The sign posted on the window reads "GHOSTHUNTING: Now Hiring!"

Blythe should've turned down the dare. Sure, there are mild social consequences for failing to complete the sacred ritual of sleepover games. But quitting her job to apply as a ghosthunter will never be worth the ridicule Blythe is going to face when she applies.

Blythe walks into the shop, and it's deserted. There is not a single soul in the room, but there is equipment scattered across the floor haphazardly. If Blythe were to guess, the storefront was likely set up less than a week ago. She's almost sure of this when a girl, presumably someone who works in the store, walks out of the backroom with a pile of boxes in her hand, shocked that Blythe is there.

She says, "Oh! Hello! I wasn't sure I'd get any customers yet. I'm happy to help." She takes a step towards Blythe, and pauses, "After I put these boxes away."

Blythe takes a breath, hesitant, before saying, "Actually, I'm here to apply. For a job."

The girl drops the boxes to put her hands up in excitement, and winces when the boxes clatter on the ground. "Amazing! Can I interview you while I put these things away?"

"Isn't that unprofessional?"

The girl tilts her head slightly to the side, "Professional, schm-ofessional." She then giggle-snorts, "Schm-ofessional. That sounds dumb."

Blythe is definitely regretting that dare now. She desperately hopes that this girl is maybe just the owner's crazy daughter, or something. Though, considering she's applying at a ghosthunting service, she shouldn't get her hopes up.

Blythe asks, "Who are you?"

"I'm Cassiopeia. Call me Cassie, though."

An eccentric name for an eccentric girl. Blythe continues, "Sorry. I meant to ask what your position was."

"Oh, right. I'm the owner, and also everything else, considering no one else works here yet."

Wonderful. If Blythe is lucky, maybe this shop will go out of business in weeks. Especially considering anyone with common sense knows that ghosts aren't real, so a ghosthunting business is practically destined for failure. If Cassie were smart, she would take her ghosthunting shit to YouTube.

Cassie goes to open the boxes, and Blythe goes to help her. Blythe can't help but feel bad for the girl, who is clearly going through something if this is her current line of business. Blythe asks, "So, about the interview?"

"Right! Let me think of a question."

Of course she doesn't even have any interview questions prepared. Blythe didn't really know what she expected.

Cassie hums quietly in thought before asking, "Do you have any experience with ghost sightings?"

Blythe answers, lifting some oddly-shaped laser guns out of a box, "No...? What do you mean by 'experience?'"

"Like, have you had any ghost sightings in the past?"

Blythe wants to laugh. Surely Cassie is pulling her leg right? "Nope."

Cassie pauses her task of pulling small canisters of neon substances from a box to look Blythe in the eyes, "If you don't have any supernatural experience, why are you here?"

Oh boy. At this point, Blythe can't wait to tell this story to her friends. "Of course I don't have supernatural experience. It's not real."

Cassie looks almost offended, and gestures at her with one of the neon canisters, "What do you mean, it's not real? Are you telling me that all of my encounters aren't real? You're ridiculous."

Blythe rolls her eyes, "Ah, that's what you're telling your customers, right? You've got to keep up the charade so people will pay you to cleanse their homes of 'spirits?'"

"Get out."

"What?" Since when did Cassie get so defensive? Two seconds ago she was all bubbly laughter. Blythe was sure that they were both on the same page.

Cassie recounts, "Get out. If you're going to make fun of me, I want you to leave."

Blythe scoffs, "You can't possibly be serious. I'm the only one who's walked into your shop, probably since you've opened. Unless there was some drunk guy who thought he was walking into the cigarette shop next door."

Cassie sets her canisters down on the ground and walks over me to pull the laser guns from my hands. "I told you to leave."

Whatever. It's not worth staying here. She can tell her friends that she tried, but the shop owner wasn't willing to hire her.

Blythe walks to the door, and before the door shuts, she hears Cassie yell, "You'll have an encounter, and when you do, you'll be back! Trust me!"

On the way to her car, Blythe laughs to herself. She'll be back? Yeah, right.