Guest Post: Haunting

Pitch was recently involved in some RP centered around a few of the Wildfire Riders. Short story- he, along with several others, helped to get a stolen baby back to her parents, and may have ticked off a Very Bad Person in the process. Bad Person now wants revenge, and she seems to have some control over some very nasty spirits. For more info look here.

And now, introducing Pitch's ghost, compliments of Yva!

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Smoke and ash. It's all you can smell today, which is unusual. Normally the scents of the dwarven district don't find their way towards this part of Old Town - unless there's a strong southern wind, of course, but today there is no wind. It's a beautiful, balmy spring day with nary a cloud in the sky.

Your paws are padding over the cobblestones near the armory as you round the bend towards the Pig. The smell grows stronger almost immediately. You stop and look around, more curious than anything at what could cause this anomaly, and you spot the girl in the alley. She's nothing remarkable - short and scrawny, with dark blond hair that falls around her ears. She wears patch laden overalls and a faded checkered shirt. Her feet are dirty and bare, and there are smudges of black on her forearms and cheeks.

You blink at her, she blinks back, and then she backs away. She doesn't turn around and walk away, she backs away until she's no longer standing in the mouth of the alley but is, instead, shrouded by the deeper shadows.

The smell of smoke goes away. Immediately.

It's strange, to say the least.

Thinking it just a bizarre circumstance not really worthy of much other than a shrug, you go into the Pig, stay for a time with friends and family until the sun is drooping past the horizon and heralding a lovely night. It grows later, and later still. Stifling a yawn, you stretch, make your goodbyes to your people, and head back outside. Once again, stepping upon the street, you're assailed by the smell of smoke and ash. You look up, and the blond girl with her checkered shirt is standing on the steps of the shop across the street. The store's closed now, it's evening, but she's positioned herself in front of the locked door nonetheless.

"Hello?"

She smiles at you, revealing a mouth of . . . bad things. There are gaps where half of her teeth should be and simply aren't, and the teeth that are there are rotting little stumps or jagged spikes. You crinkle your nose, trying to think of something to say, and she begins to recede again, backing towards the shop heel to toe, heel to toe. You want to warn her that the door is closed, to not bump her head, but a closed door doesn't hinder her retreat. She passes through it like it's not there.

You stare, and keep staring, unable to suppress the shudder passing along your spine.

Decision time: to go back into the Pig or to get away. As the girl's presence is here, you've sensed it nowhere else, you flee Old Town and find yourself in the Park, in a nice well lit patch where there's a lovely tree to climb and find sanctuary in. You scale the branches and nestle yourself down into a ball of cat, willing sleep to come so you don't have to think about what you just saw. Your eyes slam shut, paw going over your face.

The sleep does not come easy.

*****

The next day dawns early for you, especially considering the birds bellowing their choruses all around. You yawn, unhinging your feline jaw, your paws going out in front of you in a stretch, your spine arching as your tail goes up.

You smell smoke and ash.

Dread coils in your gut as you dare to open your eyes. You peer around and down, and you see her almost immediately. She's hard to miss. She's standing at the foot of the tree, staring up at you and grinning her jack-o-lantern grin, her hands wedged into her pockets.

You stare back.

As you watch, she begins to move away, and you realize this time she's not bothering to pretend to walk away. She's floating away, and fast, grinning all the while. In broad daylight. As she leaves, the smell leaves, and you're left with your fear in a tree in the Stormwind park.

You know in the recesses of your brain - the parts that are still functioning despite the confusion and panic - that you will see her again.