Nick Cutler has a problem.
And nobody else can see her.
You're in my head he spits the words into the thin air the girl invades and perverts with her image. She's short and stout, with a head full of dirty blonde ringlets falling just past her chin. Her neck is bleeding but no blood hits the floor. Her pink party dress is stained red in patches, a vicious reminder of the night she died.
I killed you. He has his head in his hands now, looking anywhere but at the girl.
You turned me the hallucination corrects, rolling her dead eyes in accusation. You were lonely and you were bored. You turned me then ran away when you realised what you'd done.
Cutler doesn't speak. He looks up at the girl – Rebecca, her name was Rebecca – with a silent apology written on his face. She stares back without expression.
Why are you here? Why now? Why you? His voice cuts the air in the room. It breaks and catches and each word feels like forcing broken glass out of his throat. Rebecca crouches down in front of his slouched form in the corner of the room. A dirt stained hand reaches out to him and he flinches.
I can help she says. Her voice is rough with disuse and the cigarettes she would smoke when out with her friends. Find me, and I can help.
Why would you help me? Cutler is uncomfortable in the cage she forms around him, but his legs do not move. Can not move.
You're not the only lonely vampire in the world Nick.
Cutler blinks once – twice – three times until his eyes sting and his head burns. Rebecca pulls her hand across his face, the ghost of her fingertips standing his hair on end. She comes close until her lips brush the skin by his ear.
I'm waiting for you...come back to where you last saw me...come back to where you killed me and I will hand you Hal Yorke's head on a platter made of bone. I promise you.
Her hand covers his face, obscuring his view and then – she's gone.
And Nick Cutler is alone once again, staring at the empty space where his reflection once was.