Victor loved his little room. It was the perfect size for him to pace, and all of his notes and books fit on the little desk. He was pacing now, studying his most recent notes.

He mainly studied death. Dead people, what happened to them afterwards, what exactly went on in their bodies after they passed. His main goal, truly, was to bring someone back—but for now, that was completely out of his league—he couldn't find any recently deceased bodies anywhere nearby.

His notebook snapped shut in his hands, and he blinked in surprise, frowning at it.

...he hadn't meant to close it, had he?

He sighed, going to flip it open again, but it didn't budge.

Okay, now that's odd...

Startled, he sat on his bed and began to start trying to pry it open, muttering to himself. "What in god's name..."

The ship lurched to the side, and Victor tumbled into the wall with a soft and undignified shriek. "Fuck!!" What was going on?

Rubbing his head and scowling at the wall that he had hit, he looked to his notebook, which had fallen to the ground and was open again. He wrinkled his nose and muttered to himself as he snatched it back up and climbed to the very corner of the bed, hunching over it like something might take it from him.

Which seemed very possible as it almost seemed to be being pulled from his hands.

"What the fuck!!" He yelped, slapping at whatever force was trying to take it from him. The air around him felt freezing cold, like it had suddenly turned to ice, and he shuddered, glaring at nothing. "Whatever it is, knock it off—!!"

It all ceased at once, and he was left in sudden peace and silence, wondering what the fuck just happened.

~ ~ ~

"....so you're tellin' me you think there's a ghost on our ship??"

Kael stared at him in disbelief, standing in the doorway to his room, a sleepy look on his face because, well, Victor had just come pounding on his door, not realizing that the sun hadn't even risen yet.

"Yes!!" Victor exclaimed, unable to hide the touch of excitement in his voice. "And we have to catch it!! What do you think?!" He was grinning like a madman, excitement thrumming in his bones.

Kael stared at him, brows lifted high in disbelief, and scratched the stubble that ran across his jaw, thinking for a moment. "...uh..."

Victor leaned forward eagerly, eyes wide, excited to hear if he had a friend to join in the chase or not, and oh, he was opening his mouth, he was about to speak, here it came—

"...I think you're crazy, Victor."

His heart sank. How many times, he thought. How many times have I heard those words?

"Am not," he snapped defensively. "I swear. It keeps making things lurch, and last night it messed with my notebook—I couldn't even open it!! I swear, Kael, you have to believe m—"

Kael interrupted him. "I've been aboard this ship for fifteen years, Victor." His tone seemed amused. "I think I'd know if there was a ghost, hm?"

Victor opened and closed his mouth, then huffed, offended. "...I swear there is, though—!" He didn't know what else to say, completely helpless, and just looked down, scowling at the ground.

"I swear you've had a bit too much to drink, eh?" Kael chuckled, rubbing his eyes. "You've been here three days, orright? maybe it's the adjusting to the new surroundings. Give yourself time. And give me time to go back to bed, or I'll make you into the ghost. Yeah, mate?"

Victor frowned, unhappy with his reaction. He scowled at him, but all Kael did was blink at him, then start to close the door.

"I'm not crazy!" he snapped, just before the door shut. He didn''t receive an answer, and was left to stare at the wooden door, slowly frowning and looking down.

I'm not crazy.

His lips thinned and he slowly made his way back to his room, glaring at the ground. When he got there, he started pacing, rubbing his face, where stubble was beginning to shadow his jaw.

A ghost. Now this was interesting. His long-term goal was to bring people back from the dead..but if it had already happened, then all he needed to do was document it, and the discovery would be his!!!

But was that really enough for him???

He groaned and rubbed his face, exhausted and a strange feeling in his stomach.

Crazy.

God, he hated that word. He despised it, in fact. He wasn't crazy. People had called him crazy all his life, and he was done with it. Every time he heard that word, it made a tiny piece of his heart crack and slide off, to be hidden away with the logical thoughts that always ran a mile a minute, proving to himself that someone with this many mind-tabs open at once could not possibly be anything other than genius. And he was! He was a genius!! He just...needed people to see that, somehow.

He sat down hard on his bed, slowly taking his notebook out and tapping his pen against his lower lip, thinking hard. He leaned back against the headboard, exhaling in a huff.

Day four on the ship. I wrote last night about some supernatural force disrupting my research briefly. No inhabitants of the ship seem to know what I'm talking about, but i have only asked one. More research will continue later in the day, as it is currently...

He checked his pocket watch.

...four-thirty in the morning.

He sighed, staring at the words he'd written. Then he peeked across the room at the letter that he'd carefully propped up on his suitcase, his pride and joy, the proof that he was going to amount to more than everyone said he would.

He swallowed, slowly closing his notebook with a soft thud, then falling backwards onto the stiff mattress. As he stared up at the ceiling, gently rocking back and forth with the waves, he tried to imagine it.

Some translucent man or woman, floating above him? Or maybe in the corner,watching his every move. Or maybe they weren't even there a all, and he'd been imagining it. Because...really...a ghost??

His heart sunk for the second time in the hour. He swallowed, staring off, and slowly began to feel a bit more crazy.