Supernatural Affairs is here!!!
thank you to the following:
DarkStuff for critique
J Dune for working on this canon with me and also critique
Ralliston for critique
Iris Thompson pushed her car door closed, looking up at the burnt down house ahead of her as she took a drag from her cigarette. Letting it hang from her lips, she reached through the car window and snatched up her polaroid camera, along with the file the Supernatural Affairs Union had given her. Slinging the camera around her neck, she set the file down on the front of the car and began to read it.
Four hunters had already failed this job, it looked like. Explains why they called her in. Iris was the best of the best when it came to ghost hunting, mostly due to her camera. Even the smallest edge went a long way.
The ashy ruins had been scheduled to be destroyed a few days ago so a school could be erected in its place. However, the ghost must've kept messing with their front loader, so the driver got out to try and fix it when it crushed him with the loader's giant steel bucket. Iris grimaced a bit. A malicious spirit attached to the property… she wasn't able to make any mistakes when dealing with this one. Just a tiny piece of ectoplasm left behind would be able to exert its will on the nearby land, and with a school bringing so many children here in the future, even a scrap of misfortune could be fatal. One trip while a kid is crossing the street, and…
Iris shook her head and took a final drag from her cigarette before stomping it out on the ground.
As she approached the ruins, she felt a chill in her spine that made her freeze in place for a moment. Never a good sign. But it took more than that to stop her, so she continued on and stepped through where the doorway used to be. Little remained of the lively house that was once there, but on the last remaining wall, something glimmered under a layer of ash.
Iris took it off of the wall and wiped at it, revealing a framed photograph of a couple holding a baby. The baby was grabbing at the young mother's chin as the father chuckled and tried to shove its hand back down. She was about to set the frame down when her eye began to linger on the father's face. Suddenly, a voice spoke in her head.
"Do you really not remember me?"
She dropped the photo and spun around, camera in hand, but nothing was there. Oh god, she thought. He's really dead? Why him— hell, why here!?
"I think that you do. Did you really become one of those silly ghost hunters? I didn't think you had it in you."
"Well I'm here now, aren't I?" Her eyes kept scanning the ruins looking for any slight movement or spot of grey in the air, taking another deep breath to try and quell her nerves. "A-and now I'm going to hunt you down." She couldn't just leave, after all.
"I'd like to see you try. You couldn't even lay a finger on me before."
Ahead of her, there was a small distortion in the air, making the green trees behind it appear a few shades too dark. Barely noticeable to an untrained eye, but easy for Iris. Raising her camera slowly, she offered some more banter. "Well, times have changed, haven't they? I'm surprised you even found a wife."
"Iris, honey. You were the problem."
She froze, feeling a pit slowly open in her heart, threatening to drag her in. "I won't let you get into my head."
"Sandra was the perfect girl. Kind, smart, caring… everything that you weren't."
"You've done this before, I'm stronger than you." The pit got wider, and her hands started to shake as her finger hovered over the shutter button as she continued to reason with herself. "You're a dead man. I don't need to put up with this."
"If I had stayed with you, I would've been dead sooner."
Despite her mind screaming not to, Iris pressed the button, and the flash revealed the ghost's twisted grin, which was floating centimeters away from her face. In one swift motion, she took out an incorporeal entity vacuum chamber, which quickly began to suck the ghost inwards, which began to groan and struggle against the pull. The earth around them trembled, but finally the ghost's strength gave way, and it was restricted to a very small size in the center of the glass chamber.
Iris let out a sigh.
Emotional manipulation, ability to control technology, malicious intent… her eyes narrowed. There was no way this spirit could be used for anything. A full exorcism would be the best option.
At least, that's what Iris kept telling herself.
She reached into her pocket and removed a vial full of her own blood, which she uncorked and dipped her finger into. The Supernatural Affairs Union required that all hunters carry the basic components for an exorcism at all times, and for most people, that just meant having blood and a brain. Some more masochistic hunters were eager to poke their hands and bleed all over, but Iris preferred to be much neater.
Kneeling onto the ashy floor, she dusted off a small area, drew a pentagram with her blood, and placed the ghost in the middle of it.
"Let me out. Right now." It spoke, much quieter than before.
Iris gave it a weak smile. Seeing ghosts so tiny and trapped always made them seem much less threatening. "Nothing you say will stop me."
"Still as stubborn as ever, aren't you?"
Iris didn't answer, instead beginning mental preparations for the exorcism.
"Sandra was so easy to train. But even she made mistakes." It paused for a moment, then Iris could feel its voice growing in bitterness. "Do you know how we all died?"
She began to recite a prayer in her head.
"A piece of fucking toast. That stupid bitch forgot that she was toasting fucking bread, it caught on fire, and we couldn't get out of the house."
The preparations were complete. Now all she had to do was finish it. "I'm sorry to hear that. Must've been a tragedy." Finally, she closed her eyes and said the magic words: "may you rest in peace."
And when Iris opened her eyes, the vial was empty.
She stood, took a deep breath, and glanced over the ruins one more time before looking up into the air. As the stars above twinkled, Iris lost herself in thought. Clearly he was a malicious spirit— everyone she exorcised was.
But Iris could never help but feel guilty.