#he's just a silly bedazzled ghost to me

[confoodles]

he's a literal monster TO YOU

he's baby girl to me

[withered--s0uls]

Oh look it's another GD crossover

Ghost Drone AU - @electrozeistyking

You already saw all this art but shhh HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

This originally started out with me just wanting to draw Beanie interacting with the Intertwined Codes Kids but then I added some extra stuff lol.

If you're a reader of Intertwined Codes, this kinda sorta spoils future stuff bc only the twins have been mentioned in the Draft/Teaser fic but oh well. You have been warned.

IC!Uzi wouldn't like actually meet GD!N bc they'd kinda decide that "hey, let's not have the widowed man see an alternate version of his wife that actually got live." simply out of respect kinda?? So she would stick around at home with the kids whilst IC!N goes out to look for Beanies Dad after their kids drag her to them lmao.

So yeah she doesn't necessarily know the extent of the mans depression, the kids just mentioned there only being a dad so she just specifically asks about GD!N in this doodle

IC!N would quickly pick up on GD!N not being completely okay, even without being told any details. So he probably would end up sitting him down to talk on their way back to the IC!Doorman families place, wanting to help if he can in any way. (He runs a Daycare and tries to also be a support to any parent that needs it, so I feel he out of habit would lean into trying to do that with GD!N)

More/The kids under the Cut otherwise the post looks so long rip

I will go over each of these one by one (can'tdo close ups bc 10 image limit, I'll reblog this in a second with the close ups.)

Left are the Code-Related Nuzi kids, right are the adopted ones.

Code related kids

Zagi:

Not much to say, I'm still working out their personality - they're maybe 2-3 years older than Beanie, so they aren't too far apart in age. :)

Orita:

She's the sibling who started the trend of putting stickers on her siblings, so she DEFINITELY would do the same with Beanie.

She also probably originally was going to show her how to build a weapon, but her parents promptly stopped that lmao .

She would think it's really cool that Beanie has a custom core icon & in general is completely customized from the start! She herself was originally put into a regular worker body (just with the tail and headband being custom made by her mom), she had to build the DD forearms herself. She also has a sticker of the DD icon on her core, covering the WD icon :3

Rexim:

At this point he has enough siblings to be past the "ew a little kid" phase, so luckily Beanie gets spared that. His main camera is damaged, he only really uses his headband optics to look around, so he would kinda just look as if he's staring past her a lot. But bc of the obvious cracks in his visor I feel she would pick up on the fact he's not actually ignoring her.

Also he definitely would just play music to her, because IC!Uzi kinda always has music on whilst working in her workspace he kinda picked up some of her taste in music (Hence he's playing the same song that Uzi is shown to have been listening to in Ep7)

Raven:

First up THANK YOU Zeisty for helping me brainstorm silly stuff for them. They're a little ball of chaos now and I love them.

Anyways.

They would join Orita in bedazzling Beanie, and then they'd start talking about bird facts and also try to get Beanie to talk about her interests.

(Their height difference isnt 100% accurate bc halfway through drawing this I changed the IC timeline, making Raven about the same age as Zagi instead of them being a teen, so I kinda had to manually try and semi-fit their heights lol)

Adopted Kids

Ray:

Nothing to say. He's a baby. Tho whilst I was outlining this one I had to giggle because of how big he is in Beanies hands. She's so tiny 😭💕 /affectionate

Annika:

Oh boy. Ann.

Annika is the eldest kid & was adopted a while before Zagi was coded / whilst the parents were organizing the code copies for Zagi

She does NOT know how to talk to other kids. Never did. It made her stick out at the orphanage wing because she just avoided everyone. And it is very chaotic when Olivia and Ray first show up, because Ann's only idea of talking to other Drones is "well you got to be relatable" so she brings up the siblings dead parents bc like, her code parents are dead too. Both pairs dying to DDs. So yeah she probably would be the first, if not only one, in the whole household to just bring up GD!Uzi. She would do it like it's nothing either.

IC!Uzi would promptly get her to stop and sit her down having a conversation about "what did N and I say about trying to connect on that topic?"

Like IC!Uzi would actually feel really bad about it despite Beanie not knowing her mom. Bc she herself obviously didn't remember IC!Nori growing up but still didn't like the topic.

Olivia:

Olivia, as I said, was greeted with the topic of dead parents by Annika as well. So she probably would kinda interfere when IC!Uzi goes to sit Ann down to talk.

She would feel the need to apologize for the older girls behavior (which Ann would apologize for herself later too ofc) and would try to get Beanie to go play something together whilst IC!Uzi sorts that whole situation out.

She's also the closest to Beanies age probably, just was forced to mature bc of what happened to her parents, despite being taken in by Nuzi shortly after. She still obviously acts like a kid tho when comfortable, so I feel she would kinda ease up around Beanie and actually act more like a 4-5 year old around her.

Bonus? Bonus!

Needless to say Beanie would return home covered in stickers & hairpins (Orita & Raven have more than enough of those, they'd just let Beanie keep some)

RIP GD!N having to get her out of those stickers once they're back home

Also, for the "*humming*" variation of the picture I blame @k1k0oftheworld. Kiko was in vc with me when I was talking about how Beanie would be covered in stickers when she gets home, and saw the doodles as well.

He proposed the following scenario after seeing Rexim show Beanie IC!Uzis playlist:

Beanie humming dead batteries song & GD!N having a breakdown bc it reminds him of GD!Uzi

I do not take accountability for this, I was going to spare the poor widowed man.

(I scrapped the idea of him not knowing ab the IC!Doorman family and him getting a mini heart attack when Beanie goes "I met Mom today" in favor of him and IC!N meeting & talking - I WANTED TO SPARE HIS POOR HEART)

@k1k0oftheworld you owe him money for a therapy session now /silly

Anyways that's it, I'll put the close ups in the reblog like I said 👍

[delusional-mushroom]

Part one |•| Part two |•| Part three

And they were staring right at you.

Ironically, the figure in the mirror imitated your own shocked expression.

But it was obvious they were no mere reflection.

Their dark blue lips parted surprise. Tentatively, they brought their bedazzled hands up to pull back the hood of their cloak. Almost as if they were approaching a skittish stray cat. Their towering form bending gently at the neck.

They weren’t human — if their pointy ears and almost antler-like, purple horns were anything to go by.

For a few seconds, you froze.

It was like time itself halted, leaving you with nothing but your racing thoughts and the frantic drumming of your heart. Eyes wide, your gaze never left the mirror. You couldn’t turn away. Even a blink proved to be impossible with your tense form. You didn’t know why, but the figure looked oh so familiar. Like you’ve known it for a lifetime and more. And yet, you’re certain you’ve never seen anyone resembling a ridiculously tall, glittery smurf.

A thud interrupted your train of thought.

A hand — a large, calloused, blue hand — pressed up against the glass of the mirror, a desperate look on the figure’s face to boot.

Nope!

You flung the covering back onto the mirror, ignoring the almost pained look the stranger shot you. Although now once again obscured, you could still feel their unusual eyes raking over your unnerved form.

What. The. Fuck.

Breathing heavily, you glanced around the office.

Just like before, glimmering jewels and preserved parts stocked the sturdy wooden shelves. Save for the blown out candles, everything was the same.

But that didn’t ease your nerves. Not in the slightest.

Sparing the room one last spooked glance, you turned on your heel and ran out into the halls. Unlike the dimly lit chamber, the grand corridors welcomed plenty of sunlight through grandiose window. After the past few minutes, it was comforting, to say the least.

After a few minutes of walking, (a dubious look from one of the crown guards had you reigning in your speed) you found yourself striding through the library doors.

“[Name]?”

You nearly screamed at the call.

“Whoa, calm down, you scaredy cat—“ Claudia stood up from the library loveseat she was splayed out on, laying a thick book upside down on the armrest. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost — Hey! You were meant to wait for me in Dad’s office!” Her recollection came with pinched eyebrows and a pointed stare from the librarian.

“Claudia,” you start, tapping your fingers to your thumb in anxiety. “Something happened.”

“What? Ugh, did Dad catch you? I swear if I have to listen to another lecture about ‘respecting the sanctity of the high mages office’ I’m going to—“

“No, oh gods no,’ you chuckle at the thought. So many hours that you would never get back. “I found something…” the nervousness returned. Like the maddening screech of nails on a chalkboard, it invaded every inch of your conscious — that fucking mirror.

And that is how you found yourself in that room again.

At least Claudia was here, her presence was a much appreciated comfort.

“So whats this about a glittery guy in the mirror?” Claudia’s inquisitive query drew you back from the raging sea of your thoughts.

“I’m telling you, he was there! Or maybe she — either way! There’s a person in the mirror!” Now that you think about it, you didn’t even see much of the sparkly horror in the looking glass, yet their strange eyes remained ingrained in your mind.

“I’m not seeing anyone, Oh! Maybe there’s a spell,” she raised her hands and wriggled her fingers with funny face. “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, Who’s the fairest of them all?” Her reflection stared back at her, silly expression and all. “Oh my god, that’s so nice of you mirror guy!” You rolled your eyes at her bashful giggle

“Ha. ha. Very funny.” Your deadpan was strong enough to turn any normal person to stone. Claudia, of course, was no normal person.

“I know right? I’m hilarious,” she snorted., before her face lights up in a realisation. “Wait… today’s the first of April… Was this a prank all along??!”

The only thing you could do was sigh, shoulders slumped.

“Pfft, good one.” Suddenly, she grabbed ahold of your arm and led you back to the library. “Now come on, I have to show you something.”

Aaravos wasn’t dreaming.

It really was you. The change of your skin tone, and the deviation of your hair colour, even the lack of starry freckles — none of that meant anything. It was you, he was sure of it.

That wondrous look in your eyes, the way you stood, and the way you kept your hair, they all caused his breath to hitch and his hands to shake.

Every detail, both new and old, threatened to draw tears from his darkened eyes.

Your ears were round — so you were a human, and from the way you were dressed, he guessed that you were at least living comfortably, but standards change with the times. By the looks of it, you weren’t that old — probably still in your early teens.

Every curve of your face, every emotion that flickered in your eyes, it all brought him so much pain.

And now as he cradled himself on the floor with his hair a stranded mess, he sobbed pathetically. Fate truly was cruel.

His sibling, his nefarious goblin, he might even go as far as calling you his first child, ripped away from him and dangled just out of reach behind that blasted mirror.

And you were afraid of him.

Those eyes — bright pools of [e/c] wonder — that used to look to him with adoration and jubilance, now gazed at him with fear and unease.

His four-fingered hands clutched his pearly locks as he wept, bitter anguish reaping what was left of his soul.

The memory of the nova blade sinking into your heart like a knife in butter always haunted him, but he swore that your pained screams rung so much louder today.

And they never stopped…

[sunflowerandstrawberryspice]

Ninjago post crystalized HC

-Therapy (I was considering only writing that and posting lol)

-Everyone starts finally settling down and a couple of the ninja are even looking into college courses since a lot of their technical skills revolve around fighting and they're kinda sick of that.

-I like to think Jay and Nya open up a mechanic shop together with some silly name like Electric Wave or something along those lines.

-Pixal starts working with Cyrus Borg again

-I think Zane should be an EMT or something like that, since he can asses wounds and work really quickly and has endless knowledge in his database so I think it fits

-Cole probably takes a bit to figure out what he wants to do but I could honestly see him going into psychology since he's pretty empathetic and a chill dude (bestie literally made friends with a snow monster and some dude who'd been a ghost for centuries I think he's got the skill)

-Kai was kinda hard ngl but I think that since he's seemingly ending up with Skylor maybe he helps out at the noodle house? Honestly I'm not sure Kai is tricky for me.

-Lloyd goes into law to some degree, HERE ME OUT, he totally seems like the type who still wants to defend innocents and those who have been wronged and what better way to do that (that doesn't involve ninja powers) I could totally see him fighting so hard for like kids and stuff since his childhood was pretty jacked up too.

-Wu and Misako probably start adventuring again, though more for fun and not looking for answers to anything, it's just to learn more about the world.

-I think it would be funny if Garmadon got a painfully mundane job in an office, like a data entry person or some shit like that would be so funny (like imagine "Oh you need that done? Yeah go ask Folson" and then you find out "Folson" is fucking GARAMDON who's just like chilling at his desk with coffee like "What do you want?")

-Lloyd reconnects with some of his old friends and while they're still a little bedazzled by him but still

-The ninja probably do a couple interviews after Crystalized kinda finally sharing how they really feel and people are shocked how scared their hero's have been this entire time.

-The ninja totally compare scars, like "Dude I got my face scar from literally being turned into a ghost, it's cooler than yours" or "Are lightning scars cool if I accidentally did it myself?"

-Lloyd starts reconnecting with his father again and slowly but surly the man Garmadon once was begin to shine through bit by bit, not fully but clearly he's there.

-Cole helps with reconstruction once his powers start coming back

-They all meet up when they can to do something fun together

-In addition to the last prompt: Sometimes they need to get some energy out and they're like "I need to fight" and they get together to absolutely pummel each other to get the fight out until the next time (Zane has totally recorded a couple of these fights, a particularly flasy one between Kai and Cole is in fact on the internet and people go nuts over it)

-They all pick up hobbies to relax a little: Kai-wood burning Lloyd-felting Zane-baking (he still does it to wind down) Cole-crocheting Nya-knitting (her and Cole fight over which is better by) Jay-skating Pixal-drawing

-Garmadon get's more plants, him and Vinny's new place has the nicest front and back garden and the oxygen in their house is CRISP

-Cyrus Borg kinda adopts Zane like "I already have one nindroid child, what's one more?" they totally have family dinners and I'd like to imagine Pixal's partner (idk who but it's not Zane cause like sibling dynamic> anything) and Cole just kinda siting there with three super geniuses and the two are just like "I forget what I have for lunch sometimes"

-Everyone starts to heal and the world is better... at least until this new show (whether I think of it as cannon is dependent on how much I like it lol)

That's it for now, I will be back, that's a promise and a threat :)

[amethystunarmed]

“fuck you” “well if you insist" freewood?

Well, I’m always a sucker for Freewood. Sorry this took so long, anon! Because of that, have two endings!

Ryan was going to kill him. He had said that before, but this time, he meant it. (He tried not to think of all the times he had “meant” it before and had never actually done anything about it.) Gavin had gone too far this time. He kicked the door to Gavin’s room open, easily snapping it in half down the middle. The hacker didn’t bother looking up from his computer.

“It wasn’t locked, you know.” Ryan didn’t bother responding to him. He was too damn angry for banter.

“Gavin,” he snarled through gritted teeth, “Would you mind tell me why the fuck you and Michael were featured on the 5 o’clock news on my fucking bike?”

“Well.” A slice of teeth cut across Gavin’s face. “It wouldn’t be smart to use my own car as a getaway vehicle, now would it?” Ryan was going to rip his head off with his bare hands.

“Fuck you!” he shouted, striding forward to beat some sense into his empty British head-

“If you insist,” Gavin purred, briefly looking up from his laptop to slowly slide his tongue across his lips. Ryan physically jolted, the words stunning him more than any blow would. He could feel his train of thought sputter and stumble over the tracks.

“I, you, banna wang?” Ryan flubbed, practical gibberish spilling out of his lips before he could even think to stop it. His cheeks grew warm. The room was silent other than the taps of spindly fingers on a keyboard and their own breathing. Ryan would have thought he hallucinating it if not for the sheen along Gavin’s bottom lip and-

Ryan suddenly decided he didn’t need to be in this room anymore. Geoff would be pissed if I killed him, Ryan thought to himself as he stepped over the splinters of Gavin’s once door. The pardon had absolutely nothing to do with their conversation. He was sure of it.

(Second ending is under the cut off, and is a tad bit steamier, I suppose. You’ll see.)

“Fuck you!” he shouted, striding forward to beat some sense into his empty British head-

“If you insist,” Gavin purred, briefly looking up from his laptop to slowly slide his tongue across his lips. Ryan physically jolted, the words stunning him more than any blow would. This wasn’t the first time something that this had happened. Ryan would get angry, Gavin would snark, and then they’d go on with their lives. Unless… Pieces snapped into place.

“Are you… flirting with me?”

“Of course, you silly sausage!” Gavin snorted, like this should have been obvious. Ryan, however, was still lost.

“But you stole my bike… And bedazzled my masks… And shot me in the shoulder.”

“Oi, that last one was an accident!” Gavin protested, before having the decency to look sheepish. “And… only I get to talk to you alone when you’re pissed at me, so I figured, if I was being a prick, I…” Gavin stopped, the tips of his ears turning bright red. “I see how this could have been misconstrued.” Ryan still didn’t respond. His brain may have overheated. Gavin Free had been pulling his pigtails. Holy shit.

“I, uh…” For once in his life, Gavin didn’t know what to say. “I right buggered this up.”

“So, you, like… wanna go on dates?” Ryan asked, still trying to comprehend this whole flirting thing. Gavin nodded fiercely, his hair flopping wildly.

“Yeah! I mean, if you want to. Normally I’d offer to go for bevs, but you don’t drink so… We could… Rob the Diet Coke factory or something?” Ryan mulled it over. It actually sounded… nice. A smile surfaced without his say so.

“Sure thing, Gav.”

“Wait, really?” Gavin spat, looking positively aghast. “You actually-”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Ryan hushed, placing a finger over lips, “We still need to finish the discussion we were having earlier.” A glee rushed through him as he watched Gavin’s pupils dilate, watched the bob of his anxious Adam’s apple.

“You mean…?” Gavin asked, suddenly too shy to even say it aloud. Ryan smirked and walked over to where he was sitting on the bed, nearly laughing as Gavin hastily shut his laptop and shoved it to the side. He pressed himself against Gavin’s side, relishing in the feeling of his sharp inhale. “I- I’m all bloody for this,” Gavin stammered, trying not to lose himself in the feeling of Ryan’s stubble just barely ghosting over his jaw, “but, uh, maybe we should move? My door’s pretty knackered-”

Ryan paused in his movements, causing Gavin to cease his rambling. His lips were millimeters away from Gavin’s ear, and a shudder trailed down the Brit’s spine at the warm breaths trickling over his skin. “If you ever touch my bike again,” Ryan whispered, voice still a low, sultry timbre, “I will personally make sure you have to pee sitting down. Do you understand?” Gavin tensed and squeaking in fear, which Ryan took as assent.

“Good talk,” he continued, stepping back like nothing had occurred. He began whistling as he stepped out, nudging debris out of the way with his toe. “Pick me up tomorrow at eight!”

[rauliskafan]

Little Lessons in Expecting: Chapter 6

Authors’ Note: Happy Wednesday, wonderful readers!!! Natalia is in her eighth month, Maggie is throwing a party... and Rafael and Dodds have a surprise up their sleeves! Read on for more, and even though these “Little Lessons” are coming to an end, stay tuned for some sweet surprises very soon! @vintagemichelle91 and I hope that you enjoy!!!

           “Natty! Open this one next!”

           Sitting in the center of her sister’s living room surrounded by pink paper and an assortment of frilly bows, Natalia began to pick away at yet another pastel package.

           “That one is from me,” Lucia said, drinking watermelon punch. When Maggie had promised a shower worthy of ten new Lady Barbas, even as Hazel and Holly were more miracles than Natalia had ever counted on, the ballerina was in earnest. Rosy streamers trailed from every archway spilling towards blush confetti that caught in everyone’s shoes and created tracks wherever the revelers walked. All leading back to strawberry ice cream paired with the kind of cupcakes that Rafael only imagined when he painted an Easter egg so long ago.

           All and all, a perfect palace for the princesses sleeping soundly under Natalia’s heart.

           “What did you do, Lucia?” Liv teased. Natalia, shaken from her reverie, slowly unwrapped the gift.

           “Oh my God!” Natalia cried. “ABBA?”

           “I could not resist,” Lucia said after another sip. “Rafi used to dance up a storm to that. He can show the little ones the way to do it.”

           Liv burst out laughing along with Rollins. But Violetta climbed off Alessia’s lap to inspect the vinyl record still in its jacket.

           “Mami, how that make music?” Violetta asked.

           “We put it on a turntable and then a needle drops---”

           “And then you put up an SOS to stop the dancing feet,” Lucia joked. But Violetta still appeared perplexed.

           “Why now?” she asked. “Why not the big circles make music when I first come home?”

           To that Natalia had no answer, and the room fell quiet save for Frannie Mae’s snores at Rollins’ feet as Natalia tried to come up with the right answer.

           “Relax, Mami,” Violetta said, stopping the silence. “I fine with sharing. But I want to dance with Papi, too.”

           “And so you will,” Lucia assured her. “At Nana and Trevor’s wedding. Right, Alessia?”

           Her mother chuckled, and Natalia heaved a sigh of relief. Setting the record aside, she thanked her mother-in-law with a shy smile, and turned her attention to the next gift.

           “Those things are lifesavers,” Rollins said as Natalia revealed two swaddles meant to keep the twins close. “And since there’s going to be all this dancing…”

           “Plus they match Rafael’s socks!” Natalia remarked as her fingers traced the intricate patterns all pink and purple. A smile graced her strawberry frosted lips at the thought of Rafael balancing one baby on each hip, singing so many songs...

           “Oh!”

           “Natty, what is it?” Alessia asked. “Are you alright?”

           “They kicked!” Natalia said. “They’re dancing already!”

           The room erupted in coos, a series of hands resting on her belly as the twins bounced from within. Even Frannie Mae pushed in on the action, licking what was left of the cupcake from Natalia’s fingertips as Maggie announced that it was time for her present.

           “Maggie, you already gave me the party,” Natalia said.

           “Watch me top it,” Maggie responded, beaming with pride. A pull on one final ribbon, and Natalia laughed at the sight of a diaper cake overflowing with lotions and pairs of pink stuffed monkeys and so many booties bordering on ballet shoes.

           “Maggie!” Natalia screeched. “This is too much.”

           “Not for you,” Maggie said, quickly kissing her sister’s cheek. “And look, Little V! I have something for you, too!”

           Reaching behind the couch, Maggie retrieved a rectangular box also wrapped in pink, and Violetta eagerly tore through the paper to show off a bedazzled shirt reading Big Sister to Twins… and Boss Lady of the World. It took Violetta a few tries to sound out every word, but as soon as the statement rolled off her tongue in its entirety…

           “Very good, Tia Maggie,” Violetta declared. “This be true and nobody better forget it.”

           “You’re about to have your hands full,” Liv whispered, topping off Natalia’s punch and patting her back. “Lots of restless nights.”

           “Not true,” Natalia countered. “My babies sleep soundly. My husband on the other hand…” As her voice trailed off, Natalia smirked, helping herself to another cupcake. Maggie set one of the ABBA records on her turntable and started to show Violetta how to move to the voices singing in harmony as the party carried on into the afternoon.

          “Mami? You really ready to go home?”

          Coming down from the sugar rush and looking forward to kicking off her shoes, Natalia sighed from the backseat of the taxi cab and gently fluffed Violetta’s curls.

        “Aren’t you, sweet pea?” Natalia asked. “It’s been a long day for us.”

        “Kind of,” Violetta confessed. “But I not sure if---”

         A quick hiss passing through Maggie’s teeth caused Violetta to clam up, Natalia’s eyes flickering between them, seeing the knowing glance shared and hardly masked.

        “What was that?” Natalia asked.

        “What was what?” Maggie innocently inquired.

        “That,” Natalia emphasized, pointing a finger in each direction, her eyes narrowing. But neither girl was giving up the ghost.

        “How about I put the presents away and then we take a few laps around the block to work off our cupcake calories?” Maggie suggested.

         “Good idea!” Violetta chimed in. “So we not get too fat. Course Mami right now very big, but Abuelita Lucia say a lot of that belly go down when we get the new babies.”

           “And the rest we will walk off,” Natalia said. “But not today. Let’s take a load off and see what the boys are up to.

            Flashing the driver a tired smile, Natalia climbed the steps to the front door.

           “Mami, wait!” Violetta cried out, scrambling behind her mother.

            “What is it, sweet pea?” Natalia asked.

            “I… uh… I don’t think you give the taxi man his money,” Violetta said. “And he work so hard driving all day long.”

            “Oh, I… I’m sorry.” Reaching into her purse, Natalia searched for something in the way of a proper tip, coming up empty-handed and looking to her sister for aid.

             “Craziest thing, Natty,” Maggie said, setting several presents on the stoop and barely looking in her bag. “Must have left my wallet back at the apartment.”

             “So no tip?” the driver warily asked.

            “But no worries!” Maggie quickly said. “You’ll just drive us back, and I’ll dash in---”

            “Don’t be silly, Maggie,” Natalia reasoned. “I can just run inside right here or… wait!”

            Grinning from ear to ear, she pulled out a twenty and a ten-dollar bill, handing the cash to the cabbie.

           “Keep the change,” Natalia said. “And have a wonderful day.”

           “Just got better ma’am,” the driver said, doffing his cap as he resumed his place behind the wheel. “Thank you much.”

           “Don’t mention it,” Natalia said, opening the door. The sound of Maggie swiftly tapping away at her phone was almost instantly replaced by Dodds’ excited voice.

            “You’re home!”

           “Well I do live here, Mike.” Natalia said as Violetta tugged at her skirt, trying and failing to stop her before crawling through her legs and lifting her little hands.

           “You sure you not want to see the mustache man to get more pineapple pizza?” Violetta asked, making a face as she mentioned the meal.

           “Mami is stuffed, sweet pea,” Natalia said, patting her bulging belly. “Now where is my handsome husband?”

           “He… we thought you’d be a little longer,” Dodds said, glancing at his watch before turning his eyes towards the top floor.

           And the loud thud emanating from upstairs.

           “Atticus?” Natalia called out. Maggie wobbled forward with the presents, Dodds moving fast to help her even as he kept one leg extended at the bottom most step.

           “Everything’s fine,” Dodds said, the many gifts weighing him down when Maggie pulled on her sister’s arm.

           “Who’s up for some tea?” Maggie asked. “Or maybe some milk after all that cake.”

           “I’m really fine,” Natalia said, her eyes trickling up the steps as she heard her husband’s sigh and began her ascent.

           “No!” Dodds cried, jumping forward to bar her way.

           “Mike?” Natalia challenged. “What’s going on? I thought you and Rafael were going to grab some lunch.”

           “I had a piece of your pineapple pizza,” he admitted, making Maggie wretch. “What? It’s not half bad.”

           “Do not even think of bringing that into our home,” Maggie warned as she playfully pinched his cheek.

           “Tio Mike, Mami has an excuse. You don’t,” Violetta agreed.

           “And what about Atticus?” Natalia asked. “What did he eat?” Dodds looked ready to answer when Rafael called out the sergeant’s name, and he went running.

           “What are you two doing?” Natalia demanded.

           “Two minutes!” Dodds exclaimed, his feet flying up the steps. “Maybe less!”

           With that he was gone, and Natalia looked over her shoulder, lifting an eyebrow at her sister.

           “Here I thought you were being less than subtle,” she challenged. “But your husband could learn a thing or two.”

           “Natty,” Maggie said, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling sweetly. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking---”

           “Watch it, watch it, watch it!”

           What sounded like two bumper cars going at it caused the twins to stir. Natalia clutched her stomach and suddenly felt Maggie’s hand on her arm.

           “You should sit down,” Maggie advised.

           “It’s nothing,” Natalia assured her. “I think that my two little girls are just very curious.”

           “Does that mean you have the babies now, Mami?” Violetta asked. “So they can see what happening?”

           “Not just yet, sweet pea. I---”

           “You’re home!”

           Repeating Dodds’ statement, Rafael appeared at the top of the stairs, his hair askew, his light blue shirt and khakis rumpled. Before Natalia could speak, the twins stilled in her stomach.

           “Are you alright?” he asked, taking the steps two at a time until he reached her side to take hold of her hands.

           “Wonderful,” she said with a soft kiss. “Your daughters were kicking up a storm.”

           “And they stopped?” Rafael queried.

           “The second they heard the sound of your voice.”

           Rafael’s grin expanded in the wake of her words, and Maggie suggested they sit for a second on the sofa.

           “Not until someone clues me on what’s going on up there,” Natalia said.

           “But, Mami, we---”

           “It’s alright. I think we’re ready,” Rafael said, cutting his daughter off. “Let’s have Mami close her eyes.”

           “Close my… what did you do?” Natalia asked with the smallest hint of worry in her voice.

           “You ask that like I took the roof off,” Rafael replied.

           “It was loud and… you didn’t… you didn’t do that, did you?” she asked as Rafael clicked his tongue and waved one finger under her wide stare.

           “Nothing like that, hermosa,” he assured her. “But I insist on eyes closed.”

           “I guess I’ll have to trust you,” Natalia said, her lids falling over her brown orbs.

           “Always,” Rafael whispered, kissing in her hair. With Maggie on one side and her husband on the other, Natalia started up the steps, the feel of Violetta racing ahead of them followed by the sound of her giggling with Dodds until they turned the corner and stepped through a door. Only then did Maggie release her, and Natalia leaned into Rafael’s large palms on her shoulders.

           “Atticus?”

           “Now if you don’t like it, we can always rearrange,” he promised.

           “Don’t makes me nervous,” Natalia murmured, her eyes still shut.

           “Never,” he promised. “I think… I hope that---”

           “Papi, let her look and make up mind for herself!” Violetta said, and Natalia felt Rafael take a step back along with a deep breath.

           “Okay. Open your eyes, hermosa.”

           Obeying the gentle order, Natalia’s eyes shifted to the sight of one of the unused bedrooms, a place where they forever tossed odds and ends, transformed into something out of one of Violetta’s picture books. Two cribs sat just shy of each bay window with mobiles of multi-colored fabric flowers hanging overhead. Matching bookcases already overflowed with stories, and a rocking chair with a flowered chandelier rested between the shelves. Blinking back a few tears, Natalia’s eyes drifted towards the freshly papered walls.

           “I had it specially made,” Rafael said. “Hazel and Holly flowers.”

           “Atticus, I…”

           “Like I said, if there’s any part of it you don’t like---”

           “Just head back to our place and we’ll fix it right up,” Dodds promised.

           “I can get the cab back,” Maggie said.

           “Or we could---”

           “Be quiet, you silly man,” Natalia said, cupping Rafael’s face and laughing lightly against his lips. “I couldn’t love it… or you anymore.”

           Relaxing under her fingers, Rafael answered her smile with a kiss, his head falling to her shoulder.

           “Thank you,” Natalia said, gazing into his eyes until she caught sight of Dodds hanging off to the other side of the room. “And Mike, thank you---”

           “The ADA slash carpenter here said he didn’t need my help,” Dodds said with a good-natured smirk.

           “Who do you think put Violetta’s nursery together?” Rafael challenged.

           “And who said that my company was greatly appreciated?” Dodds asked.

           Natalia watched her husband’s cheeks flush crimson as Maggie bolted forward to tousle Rafael’s already unkempt hair.

           “You’re adorable, counselor,” Maggie teased. “Next thing you know Mike will have to help you with your March Madness bracket.”

           “Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Rafael asked, tilting his head along with a single eyebrow.

           “Basketball, Papi,” Violetta said rolling her eyes. “No worry. Tio Mike teach you all about jump shots.”

           “Definitely a good thing we’re not having boys,” Rafael said, starting to take Natalia into his arms as Dodds and Maggie offered to sort out the gifts.

           “I show you which pile for Hazel and which one for Holly,” Violetta said, running out of the room and leaving the expectant parents alone, Natalia’s eyes dancing as her fingers trailed along the edges of the fabric flowers and Rafael nipped at her neck.

           “You like our little garden?” he whispered into her ear.

           “More than anything,” Natalia murmured back, bringing his palm to rest on her belly. “I think our daughters approve, too.”

           “Good. Because once they’re here, we’re keeping the twins in this room until they’re seventy-nine.”

           “Is that a fact?” Natalia teased.

           “All my pretty flowers under one roof so I can love them for the rest of my life.”

           Turning in his embrace, Natalia had not the heart or the desire to tell him otherwise. Instead, she simply savored the feel of his lips near hers as she pulled him closer.

           “One more month and the dream comes true,” Natalia said.

           “Music to my ears,” he said, kissing her quickly as Natalia giggled and rested her head against his chest.

           “What?” he asked.

           “You know the girls might want to play basketball,” she said. “What will you do then?”

           “Violetta can take charge,” he said.

           “Always,” Natalia laughed back, kissing him in the garden only two flowers short of paradise.       

[rowanstories-blog]

Ghost of Bayview

Jessica needed a plan. In exactly four months, three weeks, and two days, she would be attending the most important keystone event of her life so far: senior prom. She already had her attire and makeup options completely planned out and ready to be chosen based on her group's color scheme, thanks to some help from her more preppy friend Natalie. She even had a spreadsheet of every limo service in a ten mile radius, with information on prices, available seats, and customer ratings. As she went through her binder, re-organizing the pages in the bracelet subsection of the accessories tab, her eye glanced at a tab that she knew was woefully incomplete. No amount of personal research and sorting would help her fill it out.

She flipped over to the tab, labeled DATE. A single blank page met her eyes, taunting her.

Everyone else in her group already had boyfriends that they would take to prom. Some of them had been dating for an entire year and would basically die for each other, but most were very promising few-month relationships that were certain they'd make it to prom season. Even Kate, known for never dating a boy for longer than a few weeks, had a guy on the soccer team who already agreed to go with her if she didn't manage to find someone else in time. At Kate's relationship rate, she may have gone through every other boy in the school by prom. The thought made Jessica wince a bit.

"That binder isn't going to help you get a date," Natalie had commented when going over different kinds of nail polish after school. That's where Natalie was wrong.

Jessica grabbed her pen bag, sorted by line width and ink hue, and began making a table. With the help of the junior yearbook, she listed every boy in class, noting who was available and who was taken to the best of her ability. Every so often she'd make a quick call to one of the other girls to confirm or deny a rumor, but otherwise kept her plan to herself. In just a few short hours, almost half the time it took for her to figure out and sort her different dress style options, she had a list of possible guys.

She browsed the list, making additional marks to indicate her probability of getting a yes from them. Some of them would never agree; she wasn't athletic, or goth, or nerdy, so no one from those cliques would want to go with her. She did belong to the eco-volunteers and the brainiac groups, so someone from those areas would probably be much easier to get a yes from. Her friend group also opened a lot of possibilities if they gave her a good word in advance, though that would require letting some of them in on her search, which could backfire if she wasn't careful.

After careful consideration, she had her final list. None of them were particularly attractive or even interesting to her, but that wasn't the point. She didn't need a husband. However, she couldn't just ask a random guy from her list to the prom the day before either; that would look desperate, like she couldn't get a boyfriend at all and would take whoever just to save face. That wouldn't work, not at all. She needed to woo one of these boys so they could spend the four months, three weeks, and two days before prom dating, for all the school to see. Then, when the day came, they would both walk into prom, and everyone would whisper to each other about how good they looked together.

Tomorrow, Jessica planned, she would get more information on the guys in her final list. Hobbies, favorite food, any information that would help her approach them. She needed to woo them perfectly if they were going to be dating up to prom.

She closed her binder, running her fingers on the bedazzled cover. "This binder is so going to get me a date. Suck on that, Natalie."

---

Benjamin likes games. Russo likes EDM. Aden likes robots. Jessica noted each interest she could remember overhearing during her second lap around the cafeteria. Her friends tried to get a look at what she was writing so intensely, but gave up when Jessica threatened to write on their faces instead.

As she prepared for her third lap through the tables, someone caught her eye.

He meandered through the cafeteria, looking at all of the tables. He didn't have a tray, and didn't look to be searching for a seat. He just wandered, moving his gaze around the crowd. For a moment, his eyes met Jessica's. They stayed for a moment, then looked away as he continued walking through the tables.

Jessica's eyes didn't look away. She stared at him, waiting for a name to come to her, but none did. She filtered through the yearbook pictures in her mind, but she still couldn't come up with a match.

"Jess is staring at a boy!"

The exclamation shocked Jessica back to the table, where all of her friends stared at her with wide grins.

"Is that your crush?"

"Are you going to talk to him?"

"Do we need to get him over here?"

Jessica put her hands out. "No, no! I just.. who is he? I don't remember seeing him in the yearbook."

Kate laughed to herself. "Silly, that's.." Her voice trailed off. "Wait, who is that?"

"I think I've seen him in my math class," Natalie said with a lot of hesitation. "But I'm not sure. Could he be a new student?"

"This late in the year?"

"It's possible."

"Well," Kate shrugged, leaning into Jessica. "Guess it's up to Jessy to find out for us!"

"Yeah, go talk to him!"

"Go lay on some moves, girl!"

Jessica didn't try to hide her eye roll. She much preferred to be pushing someone else to chase a guy, not being pushed into chasing herself. Still, she somehow had managed to make it the past three years with only passing comments on her single status. It was only a matter of time before the group found a suitable target to push her towards. "I'll ask his name," she decided, "but that's all." She needed it for her binder, after all.

The girls cheered as Jessica got up, slipping her binder into her bag and out of the group's view. With a deep breath, she started toward where she last saw the boy. As she walked, she made sure to keep her ears open for more information on the others in her list.

She made two full laps around, but she couldn't find the new boy at all. She even took a risk and initiated contact with Aden, asking if he had seen someone of his description pass by. He replied that he hadn't seen someone of that description in the school ever.

Before she could make another lap to search, the school bell rang. Everyone got up at once and began gathering their things from the table for their next class. Jessica cursed in her head, but censored it as she whispered under her breath. She had a lot of information on the other guys, but now she knew there was someone she had absolutely no intel on. She knew that the empty box on her table would bug her immensely, but she would have to wait until after school to do anything about it.

---

Three days went by, and Jessica still had absolutely no information on the new boy, nicknamed by her group as The Cafeteria Ghost, or just Ghost when they texted. After the first day of Jessica not getting any information, the others all started asking around about Ghost. A few people had seen him in the cafeteria that day, and some of the sports players noticed him at recent games. Come claimed they had classes with him, but said he only came to class once in a blue moon, and that his name wasn't on the class roster. Even teachers didn't know who she was trying to describe when she asked about Ghost.

"Maybe he's one of those older people who comes back to high school to get the special diploma," Natalie theorized. "He may just pop in every so often to get work or take a test."

"Maybe he's homeschooled but hates it," Kate thought out loud. "So he sometimes escapes to get a true high school experience, but his crazy parents always find out and trap him again."

None of the theories satisfied Jessica. She wrote them all down in her binder anyway, along with a name, time, and statement from everyone she spoke to, in a new tab labeled GHOST.

"I'll find out who you are," she grumbled as she made a crude drawing of his likeness on the final page of the GHOST section. "And I'll do it fast, because you're using up my valuable prom date hunting time."

---

She didn't have to work fast to find Ghost, because the next day, he came to her.

On her walk home from school, she noticed him in full view, leaning on a fence by the sidewalk. He looked right at her as she approached, playing with a lollipop in his mouth.

"There you are, girl from the cafeteria. Jessica, right?"

She paused. How did he get her name before she could find out his? The idea bugged her.

"I'll take that as a yes," he laughed.

"And you are?"

"James."

"James what?"

"Just James."

She frowned. "You have a last name. Everyone does."

He shrugged. "So you're a student over at Bayview? What year?"

"Yeah, I'm a senior."

"That makes you, what, 16?"

"17," she corrected. "Are you a student? No one at Bayview knows you."

"Maybe I go somewhere else."

"Then why were you at Bayview?"

"Well," he said as he pulled out the lollipop and stepped closer to her, "maybe you could find that out over coffee?"

She opened her mouth to tell him off, but stopped. No boy had shown such clear interest in her before. Plus, she could check off the "find out about Ghost" and the "get a prom date" boxes off of her to-do with one event if she did this right. He seemed to be avoiding her questions out of flirtatiousness rather than malice, as a way of keeping her interested in uncovering his mystery. If she was being completely honest with herself, it was working. "Okay," she agreed after a minute's hesitation.

"Great," Ghost, now named James, replied, immediately turning away. "Cafe Nero, 4pm tomorrow. See ya there."

Jessica pulled out her phone, ready to tell her group chat of friends about what she learned about Ghost, but stopped herself. She didn't actually learn anything except his name, and they would latch onto the whole date thing and blow it way out of proportion. Best to wait until after the date and give all the updates at once.

---

Jessica sat down front and center in homeroom exactly two minutes before the start of class bell went off. She liked the routine of being in her spot early enough to organize her desk, but not so early that she felt restless waiting for the day to begin.

She heard a thump in the seat next to her. She looked over to see James Donahue, kicking his feet up on the desk.

"James," she scolded, "how many times do I have to tell you not to do that, especially in the front row!"

"Okay, Mom," James chuckled, moving his feet but still slouching back against his chair. "I guess I have to be on my best behavior before our special date, huh?"

She rolled her eyes with a smile. "Just try not to be too much of a slob."

"I guess I can do that. But if I do make a mess, promise me you won't try to organize the crumbs by size and color."

The teacher walked in, throwing her teaching manual on the front desk with a thud. "Okay, class, take your seats and I'll take attendance. Aaron."

"Here."

The list went on, each name getting a call of 'here' from somewhere behind Jessica. She loved watching the clock tick by as her teacher called out each name, creating a melody that only she could appreciate. The clock ticked to 8:15:43, and she prepared for her part of the tune.

"James."

"Here," James and Jessica said in unison.

The teacher gave a pointed look to Jessica. "Don't jump the gun, sweetie. You're next. Jessica."

"H-here," she stammered. She looked back at the clock, confused. Her name was always called at 8:15:43. Perhaps the teacher was talking a bit slower today? She had counted each exchange for the entire year prior, singing along in her head: Aaron, Beth, Bobby, Cameron, Ethan, Ida, then Jessica. She paused, and reviewed the list in her head. She definitely had it memorized that way, with Jessica after Ida, but where was James? Of course his name came before hers. She re-sang the list in her head, trying to put James in, but it felt unfamiliar, like it didn't belong.

"You okay?" James tapped her shoulder, looking at her with concern.

"Yeah," she lied.

"Try not to get too embarrassed. By the time we're having coffee later, you'll have totally forgotten about this."

The lesson started, and Jessica did her best to not think about the list of names chiming out to the ticking of the clock.

---

Three months went by after Jessica's coffee date with James, and she couldn't be happier. Despite knowing each other for years, she felt like she really only discovered him that day, as they talked for hours in the shop and on the nearby walking path. She didn't tell him about her original scheme to just get a prom date, of course. After the first few weeks, she realized that she did really like him, prom or not. Since that day she hadn't pulled out her binder at all, focusing instead on spending every afternoon in his company.

He was very good at sweeping her off her feet when they were together; he was intelligent, worldly, and quite the romantic. He never made dick or fart jokes like the other boys her age, and knew how to handle his beer at the basement parties. She didn't know a seventeen year old guy could be so mature, and if she did know, she never would have thought he'd show any interest in her. And yet here she was, the girlfriend of the most mature guy in school, experiencing so many firsts with him. He claimed to be a first-timer for many things they did together too, but it felt to good to her for just pure talent. She told him she didn't mind if he had experience before, but he never opened up about that. It bothered her a bit, but she thought it best not to disrupt such a good relationship over one minor thing.

The flyers for prom started appearing in the halls, and Jessica felt the prom fever return to her. She knew she had everything planned perfectly from all those months ago, but now it felt so much more real. James especially helped with that; knowing who she'd be walking through the door with made it all the more exciting.

She wanted to point out the fliers to James and talk to him about his prom desires, but he hadn't been in school for days. He wasn't even answering his phone. After the first day she didn't feel any worry, just a bit annoyed that her boyfriend couldn't be bothered to return a text. After day three, however, she began to actually worry that something may be wrong.

On her walk home from school that day, she kept staring at her text conversation with him, waiting for the 'typing' bubble to pop up and let her know everything was okay.

"Jessica!"

She jolted and turned around, seeing James rushing over to her. He grabbed her and pulled her in for a quick kiss.

"I am so sorry baby, I know you must've been so worried."

"Wh-where have you been?" She wasn't sure whether to be relieved he was okay, or pissed off that he wasn't in a hospital somewhere without cell reception.

"I've been sick."

"So sick you couldn't return a text?"

"That's what I'm so sorry for." He sighed, staring down at the ground. "I had to get rid of my phone. It got.. hacked, or something."

"Hacked?"

"Yeah, like people were monitoring it. It's happened before, remember?"

"That's why you don't have social media, right?"

"Yeah, exactly. Well this time they got my phone, so I had to break it."

Jessica stared at him while he continued to glance around the ground. "Why're these hackers trying to break into your stuff? What could a high school kid have that they want?"

"Well, I'm not sure it's that simple. But it's okay now, the phone thing. I'll make sure they don't try anything again. In the meantime, we'll still see each other in school, when I'm better. Okay baby?" He looked up at her, grinning his small reserved grin.

She couldn't help but smile back. "Okay, thanks for finding me to tell me. Get your rest."

"Thanks," he said with a kiss to her cheek.

As he left, Jessica felt her heart flutter. She didn't like these computer people targeting her boyfriend, but he'd figure it out. He was so good with computers, unlike her. He'd probably hack them right back and make them leave him alone for good.

---

After the sixth day of not seeing James outside of the sidewalk talk, Jessica couldn't keep all of her prom excitement to herself anymore. She called up Natalie, ready to plan her dress and color scheme, with or without James.

"Ugh, there are so many options," Jessica complained on the call. "And there's no way to sort them on this website! How am I supposed to compare?"

"What about the binder?" Natalie asked.

Jessica sat up in attention. Her binder! She hadn't touched it in months, but it had all the information she needed about the big day. After a short search of her room, she had it in her hands, bedazzled cover and all. "You're so right, thanks Nat. I have everything nice and sorted in here!"

The two went through each tab one at a time, starting from the dress and going into makeup, shoes, accessories, and even which limo seemed like the best choice based on their current plans.

"Okay, I think that settles our choice on drink selection for the pre-party," Natalie said with some typing on her end. "What section is next?"

Jessica checked the tabs and laughed. "My date tab, looks like. I don't need this one anymore; James is going with me for sure."

"See, I told you that the binder wouldn't get you a date. What's the one after that?"

Jessica's eyes flicked over to the next tab. She paused.

"Jess?" Natalie asked the silence.

"Sorry, I... I'm not sure..." Jessica stared at the tab. GHOST. She knew she made this tab at some point, but she couldn't recall when. "Do you remember what GHOST means?"

"It sounds kinda familiar, but I don't know. What's in it?"

Jessica flipped open the tab to find dozens of notes: names, time stamps, statements, a drawn map with red circles on some of the rooms. All of the statements stated different claims about someone named Ghost, short for The Cafeteria Ghost. From what she could gather, he was a figure she and her friends saw in the cafeteria that almost no one recognized from the school. She relayed her readings to Natalie as she skimmed the pages.

"I... I feel like I remember that, but it's all so foggy. I remember talking to Bobby about someone like that, but... no, I couldn't have, there was no soccer that day. Did I see him some other time?" Natalie droned off, thinking to herself on the other end of the line.

Jessica kept reading the notes, becoming more and more confused. She remembered asking people about someone, but who was she trying to find information about?

She flipped to the last page, and her heart skipped a beat. She was no artist, but the likeness was clear. She looked down at the page, and the drawing of James stared back at her.

"Ah well, I guess it's not all that important if we never followed up on it, huh?" Natalie laughed to herself.

"I..." Jessica swallowed hard. "I need to call you back." Without waiting for a reply, she hung up the phone and threw it onto the bed.

Her memories fought with each other. She remembered seeing the boy in the cafeteria, having an investigation with her friends about his identity. But now, looking back on it, she knew the Ghost was James, someone she knew for years. But why did no one know about him in some of her memories? She thought back on her times with James. She saw his face in classes, and in crowds, but upon serious thinking, she couldn't remember a single specific event they shared together. She couldn't even remember him asking her out. She remembered the Ghost asking her out, appearing on her walk home and not giving her any information until she agreed to go out for coffee. But why would she have needed to go out for info on someone she had known for years? The more she thought about it, the more her brain pounded with contradictions.

Shaking her head violently, as if shaking her thoughts straight, she stood up from the bed and grabbed the binder. She couldn't figure it out on her own. She only knew one thing for sure: all of her memories otherwise felt fine and orderly, but those with James/Ghost fought each other the more she thought of them. Therefore, she reasoned, the only way to organize them was to see James and show him the binder. She needed to confront him about... well, she wasn't sure exactly what she would confront him about exactly, but she felt the need to do it all the same.

---

Jessica followed the GPS directions down the streets, driving slower than the speed limit. Even if she had more experience as a driver, the stress and confusion she felt tearing her up inside would have affected her driving all the same, she reasoned to herself as cars started lining up behind her. Adding her new driver status into the mix just ensured that she had to drive slow, in order to avoid making any huge mistakes. It also didn't help that she hated driving anyway; there was no way to go back and fix an error like one would on a test or in a binder. No edit, no undo. Real life didn't have those features, though she wished it did. Things would be so much easier that way.

Her GPS told her to stop in front of a house, and she obeyed. The house was three stories high, larger than any other houses in the area. Her one story townhouse would be completely overshadowed by the tower before her. As she unbuckled herself, she found herself glaring at the house. James never told her his family was loaded. In fact, he never told her about his family at all. She only had his address from a package he sent her once; she noticed his name on the return address, and made a note about it for later.

Binder in hand, she took a deep breath in, and rang the doorbell.

An older man, probably in his fifties, answered the door, opening it only a crack. Their eyes met, and, based on their eyes being almost identical, she presumed this man to be James's father.

"Mr. Donahue, I'm here to see James. Is he here?"

She heard a shuffle from beyond the door. "James, who is that there?"

"It's no one!" the old man barked back, then turned to Jessica. "You need to leave, now."

Jessica paused. James didn't tell her that he was a Junior, either. "Please, sir, can you find your son, or tell me where he is? It's urgent."

"I have no son, now leave!" He went to shut the door, but instead it swung open.

James Senior and Jessica both instinctively stepped away from the door, now in the hand of a man dressed in a white suit. Beyond him, Jessica saw more men in suits, all sitting in the visible living room.

The man motioned to James Senior, and he reluctantly stepped further out of the way. "What is your name, sweetie?"

"Jessica," she replied curtly. "I'm looking for James."

The suited man and James Senior exchanged a glance. James Senior winced, sweating visibly. "I presume James is someone your age. A friend?"

"My boyfriend, actually."

The suited man's eyes widened for a moment, but quickly returned to normal as he smiled. "Well, isn't that interesting."

"Look," Jessica snapped at the man, "is James here or not? I need to talk to him."

"Don't worry, he's here." The man looked back at the group. They nodded, and quickly left the room. "He's upstairs, second door on the right." He stepped out of the way, gesturing to the nearby stairway.

Jessica nodded and walked past the suited man, who watched her with a smile, and James Senior, who avoided her gaze and kept fidgeting with his hands, sweating visibly.

She walked up the stairs and down the hall. Opening the second door on the right, she saw only darkness. She stepped inside, hands tapping the walls for a light.

The door shut behind her.

---

Jessica heard the door shut, and swung around just in time to see the light vanish from the room. She reached for the handle, but her hands grabbed at air. She swung around, looking desperately for a source of light, but only saw darkness. She pulled out her phone and turned on its flashlight, but its beam didn't make contact with anything, even the floor.

Suddenly, a light turned on to reveal a single table below it. On the side closest to her was a chair, and on the other was the suited man and James Senior.

"Come, sit," the suited man said.

She didn't move.

"Please, sit. You will end up doing it either way, but I want it to be of your own will."

The words send a chill through her body. Did this man plan to threaten her somehow? She decided sitting would be better than escalating the situation, and did so.

"I just want to ask you some things. Can you tell me your name, and about yourself?"

She hesitated, but remembered the man's previous statement. "I'm Jessica Tolares, a senior at Bayview."

"How old are you, Jessica?"

"17."

"Damn, not even legal!" A voice rang out from the darkness. Jessica jumped up and looked around for a source, but all she could see was in the small circle of light around her. She couldn't even determine a direction; the voice seemed to come from all around her at once.

"Quiet, please!" the suited man called out into the darkness. He motioned for Jessica to sit, and she did. "Why did you come here today, Jessica?"

"My boyfriend lives here. Or I think he does. It was the return address on a package he sent me once."

James Senior started swearing under his breath.

The suited man chuckled at James Senior. "So tell me more about your boyfriend. You said you needed to talk to him, right?"

Jessica thought about her options. She didn't know if she should tell the suited man about her conflicting memory, about Ghost. She still didn't understand what was going on, but it was clear that they were looking for answers, and James Senior really didn't like it. "His name is James. We've been dating three months. I'm here to talk to him about prom."

"What does this dating entail, exactly? Have you been... intimate?"

Jessica looked away, face getting red.

"Oh my God, he's a code-fucker!" a voice in the darkness shouted.

"And with a seventeen year old!" another chimed in.

The darkness buzzed with voices and chatter, all overlapping into an incoherent static. Jessica held her hands up to her ears to try and stop the voices, but they echoed all the same, as though the sound were coming from inside her own head.

"All of you, quiet!" the suited man shouted again. Both he and James Senior were also visibly bothered by the sudden volume. It took longer than the previous time, but the voices died down. "What did James look like, dear?"

She stammered a bit as she regained her thoughts after the static. As she formed words to make her description, she fiddled with the binder in her hands, grounding herself by rubbing the jewels on the cover.

"What is that?" the suited man asked, interrupting her.

She looked down at it. "Just my plans for prom," she lied.

"May we see?"

"Well..."

"Let me correct myself. Please show us. Of your own will, mind."

Her body went cold again. 'Of your own will.' She saw no choice but to hand it over and hope he didn't investigate the tabs too thoroughly.

Her hopes went unanswered. "What is this GHOST section you have here? Doesn't look anything like prom."

She avoided his gaze.

"And this drawing here, this is of the Ghost character that no one recognized? Is it also of your boyfriend?"

Her heart skipped a beat. She looked up at him, starting to shake. "How did you..."

"Do you also have conflicting memories, dear? Like, for instance, remembering never knowing this guy, and then suddenly having known him for years?"

Before Jessica could answer, James Senior stood up with a sudden jolt. "Oh, come on! This is pointless. You're really going to believe that over me?" He gestured to Jessica with his use of 'that,' practically spitting it. "It doesn't actually know things! This could all be a bug, or a plant! I've been working here for eighteen years, and you're going to boot me over a bug?"

The suited man calmly closed the binder. "Jessica, is what I just said earlier true? Is James the Ghost? Are your memories confused about the matter?"

She couldn't speak, not after James Senior's outburst. She nodded.

"My final question, and then we'll be done." He gestured to the side. "Who do you believe this man is, and why?"

She looked over at James Senior, who stared down at her with a face contorted in rage. The sight made her heart stop for a moment. "He must be James's dad. They look a lot alike."

The voiced began shouting again, all variations of "holy shit," "I knew it," and "he really is a code-fucker."

The suited man smiled. "Thank you, Jessica. That will be all."

The light vanished, and the voices went with it. Jessica was left alone in the darkness for several seconds, until she too blacked out.

---

Jessica awoke on a hard surface in the middle of the darkness. As she pushed herself up from the ground, a single light appeared above her, revealing a table with two seats. Next to it stood a man in a white suit. At first she thought him to be the suited man from before, but he looked much older; his hair was gray instead of black, and his skin sagged from gravity and time.

"Hello again, Jessica," he said, voice so similar to the suited man's, but with a raspier breath. "How long has it been for you?"

She got up, shaking herself off. Her body felt refreshed, as though waking from a nap. "I don't know," she answered honestly.

"I see. Can you sit again?"

She did.

"I am going to do something never before done. I am going to try and explain what happened to you, and let you decide how you feel about it. I also expect you to tell me that, of course."

She didn't reply. She still couldn't make sense of the encounter with the young suited man.

"Do you remember this man?" The old suited man opened a laptop on the table, showing a picture of James Senior.

"That's James Senior, my boyfriend's dad. He was here before."

"Actually," he corrected, "this is James. The one you were dating, I mean. There's no Senior and Junior about it."

She stared at the screen. James Senior's eyes stared back, just like James's would during all their time together. She didn't know how to respond, so she didn't.

"I know this is a shock to you, and you're probably confused as to how you were with a fifty year old who appeared seventeen. He... altered your mind, so to speak. Put in wrong memories, made himself appear different."

"You mean, a drug?" She couldn't think of any other option.

"Sure, a drug." He didn't sound at all convincing, but went with that explanation anyway. "So your memories are all messed up and fighting each other because he messed with them."

No, that didn't make sense. "What about everyone else?"

The old suited man frowned. "He messed with perception and memory to get with you," he repeated, ignoring her question. "And, as you can see, he's clearly not seventeen when truly viewed. He abused the project, and used you for his own perverted pleasures, and-"

"Project?"

The old suited man stopped talking immediately. He took a deep sigh. "I'm going to cut to the chase here. I want to know how you feel about this. About what you think should happen to this man, legally speaking. And about whatever else you're thinking, really. We are building a case against him, and we already have your interview from before, but this will greatly help us out."

She took a long time before answering, forming her words exactly as she meant them. "You're clearly not telling me something. I don't believe he used a drug. He used something else, and I think it's whatever project you're working on."

"Ignore that," the old suited man growled, "and just tell me how you feel about this."

Suddenly, memories of James flooded her mind. Clips of their time together played in her mind without her control, forcing her to watch these situations she lived through again, except this time her loving, cute, mature for his age boyfriend was replaced with an angry old stranger, looking at her with James's eyes. As the thoughts came in, they became more real, as if happening before her eyes. She tried to shut her eyes, to cover her ears, to think of anything else, but nothing worked. Her three months with him turned into three months with the stranger. All of the fun, the dates, the first times, everything became replaced with an old man, grinning at her with a sick look of satisfaction.

She felt herself start crying, and as suddenly as they came, the memories stopped. The lit table returned, and the old suited man looked at her with a fallen face.

"I see," he said. "I'm sorry you had to experience that, but we needed to know how you would react."

"Well how the hell would you react?" she snapped, trying to look strong despite her tears.

The suited old man sat back in the chair, looking away in thought. "The same, I suppose. Well, that's all I needed. You will be returning home very soon, Jessica, don't you worry."

The light shut off, and the chair beneath Jessica went with it. She fell backwards, landing on the ground with a harsh impact. Before she could call out to the darkness, she heard the voices.

"Very interesting, it's all so convincing. I see why he got so wrapped up in all this."

"Shame he had to get so attached to one designed to be so young, though. We could have made real progress. I guess it's good he did this instead of real kids, though."

"Still, we can't let this get out. It'll be labeled as a world for pedophiles, and we'd lose all of our funding."

"I have a plan to deal with him, don't worry."

"And what about the one he messed with?"

"I think it'll be fine to do some edits and re-introduce into the current environment. Easier than revising the time history."

The voices cut out, and Jessica went with them.

---

Finally, the day had come. Senior prom, the keystone day in any teenager's life. Jessica brushed off some of the hairs on her dress as she left her room, greeting all her friends and their significant others.

"Jessy!" Kate yelled, giving her a huge hug. "Aw, I'm sorry you didn't find a date."

"It's okay," she sighed. "The time just flew by. Somehow I managed to make it these past few months without working on it at all."

Natalie walked over and gave her a hug too. "That's okay, we're all each other's dates for tonight."

Jessica's mom came into the room, phone in hand. "Jess, sweetie, didn't you have a list of all the limo services we could call?"

"I don't think so," Jessica said after some thought. "That would have been really good to do, though."

"Okay, I can just look it up online." Her mom turned to leave, but turned back around. "Now girls, before you take your pictures, I want all of you to remember to have an amazing time tonight. You only get one shot at senior prom, no re-dos!"

Jessica laughed to herself. She'd love it if she had an undo or edit button whenever something got messed up. Sadly, she didn't. After all, this was real life.