© 2025 Kaela Seraphine. All Rights Reserved

“Yo, new kid. Seat’s cursed. Still wanna sit here?”

That’s the first thing Carmen said to me. Not hi, not nice to meet you, just that. And she said it with the most unbothered smirk I’d ever seen—like she already knew I’d sit anyway.

It was Seat 8 on Bus 103. The only empty spot. Of course it was next to her. Hair in twin space buns, glossy lips, rainbow shoelaces, and a choker that said “BITING IS A LOVE LANGUAGE.”

I blinked. “Cursed… like haunted cursed?”

She popped her gum. “Mhm. A boy sat here last semester. He screamed for three straight minutes. Then transferred to Alaska.”

“…Alaska?”

“Voluntarily.”

I hovered for a second, backpack still slung over one shoulder. “Okay, cool. I love chaos.”

Her eyes lit up. “You and me? We’re gonna have so much fun.”

I sat down.

The moment I did, Carmen leaned over and whispered, “You’re my new Seat Buddy now. That’s binding. Spiritually. You can’t escape.”

I stared at her. “Is this how you make friends?”

“Technically, I make victims. But let’s call it friendship, sure.”

Before I could reply, she pulled a cracked pink phone from her jacket pocket and shoved it toward me. The screen flickered to life… but it was glitching, like a VHS tape from a horror movie.

“You ever called a ghost before?” she asked, dead serious.

“...Are you joking?”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” (Spoiler: She didn’t.) She tapped the screen, and a creepy app opened—one I swear wasn’t on the App Store. It had no name, just a red blinking eye. She hit “connect.”

“I found this app in a subreddit full of people who believe pigeons are government drones,” she said. “So it’s definitely reliable.”

“You’re insane,” I muttered, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

She grinned like a kid in a candy store filled with cursed objects. “Tell me your full name.”

“Why?”

“So the ghost knows who to haunt, duh.”

I rolled my eyes but played along. “Okay. It’s—”

CRACKKK The bus lights flickered.

Then everyone else froze.

Like, mid-breath, mid-blink, just… paused. I turned to Carmen.

She was already filming it with her phone. “See? Told you Seat 8 is fun.”

“WHAT IS GOING ON?!”

She laughed. Not a scream, not fear—just pure joy. “Oh, babe,” she said, reaching into her backpack. “We just prank-called the spirit world. And guess what?”