Mei Beaumont (Apartment #0307W)

The day, once again, started with sirens. Piercing Mei’s ears like daggers. She quickly rolled out of bed, quickly getting dressed in order to start the day, her neon green jacket and spectrometer hanging over the side over her couch as she ran out the door to her apartment. Mei sprinted down the hallways and up the stairs of the Maitland, the gossip blurring into white noise as the wind blew past her ears. “Edgar Maitland has died,” the halls seemed to echo. However, Mei only ran more, increasing speed with each step. Reaching the roof, she slammed through the door, finally slowing down as she stepped outside into the winds that whipped around her. Clusters of pollen flew around her feet, swirling around her. Stepping up to the fence, she looked off into the distance, pushing up her glasses, slipping down her nose from the sweat. Mei thought back to what Nainai  had told her when her mother had told them to stop talking nonsense. “When you know- that’s enough, isn’t it?” A few we...

Mei slinked around the outskirts of the graveyard, as per usual. As much as it is possible for someone to slink when carrying a beeping contraption of taped together devices. As much as she used to find these hunts to be interesting, everything had lost its luster after her encounter with Marie. As iron rusts when it finally goes outside and is used as intended, as a tool, Mei was slowly wilting in her own way as well. Flaking on her normal "scouting missions". No longer carrying around her bulky raincoat wherever she went. It was kind of freeing, in a sense, but at the same time, she missed having pockets. However, the girl was interrupted as the part of her spiritual energy conductor that used to be a metal detector began to go crazy. She darted down the hill, nearly tripping over herself as she did a mixture of a shuffle and a run down the steep incline, before coming to what the signal was coming from- a blue van. Periwinkle, even. It was faded with time, almost a portal ...

Mei woke up with a scream. She had the dreams, again. The foggy days recently were too close to the mountains where she grew up for comfort. Her mother was on her mind more than anything. She adjusted her glasses, sitting up and ruffling her own hair, tugging at it lightly to pull her out of her drowsiness. She rolled out of bed, trudging over to the makeshift table she had made in this abandoned apartment. She saw heard whispers through the thin walls of her apartment, that made her perk up more than any tea ever would. "There was a murder, and Ether was the victim!" Living next to the sensationalist reporter in the Maitland had its perks. This was definitely one of them. And Mei had nothing to lose. Mom and Nainai  were far away now, and she just had to prove ghosts were real. That she was there. And then, the world would remember Mei Beaumont. Even though her mother hated her for taking her father's name. Even though her mother said ghosts weren't real. Even thou...

Mei often looked to the sky recently. She frequented the roof, watching the clouds go by. She couldn't help but think of the past whenever she did it. Her meeting a ghost. Someone seeing it. And her having no proof. Mei should've been ecstatic, but she always felt she was stuck in a loop. As Marie wrote, time ran out. Her mother was gone, her grandmother was gone, she had no idea where Marie was, and that was just the start. Mei walked over to the railing of the Maitland's roof, watching others walk under her, looking like grains of sand. Mei quickly whipped around, and began to run. She had so much to do. So much to prove. This was only the beginning. As she jumped into the expansive pool with a splash, one thought was on her mind. She wished that, no, she would, make herself be someone remembered. She sunk, feeling the water wrap around her, becoming a cocoon around her as her bright green jacket flared out behind her in the water. Her glasses got pushed up by the force ...

Mei wrote quickly on the paper. She had been scrambling around for hours. After her time at the graveyard, she had done her normal routine. She had an apology to a spirit that had to be made. As her incense burned, releasing wisps of smoke in her room, Mei’s spectrometer reached a peak. Cold rushed in as the lights blew out, the smoke trailing and swirling. Someone came. Mei’s eyes began to water, half from the pungent smell of the incense, and half from happiness. She was getting close to proof if this was right. Mei’s mind was like an old tape recorder- playing forward, running everything back, and repeating it again. Mei had gotten a taste, and needed more. She quickly scribbled a note on a crumpled napkin, slightly torn from how quickly her pen flew across the paper. The west roof at 6. The open water providing the opportunity. Spirits could move freely over water, at least, that’s what Nainai said. The next hours went slowly. She ran up the steps early, feeling her clunky ...