Chapter 6: A Familiar Stranger
Sam stared in horror at the bully from her middle school days. He was massive, even though she was older than him now he still towered over her. His eyes were livid and sunken in, his skin tight and so pale it looked blue. The light she had seen was the ghostly glow coming from his huge body. His teeth were set in a sneer so similar to the one she remembered from all those years ago. She trembled in shock at seeing him again.
"Well, if it isn't goth freak herself, Sam Manson. Come to stick your nose where it shouldn't belong again" He growled. Sam felt herself shrinking back, but he closed in on her. "Come to find that Fen-Twerp?"
"Danny?" She asked weakly. He let out an ugly laugh.
"I bet you don't even know anything. You left us all here to die and rot while you went to go live it up in some penthouse."
"Where's Danny?" She asked. She tried to stand straighter, but she glanced down and saw his feet hovering inches off the ground and she felt sick.
"That freak and his parents are the ones who caused all this." His closeness was sending shivers down Sam's spine.
"Whatever his parents did is NOT his fault." Sam insisted. Why was she arguing with a homicidal ghost? Aubrey would be scolding her if she were here right now. "What the hell Sam, do you have a death wish?!"
Dash's eyes gleamed dangerously.
"You really don't know anything, huh?" His cold hand shot out and grabbed Sam's throat, his wispy form suddenly very solid. He lifted her up until her toes just barely swept the ground and she clawed at his iron grip, gasping for air. Her grip loosened, and the baseball bat slid out of her hands, clattering onto the floor. "Tu-"
"Foley won't save you now. You should have never come back!" He shoved her against the row of lockers behind them and her backpack just barely cushioned the blow. Black spots danced in her vision as she weakly grasped at his hand. She was going to lose consciousness soon. "I'm going to enjoy shoving you into lockers for the rest of eternity" He snarled.
Suddenly, a dark blur knocked into Dash, sending the jock flying into lockers. Sam rose to her feet and took off running, not willing to stay anywhere near him. She coughed as she ran, sputtering as she tried to gulp air back into her lungs. She was running blind in the dark and she fumbled for the flashlight on her belt, no longer concerned with staying hidden. Her first instinct was to get the hell out of that gym. She managed to unhook the flashlight and flicked the switch, relief flooding through her as the beam cut through the darkness.
She ran to the doors that she entered through and shoved them open. She immediately heard a loud hiss and swung her light in the vague direction of where it came from. A ghostly Paulina and her lackeys were blocking the hall with the main entrance.
"You!" Paulina screeched. Her nails- still hot pink- extended into razor sharp claws and she launched herself at Sam. She ducked, but Paulina's nails raked her shoulder and she felt blood immediately well up and soak into her sleeve.
"Get away from me!' Sam yelled, stumbling back. She turned and ran away from the entrance and down the secondary hall, past classrooms she hadn't checked yet. This was really, really bad. She couldn't take on Paulina, much less the whole cheerleading squad. Dash was still somewhere nearby, she could hear him howling in anger. She had only been inside Casper once or twice when the middle schoolers had gone for tours, so she had no clue where all the exits were.
"Hey! No running in the halls!" A skeletal hand tried to tug at Sam's backpack and she yelped. A very angry teacher with broken glasses and thinning hair glared at her with yellow eyes. She ran before it could grab her again. "Hey get back here, young lady!" It yelled after her. She almost lost her footing on the cracked, uneven floor and nearly face-planted. She caught herself just in time and whipped her head around. The hall converged into two in front of her, one branching off right and the other left.
"Which way, which way?" She muttered, agitated. What if she hit a dead end? Suddenly she heard a bell ring, jolting her out of her thoughts. Faint shuffling sounds appeared all around her as hazy ghosts began to materialize out of thin air. Lockers squealed open and doors were opening and shutting. She was surrounded. "Left it is." She decided. She bolted towards the left wing, her flashlight catching faces of confused ghosts as they seemed still half-asleep. She doubted she had more than a minute before they were all very aware and very angry. She ran straight through one while it was still materializing.
"The door!" She cried out. She had chosen the right hall, at the end there was a fire exit. The light weakly flickered on as if it were welcoming her. She ran straight to them as the ghosts seemed to stir, beginning to growl and snarl at her. Her hands pushed the doors open and she rushed outside, fresh air hitting her face. She stopped in her tracks as the door shut behind her. The sun was just a sliver on the horizon and the top of the sky was already a deep bruise color.
"Oh no..." She whispered. It was much too late, there was no way she would make it back to the gates in time. The sun would be completely gone in minutes.
"There she is!" Paulina said triumphantly, pointing at her. Her squad of cheerleaders circled around Sam, blocking her from running. How had they found her?
"We're ghosts, duh." Paulina said. Sam realized she had asked that out loud. "We can walk through walls, you know. How could we not hear you with those ugly military boots making all that horrible noise?" Her friends sneered at Sam, nodding along to every word. It dawned on her that ghosts were criticizing her fashion taste and she snorted in laughter.
"What's so funny, freak?" Paulina snapped.
"It's- "Sam erupted into nervous giggles. What was wrong with her? "It's just surreal to hear you bullying me again. You're dead!" Paulina narrowed her eyes, glaring daggers at her.
"Yeah, and you will be too in just a second. Get her!' Paulina ordered. The dead cheerleaders obeyed, cartwheeling and back-flipping towards Sam as Paulina shouted cheers.
"Give me a K! Give me an I! Give me a double L! What's that spell?"
"KILL!" The cheerleaders shouted in unison. Their hands grabbed Sam and tugged her forwards, tossing her into a heap at Paulina's feet.
"Dash wanted to get dibs, but I told him no way! He's busy with that dorky friend of yours." 'That was Tucker who attacked Dash?' She thought. Maybe he would still help her after all. "And anyway..." Paulina continued. "You're mine." She raised her hand, claws out again and ready to slash Sam's throat when-
A neon green beam of light blasted Paulina's hand. She hissed, staring at the charred remains. A thick, glowing green fluid dripped from the stump and onto Sam's face. She blinked in surprise. It was freezing cold.
"YOU!' She screeched. "YOU BROKE MY NAILS! I'LL KILL YOU!" Sam tried to see who Paulina was yelling at, but her cheerleaders were tugging at her again and Sam tried to kick them off her. She managed to get her ugly military boot through one of their faces, and they let go enough for Sam to yank herself free. She climbed to her feet and took off, hoping to lose them.
"Follow her, you idiots!' Paulina ordered. 'Great.' Sam thought.
She reached a chain link fence and started climbing it, hiking her leg over the top and dropping into an awkward heap on the other side. She landed in turf and she realized that she had entered the football field. A few ghosts were seated in the benches, but otherwise it seemed clear. Sam quickly stood up and looked around, trying to form an escape plan. Where was Tucker? If he had been fighting Dash she really hoped he would appear at any second now and give her a miraculous way out of here.
Yelling broke her focus and she watched as the ghosts in the stands started lumbering towards her. She turned around to look at the school behind her and her heart sank. Hordes of ghosts were coming for her, led by Paulina and the cheerleaders. She was being ambushed just like in the mall except she didn't know if Tucker was going to save her this time. The ghosts on the football field would be a problem too, but they numbered far fewer than the ones behind her. She ran further into the field, quickly approaching the center. Maybe if she was fast enough she could make it to the other side and hop the fence there. But of course, there was no such luck.
Dash appeared in front of her and caught her by the arms, spinning her around to face the incoming ghosts.
"You really thought you could get away from us?" He said mockingly. "No one leaves Amity, least of all some spoiled brat who should have died alongside the rest of us." She squirmed against his cold, hard arms but it was no use. He certainly was stronger than her in life and now he possessed that unnatural strength of the dead. She watched hopelessly as the other ghosts reached the fence, passing through it and coming to a stop directly in front of her.
"Dash, I wanted to be the one to scratch her eyes out." Paulina whined.
"No way, I saw her first. Dibs!" Sam was terrified, but she managed to roll her eyes.
"I can't believe you're fighting over who gets to kill me." She muttered.
"Shut up, witch!' Paulina said.
"You can't even scratch her eyes out now, Paulina." Dash motioned to the still bleeding stump.
"I'll use my other hand, stupid." Dash tossed Sam to the ground behind her, almost dismissively as he sauntered up to Paulina.
"Don't call me stupid." He warned in a low voice.
"I'll call you stupid if I want, stupid." She said haughtily.
"Hey..." an unfamiliar voice whispered next to Sam's ear. She jumped and nearly yelped in surprise.
"Shh! Don't alert them." He whispered again, clearly a male voice. She tried to see who it was but there was only air next to her. "Don't be obvious." He scolded. "On the count of three, you need to run in the opposite direction of the school. And cover your ears." She looked at Paulina and Dash still arguing a few feet away from her.
"But-"
"One..."
"Hey, who the fuck-"
"Two..." Sam stood up, her legs tensed.
"Three!" She covered her ears and sprinted fast as she possibly could.
A terribly loud and unbearably cacophonous sound erupted behind her. She winced and stumbled as the ground beneath her shook with the ferocity of an earthquake. Was it a scream or a cry? She couldn't tell. She tried to keep going for the other end of the football field, but now the turf was gathering in waves under her feet as the voice split the earth behind her. She fell to the ground and crawled a few more feet before giving up and curling into a ball in an effort to block that awful noise. She dared a glance at the crowd of ghosts and saw they were less a crowd now than a bunch of debris tossed around in a torrent of wind.
The ghosts were being blasted in every which direction, some trying to fight against the force pushing against them and others simply blinking out of existence. A lone figure stood, feet firmly planted in the ground despite all the chaos. The chain link fence was ripped from the soil and it too joined the ghosts in being launched away from Sam. She realized that whoever it was that was standing still must have been the one that had whispered in her ear. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to fight the urge to pass out or throw up, or both. Just when she was beginning to think her head was going to split open, the voice began to taper out.
The horrible wailing sound tore at Sam's eardrums even as it died down, and she clutched her ears in agony. What on earth could make such a horrible sound? Relief washed over her as the last echoes of that awful noise finally disappeared. A ringing deep in her skull stubbornly persisted. Suddenly, an icy presence approached. The hairs on her arms stood straight as she clutched the ground blindly, cradling her bleeding arm close.
"Get back, please!" She barked. "I'm- I'm warning you!" She added weakly. Whatever horrible specter had managed to chase away that many ghosts was clearly no ally of hers. She realized in that moment that she was perhaps only seconds away from being ripped apart. It was so stupid of her to come back. Would she become a ghost too? She curled in on herself deeper but managed a glance at whatever was drawing near.
A white gloved hand was offered to her. She was confused deeply by this, her aching head not helping. She struggled to make out the blurry figure in front of her. Why was it reaching for her like that? When the hand remained still- not attacking- she slowly and painfully sat up. She blinked a few times, trying to will the black spots out of her vision. At first she thought an old man was looking down at her because the figure had pearly white hair, but he stood straight. Strength seemed to radiate from his body and his face looked youthful despite his hair color. A hazy glow emanated from him just the same as the other ghosts, but his eyes were a startling acidic green. He looked completely alien.
"Sam." He spoke softly. "I'm here to help you." She looked back down to his hand and noticed that he was wearing what looked like a hazmat suit. Weird. Her eyes flicked up to his face, trying to gauge if he was lying. Her thoughts were jumbled and confused. How hard did she hit her head when she fell? She shakily stood up, her head pounding in protest.
"Get away." She hissed, stumbling. Her legs gave out and she collapsed, but before she could hit the ground she felt a pair of cold arms catching her. The last thing she saw before passing out were those strange green eyes drawing near her face.
AN: and the plot thickens...