[Flashback] Treasure is better (Aello)

[Bob Barton]

Is there a reason for Bob's breath to be cold? But now that Aello has mentioned it, it did feel a lot more colder than it was earlier. That couldn't be possible because winter was a good season ago. If Aello was trying to say that "I am coldhearted for leading you in here and getting us locked, its all your fault Aello!", not Bob's. He had better things to do than think why its suddenly colder like how they were going to get out of the house. Once they did that and are in the warm sunny sun it won't be cold for Aello any longer.

Bob was the only on who was actually doing something here unlike Aello who was just spacing out and thinking of the cold. But he did not expect a ten year old girl to do anything other than complain. Without thinking he just mentioned "yes, my hands are cold because the doorknob is" or so he guessed as he continued to struggle to pull on it and ask her "who is the one uneasy now?" At least Bob knew when was the time for action and when it was time to be cautious just like when "I warned you about something like this Aello." Coming into rotten old houses. It just made Bob frustrated enough to kick the door in a fit.

He was just that unhappy with the situation and swept Aello's hand away for it. "I told you Aello, there is no such thing as ghosts. And the story was made up Aello. Made up! You knew that from the start" he said dismissively. Really. She chose now to act this way when it was already too late? "Just keep out of my way while I try to get us out" he told her still inspecting the door.

The key to all of this was realizing that there is none or none that Bob could find to fit into the doorknob. That was when his hand squeezed on the thick and heavy book he still had in his hands. Yes he was not happy, yes he had to get out and he will use all this for it. With a high spirited yell he started to smash the book on the doorknob going "BAM! BAM! BAM!". Once it was gone, so would the lock and then the door would open. Just as the ghost was now Aello's problem and the only thing in her mind, the door was the same for Bob.

[Aello]

Aello pulled her hand back. "No it wasn't!" she insisted. "Not entirely anyway. This place is haunted. Ghosts are real! You may not want to believe it because you're supposed to be well on your way to becoming a boring, grumpy grown-up, but they're real!" Aello cried. "There is one in here with us right now! Haunting this place. That's why it's so cold... if you would only used your head, you'd know that," she went on, as the ghost cackled, causing the girl's skin to crawl. It felt as though hundreds of tiny spiders were climbing up the length of her arm, tickling her skin with their multitude of legs. Aello shuddered. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" she asked the ghost in a quiet voice. The spirit laughed once more. "Who wants to know?" it whispered in her ear, the words chilling her to the bone. They seemed to trickle down the side of her neck, cascading down the length of her body, onto her shoulders, where they settled in a shallow pool of ice. "Aello," the girl whispered in response, as several more beads of sweat trickled down her brow, and spilled over, onto her cheeks. The ghost merely laughed again, cackling in her ear. The sound seemed to resonate from within the pit of its stomach. "Aello..." it whispered, just loud enough for Bob to hear him as well.

[Bob Barton]

How can she insist what Bob was a not entirely made up story when "I was the one who told the story Aello, I know whether its real or fake and once we get out of here we will have a real story about all this with no ghosts which are not even real" he explained continuing to hit the door knob until it finally broke off. Success! He would have retorted the comment about being boring and the reality of ghosts but there was no time to waste. Bob pushed the door open pulling on Aello's arm excitedly "we are free! Lets get out of here before..."

...before they get caught. "There is someone here right Aello?" he asked in a low voice. "Your ghost maybe?" or who she thought was the ghost he continued on to ask after whatever reaction or not that Aello decided to give. "Rule one Aello, rule one. You don't give up your name!" he stammered out angrily before turning around to apologize to their captor. Bowing his head and holding out his hands Bob begged to try and appeal to whoever it was so that he "don't turn us in, pleaseeeeee? We promise not to darken your doorstep anymore" and pulled on Aello's arm to tell her to follow suit "right Aello?" Whoever it was already knew Aello's name so Bob could at least use it freely.

When Bob lifted his head up again, he saw nothing even if he could still feel the chill in the air. Aello must have fooled him but "why would you do this? Do you really like it when I get scared?" he shouted at her and would continue on until he heard some laughing. A laugh which sent a chill into him even worse than the cold he was feeling now. He was shocked and stunned. His body stiffened and Aello would know it too when his hand clenched even harder on her arm. Bob was out of his element and it was up to the young spiritist to show him what she was actually capable of doing.

[Aello]

"But we're not darkening it... we're the only thing that's light in here. Other than what trickles in through the crack in the boards," Aello whispered, before Bob's sweaty palms wound their way around her nearest arm. She could feel his fingers tightening the hold as she gasped a little. Why can't he learn to be gentle? she wondered, as she listened for the ghost to say something else. Or perhaps, for Bob's heart to jump out of his chest. She knew he was afraid. It was apparent now, by how he gripped her arm. It made her uncomfortable. Trying to gather their dwindling wits, Aello took another deep breath. "Do what? I am not trying to scare you chicken, but someone else is. A ghost... he doesn't seem very nice. He always sends chills up my spine, and whispers to me... his voice is creepy," Aello finished, with a small shudder at the thought. The door slammed shut. "You will go no where," the ghost hissed, as a sudden flash of white made its way across Aello's vision. It was just enough for the girl to determine that the ghost hovered over the ground. He didn't simply glide over it. The ghost was also rather large, towering over her. Its soulmist billowing angrily around its large form. "You both have been caught trespassing, and now you must pay," the ghost continued, before blinking out of sight. Aello gulped. He is definitely not as nice as the ghost in our attic, she thought, as she braced herself for what was to come. "But I can't pay!" Aello cried. "I'm just a little girl. You could make Bob here pay though. He's grumpy, and almost an adult... he should be responsible enough to pay for both of us, right Bob?" she asked as she flashed a nervous smile and elbowed him in the side. "SILENCE!" The ghost hissed, "for each of you must pay the price." Aello gulped once more, as the ghost flashed white, before flinging itself into her body. Aello gasped as her body was overcome by an overwhelming sense of cold. Each of her limbs trembled, and she began to lose feeling in her extremities. Her breath left a silver trickle of air about her lips. She had been possessed. Time seemed to stand still. Slowly, the ghost raised each of Aello's hands, even though she didn't want him to. She had been pushed to the recesses of the body. She had lost all control. He held her tiny hands out before her. Studying the dark outlines they made as he wiggled her fingers. Excellent, he thought. She could hear it too. OOCDon't hate me! Just trying to make this interesting!

[Bob Barton]

Aello who tried to gather back their dwindling wits worked, for a moment or so with Bob dropping her arm and yelling "Aello, you can't blame things on ghosts" just like he was not allowed to blame things on mice. Whats more is "with you simply calling people chicken, no one would ever be nice to you!" until of course he heard the creepy voice she was talking about along with the slamming door. Then Bob broke down again saying "y-y-y-yes sir, we'lllllll stay" His first impression on ghosts would be as very, very pushy hosts.

Although, trespassing was a very strong accusation but in light of this new entity Bob decided that it was better to keep his mouth shut. At least that was how it was until Aello said he had to be the one to pay, for the both of them. The nerve! Especially when the both of them knew that "the trespassing was your idea Aello" and he did not like being elbowed at the side "so you can pay him Aello! I'm a bum and you're a little girl so you don't need the money that you got from your treasure hunt last time" he elbowed back. The both of them did have an equal share but he'd be damned if he had to pay for her too.

Do ghosts have ears? Because Bob think that whatever he said to try and settle the ghost down fell on deaf ears. Or what he said might have worked since even the ghost said each of them had to pay the price, the ghost, or what Bob thought was the ghost with that flashing white flew into Aello. "It serves you right Aello, even the ghost knows..." he thought to himself satisfied that he might actually have avoided the danger.

Bob always thought all of this were stories until they actually happened to him. What to do...what to do...He tried to recall some of those things he already heard before about ghosts. Uncle Marny said something about it from a famous doctor... "You can never go wrong with leeching" he mumbled to himself. In this rotten house there might be a lot but Bob did not have the time to even find one.

The solutions you never had to think about were always the most effective. Like how he handled the door until the ghost slammed it shut. In his hands Bob still had that heavy book. "How much damage can they take?" he mumbled again referring to Aello, the ghost and the book. If he was able to knock the girl out would it be the same with the ghost too? Bob had to try. Despite his fear's he was able to muster enough strength to lift up the book and elbowed Aello again to confirm her location asking "Aello...are you alright?" He didn't need to know the answer, just where she was and once he did, the book went straight at her direction.

OOCBob does not know what leeching is T.T so here comes the book. I bet you can beat him down anyway

[Aello]

The ghost remained silent for a long time, simply studying the size of the girl's hands. How small they were compared to his own, in life. How smooth, how soft the skin felt when he brushed them up against each other. He studied their shape. The gentle drop of her slender fingers from the tip of her nails to the webbing in-between each. How they rose again, out of the gentle curvature of her palms. He could feel them sweating a little, as though she were nervous. He could feel the cold bits of moisture. He could sense her unease, her fear, her uncertainty. By the time someone had finally answered Bob, several seconds had passed. "It depends on the ghost... I think," Aello managed to whisper, her voice strained. She could barely wrestle control from the ghost, which seemed to be smothering her. Holding her lips shut with an invisible force the girl could not so much as begin to understand. The ghost cackled. Aello could hear it bouncing around the inside of her mind. Growing louder every instant. She could tell that he was mocking her. Her fear, her inability to understand such things. "The girl is fine," the ghost replied, in the vilest of tones. The nature of it verifying his overly cruel nature. He had turned to look at Bob, as he spoke, and peered at the outline his body made, as though he were looking at it for the first time. Finally noticing that another was in the room. Both the ghost and the girl he possessed could see Bob lifting something. The even darker shadow it cast across his blackened skin. He means to harm us, the ghost hissed within Aello's mind. Internally, she cringed, as the ghost stepped back, so as to miss the book. "You shall pay!" the ghost growled as he forced Aello's eyes to open wide. "You shall wish you had never come here!" he went on, as he tensed Aello's muscles, and lowered her body into a slight crouch. He raised her arms, and bent them at the elbows, tucking them into her sides as he tensed her hands, spreading the the fingers out, widely apart, like a fan. They curved inwards slightly, like slender, white crescent moons. Her nails pointed dangerously towards the midget, as though in warning that she were a cat about to pounce. The ghost licked Aello's lips, wetting them as he took another half-step back before bending the body they shared a little lower. Bending at the knees, leaning into the balls of his feet before springing towards Bob, diving for his legs, in an attempt to wrap Aello's arms around them, and send him toppling into the floor. Send his head crashing into the locked door. Just to see if it would free a trickle of blood, or knock him out; just to see if he could. If he could make the man pay his price. OOCSorry for the delay.

[Bob Barton]

It was too dark for Bob to see what other nefarious misdeeds the ghost has cooked up for the pair, even if all that it was doing was admiring Aello's body. Not in that way sickos! It was more like appraising her to see what he could do. How did Bob know the ghost was a he? Because Aello told him so. She also told him that the damage that the ghosts took would depend on the ghosts themselves. Bob did not know anything about this ghost other that it is now in Aello. Could he use Aello to gauge the damage that the ghost can take? She was only a little girl and the book was very big.

Which was why Bob decided to throw the book at her. It was her fault that they broke into this house so she should be the only one to get the punishment. She won't be fine after it hit but it won't be bad enough that she will die from it. At most, the result which Bob wanted would be that she faints but he was unsure if the ghost would faint too. But where would the ghost go? Into him? He guessed that the ghost won't even want to waste time with him and would escape because he was Bob after all. No one in Zeltiva actually thought much of him and it allowed him a lot of chances to do the unexpected. Like this sneak attack with the book.

That failed when Bob saw Aello's small figure in the darkness become smaller as the ghost made her move back. The book fell down only to be swallowed by the darkness because that would sound a lot more dramatic than saying that it got out of view as Bob stared at the girls lithe movements in shock. When ghost possessed Aello prepared herhimself to attack (ghost possession is very confusing), Bob tried to lift his book again for another attack but Aello was smaller and the ghost was more experienced with its age. Two advantages that Bob could not even hope to match.

It was a race! When Bob stretched out his arm, Aelloghost was already on his legs. He tried to keep his legs as straight as possible to fight against her but it was too much. The ghost might have made her stronger, or maybe the surprise attack in the darkness or maybe Bob was just that weak so he found himself falling backwards. Falling and falling..."NO!" he can't allow himself to be taken down that easily! The good thing as he fell backwards was that he knew that the body of the little girl was right at his legs, he can feel it. So at that thing two things fell. One was Bob towards the door and the other was the heavy book that he was able to lift up again. The second item was used in yet another attack which was falling towards Aello again.

OOCI guess I'll let you decide what you want to happen to Bob at this point, and whether the book hits you again XD Stop touching men in the dark Aello :3

[Aello]

OOCAnd it gets darker... just a warning. As soon as her head knocked into Bob's legs, the ghost forced Aello's arms to wind themselves as tightly as possible around his flesh. He could sense his feet turning upwards, as the man fell back. We have this pesky mortal now, the ghost thought, as he fought to maintain his hold on the boy who was now trying to fight him off. "You will pay!" he hissed, as the book came crashing into Aello's head. The girl could feel it, the sharp shooting pain that shot through it. Tingling beneath each strand of long brown hair. The bump that was forming, the rise upon her smooth skin. "Damnit Bob!" Aello managed to growl, as the ghost ignored the attack. Forcing her to maintain her hold as Aello internally winced. Could he not feel it? Or was he merely pretending that he could not, because he was so intent on his task: destruction, no matter the cost. Aello could not tell. She was not a skilled enough spiritist to sense the ghost's thoughts in the way that he could sense her own. As the two continued to struggle, Aello tried to wrest control back from the ghost. But it was impossible. She felt as though she were pushing up against a brick wall with all of her might. She simply, could not win. The best she could do, was grunt and moan, and cry from time to time. Filling the air with the sound of her voice, as opposed the the ghost's who seemed to be disregarding her pain and fear entirely, if not enjoying it. Finally, after several moments, Bob managed to dislodge the ghost girl from his body. Aello's form, then, went tumbling backwards, into the dark, so that she landed on her back, on what felt like a pile of glass. The shards were prickling her skin, poking through the fabric of her clothes. Forming the tiniest of holes in her flesh. Pin pricks, that gave way to a droplet of warm, crimson blood. Aello whimpered. "Stop hurting me!" Aello cried. "You should not have trespassed," the ghost hissed. We were just exploring, Aello replied, using her mind for she lacked the strength to make her lips move. To voice her opinion out loud. We didn't know that you were here. That this place belonged to you... we were just trying to have fun. To prove how much of a chicken Bob is... the idiot over there. "Silence!" the ghost hollered, more than likely startling Bob, since he had not been able to hear Aello. "You both must pay the price!" he hissed. But you're hurting me! Aello cried. Don't you know that men shouldn't be hurting little girls? Don't you feel bad for doing this to me? My mamma is gonna have to take care of all the bruises you're giving me, you know... "Silence!" the ghost hollered, as Aello internally flinched once more, and then shrank back into the recesses of her mind. "You shall be dealt with after I have finished dealing with the boy," he went on, as he eased her body up slowly, allowing the glass shards that clung to her back to clatter onto the floor. He picked one of them up, and held it delicately between Aello's fingertips. His lips curled into a sinister smile. "How many cuts will it take to get to your heart?" he asked, as he got to his feet, dodging anything that Bob threw at him to the best of his ability. "How many drops of blood will fall before we can see it beating in your chest? Until we can hold it in our hands?" There was a long silence. "I'm dying to find out," the ghost cackled. OOCThe ghost will dodge anything you throw at him if you try to attack before he gets the glass/finishes speaking... or try to.

[Bob Barton]

They had that pesky mortal at the legs and he did not like it at all. An older girl maybe, but not Aello which was why she deserved that book which crashed on her from Bob's desperate attempt to protect himself. The only person he could rely on right now was himself which was why he tried to ignore the ghost and Aello's voice. Instead he chose to just feel where Aello pressed on his legs, feel where the hands started and the shoulders ended, just try and get a feel of where Aello was in the darkness. Only after that he could afford to try and listen for where Aello and the ghost were talking from and that was how he succeeded with the book.

Aello should have appreciated his efforts in trying to stop the ghost, but nooooooo. At least he was trying to do something instead of being all weak and allowing himself to be taken over by the ghost. Aello should be the damned one he thought but the only thing he dared to voice out was "Sorry-but-get-off-of-me!" in between all the grunts as he tried his best to push Aello's body off his. But he can't because the girl was just too strong. If he lived through this he should go and look up about ghosts or at least the friendly ones and see if they will share with him the same power that this monstrosity is giving Aello. A very good goal to have especially when failing now would mean that Bob will be the ghost.

A while longer of Bob trying to break off Aello's hold. First he tried to push on her shoulders...or at least he thinks that those are shoulders because Aello did not have anything else to try and slide his legs out. When it failed he started to feel along the outline of her body upwards to reach her head. That one he could easily tell even without looking since it was pretty hairy. While it might have been tied up the texture of hair was unmistakable unless Aello's parents were cheap psychotics who clothed their children with real human hair. "Just let me go!" he cried out slapping on her head like a drum to try and distract her enough to loosen her grip.

When all that failed, Bob was tired enough to just feel for her hands behind his legs and grasped on to them firmly. "Who is scared now?" he asked the sweating Aello but in truth he was more scared. The little taunt was only for him to lie to himself that he wasn't. Bob squeezed his hands into Aello's arm and started to try and pull them apart and it was "ewwwwww, full of sweat" before he was able to break them apart and kicked himself free. Something that he should not do because he is a dignified boy and also that it caused Aello to roll backwards and whimper in pain.

"Sorry" but its better that she got hurt than Bob and "sorry" again for trespassing. All this could have been avoided if they did not come in the haunted house in the first place so again "its all Aello's fault" he admitted shamelessly to keep the ghost's attention on her. Bob leaned on the door for support as he tried to get himself up in a little shock from the girl-ghost's sudden outburst. "Sorry, but its not my fault. She made me..." alright. Bob better shut up now because if someone had to repeat the same thing twice it means that they are really pretty pissed.

Then he talked about dealing the boy. After all that abuse, Bob knew that the ghost meant him! Which was why as pissed as the ghost was, it was only going to get more pissed. Bob stared into the darkness where he heard the scary shouts coming from, the clattering sound of glass drawing his attention to a specific location there where his eyes adjusted to see more of Aello's shape. "Aello? Are you alright?" he asked to confirm her condition and position as he lifted the book up to his shoulder and prepared for a throw like a shotput. Both very bad with the grotesque things he heard that he could not make sense of. "Sorry!" he said again but that is now a cheap word having said it so many times today and he flung the book forward at the figure in the darkness.

Another attack which failed badly from the tumbling in the darkness which was audible during the long silence and then the ghost's creepiness again. Bob was at a loss since everything he had already tried to use has failed. All conventional means of bashing, throwing and...This was a ghost! Why did he have to be conventional? Yes, he was weak in using his magic but that does not mean he cannot try to use it against the ghost. Both were unnatural things so if he was lucky if would make an effective attack on the ghost if Bob only knew how. He will take as long as he could to think up that, and the longer it was the better since it also allowed him to accumulate the now increasing amount of res in the palm of his hands.

[Aello]

The ghost forced Aello's body forward. Slowly, dragging her feet across the ground as he rolled the bit of glass over and over between a few of his fingers. Getting a feel for it. Learning to know and understand the glass. Its shape. How smooth it felt beneath the tips of the girl's fingers. How much it weighed. How long it took to spin it around; where the sharpest edges were. How best to hold it. "Come on Bob, don't you want to play with the dead?" the ghost snickered, as he moved even closer to Bob. He had finally settled on the proper position, to hold the glass. A jagged end pointed towards that still living. "Don't you want to find out how many cuts it'll take to get to your heart? How fast it beats when exposed to the elements?" The ghost licked Aello's lips as it inched even closer, running a spare finger over the top of the glass. Following the smooth line it made as it tilted its head slightly to the side, and rested its eyes upon the dark outline of Bob's trembling form. "Scared boy?" the ghost cackled. As his feet brushed up against the side of Bob's body. "Because you should be," he whispered, as he pulled Aello's hand back, and then thrust it towards Bob. Aiming for the dark center. Aello watched numbly. Unsure of what to do. Was it any use trying to fight her possession? Was it any use trying to help? Or would she simply expend all the energy she could hardly hang onto? Offer her weakness up to the ghost when it came after her? Next. "You should be," the ghost cackled again, as he drew Aello's hand back, before pushing it towards Bob again, and then dragged it downwards, towards what he assumed to be Bob's hip. He wanted to cut him open. He wanted to see blood. He wanted to smell it... he wanted to smell that and more. Fear. The marvelous scent of a human's fear. He wanted to hear the pounding of a human heart. Don't hurt him... Aello whispered meekly, to the ghost. It simply cackled. "This shouldn't hurt poor Bob... much." There was a slight pause, as the ghost began to lift the piece of glass, trying to follow the line he had just made in the downwards direction. Aello gasped, and immediately, tried to pull her hand back. But could not. The ghost laughed, a cold, hearty laugh that only Aello could hear. If you are so afraid doll, then you should know, there's no pain in death. Only in the process it takes to get there. Internally, Aello shuddered, she had to stop this ghost, before he did something awful to Bob, and then came after her. She gulped. She didn't even want to know what he was thinking of doing to her. OOCThe stuff in italics at the end, only Aello can hear.