Chapter Text
Jamil did not want these people in his house. At all. However, he had a stupid group project with them and neither of their houses were free. So essentially he has no other choice but to invite two annoying classmates to “his” house.
A giant ghost hunting laboratory.
Owned by his “best friend” Kalim’s family.
And where his parents just so happen to work.
Jamil knows what follows whenever he has people over; Tons of stupid questions, tons of judgment, and no work done. He had slightly higher hopes for these two, as they were the top of his class, however one he hated with every fiber in his being and the other was annoyingly oblivious to anything that wasn’t academic
Azul Ashengrotto and Riddle Rosehearts.
As Jamil sat in his room thinking, he heard the doorbell ring. He immediately knew who it was, so he got up and went downstairs, opening the door to see exactly who he expected.
“We didn’t come together if you were wondering that, I just so happened to bump into Azul on my way here.”
“A bump of fate, Riddle, as now our wonderful host doesn’t need to wait for one or the other! We can get started right away because of this, isn’t that wonderful Jamil?”
Jamil stared at the two before sighing, he did not wanna do this.
“Yeah sure great, you can come in.” He said sharply, opening the door wider so the two could come in. “Just- one thing I have to mention before you look around.”
Both turned towards Jamil, Azul tilting his head while Riddle nodded as to say ‘go ahead’
Sighing, Jamil spoke:
“My family.. They’re uh, ghost hunters. But I think it’s stupid, please don’t think I believe in that shit.” He spoke, speeding up at the end. Azul and Riddle looked at him, before Azul spoke.
“This is gonna sound odd but.. How does that work?” He said, and Jamil thought he looked actually.. Interested?
“Yeah! Uhm, there has to be science involved, right? Have they made any inventions?” Riddle added, sounding.. Enthusiastic?! Jamil didn’t expect these reactions at all, meaning he wasn’t prepared to actually answer anything, meaning he had to show them the lab with all the stuff so they wouldn’t ask anything else.
“They’ve made tons, although hardly any work, you can see if you want?” He already regretted this, but alas it was the only way. Both Azul and Riddle nodded, causing Jamil to sigh. “In that case, follow me.”
Jamil led the two down into the basement, which was essentially their main lab. Jamil’s family worked kinda like a branch of the company- as in they have their own lab in their own house. The lab was pretty simple, the interior design was a sleek white, work tables all covered in gadgets could be seen all pushed against the walls.
This left a perfect walkway to the center of attention, a giant ghost portal built into the back wall. Jamil watched the two looking around with wide eyes and open mouths, both gasping when they saw the portal.
“What is that?? It’s so.. Huge!” Riddle said, stepping back a little. Opposite to Riddle, Azul stepped closer to the thing.
“This is quite interesting, I am curious what its purpose is.” He asked, turning to Jamil. Jamil sighed, having to now answer questions anyway. Why did he think this was a good idea??
“It’s a Ghost portal, it’s supposed to open up to the ghost dimension. But it doesn’t work, probably because the ghost dimension isn’t real.” Jamil stated, going towards the portal.
“Does that mean we can look inside it? I mean it doesn’t work, right?” Riddle asked, causing Azul to nod in agreement. Why were they so intrigued he could only wonder.
“Well, I can. My dad insists you wear a suit, and so everyone in the family has one. Because neither of you have a suit, you can’t go in.” Jamil explained, holding up a white suit with black details. Both looked dejected about not being able to go in, until Azul perked up.
“In that case, could you go in and tell us what it’s like? I’m still quite curious, and I trust you’re observant enough to relay accurate details. After that I promise we can start on the project.” Although the idea itself was simple, by the look on Riddle’s face it seemed like it would work. Then, they could actually work on the project!
“Fine, but only so we can work on the project faster.” Jamil replied with a sigh, pulling the suit up and over his clothes. It was a tight fit, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. After the suit was fully on, Jamil stepped into the portal.
The inside was dark, only the lines of LED’s on the walls and ceiling lighting it up. Jamil looked around, realizing he had never really been in the portal before. It was kinda cool, if it wasn’t made for stupid ghost stuff it’d be cooler.
Not paying attention, Jamil leaned his hand against the left wall. He felt something press beneath his hand, and before he had time to think what it was the portal lit up.
With Jamil fully inside.
Jamil’s screams were drowned out by the noise of the portal firing up, green twists and spirals filled his darkening vision. His left arm was on fire, his entire body was on fire.
It felt like he was dying, like his nerves were being torn apart and built back together. It was the most pain he had ever been in, and it would be the last thing he’d ever feel Jamil was sure.
Until it stopped. The burning, the pain, the feeling of death. Jamil had no time to feel relief, as his vision fully darkened and he passed out.
-
Azul and Riddle pulled Jamil’s body from the portal, desperately trying to keep him from being sucked in. He was in terrible condition, having obviously passed out from the pain. Either that or he was dead, which neither wanted to think about.
Azul couldn’t help but think this was his fault, he suggested Jamil go into the portal, and look what happened! The only thing keeping him from crying was the fact that Riddle was there, and he would rather not embarrass himself.
Riddle was terrified. The first time he goes over to someone else’s house and they could be dead. His mom was gonna kill him too if she found out, and he wouldn’t be able to keep going to public school either. He shouldn’t be worrying about that though, especially because he was dragging what could be a dead body out of a ghost portal.
Once the two successfully got Jamil away from the portal, they looked at each other in horror.
“..We should get some bandages for his arm, that looks to be in the worst state right now.” Azul said after a while of staring at each other in silence. “I’ll go look for them.”
Riddle nodded, watching Azul leave the room and go upstairs to look for bandaids. He would check Jamil’s pulse, as that’s what his mother would say to do, but Riddle was too scared. What if there was no pulse? He didn’t want to know.
Instead, Riddle just continued watching Jamil, hoping and praying he would wake up. Because if he didn’t, Riddle might’ve just indirectly killed someone.
-
Jamil stirred, his body aching. Five more minutes, he thought, thinking he was just waking up. He had the craziest dream, the stupid ghost portal had started up, with him..
His eyes shot open, and he sat up abruptly. He could hear someone next to him gasp, and he turned to face them. It was Riddle, who was sitting down next to Jamil who was on the floor.
“Wha.. What the fuck happened?!” He asked, trying to stand up but weirdly falling to the floor. Almost as if his body fell through the floor.
“I- Uhm. You might wanna look in a m-mirror?” Riddle said, looking horrified but also somewhat relieved. Jamil, confused, tried getting up again- thankfully successful this time. He slowly walked over to the oddly placed mirror by his dad’s desk, and when he saw his complexion he almost fell back.
His once almost black hair was pure white, and his eyes were a glowing green. Along with that, his left arm had a giant gash across almost the whole left side of it. He wanted to scream, but if his parents heard or saw him they’d flip.
Jamil suddenly turned invisible, if only for a second, shocking him further. He felt himself step back away from the mirror, as he once again turned towards Riddle. Azul now also stood there, looking at Jamil with a similar horrified face.
“We’ll tell you what happened as we bandage up your arm, although we should probably head up to your room to do that. Are you able to guide us there?” Azul asked, holding some medical grade bandages.
Jamil nodded, too stunned to speak at this point. Before he could take two steps forward however, he felt two beams of light surround him. Suddenly, he was back in his hoodie, which greatly stung his left arm. Looking back at the mirror his eyes and hair were mostly back to normal- As his hair had a couple white streaks in it.
Shaking his head, he gently rolled up his left sleeve before continuing to walk up towards his room. Jamil walked past a shocked Riddle and Azul, who he waved his right hand at to follow.
The three silently walked up to Jamil’s room, and when they got there Jamil sat on his bed. Azul went over to him and began to bandage his arm, while Riddle sat at his desk chair.
His room was full of space decor and quite a lot of snake themes. It made the situation feel less intense being in his favorite space, and as Jamil looked at the decorations that lined his wall he felt like he could breathe a bit clearer.
Which is when he realized he hadn’t been breathing at all, causing Jamil to take a big gasp of air.
“I wasn’t breathing.” He whispered, causing Riddle to hurriedly come over to check his pulse.
“Your heart isn’t beating either.. How are you alive oh my gosh I think we need a doctor or like the entire hospital or-“
“GUYS.” Azul yelled, shocking both of them. “First off, we owe Jamil an explanation. Here’s it simply, when you went in the portal you pressed what I believe was the on button, causing the portal to open with you inside.” He explained, Jamil nodding a little.
“The electricity and.. Ghost stuff used to power the portal essentially went into your body. I think the reason you aren’t breathing and you have no pulse is because the electricity killed you, but the ghost stuff counteracted that and made you into a ghost. However, because you weren’t originally a ghost, I think you maintained your humanity- hence the switch we saw.” Azul finished, watching as Jamil stared at the wall in horror.
Azul thought he was.. A ghost? But ghosts weren’t real…. But the portal worked.
“I’m not sure, but has anything strange happened? Like typical ghost things you see in movies?” Azul asked, causing Jamil to close his eyes to think.
“..Yes I think. When I first tried standing up it felt like my body fell through the floor.” Jamil said, causing Riddle to nod in agreement. “And I think we all saw me turn invisible… Shit Azul I think you’re right. I am a ghost.” He finished, opening his eyes to see Azul and Riddle both standing up.
“Well, you’re a half ghost. Remember?” Azul stated.
“Yeah, you’re still human. I mean, you have human parts, even if some don’t really have a function anymore.. They’re still there!” Riddle added, trying to lighten the mood.
Jamil looked at the two, then looked down at himself. I mean, if he could hide it, Jamil could just pretend he was still a human. The problem is, what if he couldn’t hide it.
“You’re both right, but if I’m gonna hide you cannot tell anyone.. And to make sure that happens we’ll have to pretend to be friends or something- Just so I can keep an eye on you.” Jamil said, looking back up at the two as he stood. Both nodded, and Jamil almost sighed with relief.
“Great, now I don’t think any of us are able to work on the project, so you can both leave now.” He stated, causing both to look either shocked or offended.
“Oh come on Jamil, we have to stay! It's getting super dark out anyway.” Azul complained, making Jamil huff angrily. He was nor excited to be hanging around this guy.
“Yeah! We could get kidnapped this late at night, that’s what my mother says anyway.” Riddle added once more, and although it was unlikely either would get kidnapped Jamil admitted he had a point.
“Fine, but only because if I say no you might tell someone. And also you’re both sleeping on the floor, I don’t have any sleeping bags.”
“Wonderful!”
“I’ve never had a sleepover before.”
“It’s not a sleepover you just so happen to be staying over.”
“Jamil, even I know it’s a sleepover.”
“Shut up Azul.”
Their voices went on, until Jamil’s mom called them down for dinner. Jamil hid his arm with his hoodie sleeve and a singular glove he found, and he awkwardly introduced the two as his new friends from school. Riddle choked on the spice of the food, and Azul, although he hid it, struggled a bit as well.
Everything seemed normal, but none of them knew that hiding Jamil’s new ghost side would turn into something a bit different.
A bit super you could say.
This is the start of lots of horrible puns.
Beware!