Charlie has been working with me for about a week now. He helps me with finding cases and researching. Like I said in an earlier entry we work at my apartment. I only have one desk so he does his work at my kitchen table. Sometimes I look over to see him captivated by what he's reading, his eyes darting across the page desperate to read the next line. It's nice to see someone so interested. I can’t remember the last time I was so fascinated by a case of the paranormal.

Anyways... back to the subject I was supposed to write about. John called me today. At first I thought he was going to ask me about Charlie but that wasn’t the reason why he called.

“So he called me this morning, at first I refused but then he said ‘You owe me John!’ and I really do owe him. So th-”

“I get it you owe him, so what is the problem?” I interrupted.

“Well… It’s not a problem that I could help him with,” mumbled John.

I sighed, loud enough that I knew John could hear through the phone.

“Do this and I’ll owe you a favor," He chimed.

“You already owe me a favor!” I hissed.

“Then I’ll owe you two!”

I hate the way John can pursue me to do things, but he is very persistent. I knew that if I said no he would just keep bothering me. According to John there have been grave robbings at his friends cemetery. At first I told John that it was just some criminals taking jewelry off of the corpses, but then he told me what was being taken from the bodies.

“Hearts?” I questioned.

“Yes, you don’t need to repeat it,” mumbled John, clearly not liking the topic.

“What would someone want with human hearts?”

“Not someone, something,”

“It’s paranormal?”

“Yes! Why did you think I called you?” John retorted.

I retracted the phone from my ear, tired from all the noise he was making. “So what do you think it is?”

“A Ghoul,” answered John.

You may be wondering why I never seem to know what kind of monster I’m going up against. Well, I only know basic information about basic monsters. Ghouls and Wendigos don’t fit in this category. John informed me that a Ghoul is an evil being that feeds on corpses, hence the missing hearts. I agreed to help John get rid of his friend's Ghoul problem.

When I told Charlie the news about the case he was ecstatic. His face lit up so bright it was almost hard to look at him. He was pacing up and down in excitement, his tall figure casting shadows on the small walls of my apartment. He asked me all different kinds of questions, most I didn’t know the answer to. I told him to calm down and that we need to do more research before we go to the cemetery. At this statement he jolted to his computer and started to frantically type. I appreciate his enthusiasm and readiness to help, but it won’t prepare him for what we might see tomorrow. I just hope he doesn’t have a weak stomach like John.

This was Charlie's first case outside of my apartment, it went rather well considering that he had no prior experience. We met at the cemetery where the grave robbings took place. When I arrived Charlie was already there. He was standing in front of the main gate that led to the graves. At first I didn’t notice that it was him as he was bundled in a rather large jacket that made him look as if he weighed twice his size. As I walked closer to Charlie I saw that his face was red from the cold. How long has he been here? He noticed me and greeted me with a large grin.

“Hello, Sawyer! Are you ready?” asked Charlie.

“How long have you been out here in the cold?” I said, handing him extra gloves from my backpack.

“Not that long, like twenty minutes,” he said, putting the gloves over his red hands. “I wasn’t prepared for it to be this cold.”

“You should always be ready for the worst,” I explained, hoisting my bag over my shoulder.

We walked into the graveyard and found the owner by the staff building. He showed us one of the graves that were desturbed. The tombstone was cracked and a mound of dirt laid beside the massive hole. I looked down into the pit and saw the wooden coffin. There was a large crack in the middle of the wood, It looked as if someone punched their way through. The smell of decay rose from the ground, lingering in the air. I wrinkled my nose and stepped back from the trench. I glanced at the other side of the pit to see Charlie holding his hands over his mouth. The smell was making him become sick. “Alright I’ve seen enough,” I stated walking away from the rotting corpse, not wanting to see Charlie throw up. Charlie followed me sticking close behind, his hands still placed over his mouth as if he was planning to catch whatever would come out. “I don’t want those gloves back,” I mumbled to Charlie. He just nodded at my statement, too nervous to open his mouth.

The owner told us that the grave robbings only happen at night when no one is on shift. I came up with a plan that me and Charlie would stay at the cemetery and try to find the Ghoul. We waited in the warm staff building till day shifted into night. The cemetery was covered in darkness, the dim lamp posts shining in the distance. I gave Charlie a flashlight and we ventured into the dark. We walked around the property sticking close to the fence making sure to stay quiet. I heard a loud thump and turned around to see Charlie laying on the ground his face planted in the dirt.

“What are you doing!” I hissed, making sure to keep my voice quiet.

“Sorry, I tripped,” he said, slowly rising from the ground.

He stood up and brushed the soil off his now dirt stained jeans. I shook my head at his clumsiness. We continued to search the dark cemetery, but found nothing. The sun was rising and we were out of time.

As we were walking back to the cemeteries parking lot, Charlie noticed something. “Look!” he beamed, pointing his finger to the ground. I looked down to see that something was jutting out from the soil. Charlie leaned down and picked up the object twisting it in his hand. “What is it?” he asked, holding the object to the light. I told him it looked like a long nail, but we would need John to identify it. I walked back to my car to get my cell phone, while Charlie stayed where he was.

As I shuffled back to my car I heard someone yelling in the distance. I turned around to see Charlie sprinting towards me. It looked like he was saying something but he was too far away to hear. I shook my head not understanding, he just frantically pointed towards me, still shouting in the wind. When he got closer I could see that someone was behind him. At first I thought that he was running from an angry graveyard worker. I stood still as he ran past me not bothering to slow down. “Run!” he shouted, out of breath. Then I noticed that it wasn’t a person chasing him. I guessed what I saw was the Ghoul. It looked human, it had all the features of a person. Except its skin was rotted and its eyes were bloodshot. It’s fingers were full of dirt and blood, its nails almost like claws.

I turned around and ran following Charlie’s silhouette. I heard the raspy breathing of the creature behind me, causing me to speed up. I was out of breath by the time I made it to the parking lot. Charlie was standing in front of the gate, shaking with fear. I stood in front of him, my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath so I could talk.

“You jerk! Why did you leave me,” I huffed, still trying to steady my breathing.

“It’s getting closer!” he wailed, his eyes staring behind me.

“Fine, we’ll discuss your betrayal later,” I teased, “When it comes I need you to distract it.”

“What? It’ll kill me!” he blurted out, obviously scared.

“No it won’t. I have a plan,” I said calmly. He looked at me with a fearful expression. “Trust me.” He took a deep breath and nodded.

I got in my car and waited for the Ghoul to get closer. Charlie was shaking, frozen where he stood in the parking lot. The Ghoul approached him. It snarled and clicked it’s teeth stopping in front of Charlie. It charged towards him causing Charlie to scream and start to run around the lot. He ran in circles trying to avoid the monster, making it harder for me to achieve my goal. “Hit it! Hit it!” Charlie screamed, still being chased around. I put the car in drive and lurched forward, aiming at the beast. I collided with the Ghoul and it disappeared under my truck, wailing as it hit the tires. I stopped the car and peered out my window to see Charlie with a disgusted look on his face. He turned around and darted for the nearby trash can. I got out of my car and saw the mess underneath. Gray liquid that I assume was it’s blood, soaked the ground where the Ghoul laid. My bumper was slightly indented from the impact. I looked over to see Charlie slumped over the trash can. I walked towards him, If he was going to give up on this job, right now would be a perfect time.“You alright?” I asked. He looked over to me and smiled. “Perfect!” he exclaimed, wiping his mouth. I chuckled at his odd response, maybe he is fit for this job after all.