Ghost Hunter

After the whole ordeal at Rosebary’s, Truffle was so exhausted that he fell asleep just outside the shop. Thank goodness New Bao City is a fairly safe place to do so. A while later, he was woken up by Bao. Truffle had already forgotten all the trouble Bao had caused him.

“Oh–Bao? W-what time is it?” Truffle rubbed his drowsy eyes before yawning.

“It’s the perfect time to visit the job board!” Bao raised both his paws happily. It seems Bao wasn’t too bothered by the dishwashing he had to do at Rosebeary’s either. In fact, he was filled with energy. “Now that we are fed, we can look at jobs together.” Bao gave a confident nod.

“Jobs?” Truffle wasn’t looking to do any work. What kind of tour was this? Why did he have to work?

“Come with me!” Bao grabbed him by the paw and dragged him into the city again. Truffle had no choice but to trudge along, barely keeping up. “The job board is very important. All the jobs available are posted on it. You can find some really good ads,” said Bao.

“But working takes effort.” Although he was complaining, Truffle was curious to learn more about the job board.

They reached it soon enough, it was right in the centre of the city. Vehicles and bikes were whizzing by on the roads. Bao led him into a fancy building called City Hall. Baobears were all dressed up, in suits and business attire, walking around like they were in a rush to get somewhere. 

Bao pointed at a giant board on one of the walls. “That is the job board,” he explained. When they walked up to it, it was even larger than Truffle could have imagined. There were all sorts of papers stuck to it. Some had numbers written on it while others had email addresses. “Hmmmmm…” Bao pondered. Truffle took a look at the ads too. There were many different kinds. Some looked much more difficult than others. Bao picked up an ad which read ‘Eating Contest Contestants Needed!’. “Let’s do this one!”

He couldn’t stomach more food. “No,” Truffle shook his head. Bao sighed and slapped the ad back on the board. They continued to browse. 

One particular ad caught his curiosity. Truffle couldn’t quite reach it, so he asked Bao for help. With Bao carrying Truffle on his shoulders, he managed to grab the desired ad. They looked at it together afterwards. “Looks like a ghost-hunting ad,” said Bao.

“‘In need of ghost hunters to chase out a spirit in home’,” Truffle read outloud. It sounded so interesting!

Bao didn’t look one bit worried either. “There’s a phone number, says we can call or text.”

Truffle pulled out his phone and texted the number. While they waited on a response, they took a seat at the nearby benches and watched the busy business baobears walk about.

DING!

“A text came in,” said Truffle after a stifled yawn. “They are interested in our services.”

“Wonderful!” Bao leapt up. “Let’s head to the address right away.” Without waiting for Truffle’s response, Bao grabbed him by the paw and dragged him down the steps to where the subway station was. They hopped on the first train and headed towards the address.

—

The house looked fairly normal on the outside. Nothing about it looked off or creepy. At the front, there was a floating baobear, pacing back and forth.

“Oh dear, oh dear…,” they said with a paw to their mouth. It looked like they were trembling.

“Hi!” Bao waved enthusiastically. Truffle followed close behind him. “We’re here about the ghost hunting ad.”

Anastasia didn’t seem happy to see them. “Y-yes.” They looked exhausted. “I have been waiting for forever.”

Bao and Truffle looked at one another. “How long did you post the ad?” asked Truffle.

“Just this morning, and it’s already much too long!”

They entered the home, which was very spacious inside. It was also quite old. Antique items could be seen in every corner and on every shelf.

“I have been here for decades,” said Anastasia, “and I have seen many spirits, but this one is rather active and has become more violent lately.” They shivered.

“When did the activity start?” Truffle walked alongside them as they traversed the home.

“It was shortly after I held a dinner party here.” They went up the spiral staircase and were greeted by a long hallway with many doors on each side. Anastasia pointed at the third door on the left. “That one.”

Bao gave Truffle another look, then Truffle walked forward and carefully opened the door. Inside was a very old but functioning bedroom. The furniture all matched and were made out of some kind of wood; each had beautiful ornate carvings in them. Truffle poked his head back out of the room and looked at the purple baobear, “I don’t…see anything.”

Anastasia put their paws on their hips, “You wouldn’t be able to, silly! They are spirits. Only those who come from my family lineage and similar can.” They floated a little bit closer to the door. “It’s most active in the closet.”

Truffle looked at the closed wooden door inside, it was across the room from the bed. He shrugged and moved forward. Bao joined him. “What’s your plan?”

It had just hit Truffle that he had no plan. “Uh…” He looked at Bao with worry. “I’m not sure.”

Anastasia overheard, “W-what? You mean you don’t know what you’re doing?” They were livid. “Why did you bother responding to my ad if you have no idea!”

“Maybe…the spirit just wants to…talk?” Bao pondered.

Anastasia threw up their paws. “It has been haunting me for days. I can assure you it does not want to talk. It does not respond to me.”

Truffle put his paw on the handle and took a deep breath. Bao was standing behind him, seemingly using Truffle as a shield. With a turn and then a pull, the door creaked open. Inside was just a bunch of old junk. It looked like the closet had been used as storage.

After a moment of silence, Bao leaned in to Truffle and whispered, “Should we pretend to have caught it?”

Truffle frowned at him and then shook his head. He was not going to lie to this poor baobear. They were already scared out of their wits. Truffle peered into the closet for a light switch and flicked it on. Unfortunately, the light didn’t work.

“It has been dead for ages,” Anastasia said, peering over them. “I haven’t gotten around to replacing the bulb.”

“Since you can see it, can you…point to where it is?” suggested Bao.

“That’s the problem…,” Anastasia rubbed their arm sheepishly, “I haven’t seen it.”

“What do you mean?” Truffle asked.

“I always hear something moving about, but I haven’t actually seen this spirit.” Anastasia looked up at them with desperation. “I can assure you it’s there!”

Now they were truly at a standstill. Truffle and Bao could not see anything that was alarming, and Anastasia was adamant on the ghost. Bao scratched his head while Truffle tried to think about how they could help. Suddenly, there was a noise from inside the closet, something fell over.

“See!” Anastasia yelped and pointed. “It’s there!”

Bao jumped back in terror while Truffle stood dumbfounded. Was this going to be his first time seeing a ghost? The three of them waited with baited breath. Another sound came and something crashed to the wooden floor. Then…squeaking? Truffle looked at the other two in confusion. They were just as lost. Something was trying to get out; Truffle could see it moving from under the old blanket. He instinctively reached for the blanket and yanked it upwards.

Anastasia could be heard gasping and Bao just said “There it is!” A pochum came scurrying out of the closet, darting left and right. “Catch it!” yelled Bao.

Truffle and Bao tried to chase the little creature around the room, but it was much too agile. Anastasia panicked and pulled open the bedroom door and flew out into the hallway. The pochum saw its escape and followed them. It bounded down the spiral staircase with the baobears hot on its trail.

“It’s getting away!” Truffle tried to keep up.

“Chase it out of the house!” Bao waved his arms.

They chased it around the home. The pochum knocked over some vases, which Bao caught just in the knick of time. 

“Open the door!” Truffle screamed.

Anastasia went to open the front door. Truffle pivoted and tried to cut the pochum off, it did a u-turn and started heading to the front. In a blink of an eye, it was out of the home and onto the streets. Truffle was panting as he tried to catch his breath.

Bao put the vases he caught back onto the shelf. “That was crazy!”

“I–I think it was a pochum that was haunting your closet,” said Truffle.

A look of disappointment crossed their face. “I assure you it is not a pochum! I demand you go back up there and check again.” Both Bao and Truffle sighed. They couldn’t deny their request. So, they went back up the stairs and into the room to look into the closet again. No more noises came from the closet.

“I’m sure it was the pochum,” said Bao.

“How can you be sure? I say you should take everything out and check!”

They did as they were told, taking each item out of the closet and checking every nook and cranny within. Once everything was out, there was not a single sound or movement coming from inside.

“See?” Truffle pointed, “It’s fine now.”

Anastasia floated closer and inspected the closet. “I guess it has been solved.”

Bao jumped up and celebrated. “Hooray!”

“Hold on,” Anastasia said sternly. “Look at this mess you made,” they pointed at all the items that were pulled out. “You need to clean this up.”

Bao flattened his ears. Truffle put a paw to his face. And so, the two of them spent the afternoon cleaning up the room, placing every item back into the closet neatly as ordered by their contractee.