Chapter 16
My eyelids opened wide, nearly shoving the eyeballs out in their haste to see where I was. This wasn’t the bathroom though. How had I managed to leave the bathroom? Wasn’t there a creepy ghost woman who had come out of the mirror?
I sat up slowly, well slower than I had laid down anyways, and took stock of the new air around me. I knew this place. Standing up so both my feet rested on the pavement of the familiar road, I craned my neck both ways - not sure which way to start walking. Or maybe I should just stay where I was.
Last time I had woken up on this road, Nona had been here with me. Would she be coming this time too? Why had she brought me here? Maybe she just wanted to save me from the woman in the bathroom. Nona had her own plans for my death.
Despite the lack of darkness and the absence of the ghost people, the road was almost as creepy as the bathroom with the cracked mirror and dirty toilet. Without Nona there, the silence was overpowering.
“Ren!” She was abruptly there, out of thin air, bringing with her a small breeze that ruffled her short black curls.
“Nona,” I called back, only with way less volume. “What am I doing here?”
“Exactly what I would like to know,” she fired, balling her small fists up and propping them on her hips.
“You brought me here, right?” I glanced around again, afraid I had missed something obvious. Was there a creepy mirror ghost here too?
“You’re with Tristan?” Her nostrils flared with the widening of her eyes.
“He’s…not here,” I breathed in response. Nona could be really scary if she wanted to be, I realized - flinching backwards.
“Of course not,” she snorted. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I…”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed? Has he already gotten to you?”
“Toby left,” I mumbled. “You said to trust him but he left.”
“So you decided to trust Tristan?”
“He hasn’t hurt me yet,” I pointed out.
“He can’t hurt you,” she fired. “That’s not how he works.”
“What do you mean? How does he work?”
“He makes you hurt yourself.”
My forehead knitted with confusion. “I thought you said he was going to kill me, but he hasn’t.”
“Did you not hear me?” She thrust her arms out, creating a tidal wave of angry air. “He’ll make you hurt yourself.”
“Like suicide?”
“Exactly like suicide. What do you think the Cursed are?”
“Ghosts.”
“Ghosts of his victims, the ones he made kill themselves. Now they are cursed to help him carry out his cruel plans. And you’re high on his list, Ren.”
“If he wants me dead,” I began awkwardly, “he can do it himself.”
“He can’t!” She took a deliberate deep breath and then began again, more softly. “He only has so much power. The only way he can keep you is if you do it yourself.”
I digested her words slowly. Was she telling the truth? How could I be sure? “If that’s true, then did Toby…?”
“Toby is in trouble right now.”
My heart sped up. “What kind of trouble?”
“He’s looking for you.”
That wasn’t true though. Toby could always find me no matter where I was. He had always been right there with me, even when I didn’t want him to be. Especially if I didn’t want him to be.
Exactly, another part of me argued. He’s always been there, so why isn’t he now? Nona was telling the truth at least about some things. Toby was in some kind of trouble.
“Where?”
“Tristan has you shrouded so he can’t find you. Even I barely could. How could you trust Tristan?” The wind tried to knock me down again but she pulled it back quickly.
“He seems…nice,” I offered weakly.
“Nice,” she snarled. “Of course he seems nice. His voice is…hypnotic, to say the least.”
Hypnotic? I did feel different when I was with Tristan; like I was no longer myself. When I talked to him, I almost could imagine a life of not being crazy. And that kiss…
I let my fingers trace the soft flesh along my bottom lip. Who kissed strange ghost people in a strange hotel room in the middle of the night? Not normal ones. Had I been tricked by Tristan?
I had to admit that it was possible.
“Where is Toby now?” I demanded softly. A feeling of unease washed over me, making my knees shake with the weight of wanting to be with Toby again. “I should have stayed with him.”
“Yes, you should have!” she snapped.
“Well, what should I do?” I heard the whine in my voice. Nona yelling at me for something I already knew wasn’t going to help anything.
“You need to…” she stopped talking and stretched her body to search behind her. The road was starting to get fuzzy.
“Nona?”
“Find Toby,” she screamed. I could barely hear her anymore though.
“How?” I screamed back. We were still standing just a few feet apart but something huge had sprung up between us.
“Find Toby,” she repeated. “Find…”
I gasped loudly, sitting back up in the same second that my scream died on my lips. I was back in the bathroom. Nona was gone. The road was gone. But the woman from the mirror was still there.
I scrambled backwards until my back was flush with the hard wood of the door. I opened my mouth wide, trying desperately to get a deep breath into my lungs. It was no use though; somehow they had shrunk.
“I have to find…Toby,” I gasped up at the woman. Would she let me out of the bathroom now or was I going to have to break the door down?
The woman’s expression didn’t change. She continued to watch me, her strange eyes unblinking.
Using the broken handle for support, I clawed my way up the door until I was standing with my back against it - looking back at the woman. Why did she look familiar to me? It wasn’t shocking to see one I recognized - it had happened before - but I was curious. Had she followed me here? Why was she so interested in me?
I didn’t have time to work it all out though; there were more important things waiting for me. With a quick breath, I twisted the doorknob.
As soon as the door opened, the woman in front of me disappeared. I turned in the same instant and bolted out into the cool night air.
Tristan was there, waiting for me. “What took you so long?” he growled, irritated.
“Ghost locked me in there,” I gasped, gulping in a great lungful of fresh air in the process of trying to talk - which resulted in a fit of coughing.
“Why didn’t you call me?” he demanded, peering behind me at the now empty bathroom.
“I did!” I snapped back, shoving him aside as I went past him to where the bus had been parked.
The red backpack sat there, alone on the curb - dejected and making me feel way too guilty for only being a cheap piece of fabric with just the right touch of stitching. I snatched it up and swung it onto my back. The bus might have been gone but I still had two working legs.
“I didn’t hear you,” Tristan spoke more gently from my side.
“That’s ok,” I brushed him off.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” He tried to get in front of me, but I wasn’t having any of that. No eye contact; I wasn’t taking any chances.
“I’m fine,” I assured him shortly. “But I have to go now.”
“Yeah,” he nodded quickly. “We should get going. It’s late and I’m sure you’re tired. It won’t take long to get to the cabin.”
“I’m not going to the cabin with you.” I didn’t even glance towards him on my way to the edge of the road.
This was going to be impossible. How would I know which way to go? A look to the left - dark and unending. A look to the right - dark and unending. I sighed heavily. Find Toby. Easy for her to say.
“What are you talking about, Ren?” Tristan ca
me to a stop beside me. “Let’s go.”
He made a grab for the arm I had closest to him, moving too fast for me to pull away. I didn’t need to worry about it though. Tristan’s hand went right through my arm. Just like air.
“What?” I looked down at my arm, just to make sure it was still there. It was.
“Did you see Nona?” he snarled, anger changing him.
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“Did she tell you to run?”
“No,” I denied, still shocked that he couldn’t touch me. He could before, what changed?
I did. I didn’t want to follow Tristan anymore. Nona said he would make me hurt myself; it all had to be my choice or he lost all power over me. At least - that’s what I hoped she meant.
“Well then,” he prompted angrily. “Where are you going now, if not with me?”
“I have to find Toby.”
“Toby?” His lip snarled up in disbelief.
“You made it so he can’t find me!”
“I did nothing,” he held his hands out wide. “You did it all yourself.”
“Maybe,” I shrugged. “But now I’m going to undo it.” If I could.
“You won’t be able to find him,” Tristan taunted.
I wasn’t listening to him anymore though. I had more important things waiting for me. The road ahead of me was long, but this one led somewhere. To Toby. And no matter what Tristan said, I would find him.
Walking out onto the unfamiliar pavement, I turned my body to the left and took that first step. Soon I was in a full out run, leaving everything I knew behind me.
To Be Continued in “Soft Spoken”
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