Hello again! Buh buh buh... Another one bites the dust!
Disclaimer: The characters belong to a Ms. Kelley Armstrong.
This couldn't be a coincidence, could it? I thought to myself as I paced around Liz's and I's room. A group home named after a psycho killer? Just the thought of Lyle still sent shivers down my spine. I rubbed the top of my head absentmindedly as I continued to wear a hole through the floor.
As soon as my aunt and dad dropped me off, I'd smiled to the nurses quickly and muttered something about homework as I made my way to my room. The connection between my vision and my current predicament still plagued my mind. Maybe it was just a freakish coincidence? Those are known to happen every now and then. Something in my mind was telling me that it wasn't though. Especially since that person he killed was a -
I stopped in the middle of my pacing.
A witch! She was a witch! Lyle either was a lunatic or he knew about supernaturals. I was leaning more for the latter, as much as it scared me. What were the chances that this place was named after a psycho-supernatural killer? And the fact that there's currently a wizard - or sorcerer, as Simon corrected me before I left today - a necromancer, and whatever Derek was in the same building?
It couldn't be all just a coincidence.
I sighed as I attempted to run a hand through my hair, before wincing slightly. I looked down to my hand to see that part of the scab that had been broken yet again, bleeding a little on the bandages I wore to lunch. There was some dried blood already on the wrap, so I assumed that I must have broken the scab sometime during lunch.
I stared at my hands for a moment, wondering why it was taking them so long to heal. Some parts of the cuts look better, but…
I was cut off by a knock at the door.
"Come in," I said, making my way over to the little desk in the corner. I had left my homework lying there before I left for lunch, so taking advantage of that, I made sure to look like I was doing exactly as I said.
"Chloe!" Liz exclaimed as she bounced over to me. I smiled at her and turned to face her. "How was lunch?"
"It was g-good. We ate at some sort of diner, and I convinced my dad to get me a shake." I said. She laughed and sat down on her bed, twiddling her thumbs. I turned back to my homework, looking over the answers Derek had given me. After a few minutes of quiet though, I knew something may have been up. I turned to see Liz still sitting quietly on the bed.
I took a little breath and put down the packet. "Is something up, Liz? You're not usually this quiet."
She smiled. "Yeah, my nana and my brother say that they could always read me like a book. Whenever something was wrong or was on my mind, they would know because they said I was finally quiet for five minutes."
We both laughed a little at that before she continued.
"I just - I wanted to ask you something. And I know it probably won't work, but it's worth a shot."
I straightened up a bit and listened. She looked up at me, almost pleadingly.
"The reason why I'm here is because whenever I get angry or I guess upset, things get a bit crazy. Everybody says that I start throwing things, and at first I thought that maybe I didn't remember throwing things. But it's not it at all! I don't know what it is, but whenever I get upset, things go flying! Things that aren't even that close to me!" As she told me this, her voice kept rising, but she paused and took a deep breath calming back down. She looked down to the floor, wiggling her toes in her socks.
"I know I might sound crazy, but I'm already here at this house, so what's left to lose?" She looked back up. "I was wondering… well, Tori said that you can see ghosts or whatever, right? I was wondering if you could tell me if maybe there's some kind of mean ghost or poltergeist following me around?"
I looked at her in utter shock. This was not how I was expecting my day to go. At all.
I decided to ask her the same question I asked Derek a few days ago.
"W-what makes you think I can actually see ghosts? That I'm not just some sc-schizophreniac?"
She shrugged slightly. "I figured, if nobody thinks that my problem is real, then probably nobody thinks your problem is real. I know mine is, so I thought that maybe yours might be too."
I got up and sat on the floor a few feet in front of her, leaning my back against my bed. This was…. Strange. Way too strange for my liking. Way too abrupt. Last week I was just a weird girl sitting in the classroom, living through the days thinking I was just weird. Now there's a possible fourth weird person in this home? I rubbed my eyes and sighed. As excited as I was that I may not be the only one, the excitement was starting to wear me out, and I just wanted to go home.
"It's crazy, I knew it was crazy to ask! I shouldn't have said anything, I'm sorry." Liz started rambling. I tore my hands from my face and smiled at her.
"No. If you're crazy then I'm just as crazy. I'm just a little tired is all. So you want me to see if I can see anything around you?" I asked, already knowing there wasn't even a blur anywhere near her.
"Yes! Please, I would seriously owe you!" She said, bouncing slightly and smiling. I gave her a smile back and narrowed my focus around her a little, trying to see if I was missing anything.
I scanned around her for a few minutes, not even feeling the familiar chill or tug at my stomach. Shaking my head, I stopped before I concentrated too hard on my power.
"I didn't see anything." I said, a little sadly. She deflated on the bed.
"Maybe I am crazy." She said quietly.
"Liz…" I started, thinking about how Simon was able to levitate things on his own. Maybe if he was able to levitate things, it wouldn't be so weird for her to be able to throw things without knowing?
"Liz, is it possible for you to show me? Like maybe get a little angry for me, that way I can see if anything pops up?"
She looked back up at me and smiled. "You're right! Maybe this thing doesn't hang around on my shoulder all the time!" Her smile dampered a bit. "You might want to get underneath the desk or something. I don't know what it might throw, or where."
That scared me a little, but I nodded without saying anything and made my way under the desk. Once she saw that I was secure, she nodded and began thinking.
"Now… what thought will make me angry enough?" she asked herself quietly. Honestly, it surprised me that Liz could even get angry. I saw her upset at Tori, yeah, but it wasn't really angry, more of a scolding. And the fact that everyone saw her throwing things when she was…
She took slow breaths in and out, her fists clenching and unclenching. I watched as her face slowly turned red, and decided to look around the room for any movement. There was nothing so far, and I was starting to get a bit worried that Liz might actually be a bit crazy. The thought didn't sit very well with me.
It took about two minutes before I heard something rattling. I looked around the room quickly, trying to find what it was. As I looked over to my nightstand I heard a crash from behind me. Liz and I jumped and looked to find that Liz's lamp had fallen over and broke, leaving trails of glass in its wake. I quickly looked back at Liz.
No ghost. Not even a single tingle during this.
I got up from under the desk and eyed the now desecrated lamp, making sure I didn't step on any glass.
We were silent for a second before a knock on the door made us both jump. Liz gave out a breathless laugh as she went to open the door.
Mrs. Talbot walked in in a rush, eyeing us up and down.
"What happened? I heard something crash!" She caught the sight of the lamp and gasped. I raised my hands quickly.
"I-I'm s-so sorry!" I stuttered, trying to think of a quick excuse. "I t-tripped and accidentally b-bumped the dresser. The lamp m-must've been really close to the edge." Liz looked at me in amazement, breaking out into a giant smile. Mrs. Talbot just shook her head.
"Goodness gracious, Chloe! You must be more careful! Did you two step on any of the glass?" When we shook our heads, she let out a sigh. "How about you two go downstairs while I clean this up? There's some peppers that need to be cut up in the kitchen, if you two don't mind." We both nodded and walked quickly out of the room and down the stairs. Once we got into the kitchen, I checked around the area to make sure none of the nurses were within ear-shot. Liz got out the cutting board and started to cut the peppers. Finding tomatoes by the sink, I grabbed those and began cutting as well. It was quiet for a few moments while we worked, until Liz finally whispered her question.
"So? Was there anything there?" I sighed and looked over at her.
"No. No ghost." she opened her mouth to say something, but I interrupted her. "But I believe you. There was no way you could've broken that lamp from where you and I were. I just know that there wasn't anything around you." I whispered back. I looked out the window by the sink, thinking. She couldn't be a witch could she? Maybe witches didn't need to learn the words to the spell? I sighed and was about to look down when I noticed Derek and Simon walking around outside. I smiled a bit and turned back to Liz.
"I may not know what's going on, but maybe someone can help us out." I whispered. She gave me another bright grin.
It was during dinner when I finally sat alone with Derek and Simon. Tori had taken her dinner in her room, while Rae and Liz decided to play some cards upstairs in ours. I sat picking at my food as I listened to Simon talk about the different schools they had been to, something that we had in common. Because of my dad's job, we were moving constantly, and apparently Simon and Derek's dad did the same. We compared some horror stories, laughing at some of the horrible situations we had found ourselves in. Derek stayed silent, shoveling as much food as possible into his mouth. Once his plate was empty, I pushed mine over to him, giving him a small smile. He checked to make sure that at least half of it was gone before he grunted his approval and began to eat the rest.
"Y'know, Derek's going to end up owing you for life if you keep giving him your food." Simon said, nudging his brother and giving a playful smile. I gave a small laugh.
"It keeps him helping me with my math homework. You were right about food being some sort of payment."
Simon puffed up his chest. "Of course! I'm always right! No one should ever ignore my suggestions."
Derek gave a huff at that. "Like the time you decided it was a good idea to put slugs in dad's shoes?"
I choked on my water a bit as Simon pushed his brother playfully. "I seem to remember that you were the one who suggested it. I would never do something so lame." He said, giving a wink in my direction. I rolled my eyes as I put my water down, knowing for a fact that Simon was the one who did it.
"Where is your dad, anyway?" I asked, curious. If he ever came to visit, I would've liked to meet him and see if he knew anything more about necromancers.
I knew almost instantly that it was the wrong question to ask. Simon and Derek both went quiet, looking at each other. After a moment, Derek grunted and got up, moving to the kitchen and grabbing an apple before sitting back down.
"Well…" Simon started, "We don't exactly know. Our dad went missing right before we were put in here. We came home from school one day to find the house empty. His wallet was still there, as well as one of his phones and the keys. Nothing was stolen either. It's weird. We've tried contacting him through email and phone, but none of it is reaching him."
I looked between the two of them, muttering my apologies for bringing up a tough subject before asking, "Do you know anybody who might know were he is?"
Simon nodded. "He had this friend a while back, a guy named Andrew. They lost contact for a while, but we're hoping that he'll know where dad might be. We can't really contact him here though. We know where he lives, just not his phone number. So we're kind of stuck here."
Derek gave him a look as he swallowed the last bite of his apple. "You mean I'm stuck here. I've already told you to go."
Simon rolled his eyes. "We've already talked about this. I'm not leaving without you."
"You guys have a way out of here?" I asked, looking at them in wonder. Derek grunted his approval as Simon nodded.
"We have for a while. But I'm not leaving without Derek."
"Why are you so against leaving?" I asked, turning to him. He looked up, scowling, then gestured toward my shoulder.
"I bruised you without putting much force behind it. I'm dangerous. I stay here." He said, crossing his arms. My gaze shifted toward Simon as he sighed.
"We talk about this a lot, but he won't budge. We're in a stalemate for now."
I nodded before taking a quick breath. Deciding to change the subject, I decided that now was a good time as any to bring up Liz.
"Is it possible for a witch to move something without any sort of...incantation?" I asked, looking down at my hands before looking back up. Derek was pinning me with his gaze as Simon answered.
"Not that I heard of… But sorcerer's don't really know too much about witches. We're separate breeds, and we tend to stay away from each other. Why do you ask?"
"Well, how about lifting things? Like with your mind? Do you know what kind of person may be able to do that?"
Simon looked to Derek, as Derek looked at the table, thinking. "It may be possible for some half demons. Maybe shamans if they project out of their body." He shrugged and looked up at me, waiting for me to explain further.
I gave a quick sigh. "Liz asked me something today. She wanted to know if maybe I could see if there was a ghost following her around. She said that every time she gets frustrated or angry, things end up flying."
"Are you sure she's not just throwing things?" Derek asked.
I shook my head. "I saw it for myself. She was at one end of the bedroom, and when she made herself angry enough, the lamp from across the room fell from the stand and shattered."
"There wasn't a ghost following her?" Simon asked hesitantly.
"No, no ghost. It was her doing it, somehow."
It went silent for a few moments while we thought things over. It was Derek this time who broke the silence.
As he spoke, Derek's gaze hardened. "I don't like this." Simon nodded, agreeing.
"It was already iffy that the three of us were supernatural, but we figured that perhaps necromancers are often put into places like these. But now there's four of us?"
Derek turned to me. "Did you tell her about us?"
I shook my head. "No, just that I might know someone who knows more about this."
Derek nodded in approval. "Good. Keep it that way. Tell her we're looking into it."
I nodded. "Got it." I thought about telling them about the basement, but stopped. Simon still didn't know what actually happened down there. I would have to get Derek alone at some point.
Simon got up to stretch. "I think we should call it a night. My head hurts."
I gave a small laugh as I followed his lead, breaking the tension that had surrounded us. "You did use it more than usual today. A whole thirty minutes. Pretty impressive."
Simon acted as if he got shot. "Oh! Shot in the back by the very person I called friend!" He and I gave a laugh as Derek rolled his eyes. We made our way up the stairs and parted to our respective rooms.
When I walked in, Liz was already laying on her bed, asleep. I quietly snuck in and changed before lying down as well. My eyes were heavy, and it didn't take long for me to fall asleep. I guess the mysteries around this place would wait until morning.
