Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (The Book)

~CHAPTER 1, 7:02 P.M.~

Please read this in the white reading backdrop, because I worked on this chapter-seperator-thingy for hours. It took a long time, and it took up half of the time I should've been using to work on Chapter 4, and to be honest, it just looks stupid without it. I should know; I didn't do it, and it looks just plain stupid. It didn't exactly go well. So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE read this on the white backdrop. Thank you!

I must've been unconscious for a while...

My head feels "fuzzy," kind of like I'm swimming through darkness...

When I came to, there was a woman I don't know. At least, I don't think I know her. I couldn't recognize her, especially not in the dim moonlight that seemed to be the only thing lighting up the landscape. She had her back to a fencepost, and was trembling with fear, although just ever so slightly.

And then there was a man. He holds a gun in his left hand. I don't know him, either...

Well, probably not, anyway. He pointed the gun at the woman, and she held her hands up in the air. She took in a sharp breath, and I found myself unable to say a word in this silence.

Now, I'm not the kind of guy that can just stand back and watch a poor woman get shot...

But I have one little problem of my own at the moment... I'm already dead myself. My body was slumped on the ground, face down. I'd probably died from a gunshot wound, from this man's shotgun. I wore a stainless red suit, a pitch-black button-up shirt, and a snow-white tie. I looked pretty silly with my golden-blonde hair that sticks straight up, with only a slight curve, because, well... gravity. The point in my hair was shaped kind of like a lightning bolt. I wondered why I'm making fun of my own appearance, but mostly why I chose that hairstyle in the first place. I also noticed my shoes, which match my tie almost perfectly (I probably worshipped them, I figured, because they were completely stainless, like a piece of new paper). And I also noticed the pair of sunglasses that somehow manage to make my hair look much less silly. For a minute I wondered how this hairstyle even came to be, but I quickly stopped and focused back on the task at hand.

This has gotta be me, no doubt about that. After all, there aren't any other dead bodies around here... Although in a minute, there might be, unfortunately. The moonlight strengthened to the point I could see almost as clear as day.

"So long, sister." said the man with the gun. He wore a black suit and a black hat. He was probably a hitman of some sort. I felt bad for her, sure. But what can I, of all people, do? I just so happen to be dead.

But just as I was thinking this...

"This is no time to be lolling around dead!" echoed a voice. The two people present looked unaffected. They probably hadn't heard it. "You're the only one that can save her!" The world around me turned visor-like and bright red.

"Wh-What the..?!" I began, but I found I was almost speechless about this sudden change. The shadows had disappeared completely, leaving the landscape bright, and almost blindingly so. The whole world just changed on me! I thought.

"Welcome to the Ghost World, the land of the dead." Echoes the voice once more. It sounded a little cheesy at the time, like something out of the beginning of a movie.

I voice in my head?! I thought, shocked. "Who are you?!" I ask loudly, seeing nobody else other than myself.

"No time for introductions now. You have to save her!" the voice instructs. "I know you can do it! All you have to do is use your powers."

Ah, because that's the easiest to-do list in the world. I thought sarcastically. "Say what?" I ask. Me? And how do you suppose I do that?

"Take a look at your corpse." The voice instructed. I figured I don't have much else to do, so I do as I'm told, and see a small blue flame, hovering just above my body. "That blue flame is your soul. And you see that bright white spot nearby? That's a core."

"A core..?" I echo. Hmm. Just looks like a railway crossing gate to me.

"Look, the best way to understand it is to just try it." The voice said. "First of all, try moving your soul by reaching outwards."

I exasperatedly start waving my arm in any direction I can think of. I don't necessarily want to be told what to do by some random guy that happens to be a voice in my head. And I certainly want to be alive. But I guessed that simply was not in the cards at the moment, so I decided to listen to the voice.

"Next, move your soul across to connect with the core." The voice instructed once more. I reached out for the core, and found it was just within my reach. The second I touched the core, I found myself in a different area, as if I'd taken a step towards the man with the gun. "Congratulations! Your soul has now possessed the crossing gate."

"So... What? Now I'm a..." I hesitated for a moment. "Now I'm a crossing gate..?"

"Ahem." the voice said, catching my attention. "Now, then. Use the crossing gate to save the woman!"

"What? But how?" I asked.

"In a moment, time will start to flow normally again." the voice explained. "That will be your chance. Listen, when the man pulls the trigger, the woman dies, right? So, before that happens, you have to use your powers to stop it!"

"H-Hey! Wait a second!" I yelled. "I still don't know what you're talking about!"

"You'll see." The voice chuckled. "You'll see. Now, then. Time will start to flow again..." The visor-like world disappeared, and the shadows returned. For a minute, I could barely see anything, but I adjusted soon enough. The man was just about to shoot the woman by the time I could see clearly enough. "Now's your chance! Reach up!"

I waited for a few seconds, reached upwards, and heard a CLANG, like metal meeting loudly. The crossing gate had moved upwards, pushing the gun up suddenly, getting it out of the man's hands and onto the ground. The woman saw her chance and ran, knocking the man to the side.

But, unfortunately, for both me and the woman, the man had picked up his gun before she could get away. "HOLD IT!" the man shouted.

"Well played." The voice said.

"Uh..." I began. "What just happened?" There was a sigh.

"That was one of your powers at work," the voice explained, "a 'ghost trick.'"

"You mean, I made that crossing gate move?" I asked.

"That's right, smart guy." the voice said exasperatedly. "You manipulated that object with a power of the dead, a ghost trick. And all you have to do to perform a trick like that is move in the direction or at the speed you want it to go. Just note that it doesn't work with every object. Now the woman's fate has changed! Albeit just a little..."

"Yeah." I said. "She still kind of has a gun pointed at her."

"Yes..." the voice said. "Hmm... That's not good, is it? But at least now you're starting to figure out how to use your powers."

"So, I enter the Ghost World with 'Ghost,' possess an object, and then perform a 'Trick' with it, eh?" I wondered aloud. The world turns visor-like once again.

"Now you're getting it!" The voice said. "Let's move on to the next step. Try possessing a different core."

I reached for the wrecking ball, just above where I was. I struggle to reach it and concluded that it's too far. I saw a guitar, and reached for it, touching the core and becoming that guitar. The sensation of possession was still a little odd, but at this point I was determined to save the woman.

"I see..." the voice said. "A guitar, then, is it?" The voice was suppressing a laugh. "Ahem."

"Hey, what do you want from me?" I defended. "I would've preferred that giant wrecking ball- that would solve the problem real quick, I bet! But I can't reach cores that are too far away."

"Well, I guess we'll see what you can do with that guitar." The voice said. "Let's set time in motion again and find out." The darkness returned once again, but the moonlight had strengthened further, and I could see the scene perfectly well.

"Lemme try that again." the man said. "So long, sister." At the very last second, I poked the guitar comedically, and it made a funny sound, startling the man, and sending the woman running forward, away from the man. A sharp pain coursed through me, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come. I found I was completely unharmed... Probably a fluke to the possession situation.

"HOLD IT!" The man yelled. Dammit! I cursed inwardly.

"That has got to be some of the slowest 'running away' I've ever seen, easily..." I said. "Hmm. Looks like I'm gonna have to come up with something more here. Let's see, what core is close enough to possess from here." I took a good look around and concluded my search. "I guess all there is... is me. No time to be picky . I've got a woman to save!"

"I like your attitude." The voice commented. "It's admirable, truly. But..."

"But what?" I asked curiously. "If I can manipulate objects, then I oughta be able to manipulate my own corpse, right?"

"Well..." The voice began. "Tell you what. Why don't you just try it and see? Go ahead and possess your corpse."

As I possess my own corpse, I find that the electric feeling of possession had gotten steadily weaker as I possessed more objects. Well, that's a good thing, it was starting to get a little annoying. I thought.

"All right." The voice said. "Now we'll set time in motion." The landscape returned to normal. "Okay, go ahead and try manipulating your corpse."

I tried to push my hands against the ground but found all I was doing was tiring myself out. I couldn't do anything... Except maybe make my fingertips twitch a little. "What the?!" I exclaimed. "Nothing's happening!"

"Exactly." the voice said. "Sad but true, I'm afraid... You can only manipulate non-living things. Corpses, even if they aren't alive anymore, aren't really just ordinary 'things.'"

"You're kidding!" I exclaimed. "Wait, what about the woman?! What's happening to her?!"

"Let's take a look, shall we?" the voice said. If you want to take a look around, you can move your point of view."

"'Move my point of view'?" I echoed.

"It's easy." the voice said. "Here, give it a try. You just have to walk to move your point of view in any direction you want. It's kind of like being alive!" I did what was asked of me without hesitation, running to see what was happening to the woman. For a minute, she looked like she saw me, but made no indication that she actually had.

I tried to catch her attention, but even if I yelled in her ear, she didn't flinch. Wow. Either she has really bad hearing, a terrible sixth sense, or she can't hear me at all! Probably the latter, but that's much less funny for some reason. Not that the others are very funny, either, smart guy.

"Well, sister." the man said, his odd accent distorting the words so much I could barely decipher what he was saying. He was flaunting his shotgun with a ridiculous amount of confidence. "This is it. Two things are lookin' pretty dim right now... My eyesight, and your future!"

BANG!

The woman fell to the ground, one arm dangling limply over the edge of the platform she'd once been standing on, when she was perfectly alive and somewhat well.

She fell off the platform, and I kept in a cry of dismay. This guy would pay. He might be an assassin, but at the moment I didn't care if he was only doing his job or not, only that he needed to pay for this. I had no idea why I was so angry, but I didn't stop to wonder. It was lucky for him that my powers were weak enough that I couldn't kill him, even if I really wanted to.

There was a thud below me, and I knew that she was sure to be dead. If the bullet wounds didn't kill her, the fall certainly did. Actually, maybe I could've survived it... Nah, that would be a bad idea. A really bad idea. I thought.

The man did some sort of victory move, and I honestly though it looked a little funny.

The telephone rang, on the same floor as the woman had fallen down to. The man started to make his way towards it, stopping at my dead body. "Outta my way!" he said, kicking me down to the floor below. It hurt a little, but what really hurt was the crippling pain of landing on a spring of a broken couch. Luckily, the pain went as fast as it came, although I was spooked about how I could survive this at all, dead or alive. That very well could've been the end of my afterlife!

I saw the man answer the phone, and I could hear a rickety voice asking him something. "It's done." the man said. "I'm on my way." He walked towards my body and did his victory move again. That guy's a dead man walking. he thought. Actually, I'm also, technically, a dead man walking.

The man left. And I was all alone. Great. Just great. What am I gonna do now?!