From the air, she felt free, and the only thing she wished was to felt it. The air rushing pasted her face and in her hair. From up there, she saw the endless forest for as far as the eye could see. Then she saw it, Route 61, the road home to Centralia. Amazingly, the road kept well from what she could see from above until she looked further and saw that Route 61 had turned away from her home. She lands to see that the old highway is now covered in graffiti, and the shifting ground cut chunks of the road in half.
Ember remembers her Dad telling her about the fire when she was alive. In 1962 the fire began after the fire department was burning trash or doing a controlled burn; whatever they were burning, the fire kept burning. And burning. And burning till it reached the coal in the hills. The fire burned for decades under the small town of Centralia, and eventually, the city was abandon in 1980, the year she died.
She lets out a long sigh and quietly walks down the graffiti-covered highway back home—her real home.
The group race across the sky in the specter speeder to save time. The trip toward New England wasn't long at all until Tucker started to complain about his ass falling asleep halfway through the journey.
"Are we there yet?" Tucker complains as he hooks up his PDA to the charger port.
"The GPS says we are three miles from Centralia," Sam replies. "The spectral radar is wigging out too, wow. I've never seen it trip out this bad."
"That's strange," Danny replies as he checks it out. "It accustoms to my signature, and Ember's shouldn't be that bad either. What do you know about this place, Sam?"
"Nothing beside it was abandoned in the '80s once the C02 levels were too high. Only a handful of people lived there till a year or so ago. Now it's a ghost town." She says as she looks at the spectral radar. "Do you think Vlad followed us here?"
"He might have..." Danny says, looking at the back to see Jazz sleeping near a couple of Fenton works brand laser rifles. "I shouldn't have scolded you when you and her suggested to bring those."
"You know I'm only looking out for you, Danny," Sam says with a smile. "It's what friends do."
"I'm glad I have you guys watching my back." He replies.
"I'm sorry," Sam says unexpectedly. "I shouldn't have followed you and-"
"Don't." Danny interrupts. "As you said, you were looking out for me."
"It wasn't just that..." Sam whispers until they spot the mile-long graffiti highway below.
"That's the south way to the town," Tucker says. "The article on it says it's been shut down for years due to the fire making the ground unstable. Look at the smoke coming out of it!"
"Ugh, do you smell that?" Jazz says in a drowsy slur. "Smells like sulfur and rotten eggs."
"Welcome to Centralia," Sam says as the town comes into view...
Moments earlier...
Ember arrives at nothing. Only the streets of the once beautiful small town greeted her with the sight of overgrowth as nature retook the land from civilization. She walks down Centre street toward Locust avenue, where the once vibrated community used to live.
"It's gone..." She says with tears in her eyes as she walks down the streets she used to walk on as a kid. The whole community would sit outside on their porches in the summertime and greet everyone that passed by, where everyone knew each other's name and would gladly welcome a stranger to their fair city, where no one would lock their doors at night and felt safe to walk the streets at night.
Gone.
Gone forever except in the hearts and minds of those who once lived there... Like Ember Mclain.
She stops at the town center where all the townsfolk would be shopping, talking, or enjoying the day from their closely built homes. Dropping to the ground, she sits down and buries her head in her knees to cry.
"Why?... Why? Why? Why? WHY?!" Ember sobs, tears streaming down her face and onto the concrete.
"Don't cry, Ember." The voice of a girl said to her. Ember looks up to see someone she never thought she would see again, Herself. Herself before she left the mortal world.
"It's you..." She says with a sob. "I mean... Me..."
Her real name was- She couldn't remember. She didn't want to, and she made herself forget who she was before the fire. But her other side remembered who she was before becoming what she was today.
"Amber." She told Ember. "Amber, silly, Don't you remember?"
Amber, Like razors against her skin, It hurt hear to hear that name and everything it brought with it. Amber was the loser teen who could barely play the guitar; Amber was the hopeless romantic nerd who fell for a jerk who ditched her on her first date; Amber was who she didn't want to be and who died in the fire on that cool Septembers night. The nerdy brunette with spring green eyes in a black leather jacket and bell-bottom jeans with glasses gave way to the Ember the world would someday love and adore.
"No..." Ember said in a dark tone as she wiped the tears from her face. "You're not here... You're dead. You died- You died at home!"
"We died," Amber replied as Ember got to her feet.
"SHUT UP!" Ember screams and throws a punch at Amber. She grabs Ember's fists, and she falls into her. Amber comforts her as she weeps on her shoulder.
"Let it out, Em..." She whispers in Ember's ear. "Let's go home."
Danny and the trio land in an empty lot near the intersection at Centre and Locust, and what surprised them the most when they landed was when the long-gone town of Centralia had returned. The stacked houses, the stores, People walking the streets, and even the old muscle cars returned to tear up the streets.
"It's..." Danny couldn't words at sight before him.
"It's a true-to-life ghost town..." Jazz replied as she slung one of the Fenton Laser cannons over her shoulder.
"This is so cool!" Sam exclaims as she looks over in awe. "It's like the town never died."
"This is so weird." Tucker replies as he takes out his PDA to research the topic of 'Real deal Ghost cities.'
"Anyone got a signal on Ember?" Danny asks as he looks around for anything that might give away where she might be.
"Not a thing," Tucker replies. "Try asking for help, maybe?"
Jazz and Sam roll their eyes, but Danny gives an exciting expression. He quickly goes ghostly and walks up to one of the ghosts roaming the streets.
"Excuse me, sir." He says, getting the attention of the male ghost. "Have you seen a rock star-looking girl with blue hair walking around?"
"I saw a girl walking with Amber Mclain." The ghost replied. "Down the street toward the edge of toward is where Amber and the Mclain's live. Very kind people. Take care now!"
"Amber?" All four of them ask themselves as they start heading down the street to find Ember.
The house was exactly like she remembers.
The two-story Victorian est home with white and green paint stood out of place in the stacked homes in the center of town. It gave a young Amber an easy way to find a home when she was only a kid. The large porch had two white wicker chairs with a wicker table between them. Amber took Ember by the hand and led her to the chairs to sit down.
"Come on! I know you're tired from walking so much!" Amber said as they stepped on the porch.
"How is it?..." Ember asks her as she plants her feet firmly to prevent her from pulling her onto the porch.
"Come on, sit with me," Amber says, refusing to answer the question.
"How is it still here?" Ember replies strongly.
"The same reason I still hear Em," Amber coolly says as she invites her back on the porch. "Come home. Please."
Ember is still confused, but her curiosity got the best of her, and she reluctantly stepped onto the porch and sat down in the wicker chair.
"Pop?" Amber says, offering her a soda.
"How are you still here? HOW?" Ember demands as she straightens up in her chair.
Amber chuckles and gives her a can of RC cola and opens one for herself as well.
"I don't want a soda. I want answers." Ember demands, pushing the soda away from her.
"Relax, Em," Amber says, waving her demands away. "What made you come back?"
"I'm asking the questions here!" Ember says, standing up from her chair.
"Easy, Em," Amber replies, getting up from the chair and putting her hands on Ember's shoulders. "We'll get the answers together. Just tell me, what made you come home?"
Ember sighs and tries to clear her head. She sat down in the chair and took a sip of the RC Cola, and It was cold and fresh. She could taste it! It was amazing!
"How can I?..."
Amber laughs, "An old woman told me something that made me think a long time ago when she came here looking for someone. Something about 'Reminding you of what you have forgotten.'"
Ember looks at her questionably and ignores it all together while she enjoys the sweet taste of her favorite cola. "I just wanted to." She says.
Amber smirks and looks back at her with a glare that girlfriends would give to each other when they somehow knew one another was lying. "It's about a boy, isn't it?"
Ember spits out the soda and shoots a mean glare at Amber, "NO!" She shouts.
"Whatever, Em," Amber replies with a chuckle.
"Ugh!" She groans. "Yeah..."
"Knew it!" Amber chuckles like a pre-teen. "What's his name? Is he cute?"
"Shut up," Ember replies as she blushes. "Danny... And... Ugh. He's a good guy... He took care of me after a run-in with some creep in the ghost zone. Nursed me back to help somewhat; I'm glad he did. Cute?... Well..."
"Yes! Yes, he's cute!" Amber interjects. "If you got a boy, then why are you here?... AWWW Did you get in a fight and storm off like before?"
Before... The fire... The humiliation... How can she joke about that?
Ember gets up from the chair and starts to walk off the porch. "I'm leaving. You know how I feel about before."
Amber reaches out and grabs her arm like a vise. "You're not going anywhere, Ember."
The voice echoed throughout the town as if it were a nightmare. It was low and calm, which unnerved Ember dearly. Only one voice sounded like that... Nocturne.
"Nocturne!..." Ember gasps as she is pulled back into her seat.
"Yes," Nocturne confirmed. "Now sit down and try to relax. This won't hurt a bit..."
Nocturne sheds the skin of Amber for his proper form, A sizeable black cloak of stars with a demonic head with blood-red eyes, and surrounds her... Sucking her into a void of nothing...
"Ember!" Danny shouts as he tries to wake her up from her deep slumber. "EMBER! WAKE UP!"