mindcracklove | Pages

Erin Wayne, private detective who specialises in the supernatural, is sent on an adventure of a life time when a weird case takes a turn and she ends up staring danger in face. Also a weird man in goggles, she also stared a weird man in goggles in the face.

First fic on the Salad. Here goes nothing!

Interactive and bonus content as well as a map and a glossary can be found here.

Without any further ado, welcome to Pages.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure he's coming?" A tall man in a grey shirt demanded angrily.

His companion looked at him pointedly, "Have I ever done you wrong in the past, Craig?"

The first man, Craig, grumbled bitterly, "Yes, at least five times." His friend waved his white, gloved hand distractedly, signalling for Craig to shut up.

The two men were in a small office building on the edge of the city. It was dimly lit and smelled slightly like mould. Craig and his companion were awaiting the arrival of a private detective. It'd taken them a long time to find him given their case's... special circumstances.

They had found the detective by accident, although that did seem to be how he intended it. There had been a flyer blowing in the wind and for some reason it had caught the companion's eye. He grabbed it before it blew away and discovered exactly who they were looking for.

"Wayne, Private Detective of the Supernatural" the flyer boasted in bold, black text. "Been laughed out of every police station you can find? Every other detective told you to stop wasting their time? Well Wayne is the one for you! Call this number to make an appointment."

They'd called the number and spoken to a robotic voice, clearly automated. They had then been given an address and a time to meet Wayne, but nothing else. So now here they were, waiting in this dodgy building for some supernatural detective.

Craig was about to complain again when the door to the office burst open, apparently it had been kicked. Dust flew up around the doorway at the force of the door opening. As the cloud cleared it revealed a silhouette.

The figure ,who wore a motorbike helmet, stepped forward and spoke, "Hello, boys." The voice that came from inside the helmet was not that of a gruff, male detective like they'd been expecting, it was higher and much more feminine. The figure took of the helmet to reveal a rather beautiful, red haired woman with emerald eyes that sparkled with cunning, "Detective Erin Wayne at your service."

"You- you're a-" Craig spluttered.

"A woman? I get that a lot." Wayne said boldly. She strode through the room and, despite being tiny, she commanded the room, making the two men feel powerless, "Now. What can I do you for?"

Craig frowned, confused, "We were looking for an actual private detective, not a pro-"

The companion interrupted his friend by swatting him round the back of the head, "It's a saying, Einstein." He said irritably, "Forgive Craig, he's a little dense at times."

"Not my problem, what is it you two gent- you two men need?" Wayne asked.

"I must admit it sounds rather stupid." The companion said slowly.

Wayne laughed, "If I had a dollar every time someone who called me said that I could retire to an almost decent house and live in bliss for about a week."

"Well," Craig begun, "my dog started acting… strange. He's always been a pretty chill dog, but he started to act aggressive. I tried going to the vets and the vet couldn't find anything wrong with him. I took him home and that's when it got weird. His eyes lit up with this blue fire and he started making this really creepy noises, not the noises dogs are meant to make."

"Craig then enlisted my help," the companion explains, "I helped him secure his dog in a cage in hopes of keeping Craig safe from him. We then started to look for someone to look into it, and finally found you."

Wayne frowned, "That sounds like a ghost of some kind, not exactly my specialty. Have you thought of getting a ghost hunter or exorcist to deal with your dog? I'm a detective."

"We couldn't find one of those." Craig said.

"Did you try Google? Or are you the scum of this earth and used Bing?!"

The companion glared coldly at the detective, she coughed, but a smirk remained on her face. She rolled her shoulders coolly, "Fine, fine, I suppose I could have a look at your dog and see what I can do. I will warn you before hand, though, I am not an exorcist."

The two men nodded, "Follow us then." They walked out off the grimy building and to a car that stood out like a sore thumb. Or, like a really expensive car in a rundown neighbourhood, which is what it was.

Wayne went to her motorbike, "You boys lead the way." She said before donning her helmet again. The two men shrugged and got into their car.

They drove for a while before they reached a large town house. The pair stepped out of their car and turned to see if the detective was there, sure enough, she was. Craig lead them to the house and unlocked the door, "He's going to start making the weird noises as soon as he knows we're there, just a warning."

"I put up with a lot of dogs making weird noises in my presence," Wayne replied wryly, "the four legged ones do tend to just wag their tails though." She added as she let herself into the house, the men following in suit. Just as Craig had warned weird noises started coming from the living room. Wayne walked in to see a Husky with his hackles raised and his face contorted into a vicious snarl. His eyes glowed with blue fire, just as Craig has described.

Wayne knelt down by the cage, "Poor bastard, something's possessed you good, hasn't it? Don't worry, I'll help you." The dog leaped at the bars of the cage, snapping aggressively, causing Wayne to yelp and jump back, "If you behave like that I won't help!" She warned.

The detective turned to face her most recent employers, "Going to need you to open that cage, can't get the ghoul out otherwise."

"Ghoul? Not a ghost?" The companion asked.

Craig frowned at his friend, "Is there a difference?"

Wayne cupped her black gloved hands behind her head, "Yeah, ghouls are demons that possess the living, eat dead people and are all round little shits. Ghosts haunt people and possess shit. Totally different. That blue fire is demon fire, which is how I know."

"I will let him out if you can promise me that he won't kill us." Craig squeaked.

"He won't kill us. Ghouls prey on the dead and unless one of you is dead, I think we'll be okay. Trust me, I'm an untrained professional."

"That doesn't fill me with confidence." Craig muttered as he went to unlock the cage. The second he did the dog leapt out and bounded for the door. They heard a loud cracking of wood and raced to see what had caused the noise. It seemed the ghoul and Wayne had the same respect for doors, in that they had none. The ghoul had ripped through the wood and run off.

The detective let out a whistle, "Well shit. I did not see that coming. Come on, we have a ghoul to catch." And with that she charged towards the door, giving it an almighty kick and flying through what was left of it. She mounted her bike, put on her helmet and whizzed off after the dog.

The two men stood gaping at what they'd just seen. They quickly snapped out of though and ran to the car and sped after the detective through the winding streets of the city.

Before long they stopped outside a large church-like building, apparently Wayne and the ghoul were in there. They got out of the car and ran into the building. When they got in the found Wayne kneeling on the floor tugging at something. The dog/ghoul appeared to be growling at Wayne, but on closer inspection they realised he was growling at the floor.

After a grunting sound, Wayne fell back with a piece of aged paper in her hand. They slowly approached the fallen woman, but before they could get too close blue flame erupted from the mouth of Craig's dog. The flames enveloped the detective, swirling around her in a vortex.

Once the flames had subsided the men saw two things. 1. The dog seemed to back to his old self and 2. Erin Wayne was gone.

"Shit." The companion swore.