Chapter Two

In which I take a walk

The first thing I was aware of was the moon. It was full and bright in the sky, directly overhead. Slowly, I regained self awareness.

"I'm… alive?"

It shouldn't have been possible. I had fallen from the roof, I remembered hitting the ground. My legs were broken. My back was broken. My EVERYTHING was broken.

I slowly sat up, trying to sense any pain from my earlier ordeal. Nothing was wrong. No broken legs, no pain, not even a scratch. This isn't possible. I got to my feet and looked around me. I was in the city still, in the exact place I had fallen. It was nighttime and the streets were empty. I was completely alone.

"Hello?" Had Ashley not called for help? I couldn't hear any police sirens, but there's no way she would have just gotten in my car and driven away. She would have at least called for help, if not waited for me, locked safely in the car.

I walked to the nearest street and looked around, but there were no people out. I guess I wasn't unconscious for too long if it's still early morning. I got my bearings and realized I wasn't too far from the parking lot where, hopefully, Ashley was waiting for me. I walked slowly, still adjusting to not having almost every bone in my body broken.

The parking lot was empty. I don't understand. She didn't call for help and she left without me? In my own car? I stood there, dumbfounded, for a few seconds before sighing and continuing on towards the bus station. It wouldn't be open yet, but I could wait there until it was.

The bus station was empty too, much to my sarcastic surprise. But it was lit, and there were benches I could sit down on. It had been a long night, after all.

I sat down and closed my eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. That's when I heard it, as if the wind itself had carried it to my ears.

You are the Witch of the Wind.

"Wha-?!" I sat up straight, looking around to see who had spoken. It sounded as if it had been very close, even though the voice was soft. There was no one there, nothing that could explain where those words could have come from. I stood up and slowly turned around, carefully scouring each shadow for any hint of life.

You are the Witch of the Wind.

I was getting scared now. There was no one there, but someone was speaking to me, and speaking nonsense at that. My eyes were drawn upwards, to the sky once again. To the moon.

"What the hell is going on?" I had nearly died, been abandoned by my best friend, and now I was hearing things. I was too scared to wait for the bus now. I was already close to the edge of the city, my home was only a few miles away. I would walk if I had to.

I didn't hear that voice again, and the sun was just starting to rise as I finally made it back to my hometown. Some people were just waking up, some were already out and about. A pair of joggers passed by me talking to each other about some diet fad. My neighbor, Mrs. Baker, was walking her toy poodle. I passed her on my way down my street.

"Hello Mrs. Baker," I said as I passed by her. Having a bad night was no reason to be rude, especially when she could (and would) complain to the landlady. Mrs. Baker didn't answer me. In fact, she passed right by me without making eye contact.

"Rude much?" I muttered under my breath as soon as I was sure she was out of earshot.

And finally I reached my home, tiny apartment that it is. The door to the building was propped open, which isn't unusual if someone is moving in or out. I guessed one of my neighbors was leaving, judging by the boxes being packed into the moving van.

I didn't start to panic until I saw that my own apartment door was propped open as well, and the movers were in the process of removing my furniture.

"Hey! What are you doing? That's my stuff, you can't just take it!" They completely ignored my as I stormed up to them.

"How did you get in here? Did Ms. Marshal let you in? I paid my damn rent on time, she has no right to do this, put my stuff back right now!" The movers lifted up my couch and began to haul it to the door.

"Stop right now, you can't do this-" I reached out to grab one of the movers by the shoulder, and nearly screamed when my hand passed right through his body as if it wasn't there.

"What… what..?" I started to hyperventilate now.

"Hello! Can you see me? HELLO?" I waved my arms like a crazy woman, desperate to get their attention. This cannot be happening. This can NOT be happening. Oh my god, what's happening?

Confused, and more than a little scared, I sat down on the floor of my rapidly-emptying apartment and began to cry.

An hour later, all of my belongings had been taken out, boxed up, and shipped off to god-knows-where. My landlady, Ms. Marshal, had come, done her inspection, walked right through me, and gone. Everything was gone, and I was not only invisible but incorporeal.

"Okay, need to keep it together. Need to keep calm. So what if they can't see me? I'll find a way to make contact. Like Patrick Swazye in Ghost. Only I'm not dead. Why am I talking to myself? Agh! I need to find Ashley!"

I got to my feet and ran out of my apartment and down to the main street of town. No one saw me, they couldn't hear me when I tried to get their attention, and if I got in their way they simply walked right through me. I learned quickly to just avoid being walked through.

Ashley's house was only 4 blocks away from my former apartment, and I knocked at the door frantically. So far I had been able to interact with objects, so maybe she would hear it and..

"Answer the door, Ashley!"

Silence. The curtains were all closed, preventing me from looking inside, and no one answered the door. I didn't know where else to go now. I saw down and waited on her front porch steps.

After two hours I finally got some news, but not the kind of news I wanted to hear. If there's one thing you can always count on a neighbor to do, it's to gossip.

"Poor Ashley.. Is she still down there?"

"Oh yes, she visits every day. It's really torn her up."

"It's such a loss. They were both so full of life and potential. Now one's gone and the other may as well be for how she acts."

"Stays down at the graveyard all day…"

I didn't stay to hear any more. I didn't need to and I certainly didn't want to. I ran all the way to the graveyard in town.

I should have known better.

"Ashley?" My best friend was kneeling in front of a grave, completely unresponsive to me. She was just staring at the engraved words. In a moment, so was I.

Rona Valentine

Beloved daughter, sister and friend

May 28th 1994-November 6th 2012

"I'm dead," I whispered. "That… That's my name. I'm dead. But I'm here..."

"Ashley!" It was Ashley's mother who finally broke us both out of our trance.

"Your neighbor told me you were here again. Honey, this isn't healthy. Rona would want us to remember her, but not like this. It's been a month…" Their voices faded away as they left me alone at my grave as the sun set and night fell.

A month. I had been dead for an entire month. I sat down and hugged my knees, staring at my gravestone. I wanted to go back to school. I wanted to reconnect with my mom. I wanted to go to one of Ashley's parties. Why did I wait? I looked up at the moon, tears streaming down my face. Why am I here?

I was answered by a strange and yet familiar voice.

You are the Witch of the Wind.

I screamed back at the moon, "WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?"

I know the story is progressing slowly, but hey the chapters are short and I don't want to rush it. You'll meet more characters and get to know the Witch of the Wind better in the next chapter, I promise.