Understanding - Chapter 2

Mystery narrowed his eyes as he growled at the ghost. The dog lowered his head and rose the lower portion of his body upwards, looking as if he were a tiger about to attack its prey. Lewis just merely stared at the dog, completely unaffected.

Mystery wasn't used to feeling the urge to attack Lewis. After all, he was one of his previous owners. He still would be if it weren't for the incident, even. But, for some reason, the deathly atmosphere Lewis gave off gave the dog a feeling that would arise within his stomach. A rather warm feeling that would spread to his chest and to the rest of his body.

A feeling he did not like.

"Oh, calm down, Mystery. I'm not trying to hurt YOU."

The dog tilted its head in confusion, eyes fixated on the figure before him. He didn't give out any vibrations in order to make any words. How...?

"It's called telepathy." The ghost replied, as if he read his mind. "Just an advantage you have when you're, you know, dead."

Mystery shook the confusion off as he narrowed his eyes, continuing to let out a low growl. Lewis just rolled his pink eyes.

"Growl all you would like, but that's not what I'm here for. There are more important matters to attend to than worrying about a dog."

Mystery bared his teeth as he tried to gather his thoughts. It was rather difficult for a dog to do, but he took a few seconds until he managed to think: "To kill Arthur!?"

Lewis gave the dog a look. "That'll come later. Right now, Arthur has a possession of mine that I'd like to have back."

Mystery blinked in confusion. Possession?

Before the dog could question it any further, Lewis suddenly walked through a nearby wall that led into Arthur's garage. The dog only had a few seconds to process what had happened before he ran into the direction that the garage was in, only to end up banging his head on a door that blocked him from entering it.

Mystery looked up at the door and felt a bit helpless. Oh, why couldn't he have thumbs!?

The dog ended up jumping on the door, which led him nowhere for a few minutes. He then stared to scratch it, which only resulted in having the sound echo through the house. The more the dog scratched, the more he felt the warm feeling spread through his body. It wasn't long before the dog felt himself start to bark, which was something he rarely ever did on normal occasions.

Immediately, the lights had flickered on as Arthur came running into the room. His hair was a complete mess, and there was a line of drool on the corner of his mouth. He looked around frantically before giving Mystery a worried look.

"What happened, boy? A robber? Murderer?"

Mystery shook his head before motioning to the door in front of him. Arthur gave it a hesitant look.

"N-No is behind it, right?"

Mystery only whined, placing a paw on the door. Arthur took a few steps before carefully opening it, flickering on the light inside the garage. What entered their sight was an empty room that held the van; nothing removed from its place.

Arthur gave Mystery a look.

The dog's eyes widened as he ran into the garage, sniffing every area he could. Arthur only shook his head.

"Mystery, you'd best get to sleep. And stop barking! My job starts in about 4 hours."

With that, Arthur then left the room and turned off all the lights while doing so. Mystery was still frantically sniffing around the room, trying to find Lewis. Where could he have gone!?

He then stumbled upon a box set in the corner. A few items that were once stored in it were now lying around, and it looked as if someone had rummaged through them. The dog sniffed around it before catching the deathly scent Lewis had. A growl escaped from his lips.

So Lewis did go through their stuff. But what did he take?

The dog looked back at the items, which mainly consisted of photos that were taken long ago. All of them had the whole group smiling at the photographer, and various backgrounds were in each frame. Mystery felt himself smile a bit at the memories.

The dog then turned back to the box and stared at what was inside. He caught site of something purple, and had to push past some things with his paw before he realized what it was.

Lewis' shirt.

The dog dug deeper, only to find more of Lewis' outfit stuffed at the bottom. What was on top of it was some of his personal belongings, including some certain photos of him and Vivi that they had taken awhile back. There were also some things that Mystery hadn't seen before that he assumed was Lewis'.

The dog tilted his head in confusion. Why did Arthur have all of his stuff?

--

Vivi stared into the mirror placed in front of her as she slid her headband back against her head. She felt herself watch as it stuck into place, and she brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. It didn't last long, though, as they continued to fall on her forehead, barely managing to lean to the right so they weren't blocking her eyes. She felt herself slump in her chair in defeat. All morning she had been trying to style her blue hair a different way, but it didn't seem to comply to what she had in mind.

A sudden honking noise made her jump, and she whipped around towards her window. From afar, she could see Arthur's van parked in front of her house. He was currently in the driver's seat, waving to her. She felt a grin come on her face as she waved back, motioning for him to wait for a second.

She then ran back to her bed and grabbed her notebook filled with notes. She grabbed her pencil and a stack of papers that she had stapled that morning. She then ran out of her room, bid her parents goodbye, and quickly jogged over to the van. Once she was there, she then opened the door and slid into the passenger's seat, closing it beside her.

Once she managed to get situated, Arthur had then started to drive back onto the road. Vivi organized all the things she had before setting them aside, glancing at her friend and his dog.

She commented, "You were a lot earlier than I suspected, Arthur. Did you get off early?"

He sighed. "Yeah, but that was because the boss gave me a complicated shift. I was working all day, and I kind of put some stress on my arm because of it."

"Really?" Vivi asked before suddenly grabbing his left arm. Arthur nearly swerved off the road at this, but had managed to hold the van steady. He then turned to his friend, giving her a look as if she were mad.

"Oh, Arthur," She frowned as she looked at him, completely forgetting that they nearly crashed. "You really shouldn't put a lot of stress on it like that. Most of the bolts are loose."

With that, she then grabbed one of her tools that she kept in her pocket and had started to work on his arm, completely forgetting about Arthur driving with one hand. But, as soon as she managed to repair it, she then had let go, letting him return to driving safely.

"Thanks," He said as he glanced at her, eyes quickly darting back to the road. Vivi shrugged.

"It's no problem. But you really need to confront your boss about this. Your disability should be kept in mind when putting you to work. From the rate you're at, it'll fall off in no time. And it's kind of expensive to replace parts, you know."

"I know, I know," Arthur groaned. "But what can I do? I barely managed to get this job, and it's the only thing I'm depending on right now. Well, besides this. But, in all honesty, I don't think I'll be able to rely on our solving for very long because we hadn't really broken any extreme cases ever since..."

Arthur's eyes widened, and he had immediately shut his jaw. Vivi gave him a look.

"Ever since...what?"

"Ever since..."

He quickly glanced at Mystery, who gave him a look in return. Arthur then turned back to Vivi, who was clearly confused by then.

"Ever since...I lost my arm!" He suddenly exclaimed, a sheepish smile crawling onto his face. "Yeah, I think we lost a lot of the work ever since that accident."

"Work?" Vivi asked, scrunching up her nose. "I don't think we did a lot of work before involving your arm. At least physically. I mean, we've came to situations were we had to move heavy things, but I don't think you were in charge of that. But that's weird because I wasn't, either..."

Both Arthur and Mystery exchanged worried looks. Arthur quickly turned back to the road, clearing his throat as casually as he could.

"Yeah, well, strength is something that will help solve the extreme cases. I mean, what if there's a group of people that went missing and ended up in a cell that was blocked out by an enormous rock covering it? Surely you'd need someone big and tough to remove it and save their lives, wouldn't you?"

"I suppose you would," Vivi nodded. Her eyes then traveled to the ground. "But...you said we solved extreme cases before you broke your arm. And, as far as I know, you weren't in charge of doing it by then. What I'm a little stuck on is who was, though."

"Guess we just pulled through it," Arthur shrugged. "I mean, we've always gotten out of tight situations before. And most of them was through your thinking, Vivi. After all, smarts beat strength, right?"

"Right..." Vivi nodded, sounding a bit unsure. She quickly shrugged this off afterwards as she said, "You know, Arthur, I'm sorry about yesterday. I guess I was just a little mad because I was refusing to be clueless about something. And I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that."

"I-It's alright," Arthur nodded. "I'm sorry, too. I've just been a little...fazed ever since that mansion. I mean, we nearly got killed. That's kind of hard to walk away from, you know?"

Vivi giggled. "Yeah, I know."

They drove in silence for several minutes. It was until they reached a red light was for when Arthur spoke.

"So, Vivi....You wanted to go to the mall. And I'm not judging you here or anything, but why the mall? It's never been a place you aksed to go before."

"Oh! I nearly forgot we were going there!" She gave him a nervous smile. "I just need a few books that's available in one of the stores."

"Books? Couldn't you have gone to the library?"

"I could, but I want to keep these specific ones," She shrugged.

"Really?" Arthur's eyes widened. "What are they about?"

"They're about....Well..."

Vivi broke eye contact with her friend as she stared out at the window, as if gathering her words. She said, "They're somewhat about the ghost we ran into at that mansion. They're focused on the past of haunted mansions and of the sightings of ghosts within them. At least one of them is. The other is just an informational book focused on ghosts. Nothing big."

Arthur groaned. "Vivi, I told you stop worrying about that ghost. Why are you still researching on him?"

"Because!" Vivi exclaimed. "I just feel like...I need to, is all."

"What would make you feel THAT?" He scoffed, leaning a bit on the wheel.

"I don't know. But, for some reason, something's driving me to do all the research I can on him. It kind of feels like I'm familiar with him and that I'm seeming to forget something..."

"Trust me, you aren't." Arthur said as he gritted his teeth, obviously annoyed. Vivi placed her hands on her hip, narrowing her eyes at him.

"And what makes you so sure!? You, OBVIOUSLY, know something about him that I don't! Why don't you just spill it already!?"

"Vivi," Arthur gave her a look. "I don't want to argue with you, alright? I just want all this anger between us to stop. And the only way for that to happen is if you stop researching about that ghost we stumbled upon at that mansion. Okay?"

"I'm not stopping my research, Arthur," Vivi said as she crossed her arms, looking out the window. "Not until I find out what's so special about him."

Arthur sighed, looking as if he wanted to bang his head on the steering wheel over and over again. Mystery gave his master a concerned look, clearly worried for him. But Arthur didn't glance in his direction as he pulled into the parking lot, stopping in an available spot.

--

"Did you get everything?" Arthur asked as he watched Vivi approach the table he was at. She nodded before putting her plastic bag on the table, sitting on the chair across from him. She grabbed her phone out from her handbag and had started to go through it, not even glancing in his direction. He watched her for a few moments before sighing.

"Look, Vivi-"

"-You're sorry, I know," She interrupted as she glanced up at him. "I am, too, Arthur."

"And that's just it," He threw his arms in the air. "We apologize to each other one moment, but, in the next, we're fighting again! I really want it to stop..."

"Well, I do, too, but you always insist on yelling at me whenever I just want to research on that ghost," She commented, setting her phone down on the table. "Just what is your problem with him, Arthur!?"

"_{It's more like the problem he has with ME...}" He muttered.

"What was that?"

"I just don't think you should research on him."

"And why not!?" Vivi exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips. Arthur opened his mouth to say something, but ended up closing it as his eyes traveled to the ground.

"I-I can't say..."

Vivi shook her head before grabbing her phone off from the table and going through it. Arthur bit his lip as he watched her. Clearly, things between them wouldn't clear up until he told her about Lewis.

But how could he do that!? If he did tell her, then she'll get angry at him for killing her boyfriend! But, on the other hand, things would clear up and she'd finally be able to remember everything...And then she could happy because she wouldn't be frustrated on trying to remember. But, then again, Lewis might just kill him and she might be heartbroken to remember that he IS dead...

Arthur stared at the table. What could he do? Remain silent and watch Vivi try to figure out for herself all the while getting into multiple heating arguments with her, or telling Vivi and risking his life and friendship with her for killing Lewis?

The best solution would to not tell her, but if she figured it out on her own, she'd hate him even more for not being honest with her. And THAT would screw things up more.

Arthur felt like banging his head on the table repeatedly. Why couldn't Vivi just focus on other things instead of this!?

An idea suddenly came into mind. He turned to his friend as he asked, "Vivi?"

"Yeah...?" She asked, a little confused by his sudden mood change.

"You want to, like, go investigating tomorrow? I heard that some old dude nearby the lake on the other end of town claimed to see ghosts. Would you like to take the case?"

"Uh, I don't know," She shrugged as she looked at the table with uncertainty. "I do have a lot of work to do..."

Arthur's smile immediately faded into a frown as he looked at the table. "Oh..."

She stared at him for a few moments before shaking her head. "You know what? Never mind. I'll go."

"Really?" Arthur asked, eyes widened. "But I thought-"

"I can do it on the ride there. But let's just go."

"Alright," He said, flashing her a smile. "I think that it'll lighten things up a bit. I also heard the lake looks really spooky at night, so you SHOULD enjoy it there."

"Really?" Vivi asked, immediately intrigued. "If you told me that, then I wouldn't have declined at first!"

Her smile then faded into a frown as she said, "But...doesn't it bother you that we're going to a spooky lake? I mean, you don't really enjoy going to those kinds of places..."

"For you, Vivi, I think I can handle it," Arthur shrugged. "Besides, I think the lake can't even compare to what we had experienced at the mansion. It should be a lot more peaceful there."

Vivi scoffed. "Yeah, unless there's a ghost like the one we had to face. Or if he decides to follow you on the way there."

Arthur felt himself gulp. "F-Follow me? Why would he do that?"

"I don't know, he just seemed more onto chasing you than me and Mystery," Vivi shrugged. "But I'm just kidding. I doubt that the ghost would find all the trouble to come and follow us personally."

Arthur gave her a fake laugh. "Haha! Right! You got me a bit nervous there for a second..."

Vivi giggled and just shook her head before turning back to her phone, a smile placed on her face. Arthur felt himself grin at seeing his friend smile again.

Boy, did he miss it.