“Ugh, that place suuuucked. Can we please never go back? For the sake of my sanity?”
Skizz gently punched Grian in the shoulder as they walked out of a spiritual healing and crystal shop. “C’mon, G, it wasn’t that bad, was it? We weren’t even in there for that long!”
Gem skipped to catch up with them. “No, Grian’s right, it smelled really bad in there.”
“Yeah!” Grian said, satisfied that someone was agreeing with him. “It really did, I thought those kinda crystal shops are supposed to smell good, like, don’t they literally sell scented candles?”
“Plus the lady was really annoying,” Scar piped up from next to Impulse, who was shaking his head in fond amusem*nt and mock disappointment.
“We needed to buy the smudge sticks and salt from somewhere, guys,” Impulse opened the bag he was carrying to put the receipt in with the various incenses. “Do you know how hard it is to find a place that sells this specific ghost hunting salt? Plus, it’s like, right across the street from Home Depot, which is where we’re going next, so…it’s just convenient.” He chose to ignore Grian rolling his eyes.
---
When they walked into the store, Impulse shivered. It was much colder than he expected, even if the AC was on. Looking around, though, no one else in the group seemed to be bothered by it, and neither did all of the other customers. Which–
Impulse blinked in surprise.
It was also much busier than he expected, especially considering it was just an average Thursday morning.
Skizz must’ve had the same thought. He turned to Impulse and gently elbowed him in the side. “Lots of people also getting ghost hunting equipment, huh?”
Grian snorted. “I bet at least half the people in this place don’t even think that ghosts exist.”
While Grian, Scar and Skizz started up a brief conversation about society and believing in ghosts, Impulse and Gem took the lead. They found where the flashlights were and stocked up, getting two for each person (just in case). Impulse also grabbed a bunch of the UV flashlights and stuffed them in his bag, and now he had pulled out the shopping list and was reading through it, muttering to himself.
“Sooooo, what else do we need from here?” Gem asked him as they continued strolling through the aisle. She leaned towards him, stretching her neck to try and read the list over Impulse’s shoulder.
“Well, uhh, let’s see…” He had to go back and re-read the entire list despite the fact he was just reading through it. “So we’ve got the flashlights, and the UVs, we need some lighters, uhh, I’m pretty sure we can get motion and sound sensors here–” Scar cheered. “–Also, we need a new pegboard for our equipment, a new table for the monitor, a new monitor…I think that’s it! All the main stuff, like the EMF readers, spirit boxes and all that stuff, will thankfully be supplied by Ghost Huntin’ Distribution.”
Gem paused suddenly. “Wait, I thought we were just getting new equipment. Why does everything need replacing? What happened in the last investigation?”
Impulse winced. “Oh, right. You weren’t there for that one…Uhh, so basically, we had a banshee, and SOMEONE–” He gave a pointed look towards Skizz, who immediately started spluttering in defense. “–messed up drawing the runes by the front door that keep the ghost inside, so it managed to follow us into the truck and uh. Yeah. We need to replace it all.”
While Skizz started muttering about how Impulse was usually the one to do it, so it was actually Impulse’s fault for trusting him with that task in the first place, Gem scoffed light-heartedly. “See, this is why you guys need me on the team. This never would’ve– actually, on second thought, I am SO glad I wasn’t there, if the ghost got into the truck…” She shivered.
Skizz snickered. “Oh dude, you should’ve heard Grian’s scream! He was so…”
Impulse zoned out (it’s not uncommon for him to do that when Skizz speaks) and glanced to his left. Speaking of Grian, where’d he and Scar go? He had noticed them break away from the group and wander off when he started explaining to Gem. He walked ahead and peered around into the next aisle. Impulse found Grian and Scar there, looking at the mirror section and whispering to each other.
“You guys looking at the mirrors?” He wandered up to them and Scar turned to face him, eyes wide.
“Impulse! Do y’know what’s up with this weird mirror? It’s all like…dark and whispery, or something.”
That man says such concerning things with such a bright tone sometimes.
Grian was still staring into the mirror. “There’s no reflection…” he muttered.
Frowning in confusion and a little bit in concern, Impulse looked at the mirror. Its ornate silver frame looked pretty cool, but the glass…
…What?
Grian was right. Where a normal mirror would show a reflection, this one was just…black. It contained a swirling darkness that gave Impulse a slight feeling of vertigo. It was just a void, cold and unwelcoming. Peering closer, he could see hints of a purple…fog, or something, within the darkness of the mirror, going further and further down, seemingly forever. Unintelligible whispers reached his ears. They were too soft to make out any actual words, but it caused him to take a step back anyway. The voices sounded a little bit too…inviting, for his comfort.
It felt wrong. Like it didn’t belong in this realm. (Let alone in a Home Depot.)
It felt vaguely familiar.
It felt cursed.
Impulse’s eyes widened at the realization, and he called Skizz and Gem over. Once they got closer, Impulse turned to Skizz and gestured towards the mirror.
“This mirror, it’s cursed, isn’t it? It’s the same kinda feeling as that music box we found that one time.” He recalled the haunting melody with a shiver.
Skizz leaned in close, staring at the swirling darkness with an apprehensive look. “Yeah,” he muttered, frowning slightly. “Yeah, no, that’s definitely cursed, dude. Just like the music box, and, uhh, the tarot cards? Ohh, you remember the cards, Dippledop?” He drew back and grinned at Impulse, who rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, I remember how you almost got us both killed.”
“Nuh uh! You pulled cards too, dude!”
“It was your idea though! You pulled the first one, got ‘The Tower’ and–”
“And then you went ‘Oh great idea Skizz!’ and then YOU pulled a card–”
“Well first of all, I don’t sound like that, secondly, yes, I did pull a card, and it was ‘The Hermit’, but then the next one YOU pulled was ‘Death–”
“Ok yeah, I pulled the death card, so what, BUT my point is, you were also pulling cards! So don’t act like it was only my fault!”
“‘So what’? If I hadn’t been there to haul your unconscious ass out of the house–”
“Stop arguing, dads.” Gem shoved the guys aside so she could stand between them.
Skizz folded his arms with an exaggerated pout. “No, he’s being a jerk!”
Impulse rolled his eyes and chuckled when he noticed Grian’s thoroughly entertained face. Scar nudged Skizz aside so he could also have a closer look at the mirror.
“So, uhh, does anyone know why Home Depot sells cursed objects now?” Gem wondered, tilting her head at it.
“Yeah, wait, aren’t these things supposed to be, like, super rare or something?” Grian questioned.
Impulse frowned, trying to think. “Yeah. Skizz and I have only come across…maybe three? I think that summoning circle was cursed–”
“Oh yeah that thing was a hundred percent cursed.”
“–But even then, that’s only three in…like, two years of ghost hunting? And I don’t think you guys have seen one yet, and you’ve been doing this for about five or six months or so…”
He was very thankful that Grian, Scar and Gem’s first time coming across a cursed possession, despite the odd circ*mstances, wasn’t immediately a disaster. The three of them seemed to be managing their curiosity well enough. Those kinds of objects could cause a hunt so easily, just by basically breathing on it in the wrong way.
“...I have no idea why there’d be one at Home Depot, though.” Impulse finished, mystified.
Grian snorted. “They’re probably just trying to get rid of it. I mean, 20 bucks? Bargain.”
Skizz immediately pointed his finger in Grian’s face. “We are not buying the evil mirror.”
“I wasn’t gonna suggest we buy it,” he said slowly, in a tone that implied he was definitely about to suggest they buy the evil mirror. He blinked innocently at them all.
Impulse sighed. “Please, for the love of God, do not touch that mirror,” he took another step back. “I think we should just leave it here; I don’t think taking it with us would be a good idea. Now, c’mon, I think the tables are in the next aisle over.” He started walking away from the mirror, with Skizz, Grian and Gem following.
They’d barely reached the end of the aisle when they heard the loud, distinct crack of glass shattering, followed by a panicked-sounding groan. They all froze, and Impulse’s blood turned cold. Exchanging horrified glances for a second, the group turned around to see Scar standing there, looking at the broken mirror he was now holding, with an equally horrified expression on his face.
“Oh, Scar.” Grian was the first to run over. His usual, light-hearted, almost-a-catchphrase-at-this-point was laced with fear. Impulse, Skizz and Gem were right behind him, hearts pounding.
“What did you do!?” Scar glanced up from the mirror at Gem’s cry, his normally green eyes containing a slight purple hue.
“...It was talking to me,” he whispered fearfully. “I know you just said not to touch it, but the whispering was getting louder, and, and– but I couldn’t hear what it was saying, so I–I picked it up and looked into it and suddenly I could see things and–”
He was interrupted by Skizz putting his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Scarface. Buddy. Slow down, take a breath. Are you ok? Like, did it hurt you at all when it broke?”
Scar shook his head, prompting a nod of relief from Skizz.
Impulse turned his gaze down to the shattered mirror. The glass was still pitch black, however the swirling purple mist was gone. Instead, a spiderweb of bright purple cracks traveled across the glass, almost looking like someone had thrown a small rock at it. The cracks glowed with a faint ominous light, and Impulse winced as he heard the quiet whispers start up again, this time sounding furious instead of inviting. He took the mirror from Scar and placed it back on the shelf, noticing how his friend’s shoulders slumped in relief as the weight of the cursed object left his hands.
Suddenly, the lights overhead started to flicker, and they heard screaming from the other side of the store. An all-too-familiar chill went down each of their spines as they recognized the feeling that had shifted in the air, a sensation only those that have worked in the paranormal field for a while can pick up on.
“Oh, great,” Skizz said flatly over the top of Grian and Gem’s confused panic noises. “It’s hunting.”
“It’s over by the checkouts.” Scar murmured. They all turned to look at him questioningly. “I-I saw it. In the mirror.”
Grian was staring up at the flickering lights. “...We don’t have any equipment. We’re not prepared to deal with a ghost right now!”
“No, no, this is fine,” Impulse breathed, mostly to himself, feeling very much not fine. “We’ve got some equipment, uhh…We’re just gonna have to improvise the rest! What are we waiting for!” He started jogging away, towards the sound of the screams. He glanced back once, to see if everyone else was following. They were, of course. They always do. (Well, when they’re not distracted by evil mirrors or something.) It was one of the many reasons Impulse loved this crew.
“Wait, woah woah woah,” Grian reached out to tap Impulse’s shoulder as the jogging quickly turned into running. “Why do we need to take care of this? We didn’t sign up for this case!”
Impulse shot him a wild look. “BECAUSE WE’RE GHOST HUNTERS? THIS IS LITERALLY OUR JOB.”
“But we didn’t even know there was gonna be a ghost here!” Scar exclaimed, panting. “Like, are they gonna pay us for this?”
Skizz laughed, even though his eyes were wide with fear. “I don’t know if they’re gonna pay us for breaking something in their shop, dude!”
“Um,” Gem cut in, sounding almost hysterical. “Can we just go back to the fact that there’s an actual ghost here? WHY is there a GHOST at Home Depot? WHO DIED AT HOME DEPOT???”
No one managed to respond as they rounded a corner and got their first glance at the chaos. People were sprinting in all directions, screaming. There was a cacophony of irregular beeping coming from all the registers, and the screens were glitching like crazy as the ghost swept through the area.
All the other customers that had previously been standing patiently in line at the checkout were trying to run away, their shopping carts forgotten as the ghost flung the items around with crackling energy. Mostly small items, not posing much of a threat, however there was a knife that got thrown towards someone, and there was also a giant teddy bear in someone’s cart that went flying, which was honestly pretty terrifying.
Skizz was the first to react, making his way over to the locked exits, where a group of people were standing there with petrified eyes.
“Scar!” He yelled over his shoulder. “Help me get everyone to a hiding spot! The rest of you deal with the ghost!”
As the two of them rounded the people up and away from the danger, Impulse, Grian and Gem focused back on the ghost. A low, raspy groan filled the air as it shuffled around erratically. There were already multiple unconscious bodies strewn across the floor, some were even flopped over the counters.
Impulse followed it with narrowed eyes, mentally crossing off what it wasn’t. Not a phantom. Not an oni. Not a rev, not a deo. Normal line-of-sight speed up. Wait– normal line-of-sight speed up oh crap–
He yelped in surprise as the ghost came sprinting towards him, his feet rooted to the floor in panic. He quickly fumbled through his bag for a smudge stick, forgetting they hadn’t gotten the lighters yet.
The ghost was almost within reach when Skizz came running up out of nowhere and grabbed Impulse’s arm, dragging him away and around a bunch of shelves, breaking line of sight. They collapsed behind one of the shelves where Grian and Gem were already hiding, conveniently containing lighters. Grian passed them both a lighter, while Impulse handed out the rest of the smudges to the group.
“This is a LONG hunt,” Grian observed. “Shouldn’t it have stopped by now?”
“Oh, yeah, ghosts get real mad when you break a cursed object,” Skizz explained. “This hunt’s gonna last a while, probably.”
“Hey, uhh, where’s Scar?” Gem interrupted.
Skizz stared at her for a moment, as if he had completely forgotten what he and Scar were doing a few moments ago.
He waved a hand dismissively. “I’m sure he’s fiiiiine,” he laughed nervously. “That man can take care of himself!”
The rest of them made various disbelieving “ehhh” noises at the same time, making Skizz genuinely laugh, which in turn made the rest of them laugh.
Impulse smiled. They’d all already gotten over their fear of dealing with an unknown cursed object and an unexpected hunt, it seemed. Perks of the job, I guess.
A crash of something heavy shattering on the other side of the shelf they were hiding behind brought them back to reality, and the four of them tensed.
“So, are we doing this no evidence, or what?” Gem asked hurriedly.
Impulse peeked around the side of the shelves to watch the ghost. Its raspy wails rang in his ears as it searched for victims. As it turned a corner, its fingers brushed against the side of one of the counters. Impulse’s eyes widened with an idea. He opened the bag again and took out one of the ultraviolet flashlights.
“Oh! We can check that for UV!” He held the flashlight out. “Do any of you guys wanna do that?”
Skizz immediately touched his nose. “Not it!”
Gem was quick to follow, which left Grian sighing in defeat as he took the flashlight from Impulse. (Impulse decided not to mention that he gladly would’ve gone and done it if they had all said no.)
Grian peeked out to see where the ghost was, then turned back to the group with a wicked grin. “Hey, Gem,” he said casually. “Wanna distract the ghost for me?”
Before Gem could protest, he grabbed her arm and jumped up, running out from the hiding spot with Gem stumbling behind. Grian dove behind another shelf, leaving Gem in full view of the ghost.
“GRIAN I’M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS,” she screamed as she started running away, the ghost right behind her. (It can switch targets, not a banshee, Impulse noted.)
“You got this, Gemstone!” Skizz called after her, not making any effort to help.
“Hey, Skizz,” Impulse was rummaging around in his bag. He picked up a piece of chalk and threw it at his friend. “Draw the runes that trap the ghost in one spot, why don’t ya?”
Skizz caught the chalk with a yelp. “Wh– seriously? Even after what happened last time?”
“Just don’t mess it up this time!” Impulse called with a co*cky grin.
Skizz started walking to the nearest open space. “You say that like it’s easy,” he grumbled.
An excited yell from Grian snapped Impulse’s attention back to the chaos.
“WE’VE GOT FINGIES!”
“Niiiice!” He pulled his journal out of the bag and marked ‘ultraviolet’ down. Skizz, obviously having finished with the runes (in a…concerningly short amount of time, but Impulse wasn’t gonna worry about that just yet), crouched back down next to him and stared at the book with a perplexed look.
“...Do you just, like, carry that thing around with you all the time?”
“Of course,” Impulse replied, and held up a finger. “Never know when you’re gonna run into a ghost!”
Skizz wheezed. “Y’know, after today, you might just have a point!”
Just as Impulse finished crossing off the ghosts it couldn’t be, a familiar scream made him and Skizz look up.
“Scar!”
Scar went running past them making unintelligible sounds of distress, the ghost right on his heels. Gem collapsed next to them, chest heaving. She had clearly used her incense already; the smell was all over her.
“I’m so glad it moved onto Scar– I’m never doing that again,” she panted as Skizz patted her shoulder in sympathy.
“Should we, uhh, should we go and help Scar?” Impulse murmured questioningly, glancing over at him. Grian was over there, sitting safely on top of a large shelf, pointing and shouting frantic incoherent directions at Scar while he zig-zagged all over the place. The ghost, still chasing him, growled and two bottles flung themselves off the nearby shelf towards him. Scar yelped and somehow managed to dodge them.
Skizz winced. “Yeah, I’ll go help him out. HEY, STUPID!” He ran over, calling to the ghost as he brandished his smudge stick at it like a weapon.
Grian jumped off of the shelf he was perched on and made his way over to Impulse and Gem, holding his arm up over his head to shield himself from all the objects flying in every direction.
“Dudes, I think it’s a polty,” he commented, rubbing at a spot on his arm where a box hit him. Impulse watched as a mirror (thankfully a normal one, this time) got flung a lot further than usual and shattered against a wall.
He nodded, pulling out his journal again. “Ooh, yeah. Yeah, that's definitely a polty.” Grian and Gem stared at him as he circled ‘Poltergeist’, probably also wondering why he always carries the book around.
A very manly shriek from Skizz made Impulse pull the bottle of salt out from his bag. “We should probably go and trap the ghost now,” he said casually. The three of them started walking over to the runes on the floor that Skizz drew earlier, keeping a close eye on where the ghost was. It was currently gaining on Skizz, who was holding a charred lump of a smudge stick, his lighter nowhere to be seen.
Scar joined them halfway, panting. “Why do I always end up being the distraction,” he whined. “It’s exhausting!”
Grian elbowed him in the side playfully. “The ghosts just love you, dude. They can’t get enough of you.”
“I don’t wanna be loved by the ghosts!” Scar exclaimed, pouting.
They reached the runes, and Impulse poured the black salt in a circle around them, leaving a gap for the ghost to get in. He gave the bottle to Gem, who was watching what he was doing with wide eyes.
“You know what to do, Gem?” He asked her quietly.
“...Close the circle with the salt when the ghost steps in?”
“Yep,” Impulse made sure he had a smudge and a lighter at the ready. “You got this.”
He turned to Skizz and shouted at him to lure the ghost over. Grian and Scar stepped back, smudges also at the ready in case anything went wrong.
Skizz ran up to them and leapt over the salt circle, stumbling a bit as he landed on the other side. The poltergeist, too focused on its prey, failed to notice the trap. As soon as it stepped on the runes, Gem quickly connected the two ends of the circle, pouring every single grain of salt that was left in the bottle on the ground. The ghost came to a halt, flinching away from the salt with an inhumane hiss. Impulse lit the smudge stick, letting the smell waft over him for a split-second before tossing the burning incense into the circle.
The ghost struggled for a few seconds, glaring at Scar with a hint of purple in its blank eyes. It then swung its head around and fixed its glare on Impulse, who shivered under the burning hatred emanating from it. With a defeated growl, it vanished from sight with a slight audible crackle.
Impulse let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. “I honestly wasn’t even sure that would work with a cursed hunt,” he breathed, followed by a relieved laugh.
“Is it still trapped in the circle?” Grian questioned, letting go of Scar’s sleeve, the creases suggesting he was gripping the fabric tightly.
“Yeah. It should stay there until a ghost removal team gets here. Which, speaking of…?” Impulse turned to Skizz, who was already pulling his phone out.
“On it!” Skizz started walking away, phone to ear. “Hey dude! Yeah so, it’s the GIGGS crew again…we got a poltergeist at Home Depot…yeah, no, I know, it was CRAZY…”
“Ask if we’re getting paid for this!” Scar called out to Skizz as his voice faded away. He gave a thumbs-up over his shoulder in response.
After a moment of exchanging ‘what now?’ looks, the rest of the group made their way over to the self-checkouts, carefully avoiding the debris littering the floor.
“We’ll uhh, we’ll get the rest of the stuff another time,” Impulse said, stepping over a fallen chair. Grian, Scar and Gem mumbled their agreement.
While they were paying for the stuff they got before they found the mirror, Skizz came jogging back over to them, waving his phone around. “We’re getting paid for this one babyyyy!” He cheered.
“Nice!” Impulse patted his friend on the back before reaching for the bag. “Now, we should probably let everyone know it’s safe to leave as long as they don’t go near the trap, then let’s get outta here.”
---
They walked out of the store, Impulse carrying the new bag. (Why do I always end up carrying the bags?)
“Do you think they’re ever gonna figure out that we broke the evil mirror, which technically caused all that other stuff to also break? You think they’ll get mad at us?” Scar wondered. It didn’t escape Impulse’s notice that he said we and us and not I and me, which, yeah alright, should’ve expected that from Scar.
“Should we have, uh, helped all the unconscious people back there?” Grian put in, glancing back over his shoulder at the store.
Skizz waved a hand through the air. “They’ll be fiiiine,” he said breezily. “Getting attacked by a ghost once won’t do anything to ya. It’s when you start to reach Scar-levels of getting touched by a ghost, that’s when you should start to worry.” He started giggling at his own choice of words. Impulse and Gem simultaneously rolled their eyes.
“...That’swhatshesaid,” Scar coughed into his hand, and after a second he frowned at Skizz. “Hey, wait, did you see me back there? I was dodgin’ and weavin’ all over the place! I didn’t get touched ONCE by that ghost!” He exclaimed proudly, causing Skizz and Grian to laugh harder.
“Speaking of that, though, Scar you did a good job back there, distracting the ghost and stuff,” Impulse spoke warmly. “Was it your fault the ghost hunted in the first place?…Yes. But at least you did good afterwards.”
Skizz slung his arms around Grian and Gem’s shoulders, having to lean down slightly. “Everyone did great today! Especially considering how unexpected that hunt was, you guys all did good.” He ruffled Gem’s hair and put Grian in a loving chokehold, then tried to reach over to grab Scar as well, causing all three of them to stumble.
“Yeah, we’re kind of pros at this job,” Grian said as he emerged from underneath Skizz’s arm. He dusted his hands off with a smug expression. “Pretty soon us three will be the experts ‘round here.” He gestured to Scar and Gem, who both chuckled.
Impulse and Skizz exchanged a disbelieving, yet fond, glance. “Ehh, I don’t know about that one, G,” Skizz teased. “I saw you hiding on top of that shelf like a chicken.”
“CHICKEN?” Grian let out an offended gasp. “May I remind you, sir, of that scream you let out while being chased? I wish I had recorded that! It was better than some of my screams I’ve done in the past!”
While the rest of the crew joined in with the banter, Impulse opened his original bag and winced at the realization of how much emptier it was than when they arrived.
“Uhh, hey, guys?” Everyone turned to look at him. “I don’t mean to ruin the party, or anything, but uhh…” He gestured to the bag and fought back a smile as one by one, Grian, Gem and Scar’s faces fell. Skizz started laughing.
“We kinda used up all the smudges…so we need to go back to that spiritual place and buy some more,” Impulse finished, and now both he and Skizz were laughing at Gem and Scar’s disgruntled expressions, and the sheer horror on Grian’s face.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!”
