BOO!
The next couple of hours were spent brainstorming ideas and researching all the dojos in the area. They had already found records from the Bobby Wasabi Dojo and a few other dojos, including the Black Dragon's. The records only went as far back as 1995 so there wasn't a lot to look through. They double-checked every file and nobody named Odessa had ever attended any dojo.
Everyone was beginning to lose faith in the idea. Milton was going mad, having been in his hardcore research mode for too long. Jerry was getting dangerously bored. Kim was getting tired and Jack was getting worried.
"Let's call it a day guys," Jack decided, addressing the group.
"We're nearly there!" Milton insisted. "I can feel it!" He pushed his hair back sloppily with his palm and kept his eyes locked on the laptop screen.
"It's too late, Milton. We can keep working on this tomorrow but we're all getting hungry and tired and that won't do us any good trying to figure this out. I can't make you stop, but I'm taking Kim home."
Milton shrugged Jack off and continued his work.
Jerry quickly snatched up his bag and bolted to the door. "Don't have to tell me twice. I'm out of here!"
Jack sighed and turned to Kim. "I'll carry your bag."
Kim thanked Jack and handed him her bag to put on his shoulder. It was hard for her, getting used to not having the use of both arms anymore.
Jack drove to McDonald's on the way home for dinner and on the ride back to Kim's house, he kept the conversation light and joking. The pair ended up having a really good time. It was hard always talking about ghosts and hospitals and insomnia. Kim didn't know if Jack had done it intentionally or not, but the fifteen-minute drive was exactly what she needed.
Kim went to bed that night without even thinking about Odessa or their conversation or ghosts or even karate. Just thoughts of her and Jack and laughing at all the fun things they had done together.
Just because Kim had momentarily forgotten about Odessa did not mean Odessa had forgotten about Kim. In fact, Odessa seemed more determined than ever to make Kim's life difficult.
Kim had, unfortunately, gotten used to the constant jump scares and sleepless nights. Consistent, if nothing else, Odessa always appeared with some mysterious warning for Kim when she was all alone.
She never stayed long enough for a chat.
By the end of the next week, Kim was exhausted. She had spent every day always busy with something. Every free moment she had to finally relax or rest or sleep, Odessa was there. Kim honestly wished Odessa would be gone simply because she was a bother. Kim wasn't scared as much as annoyed by now.
Hauntings in movies always seemed scary and as if like those being haunted or those who were cursed were constantly in fear. The only thing Kim was in fear of was dropping dead in the middle of class since she had absolutely no time to herself anymore. She was going to go crazy if she didn't get her ghost off her back.
Finally, on Sunday night, Milton called to let Kim know he had found something interesting. Even if it was a school night, Kim insisted everyone meet up immediately. It wasn't like she would be missing a good night's sleep anyways.
Jack picked Kim up and drove her to the dojo. She was grumbling the whole time, upset because she had to wait for Jack to get to her house first, and then they could drive over. It added a whole 3 minutes that Kim had to wait so by the time they got to the dojo, Milton and Jerry were already there. Her shoulder was much better, she didn't have to wear a sling or anything and it didn't hurt anymore. Jack still insisted she let him drive since she wasn't sleeping as much.
"Well," Kim asked before they had even walked all the way in. "What did you find?"
"The reason we couldn't find Odessa's file was because it wasn't on any database or in any of the files we had. Our records only went back to 1995, because this mall was built in 1995. But there used to be a dojo a few blocks away before the mall was built. The building was sold in 1996 and now it's a bookstore. I checked it out yesterday and we ended up finding the old records from 1978 until 1995. I looked through the files, and found this one, from 1984."
Milton held up a single manilla envelope. It looked every bit as old as Milton had said. Kim reached out to snatch it away but Milton pulled it back, basking in the position of power he had.
"What's in it?" Kim asked eagerly, almost angrily.
Jack put a hand on Kim's leg to calm her down but she ignored it.
Milton looked down at the file and slowly peeled it open, clearing his throat as he read. "Date of birth: June 14, 1969. Gender: Female. Name: Odessa Clairisse Woods."
Kim's eyes were wide as she suddenly felt a burning in her chest, rising up and crawling its way out her throat. She didn't need to ask, she knew. That was her. That was Odessa.
"What does it say?" Kim gasped, barely having the breath for it.
The boys looked concerningly at Kim. Her reaction was extreme and the information appeared to be affecting her much more than it should have.
Hesitantly, Milton went on. Suddenly, he didn't care so much about theatrics, now he was concerned about how Kim would react.
"Um… She joined the dojo in 1984. She was very good from what I read, nearly a black belt."
"What do you mean nearly?" Kim asked, although from the growing pit in her stomach she was pretty sure she already knew.
"Well… She passed away. It, um, didn't say how in the file…"
"But you know," Kim pressed.
"Kim," Jack intervened. She was breathing loudly and sitting up straighter. She was anxious and he was afraid she would do something rash or dangerous.
"No," Kim said quickly, swatting Jack away. "He knows. Milton knows. Tell me."
Milton, scared now, gulped. "Yes…"
"Tell me," Kim growled, leaning forward. Milton flinched back.
"Chill o-"
Kim's eyes snapped to Jerry and he shut up immediately, flinching back just like Milton. Kim didn't move toward them, but she didn't have to.
Jack sighed as he grabbed Kim's arm to pull her back. Kim tried to pull away but Jack just pulled her into his lap and restrained her in a big bear hug.
"Go on," Jack told Milton. "She'll listen calmly."
Milton eyed Jack's arms around Kim and when he decided they would hold, he resumed.
"She was out with the others, the other kids from the dojo that is. They went out late one night, she snuck out of her house to go. She and the others went to a lake in the middle of the night to go for a swim. Nobody had seen any of them until the next morning when they came back without Odessa. Nobody knew what happened. That night, they finally found her body, naked in the middle of the woods. Nobody knew what happened or how she got there."
"But they did know," Kim insisted. "The others, the boys, they knew. At least they knew where she went."
"How do you-"
Kim held out a hand and cut Jerry off.
"She didn't want to go," Kim began explaining. Just like before, the story seemed to come out before Kim knew the words.
"They made her come. She didn't sneak out, they dragged her out. They broke in through her window and pulled her out of bed. They made her go to the lake, even though she was tired and scared."
Kim began to shake as if she was the one who was tired and scared. Maybe she was.
She continued, the words falling from her lips effortlessly. "Then they wanted to go for a swim. Odessa refused, but they thought it was funny. They threatened to throw her in the water if she didn't get in herself so she did. She didn't want her clothes to get wet, so she made them turn away as she stripped down."
Kim hadn't realized just how cold she had gotten until she felt Jack's warm fingertips on her arm.
"When she was in the water, the boys thought it was funny to scare her. They took her clothes and hid them so she couldn't get out, and then they all hid. She called out for them but when they heard a loud noise, they all ran off. There was- water- and- and something sharp- and cold- so cold-"
Kim paused, voice breaking. It felt as if she were there. As if she had been betrayed.
"They left her there."
Kim let out a sob as her head dropped to her hands.
The betrayal was so thick, so strong, it hurt. She was whipped into another world, feeling the cold and pain. She saw horrible things, things she could never describe. She watched herself be violated and hurt and killed. Her heart hurt in a way she had never felt before. She couldn't control herself anymore. She couldn't control her breathing.
She realized then that it wasn't just her that was freaking out, there was something else that was making it so hard for her to breathe.
Panicking but unable to stop herself, Kim continued to hyperventilate, loudly choking as she tried her hardest to bring air into her lungs.
She looked frantically at her friends, putting her hands on her neck so they'd know she couldn't breathe anymore.
Milton recognized the movement immediately and jumped into action. "Kim, can you breathe?"
Kim shook her head frantically.
Jack swore as he kneeled in front of Kim, awkwardly hovering over her as he looked between Milton and Kim.
"Milton, what do I do?" He panicked. "How do we help her? She's going to pass out!"
"Uhh, I don't think Kim is usually that blue," Jerry pointed out, noticing the rapid changing of Kim's complexion.
"Milton!" Jack yelled. "Milton, what do I do?"
"Well I'm not an expert on it," Milton offered quickly. "but you could try to calm her down. Bring her back to reality. Get her to focus on what she sees, what she hears, smells."
"Okay," Jack nodded quickly, turning back to Kim. "Okay, Kim, can you hear me? Can you hear me, Kim?"
After a few moments, Kim nodded, unable to form words.
"Okay… Good. Um, alright Kim, look at me. Good, good. Listen to my voice, do you hear my voice?"
Kim nodded again.
"Good. Do you feel the floor? You're sitting on the floor. The mats are kind of squishy. Your fingers are resting on the floor. Focus on that. Can you do that?"
Jack continued coaching Kim, telling her all about their surroundings and trying to get her to hear and feel and smell her surroundings.
A few panic-filled minutes later, Kim was no longer hyperventilating. She was breathing hard, but with each breath, she calmed down a little more.
Milton and Jerry watched on worriedly, not knowing how to help and be useful but just hoping Kim would be okay.
"Kim…" Jack didn't wait any longer as he pulled Kim to his chest. "It's going to be okay," he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "We love you. Me, Milton, Jerry, Rudy, all of us love you and we would never hurt you. I know you're scared and I know you're tired but I want you to know you're loved."
Kim whimpered as she wiped her tears and snuggled into Jack's chest. Jack's words had done more than he could ever know.
"I know…" she whispered, convincing herself as much as the others. "I just… it felt so real. All of a sudden, I wasn't just remembering, I was reliving."
It was cold and dark and so real.
At that moment, Kim understood Odessa. She understood the haunting, the scaring, the need to do anything and use all means necessary to prevent anything like that from ever happening to Kim or anyone else. It was all completely justified now.
"We'll make this right, Kim. And in the meantime, we're all here, okay?"
Kim looked up at Jack, then Milton, then Jerry.
She took a breath and wiped her face, offering the best smile she could at the moment. "Thank you."
Was that scary enough? The story is like 60% done i think. maybe 70% posted. there will probably be like 2 more chapters. I don't know, I didn't write this in chapters i just wrote a story and now I'm dividing it up. anyways i'm like super tired i've been tired all day and it's only 6:30 but my 9am class is CANCELED! YAY! that means sleep-in for me tomorrow. literally thrilled. I love you all.