-----After the Group’s Departure from the Main Gate-----

The Appleberry’s continued to wave at their grandchildren until the group vanished from their view. Once gone, their arms lowered themselves down. “And there they go,” Clair announced to no one in particular as her wife whispered a prayer. The old couple stood there, watching nothing for a moment longer until they turned to each other at the same time. They smiled at each other. They were both ready to go. As they walked towards the school building, Clair and Michaela’s hand automatically searched for each other and stayed glued together for the whole walk. 

Clair’s hand instantly missed Michaela’s warmth once the two had to let go of one another to greet Dr. Perth at her office. They shook hands with their grandson’s doctor. “It’s good to see you again Dr. Appleberry, Mrs. Appleberry.”
“Thank you. It’s good to see you too, Athene.”
Dr. Perth glanced to the man standing next to her. “This is my colleague, Dr. Haziq Ramirez. He’s part of the science team researching the nature of spirits---…” Before Dr. Perth finished introducing the young scientist, Dr. Ramirez practically jumped his way over to Clair and shook her hands feverishly, eyes twinkling in admiration. Dr. Perth sighed, “he’s one of your fans.”

“It. Is. An. Honor. To meet you Dr. Edrik. I-I love your work. Your theory on Eternal Etro and spirits is phenomenal. I especially thought the concept of Yggdrasil is---…”
“Haziq. Calm down. Dr. APPLEBERRY is not here to listen to your ramblings.”

“Oh. Um. I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.” The young scientist laughed awkwardly before finally greeting Michaela. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He turned to Samuela, and in the most high pitched baby talk tone he could muster, greeted the infant, “hi there little princess. Hi! I’m Haziq! Ha-Zi-Q.” Samuela returned the greeting with a blank stare, either dumbfounded or unimpressed with his mastery of baby talk. Regardless, it was not nearly as exaggerated or as high pitched as Olivia’s baby talk was. “Aww… aren’t you just adorable! What’s your name sweetie pie?” 

While her associate continued to fondle over the child, Dr. Perth sat down with Clair and passed her a tablet computer. “Here’s the medical records on Kimberly.” Clair took the tablet without hesitation, and after putting on her reading glasses, proceeded to read through the records full of medical mumbo jumbo as if she was casually reading the morning newspaper. Out of habit, Dr. Perth was ready to explain the medical results in layman’s terms, but quickly remembered that the man---… woman in front of her studied in the science field even before she was born. Clair worked as a botanist now, but Dr. Perth knew she could have mastered any field of science or medicine. She simply notified Clair that information considering Kimberly’s spirits was at the end of the document and left the old woman to her reading. While she waited for Clair to finish, Dr. Perth’s attention moved back to her colleague. “Haziq, stop harassing the poor girl.”
“I am not harassing her. I’m entertaining her.”
“I doubt it’s working if she’s giving you the thousand-yard stare.”
“No she’s not. See look! She’s smiling at me.”
Dr. Perth leaned in to get a better look at the girl. Then noticed something. “She’s not looking look you.” 
“I think she’s a little too young to be having flashbacks of the good old days, Athene.”
“Observe, you sorry excuse for a scientist.”
“What are you talking about? I have astute observational powers,” Dr. Ramirez began then suddenly stopped.
“What? Did you finally realize you don’t have such powers?” Silence. “Haziq?” Dr. Perth looked up at Dr. Ramirez and then followed his line of vision. There, they saw Michaela and Samuela looking at the same direction, moving their eyes, and occasionally their heads, in unison when the invisible something moved. Taking some time to get to the conclusion, Dr. Ramirez finally asked, “you two can see spirits, can’t you?”

Michaela looked away from the invisible object and faced the scientists, but only smiled wearily, not affirming or denying the claim disguised as a question. But that was enough for Dr. Ramirez. The scientist suddenly gasped and screamed, “you’re Lady X!”
It took a moment for Dr. Perth to process what Dr. Ramirez said, “wait, what?”
“Lady X, you know, the test subject from---…”
“Haziq!”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. Participant. The participant in one of Dr. Edrik’s earlier case studies! Wow, I was wondering what happened to Lady X! Who knew she actually married him!” His eyes sparkled again, “wait, wait! That means almost every generation of this family has at least one person with some degree of heightened spiritual senses!”
“Haziq.”
“No, really. I mean, there’s Mrs. Appleberry, First Lieutenant Faye, and then there’s Samuela. That. Is. Amazing! I wonder if it’s hereditary. Is that even possible? Then again, I guess anything could be possible. We know too little about the spirits. Mrs. Appleberry, was your daughter---…” Dr. Ramirez slowly fell silent when he pronounced the word daughter. Quickly regretting that he even started the conversation. “Ah shi---… fuc---… damn it! Excuse my language.”

Clair calling for Dr. Perth’s attention made both of the doctors jump from where they sat or stood. Dr. Ramirez looked like he was preparing himself to get punched, but no such thing happened. Clair pointed at the tablet, “you mentioned that you think this ‘Ghost’ is either a product of psychological distress, a spirit associated condition, or a combination of both. Can you tell me why?” 

While Dr. Perth moved closer to Clair to explain her hypothesis, Dr. Ramirez turned back to Michaela. Watching the young scientist facing down with puppy dog eyes, reminded Michaela of the time when her grandson and his friends accidently destroyed an entire cabinet full of china in her coffee shop. How they coiled in fear, huddling close to one another, faces down, waiting for the punishment they were sure they would receive. Michaela chuckled to herself, before placing her free hand on top of the young man’s hand. He looked up, surprised at first, but then he relaxed. “I apologize for my insensitivity.”
“I accept your apology, but… sweetheart? Just to make this clear, it’s not a taboo to talk about my daughter. She may be dead, but mentioning her is not contagious.” The man nodded. “As for my time during the… studies… Well, we don’t talk about it, because it just reminds me how much of a pompous jackass Clair used to be and apparently it reminds her how much of a dull-witted shrew I was when I was younger.” Dr. Ramirez wasn’t quite sure if the old woman was telling a joke or not. “It was a match made in heaven,” Michaela grinned. “Speaking of matches. Have you heard about the time I beat him in a boxing match?” Now, he knew she was just pulling his leg.

---

“Why did you tell Dr. Ramirez about the boxing match?” 
“Why not?”
“I personally like to pretend that never happened.”

The two laughed and continued to joke around as they walked their way to the Academy’s main entrance. When they got close to their destination, the Appleberry’s noticed a familiar face walking towards them from the other end of the corridor. The red headed man, who was much too young to be wearing a Major general’s uniform, also noticed the couple, but made a deliberate attempt to ignore them. Clair and Michaela exchanged looks and nodded to one another. Their eyes narrowed on to their target. 

The Major general knew he should have turned away and find another route, but he knew they would have chased him down regardless and he didn’t have time to waste. The redhead straightened his back up and continued to walk down the hallway. First, the soldier simply tried to walk to one side of the hallway. As expected, the old couple moved towards that direction, blocking him from passing through. Next, he tried moving to the other side and, once again, the couple blocked his path. From the third trial on, the Major general attempted more elaborate methods to dodge the encounter with the old ladies, ranging from various basketball moves to throwing his wallet and wrist watch at the feeble elders. It was a cheap shot and he wasn’t proud of it, but it was better than ramming them down. Not even he was willing to stoop that low just yet. It didn’t matter either way, though. The Appleberry’s deflected each attempt. In the end, they had him right where they wanted him to be: in front of them.

The two opposing forces stood in the middle of the corridor. Silently, the Appleberry’s returned the soldier’s belongings. “I believe you dropped this, sir.” The redhead sighed in defeat and accepted his personal items. “What do you want?”
“Oh nothing,” Clair smiled innocently. “I just dropped my bag here.” Slowly, Clair raised her handbag then dropped it to the ground. The two forces stood there in silence, before the Major general broke the silence with a sigh and was ready to pick up the bag before Clair stopped him. “Oh, no good sir. Please. I can do it myself. No need to trouble yourself.” The redhead groaned in frustration, “damn it, I don’t have time to---…”
“Oh! Ooooooh!” Clair cried as she turned her handbag inside out, letting its entire contents to drop onto the floor. “Oh noooo! How clumsy of me! Oh, oh!” Clair shook the bag for extra measure. “Look at this! Such a mess! The tragedy! Love! Help me! I can’t do this on my own!”
“Oh, you silly, silly person. You are so clumsy. Let me help you.” With that, Michaela practically shoved Samuela into the soldier’s arms. The redhead’s face paled. He held the baby as if she was something between a ticking bomb and a priceless fragile porcelain doll. Michaela started to help Clair pick up her belongs, “be sure not to drop her.”
The soldier glared at her, “then don’t give her to me!”
“Hmm? Oh, sorry dear, I’m having trouble hearing you.”
“You’re lying and you know it.”
The two old women laughed.
“I hate you both.”
Samuela giggled.
The Major general shifted the baby into one arm to point at her with his free hand, “and you are just as bad as them.” Mistaking the pointed finger as an offering, Samuela tried to bite it. The soldier quickly pulled his finger away from her mouth, “no. Don’t do that. You don’t know where my hands have been.” The Appleberry’s snickered. “Shut up you wicked witches. I’m trying to be mad here. What did I say about meeting me in public!?”
“Sorry, good sir, what did you say?”

The Major general sighed deeply and simply gave up. The Appleberry’s took their time picking up the scattered contents of the bag. A time, which the soldier spent scrutinizing the baby in his arm. The redhead’s rough gaze eventually softened up. He caressed Samuela’s checks and smiled back when she smiled at him. His eyes glistened when he recognized whose eyes Samuela had. It was the eyes of someone who’d never come back. Someone who would never smile like this ever again. 

The Applberry’s wished they could have let the soldier stay longer with the baby, but world around them did not care. From the main entrance, another familiar figure appeared, wondering what was taking the redhead so long. The old man in an expensive dark colored suit walked towards the small group, then halted when he saw Clair. In a span of a few seconds, the old man’s expression changed from surprised recognition, to disgust, to hate, and to indifference. “Nathaniel. What are you doing here? Did you get what I asked for?”

Although his back was facing the old man, the redhead, Nathaniel, recognized his father’s voice and turned stiff. He did not dare turn to face him, however. Not with the baby in his arms. Nathaniel held Samuela close to his chest.

“Are these… people bothering you?”
“No, sir.”
“Then stop wasting your time on them,” he gave Clair a particularly dirty look, “they’re not worth it.”

“Mr. Edrik?” The man turned to another person who came running from the school’s entrance, “we’re about to begin.” Mr. Edrik nodded to the person and faced his son once again only to say, “hurry up,” and then he left.

Nathaniel stood still until was absolutely sure his father left. Once the front doors closed, the soldier returned Samuela to her grandparents and walked right passed them without a word. Without ever looking directly at any of their faces.

Once outside, the Appleberry’s finally figured out what all the commotion was about. Surrounded by camera lenses, flashes, and reporters, was Mr. Edrik. As the Appleberry’s slithered their way past the crowd, they could hear one of the reports talking about how the Edrik family, one of the most wealthiest and influential families, had made another significant donation to Oakridge Military Academy. The reporter claimed that William Victor Edrik stated that he had made the donation because he believed in supporting the young troops, but Clair knew that was a lie. William, and the Edrik family in general, never donated to charity: they made investments. The Edrik’s did this only to gain more power. They did this, to make sure Nathaniel would never have to fight in the frontline. It was difficult to deny the possibility that his family’s money bought him his rank at that age. Despite the fact that he was talented enough to have eventually earn that title on his own. But they didn’t care. They never did care: to the Edrik’s, they were the most important people on the entire planet. To loose an Edrik was a tragedy. That’s what they taught their children since birth. That’s what Clair used to believe a long time ago.

“Let’s go, Love.” 

---

----- Departure -----

As usual, Kimberly was in the rear of the group when Olivia announced that she was tired and required rest. Worried that perhaps Olivia was not feeling well, Kimberly broke away from his usual spot and headed towards her. “Are… you feeling all right... Olive?” Kimberly’s hand reached up to touch Olivia’s forehead, but retreated at the last moment. There was no point in trying to check if she had a fever when he was mostly covered in battle armor. “I… can carry you if… you feel sick.” Kimberly was quite serious. In fact, he could carry anyone and everyone ---with some help from the spirits--- if need be. It would not be a comfortable ride ---not with him covered in hard metal and people being stacked on top of each other--- but it was not impossible. And anything that was not impossible was a potential choice.