Ayla's Supernatural Love Dungeon

Chapter 1

Kyra sat in the far back of the library. She sat cross-legged on one of the lounge chairs near the window. Her purple MacBook sat snuggly on her lap. As she scrolled through the many rental listings on Craigslist, she couldn’t help but peer out the corner of her eye. A wispy transparent figure was following close behind a young librarian. The young librarian was a lightly curvy woman with wavy red hair that stopped just past her shoulders. She wheeled a cart full of books, movies, and other media. She had just stopped a few feet in front of Kyra and was attempting to return some of the movies on the cart to their rightful shelves.

            “Why are you ignoring me?” the figure asked. The librarian reached for another DVD and stretched to reach the top shelf. To everyone but the figure, it was obvious that the young woman couldn’t hear them.

            The figure waved its arms trying to get the librarian’s attention. To no avail, the figure got angry. The wispy figure curled their hands into a fist and slammed it onto a nearby bookshelf. This action caused the books to fall. The librarian turned around as the books each individually made loud thuds in the otherwise quiet building.

            Kyra forced her attention back to her laptop.

“Miss?” the librarian asked. Kyra turned her focus away from her laptop.

“Yes?” Kyra asked.

“Did you see what made this mess?” the woman asked as she pointed to the books on the floor.

Kyra shook her head. “Nope. I didn’t see anything.” She went back to her search.

“Huh, weird,” the woman said. “Maybe we have ghosts or something,” she joked.

“Maybe,” Kyra chimed in.

            Ever since Kyra could remember she had the ability to see and hear ghosts. It had started as just sensing their presence. The first time she remembers this, she was six years old and she was at camp. The kids had gathered around the campfire as the sun was setting. One of the girls was telling a ghost story. As the girl was telling her story, Kyra had a sudden chill run down her spine and the chill lingered. It wasn’t until the girl got to the climax that the chill left Kyra’s body.

In middle school, Kyra started hearing ghosts. Mr. Bromley had just issued a pop quiz in science. Kyra scribbled the answer down for question five when she heard a voice.

“Where is my test?”

Kyra lifted her head and scanned the room. Her fellow classmates were all seated with their heads down. She turned her attention back to her test.

“Mr. Bromley, there’s a strange kid sitting in my seat.”

Kyra again lifted her head to look at Mr. Bromley. Mr. Bromley sat at his desk with his feet propped up. His face was covered with a book. She scanned the room again looking for anything out of place, nothing stood out. Again, she returned her focus to the test. Throughout the quiz, Kyra kept hearing the voice. It was only when Mr. Bromley cleared his throat and demanded the students turn in their quiz that the strange voice went quiet.

After this experience, the only times Kyra heard ghosts was when the classroom was quiet, i.e., taking quizzes or tests. With this knowledge, Kyra had gotten permission from her teachers to wear earbuds during the silent moments in class.

In high school, that’s when she finally saw ghosts. Kyra shoved her books in her locker when a figure leaned against her locker. She peered out the corner of her eye and noticed a wispy transparent figure staring at her. She didn’t acknowledge that she could see them but looked at them through her peripheral vision. Her head remained straight as if something in her locker had her attention. The wispy figure vaguely looked like a student who had recently died. No information was released to the public about how they died.

“Can she see me?” the ghost asked.

Kyra then turned the opposite way of where the ghost was and headed to her next glass. On her way to English Lit. she passed another ghost figure. This looked like the music teacher Ms. Kelly, who had died the same day as the ghost student. Kyra lowered her head and stared at her feet as she walked through Ms. Kelly. This caused a chill to run down Kyra’s spine, but unable to acknowledge the action she continued on her way.

At lunch, a rumor had spread that Ms. Kelly and the ghost student, Shane Wideacker, were having an affair. They were caught having sex in Shane’s car by his father. In a rage, Shane’s father threatened to call the police and have Ms. Kelly arrested and demanded they end the relationship. Shane had refused and drove his car off a cliff near Bogus Basin, killing both of them. Kyra didn’t put much stock in the rumor until she caught the ghost couple hooking up in the girls’ bathroom.

Kyra continued her search for rentals available in the Mayfield area. She found a studio apartment at the upper end of Desert Wind. The landlord was asking for $700 for rent. She quickly copied the phone number into her phone and called the poster.

            The following Friday, Kyra had received the keys to the apartment. All the paperwork was signed and all that remained was to walk through the apartment. After the walkthrough, she could start moving her stuff. Excitedly she turned the key to her new apartment and pushed the door open. The apartment was rather large for a studio. The walls were painted in dark academia-themed colors. The windows allowed ample light to come through. Kyra smiled and breathed in the new home smell.

“Who the hell are you?” a voice asked.

The joy and excitement left Kyra’s body in an instant. She pretended that she didn’t hear the voice and instead reached into her coat pocket to grab her phone as if it had gone off. When she brought the device up to her face, she noticed the ghost. Despite being transparent, she could tell that it was a male. His hair was short and curly and reminded her of the fanart of Corpse Husband. He was dressed in jeans and a generic band t-shirt. He folded his arms and leaned back against the front door. The ghost had enough control not to phase through objects, which both impressed and irritated Kyra.

As if on cue Kyra’s phone rang. She quickly answered it and looked out the closest window to admire the scenery. “Hello, this is Kyra.”

“Hi, Kyra? This is Bishop, the landlord.”

“Hi, Bishop. What’s up?” she asked.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this sooner. I just really wanted to rent out that apartment. Anyway, turns out the previous tenant, Rae Monroe, had died a few months ago. I hope this doesn’t change your mind about living there,” Bishop said.

“The previous tenant died? Is that why the apartment was so cheap?” Kyra asked.

“Yes. Again, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I just really wanted that apartment rented out. Are you still okay with renting it?”

“Absolutely. It’s not like the apartment is haunted or anything,” Kyra responded with a laugh.

“Great! I’m guessing you’re already at the apartment. Go ahead and start moving your stuff in.”

“Have a great day, Bishop,” Kyra said before she ended the phone call. She sighed heavily. Of course, the apartment I moved into is haunted. This is going to be difficult. She again peaked at the ghost, Rae, from the corner of her eye. Rae moved to the kitchen and did whatever ghosts did. Whatever. This is my home now and no ghost is going to send me packing!