A police car arrived at the summer house at the crack of dawn. Sheriff Anthony got out of the vehicle. He took a moment to gaze upon the serene view of sunrise. He was annoyed to be here so early in morning but seeing the view made it a little worthwhile.


    --This area really has the best view in town.


    “I hate to bother you when you''re so busy but care to come inside, Mr. Anthony."


    Anthony was disturbed by a young voice and knew whom it belonged to. He twisted his neck and saw Tom standing at the front door with his hands in his pockets. He was the reason Anthony was there in the first place.


    “I told you that you had three days to solve the case.”


    “I solved the case in the three days I was provided. I just wanted to show you what I uncovered. That is why I’m still here. Come inside.”


    Tom signaled to invite him in, and Anthony reluctantly obeyed. Tom never explained why he had to come there, only writing down instructions saying, "Be there at dawn." Once inside, he saw three men tied together with each other. Two of them were unconscious, leaving only Peter was awake.


    “Now, tell him what you told me.”


    “Do it yourself.”


    Peter groaned.


    “It seems you haven’t learned your lesson yet.”


    “Okay, okay. Keep that thing away from me.”


    Tom kept the centipede in his hand in case he changes his mind.


    “I hired these guys to haunt the place. I was hoping that William would give up on this place so I can claim it.”


    Anthony was shocked. He was sure that there was no ghost, but he didn''t expect a teenager to fight three grown adults and win.


    “Why did you do it?”


    Tom brought the centipede near Peter’s face.


    “I-I smuggle marijuana from here. There is a route that doesn’t go through the checkpoint from here. There is marijuana under the house. That is why the floor panels creak. I also mixed some of it in the dust so people would hallucinate, making their fear grow stronger. We also scared the couple that came here that day, but we didn''t kill anybody."


    “And there you have it, Officer. Case solved.”


    “So, Robert really did kill his wife.”


    Tom was about to head out of the house when he stopped.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    “Oh, I almost forgot about that. Samantha committed suicide.”


    “What? Why would she do that? I’m sure Robert brought him here to push her off the cliff.”


    "That''s the misconception everyone believes. Samantha never came here with Robert."


    Tom hadn''t slept a wink from the last day. He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Anthony still didn''t understand what Tom meant by that.


    "Robert did come here with a woman. But she wasn''t Samantha. It was someone named Susan. I took the liberty of inviting myself to Robert''s house. The people were right. Samantha was a really observant person, and she wrote her observations in her diary. She had found out that Robert was cheating. The maelstrom of emotions couldn''t be contained, and, in the end, she decided to kill herself by jumping off the cliff. It just so happens that Robert had chosen the same place and time and saw her death. I believe that everything has been explained now, and I will take my leave."


    Tom yawned as he waved goodbye and left the place. He was sleep-deprived and wanted to drop dead right now, but he wanted to get out of this hellish place as soon as possible as well.


    --Su is a terrible nickname for Samantha.


    “You know, I hired you to get rid of ghosts and...”


    “I solved your problem, didn’t I? In fact, I solved something that was out of my area of expertise. You should be paying me more."


    “But you also damaged my house.”


    Tom didn''t like the look William gave. He wasn''t in the mood to sugarcoat his words. William was scratching his head, trying to find a way to wriggle out of this.


    “Listen here, Mr. William. If you don’t give me my money, I swear I’ll kill myself to become a ghost and haunt you for the rest of your life. Now cough it up.”


    Tom''s expression was dead serious. His dark circles added more weight to his threat. Tom glared at him until he pulled out his wallet.


    “Okay, I got it.”


    Tom sighed as he exited the house. The sun was full up, and its rays hurt his eyes.


    “This is why I hate fake cases.”


    He mumbled.


    "You didn''t have to scare him that badly, Tom."


    “The guy wasn’t ready to pay the money.”


    "Since we got the money, let''s go get some ice cream now."


    “Hey, Ray, wait.”


    Rachel snatched Tom''s wallet and blitz away, mercilessly leaving behind her drowsy brother. Tom was forcefully made to run after her. Rachel wasn''t exhausted at all and was energetic as ever. They ran into the main streets as Rachel laughingly teased her brother.


    There are many mysteries in this world that science has yet to explain. These things are categorized under the name supernatural. Almost all famous mythical creatures are real. Ghosts are real, vampires are real, werewolves are real, trolls are real, and even ghouls are real. Tom would rather deal with them instead of humans. No one is better in the art of deceit than humans. A troll might be more dangerous, but he would pick it over a human any day of the week.


    He looked at Rachel smiling gingerly as she ran ahead of him. His sister was his strength when he was down and couldn’t get back up. She was his light when he was in the dark. She was the reason he chose this thorny path. Tom was gasping for air and stopped to catch his breath.


    “Hurry, Tom.”


    She called out to him. They were already in a crowd, and the mall was near. A couple of kids were playing among the public and were running without looking ahead. A boy ran into Rachel but passed through her, feeling a cold chill down his spine.


    “Hey, are you okay?”


    His friends asked why he stopped all of a sudden. The boy shrugged it off and started running again. Rachel smiled at the kids that are unaware of what happened to them. She was again remined of who and what she was and what she has become.


    Mysteries are unknown things. And the unknown usually cause harm more than good. Tom didn''t mind if he has to solve one non-supernatural case once in a while. A wave of joy splashes over the people when a mystery is solved. Tom hoped that soon his own mystery would be solved so he can embrace the same joy as others.


    -One day, I’ll definitely save you…. Ray.