The light? There was none. No tunnel, no end. Just darkness and chilled shivers. My spirit lays suspended in the in-between. Between the good and bad. The warmth of love and the ice of despair. The lines were blurred, my path unset. One thought kept me from crossing either side. Keeping me from moving forward to the afterlife. Keeping me here in the cold and dark. This thought, if followed to the end would be my demise. My heart and desires separated by the choice. My heart pleaded to turn away from this thought. To do what was good for me and my soul and accept the love from the heavens. But here in this numbing cold, in this black darkness that seems to be everywhere and nowhere, that seemed impossible… the only way out is to follow this thought to freedom. To hold it like a lifeline and finish what was started.
***
Chase Murray is one of the best on the cycling team. He led his team to victory in high school and has already proven his skill to the Marian team over their initiation before classes in August. He’s the class clown’s sidekick, suggesting funny things but never getting in trouble by doing them. Few people had anything bad to say about him. They’d be confused if they saw him now.
Chase, Theodor, Cassie and Ashley all sat in the back of Clare Hall’s cafeteria late Saturday night. They all had the same look. The look of guilt and exhaustion, with purple and blue bags shadowing their eyes. Chase feared to blink, as though it was a punishment for what happened to Greg. If he gave himself the luxury of closing his eyes, his mind would lash out at his guilty soul and flood his thoughts with images of that night.
They all sat quietly in one of the booths on the secluded side of the cafeteria. Ashley spoke first, “So… how’s everyone doing?”
Silence hung like a living weight between.
Theo spoke first, “Sh***y. What do you expect? Look, I still say we rat ourselves out and give Greg’s soul some peace.”
“Shut your mouth!” Ashley hissed under her breath. “We already talked about this. It was his choice to go jumping in. That boy had every opportunity to say no. We aren’t to blame.” She rubbed her hands red. Her eyes shifted this way and that, not able to hold eye contact with anyone.
“Ashley, what is it?” Cassie spoke quietly.
“What is it? It’s those freaking faces I keep seeing. What’s wrong is the reason I called this meeting. Am I the only one who’s noticing her? That white, ghastly thing with long hair and statue stillness, with eyes like red rage. They send chills up and down your spine, but when you look twice, they’re gone. I saw one just inside the line of the Ecolab,’’ she asked frantically.
Cassie’s eyes shot down, the look of shock and fear written on her face. Everyone noticeably flinched.
Ashley sighed, her hands stopped twitching, and she leaned back in the cushioned booth. “Good. I thought I was going crazy all day.” She ran a hand through her loose red hair, “When did you all see them?”
Theo again answered, “I did, after weightlifting… I left the fitness center through the back of the building. I needed some fresh air. He—I think it was a he—looked like a picture someone photoshopped. It was unreal. Yeah, those eyes were something else.”
“This is crazy,” Chase said, “Are you seriously talking about seeing ghosts? Do you hear yourselves?” he shook his head. “Oh, come on!” Cassie said, “The last thing we need is a critic. You’ve seen these things, haven’t you? You’re just in denial.”
“Are you joking? The best thing we need is a critic to stop you all from going insane.”
“We’re already insane for not going to the police,” Theo chimed in. “Might as well go all the way.”
Ashley rubbed her eyes, “This is getting out of hand.”
“You think?” Chase said, scowling.
“Let’s start over. I saw, I think, a woman with long hair. Theo said he saw a male figure. Cassie, tell us what you saw.”
“I think I saw a girl too. She didn’t look angry, she was more sad and confused. Her eyes weren’t red at all, they looked blue, like fire. And she had some kind of red spill on the front of her dress. I don’t know but I didn’t like the feelings that came as I looked at her. It was depressing. I saw her as I left Subway, next to the Ecolab.” Theo clasped her hand under the table.
“Interesting,” Ashly said. “We’re being hunted by different people.” A faint smile formed on her lips.
“You’re sick,” Chase said. “We aren’t being hunted,” he posed. “And I’ll prove it. All these things were by the Ecolab, right? Then I’ll bike through them and nothing happens you’ll all snap out of this!” he pulled himself out of the booth and walked to the closet exit.
“What are you doing?” Cassie ran after him. Everyone followed shortly behind.
“I’m getting my bike and going on a ride.” he said, pulling the door open and staring the short walk to the cycling grudge.
“Now look who’s insane. It’s dangerous in general to be out in the Lab at night. Let alone with all this stuff happening.” Theo said, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he stepped out in the crisp air.
“That’s the point. Nothing is happening and I’m going to prove it. I’ll cycle around that pond and when no ghosts appear it will prove you’re all just frightened about what happened Thursday.”
He easily got in the small building and retrieved his bike.
“I can’t let you do this,” as Chase mounted, Theo stood in front of him, his mind made up. “One, it’s stupid. Two, we aren’t supposed to be out in the Lab this late.”
“Let him go.” Ashly crossed her arms. “Let him prove we’re all just paranoid.”
“Finally,” Chase said, getting his helmet on. “Something we can agree on.”
Her weight shifted to one side; her eyes fixed on Chase’s. “Let him play the hero and save us from ourselves. It’s his choice anyhow.”
“Ok,” Chase said under his breath. “My mistake for thinking you can be nice Ashly.”
She snared. Chase kicked off and rode past Theo to the Ecolab. “See you all in a few minutes!” he called.
He rode fast and quiet to the entrance. Stopping only to pick up his bike and walk down the steps to the front of the path. As the night was barely lit by the moon, he rode the narrow path between the forest and the small pond. The cool wind bit at his fingers. The moon held no guidance as he rode, causing him to miss his turn.
Forced to go deeper into the woods, the chill in his face and hands spread to the rest of his body.
He brushed it off.
Gripping the handlebars, he pushed faster on the petals to reach the end of the path quicker. The night grew darker in the shade of the trees.
‘I should have listened to Theo,’ he thought. A creeping feeling of dread spilled into his gut. A rush of crunching branches and leaves had him gritting his teeth.
A bright light flicked on behind him.
‘The cops?! For real?’ he thought. He turned to look over his shoulder at the source of the light, preparing to slow down and explain, his mind already forming an excuse as to why he was out so late at night.
Two lights greeted him. The lights of a car. The brightness blinded him for a moment. The engine roared.
The driver inched closer, gradually going faster and faster.
His eyes, now able to see the car, saw no police lights on the top, he saw only an old beat-up car. The hood laid covered in leaves and scratches. It’s a wonder that it was still working.
The car, close enough to see the driver, had Chase stumbling on the petals to move forward. The driver…
The driver was snow white; the hair cut short and well kept. But the eyes…
Sh** the theirs were right! Chase thought. The eyes shone bright red, the skin formed an old sick man with blood dripping off the forehead, “Sh**!”
The engine roared louder, faster, harder… closer.
He couldn’t make more distance; he was no match against a car! But…
‘it’s a ghost car, right?’ he thought desperately. ‘It should just go right through me, right?!’
He slowed, praying this hunch is right.
Birds flow out of a nearby tree as scratching metal and snapping of wood echoed through the forest. The sound mixed, masking lungs being ripped to release a scream.
The lights shut off, no trace of the car left behind, save for a bike, crushed beyond repair, laying in its wake.
~to be continued~
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