Jan pays Emilia a visit

Three days pass by, and you hadn't seen Jan return yet. No neighbors saw her, you didn't hear footsteps to and from the apartment. There wasn't any sounds of relaxing meditation music when you pressed your ear up against the wall. You and Jane looked everywhere, asked mutual friends, tried her phone. There was just nothing, the whole time.

You remained very concerned for Jan's safety the whole while, even though Jane tried to convince you that people don't just disappear. Jan would no doubt turn up somewhere, she said, after she had some time alone. You hoped for your girlfriend's sake that she was right, because it ate at you that you were possibly part of the catalyst that caused Jan to depart suddenly. For her part, Jane decided to continue on with wedding plans, inviting a couple friends and family members over for the weekend, wanting to resume one of the more normal aspects of your lives.

Neither of you called Emilia, which might have solved the problem outright, mostly because you didn't want to describe what happened that caused Jan to leave. You weren't ready for it, foreseeing only trouble down that discussion.

The morning you and Jane were expecting guests--well, Jane was, you still had some calls about your missing neighbor to make--you were met with an unexpected visitor, notified by her presence when Jane screamed in shock. Jan had returned.

She also was transparent and glowing.

Jan looked like a proper ghost in how you might describe them. You could clearly make out details of her face and hair, but the definition of her body seemed to diminish into floating wisps and ribbons that trailed around her. Her hair was messy and unkempt, locked in the same style, or lack thereof, from the day she disappeared. Her mouth hung open in a truly ghastly expression, head tilted to the side like she didn't really know how to orient her body and this vision she had made was just her best guess at replicating her physical form from the astral plane.

Jane had her hands over her mouth, staring at the apparition in total shock. "Oh my goodness, Jan... did you..."

"Talk to Emilia? I absolutely did." Jan's words didn't cause her mouth to move, adding to the fright of her appearance. "When you were in my body, Jane... I saw everything. All your plans. The things you wanted to do with my body as if I were a plaything for you, how I was to be locked away in my own mind as you used me for all kinds of pleasurable activity that I likely would have agreed to--and yet I had no voice. But I also saw into your mind, into the recent past, to know that Emilia did something to you to allow you to behave like a monster."

Jan turned to look at you directly, and it was like her whole appearance changed to reflect her mood. She looked happy, smiling, her hair neatly kept and her wild ribbons of ethereal light more like a flowing gown around her. "And you, my hero... my savior that rescued me from her. You could have given into your girlfriend's behaviors, giving me something I'd always wanted, but not in the way I'd have wanted it. You gave me the strength to break free, to push her out."

In an instant, Jan's appearance shifted back to how it was before. "So, I am sorry I must do this, John. But I went straight to Emilia to be given the strongest, longest settings of the Ghost Machine, so I might fight on fairer ground for the heart of my hero! I will earn your love, John, you shall see that I deserve it above Jane. I can now become anyone you desire, at any time, I need only enter their body and their life will belong to me as much as I wish."

Jane stomped a foot, trying to act angry to hide her fear. "Now hold on, Jan! This is hardly pound-for-pound, I'll apologize to you all you'd like but you can't just take over any woman's body at any time to try to please John and call that equal!"

Jan suddenly began to drift into the floor, sinking away. "We shall see... I look forward to seeing who is on your guest list for today. Perhaps by the end of the day, I will have taken one of them as my first form. Or, perhaps I will wait. I want to leave you in suspense for a bit, always looking over your shoulder, Jane..."

And then she was gone. Although, you knew better. Jan was probably just watching.

This was not the Jan you knew. This ghostly Jan, driven to ****... the kind-hearted and soft-spoken Jan was still somewhat there, but wrapped up in a sort of warped obsession. You turned to Jane, curious. "Hey, when you were ghostly, you also acted really intense, way more so than I'd normally expect. Does the Ghost Machine, like, change a person or amplify aspects about them when they're converted?"

"I don't know, I'm not a ghost engineer!" Jane said, as she hurried to the bookcase on the wall to search for one of her paranormal books. Flipping through it, she never looks up at you. "I mean, I guess. I did go a bit beyond my normal behavior. It's like... things just don't feel the same on the astral plane. Touch and emotion and sights and sounds, I can understand them, but they're just... different. Like I said a while ago, how I didn't have things like butterflies in my stomach? Without that kind of thing holding me back, it is so much easier to just... go for it. To do the thing I want to do and damn the consequence."

Jane hurried to the kitchen after she flipped to a page, searching through the pantry. She took out a jar of dried thyme, dumped all of it in a bowl, and tossed a lit match into it.

"...What are you doing now?"

Jane finally looked up at you. "I have seventeen effective methods to repel ghosts temporarily, according to this book, Practical Paranormal Praxis. I'm having this get-together, John, and I'm not gonna let Jan's lopsided **** thing get in the way!" She started to flip through the pages again, ignoring you once more.

The only certainty about the burning thyme was that it smelled like a restaurant had caught fire. You really weren't sure that such an aroma might actually work against a being like Jan. If she was created by the Ghost Machine, was she really a true ghost anyway? You didn't know, you didn't care. You kind of wanted Jan to come back already.