Lonely Souls (3 page)

Then I saw it. Something flitted across the room. The being was quick, too quick. I had to have imagined it. I locked the front door. I know I did. There’s nobody in here but me. I was sure of it. I was losing my mind. In addition to being in denial about my mom, I’m now seeing things. This wasn’t a good start into adulthood.

Trying to steady my breaths, my eyes were darting around the room, hoping to catch the being once more. My line of sight was pretty limited from where I was located, but there didn’t appear to be anything in the room. Right when I started to feel like I had control of my imagination again, a muffled crashing sound made its way to the cooler turned sanctuary. Someone was out there. My heart began racing all over again. I almost felt lucky to be stuck in the cooler. I grabbed my phone and started texting to my aunt, while constantly trying to keep an eye out for whoever or whatever was in the shop.

Please come get me. Stuck in coole
r, I texted to her.

Nothing. She wasn’t replying. She was probably busy greeting everyone.

“Did you cast a spell on me?” I hollered. “Who are you?”

Silence was returned.

There it was again! The creature darted through the storefront, in between our displays, taunting me. There was nothing very distinguishing about the creature I was witnessing. Granted the store was dark but so was the being. I wanted to cry. I wanted to yell. I didn’t want to be stuck in the cooler.

“I can see you! Now answer me! Did you curse me?” I screamed. “What is it you want?”

The entity stopped and slowly turned toward me. I was looking directly into madness. Loneliness, despair, and sorrow swept into the energy surrounding me. The mourning process that I wouldn’t allow myself to go through was nothing compared to the feeling of isolation and dejection that this being was dumping on me all at once. Nausea began brewing in my abdomen, and the lightheadedness began again. It was from this creature that the feelings were coming from. This half-human, half-ghoul was tapping into my mind, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it, which meant that it had to be a conjured soul. Someone had commanded it to do something, and there was nothing I could do to stop it until it was finished with the task. I was teetering on hysteria as I tried to figure out what this beast wanted.

The entity hovered momentarily before it began its hunt once more, stopping only long enough for me to see a cloak wrapped around its shell. I’d heard of this type of magic, but I didn’t believe it truly existed. Nevertheless, here it was, staring back at me, full of death and destruction, searching for what I didn’t know in a place I held dear.

My fingers were shaking more than I realized as I attempted to text again. I wasn’t looking at the screen, only at the being’s movements. I had no idea what letters were making their way to my aunt’s phone, but I hoped something alerted her before it was too late. The being moved from one part of the store to the next, not disturbing much of anything. It zipped under the tables and over the tables, picking up many of the items my mother and I had crafted together, only to lay them right back down.

It didn’t seem as if this creature was going to leave until it found what it wanted, and I couldn’t fathom what that would be. Trying my hardest to remember even one of the chants against black magic, I cursed myself for not paying attention better through the years. I had all of my incenses, oils, ointments, and bouquets memorized, and no way to produce a simple protection chant, but I had to try something.

A holler echoed through the air, daring to wipe away my sanity. The creature turned toward the cooler and bolted to the glass leaving a streak behind its movement. The thin layer of glass that could be shattered in an instant was the only thing separating me from it.

My body trembled as the being gazed at me, licking its lips as if I was prey. There was no physical presence that I could grasp onto. If I tried to touch this thing, I’d probably feel nothing but air. I could see through the being. It made no sense. I could see the image of a person, smiling at me with a gaping wide mouth, yet I could see behind it, behind where the mouth should be. Even the darkest of spells that I was aware of couldn’t educe a being or presence like this.

The fear inside of me was growing by the second. The creature smiled its toothless grin at me, pointing at my bag with its wretchedly long index finger. Its eyes were tiny slits that held hatred deep within. Whatever it was that this beast was sent to get was nothing I was prepared to give.

The creature’s mouth began moving into the shape of a circle. It was readying itself, wiggling its finger at me and then tapping on the glass like I was a caged animal.

Grabbing the rose heads, I began pressing the petals as hard as I could all over my body, wiping them on every part of flesh that was exposed. Reaching for the rosemary, I did the same. Crushing the tiny green leaves into my skin, I created my own version of a protection ink. There were, at least, some protection attributes to the plants, I promised myself. Maybe not the most appropriate ones for the situation, but something had to be better than nothing. Not releasing my gaze from the creature, my fingers kept searching for more plants to smear on my skin. Finally, I felt the eucalyptus branches and crushed them all over my body and held onto the stem tightly, thinking I could use it as a whip, but then my hopes fell when I realized the stick would probably only go through the hovering being, leaving not a trace of harm.

The creature’s mouth puckered, producing a shrill whistle that was bone shivering. It was shaking its head back and forth, running its finger along the glass, briefly pausing to tap on it, I’m sure only to unnerve me. All it had to do was either shatter the glass or open the glass door. Against my better judgment, I actually hoped that this thing was some form of black magic, because then it might not have thinking capabilities, only task abilities. An oily trail was left on the glass in the wake of the being’s finger.

The whistling stopped and then the scratchy voice began.

“You have what I was sent for,” the voice was grating and produced a sickening layer around me.

The being’s hand stopped on the handle, and my stomach dropped. It began rattling the door back and forth, rather than sliding it open. Its facial expression grew uglier as each second passed that it couldn’t open the door. I slowly picked up my bag, not letting my gaze off the creature. The entity was getting very frustrated as the cooler began shaking with every tug on the door.

The only thing I had in my bag was my wallet, house keys, and my mom’s planner. The fear was pumping through my system, making every movement I made seem like I was fighting gravity. I knew I only had seconds before this creature got me, but what did it want?

A pounding began at the front door, making the creature turn away from me. It briefly turned back around to look at me once more and then vanished. It was gone, leaving nothing in its place, but taking my sanity. I had done nothing to provoke this attack and had only heard of things like this in folklore.

My aunt was standing outside the door, banging louder and louder with each thud of her fist. My phone was buzzing text after text. It was as if time had stood still while I was in the cooler.

“Be right there. Don’t have keys. Called Meredith to meet me.” My aunt had been texting from the moment I sent her the first text, and I was just now getting them.

My heart was still pounding and I was exhausted, but I still had to get out of the cooler. I’d have to crawl through the racks. I leaned my bag against the cooler door before beginning the arduous task, and the door popped open. The very door that had locked me in, now just popped open! My head was spinning as I tried to calm myself down. Absolutely nothing could be said that would make any of this seem somewhat possible. Maybe I was losing my mind.

I dragged my bag to the front door, completely defeated. It seemed sanity wasn’t on my side right now. I unlocked the front door, only to have my aunt cover her mouth in horror.

“Oh, Triss! What happened to you?” she uttered. “You look like a wreck.”

“I … there was … it …” I didn’t know where to begin and doubted I’d be believed anyway.

She looked at me with too much sympathy. I was now placed in the ‘she feels sorry for me’ bucket.

“The door really was locked. I don’t know why it opened for me now. Sorry for calling you away,” were the only words that would present themselves for my aunt to digest.

“It’s okay. I never should’ve left you. It’s my fault,” my aunt said, hugging me as we walked over to the car.

“No, it’s not. I guess I’m more messed up than I thought,” I whispered, climbing into the front seat.

“I hate to ask this,” my aunt began, “but is there a reason you have rose petals and green leaves smashed all over your skin?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’d like to hear it,” she said, gently probing.

“I think I’m losing my mind.”

“Doubtful.”

“Something locked me in the cooler. When you came to the door, it left. Did you not see anything?”

The car was filled with silence. I wasn’t sure if it was the good kind of contemplative silence or the ‘how do I approach this one’ type of silence.

With our car sitting at the last stoplight, we were only minutes away from my home. I turned to look at my aunt, hoping for some kind of affirmation.

She reached over and grabbed my hand.

“I think we have a lot to talk about after everyone leaves, but I think it’s best for now if we proceed as if everything’s fine and normal.” She grinned slightly.

“So you believe me?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t think most people would look the way you do, with your hair on end, and botanicals smeared all over your skin without a cause. I just think it’s best if we discuss the cause of it later.”

“I look that freaky, huh?” I flipped down the car mirror, shocking myself to reality. My hair looked as if it hadn’t been brushed in days with knots and tangles all over. Not to mention that it was filled with crushed petals, leaves, and bits and pieces of things I couldn’t even identify.

“I’d wrap that around your head,” she said, pointing at the backseat where I saw a scarf belonging to my mom.

“Yeah, probably a good idea.” I said, whipping it off the backseat and attempting to hide as much of my incident as I could with a few tugs and twists of the material.

My aunt pulled into our driveway, and I looked down the street and saw the lineup of parked cars. I couldn’t even guess how many people were here. Our little brick house was glowing from all the windows, including my bedroom. I hoped I would be able to make it through this last round.

I jumped out of the car, taking in a big breath, trying to let the fresh air bring a new vitality to my system. I could tell by the seagulls flying around and the moist air hitting my lungs that a rainstorm was going to be rolling in, and if for once I got what I wanted, our mass amount of visitors would leave before the first raindrop hit. Tightening the scarf around my head, I grimaced at my aunt and nodded. It was time to greet the gawkers and come up with another excuse for my already established odd behavior.

Chapter 4

“Triss,” I heard a faintly familiar voice call out. “Triss, hold on.”

I was about to make my way to the kitchen to wash off the mess I had spread all over myself at the shop, but I stopped and turned around to see who could possibly be calling. All the flower arrangements and oversized photographs that had been at the memorial were now covering every vacant corner of my house, and I wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

I was scanning the crowd of people, who were mostly people I didn’t know, when I finally landed on a guy who was waving at me. I strained to see who it might be, but I couldn’t place him. He was holding a bottle of seltzer water and looked really uncomfortable. He was about my age, maybe a little older, but he was too far away to know for certain. He began walking toward me and my insides tightened. His dark hair and brilliant, azure eyes provided an amazingly haunting contrast. In normal circumstances, he might even be intriguing. And then I remembered. It was those eyes, those brilliant blue eyes. It was Logan. My mom’s best friend made it, and she brought her son.

“Logan?”

A smile spread across his lips, and he moved quickly between everyone, with his arms wide open. Before I knew what was happening, I was picked up into his arms, and I began hugging him tightly.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me,” he murmured, squeezing me.

“I can’t believe I did either.” Suddenly feeling foolish, I backed away from him, bumping into a side table someone had moved out of the family room.

The awkwardness couldn’t be missed. I hadn’t seen him for years, but he really changed. In a way I never would have imagined, kind of change.

“So you stopped responding to my letters a few years back. Not such a hot pen-pal partner,” he said smiling, doing his best to make things as normal as possible in a horrifying situation.

He had a really nice smile. I couldn’t believe how much taller Logan was than me.

“Sorry about that,” I said, finally looking at him. “I didn’t really think you were into it.”

“Even though I kept writing?” he chuckled softly.

“Yeah, I guess, even then,” I returned a smile. This was not the moment to let my mind wander. I was far too mentally unstable, in more ways than one.

I saw his mom, Ellsy Greene, waving at me as she began moving toward us. Relief began flooding over me. Besides my aunt, she was the one who knew my mom, truly knew her. Logan moved to the side as his mom wrapped her arms around me, hugging me as the tears finally began to pour down my face. I sensed the crowd moving behind her, so they could get a look, but I didn’t care.

“It’s okay, honey. Let it out,” she told me. “I’ve heard you’ve kept it all inside, and I don’t think I’ve heard wrong, judging by the look of things.”

Not wanting to let go, I breathed in and felt Logan’s hand rest on my shoulder. He had a strong grip, and if I didn’t know better, he was glaring at the onlookers, or at least I was hoping he was. Logan and Ellsy understood, even if nobody else did. The guilt, grief, anger, and confusion were all trying to make a home inside my mind. I felt horrible for not believing that my mom was really gone. I felt horrible for allowing my mind to trick me earlier. I even felt guilty for not writing Logan back all those years. Everything seemed so distorted, like I couldn’t prioritize the importance of anything. I truly seemed to be losing a grasp on reality.