it's not so bad," Jin lets go of my hand to reach for his bag. He pulls out four cans of Bang. "We need to get our Bang on and—" he says, immediately blushing.

Wow.

"I meant the drink, not the—"

"I know," I laugh. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's embarrassed now. I grab a can from his hand and open it. "It's going to be a long night of studying all this," I say, dumping out the box of Mom's stuff.

"Let's just send it," Jin says, smiling back as we both flip open the astrology book.

Thanks for reading! Please take a second to vote!

*Who do you think Red Lady is? Vel's spirit or is she being possessed?