1 The Ghosts

"Those of Happiness and sadness shall live in merry,

Unless the days run in a countless hurry.

That of Will and that of Kindness shall perish,

Give it no more than mere hours and the Grim possessions will flourish."

This is what Ophelia recounted in front of the lot of us. Sometimes I think that if I had had my powers at the time, I would have understood what did this 14 years old kid say when she went to 'spirit mode' or whatever that is that she does. My ghosts could have told me what Lunar knew at the time. Maybe, I could have prevented what has happened later on that night... Yes, we have supernatural powers. I think I have a lot of explaining to do. Where do I even start?

Okay Okay okay okay okaaaaaaaay. Here there goes nothing.

In this world, there are a lot of us who are usually described as monsters- sorry, I meant unique. We are a minority in the society who have impressive superpowers like electric powers, the ability to see through walls, walking on water, controlling water, breathing underwater. You get the point.

Since normal people did not accept us and called us -you guessed it- monsters, freaks, witches(that one was weak), or a threat to safety, we decided to ultimately utilize our powers into making homes to the supernaturals only. We made whole societies, realms, kingdoms, republics. You name it. Only, we placed them in places most normal people cannot reach(keyword: MOST) like deeply underground, deeply underwater, or on clouds.

There was an issue though. What happens when supernaturals fight each other? (danger to earth, perhaps destroy the world? **wink wink**).

The cloud realms are what started this all. The Day kingdom and the Night kingdom had been in war ever since forever- or like five years to be exact. They did everything they could to topple each other's military leaders(They worked like a constitutional monarchy where the actual power is in the hand of the minister, or in that case, the general.) Then, right when everyone thought this war could not get any worse, the hatred couldn't spread any further, I came into the picture (AKA. I messed up everything :') )

You see, I personally once knew the generals of both kingdoms. Their names are Jay-general of the Day Army- and Lunar-general of the night army. I was best friends with Jay at one point in my life. That was when I was like 11 eleven? 10? I can't recall. Lunar often tagged along. He was around 14? 15? I don't know why would a teenager want to hang out with two kiddos. But now I get it. He needed as many connections with people as possible before he grew up. Lunar knew that one day he will create his own kingdom. He was so powerful- too powerful- even at his age. He had had a huge number of followers already. If you have not guessed it yet, the more powerful you are, the more people have faith in your leadership. I will explain this later and how Jay and Lunar built the Day and Night Kingdoms so for now let's stick to the story. Years passed by. Both boys grew up to create their own kingdoms. Something then went wrong during that process. I was not there to watch it. I had already moved on with my life as a disguised supernatural in a normal society. But I could have never have predicted that Jay would be the one to start the war on Lunar or start a war at all.

So, when I randomly got a detailed instructions letter from Lunar one day in June asking me to pay him a visit, I obviously hesitated for a second. Then, I shook my head and told Hannah, my favorite ghost, 'What could possibly go wrong?'

'Imprison you to torture Jay' Hannah then said and I assumed it was a joke. I haven't talked to Jay since that one fight when we were kids, 'I could check out what he wants, but it would be really time-consuming' She suggested.

'It's fine,' I said 'nothing will happen, right? Lunar is or was still my friend' I told her before she nodded as mom bargained into my room without knocking. Thanks mom. 'Breakfast is ready Vincent, who were you talking to? did I not take away your cellphone?' mom asked a little more harshly than she might have intended to.

'Uh, I was reading out loud' I said quickly grabbing a random book on my bed. Hannah giggles while other ghosts laugh out loud at the exchange two metres in front of me in my sort of messy, black painted room( Yes, multiple ghosts.) I glanced their way. These ghosts were not typically transparent. Actually they were sort of like mirrors which were blurry. They were so shiny I could see my reflection on them which looked kind of ugly compared to real mirrors' reflections. I can see the way too pale, if not grayish, skin, the black atttire, the chains, and the thin figure of mine. I was not buff at all. In fact, I was as thin as a ruler and I looked like I was dying in the reflection. I look way better in actual mirrors. I cannot see my freakles, the eyeliner, the black eyes of mine, or the pitch black hair though, mainly because I am too tall for even the flying ghosts. Sometimes I wonder if my personality matches my attire. I think of myself as more sarcastic than emo.

Mom narrowed her eyes. This was not the first time she heard me talking to the ghosts. She does not hear them. In fact, I only can hear and see the ghosts. Not only that, they obey all my commands without thinking, which I think is pretty much the best thing about me as a person. Mom doesn't believe in their existence.

I was born with these powers and never have I ever met anyone possessing the same power as mine. What I love about my powers is that I have a set of poeple- I mean ghosts who are able to give me a sneak peak on the life in other realms, if not conversations I would like to be a part of. I would talk to the ghosts until I was ten years old behind my mom's back. Whenever she caught me, she assumed I talked to an imaginary friend. Then, when I confessed to mom about the ghosts when I turned fifteen and that I speak to them and not to myself or some imaginary dude, she said:

'Huh? That's some bullcrap' she told me then with a little worried face then paused 'get dressed and get in the car, we will see a therapist.'

I know I said there are realms just for us, the supernaturals. However, many of us fail to live there, let alone contact them. I am one of those who fail to reach out to the supernatural world. This is mainly because I have no access to contacting any realms and meet very few supernatuals who not so coincidentally dissapear the next day after I talk to them(So much for being honest.)

'Alright honey' Mom said pausing a little after that 'Do you have everything packed for when we leave tonight?'

No. Nononononononononoononononononono. I forgot about the vacation.

'Vex, Lunar said in the letter to meet someone by at central park at 8PM and this person will take you to the night kingdom' One of the ghosts suddenly said 'If you go on the family trip this will undoubtedly stop you from seeing Lunar.'

Off no. NONONONONONOONOONONONONONONOONONONO. This trip will be two-month-long, just until the summer vacation ends. I cannot go on this trip away from New York- not yet anyways. The night kingdom will not admit me except at the mentioned time in the letter and mentioned place: 8 PM at the central park. I obviously would be leaving the city by that time.

'VincENT VEX!' mom snaps me out of my own thoughts. How rude. 'Did you not pack a single thing for the farm??! You are eighteen. I do not have to practically beg you to do basic activities everytime I ask you to!' mom yells as I had been silent too long in my thoughts and forgot to reply. And yes, Mom, Jerremy, who is my little brother, and I are going on a farm trip. Good bye modern world; hello hell. 'I had been asking you to pack for last two weeks. You will get down, eat your breakfast then pack your bag immediately, understood???' It was a rhetorical question. I think.

I nodded my head. Hannah and the ghosts are still laughing and I would love to give them a glare, but mom is watching.

'Understood????' mom questioned again. She needed a verbal answer.

'Yes mom, I get it' I said folding my arms as looked down to the black and white tiled floor. Mom then replied with 'good' and left the room going downstairs without closing the door. Why does family always leave the door open?

I closed the room's door before turning around and hissing at Hannah and the others 'I would have killed you if you weren't already dead' I told them to which they roared with laughter. I sat on the grey desk in the room and starred at the movie posters on the wall while the ghosts chattered. Despite everything, I had to think hard of how can I postpone the farm trip a day or so. If that doesn't work, plan B is to sneak out. Mom and Jerremy wouldn't leave without me. Plan B is a little risky though: mom might freak out and not let me out of the house for months...

But it is important to me. I had never been to any supernatual realm before. This should be worth it. It better be worth it. That moment, I made up my mind. I have a ticket to visit another world. Who would turn this opportunity down?

And here it is folks. This is how it started: two childhood friends at war and the one less close to me contacts me to come for chitchat. What's the worst that could happen? (Hint: everything goes downhill, literally).