Finding Peace

Dan walks over to the plank door with the witch floating behind in a leisurely way.

"Ahh, one last piece of advice. The ghast on the last floor was immobile but, that won't always be the case. In most cases you will want to make them your priority to make the whole floor safer." Witch

"Great.... More things to worry about." Dan

"I'll stay back and let you focus then." Witch

The Witch fades leaving Dan alone.... After preparing himself mentally, Dan uses his hammer to push the plank door open. What is on the other side is a passageway made of metal bars with openings in between that drop into a black abyss. If one were to not watch their step, a leg could go through....

"No light. Where'd I put that flashlight? Wait, I have that lantern now. Oh?" Dan

The lantern appears and slowly floats around Dan providing a light source. After experimenting with making it move, Dan moves on carefully. After a few minutes of walking carefully, Dan realizes something concerning.

'The space is getting farther apart .If this keeps going on.... Will I have to jump between them? On top of that I think the bars are getting thinner.' Dan

Dan continues down the passageway at a much slower pace. Eventually a slight breeze picks up. A scratching wind hits against the metal bars that fill the way ahead making a voice-like sound.

"Murrrrhhhhlmmm"

"Addaaaaand"

'Either I'm hallucinating or there is a ghost here. Hopefully it's not a ghast. This area is already precarious enough.' Dan

With Dan's pace slowed even further down due to the wind that seems to repeating something, an hour goes by before something of note happens.

'A child. It's just.... Sitting there....' Dan

On the bar in front of Dan is a little girl who appears to around 3 or 4. Long black hair covers her face making her rather eerie. She is swaying her legs down below into the abyss of darkness.

"Murrrrrhhhhlmmmm, Adaaaand, Alone." Girl

"Ummm? Hello?" Dan

The girl looks up at Dan in surprise. Some of her hair gets moved to the side of her head as she raises her head revealing two pale eyes. Dan whispers some things to himself.

"A blind ghost? Her eyes may just be like that because she is a ghost though.... She seems to be the source of those things that I've been hearing. Murrrrhhlmmm and adaaaand. Mom and Dad? I can't see any tethers anywhere.... It could be attached to the outside of the bars in which case searching would be incredibly hard." Dan

"Murlm.... Mom. Daaaaad.? Constructs-sionsss. Floor gone. Murm and Dand gone." Girl

'I.... I can get what she is saying....? I'm guessing her mom and dad brought her to a construction site. Workers perhaps? Floor gone is probably referring to an accident that happened where one of the floors collapsed. A lot of laws have recently been instated making construction sites more safe. I have heard that the death rate of construction workers is rather high. Employees in construction companies have to sign paperwork that prevents any sort of liability from falling on the company itself.' Dan

"Do you have any siblings? Grandparents?" Dan

"Gram! Find mom and dand? Waiting outside! Can Dan bring?" Girl

"Sure-...?!?!?" Dan

'How does she know my name? I don't think she is a ghast so she may be some other special type of ghost? Anyways, it seems that I have to bring her to the end here.' Dan

Dan hops over to the side of the girl. She opens her arms and dan picks her up. She squirls her way behind his back and wraps her arms loosely around his neck. After that Dan's journey forward was smooth sailing. A couple hundred hops later, he reaches a solid platform that goes towards another plank door and to its right is a ghastly staircase with an elderly woman who is having a breakdown.

"Is..... Is that your gram?" Dan

"Mmmm!" Girl

She slides off Dans back and hobbles over to the old lady wrapping her arms around her.

"(------)!?!? I never thought I'd see you again (------)! I though with your parents you....." Gram

"Gram! Gram! I'm not alone!" Girl

The elderly woman pets the girl's hair with a look of affection. Tears flowing out of her eyes. An indescribable expression takes over. Grief, relief, sorrow, and joy.

"There, there, Gram's here for you." Gram

She turns to Dan with and gives him a nod. She then heads down the staircase while carrying the girl that seems to have passed out in her arms. A minute later, the staircase turns into white particles that dissipate, leaving behind a brick wall.

"Real sad, huh. Parents died in an accident because of an oversight in the construction of a building. The girl came along because she wanted to be with her parents when they work for her birthday. She survived but, was left trapped on a metal beam. She had a terrible cut that ran a great portion of her torso and before rescuers could make it, she had bled out. The Grandmother who was nearby was left alone just as the girl was. With her only child and grandchild dead she had lost her only reason for living and died not long after." Witch

"Where'd you come from?" Dan

"I've been following behind, watching. In a twisted way, this is entertainment to me. Just like reading a sad story or watching a show." Witch

"....." Dan

"Not going to say that I'm horrible or something? You humans are great at judging people. I was an expert at that when I was one anyways." Witch

"It doesn't matter." Dan

.....

"???? What?" Witch

"Why would that matter? It only effects you, right? Are you causing situations like these?" Dan

"Err-.... No?" Witch

"Then why would I care?" Dan

"... You know, I thought you were rather simple-minded before. Now I know that you are." Witch

"Weren't you saying something about humans being great at judging others?" Dan

"Heh~." Witch

"Anyways, I'm done for today. I'm still tired from the first floor...." Dan

"I'll help there~." Witch

The Witch waves her arms and the previous path that Dan took disappeared leaving the staircase that goes back up.

"Wha-." Dan

"Floors will automatically disappear after they are cleared and empty. However, I can make the environments that were created for the different ghosts disappear after they are cleansed. Creating shortcuts within the floors basically. That's about the extent of what I can do to help in the subfloors." Witch

"Thanks for the help! If you ever need help with anything, just ask." Dan

"Well, I am finding that learning to use the television is rather interesting so I'm fine there. I do have a 'console' that I don't know anything about though. The guy who had it said something about games?" Witch

*sigh

"Based on how hard it was to teach you to use a remote that'll take a while...." Dan