Hallucinations Part 2
The second time she met her hallucination, three weeks later, Rey fought the surge of fear that it wasn't a hallucination but a ghost. One of those ghosts the elders – the old ones with ragged feet and broken eyes that sparkled with dust – talked about in Niima Outpost around the campfires at night. It was a Graveyard, they said solemnly to make the scraps of children shiver, and not without reason.
They said things lurked out there. Angry things. Old things.
She rarely stayed for the stories, rarely stayed anywhere after dark if she could help it, but the hushed whispers rushed back into her mind the minute she spotted the shrouded figure gliding on the edge of her field of vision.
No, not gliding. Lurking.
Rey jerked her head up, eyes rolling white, and the hallucination stayed in place. It looked like a short, thin human, all cloaked and faintly transparent like it was made of shimmering dark water. A mirage, Rey thought in relief. After all, it was on the horizon, on the top of the same dune overlooking the Graveyard, looking at her. At least it was keeping its distance this time.
"I'm not superstitious," she muttered. Terrified. After all, she was only a fourteen year old girl (she thought… well, she was pretty sure anyway). Someone could cut her a little slack for taking those stories to heart, especially when she stood alone in such a desolate place where ghosts seemed more likely to exist than the living.
Rey plucked up her courage and waved her hands in front of her face. It stayed there, on the ridge, unmoving, so she gathered her scavenged items, packed them up, and headed home a little early. No use tempting fate.
She wasn't crazy, but she did wonder what her hallucination would do if she tried to talk to it.
Rey barked a dry laugh. As if.
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1. Hallucination or ghost? Hard to say! :D Stay tuned….