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ghost-on-my-trick-till-i · 3 months

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Ghost Trick: Small Difference

Chapter two

First, next>

or you can read it on Ao3

fic below the cut

7:31 PM

Who am I?

Why did I die?

I’m hoping that following a chain of unusual events will help me uncover these mysteries.

At the other end of the phone line is the very man that had a stranger killed.

Our meeting – it's all so sudden.

I’m not sure I'm really prepared for what's to come.

When I entered the room I immediately noticed the strange air of the room. It was furnished quite spectacularly with dozens of photos of this older man hung on the wall, all placed within extravagant frames.

“Hmm, yes… if what I read in this file is true…” The blue man I saw at the phone began. “... this man could be quite a bedevilling bit of trouble for us. He needs to be erased – tonight.” The man closes the folder in his hands. “Confound that nearsighted Jeego! His skills are as feeble as his eyesight.”

“Not to worry, sir. I have already taken the next step, sir.” a larger blue man just across the small table with a strangely metallic mask says. The large man presses some inputs on a device then vigorously slaps the device. Then a large picture frame in the centre of the room spins wildly. On the other side of the picture lies a projection screen where an image of the man in red is now displayed.

“Hmm, yes. But, i say, the last thing i ever expected was to talk to the target himself…” The old man trails off. “Even if it was only over the telephone. I must admit, my good man, it put me in quite the tizzy there for a moment!” he laughs.

What is this place? These oddly luxurious furnishings… this oddly refined music… And that odd little machine… I've never seen a room like this before.

But one thing’s for sure… these people are assassins.

And what's more… That man in red is one of their targets.

The older man reopens his file.

That file that old man has… maybe it'll give me some information on my blondie.

I make the simple movement of going to the file from the phone, but as soon as I do the older man closes it.

“Hmm, yes. How much longer my good man?” he goes on.

“We are charging up our backup power now, sir.” his compatriot answers. “The process should be complete in about thirty minutes, sir.”

“Hmm, yes…” he pauses. “But confound that Jeego, I say! Every year, his “reliable range” gets shorter and shorter! He'll get coal in his next pay envelope, confound it!”

“Or might I suggest glasses in his next envelope instead, sir?” his assistant advises.

I glance at the, now closed, file. It seems that this file contains information on that man in red. But I can't read it when it's closed.

In my frustration I trick the file to see if I'm able to open it. To my surprise, and the old mans, it works and the file opens.

“Great Scott! D-Did you see that?” The old man jumps. “The file.. I say! The file reared up and snapped at me, my good man! Nearly bit my head off!”

“Not to worry sir,” the assistant replies without any emotion. “I've already seen to it that the target, Mister Yomiel, is no longer a threat, sir.”

“Bah! That isn't what I'm talking about man!” the old man exclaimed.

Hmm, “Yomiel” eh? So that's his name is it? But this file… it's like it's written in a foreign language. I can't read it at all.

“Might I suggest putting the file away and relaxing, sir?” the assistant encourages.

Without responding, the old man snaps the file closed and the other types into his device, then slaps it just like before.

One of the paintings in the room flips around to relieve the fact that it holds a filing cabinet on the other side. The filing cabinet follows a path downwards to the old man and opens a drawer automatically. The old man extends his arm back and drops the file in the cabinet, in which it then retracts to its original position in the wall.

The assistant files more inputs into his device and slaps it, then the projector screen flips back into being a painting. Then the table flips over and I hear the phone fall below, and now on the table rests a bowl of fruits.

“You have a very important job ahead of you tonight, sir,” the assistant reminded. The older man sits back and grabs a patch of green grapes from the fruit bowl, and eats them.

Darn… the phone and I got set away so neatly, but to vastly different locations. How am I supposed to get back now? The only thing I've learnt is the name “Yomiel”

This is such a weird room. I've travelled through the phone line to get here, but where exactly is “here”? And who exactly are these people?

I enter the ghost world to take in my surroundings, and figure out how to get out of this strange place. I move to a nearby lamp then onto the projector. There's another lamp on the other side of the projector but it doesn't lead to anything.

Since it's the only thing I'm able to do, I trick the projector. The picture flips like it had done before and the image of Yomiel reappears onscreen.

“Egad, man! Are you trying to give me a case of the vapours?!” the old man gasps.

“My apologies, sir. But I did not touch it, sir.” the bigger man responds. “It appears that the equipment is still malfunctioning, sir.”

“Bah! Granted, technology is a convenient thing. But our use of it is just plain “off”, confound it!” the old man exclaims. “Hmm, yes… in any case… I don't wish to see the face of our current target, my good man.”

“As you wish, sir. In that case, might I suggest this, sir?” the large man says as he inputs into his device once again, ending with a hearty slap like usual.

The image on the screen changes from Yomiel to a woman I don't recognise. She dawns royal blue hair in two, triangular, buns, with a large bang on one side. Her outfit consists of a yellow tank top, a sleeveless jacket, and rolled up jeans. Underneath this all she wears some sort of slightly transparent, skin tight, bodysuit, that was ripped in many places. The entire outfit seems rather impractical to me.

“Hmm, yes… Sissel…” the old man says, thoughtfully.

“If everything goes according to plan tonight, we will have the power to change the world, sir.” the assistant says.

“Hmm, yes… it's a very important night, indeed, my good man. We can't afford to make mistakes.” the old man smirks. “And that's why we must get a hold of that Sissel… We must be very careful.”

Sissel… that must be this woman's name. Both of these names do seem strangely familiar, but from where? Did I know these people?

A “plan” huh? What could that be all about? Just what exactly are these men up to?

The assistant once again types on his device, ending it with yet another slap, and the projector gets put away.

“We are completely prepared for tonight, sir” the assistant says to his superior. Said superior continues eating his grapes.

“Hmm, yes… Now all we have to do is pluck the fruit of success!” he laughs.

One thing is clear, these villains are up to something. And another thing. There seems to be some sort of connection between these two people, “Yomiel” and “Sissel”. Why else would both of their names come up like this?

Now, I need to think of a way out of here. Most importantly I need to find a way to get the phone back up here, I'm stranded without it.

I know that if I trick the projector I can turn on the screen, but does that help me at all?

I decide to trick it again, to see if I can find an opening at all. The projector spins around again and turns on, bringing back the picture of Yomiel.

“Where is your head, man? I told you I don't wish to see this face!” the superior exclaims.

“My apologies, sir. It appears to be another malfunction, sir.”

“Well get it fixed, man, unless you want to see me malfunction!” the old man exclaims, emphasising “me”.

“Certainly, sir.” the assistant says as he re-inputs into his device, ending with the usual slap, and everything goes back into place.

I could’ve sworn I saw an opening there… I enter the ghost world again and take a good look at the cores around me.

Of course! The bottom of the projector screen has a jewel in it. If I enter that while it's spinning I could hop onto it and be put at the bottom!

I trick the projector once more, but this time I ghost into the jewel in the projector before it stops spinning. Now that I've reached the bottom I have a few more things to interact with.

“I say, this room is giving me the heebie-jeebies, my good man!” the old man says. “With the painting spinning around and the like! It's enough to give a man the jitters!”

“My apologies, sir. The room was just completed recently, sir. We are still trying to iron out the kinks, sir.” his assistant responds.

I look around to see what I can interact with now that I couldn't before. It's not much, just the fruit bowl and the device. I go to the fruit to see if there's anything I can do with it, nothing. That console that the assistant is always typing away at must do something though.

I move over to the console and trick it, hoping for something of use to happen, considering I don't know how the thing works at all.

To my delight, the console flips the table around again, bringing the phone back. Finally! My exit out of this weird room!

“It's a miserable state of affairs when I get startled by a telephone that doesn't even ring!” the old man exclaimed.

Mere seconds later, the phone rings.

“Egad!” the old man gasped. “It's even more pathetic to be startled by the same telephone twice!”

“The problem must be solved, sir.” the assistant stated. “The “Mister Yomiel” problem, sir…”

What?! Yomiel?!

“Hmm, yes…” he pauses. “You did mention taking the “next step” a moment ago, didn't you, my good man?”

“Yes, sir. I sent “One Step Ahead” Tengo to his apartment, sir.” the assistant answers. “That telephone call must be him reporting in, sir.”

“Very good, very good!” the old man hummed, while picking up the phone.

Yomiel is in danger again!

I quickly enter the ghost world and head to the phone, this seems like an important conversation to be listening too.

“This is “One Step Ahead” Tengo.” a hitman that looks very similar to Jeego, says.

“And? Out with it man! Have you taken care of him?” the old man demands.

“No, he's on the bottom level of the junkyard.”

“What..?”

“It only stands to reason.” Tengo says. “They wouldn't call me “One Step Ahead” if I wasn't prepared to take him out before he was even in the right place.”

“I don't get it… but in any case, man, once you've done your job-”

“Then you'll promote me to head of the hitman division..?” Tengo cuts him off.

“No, man! Now you're even getting “one step ahead” of me!” the old man exclaims.

“We can discuss my new salary later.”

“Great Scott! Now you're even getting one step ahead of your last one step ahead!”

“I'll get back to my job now, sir.” Tengo says.

“Confound it! You're even hanging up one step ahead!”

Tengo hangs up and the old man puts the receiver down.

“What did he say, sir?” the assistant asks.

“He asked me to raise his salary.” the old man grumbles.

“What will you do, sir?”

“Maybe I'll give him some of Nearsighted Jeegos pay.”

Yomiel… I can't lose him! He's my only lead if I ever hope to solve this mystery of me!

I trick the phone and quickly go to the location the hitman called from, somewhere in the junkyard presumably, but it wasn't a place I recognised.

At the junkyard I'm now in a building I haven't seen before. The place is full of sciencey looking things that I can't even begin to imagine what they do.

There's doors on both sides of the room, the hitman walks over to the door on the left and leaves.

Taking a look at the cores around the place, it doesn't look like I have any way to follow him.

Instead I used the phone to get to the lower part of the junkyard, where I had left Yomiel.

Yomiel was now sitting on a broken couch that was amidst a bunch of other garbage.

“Is it possible that..? No, that wouldn't happen so suddenly.” Yomiel appears to be theoriesing about something, but I'm not sure what.

Yomiel continues thinking to himself until he hears the sound of someone coming down the stairs. He jumps up from the seat and stands in a cautious way.

Maybe it's that assassin that was here to kill Yomiel?!

I look over to see someone who is very much not the assassin I saw earlier. He's old and short and most noticeably he has a pigeon resting on his head.

“You don't look like the type to be rummaging around here.” the pigeon man says. “What's a guy like you doing here at the junkyard?”

“I was sent an anonymous note to meet someone here. They said they had important information about something I'm looking into.” Yomiel answers.

“Something you're looking into? You a detective or something?”

“No, it's just a personal situation I suppose. But I have a feeling that whoever sent that note isn't coming.”

“A man like you is quite striking. I swear I've seen you somewhere before” the pigeon man mentions.

“I was on the news a lot some ten years ago. Probably from that.” Yomiel answers.

“Ah yes, it's coming back to me. You're that criminal from Temsik park.”

Criminal..? Yomiel’s a criminal?

“Hey, I've done my time and I'm past that now. In fact I work for the police.”

Yomiel works for the police? What an interesting guy.

“I don't care about that sorta stuff. I only remember that day because that's when that meteorite fell.” the pigeon man mentions.

“The meteorite? You know about that?” Yomiel asks, slightly shocked.

“I'm retired, and I spend my free time looking into that” the pigeon man answers.

“What a coincidence, I'm also looking into the meteorite.”

“You a scientist?” the pigeon man asks.

“Something like that.” Yomiel smirks.

“You said you worked with the police right?”

“Correct.”

“Eh, you're probably trust worthy enough. Come up to my office and I'll tell you what I know about the meteorite.” pigeon man offers.

“I like the sound of that.” Yomiel says as he leaves up the stairs with the old man.

In an attempt to follow them I follow the same path I did to get to the upper level before. I hop to the ladder, to the tire, to the mannequin, to the blender, to the fan, to the flag. I see the duo walking above me but I realise that there's no way into the building from out here.

I wonder if the pigeon man's office is the room I saw the hitman in earlier?

I return to the phone and travel over to the room I was in earlier.

When I get there, nobody's here. I probably just got here quicker than them. So I decide to wait it out a bit.

As expected, both the pigeon man and Yomiel walk in.

So this is the pigeon man's office. All these machines must be for investigating the meteorite they were talking about. Despite that, I still can't imagine what any of the machines do.

The pigeon man and Yomiel walk forward and just as Yomiel is walking by the window…

BANG!

Yomiel falls down to the ground. The pigeon man does nothing but stand in, presumably in shock but he doesn't express much on his face.

Shoot! I was trying to prevent that from happening! To be completely honest I got so caught up in their conversation I forgot what I was here for.

I quickly move over to Yomiels body. Hopefully I'll be able to save him.

“Well that was unexpected.” I hear the pigeon man say just before I enter Yomiels core.

I enter his core and I see his remaining soul bobbing peacefully.

“Are you awake?” I ask. The lamp told me that it usually takes a while before souls gain consciousness so I didn't expect an answer.

“Who's there..?” the soul answers.

I say nothing, I'm shocked I even got a response.

“Who are you?” the soul asks. “Don't ignore me like that.”

“Eh? Sorry, I'm not used to talking with the dead.” I respond.

“Dead? So I'm dead. That's unfortunate.” he says.

Personally, I'd describe being dead as more than “unfortunate”.

“You don't know what my life was like.”

“Eh?! How did you..?” I cry out.

“Though, to be fair, I don't know what my life was like either. I can't seem to recall a thing.”

“Ah… the newly dead tend to not remember anything. I still don't. But your name is Yomiel if that helps.” I tell him.

“Yomiel, huh?” he pauses for a moment before the small blue soul in front of me transforms into the man in red. “I'm assuming this is me then. No other dead bodys around here for me to be.”

“That's right…”

“That really is unfortunate, I can't remember why but I know that me dying really isn't good.” Yomiel sighs.

“You also work for the police, if what I've heard is true.” I tell him.

“The police? That feels a bit odd, but I don't have any reason not to trust you.” he pauses. “Maybe I got killed because of my involvement with the police.”

“You seem to have been killed because of some sort of involvement, but in what way I'm unsure.” I tell him.

“What a weird way of putting it.”

“I’m still figuring things out, I don't know a lot but I'm telling you what I do know.” I say.

“Figuring it out? Are you some sort of detective or something?” he asks me.

“I wish I knew, I haven't regained my memories at all.” I tell him.

“Is that why you're a little blue thing instead of an actual person? It's a little weird to talk to something so clearly incorporeal.” he asks.

I'm just going to pretend I know what that means. “Yeah that's why.”

“Incorporeal means not physical.”

What? Can he read my thoughts?

“You seem to be thinking really loudly, I'm afraid.” Yomiel chuckles.

Shoot!

“Maybe you should just stick to speaking out loud if you don't want anyone to hear your thoughts.” he suggests.

“The Lamp didn't say anything about this…” I mumble.

“Lamp?”

“Let's just move on…” I begin. “I'm here to save you.''

“Save me? But I'm already dead.” Yomiel says, confused.

“Yes, but I have powers if the dead, and one of my powers is to go back four minutes before someone's death.” I state.

“Go back four minutes..? Interesting…” Yomiel trails off.

“And I'm going to use those four minutes to save you.” I assure him.

“Well get to it. I don't want to be dead any longer than I have to.”

“Right, let's go…”

Once again the world warps around me as I go back into the past, four minutes before Yomiels death.

The image of the junkyard comes into view as I witness Yomiels last four minutes, for the second time today.

I watch Yomiel descend the metal staircase of the junkyard.

He continues forward. “What is going on? I can't help but feel that there's something more sinister happening. Even before that hitman tried to kill me there was-”

The man was then cut off by the ringing of the phone nearby.

Curiously, it seems that he was just about to talk to that old man on the phone just four minutes before his death. I guess I wasn't gone for long at all.

“Who'd be calling the junkyard at this time?” the man asks aloud, but this time I know exactly who's calling.

Yomiel walks over to the phone to answer the call. There's a few slight moments before Yomiel speaks again.

“What a familiar accent. I just heard someone with the same one.” Yomiel remarks.

Unsurprisingly, it's going exactly as I remember it, other than the fact that I can't hear what that old man is saying.

“Whoever that was must be the one who wants me dead. How curious, what possible business could foreigners have with my life?” Yomiel puzzles before returning the receiver to its home.

At this point I had left the junkyard to that weirdly refined room, so everything after this is brand new to me.

Yomiel walks away from the phone, towards the chair I had found him sitting in earlier.

“I was called here to the junkyard because someone claimed to have useful information, but guessing from that attempt on my life it was a trap. However, I came out of it unscathed, and the hitman was crushed beyond repair right in front of me. A most unusual turn of events indeed.” he ponders to himself.

He seems really confused about the whole situation, not that I blame him.

“First, the crossing gate lifted, then the guitar played, after that a bicycle bell, and I could've sworn I saw the bike moving a little bit after that. Then a ladder extended unusually, finally the latch holding that wrecking ball let go." I can't see his expression clearly underneath his shades, but his furrowed eyebrows gave me all I needed.

“Most curious events indeed…” he trails off.

I looked up at the upper level of the junkyard to see if I could spot the hitman, Tengo, anywhere. Just in the corner of my vision I see a blue and black shuffling about.

Returning my attention to Yomiel, he sighs before sitting on the broken sofa.

“Why in the world would such a helpful spirit be here? Did something die when… No, I was here and nothing of the sort happened.”

What..? Spirit? How in the world does Yomiel know that I'm a spirit?! It doesn't take a genius to figure out that something otherworldly was happening but a spirit? And said so confidently? I wish that Yomiel had his memories just so I could ask him questions!

“These powers are unlike anything I've ever seen before. But they don't seem to be particularly strong, but certainly useful in their own sense.” Yomiel continues.

Is this not his first encounter with a ghost? Maybe he’s died before and has been saved. Maybe that's why Lampy knows so much about this guy.

Yomiel picks up a miscellaneous piece of trash. “Why does this have to be happening today of all days.” he grumbles as he throws the piece of trash upwards to the upper level of the junkyard. “Talk about terrible timing.”

I glare daggers with my non-existent eyes at him. Why does it seem like he's frustrated that I'm here?! I saved his life, didn't I?!

“I guess I can't be so ungrateful, I would be dead without this mischievous little spirit.”

That's better.

“I wonder if they’re still here. If anyone's there, move something.” Yomiel prompts.

At this point, I had already left, so nothing happens.

“Must be gone already, wonder what they’re doing.”

I must admit, I do wonder what would happen if I moved something now.

Yomiel places his hand on his chin. “Is it possible that..? No, that wouldn't happen so suddenly.”

Those words sound familiar, this must've been around the time that I had returned.

Yomiel continues thinking to himself until he hears the sound of someone coming down the stairs. He jumps up from the seat and stands in a cautious way.

The pigeon man comes walking down the staircase.

“You dont look like the type to be rummaging around here.” the pigeon man says. “What's a guy like you doing here at the junkyard?”

“I was sent an anonymous note to meet someone here. They said they had important information about something I'm looking into.” Yomiel answers.

“Something you're looking into? You a detective or something?”

“No, it's just a personal situation I suppose. But I have a feeling that whoever sent that note isn't coming.”

“A man like you is quite striking. I swear I've seen you somewhere before,” the pigeon man mentions.

“I was on the news a lot some ten years ago. Probably from that.” Yomiel answers.

“Ah yes, it's coming back to me. You're that criminal from Temsik park.”

Right, I had forgotten that Yomiel seems to be some sort of criminal. I can't imagine what crime he’d commit though.

“Hey, I've done my time and I'm past that now. In fact I work for the police.”

“I don't care about that sorta stuff. I only remember that day because that's when that meteorite fell.” the pigeon man mentions.

“The meteorite? You know about that?” Yomiel asks, slightly shocked.

“I'm retired, and I spend my free time looking into that” the pigeon man answers.

“What a coincidence, I'm also looking into the meteorite.”

“You a scientist?” the pigeon man asks.

“Something like that.” Yomiel smirks.

“You said you worked with the police right?”

“Correct.”

“Eh, you're probably trust worthy enough. Come up to my office and I'll tell you what I know about the meteorite.” pigeon man offers.

“I like the sound of that.” Yomiel says as he leaves up the stairs with the old man.

The duo walk up the staircase silently, when they get to the top of the stairs I notice Yomiel looking around suspiciously. He eyes the things that had moved earlier, like the crossing gate and the bike.

Below me, I can hear the blender turning on, then the fan not long after.

When near the entrance to the building I witness something particularly peculiar. Yomiels gaze glides up, right where the hitman sat. Yomiels’ eyebrows raise quickly and he averts his gaze down to the ground.

Could he have seen the hitman? Why didn't he say anything?

Then both the pigeon man and Yomiel walk in the office.

The pigeon man and Yomiel walk forward and just as Yomiel is walking by the window…

BANG!

…

Somehow after witnessing that I'm left with more questions than I had before.

“So those are my last moments?”

“H-Huh?! You're here too?” I stutter.

“I just seemed to come with you, and you seemed so concentrated before so I didn't want to say anything.” Yomiel chuckles. “But that reaction was pretty priceless.”

“Don't scare me like that. If I was alive I think I would've had a heart attack.” I murmur.

Yomiel pauses, and a frown appears on his face. “You saw that too right?”

“Saw what?” I ask.

“I looked right at that hitman, and didn't do anything.” Yomiel clarifies.

“Ah, yes, I did see that. I also thought that was strange.”

“Now I wish I knew what was going through my mind. This was completely preventable.” Yomiel huffs.

“Well after you've been brought back to life I'm sure you'll know the answer.” I tell him.

“Get on with that saving me thing won't you?” Yomiel demands.

“Yeah I'll do that.”

I gather my will and the world begins to warp. In my vision I see the grains of sand again before everything re-materialises before me.

“The office? Aren't I downstairs?” Yomiel asks.

“Yes, but we start out where you died, it's a little inconvenient.”

“Well the hitman is outside and we are inside. You can use the phone to move around, right? Travel to the lower junkyard and we’ll have more of a chance there.”

“Yup! Let's go!” I boast.

Did I ever tell him that I can travel through the phone?

I move from the soul to a step ladder, onto a kettle, then to a lamp, then finally I arrive at the phone.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

“It… isn't working” I mumble.

“How are we supposed to get out of here now?” Yomiel barks.

“Umm… I uh," I sputter. “I dont know.”

“Fantastic, we’re stuck here.” Yomiel grumbles.

“No, no! I'll figure something out!” I assure him.

“Maybe someone has to be using the phone to move across the line. Like how you can only get new numbers when people are using the phone.” Yomiel suggests.

Okay, I definitely didn't tell him that.

“Maybe you're on the right track here. But how can we get anyone to call the junkyard?” I ponder.

I move back down to the step ladder and see a core below the floor. I enter that and find myself in a lower room. The room is full of even more sciencey stuff than the other and papers are strewn across the walls. In the centre of the room, the pigeon man is sitting at a desk.

“There he is, maybe we can get him to call the junkyard.” I suggest.

I go up and return to the phone.

“First we need him up here.” I say.

“Maybe try to make some noise, it might lure him up here.”

“Hmm…” I think for a moment. “Oh I got an idea!”

I make my way towards the kettle, sitting on a small, portable, stove. I close the spout of the kettle.

“That’ll make some noise!” I beam.

“Heh, not bad.” Yomiel smiles.

The stove must already be pretty hot, because it only takes a few moments for the kettle to begin to whistle loudly.

“Augh, what a horrible sound” I wince.

I move down to the lower floor to see if the pigeon man has noticed, and sure enough, he's moving towards the staircase.

“Success!” I beam.

“Don't celebrate so soon. We still have to get him to call the junkyard.” Yomiel reminds me.

“Right… that might be a little trickier.”

“We might be able to use sound to our advantage again,” Yomiel says.

“Mhm,'' I hum approvingly.

I notice a paper on the wall with a core just within my reach. I travel around the room using paper and other science machines strewn about to see if I can find anything of note.

Most things in the room are not interactable, and the things that are just move in small ways. I do notice another phone just outside the door, beside the staircase, but it's just as useful as the one upstairs.

“Look down there. There's a hatch on the floor.” Yomiel points out.

“There is, but I don't see how that can help us.”

“You dense idiot, if there's a latch on the floor that means there's a lower level, there might be a lead down there.” Yomiel spells out to me.

“Oh uh, right.” I blush.

I move down and enter the hatch, sure enough, there's a lower level. Down there isn't much, a trash can, a few piles of random items, and a box. I reach out my spirit towards the box below me but it's out of reach.

“I can't reach anything down there.” I mumble in frustration. I trick the trapdoor to see if anything happens. The door then opens, but upwards, and now I'm even further from the lower level then before.

I groan and close the hatch.

“Who's down there?!” I hear from above me.

“Looks like you got the attention of Mr. Pigeon.” Yomiel banters.

The man in question walks over to the staircase, when he reaches the stairs he hops onto the railing and slides down it. The pigeon man looks around cautiously when he enters the room.

“No ones down here?” The pigeon man hums for a bit. “Probably some teenage hooligans, I'll call the phone down there, that usually scares ‘em off.”

“Wow, I can't believe that worked.” Yomiel says in shock. Personally, I'm too shocked to say anything. Instead I silently head to the staircase and wait in the phone nearby.

It doesn't take all too long before the pigeon man calls the phone. Thankfully, Yomiel answers.

“Hello?” Yomiel asks.

The pigeon man says nothing, and hangs up immediately.

For a moment there I could feel the phone line returning to me, and I leave.

The alive Yomiel puts down the receiver. “That was weird.”

“We did it!” I cheer. “We’re in the junkyard!” Deep in my senses I feel like Yomiels fate has changed, even if it's only a little bit.

“Now to get up there.” Yomiel says.

“Don't worry, I got this!” I grin. It doesn't take long to go up the path that I had already carved for myself. But an unfortunate reality awaited me at the top.

“I moved the bike that got me up there…”I say with dread.

I return to the lower level where Yomiel is talking to himself once again.

Alive Yomiel picks up a miscellaneous piece of trash. “Why does this have to be happening today of all days.” he grumbles as he throws the piece of trash upwards to the upper level of the junkyard. “Talk about terrible timing.”

“Hey Ghosty.” Yomiel gets my attention.

“Yeah?”

“Did that piece of trash have a core?”

“I think so.”

Yomiel says nothing, instead choosing to look directly at me.

“W-What..?” I stutter.

He continues staring at me. I think for a moment.

“Oh I could have used that to get up.”

“Good job.” Yomiel dead pans.

“I-Its okay! I can just rewind time again!” I stutter.

As I went to rewind time something felt different this time, like there are multiple points that I could rewind too. One felt further away then the other. I reached for the closer one and-

The alive Yomiel puts down the receiver. “That was weird.”

Wow! It looks like that if I change something it's marked as a place I can rewind to!

“Okay no mistakes this time.” I assure as I head straight to the piece of trash that Yomiel will throw soon.

“You're a piece of work, Ghosty.” Yomiel smirks.

“Shut it.” I pout.

A little later alive Yomiel picks up a miscellaneous piece of trash that I reside in. “Why does this have to be happening today of all days.” he grumbles as he throws the piece of trash upwards to the upper level of the junkyard. “Talk about terrible timing.” I can hear him say below me.

Quite conveniently, the piece of trash lands near the ladder from before. It looks like Tengo shuffled a lot of things around to get the perfect position so many things are moved around differently. So differently, in fact, that following a simple path I can reach the bike that's still suspended on the electrical wire.

Maybe I can startle him like I did Jeego.

Sure enough, the ring of the bell causes Tengo to react in a similar way to Jeego, and he shoots the bike. The force of the bullet causes the bike to fall to the ground.

I wince at the fall even though I can't feel pain. “Well we’re down here now I guess.”

I ring the bell again to see if Tengo will do anything different. He looks over at me but doesn't shoot.

“What's the end goal here?” Yomiel asks me.

“Huh?”

“What are we trying to do, how are we saving me?”

“I dont know.” I answer.

“We need a plan to save me, you can't just play with random things and expect it to work.” Yomiel tells me.

“Well that always worked for me before…”

“I can't believe my life is in your hands.” Yomiel pauses to think. “I have an idea”

“Great! What's your grand idea?”

“You'll have to go back again.” Yomiel tells me

“Darn.”

“And you've already messed up, rewind it Ghosty.” Yomiel demands.

“Fine.” I say as I take us back to the lower junkyard.

The alive Yomiel puts down the receiver. “That was weird.”

I dash over to the trash piece once more. And get flung up to my destination.

“Okay Yomiel whats the plan now?” I inquire.

“If ringing the bike bell causes the hitman to shoot it, which makes the bike fall, we wait to do that until me and the pigeon guy are walking by. That'll get him caught.” Yomiel explains.

“Smart.” I say. I head back to the bicycle in the same way as before and resume time. “We might be here for a while.”

Shortly after I said that the pigeon man walks out of his office and down the stairs.

Yomiel glances at me. “You look like you have something on your mind.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“A surprising amount of emotions can be conveyed on that little blue spirit.” Yomiel says. “Tell me, what's on your mind”

“It's useless” I sigh. “I have a lot of questions for you but you don't remember anything.”

“Once this is all over I'll answer whatever questions you have. Think of it as payment for saving my life.”

In my peripheral I see Yomiel and the pigeon guy walking towards us. “Oh, here they come”

When they pass by I ring the bell of the bike as instructed and Tengo shoots it again. The bike falls and lands right beside the duo.

Both Yomiel and the pigeon man spot the hitman. Tengo points his gun at the duo but Yomiel strikes back by pulling out his own gun and pointing back at the hitman.

“You've had a gun this whole time?”

“Seems so.” Yomiel responds.

I enter the ghost world again to stop the flow of time.

“We should probably do something to help you.” I say.

“Good idea, maybe there's something around here that can make noise.” Yomiel suggests.

I hum in agreement and search the area. There's the ladder, the bike, and a bunch of other useless trash that I can't mess with at all.

“There isn't anything here.” I tell Yomiel.

“We just have to hope that things play out nicely on their own.”

I reluctantly leave the ghost world to resume time. With Yomiel and the hitman at a stand off I can't imagine it going well, but I have no choice but to trust that it will.

Yomiel and the hitman don't take their eyes off each other. Both know it'll be a fatal mistake.

The Pigeon Man uses this mutual concentration to his advantage, and kicks a piece of trash out from the bottom of the pile, causing a chain reaction like no other that ends with Tengo buried in trash.

Alive Yomiel lowers his gun. “That was a close one.”

“Must be a pretty interesting guy to have hitmen after you.” the pigeon guy says.

“I can't imagine I'm that interesting. I have no idea why they're after me.” Alive Yomiel assures.

“Whatever, just follow me to the basement, you'll be safer there, and there's a phone down there so we can call the cops.”

“Don't bother with the cops, I think he already made a run for it.” Yomiel glazes at the pile of trash the hitman was once buried in.

“If you say so Mister Strange Guy” the pigeon man shrugs.

The duo enter the office building, leaving mine and Yomiels sight.

“We did it! Your life is saved!” I cheer.

“I have to admit, that was some pretty impressive stuff.” Yomiel confesses. “You gotta stick around in case I get in any more trouble with these guys.”

“Sure thing.”

“I'm tired of being dead, let's head to the present now.” Yomiel demands of me.

“Right away.” I sigh a little.

And for the second time tonight, I've saved Yomiels life.

But none of my questions have been answered.

In matter of fact, I have more questions than I did before. But hopefully I'll get some of them answered right away.

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