Nightmares Vs Magic

The one thing that especially helped to heal me from that fiasco at the 'doll' house, was sleeping to the sound of nearby waves and water, maybe some seagulls that some would consider annoying but to me was fine, and oddly enough, the sound of people, the sound of presence, the opposite of that loneliness.

The benefits to renting out a room at a lighthouse inn for cheap, is the comforting vibes of sleeping in a lighthouse. Not as creepy as most would describe, just pretty nice, if you close the windows at night, curtains and all, the silhouettes tap on the glass at night, but I could ignore it. Most people would pay more just for a lake or beach house, no wonder lighthouse inns are a thing, not to mention last night, the job of making sure all the equipment worked, was actually getting easier. Just check all the mechanics, make sure the huge light and the glass surrounding it is clean and clear, then I'm done, next it's just the random errands they may need once in a while.

I have long lost the ability to sleep for long, five hours at max average and I'm up and at it, scrubbing my face hard, and nitpicking around the eyes, before putting on one of my button ups and dress pants. It was going to be warmer today or so the weather on my phone said, so I ditched my jacket piece for today. Annie was up early too by the time I got out, so I asked her if she needed me to do any errands for the morning before I left for work which started at 9.

If sleep refused to come aid me, then as long as I kept my mind busy, I'll be fine.

I had two hours to spare... Ended up going to bed a little late after making sure my windows and doors were locked, hiding my laptop and folding my laundry. Annie went into this room again and just took my dirty clothes without telling me, maybe she wanted to stay occupied too, but at least warn me... Oh well, nothing new.

"If you could go buy some things on this list, and bring back the receipt, I'll cut the expenses from your rent." She handed her a piece of small paper torn from a small handbook, her curly and cursive handwriting made the paper look older and more expensive if it weren't for the green, modern ink.

"Alright." Dove said without much argument, having no energy for that.

It would take her a moment to find the place, she couldn't hook her phone up to the dashboard of her car, only able to listen to the directions while driving whilst keeping her eyes peeled for the nearest pet store.

Maine is cheaper than Vermont, and I've always loved this place. My mom always preferred the states more in-land and wanted to move to some place like Arkansas or Wyoming, while my dad actually used to talk about plans to move to a state further down South, preferably South Carolina. I hope both of them got their wishes, I hope they're both doing better now.

'Dog beds, cat beds, chew toys (preferably the ropes, avoid the squeaky ones), a scratching post'

Along with accommodating for guests, it seems they were preparing to do the same for guests with pets, which is a very lovely idea! Especially for the hikers with huskies, or the book readers and writers here on vacation with their cats.

At seven in the morning, you don't expect to see a lot of people.

At an hour as early as 7, when the effect of the sunrise is still strong, there are no nightmares, save for any potential monsters disguised as humans.

The closest store had all the efficient supplies, so she ignored the map, turning it off on her phone as she parked and went inside, no need to be wary of any spirits near the doors, or predators' unseen by humans nearby.

It was a 24/7, large store, the poor cashier was bored out of her mind, almost falling asleep from the air-conditioning.

Dove didn't like using a shopping cart, it doesn't go straight on its own unless you use your own strength to make it do so, it can make noise, and depending on the material, it's heavy to push. All these factors, she was too tired to consider and simply walked past them, not caring about not having a full plan to carry everything in her arms.

In this early hour, you don't expect to see many people, especially those you are familiar with, the stranger Dove nearly bumped into in the pet supplies isle was someone she definitely didn't know, but surprisingly, the lady knew her.

"Oh! The intern from the 4th floor!" The beautiful lady exclaimed, standing up straight and smoothing out her long black summer dress.

Dove was nearly baffled as thinking fast in the morning wasn't her forte, but she could still talk fine after a few seconds.

"Oh, umm, you're, the woman from the Magic Store?"

She smiled at the young woman and nodded, putting away some chew toys into her cart.

"Yes! I'm Lucia, and I've already familiar with you."

She shuffled in the spot she was standing, feeling awkward and guilty.

"Really? That's, so nice of you. I'm sorry, I never paid much attention to be familiar with you."

The beautiful lady simply chuckled.

"Don't be sorry, I'm not actually seen a lot, I'm Lucia, the mysterious lady that the customers usually meet in-between the isles. You probably assumed I was Liora, the one typically at the desk."

She was right, and that is what Dove assumed at first, since they honestly almost looked alike, what with their long hair.

"Well, either way, it's nice to finally say hello to you. I'm Dove, which you likely already knew.

Alright aside from remembering the moment I wanted to go outside and walk into the road, upon sifting through my few memories of the ladies- or at least- Liora, when I was passing through each morning for the past week, this lady was more of a dress person. Liora usually wore pants or long sleeves, things she can sit around and do arts and crafts in, and usually smells like paint. This lady didn't have any smell, but they do both have this incredible, long hair. Liora had long dark hair with a shine of blue. This lady had lighter, thinner looking hair. Actually, I would later notice that one side of her scalp is stylishly shaved.

Dove touched her own hair, measuring the length as she brushed her hand down to the tips.

"Do you have a pet? Why are you in this isle Dove?" Lucia asked.

"Oh, I just have some errands to run. Get a bunch of pet beds and toys."

Lucia ended up helping Dove without her permission, not like Dove could say anything because she missed a lot of good opportunities throughout her life each time she said no.

She liked the tranquil moment anyway. Someone noticed and willingly decided to give her a hand, Dove craved moments like this but tended to be shy at times. Some near stranger and her both having a quiet morning, deciding to help each other after some peaceful shopping.

Out in the parking lot, Dove didn't notice any other cars around, and turned around to Lucia, slightly confused, after closing the trunk to her car, the beds and toys stuffed inside. The scratching post however, what with its big size and being packaged in a box, she put into the passenger seat, buckling it in like it was a person.

I used to like doing that to the groceries when I was younger, a little whimsy that I thought was funny. My mom didn't think so, but my siblings were entertained."

"How did you get here without a car?"

The lady winked at her and chuckled, holding her own bag of bought items with both hands as she leaned in, whispering in the young woman's ear.

"I'm sure you're already familiar with magic, or so I've heard from Bence. You take a guess." She said before pulling her face back from her, stepping back slowly with a smirk as her body then started to fade.

Dove quickly looked around for any other people in the area before looking back on the woman, who faded away slowly like a fog rolling out of town, only seeing the silhouette of her hand waving at her.

".... I... don't even know enough about poltergeists or ghosts to take a guess?"

It was almost time to leave for work, so she brushed it off like she did most things she used to question and got in her car, driving back to the motel to give the items to the old couple, along with the receipt.

The couple were all hale and hearty each time she saw them, Joel coming out all bright eyes and sunshine as soon as Dove was just opening up her trunk.

"I brought the beds and stuff, let me pass these to you first." Dove said as she was carefully taking the cat beds out first, noticing Joel waving her off and going for the scratching post.

"Aagh! A skinny thing like you shouldn't carry those, I need some exercise."

"But-" She interjected, gently trying to pass him the stacks of beds, vacuum sealed and easier to carry.

He took one, weighed it-and by that, I mean- lifted up and down in his hands a few times before putting it back on the stack in her hands.

"Sir- wait!-"

"Oh, don't go treating me like I'm all dust and bones! I used to lift oil tanks twice your weight." He told her as he took the big box with ease, despite it not having any good handles to grip onto.

It likely helped that he just had bigger arms than her.

"I'll show you where to put these, give the receipt to Annie and sit with her, she's in the kitchen."

"... Ok." Dove nodded her head, a little defeated but not lowering her head as she watched with a bit of pride, as Joel walked inside first. She watched his strong back, a feature that even underneath his layers of clothes, was visible and showed his strength even for his age, before quickly following behind him.

Past the lobby was an office, one with a filing cabinet likely filled with printed paper or sketch paper, or photos, and a computer to book the clients and do accounting work on supplies. Joel told me to cut open the vacuum-sealed beds so he could put one in each of the rooms, ten rooms wasn't a lot, and the other half of the negotiating part was me asking to put the beds up in the rooms on the second floor.... So, I ended up losing that negotiation, and he just kinda pushed me to the room where Annie was. I cringed at the noises the chew toys made in the plastic bag, and oh, it certainly got her attention.

"Ah, I timed my cooking just right! Score another point for me!" Annie lightly cheered for herself, which Dove grinned at.

They were inside a room that served as little kitchen of sorts for the place, for both staff and guests with permission. The old couple considered it healthier to let the tenants be able to cook some food, even at an inn, especially if they may be homesick.

It was so cottage core vibes, I thought Joel made me time travel into the kitchen of some beautiful winter cabin he and Annie probably went to. Walls that looked like they were made out of logs of wood, a stove that clearly has a modern electric heating inside but designed to look like an old-fashioned furnace with a stovetop. I mean, you can't fool anyone with the way the inside of the oven looked.

Annie quickly took the bag of chew toys from her, finding the receipt inside. She, was also quite strong, or perhaps Dove just had a lack of strength due to timidness, as the old woman shoved her into one of the little cute wooden seats of the dining table.

"Now, I made breakfast, and so help me if you run off to be a grown up again without eating, I'll watch you like a hawk until you eat everything."

"Yes, ma'am." Dove said defeatedly again, yet still couldn't really be upset by it, as she let some strands of hair fall out of her ponytail and cover the blushing of her face.

"Good, now I'm off to win a debate with my dear about where to place the scratching post, don't mind the noise." Annie smiled as she removed her stern hands from her hips, and left the public kitchen area, the smell of warmth and fresh fabric left where she stood.

She gave me a whole plate of steamed halibut! Did she want me to be late for work? I'll just eat quickly and then leave her a review on the napkin. Seeing as I live with them, I can't write too honestly, but if I just let them serve their dishes to the guests and they potentially hear mean comments from them, I'd feel guilty. Besides, more people could use fish.

Dove made it to work on time, she just almost choked from eating too fast. Should really start adding an extra hour needed for breakfast every morning.

I never usually ate in the mornings; it wasted time and I'm not hungry when I wake up, or during any part of the day. I ate with the three other interns yesterday because they invited me, and I wanted to hang out with them. I ate all of the halibut and left a note because Annie is testing her dishes, Joel may be too biased because he's her husband, and she may have different taste buds from others.

She drove to the building that surprisingly always had some parking spots that she could easily park in, almost seemed like not a lot of staff here used cars, or perhaps some didn't typically drive at all.

Passing through the magic store to get to the elevator, Dove waved hello to the nice lady at the front desk, Liora, while subconsciously looking around for the fog woman, Lucia.

It was only after stepping into the elevator and facing the front and press the button for her floor, did she finally notice a wisp of a woman's figure, that long hair paired by the stylishly shaved scalp, the woman smiling and waving hello at her just as the doors were closing.

Dove stood there a little bewildered, but simply waved back and went back to waiting, and mentally preparing for whatever tasks she had today.

Laurence was the first to greet her, looking a tad bashful as he was smoothing out his hair, after coming out of the meeting room. Dove could see through the window as she passed by, the mess of marker lines and sticky notes on the whiteboard that she couldn't understand, but likely made sense to Laurence, in the moment.

"Good morning." He told her as they both walked over to the break spot.

He didn't have his usual suit jacket on either, or a button up, turns out he actually just wears the usual polo shirt paired with suit pants like her, the heat was getting too hot for either of them to continue wearing them solely for the comfort.

"Good, morning." Dove hesitated as she looked him up and down, from him to the meeting room.

As far as I could guess, there was no one else but him in that room for hours.

"Did you, um-ah never mind." She said quietly as she just went to making coffee, pulling out two mugs from the cabinet below, and checking the coffee maker for how much water it had before pressing the coffee button.

"Go ahead and ask him, he needs a reminder and I'm tired of doing it." Bence popped in out of the blue and asked, sneaking in-between them to grab the phone he nearly forgot on the counter.

Unlike his usual dark colored attire, he was wearing a completely white shirt paired with black pants, but it looks like he still couldn't ditch the suit vest.

"I noticed you arrived just in the nick of time. Did something happen this morning?" He looked over to Dove and asked, all while still moving around the office, never stopping.

He went to his desk, sifting through papers, newly printed ones with pictures, and tea-stained, old ones with some scriptures similar to runes.

"I had to run an errand."

"You seem to run an errand every morning." He pointed out, looking at her eye bags.

Laurence made his drink before taking a better glance at her, taking a sip.

"Did you sleep enough last night?"

"... Did you?" Dove fired back unconsciously, eyes widening upon realization.

The detective, with his own pair of vivid eyebags, also stares before chuckling, defeated.

"Ahahaha. Nope."

He pat her on the head before walking back to the meeting room, Dove didn't want to bother him so she turned her attention to Bence, offering to take out a mug for him but he waved her off.

"This errand took a moment, I also bumped into someone at the store, Lucia."

"Oh, did she threaten to eat you?"

"Wha-.... No."

Bence blinked, once, twice, realized his words and nodded, slowly stepping away, giving her space, heading to the back door to the stairs

"Ah, I see. You don't have to worry about her then."

"Sure..." Dove said, not really bothered but intrigued. "Are you, going to the third floor?"

The necromancer looked over his shoulder at her, just as he was grabbing the door handle.

"Yes. Do you need anything?"

"Ah, if it's not any trouble, could you tell Annabelle I said hi?"

He stared at her for a good few seconds before grinning and nodding, leaving into the staircases.

"In that case, go help Laurence, makes sure he doesn't stay in that room all day, don't look too much at the photos."

Dove hummed and went over to the meeting room after gulping down her caffeine.

The photos were everywhere so to ask her to not look at them too much was a bit of a challenge.

"That thing with the sack for skin." she mumbled, looking at each one.

"There's also dark watchers, some trails of ghost woman but we leave them alone usually, and skin walkers. Don't worry, most of them are on a leash."

He was looking at a whiteboard, having used some clips to pin a map of the city of Portland, clearly some markers were used to draw out routes, there was math on the whiteboard next to it, with the radius formula and algebra equations. Some sticky notes were tapped onto certain parts of the city, when Dove looked around, she saw that street names were written on each of the photos, using white marker, since the nightmare things took up a lot of space, and hidden in shadows.

"So then, you stayed here nearly all night. Bence told me to make sure you didn't stay here all day." She said quietly, wanting to reach out and grab his arm that was nearly shaking, the same arm with the shaking hand nearly about to tip his coffee that he took a sip from.

"He says that, but to me it's better than sitting at my desk and burning my eyes after staring at the desktop screen for hours."

She hummed, thinking how to pull him away as he stared at the whiteboard pensively.

"Is there anything you need from me?"

"Actually yes, but first I have to ask-" He faced her as he put the marker down on the board's arm.

"-are you feeling ok after that whole haunted house field trip?"

"Yes, I mean, I am wondering if the nanny's skeleton was taken care of, but there's not much I can do regardless of the answer."

"I see." He hummed, trying to read her as she continued looking around the room, before his eyes lit up with an idea.

"I mean, you could have the ability to take more actions on cases like those if you wanted, all it takes is getting promoted from your intern position, to say, a detective?"

"I'm only 18, so while that sounds nice, that goal would be two years away. I'm afraid that after two years, I may forget my original goal, whether I even passed or not."

Dove stood by the table that had a more peculiar looking photo, one that was just peeking out of a cream-colored folder. She looked back at Laurence who waved a hand to it, smiling like he was eager for her to notice it.

It was left on a table that had nothing else but the case file, the photo peeking out almost too obviously and coincidentally. What was the word that combined both meanings? Oh, apparent.

"Go ahead and open it if you're curious."

She carefully flipped open the folder, careful not to shake of shift any of the papers inside, picking up the photo.

It was of a doll or human/personified figure of some sort, made from what looked like materials that professional doll makers would not use. Taken from an angle and distance that hinted the camera person was in hiding as they snapped the photo.

"This photo was submitted to us by one of our field agents, reporting that while the Sennentuntschi was moving like a zombie, it was clearly on an intended path. Normally she and her team would take care of loose entities roaming around like this, but-"

Laurence waved her over, and Dove put the photo down to take a closer look at the whiteboard as he began to explain all the math written on and around the map. Now paying more attention, there was a circle with some radius and circumference math done on it, marking a specific block.

"She asked around and apparently, even though this being falls in the category of nightmares, it's mostly a folk tale creature. Not to mention, made of physical or near modern things. Some normal people she questioned, mentions seeing or hearing sightings of it since the time we got a case request from the real estate agent about the old house."

Dove listened intently, like a child eagerly waiting for the next part of the story. It wasn't a very present emotion that any regular people could detect from her, but it was clear that Laurence could tell she was feeling that way through that glimmer of curiosity emitting from her dull, blue eyes.

"Do you want a guess at what this could be?" He asked her, trying to pique her curiosity and turn it into an eagerness, subtly asking if she would like to get involved.

Dove seemed to blink from listening and shook her head.

"Um, that they are connected, maybe? I'm not all that smart so I wouldn't know, but you probably do-"

"No, no. Go on, take a guess, it won't hurt to help me a bit, and if you're wrong, then that's my opportunity to teach you why." He gently assured her.

Dove, not one who likes disappointing people who give her opportunities like this, looks at the board with all its notes, and goes back to the table to read from the file more, and Laurence didn't object to it, so she wasn't afraid to do so. It was shown by her shoulders that weren't slumped like usual.

The report underneath the photo said that when this Sienna person and her other teammates tried to capture this "Sennentuntschi" thing, it simply put itself back together, or got out of their grasps so adamantly that they could tell it had a goal and continued to follow it.

"If the date of when this being became present was around the same time, we did that job at the house,,, where there was a ghost, and, mannequins..." Dove slowly spoke, then muttered, before thinking to herself silently, putting a knuckle pressed above her lips.

It felt like the gears in my head, the mechanics that I had long abandoned out of thinking them useless and a nuisance to getting by, were being dusted off, cobwebs torn away as they began turning again!..... Sorry for any who had to read that, I forget this is a journal/documentary and not a diary...

It was Laurence's turn to eagerly listen to her, motioning with his hand that gesture that meant 'continue'.

"Go on." He said encouragingly.

"This Sennentuntschi is likely on the hunt, or trying to search and follow something, or more likely someone, the same someone who left those mannequins and skeletons at that old house!" Dove said excitedly, surprised at her own voice.

"I mean, that's the only explanation I can come up with for now, I mean- why else would an old house that clearly hadn't been touched for decades, just have these life size mannequins with ball-joints?! The early 1900s didn't have that technology!" She whisper-yelled, becoming more visibly excited as she thought and looked more at the papers, without noticing his presence that studied her with a joy, having finally cracked open a bit more.

The man leaned back against another table in the room, crossing his arms, one leg over the other.

"So, you know what a Sennentuntschi is?"

"Yes! They're from Swedish folklore; I used to love reading about all kinds of creatures. It made me feel less afraid to read about more fantasy creatures, when I always kept seeing the nightmares, that people also thought were fake."

"It must make you overjoyed, the thought of actually meeting a real being from folklore then." He simply guessed as he watched eagerly read more of the case files, the giddiness visible in her beady eyes filled with revitalized wonder.

"You seem really intrigued now, want to learn more? Say, shadow the field agent on this job?"

Dove went back to being doubtful again, keeping her nervous grin as she didn't want to say an upsetting no to him, but she doubted herself more than her yearn to please others.

"I,,, I'm not qualified, I don't plan to be an intern forever, but I'd get in the way."

He pats a hand on her shoulder, and when she didn't flinch or try to pull away, he gives her a firm look with a grin.

"That's alright, if you make a mistake, Sienna will teach you. Nothing bad will happen to your position on this job, I unfortunately need you to go anyway, since I can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm not, exactly allowed out on field cases, yesterday was an exception so I could show you the ropes, but not this one. You don't have to worry; Sienna and her teammates will keep you and Joon safe."