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Chapter 2 It was in His Eyes
Kate's idea to communicate with the Wraith came to her in a dream. This was unusual because she'd always woken up from a dead sleep while residing in the Entity. She hoped that it came to her by the grace of God and not because of the Entity's manipulations. The thought that it could be a trap made her freeze, but she pushed through.
In her dream, she saw herself fiddling with nature, making it say what she wanted it to say with fake twigs and leaves. She saw herself drawing pictures with her hands. She also saw that it would work, and it was this thought that made her bite her lip in order to stifle the growing excitement.
She picked the Wraith because she could see it in his eyes. Humanity. At least, Kate thought she could see humanity in the Wraith's eyes. The thing looked terrifyingly malevolent in every other way. The stuff of nightmares. His visage was something she thought she might find in the depths of hell—except for maybe his eyes.
There was something there. Maybe. A spark. No, a flicker. A flicker of humanity.
Kate knew she may have just started seeing hope where there was none, but there was nothing left to try. It was plenty possible she was staring into the depths of crystal blue eyes that had long been dead—or worse, had never been alive to begin with, and she was too dumb to notice.
But it wouldn't make since to give her a chance to escape if he was just a dead killer.
It was a very small thing to go on, but it was all she had. Besides, in 1984,Julia hadn't had much to go on when she thought Winston might be a free thinker like her, and she was right.
It wasn't long before Kate saw the Wraith again, but it felt long. When she saw him, a kind of excited nervousness made her heart pound. She had a plan. All she had to do was make her message readable enough for a former human to recognize, and unreadable enough for a monstrous Entity to gloss over.
Kate ran through the artificial map, feigning intense fear. Forming the shape of the E would be the hardest part, but it would be the first step.
The Wraith was following one of her teammates, Ace. Kate fell to the ground, grabbed a handful of dirt, and hurled it at the specter. The ghost flinched as the dirt coated his gauze. Kate took advantage of this time to quickly arranged small twigs in a sloppy E shaped pattern. Then she slapped the ground with both hands, stood up, and sprinted. The killer's celestial eyes flickered to the ground right before Kate turned, and her heart fluttered with hope.
Distracted, the Wraith went after another victim, Meg. Kate took the time to run behind Meg. She grabbed a stick and made a swishing curve in the air. It resembled an S. This time, the Wraith made no indication of pausing. He went after her, swung his weapon, and carried her over to a hook.
Heart beating in her ears, Kate scribbled the rest of the letters over the Wraith's back with her finger. At least, she tried to. The killers were not careful when they flung them over their shoulders, and her soft skin chafed against the ghost's surprisingly solid body. Kate slapped him with her fist, and then drew a C. She slapped him again, and then she made an A. This process repeated until she finished spelling the word 'escape' over his body. The killer made no indication that he understood like she hoped he would. No slight hesitation or noise or grunt or anything.
She smacked at his back again several times. She drew the words 'escape' again as subtly as she could over his back—this time the full word. Then she drew the word 'plan' to accompany it.
There it was. A difference in his movement. A stumble—if someone like the Wraith could stumble.
Yeah, that's right. I'm talking to you, she thought.
They stood at a hook. The Wraith stood still, his ethereal presence floating in the same way that her hope was floating. Those crystal eyes were off in the distance, seemingly unable to meet her gaze. He felt around her midsection with uncertain hands. When he finally made eye contact, she immediately frowned. There was nothing humane in his eyes this time.
He hooked her.
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The human body shouldn't be able to survive getting stabbed and then hooked onto a sacrificial altar. She was always amazed at how much damage her and the others could take in the Entity. Nothing made sense in this world.
Time seemed to bend as Kate hung from the instrument of torture. She was there for a while, and she scowled in terrible fright as the claws descended for her. There was a rush of noise. She peeked over the tall grass. Kate stared at Ace like he held all the answers of the world as he ran to her. He grabbed her with steady hands. Maybe some of his luck would rub off on her.
When her feet hit the ground, they sprinted. She tried nursing her wounds, her pain, and her pride as they ran towards the exit, which was miraculously available. Her team had come through again!
What if he didn't understand? The thought hit her far worse than getting hooked did.
If the Wraith hadn't sounded his bell at the exit, she would have missed his message in the dirt:
LSTNING.
Time stopped as euphoria overwhelmed her. Listening, listening, listening! It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen! He'd understood! And he wanted to get out of there just like they did! He wrote the word short so the Entity wouldn't know what he'd said! He was smart! Hope sang within Kate like she'd never felt before. Butterflies danced in her stomach. She teared up, and she tried to hide the elation as tears of sorrow. Kate covered her mouth lest the Entity see her beaming smile.
"What is it?" Ace asked his comrade. He didn't bother whispering.
Kate shook her head. She would keep this information to herself for as long as possible so the Entity couldn't hear. She reached up to touch Ace's face and pushed his sunglasses back onto his nose. Ace accepted the gesture with some surprise. "O-kay," he said.
Kate giggled when she went to sleep that night, thinking of the Wraith. If the Entity was Big Brother, then she must be Winston, and that meant the Wraith was her Julia.
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