Odd Prompts: Snip of Groundskeeper

I'm thinking this one may wind up titled 'Groundskeeper: Bringing Home the Dead' 

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Mark, half materialized, whooshed past her and got into the other ghost’s face. “What do you mean by this?” He demanded, reaching out toward the fading figure. 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The other ghost drifted backward, away from Mark, and into the microfiche desks. He raised his now empty hands. “Dude. I just... I was gonna scare her.” 

“Well, you did. Bravo. Now, why are you trying to be a jerk?” Chloe, her heart still pounding, put her hands on her hips. “Mark, didn’t you tell me electricity was dangerous to a ghost?” 

Mark crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back slightly. The other ghost stopped, looking confused. 

“Yes, it is. And those machines are old enough to be slightly more powerful than the computers upstairs, which just tingle when you waft through them.” 

“The fact that you interact with electricity at all is kinda weird.” Chloe told him, ignoring the other ghost, who was now looking around frantically but carefully not moving. “Since you can’t really interact with me on a physical level. Just on the mental.” 

“So are you ready to talk now and not be a total ass?” Mark asked of their intruder. 

“What are you doing to me?” The other man had a strange accent Chloe couldn’t place. His use of modern vernacular meant he was recently dead, she thought. Then again, Mark had haunted the library for almost a century and talked like he was still alive and with it. 

“Not doing anything.” Mark continued to crowd the ghost. 

“And we won’t.” Chloe interjected, “If you’ll talk and not keep trying to scare me. I know you can’t hurt me, you just surprised me.” 

Mark gave her a strange look, which Chloe filed away to ask about later, when she was certain they were alone. Then he refocused on their guest. 

“We tried to talk to you earlier, and you ran. What made you seek us out now?” 

“She could see me.” The ghost shrugged and sidled sideways, away from the machine he’d nearly drifted into. “Look, it’s not that common to see one of us. And I’ve never seen a human notice me at all before.” 

“Funny. I seem to meet a lot of ghosts.” Chloe stopped and thought about it. “I definitely talk to more dead people than living ones.” 

“You’re odd, my friend.” Mark told her, his tone solemn but his eyes dancing with laughter. 

“Proudly.” She turned back to the other ghost. “I’m sorry, I should introduce myself. I’m Chloe, and I’m the groundskeeper at Belleview.” 

“And I am Mark Long.” Mark made a sketchy bow in the direction of the other, which Chloe noted had a sarcastic overtone to it. She hadn’t known you could do that with a bow.

“Er. I am... Satya Jain.” 

Mark leaned back and uncrossed his arms, resting his palms just slightly above the surface of the long table like he was leaning against it. “Really? Is it now?” 

Satya looked away. 

“Let him be.” Chloe told Mark. “Is it important what his name really is?” 

“Yes, since he just said his first name means truth.” Mark shook his head. “I’m offended on behalf of jainism.” 

“No one can pronounce my real name.” The ghost claiming the name wavered. “If I am dead, I can claim a new name?” 

“Fine by me. So, Satya, why did you track us down? And why did you try to scare me?” Chloe stepped a bit in front of Mark, and locked eyes with the recently dead. 

“You scared me.” He shifted his eyes away from her, and Chloe suddenly wondered why he didn’t just vanish. He didn’t have to stick around, it wasn’t like she could do anything at all to him. She looked over at Mark. She realized she had no idea what, if anything, ghosts could do to one another. 

“Why, because I can see you?” There had been an awkward pause before she spoke, but no-one acknowledged it. 

“No human has ever seen me before.” He locked eyes with her, and she realized he really did look frightened. “I’ve tried. I tried so hard, at... at first.” 

“You’re lonely.” Mark was still in his relaxed impossible pose. Chloe wondered if he’d practiced it. She knew he made an effort to not float through things to help her feel he was... human. 

“You’re a ghost,” They both looked at her like she’d grown a second head. “And you don’t know what that means, or anything.” Chloe shrugged. “Worse than puberty. It’s a huge change, and you’re having trouble adjusting.” 

“Life has an end.” Mark looked and sounded sad. “This... is limbo.” 

“Yeah.” Satya put his hands up and covered his face. The scissors and eyeball had vanished. 

Chloe wondered what the significance of the scissors was. 

“There’s a way to end it.” She offered. He didn’t look up. “If you go back to your grave...” 

He interrupted her, his voice muffled behind his hands, a trick since they had no real substance. “Haven’t got one.” 

Chloe shrugged and looked at Mark, who sighed soundlessly. 

“Ok, then, you can help us.” Chloe looked at her watch. “I’m supposed to be back in three hours to tell my boss what I found, and you’re taking time I’m being paid to do something else.” 

Mark blinked. Satya pulled his hands away from his face and looked at her with an incredulous expression. Chloe uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips. “You made me scream. You owe me.” 

“What.. what happens after I help you?” Satya asked. 

“Well, the cow fortress has been suspiciously vacant recently. I can put you up there.” 

“Cow fortress?” Satya and Mark both repeated with a look of mutual confusion. 

“I call it that because it’s got cows. Bulls, really, and it’s built like a fortress. Almost pagan, which is weird in all the Christian imagery. Mr. Cruor has a book I’ve been reading... What?” She stopped talking when they both stared at her, jaws dropping open.

“Belleview.” Mark turned and looked at Satya. “She’s talking about the cemetery where she works.” 

“What did you think I was talking about?” Chloe pulled a chair out. “Although what my boss is going to say about my bringing home strays...” She dropped her voice an octave. “Don’t you have enough to do without adopting the undead, Chloe?” 

Satya started to laugh, a tinge of hysteria to it. When he could talk again, he gasped. “I will help. You are...” 

“She’s peculiar,” Mark put in with a smirk at Chloe. “Friendly to... well, I’m not going to spoil it. I’m going to get back to work.” 

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My prompt this week came from Fiona Grey with "The cow fortress was suspiciously vacant." 

I prompted Becky Jones with "If I had to choose between kith and kin…" 

You can read all the prompt responses and join in the challenge yourself over at More Odds Than Ends.