The Ghost October 2017 Issue: A Pocket of Crime

The butterfly effect. Four lives ruined by one choice. Can the Ghost get to the bottom of this mystery and save the lives of two people in mortal danger?

Ghost: I hear voices. They tell me to do things. They cry out for vengeance and justice. Only I can answer their call. The dead must find rest. They shall be avenged. I am "The Ghost".

Announcer: The Ghost! 

FX: Wind

Announcer: Fighting for the supernatural, defying those who would take advantage of spirits, and keeping the boundaries safe. When the dead can't speak! 

(Music; something mystical)

Announcer: Born able to communicate with the dead, Rick Hart, Private Eye, has established an agency secretly dedicated to serving those who passed and keeping balance in the two worlds. Should there be a murder most foul, should there be a grave threat to the powers that be. Then prepare for an otherworldly encounter with The Ghost!

FX: Clock counting down the time till it rings midnight. 

Announcer: The fates have set. The time has come for the fantastic mysterty of paranormal proportions. A Pocket of Crime. Brought to you by Lunascense. 

Pause

Announcer: Before we begin this episode, I would like to take a moment to read you a brief thought. What we give into the world can manifest itself in different ways. Such is the case of grief, rage, regret, and sadness. Our hero of this story, perhaps best described as his own antagonist is about to become the main victim of his own crime. In another scenario, perhaps Dorian Jefferson would have been The Ghosts main target of his vengeance, but here, in this life, life itself has taken its toll as we find Dorian at what may very well be his last moments.

Man: (Background) I think we saw him enter this building!

Dorian: (Heavy breathing)

Man 2: (Background) He can’t have gone far.

FX: Door locking.

FX: Knob switched.

Radio: And another body was found on Central street near the warehouses. A woman in her mid 30’s, yellow hair, and police believe this is the first victims wife.

Dorian: No, no, no, no.

FX: Roof creeks.

Dorian: Have they found me yet?

Radio: The first victim was found three days ago with two gunshot wounds strait in the chest. Mafia involvement was suspected. His name, was Jonathon Marks. His wife and child had been missing for the past week. Initially he was suspected of kidnapping his own family but with the body turned up, and potential gang involvement, police are suspecting this was a ransom drop gone wrong. 

Dorian: I am so sorry.

Radio: Police are suspecting a man in his late 20’s, average built, short hair and brown.

Dorian: They are talking about me!

Radio: This man was last seen in a physical altercation with the victim three days ago.

Dorian: The police are after me. The mob is after me. How did I end up like this? I didn’t mean for him to die! I just wanted some money! 

Radio: We now have with us lead Detective of this case, Detective Thomas…

Det. Thomas: Thomas is fine.

Radio: And what can you tell us of the development?

Det. Thomas: The victims name is Loretta Marks. But onto the gang we suspect is involved. There has been a string of kidnappings and the Simon house is believed to be behind it, but that is just word on the street, what we do know is that there have been people claiming that they have had their loved ones taken and been told to sell their posessions for exorbant prices. We chased the leads and while we cannot confirm the full connection, we did find a paper trail to a pawn shop.

Radio: And what did they say?

Det. Thomas: The Victim Jonathon Marks sold pretty much everything he had for a super rare coin. 

Dorian: Damn. They know about the coin!

FX: Shuffling.

Dorian: This stupid coin? Was it really worth anything? I just thought I took something rare. I didn’t know it was worth an entire fortune…or a mans life.

Det. Thomas: The pawn shop said the coin went back to the days of Queen Isabella. Valued now at the price of a house.

Dorian: Should I try and cash it in? I just… whats the point anymore.

FX: Sirens looming.

Dorian: The police are going to come and find me. I will be tied to the deaths of three people, a man, his wife, and their poor child. Their only crime was they gor caught in this. Had I just done nothing, had I just kept control of my life, none of this would have ever happened. They all would be alive right now, and I wouldn’t feel this pain. This sadness…

Det. Thomas: To the man or men responsible, we will find you.

FX: Sirens getting louder.

Dorian: They may already have…

Man (Background: it’s the police. You think they know where we are?

Man 2: We just need to find the rat and kill him before they come. They don’t know anything. I can garentee it.

Dorian: Looks like this is the end. Either the cops find me and I hang. The gangsters come and they kill me for stealing from their boss. 

FX; Door opens.

Dorian: Either way I die. I die a loser, a theif, a murderer, and a child killer. All so I could have a bite to eat cause I was hungry. I wasn’t even that hungry, I just thought, hey, I could pinch a few dollars and grab something easy. Now you are dead Jonathon. Soon too, will I.

FX: Walking.

Dorian: I have nothing left to offer this world. All that awaits me is fear of my own impending doom and then, my death. Why wait. Its not like my life has any value for me anyways. I may as well just die now. End this hell myself. Its raining outside, the city is asleep and this trash of a neighborhood would move on if one more dead vagrant was found in its midst.

FX: Gun c***s. 

Dorian: One bullet. It will probably hurt more than anything if I am lucky but it will end just as fast. I don’t have the patience for life anymore. It will end, I will be done and then…

FX: Gun Shaking.

Dorian: One pull of the trigger and all will be right in the world. My life for theirs.

Ghost: I wouldn’t do that if I were you.

Dorian: What? Whose there?

Ghost: Perhaps you have heard of me. I am The Ghost. 

Dorian: The… masked vigilante?

Ghost: Vigalante is such an odd word, I don’t go around beating random thugs with a bat and call it justice. Not so much my stock and trade.

Dorian: Then who are you?

Ghost: I told you, I am the Ghost. And I am here for you.

Dorian: Not if I pull this trigger, than you cannot kill me!

Ghost: I think you don’t want to die just yet.

Dorian: And why is that?

Ghost: Because I know something that you don’t know.

Dorian: Why shouldn’t I kill myself, or why shouldn’t I kill you too?

Ghost: You think the both of us should go together?

Dorian: Give me a reason.

Ghost: How about, you tell me what happened? I mean, it is not every day I find myself in this particular part of town, in a rund down complex, trying to weave in and out of mobsters with guns ready to go.

Dorian: You don’t know what happened?

Ghost: Two people are dead, the cops are running around trying to round up whoever they can and we got a gang full of trigger happy kids. I want to know your story. We can start there and maybe, we can make a more happy ending out of all of this. 

Fade Into:

Tammy: Dorian Jefferson! Get out of bed this instant!

Dorian: Five more minutes.

Tammy: If you don’t worry you will be late for the bus downtown and you will get fired.

Dorian: I wont get fired, the boss will just glare at me. 

Tammy: I swaer to any higher power that will listen, you will get out of this bed this very instant!

Dorian: Her name, was Tammy, and she was the best thing in my life.  I had a shallow job, it was just there to make ends meet. I would wake up before the sun would rise, and run to the station.

FX: Running.

Dorian: Wait! Don’t Go!

FX: Bus Whizzing by.

Dorian: But life was harder than I wished. But I was happy. Tammy did the heavy lifting. And together we were, what I thought was a great team. 

FX: Clock

Dorian: Honey, you are home already? I thought your night shift was going to start soon

Tammy: We need to have the talk. it’s the talk we both know has been coming for quite some time.

Dorian: You are pregnant?

Tammy: No.

Dorian: You found someone else?

Tammy: Will you just listen for once in your life, just listen. Ugh, this is the problem with you, you never take what I say seriously. 

Dorian: What do you mean?

Tammy: Just the other day, I asked you to…you know what its not worth it. And that is what I need to tell you now. This is not worth it. And I am done of it. I am done when I am asked by my friends who all have husbands by now…

Dorian: You want to get married?

Tammy: Stop asking questions you dumb buffon. 

Dorian: I don’t understand?

Tammy: And you never do. You have been with that job for the past five years…

Dorian: It pays the bills.

Tammy: You cant give me a nice house upstate with that money, you can’t make me a stay at home mother…

Dorian: Are you not happy?

Tammy: I am not happy with you! You are going nowhere, you have no ambition and the ones you do have are childish, juvinile, and make no sense what so ever. Who collects toy cars?

Dorian: I do…

Tammy: And that is not normal. 

Dorian: And they are model cars thank you…

Tammy: Listen you stupid child! I am leaving you. You are useless, you don’t do anything, and when you do something, it has a value of about zero. I can’t get to where I want in life as long as I walk beside you. And you, you need to grow up and grow up quick because when you lose it all you will have nothing and you will only have yourself to blame.

Dorian: Are you breaking up with me?

Tammy: Yes. Thank goodness you finally get it. Yes honey, I am done. I am out. Finished, moving on with my life. I can do better than you and you will never do better than this, what you have right here and I don’t need that in my life. 

FX: Walking out.

Tammy: Goodbye. 

FX: Door closes.

Dorian: And that was the first step down in my life.

Boss: You dare show your face here after not calling in. constantly being late, and you havent even been doing a good job when you are here.

Dorian: Well..

Boss: We get it, your girl left.

Dorian: I need this job, I am going to get evicted if..

Boss: Your can blame your lack of hours on not showing up on time, not showing up… and the times you claim you need to go home early. 

Dorian: But I just need to adjust.

Boss: You can adjust in the unemployment line, YOUR FIRED!

Dramtic music.

Dorian: I…ive been evicted. I have no home.

FX: Thunder

Background: Rain

Dorian: There is nothing for me left. I.. I need to find something…

Passerby: Hey you! Get off the street!

Cop: No loitering! 

Guy: Get off my stairs. Leave now or I am going to call the cops.

Dorian: (breathing heavy) I need food. No one is looking, I am going to starve if I don’t…the guy isn’t looking. 

FX: Plate glass rumbles

Waiter: Hey you! You havent paid for that! Get back here! 

Dorian: Ah! Run!

Fade out

Dorian: I learned how to steal, and make a living. I crafted pick pocketing and lived off the streets. If I was lucky, I would have enough for a night at a cheap motel. I realized the more I wanted to live off the street, the more pockets I had to pick. Then the worst moment in my life came stairing at me. 

Ghost: What happened? You didn’t consider this rock bottom?

Dorian: No. I was well past the point of rock bottom, I just would have days where I would forget, but that changed when I saw her again. 

Tammy: Thank you for taking me out tonight. It feels so couped up being in the new house.

Boyfriend: You said the house was too big.

Tammy: Hehe, a little of this, a little of that. But…

Dorian: She walked by me. I was sitting on what little scraps I had of a steak from the night before that I had saved up. She didn’t notice. But I recognized that laugh of hers anywhere. 

Tammy: You make me so happy.

Dorian: “You make me so happy” she said. She just didn’t say it to me. She just didn’t smile at me, the way she smiled at him. 

Ghost: I am sorry.

Dorian: Nothing I could have done, I just wasn’t good enough and once I lost her, there was no way I was getting her back. 

Ghost: So tell me, what happened when you met Jonathon.

Dorian: To me he wasn’t Johnathon Marks, he was a guy..

FX: Car driving.

Jonathon: this is the place.

Dorian: He was just a mark, he was walking impatient, but the suit he wore, I thought…

Dorian: If I am lucky, I could get a night at the downtown lodge. Just need fifteen more dollars. 

Jonathon: I do not see them. Must not lose my focuse. Need to act composed.

Dorian: Okay. Just a slap, an insert into the pocket and ill be set hopefully for the rest of the day.

Jonathon: Who is there?

Dorian: He sees me! Um. Hi.

Jonathon: Can I help you?

Dorian: I am so sorry, I am a little lost, can you point me to the historic museum area.

Jonathon: I am the one who is sorry, you see I do not know this area that well?

Dorian: Then what brings you here?

Jonathon: I have a meeting with someone in ten minutes.

Dorian: I hope it is nothing important. I guess, I will be on my way. Oops, excuse me.

FX: Bump

Jonathon: Oh, you fell.. I caught you.

Dorian: Thanks, Hope you have a nice day…

FX: Running.

Jonathon: Why are you…huh? Where is it!? Hey! Stop! Theif!!!

Ghost: And the rest…

Dorian: The rest I heard when the mob conored me, asking for some cheap looking coin. If you are so smart, what happened? 

Ghost: That is a very complicated question, that does not have a simple answer. 

Jonathon: I…I sold everything, I got you that coin from the pawn shop. What do you want with it?

Tony: I need you to meet some of my guys. They will be there in an hour. If you want to see your wife and child, I highly recommend you do not go off script.

Jonathon: Why is this coin worth so much to you?

Tony: My employer, who would like to remain anonymous would like you to know that frankly, it is none of your business but…

Jonathon: But what?

Tony: What you hold in your hand, is more than just a coin…

Jonathon: That is what the pawn shop guy said.

Tony: Isabella believed the coin collection to be cursed. In a good way I guess. 

Jonathon: The collection?

Tony: Yeah, you see, whoever had the coin, could purchase the loyalty of anyone. And I do mean anyone, imagine what a mob boss worth his salt could do if he bought the loyalty of the cops, a few judges, its worth more than money.

Jonathon: You would kidnap my family for that?

Tony: Oh, no, not just that. It doesn’t matter if any of that is true, but my boss, and many of our mutual friends are high into superstition. We have our traditions and beleifs and we believe this coin, a symble of power in itself would be good for the family. 

Jonathon: You can have your stupid coin, just pick it up!

Tony: Not until you get to the meeting place and wait for the designated time that we appoint you.

FX: Walking.

Tony: My name is Tony, last name none of your business. This is my associate Rex.

Rex: Name is Rex, last name is Mcgili…

Tony: That is none of his business.

Rex: Sorry Mr. Loren…

Tony: No last names you moron!

Jonathon: I am here…

Tony: Bring out the dames.

Mother: Honey? What are you doing here? What is going on. What do these men want with us? Whatever they want, just give it to them.

Jonathon: I am trying.

Tony: And the brat?

Girl: LET ME GO!

Rex: You got a fiesty daughter.

Girl: I will hurt both of you, I am not scared of you.

Tony: Now, this gun…right here, this is going to be the negotiator. The cops are currently far away so I could shoot all three of you right now, and no one would come. This place is nice and quiet.

Rex: Except for that guy earlier.

Tony: What guy?

Rex: I saw him talking with Marks earlier.

Tony: What is this!?

Jonathon: This isn’t what you think!

Tony: What I think!? You were talking with some shmoe! I told you not…

Jonathon: He came up to me!

Tony: He came up to you and what?

Jonathon: Nothing.

Rex: Okay, lets begin the switch. 

Tony: Show us the coin, we release the wife. Give us the coin, and we give you your pesky daughter. A fair trade I think. Wouldn’t you agree?

Rex: A fair trade.

Pause.

Tony: Well?

Mom: Just give them whatever they ask honey.

Jonathon: I love you.

Mom: What?

Girl: Get me out of here!

Jonothan: I don’t have it.

FX: Gunshot.

FX: Body Slams.

Jonathon: NO!

Tony: I am sorry, did you say you didn’t have it?

Jonathon: My love! Get up!

Tony: Okay, we tried being nice but clearly you thought this was just some joke. Now you tell us where we can find that punk you gave the coin to or your daughter dies. And then, we will kill you. 

Dorian: So, they killed him and the girl too. I know this… Why don’t you let me just pull the trigger and end this tragedy while I can?

Ghost: You still have the coin, right? I mean with all that has happened, I feel like you would not just throw it away. You have it in your pocker right now.

Dorian: This thing. So many people died for a stupid legend.

Ghost: Oh, it is no legend. The story is real. What you have in your hand is one of the most powerful artifacts a man can come across in their life.

Dorian: Then why can’t it bring them back and undo the last few years of my life.

Ghost: Life does not work like that, power doesn’t erase regret. 

Dorian: Than what does it do?

Ghost: Gold can be trade for goods and services. You purchase more than a tangable item, you can buy someones loyalty, or brainwash them into doing your bidding. 

Dorian: Why would I want this?

Ghost: You telling me you wouldn’t want to find a way to buy your old life back?

Dorian: No point.

Ghost: And what if I told you there was a point.

Dorian: What is the point? Why are you trying to talk me out of ending this? You havent answered that question.

Fade into.

FX: Gunshots.

Jonathon: Run…just…run…

Tony: Just shut up and die old man…

Girl: Ugh!

FX: Object drops.

Tony: My gun, you crazy girl. You.. Get off of my hand.

Jonathon: RUN!

FX: Running away.

Rex: I can’t catch her boss.

FX: Slumps.

Tony: Well he is dead now, but the girl…

Rex: She got away.

Tony: She has seen our faces, if she gets to the cops we will be in big trouble. 

Rex: So where do we start looking.

Dorian: What are you telling me? You! Ghost! Tell me! What are you saying!?

Ghost: She is alive. The daughter, you kill yourself her death is sealed. Or you could suffer this planet a little more and redeem your foul and make up in penance for what has happened. Take my hand, put the gun down for good, and join me. 

Dramatic Music. 

Comercial Break

LunaSence 

Coach: I am a coach. Me and my team work hard. Isnt that right boys?

Boys: OORAH!

Coach: Now Drop!

FX: Boys jumping onto the floor and getting back up.

Coach: I want to see three more. Now!

Boys: OORAH!

FX: Same

Boys:1!

Coach: Again!

FX: Same

Boys: 2!

Coach: Last one! Don’t let me down.

FX: Same.

Boys: 3!

Coach: Hit the showers.

FX: Hands clap and disperse.

Coach: So if you are like me, you need to know your locker room, is fit for the fight. I wont accept any effort that is sub par. That is why when things go south, we use LunaSence. It just makes sense.

Boy: Sir, we have no Lunasence sir.

Coach: HAVE NO LUNASENCE! We going to be doing laps all night!

Boys: (Groan)

Coach: Now get to it. 

FX: Whistle.

Boys: (counting their reps)

Coach: Dang, we really needed that clean feeling to get us through this.

Theme song: For that clean feeling. (three knocks on wood) use LunaSence.

Spokesman: Use LunaSence, that clean feeling. Can be bought in most brand name stores. 

End Commercial.

‘

Announcer: And now back to the thrilling conclusion of this episode, A Pocket of Crime.

Servant: Tony and Rex are here to see you.

Tony: Boss. 

Rex: Boss.

Boss: So, I hear you guys botched the big one. 

Tony: Something like that. But it wasn’t us, the man had help. 

Rex: We know the identiy of the man who stole your coin. His name is Dorian Jefferson. He is a street swindler and con artist. He has a very low repuation and doesn’t keep a profile about him. He goes from street to street never staying long enough to become affiliated with the locals of any one area.

Boss: So this is a pro?

Tony: More like a rat. 

Boss: This rat has something that belongs to me.

Tony: So you say you believe in this coins power?

Boss: The heat of this double murder is getting the entire city on lock down. If I do not get that coin, and the cops connect me to you two bozos, yeah, we are going to be in hard times, the three of us. And let me tell you, we get into hard times, there wont be three of us when I finish. The Don, he knows. He wont return my calls. 

Tony: How can he…

Boss: You two have been running the ransom scam for the past three months. I told you lot to change it up. We need a way to finance new funds outside of what we owe the Don, and you flub that. I get a coin that can not only get me power, but rectify any foul situation and on a double, you lose it. And last, if the boss were to find out, we could give it to the Don as a tribute and be in very good graces. But no. The police are close on our tales and…

Tony: And?

Boss: You lost the girl, the main witness to your shenanigans, and you have bupkis to show for it. 

Tony: We will change that soon!

Radio: And now we have a message, sent in by…a man calling himself…no way.

Rex: Why you listening to the news?

Boss: Because failure, this here is how I am going to know what the cops know. And right now they havent said anything about my family or enterprise but that could change…

Ghost: Hello getnlemen. I do hope you are listening, in fact, I would say there is someone listening. Intently. Well if you are wondering who I am, I am The Ghost. And this is a challenge. No. Not a challenge, a trade. 

Boss: What?

Ghost: One coin, for the life of a girl. You can do whatever you want once you claim the prize. A messenger will be on his way to drop off the details of the exchange, should you be brave enough to accept my gift.

Rex: The Ghost? How can he know about all this?

Boss: Shut it! He knows about the coin, he said he was going to send someone to arrange a meeting. We better not keep him waiting.

Tony: Boss, surely you wouldn’t just trade with him after all he knows?

Boss: Of course not, he may call himself the Ghost, but he is flesh and blood and a couple of bullets will put him just as deep into the ground as Jonathon Marks and his wife.

Dramatic Music. 

Fade out.

Girl: This place looks calm. I don’t know how long I can keep running. 

Voice: Hello.

Girl: You!

Voice: Oh., don’t worry.

Girl: Who are you?

Voice: I am here to help. I know who you are, I know who your mother is, and your father. Ms. Marks?

Girl: You here to kill me?

Voice: Something tells me you are a strong girl, I have no desire to hurt you, but, I can get you what you want. You would just have to come with me. 

Girl: And why should I trust you.

Voice: Your father, Jonathon, he would want you to come with me. We just need to make a trade.

Dramatic Music.

Fade into

Boss; Are the men in position?

Tony: We got three guys on the scaffold, they will take him out after you give the word.

Boss: Not a moment sooner. Is that understood?

Rex: Yes sir.

FX: Creeky door opens.

Boss: So, Dorian Jefferson I presume.

Dorian: How did you know of me?

Boss: Me and my boys are have refound the girl, we are holding her now. If you care about her life, I would say you complete this transaction. 

Dorian: You promise, not to hurt her?

Boss: That is right.

FX: Power outage.

Rex: The power!

Tony: I can’t see!

Dorian: You tried to trap me!?

FX; Punch!

Rex: Ugh!

Tony: Rex! Where are mmmf!

Boss: Boys!

Silence.

Boss: Boys!

FX: Power comes on.

Boss: We need to get out of here!

Ghost: Hello!

Boss: YOU!

Ghost: Sorry, but Dorian is not here to finish the transaction, but you can end what he started. How about we make a trade, you keep your sanity in tact, you tell me where the girl is.

Boss: How do you know I have her.

Ghost: I have my sources. I know for a fact that you are going to find your friends an allies no longer open to doing business with you.

Boss: You wont catch me!

Ghost: You can run! But like your minions here tonight, there is nothing to help you. 

FX: Car starting.

Boss: The Ghost, the gosh darn Ghost is after me!

Fade into.

Dorian: How did you know I wouldn’t die.

Ghost: I have friends you do not know of, but I made sure the power cut and that I could move you before the guns would go off. From there, they were easy pickings.

Dorian: The coin, you wanted me to give it to them?

Ghost: Had they not tried to betray you, it would be the ideal situation.

Dorian: But I thought you would want to prevent them from having it. I thought, this would be the kind of power that would be best if they didn’t have.

Ghost: It isn’t power that lies in the coin. The coins, these particular things are built by energies, energies you or I give off. They manifest themselves over generations and grow to the point that the elements inside mimic our own feelings. 

Dorian: I am confused.

Ghost: For instance, if you wanted, to the point of willingess to do anything for, a certain something, that would manifest in the coin and whoever takes posession of it would be consumed by that drive. 

Dorian: In other words?

Ghost: You demand loyalty from someone, you channel that desire into the coin, and that feeling overrides the person. 

Dorian: I think your saying, how they would use it to buy off someone…we buy them off.

Ghost: Your regret.

Dorian: My regret?

Ghost: Jonathon died, with regret. His last moments were filled with stress, pain, immense sadness, and the feeling of failure. You had those feelings before you grabbed the coin from him. Mixed that with your own, it was no wonder you fell into a suicidal nature. Made even darker still by the regret of the outcome off all that has befallen the family. Those feelings too, now inhabit that coin. Whoever accepts it from you, could very well be destroyed if they were to hold onto that piece of gold.

Dorian: And that is why you wont accept it from me? 

Ghost: I want to see this tragedy end the way it was meant to. We save the daughter and bring justice to them, I am sure the Marks’s can rest in peace.

Fade into.

Don: Hold my calls.

FX: Banging on door.

Don: Yes?

FX: Door opens.

Boss: You need to hide me.

Don: You are a piece of work.

Boss: Huh?

Don: Your resturaunt and your club downtown were both raided. 

Boss: It was what?

Don: Word on the street is that you have the sole survivor of the Marks family that your boys took on as a bright idea to kill. And now you come here?

Boss: I need protection. I need you to hide me.

Don: Hide you!? You are an embarassment. You were running an unauthorized racket behind my back, and now you are hot.

Boss: What do you mean hot?

Don: The police are watching you. Heck, ever since you went down, they have been pressing to raid other organizations.

FX: Boxes being shuffled.

Boss: What are you doing.

Don: They followed you here moron. And now that you are here, I am sure they are going to be raiding this place very soon. You are toxic, you are poison. You may very well have destroyed this entire enterprise. 

FX: Banging downstairs.

Don: The police…they are already here.

Det. Thomas: Everyone get down, this is a raid. We are looking for this man…

Don: You better hope they arrest me, because if I survive this incident, I will kill you for your incompetence. 

FX: Running.

Don: Your running out of places. Your days in this town are numbered. No one in this city can save you!

Boss: There…there must be something I can do.

Dorian: Hello.

Boss: Who…Dorian?

Dorian: You want to kill me don’t you.

Boss: This is all your fault!

Dorian: It is.

Boss: If you just didn’t take the stupid piece of gold…

Dorian: I stole it.

Boss: I know you…

Dorian: It wasn’t a hand off, I stole it from that poor guy. He was ready to sell it to you for his family, and I stopped that from happening. I am a horrible person.

Boss: You mean this wasn’t some plan?

Dorian: I am a street theif. All I was thinking about was simply having a roof over my head for the night. I wasn’t thinking of his obligations. 

Boss: And what if I shoot you here…

Dorian: Just tell us where the girl is.

Boss: And why would I want to do that?

Ghost: You think having that gun means you can just shoot us and it will all be over?

Boss: And why not?

Ghost: We will give you what you want, just honor a fair trade. It is all we ask.

Boss: Fine. One of my men picked her up, she is placed in a hidden room under my office desk. That is why I know she is safe but…

Ghost: My job here is done, Dorian. Finish this.

FX: Walking away.

Boss: Where are you going Ghost?

Ghost: The dead must have their rest. Jonathon’s spirit is here, all he has ever wanted was for us to find and rescue his daughter. Claim your prize.

Boss: Give me that coin!

Dorian: Just promise, when you kill me afterwards…it will be quick.

Boss: Yes…it is mine!

Dorian: With that, I purchase what peace of mind you have left.

Boss: What?

Dorian: All of it! The pain, the sorrow…I give to you, and you accept it. 

Boss: I don’t understand….

Dorian: But you feel it?

Boss: My life…why…

Dorian: The pain…

Boss: it’s ruined. I have nothing to live for. A piece of gold, my empire gone. Over this!? 

Dorian: We are in the same boat you and I it seems. 

Boss: My friends hate me. They want to kill me. My boss, who I had served all this time, who gave me everything I could ever want…

Dorian: Death is an option.

Boss: I…don’t want to live in this world anymore.

Dorian: I hate you…but thanks to your one good deed, one life can be saved from all this. 

FX: Door opens.

Girl: Whose there?

Rick: Hi!

Girl: Who are you?

Rick: My name is Rick Hart, I am a private eye! I was hired to find you.

Girl: Am I going to live?

Rick: You have a long healthy life ahead of you.

Police: Freeze!

Dorian: My hands are up, I surrender.

Boss: Arrest me if you wish.

Dorian: I am the one you have been searching for.

FX: Walking.

FX: Door opens.

Rick: That car there?

Det. Thomas: Who is this girl Rick? I got mobsters to be arresting we got a tip from the Ghost that the leader of the ransom ring was outside a club in his old haunt. They should be arresting him now.

Rick: He is a detective, a very respected one. Go with him and he will take good care of you.

FX: Walking away.

Det. Thomas: Come here.

Girl: Take me somewhere safe…please.

FX: Car door closes. 

FX: Car drives off.

Malina: Well Rick, this was a successful case.

Jonathon: Thank you Mr Hart for finding and taking care of my daughter.

Rick: Dorian helped a lot. He was instrumental to this case. I couldn’t have found her without him. 

Jonathon: And about Dorian, will he go to jail?

Dorian: So…what are my charges? I will confess to anything…

Detective: So, Dorian Jefferson, you have a rap sheet yes but…we don’t have anything to arrest you on.

Dorian: What?

Detective: You were at the scene, which makes you a person of interest, but you are confessing to having in posession a coin you are not in posession of, and we don’t have any evidence of any crime outside of your word that you did something. If we were to try you, we wouldn’t even know what to try you on. Sir. You are free to go. 

Dorian: A man and his wife are dead because of me. 

Detective: Because you pick pocketed someone?

Dorian: Yes?

Detective: You want to make this right? Do a good job, save a life, and live further in service of your fellow man. That is the only thing I could give you. 

FX: Door opens.

Dorian: I guess this isn’t the end of the road for me. Tomorrow will be a new day. Better find some way to make the best of that.

Malina: There he goes Rick.

Rick: Yes.

Mother: You have done an excellent job Mr. Hart.

Jonathon: And my daughter?

Rick: I will see to it she is placed in the best school and home possible. Also I talked to Thomas, pending any nonsense, the coin, being that it was rightfully the property of her father, it will go to her, and it will be set aside to pay for her future so she will never be wanting of anything. 

Jonathon: Rick, you are a good man.

Rick: Now how about you three ghosts disperse?

Mother: Come honey, lets see what the afterlife has in store for us.

Jonathon: If this world really no longer needs us…

Malina: If my brother says your daughter will be fine, then she will be fine.

Pause.

Rick: I don’t sense them anymore.

Malina: I think they left. We did good brother.

Rick: That we did. And hopefully with all this done, we saved not one life, but two. 

Dorian:..yes….tomorrow will be a new day.

Dramatic Music. 

Fade out.

Announcer: The Ghost and all characters are copyright by Supernatural Magazine Monthly. All characters living or dead are fictitious and all similarities are practically coincidental. All rights reserved.

End

Author's Note

Could have been better, feel free to leave any comments or criticisms. Next months issue is going to be something special.