Haunted! (Deniel)

Job Description:

"'Until you find the ghosts and scare them away. Good luck!'" Deniel was reading the request forum for the job with his blood-red eyes. They scanned through it once again. "For a second job, this one could be pretty exciting." He lowered the forum and shoved it in his pocket. He had just finished with his very first job, and the afternoon was slowing going by. Night would be a lot sooner than it normally would. The perfect time, the perfect opportunity. "Let's get going!" Deniel had a smirk on his face; already he was excited about all of this. He went from standing completely still to running along the streets, towards the client's house. Upon arriving, he took a stare at it. It was two stories tall with several windows on it, and it looked like quite a nice one. It had some ornaments in front of it, a couple of nice windows, some decorations, and it had a nice view of the town. He was about to knock on it, until something came to his mind. His hand reached inside his pocket, grasping the request forum. His eyes went straight to the very bottom. "'Finding this out I began to rent an apartment....' Damn it!"

Deniel shoved it back in his pocket, and once again took off. "Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" He wanted to get to the location and ask the client enough questions before the dark and ghosts had arrived. After nearly an hour of searching, he finally found the right apartment and room. Ever since then, he found himself getting lost or getting into random alleyways with dead-ends. He stood in front of the client apartment room, panting with a few drops of sweat coming from his forehead. He didn't want to meet the client like this, so he let himself cool down. It was about 5 in the evening, and the sun was starting to set. With a few minutes, he finally cooled himself down and and a sigh. "Alright, time to meet this client."

Deniel knocked on the door a couple of times. No answer. He knocked on it once again. No answer. He held his foot up to kick it down instead, but that's when the client answered the door. He was shorter than Deniel with dark brown hair, and he was a little jittery, too. He seemed to be twitching at almost every moment, and there were serious bags under his eyes. "H-H-Hell......hell- OH GOD NO! PLEASE! LEAVE ME ALONE! I-I'VE MOVED OUT OF MY HOUSE! I'M NOT GOING BACK THERE, Y-YOU CAN HAUNT IT ALL YOU WA-" Deniel shoved him out of the way and entered the room himself. It was obvious that this man was getting some serious problems with a haunted house. He seemed troubled by it in the forum, but the amount of time that this was happening was making him completely insane. "Will you take a break, damn it!? I'm not here to haunt you. I'm not one of those ghosts. I'm here to help; I read your forum." The man had calmed down and closed the door behind him. He was still shaking and twitching his eye.

"Y.....You mean it? Oh thank you! Y-You don't know h-h-how long I've been scared out of my mind! P-p-please! S-sit down!" The client rushed to the table where two chairs were set up. He shakily sat down in one of them, and even that didn't seem to calm him down. "Uhhhh.....okay?" Deniel raised an eyebrow and awkwardly sat down in the chair across from him. His eyes directed to around the room. Unlike the house, everything was a mess. Several plates were shattered on the ground, everything was disorganized, no dishes were washed, the bed hadn't been made, and the table itself had plenty of scratch marks on them.

"S-sorry for what I said earlier. I-it's just your eyes. I-I-They-they're red is all! It's evil! Evil! Those ghosts are e-evil! No! Can't think about ghosts! G-ghosts! Y-you've come to stop ghosts, right!? Ghosts. Not good. Ghosts not good. Red-eyed man, good. P-please! Help me! Th-they're evil! They're goin-going t-t-t-to come for me! I-I beg you! Help! This man was completely paranoid and insane. As he spoke, his eyes would twitch and his body was shaky. Deniel could feel the table give off small vibrations from how much he was moving. He was hoping to get information out of this man, but that was probably going to be harder than he thought. Simply calming this person could be a job itself. He had to remain calm, though. If he were calm about all of it, maybe the vibe could get to this person.

"I will, but first, I want to ask you a few questions." The client shakily fiddled his thumbs, his expression went from fear to complete and utter despair. "Q-questions? P-please, No! I don't want to remember! C-can't remember! C-can't linger! Musn't linger! I-I don't want to remember! Ghosts....three of them! House! At night! S-scary! Too scary! They.....they spoke to me! THEY CALLED ME BY MY NAME! They...they know! They're terrifying! PLEASE! NO MORE! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! HELP!"

The client held his head and screamed out loud, letting himself fall down to the floor. His shaky body became even more shaky. His eyes widened as tears fell out, and he rolled around on the floor while grasping his head. Any normal person would try to get up and help him, but Deniel had a knack for remaining calm at all times. While the client was screaming, he put his hand under his chin and began to think. "They messed this guy up pretty bad. The bags under his eyes means he must not be getting any sleep. Even though he's living in this apartment, is he still paranoid about it?" He stared down at the client for a moment. He was no longer screaming, but held his head tightly and was still shaking unbelievably fast. "Looks like I can't get answers out of him. Might as well get this job done." Deniel stood up from the chair and passed the client by. He opened the door and looked at him laying down on the floor with tears rolling out of his eyes and making a small puddle beneath his face. "I'll get this job done. In the meantime, try to get yourself fixed up. You're a mess and you're paranoid. By the time I get rid of these things, I want a change in attitude."

Deniel walked outside and slammed the door behind him. Hopefully his blunt attitude and slamming the door sent a clear message.

Deniel looked behind himself for a second and then back in front of him. He slowly shook his head as he walked away from the large apartment building. "I've got some ghosts to catch." He was only in there for about five minutes, and the sun was still setting; he had some time. Instead of running and rushing to the house, this time he decided to walk. The client placed himself in an apartment all the way across town, probably to get away from the ghosts as much as possible. "Clever....", he whispered to himself. What was more on his mind were these ghosts. Just how long had they been there?

"He seems extremely paranoid about it, and those bags under his eyes means he hasn't gotten sleep for days, perhaps even weeks. And why this man's house? Why did they know his name? This seems a little too fishy. Ah, listen to myself!" Deniel only now realized that he was talking to himself out loud. Although it was sunset, some people stared at him with strange faces. He didn't mind, however. It was his own fault for thinking out loud.

Not only did Deniel get lost on his way to the apartment, but getting back to the house got him lost once again. He would turn several corners only to find a dead end, and would have to work his way back. Since he wasn't running this time, it went a lot slower. He wasn't in a rush, though, he wanted to get to the house by night, and even then he had several hours before the sun came up once again. He looked over his shoulder as he was going across another small road; the sun was at the horizon and starting to go down. He had only another hour or so until night came along, and that meant about nine or so hours for him to get to the ghosts and scare them off.

That was the tricky part about them all. He was a simple person, although he was a Nephalem, it's not like he could instill fear into something that does so to others. Scaring ghosts away was going to be harder than he thought. "Maybe I shouldn't have taken this job......" Deniel put his hand under his chin and thought for a few moments, but quickly shook his head no, remembering the client and the condition he was in. "I'll get no where thinking like that. Come on, Deniel.....think......think with that Nephalem brain of yours.

As he was walking, finally on the right path, Deniel's brain still focused on a more pressing matter: How was he going to scare away ghosts? He approached the porch to the house after half an hour, and his mind was still blank. The sun had already set, and night was coming. There was still a bit of brightness in the air, however, and he needed to wait longer. Since he was already here, he figured that he might as well sit down in the meantime. He took a seat on the porch, and began to focus everything on thinking. His eyes were closed, and the options ran through his head.

As he was thinking, something came up in his mind. He remembered the client's fear, but also his words: "I-it's just your eyes. I-I-They-they're red is all! It's evil! Evil! Those ghosts are e-evil!" As the thought came into his mind, the widest smirk began to grow on Deniel's face. His eyes remained closed, and the night had finally settled in as he was thinking for so long. The stars were nearly non-existent this night, and that made everything even darker. He slowly stood up from where he was and opened his blood-red eyes. As soon as he did, they flashed a red color and gave off a glow within the darkness. Most of his body was concealed, but his eyes stood out like a light. "I'll show these ghosts what real evil looks like."

With the idea in his head and night already here, the time was nigh. Deniel approached the door to the house, but the scares had already begun: the door opened itself. He could hear whispers in the darkness within, as the door slowly opened itself to him. However, Deniel wasn't afraid of the dead, so he casually walked inside. Inside the house, it was complete darkness. The only thing giving off a small light source were the windows and the door behind him, which quickly shut itself. "Typical....." Deniel rolled his yes at the door closing. He looked around the place he was win, his glowing eyes giving him a small light source. The house was very neat, unlike the apartment. There was a couch complete with a glass coffee table, and stairs leading up to a second floor behind it. He walked forward and scanned the coffee table. There were three couches in total surrounding it. "One person wouldn't need all this....."

He glanced at the stairs, tempted to go up, but he knew he needed to check the first floor first. He turned around and saw a hallway not too far from the coffee table. It was short, which lead into a kitchen. The kitchen had polished white floor and plenty of dishes. What was most suspicious was the table: It had three chairs.

"One person wouldn't need that, either...." Suddenly, the sound of a plate breaking was heard behind Deniel. He turned around to see what it was Something knocked down a plate, and it shattered to pieces on the floor. Something had to have knocked it down.... Deniel gave a frown and walked away from the table. There wasn't much else on the first floor. Just a small main room with a coffee table, a hallway, and a kitchen. The floor on the main room and hallway was carpet, and neatly cleaned. "This place has been kept neat and clean." Deniel walked down the hallway to the main room once again, but then heard something behind him. Something quickly dashed across the kitchen, but gave out a childish and echoing laughter. Any normal person would have simply ran away scared, but Deniel wasn't normal.

Instead of being bothered by it or even turning around, Deniel kept walking into the main room and up the stairs. It was time to check out the second floor.

Deniel arrived on the second floor. There was a long hallway that had four doors throughout it. Deniel had to search quickly, so he simply approached the first one. Inside was a room with a single bed on it, a wooden desk with a few papers on it. With the way it was, it looked like the room to a kid. When Deniel tried to pick one of the papers up, he heard the childish laughter again. This time, it seemed to be behind him and getting closer. When the laughter stopped, he simply heard the same phrase over and over again. It was a child's voice. "Go away. Go away. Go away. Go away. Go away. GO AWAY!" When the final and most climatic "Go away" came, Deniel quickly turned around only to find nothing.

This time, Deniel was a little bothered. Before, these ghosts seemed to only want to scare him away, but now they seemed a little desperate and made their presence even more obvious. Deniel walked out of the room, and the door to it immediately smashed and locked itself. Deniel could hear the child's laughter once again.

Deniel continued down the hallway towards the other three rooms. Two of them were bathrooms, which he wasn't concerned about. The one he was most concerned about was the last one. It was at the very end of the hallway, and Deniel slowly approached it. He placed his hand on the door knob, and quickly opened it. Inside, he found a bed for two, and a small stand with a lamp on it. On the lamp, there was a small picture. Deniel was about to pick it up, but the picture started to shake and then fly up in the air. Other objects in the room began to circled around Deniel, as the childish voice began to echo the air once again. In addition to this one, however, there was another laugh, the one of a woman. "Oh I see what's going on here....."

This entire time, Deniel was trying to find out exactly what was going on, and he had finally pieced the puzzle together. All he had to do was present it.

The objects circled around Deniel faster and faster, the laughing grew closer and closer to him. He couldn't see anything yet, but he decided to keep his eyes closed the entire times. When the laughter seemed to be right in front of him, two spiritual ghosts appeared. One seemed to be a little kid with hair similar to the client's, and the other was a woman in a long dress. At that moment, Deniel opened his blood-red eyes, which gave off a glowing flare. As he did, he held out his right arm and shouted out "Arm of the Black Devil!"

Deniel's right arm quickly shifted into a black scaled arm with razor sharp claws on the end of it. With his glowing eyes and inhuman arm, the ghosts were now the one drawing into fear. The objects in the room fell down and the ghosts backed up, trying to disappear inside the wall. Before they could, Deniel grabbed both of them with each of his hands. They were spiritual forms, but somehow Deniel knew that he could at least hold them. When he did, he made sure to keep them completely still. "Relax! I'm not here to hurt you, unless you give me a reason to! Now tell me: What the hell is going on here!"

The ghosts tried to struggle from Deniel's grasp, but found it was no use. The woman sighed and turned herself around as Deniel let go of her. Deniel let go of the child, and he turned around himself. "Alright. We shall tell you."

"We originally thought you were another thief. Ever since my husband moved out from being scared of us, people have been trying to break in. We've scared them all off. But you....you never attempted to steal anything, unless you were trying to take that photo."
Deniel crossed his arms and sat back on his hip as he usually did, nodding. "You're right, I'm not a thief. Recently your husband has been extremely scared and paranoid about you two, thinking you're haunting his house. I figured it had to be a family when I heard a child's laughter and saw that everything was for a family of three. One person wouldn't need any of it." The child gave a giggle as Deniel mentioned him. "Gee mister, you're really smart for figuring that out!"

"If you guys truly do care about him, why are you scaring him so much?" The woman gave a grim expression on her face and then looked back up at Deniel. "Ever since the two of us died, my husband has gone downhill in his life. He's been extremely depressed and lost his job. All he does is stare at the picture for hours on end.

"So all along you've only been trying to get him to stop worrying about you, but mistook you for ghosts haunting his house?" The woman nodded and placed her hand on her chest. "Yes. Please, sir, if you'll simply tell him for us, then we'll leave this house and finally rest in peace!"

Deniel turned away and gave a wave over his shoulder. Two fingers and a jerk of his wrist, as he usually did it. "I'll take care of it." Deniel heard the two ghosts give a sigh of relief as he left, and then they vanished from sight. He walked down the stairs from the house, and looked at the door. It opened itself for him, and he walked outside.

As he was walking down the road, he stared down at his right arm. The black scales slowly turned back into his normal skin color, and the claws went back to normal-sized nails. Since it was Deniel's third time through this part of Oak Town, he didn't get lost. Within a few minutes, he found himself back at the client's apartment. He approached the door for the second time, and gave a few knocks.

This time, the client took a much shorter time answering the door. He shakily opened it, and took a small peak outside. Seeing Deniel, he quickly opened it all the way. "I-it's you! Red-eye man! P-please tell me you took c-care of the g-g-ghosts!?" Deniel stepped inside, not answering him at first. Things were in an even bigger mess. There were much more dishes shattered on the floor, the table and chairs were broken, and there were marks of him punching the walls everywhere. "Tell me, did you have a family at one time?"

The client closed the door, and was a little stunned by Deniel's question. "F-family!? Y-yes I did! A wife, and....and my child. They both died a few weeks ago....and ever since t-then......ever since then.......I DON'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT!" The client cried out in agony and sorrow, but Deniel placed his hand on his shoulders to calm him down. "Settle down. They were the ghosts." The client stopped crying out in agony, and for the first time, stopped shaking. The slowly looked up at Deniel. "They......they what?" Deniel walked over to one of the walls and leaned against it, crossing his arms. "Your wife and son were the ghosts. They weren't haunting you, they simply didn't want you dwindling on them forever. Your life was going downhill, and they wanted it to stop. Instead, your despairing situation only made it worse, and you panicked thinking your house was haunted. All along, they only wanted to help you."

The client stood up and stared at Deniel. He was silent, no longer shaking, and no longer crying. His voice sounded grim, but less paranoid. "I-.....I can't believe it! All this time, I was wallowing in pain over their death, and blinded to see what was really happening! You......thank you! Your payment.....your payment.....here!" The client pulled out a small bag, containing the 1000 jewel reward. Deniel took it and walked away from him towards the door. "You can return to your house now. They're gone from your life, and that's how it'll stay. However, that doesn't mean you need to be gone from yours. Get back on your feet and you'll do fine. Don't make this in vain."

Deniel opened the door to the apartment and walked out, shutting it behind him just as he heard the client say: "I wont!"

Deniel walked down away from the apartment and looked inside the bag. That was 1000 more jewels for him. "Mission two accomplished!"