CW in the description

Chapter 8

Coffee

Lee was still tired. They had slept the whole day previously after cleaning up the supplies from the ritual. They had only woken up to eat a meal and any snacks that their father had offered them. Lee knew they had been having disordered eating lately, being focused on things other than just getting through day to day life, but they had developed a ferocious appetite. Alice had complained a few times when Lee was awake, mostly about being bored and to Lee’s credit they did turn on a show on their laptop and tried to watch a few episodes with her but they soon had fallen back into a deep sleep. 

In their dreams they sometimes saw nothing, other times of the void and the creature there, the smell of burning wax filling the air. Each time they woke up to everything being ok. Monday morning when their alarm went off they had woken up to their father at their door knocking. He had contacted the school, who had decided to give Lee some time to cope with the situation at hand while they resolved the situation at school. Dad had tried to convince Lee to rest but they had insisted on at least helping around the shop.

Lee loved the antiques shop. Their mother would let them play in it as a child as she worked behind the counter. Lee was always the first one to dive into boxes they had been given or had found for the shop. They even enjoyed cleaning up each night with their father. Having a familiar space right now helped. The shop was mostly dead during the day aside from a few people who would come in at odd times. The shop itself never did well but Lee’s parents' skill for Antiquing and repairing went a long way online. Today their father was in the backroom of the shop working on sanding and staining an old dresser that someone had paid for in advance on top of a few other back orders. Lee was alone at the desk, trying to fill out school work on their laptop but their mind kept wandering. 

They were googling everything they could about what had happened last night. Other than some seemingly useless information about crystals they found nothing. There were no search results for ‘the one in the forest, the lakes and the earth’ and there was nothing on the symbols in the book. When Lee had tried to describe the creature they were redirected to a reddit page about a Welsh Christmas Spirit. It was frustrating. 

Alice was downstairs with them but wasn't speaking much. Lee had gotten an ear full after telling her what had happened. She had been upset that Lee would do something so dangerous on their own and that they had missed out on it at all.  She was pouting in the book corner trying to find some kind of entertainment in the shop.. She had gotten it in her mind that she should be able to move the books if she concentrated hard. If she had asked Lee they would have told her it was pointless. Being a ghost was merely being an observer, you couldn't interact with anything.  Though, Lee didn't know how to explain how they could choose to interact with some things like furniture but also decide to go through doors. And thinking about it, Lee did not know how Alice was able to touch them the other morning to shake them awake.

They had finished most of the assignments that the teachers had sent over, it was a bit past the end of school anyway so they went to put their laptop behind the desk and grab a broom to begin closing duties when they felt their phone buzz. Yesterday morning, during one of the few times they were awake they texted I’Ksha a courtesy “Hello this is Lee '' so they could add her to their contacts. Honestly they had not expected to hear back from her. However, there, on Lee’s phone, was a text notification from I’ksha. Lee looked back over to Alice who seemed to still be distracted by the books poking ferociously at them. They turned around and opened their phone. 

 I’Ksha: Hey! Glad you messaged me. Are you doing ok?

Lee bit their lip. No not really, they thought. How exactly do you tell someone that you think you summoned an evil spirit a couple of nights ago because you found your dead mom’s ritual book with the ghost of your dead best friend? God, if Lee’s mother had not been able to see ghosts too, Lee thought they would be going up the deep end at this point. They thought for a moment and typed back.

Lee; Hi, yeah I guess. Just been off the past couple of days.

Lee was about to put their phone into their pocket when it buzzed again. She texted back? 

Yeah, I noticed you weren't at school today. Hannah isn't either. She got called over the intercom and i didnt see her in the 6th period.

Oh. My dad called the school on friday. Someone sent him a video of what happened. Maybe they’re actually handling it?

I hope so, I've got some news about the papers. Want to meet up and talk?

Lee’s face heated. Alice’s teasing from the other day was getting to them. Also the school actually seemed to be handling things for once? Hannah had been pulling similar stunts for years, maybe nothing this bad but still, there were some pretty messed up things. Lee sat down and rested their head on the cool counter. Alice was trying to get an old copy of ‘ the Little Engine that could ‘ to fall off of a pile of other children's books. She would be mad if Lee said yes to going out with I’Ksha.

Wait! No! This is NOT going out! Lee thought as their ears reddened. They covered the back of their neck with their hands and willed themself to try and ground. To try and focus on things they could feel, see and hear. But it wasn't working. They looked back down at their text. She just wants to tell me some stuff about the papers. That’s it.

Yeah, sure, when do you wanna meet up?