Songster Gecko

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Aw yes.

Forget ghosts, I think Fletcher's going to die of a heart attack at this rate.

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Fletcher felt his face flush as Noon seemed to be honestly confused by Murphy's use of the French term. Of course, Fletcher knew what it meant, but he wasn't quite sure if he should explain it. Call him old-fashioned, but he still felt uncomfortable discussing perverse matters in front of unfamiliar people. "It's, ah, nothing," He said, rather lamely in his own opinion. He was still feeling rather disoriented by the whole thing, what with him going from someone who was practically a social recluse to receiving two invitations from two different women. In fact, just invitations from other people, that on its own was a new enough experience.

He cleared his throat, and hoping to defuse the situation, he said, "It's still a long way till dinner time, and I haven't eaten dinner yet, so..." He trailed off and looked at Noon. "I guess I could go with you if you still want to?" Towards the end of his sentence, his confidence suddenly decided to make itself scarce, making him end it as a question rather than the statement he had intended. He sighed inwardly. Perhaps he should have kept his mouth shut.

---

"Easy there, Rain. I was only teasing." Rhys said, grateful for the fact that she could not see his smirking face. She would have probably given him one tight slap for it, he thought. However, his smirk turned to a look of confusion and horror as Rainbow mentioned having someone that was 'something like a boyfriend'. In his mind, there was only one possibility, and it wasn't one that he was going to say aloud. If Rainbow would have slapped him for the smirk, she would have probably knocked him out cold if he voiced what he was thinking.

"If I died?" Rhys asked, amused by the question. "Well, if I could, I would, though I don't think I should. That'd probably scare the shit outta her, don't you think so?"

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Rhys glanced sideways at Rainbow for a moment before looking back at his laptop. What was with her, asking these sort of questions, and didn't she already know the answers? Rhys felt quite certain that he had, at the very least, spoken of his small family at some point in the past. However, he couldn't really say that he felt annoyed by her questions. Rainbow seemed the be the quiet sort, and Rhys felt rather pleased that she was trying to strike up a conversation. At least she was trying, unlike some of the other people of a similar disposition that Rhys knew.

Still, he couldn't exactly resist teasing her slightly. "Whoah there, Rain." He said, the smirk evident in his voice. "Keep asking questions like that and I might think that you were expressing interest." He chuckled, then continued, "Nah, no siblings, no girlfriends. Ex-girlfriends, yeah, but that's a long, long time ago."

---

Did Murphy just ask him out on a date?

Fletcher could feel his trains of thought screeching to a halt as he registered her invitation. Just what exactly was going on? First Noon, then now her. With Noon, Fletcher could at least respond with whatever was on his mind without much worry. At worst, things would just become awkward, nothing time and a little pleasant conversation couldn't fix. Murphy, however, was his boss, and common sense dictated that one should never get involved with one's superior. It made for a messy work environment. However, Fletcher didn't know if he was in a position to say no either.

He gulped, and decided to agree. Perhaps it wasn't what he thought it was, and he was just thinking too much into things. Besides, it would be a good chance for him to get acquainted with the surrounding area, something he had failed to do when he first arrived. "Y-Yeah, sure. I wouldn't mind." He said.

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

The best kind of kiwi

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Hmm...I think he'd just have an inkling? Just a guess, but nothing he's confirmed on his own.

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

I don't know, I honestly don't think it's possible to break your shoulder with the M16's recoil. There was a pretty scrawny guy in my platoon and he came out just fine (And I'm saying really scrawny, like when we had to fireman lift each other, he had problems finding a partner because he was just too light). I guess you could bruise your shoulder if you don't brace it properly, or you could just feel some soreness after firing a few magazines, but that's about it.

Yup, going off to continue studying. Going to be challenging after two years of not using my brain all that much.

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Oh, that. Well, as long as I can find a place to live here, by all means. Heh.

Singapore's a pretty good place for that. We're pretty damn Westernized over here, so much that I'm having the same problem. I don't exactly speak Singlish all that often, though army's doing a good job of changing that. That's kinda why I have Fletcher as the standard, English-educated Singaporean.

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

"That's...Practically impossible." Fletcher said, his brow furrowing in confusion. He had fired the M16 before, an old one from the 1970s at that, and while the recoil was indeed strong and the spring weakened by years of storage, Fletcher doubted that it would have had the punch to actually break a bone. Perhaps if the firer had the stock in an awkward position, or there was a major defect with the weapon itself, it would have been possible, but even that seemed unlikely to him. Fletcher had even fired the GPMG, firing a larger round and at a faster pace, and the only complain he had was that his shoulder felt sore after a few dozen rounds of automatic fire.

He shook his head slightly. That was not his concern, at least not unless Murphy expected him to handle some high-calibre, tank-killing weapon, which he doubted was to be the case. "You don't need to worry about that." He said. "You just need to let me get some practice with whatever weapon you want me to use." He paused for a moment, realizing that the advert had said nothing of whether he would need to provide his own weapons or not. He had assumed that that was not the case, seeing as how owning guns were very illegal in both Malaysia and Singapore. "Arms will be provided, right?"

---

Rhys stifled a yawn as he shut another tab. Sourcing for the NVGs was not as challenging as he had expected, but he just hoped that Murphy was fine with some black market kit. He had managed to get his hands on a few Gulf War era night vision goggles, for less than a thousand a piece, and that was already a steal. The thermal imagers had been an even simpler affair, just a matter of sending an email to the supplier and asking for a quote, with the explanation that he was a drone enthusiast wanting to experiment with different types of cameras.

"Huh? Oh, it's you." He said upon hearing Rainbow address him. "Well, I don't know what you guys mean by a case, but as far as I'm concerned, right now I'm just doing logistics work." He said. When he had first arrived, he was somewhat like Fletcher. Surprised by the nonchalant admission that this group hunted ghosts and largely skeptical of the whole thing. As time went on, however, Rhys learned to just ignore the weirder stuff and just do as he was told. After all, as long as Murphy gave him his paycheck at the end of each month, he didn't really have much to complain about.

"Just get ready for a nasty surprise, Rain." Rhys said and gestured to his laptop with his thumb. "Murphy just roped me into getting us some night vision kit and thermal imagers. Your accounts are going to explode, that's for sure."

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Singapore's a pretty expensive place to live, to be honest, unless you don't mind living in the 'developing areas', which translate to 'places so remote you're pretty much stuck there'.

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

It only took a couple of seconds for Fletcher to realize that Murphy had not been joking when she said that her company hunted ghosts. There was no way the terms poltergeist or ectoplasm were being used as euphemisms, they were far too specific for that. Fletcher nodded in silence as Murphy carried on, even as a myriad of thoughts went through his head. Ghosts weren't real, that was what he believed, and ghostbusting was either a fictional career, or one chosen by budding scam artists. Part of him wanted to just up and leave, but another part of him compelled him to stay, for no reason other than that he was already in too deep by this point.

Still, even though he held on to his skepticism of the paranormal, he had to admit that he had experienced some rather eerie phenomena during his time in the army. Be it lockers making noises in the dead of night, or just a general feeling of unease when conducting night patrols, there were times when he found himself having to tell himself, over and over again, that ghosts did not exist, and he had no reason to feel afraid. It was all in the mind, he had told himself, or were natural phenomena that were being misinterpreted by his sleep-deprived mind.

He was brought out of his own world by Murphy's question. "Yes," He replied and cocked his head slightly. He thought that it was common knowledge that all Singaporeans went through the army and thus, by default, most would have at least fired a rifle once. "The SAR-21 and GPMG. I didn't get a chance to use the SAW or grenade launcher. I fired the P226 on my own time at the Sembawang Gun Club. Why?"