Foundation of All

“Mr.Ghost? Ms. Ghost?” Emily called out in her bed a few days later. Her sheets were pulled all the way up to her chin as she prepared to sleep after her day. Her test results came in a day after she took it. She passed it with flying colors, of course. No one even cared, no one doubting for a second that she had passed. But Emily managed to get her game back from Mom at least as a reward. So there was that at least.

“My test is over. Did you want to talk to me now, Ghosts? I’ll try to be less scared now.”

She waited, and the longer nothing happened, the more ridiculous she felt. Of course there wasn’t actually a ghost. She had just been so stressed from the test that she had been hearing things. Now that she was more relaxed, of course she hadn’t heard anything.

It was all hallucinations from stress, just like what people said about the Shadow. She rolled over in bed and switched off the light. She would be going to the CODA classes for high school. And she would be working directly with her hero Peter Rose if she had anything to say about it.

— — —

Woah, she, you, look way older now.

This school is different from before too.

Yes, it is. I think she’s…

Sixteen or seventeen?

This is the high school.

I remember now.

It’s all coming back now that I’m seeing it in person again.

I took those CODA classes with the AI.

We just sat next to each other doing things at our own pace.

We were supposed to talk about the problems we were struggling with with each other.

But I was too far ahead, so no one ever had any reason to talk to me during classes.

Not even the teacher.

The corporate monitor wasn’t even really a teacher,

they were just there to make sure the AI was working properly.

And to make sure we didn’t break anything important.

What about friends?

What about that boy, Luke?

Surely you talked to some people.

I had a few.

But most just wanted help with their homework.

Help from the resident genius and nothing more.

Except for Luke, we always stayed close.

“Hey, Em!” Emily looked behind her trying to determine the source of the sudden indoor wind. Luke was jogging up down the hallway towards her. School had just ended and she was about to head out to tennis practice.

“Hey, Luke. What’s up?” She said as lightly as she could. Luke was her best friend, nearly six feet tall and bulky by now with tons of muscles. He lifted weights in the gym and was one of the most popular guys in school. The other girls were always jealous of how much time Luke spent with her. Especially whoever he happened to be dating at the time.

“Didn’t see you at lunch today. Just wanted to know if you were okay,” Luke said, “I know you got practice and everything soon.”

“Oh, it wasn’t much,” Emily said quickly. Emily flashed back to what had happened. Alice, Luke’s current girlfriend, had caught her in the hallway by her locker just before lunch. Alice was practically a model, incredibly beautiful even if she was rotten at the core. She had loomed over Emily and told her to back off from her man.

None of Luke’s girlfriends seemed to like how much attention he paid her very much, but Alice was beyond all the rest of them. Emily had had her back pressed against the hallway locker and Alice was standing over her and their faces were practically touching as Alice threatened her, her hot breath washing over Emily’s ear as she spoke...

Emily remembered all she could focus on was Alice’s ruby red lips as they moved, unable to even process the other girl’s threats as her mind shot into overdrive with Alice so close. God, what was even wrong with her? Why did she keep having intrusive thoughts like that? She would find a nice guy to date like the other girls some day.

She glanced at Luke. No, they had grown up together, they couldn’t just date each other. They… he was like her brother or something. That’s why she didn’t feel attracted to him. That was it.

All these twisted up feelings, why did she keep wishing that Alice would come again, her hot breath whispering in Emily’s ear with their bodies almost touching as Alice said something or other…

She flushed slightly and shook her head. Right, Luke’s question.

“Yeah, nothing at all.”

That was a long pause.

Oh, yeah. Don’t ask.

I was very confused back then.

Science genius, Romance simpleton.

That was me.

“Okay, Em. Sorry about Alice giving you all those nasty looks by the way. She’ll calm down like the others after she realizes you’re not trying to seduce me or something.”

“Sure,” Emily said, completely unconvinced after Alice had been so aggressive right from the beginning. Her and Luke had only been dating for less than two weeks and she was already to this level already? Emily could only hope that she would calm down soon.

She shifted slightly and readjusted her backpack slightly and pushed on the door with her hand to open it an inch.

“Anyway, see you later,” Luke said, “Have fun at practice.”

“See you later, Luke.”

— — —

“C’mon, Emily! Follow through, I know you can do better than that!” Coach yelled.

Emily nearly groaned as she swung hard and missed the tennis ball yet again with her swing. She didn’t know why she still did this, she was terrible. Another ball came to her, thrown by coach and Emily swung again, trying to follow Coach’s advice.

Emily overswung her racket a bit too much as she hit the ball and her body rotated as she tripped over her own feet. She fell to her side and landed hard to the surface of the court, feeling the scrapes and bruises already forming as she hit the ground in a tumbling pile of flailing limbs.

She sat up and rubbed her elbow and saw the scrape there already welling up with dark beads of red blood. There was the sound of a ball on racket and Emily looked up. She only had a single flash of green fill her view before the tennis ball slammed directly into her right eye and sent her tumbling to the ground again under the impact with a gasp of surprise.

“ALICE! What are you doing?!” Coach shouted as Emily lay there, scraped and bruised and her right eye hot and already swelling shut.

“I didn’t see her, coach,” Alice said in a fake panicked voice, “I was too focused on my return shot. I didn’t think she was so clumsy to just fall out of nowhere!”

Emily felt tears well in her healthy eye as she lay on the ground cradling her eye. Alice was right. She was clumsy. She was the worst on the team, barely even able to score when people took it easy on her. Even when Coach had fed her the ball when she had missed like a total loser.

“Alice! Pay attention, this is unacceptable!” Coach said, “Run around the court ten times and then I want a sincere apology to Emily after.”

“But, Coach…”

“Go, Alice. Now.”

“Ugh…”

Alice started running while shooting nasty looks at Emily even as the athletics department and sports nurse from the school arrived to look at her scrapes and eye.

Her prescriptions? Ice packs. It was always ice packs no matter the problem. But it worked most of the time, so there wasn’t much need for them to do anything else either.

Emily sat on the side lines from a nearby bench and held the ice pack to her eye and watched the other girls return to playing games and do drills with Coach. All of them were so much better than her. She was so clumsy, tripping over her feet like that…

“Emily,” Alice suddenly said from in front of her. She had been so deep in her thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed the panting and slightly red faced girl approach.

“I’m so sorry for accidentally hitting you. How’s your eye?”

“Fine.”

“Well, sorry anyways. I’ve got to go practice for the big game on Saturday. Try to work on your footwork. It’d be so embarrassing if you tripped and fell in front of everyone because you were too busy thinking about other people’s boyfriends.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Hope your eye feels better. Bye.”

Alice walked off, Emily watching her go with her functional eye.

What a bitch.

Seriously, she’s worse than

Samir with an apology like that.

…

Ok, not that bad.

But she definitely did that on purpose.

Probably.

I used to be so clumsy.

I know it’s mean to say,

but she missed nearly every hit when she went for the ball in the drills and games.

Her tripping there was completely her own fault,

even if Alice hit her while she was down.

Both physically and emotionally. That was cruel.

I’d watch the criticism, it’s only yourself you’re insulting.

That’s past you that was so clumsy just now.

I don’t even know this game,

and even I feel embarrassed for her secondhand.

She won’t be me.

She’ll get better eventually.

I’d rather still be clumsy than let things play out how they did.

Used to be?

Isn’t this just because you’re a teenager?

Growth spurt and everything?

Why does what happened change that,

Didn’t it go away as you grew older?

Not exactly.

The Shadow changed me so I could do what it wanted.

It won’t have to anymore for her.

Not if we figure out how to talk to her.

And stop the end of the world.

By changed what do you…

Wait Sean, I think she’s noticed us.

Emily looked around with the ice pack held to her eye. She heard a strong wind and faint whispers from the grass field behind her. The spring day was hot and muggy, only a slight breeze before providing relief.

Oddly enough Emily didn’t feel the breeze, only hearing the sound of it. She noticed the grass was waving gently, in contrast to the strong breeze she heard all around her right now. Something cold trickled down her spine and she straightened as she felt goosebumps rise all over her body. She looked into the empty field of gently waving grass and listened to the faint voices that felt just below the level she could understand. She strained her ears hard and started to hear some words through the noise.

“Clumsy… mean to say… hit…”

Another voice, slightly deeper for only a short while. Although the whispers were so faint it was hard for Emily to tell the difference.

“...Grow older…”

The higher pitched voice returned,

“Shadow… How… talk.”

The what? The deeper voice that Emily started thinking of as a male sounded for only a few seconds again before the higher pitched… female one? Spoke again.

“...Noticed us…”

The area fell silent again, the wind and faint whispers faded away again. Emily’s heart pounded as she listened closer to the light breeze and the sounds of tennis behind her, the ice pack still held tight against her swollen eye.

She shivered, old memories tickling at the back of her mind. Why did this feel so familiar? It was on the tip of her tongue, the whole situation, for all its spookiness, feeling oddly familiar.

She held the ice pack to her face and stared at the empty field, racking her brain for the answer.

Finally it hit her like a ton of bricks.

“Ghost…” She whispered softly, “I remember. I really hope I’m not having more hallucinations now. I’m certainly stressed out enough for it these days. This is the last thing I need right now…”

— — —

Emily stood alone in the locker rooms after practice. Almost everyone else had gone home, but she still had to wait for the late bus. She went to the sink and turned it on and splashed some water on her face. Alice had been brutal in practice today, criticizing Emily’s every little mistake to the point that Coach had been forced to tell Alice to cut it out. Not that it stopped Alice, she had just made sure to say it quieter after that.

Alice and Luke were still together after months. Emily was sure that it wasn’t so much that Luke was really more invested in Alice than the others. It was more that Alice jealously chased off any girls that tried anything more than a brief conversation with Luke. Weeding out the competition.

Luke didn’t seem overly upset about it, thinking it was ‘cute’ how jealous Alice was, but unfortunately Emily was one of the girls that Alice was targeting. Emily didn’t tell Luke about it of course, Alice had ‘apologized sincerely’ after the first time Emily told Luke and the girl manipulated the context when she explained so Alice didn’t come off as that unreasonable for her actions somehow. Luke seemed to buy it and considered the situation resolved after the two of them had ‘made up’ with each other.

Alice’s bullying only grew worse after that. Luckily Alice wasn’t in the CODA classes, so Emily only had to deal with her at tennis practice and during lunch, although Alice was much more restrained while Luke was sitting with them.

Emily wasn’t sure why she still played tennis. She wanted to quit every day she went. But whenever she thought of quitting, just giving up on something, she couldn’t do it. So she kept going even as she felt worse with each hit she missed.

“Hey! Emily! What’s your big problem, huh?”

Emily looked up to see Alice approaching, looking pissed with hands curled into fists at her sides.

“What are you talking about?” Emily asked while backing away from the sink.

“Luke! He dumped me! What did you tell him? I’m sure it was you, you squealed to him, you must have.”

Alice was close now and Emily kept backing up as the other girl kept approaching. Alice reached out a hand and shoved Emily directly in the center of her chest.

“What did you say? You’re always next to him, trying to worm your way in. Sitting next to us during lunch no matter how much I tell you to shove off. I see right through you and your nice girl little show.”

“W-Well… Alice, I, uhm…”

Is there any way we can help her?

I… This Alice is reminding me of Lars

This Luke isn’t a possession that Alice should be claiming.

Yes.

Here, let me try something.

EMILY! SNAP OUT OF IT!

Emily blinked as she heard a faint whisper around her along with the wind.

“Emily…. Snap out… It.”

She shook her head. God, the voice was right. Even if it was a hallucination. She felt a sudden well of anger rise up in her as she snapped out of her panic.

“NO!” Emily suddenly shouted, halting Alice’s angry advance, “Luke doesn’t need any help dumping you, Alice. I didn’t say anything. But I’m glad, you’ve been nothing but toxic ever since we’ve met. He can do better than you, B- B- Bitch.”

Alice looked shocked for a moment before her face twisted into rage again.

“And you are? You’re nothing but a loser with no real friends. You’re some kind of genius apparently but you st-st-stutter when you speak. Tripping over your feet, no fashion… It’s not like you CODA kids even get graded on anything so it doesn’t even matter how good you are there. How the hell does Luke like you more than me?! What do you have that I don’t?”

Emily’s back hit the cold metal of the locker, and Alice was between her and the door.

Emily opened her mouth to fight back, but Alice’s words had struck home. Her eyes began to well up despite her best efforts.

“You’re… N- N- No I’m not. Maybe he likes me more because I’m not bullying people behind his back!”

Alice was close now, only standing a few feet away as Emily held up her arms defensively.

Alice hesitated at the accusation for a moment before taking another step forward.

“M-M-Maybe he knows and doesn’t care? Ever think about that?” Alice mocked.

Emily blinked and suddenly came back to herself. Luke would never do that to her. He just didn’t know. Emily knew him well enough to not doubt him that much.

Emily reached out and shoved Alice hard, sending her stumbling to the side, and Emily went to run past her.

“Hey! I’m not done talking to you!” Alice said as she braced herself against the locker. The other girl leapt forward and grabbed Emily’s upper arm hard, stopping her from running away. Emily felt the tight grip forming a bruise on her soft upper arm flab, not at all properly developed despite her playing tennis.

“Let me go!”

Alice tugged hard to pull Emily back with her tight grip.

“Let go, you’re hurting me!”

Alice only tightened her grip more as Emily struggled to pull away. Even shoving Alice in the chest with her free hand barely did anything as Alice barely took a step back while maintaining her grip.

“Emily, you listen to me…” Alice began, but Emily was distracted by the sudden wind and whispers around her.

“...kick… balls… her,” The male voice said.

“Stupid… None… Hit Nose,” The female countered.

In a panic, Emily followed the female ghost’s advice and hit Alice’s nose with her free hand with a closed fist. She felt a searing pain in her hand and she realized that she had curled her fingers around with her thumb in the center. Now her thumb was radiating heat and throbbed in pain even as Alice’s grip only tightened in surprise even as her head snapped to the side.

“Oh, it’s on now,” Alice said, barely even looking hurt from Emily’s weak punch even while Emily’s thumb felt like it was on fire. Alice tugged hard and Emily was unable to resist as Alice twisted her torso and shoved Emily hard against the nearby metal locker.

I’m telling you, a crotch shot might have worked even if she’s a girl.

Asuta taught me and Roger that during our ''Sensei training'

At least Emily was less likely to hurt herself,

using her knee when she went to hit Alice

Rather than hurting her thumb so badly.

Now’s not the time, we’ve got to find a way to help her.

I can’t believe she punched with her thumb on the inside.

That’s literally the first thing you learn when you throw a punch.

I can’t believe that I didn’t even know that much by seventeen.

Things aren’t looking good.

That Alice girl is looking crazier by the second.

Now she’s doing that thing again where she’s whispering real close

And shoving her into the metal of the locker.

And past you is getting all flustered and not even listening to her.

I mean, even now? Really?

Hey, I was… Really confused, okay?

I had no idea what was happening to me.

My body just went into overdrive having a girl so close.

Wait, that gives me an idea. Hopefully little Emily can forgive me if this doesn’t work…

Emily felt Alice’s hands gripping onto her shoulders with the cold lockers behind her. God, it was happening again! She couldn’t even listen to Alice after all of that, too focused on how close they were.

The wind picked up and it was the female this time, clearer than it had been before.

“...Kiss her… Then run… Distract.”

Emily paused and licked her lips nervously. Oh no. It might actually work, she’d seen that one in a movie. It was so tempting, Alice’s lips were ruby red…

Emily leaped forward and mashed her lips against Alice’s, cutting her off in the middle of her sentence.

Alice’s hands spasmed and she stumbled back with her eyes widened as she tried to push Emily away from her.

Emily let her, and quickly twisted her body out of Alice’s weak grip and ran to pick up her bag. She stumbled slightly as she hefted it, but quickly ran to the locker room door and threw it open before leaving. She glanced back just as the doorway was about to close. Alice was sitting cross legged on the floor, watching Emily leave with a shocked look on her face.

Emily slammed the door shut. It was just a tactic to escape, that was all. Super effective, apparently. She quickly ran outside to some strange glances by the other kids milling around the building for other after school clubs.

She went to the curb near the school and waited nervously at the stop for the late bus. She stood there cradling her hurt thumb as the other students began to steadily gather at the stop. The bus should come in ten minutes or so…

A few minutes later, Alice came out and glared at Emily, but on seeing the loose crowd around the bus stop, turned and stalked away. Emily let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey, Emily?” One of the girls said. Emily looked at her and relaxed when she saw that it was one of the girls she was friendly with.

“You’ve got, um. Some lipstick, you know.” The girl touched her lips and Emily did the same and her finger came back with a ruby red spot on it.

“Oh,” She said dumbly, “Ah, thanks Claire.”

She quickly scrubbed her face on her sleeve to rub it all off as Claire eyed her.

“Hm,” Claire said before turning away, “No problem.”

The bus arrived, Emily’s thumb growing worse the whole while. It was in searing pain by the time she got home, and after making up some weak excuse her mom took her to the CODA clinic. Hairline fracture of her thumb. She would have to wear a splint like a sort of stiff glove for a month, but the doctor told her that as long as she rested and didn’t damage it any more then it should be mostly healed after that.

She wouldn’t be able to play tennis anymore. Coach offered for Emily to sit on the bench and just watch, but she was fed up. She quit. It felt like a massive weight off of her shoulders, she had no idea how much she actually hated going until she didn’t have to anymore. All it cost was a single broken thumb.

Luckily, Alice seemed to be avoiding her even if a glare was occasionally sent her way when they crossed paths. Luke was oblivious, but Emily was finally able to relax for the first time in a long time as their easy friendship settled easily back into place without Alice there to keep sticking her fingers in the gears.

Emily didn’t hear the ghosts again in the following days. Maybe people were right about the Shadow, the two ghosts had felt so real in the moment as her stress had reached its peak. Now that she was more relaxed, they had disappeared again.