章 6: A Ghost’s Revenge
Laura was excited. She was able to see more of the world outside now that Tynan was bringing her to work. In the twenty-first century, it wasn't uncommon to see people holding their phones up and talking to themselves. People would assume that they were on a video call and Laura made it very convincing that she was someone calling from the other side of the line.
Tynan showed her around town as he walked to work. The e-ghost smiled at the peaceful town. There were a few cars and only a few people because it was afternoon. Tynan's shift started after lunch and ended around dinner time. He was covering for Kamie who called in for an emergency leave today.
The first thing she noticed was how crappy of a human the manager was. He was an overweight man who looked extremely greasy and didn't clean up after himself very well. While Laura tried her best not to judge a person by their looks, it was a clear case of human garbage here. If there was an accurate way to describe him, Laura would call him an oily human meatball who was only good at putting others down to make himself look better.
"Who do you think you are strolling in like that? Time is money! Just because you're covering for Kamie doesn't mean that you can slack. Hurry up and re-stock the ice cream! The school kids will be out very soon."
Tynan apologised and quickly grabbed his apron, pinning the name tag and putting on a cap. Laura, who was watching everything from her phone, was slightly disappointed when Tynan had to changed her angle. The phone was tucked into his back pocket and the ghost girl was no longer able to see what Tynan was doing. On the bright side, she was still able to talk to him while he worked.
"Is that human meatball always like this?" she asked.
Tynan sighed. He didn't exactly want to let Laura see his uncool side but he had forgotten about it when he decided to take her to work. Of course, the manager wasn't going to let him off. Tynan was akin to the man's favourite punching bag because he didn't talk back. He was also the oldest staff around and the easiest to bully. It wasn't as if Tynan didn't know that he was being taken advantage of. However, he didn't have the confidence to talk back and get fired. It took him very long to get this part-time job and it was the only thing that allowed him to continue paying for his rent and bills.
Laura was boiling with anger. She glared at the manager who was busy playing games on his phone in a corner while Tynan worked diligently. An idea sprang to her head. The overweight man was sitting on one of those flimsy foldable chairs and Laura knew that if she loosened the screws on one side, the fat man would have his karma coming.
The ghost girl then decided to focus on loosening the screw while Mr Manager continued to bark orders at Tynan for moving too slowly. Laura was focussed and was invested in the task. She was halfway there when the human meatball got up to leave the store for a smoke.
Tynan heaved a sigh of relief when the door closed. He took out his phone and gave Laura an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry you had to see that," he told her.
The Dirt Princess wasn't happy. It was clearly not Tynan's fault. Why was he apologising? Seeing the man act like a huge dejected puppy made her want to give him a hug. The programmer had so much good in him that was just waiting to be recognised. He was wasted in a dump like this with people such as that manager.
"Don't do that... wasn't this the reason why you brought me to work? To kill time and make fun of the boring tasks? They say that two is better than one. While the meatball is out, why don't I help you with some chores? I can mop the floor or something while you stock the shelves. Just warn me when someone is coming in."
Tynan didn't know if this counted as cheating but Laura looked extremely determined. He couldn't reject her offer and agreed to it. The ghost girl rejoiced at that. Her plan to torment the mean manager was only just beginning.
While Laura kept her word and proved to be a great help to Tynan at work, the e-ghost was preparing traps. She'd sabotaged the manager's locker and unlocked it. Since she was a ghost, the only fun thing to do was to haunt someone, right?
Tynan was busy tending to a customer at the cash register when the scum of a manager returned. Laura didn't miss out on the opportunity to sabotage the manager who was passing by a fat lady choosing her snacks.
"Aiya! Who touched me?" the enraged lady screamed and turned around.
Caught by surprise, the manager couldn't deny or react when she slapped him and threatened to sue the man for sexual harassment before storming off without purchasing anything. Tynan and the rest of the customers were unsure of what happened but there was no mistaking the furious embarrassment on the manager's face when he noticed the judgemental stares he was receiving.
"I didn't do it! Why would I even be interested in a fat sow like her? Ridiculous!" he yelled before storming off.
Laura had to stifle her laughter when she heard that. Tynan was slightly confused when he heard his ghost pal giggling. However, he was busy with a long line of customers still waiting for their turn to pay so he didn't ask and forgot all about it by the time he was done.
The manager was fuming in the staff room when his locker door swung open. He cursed at it. Everything in the shop was old and falling apart. Even his locker was not spared from the wear and tear.
Not thinking much about it, the manager went up to the door and closed it shut before locking it again. He was about to sit down to play a game when the locker door came swinging open again.
This time, the manager felt a chill. Didn't he just close it earlier? Was the lock faulty? Slowly, he walked over to inspect it. Everything seemed in place and normal. He tested the lock and it was working fine. Was it his imagination?
Laura was holding her breath as the manager shut the locker door for a second time and pinned the door with his gaze. The ghost girl didn't do anything to the locker door this time, focusing on the chair and the cleaning supplies closet behind him.
The moment the fat man sat down, the chair gave way and he crashed into the cleaning supplies closet behind him, making a huge racket. Tynan was outside helping a customer when he heard the noise. The programmer was slightly worried but had to focus on the customer's question when she asked for the price and membership benefits. Laura relaxed when Tynan made no attempt to check out the noise.
From the crack of the door, Laura could see the manager cursing as he got up. He took a while to assess the damage done before kicking the broken chair aside. The grumpy manager shook his head. Today was simply not his day with the turn of unlucky incidents.
Laura waited for the manager to pick up the buckets and fallen bottles of cleaning liquid before she set the second part of her plan into action.
As the meatball reached for the fallen mop, she activated her power and shifted it slightly. The manager felt his heart skip a beat and his hands turned cold. He froze and blinked, wiping the sweat from his brow. That didn't just happen, right? As he waited, nothing more happened and the strength returned to his legs a little, With a shaky laugh, the meatball brushed it aside as his imagination played up due to how tired he felt.
Then, it happened again. This time, the manager backed off and cursed. It was no prank either because he saw the mop handle roll away from him just as he was about to grab it.
Heart thumping loudly in his chest, the manager looked as if he was going to pee in his pants. Laura didn't miss the opportunity and struck when the iron was hot. With all her might, she rolled the mop towards the manager and activated her cleaning powers. The mop rose and started mopping its way over to the terrified manager who screamed and ran out of the break room, out of the store and into the streets.
Tynan was shocked when he heard the scream. The customers in the shop were also puzzled. Nobody really liked the manager but even for the human meatball, that was far from normal.
With the manager gone, the rest of the day went by pleasantly. For the first time in a long time, Tynan felt that work wasn't a burden but rather enjoyable as he could paste price tags onto the items and still have someone to talk to. Time passed quickly and Tynan ended his shift when another part-timer came to take over.
"Where's the manager?"
Tynan shook his head and explained how the meatball was acting strangely that afternoon.
"He didn't return after that. I think his belongings are still here so he should be coming back at some point. Also, I did the cleaning today so you don't have to do it later. Just send me a text if the manager returns alright? We might have to file for a missing people report if he doesn't return in twenty-four hours."
Roy the other part-timer grinned. "Sure thing, enjoy the rest of your day off!"
Laura felt proud of her accomplishments for the first day of monitoring his Happiness Meter and keeping it above 50%. Tynan looked happier than she remembered him to be and things were also looking a lot better for Roy without the manager around to stir trouble. Satisfied with her revenge, the Dirt Princess decided to place dinner requests.
"Fried rice? Sure. The regular kind with chicken, the seafood kind that I can't afford or the Thai kind with pineapple?"
Laura salivated. "I've never had Thai fried rice but pineapple with fried rice sounds delicious. I'll help!"
Tynan looked unsure as he picked up the eggs and canned pineapples. "Only on my watch. Do you know how to wash rice?"
Laura rolled her eyes. How hard could that possibly be? Tynan was underestimating her a little too much.
Sadly, Tynan had every right to doubt her culinary skills. The programmer soon found out that it was safer for the ghost to handle chopping things up instead with her ghostly powers. At least nobody would be missing a finger if she did it. On the other hand, anything that could potentially be a fire hazard must be kept away from the Dirt Princess. She was simply too careless about it and Tynan couldn't afford fire insurance at the moment.
Throughout dinner preparation, Tynan couldn't help but wonder if Laura was an angel sent to him to cure his loneliness. Ever since his parents passed away, he only had his friends to rely on. However, even friends couldn't fill the loneliness inside of him. Ever since Laura's existence in his life, Tynan could claim to actually be happy. The thoughts of not wanting to wake up tomorrow became lesser and the man found himself enjoying her company more than he knew was possible.
"Wait... could this be a sign of me falling for her?" Tynan paused or a fraction to let the thought sit in and felt his heart race. He'd never had girlfriends before and his first romantic encounter was with a ghost trapped in his phone.
Sighing, Tynan wondered how he should react to this realisation. Should he pretend that he didn't know about it or should he act on it and try the subtle approach of seeing Laura's reaction to the idea of them having a cross-dimensional relationship.
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