Stupid Derek…s
The ropes were not difficult to undo: an extra five minutes of methodic wiggling sufficed. The moment I was free I leapt to my feet and tore after Derek, pausing only to sling his backpack over my shoulder. The bag thumped against my back with every step as I wove in and around buildings in what I hoped was the right direction. Of course it wasn't.
Just as I planned on entering the suburbs as I rounded a corner I thought was familiar, a stretch of more warehouses rose before me, at least a mile long.
I had managed to get myself totally and completely lost.
Fighting tears of anxiety and frustration, I slowed to a trot then a walk. Damn it- where was Aliena when I needed her? I'd even take the traitorous Liz. Any ghost would be extremely helpful at the moment. For the next eternity I kept walking, putting weary foot in front of weary foot until I looked up and realized I as on a familiar street. There, at the end of it, was a yellow house.
Hope flooding back into me, I began running again, breaking into a dead sprint as I pounded down the empty sidewalk. The bag on my back dragged, slowing me down, and I debated ditching it but decided worst case scenario- it'd be useful.
The swatch of yellow didn't seem to get any closer as I ran, almost as if I was running in place. In my hysteria I began to wonder if it was a mirage until eventually I was able to draw close enough to notice the yellow frill curtains in the window and the little plaque in the corner: Lyle House- 1987. I was here.
Avoiding all caution I ran up the front porch and flung open the door. "Derek!" I hollered into the darkness. I clicked on the light switch and memories sprung up around me. I knew that table, I recognized that potted plant. "Derek!" I cried again, fear squeezing my heart as I tore up the stairs and checked all the rooms, starting with the boys' and cutting through a dusty nurse's room to the girls' side. Back down the stairs and to the TV room, the yard. Feeling about to puke I checked the kitchen last. A dark figure was sitting at the table, watching me with steady cat-eyes, glinting in the warm fluorescent light.
It wasn't Derek: it was Rae.
I stumbled in the doorway with surprise, choking out her name as I did so. "R-R-Rae?"
"Hey, Chloe," there was no warmth injected into my name; she spoke coolly and solemnly like a stranger.
"W-w-what-"
"You're too late, you know," she informed me calmly. She glanced at the glowing digital numbers mounted above the stove before returning her attention to me. "By almost two hours."
My heart sunk but I managed to force in a deep calming breath to control my stutter. After a moment I asked, "Why are you here?"
She stood up and took a step towards me. When she spoke, her tone was bitter. "Disappointed, are you?"
"No, I just-"
She held up a hand. "It's ok, I get it. You were hoping to find Mr. Creepy here instead." That made me mad, especially after all Derek had just done to protect me (even though I was planning on killing him later for it).
"What the hell happened to Derek?" I snapped. "Do you know?"
"They took him," she shrugged as if that was inconsequential, to be expected.
"And my dad?" I was almost too afraid to ask, but I had to know.
Another shrug. "Took him, too."
"But they said they wouldn't kill him!" I protested weakly, sagging against the refrigerator with despair. "They said he'd be safe!"
"Yeah, well, the Edison Group doesn't play fair, Chloe. You knew that. Only wish I had too. He's a valuable hostage- of course they're not just going to let him go. And now that they have a certain werewolf…" she trailed off, letting my imagination fill in the blanks. We had walked right into their trap without ever having a choice if we wanted to or not. Something else was bothering me though…
"So why did they leave you here?" I demanded.
"Leave me?" A bitter laugh. "They didn't leave me, Chloe, you did. You and Tori and Derek and Simon. You all left me," her voice cracked on the last word.
"Rae, we were planning on coming back to rescue you!" I told her, inside recoiling as I realized we hadn't even mentioned her in weeks. When had been the last time we made plans for saving her and Aunt Lauren? What had once been our primary focus had faded into the background in the swirl of chaos our lives consisted of.
"Sure," she spat, eyes brimming with tears. "Sure you were."
"We were!"
"When, Chloe?" she was shouting, actually pulling at the ends of her copper curls, one step away from literally ripping her hair out. "When?"
"As soon as we could!" I was yelling too, the emotional exhaustion of the day shortening my temper to a millimeter.
"You come to get your dad without a moment's thought, you're about to drop everything else you might have been doing to go save Derek- don't lie, Chloe, I see it in your faux-innocent blue eyes. But I never warranted the same priority-"
"Rae," guilt put a lump in my throat, making it hard for me to breath. "We were going to-"
"Going to," she mocked, eyes rolling with hysteria. "Never got around to it, though, did you?"
"Well now-"
"No, Chloe," she shook her head at me viciously. "Not now. Not ever. You missed your chance."
"No, Rae, we can still-"
"You missed your chance," she repeated, before reaching out to slap me. Or at least, that's what I thought she was going to do. Instead her hand went right through me.
"Y-y-you're a g-g-" I staggered backwards a step.
"Ghost." she finished for me, spitting the word out like it tasted bad.
"B-b-but, b-before when y-you were sitting at the t-table…"
"It's not hard to fake life." She put her arm just on the edge of the counter top as if it was resting there, pinned by natural gravity.
"B-b-but-" I tried again.
"You knew what they did to Liz, didn't you?" she accused. "And you didn't think to warn me?"
"I-I-I-"
"Too late, Chloe. I don't need to hear your excuses anymore. I don't need your apologies. Not like they'd mean anything, anyway."
"No, Rae, you're my friend. Of course I d-didn't want this t-to happen-"
"Let's just say whatever friendship we once had is now over, ok? Ended the day you decided not to tell me I was in mortal peril."
"Rae-" She lunged forward, hands closing around my throat. I let out a brief yelp before realizing they passed right through me.
She drew back again with a laugh. "Bet you're glad I'm not telekinetic right now, aren't you?"
She was dead on (no pun intended). I was fervently praying for either Aliena or Liz to show up and help as no amount of mental pushing I was currently attempting was working.
"But don't worry, Chloe," she smiled sweetly, deceivingly angelic for a moment with her cherub-like face and hair. "As a ghost I made some new friends. Did you know there's some dead people who hate you just as much as I do?"
Right on cue another figure materialized next to her. "Hey, little necro." Royce drawled, grin chilling.
I instinctually cringed at the sight of him, so out of place in the warm familiar kitchen. "Rae, w-w-what-"
"Chloe, meet my new boyfriend," she leaned over and planted a kiss on his lips but he was looking at me the whole time. Those menacing brown eyes were daggers in my heart.
"Y-y-you-"
"M-m-me," he mocked, grin stretching even wider.
"We have more friends, too, Chloe," Rae clung to his arm, cackling at me. Behind them glimmered more than a dozen unreal forms, too faint for me to make them out except that they were vaguely humanoid. "You've made an enemy of the ghost world."
That was ridiculous, the ghost world was my power. But there was no denying I was suddenly in a very, very dangerous situation.
I turned and ran out of the house, a fork that had been lying on the counter flying towards me and stabbing me on the shoulder as I did so, having been flung by Royce. As the front door swung shut behind me I heard another maniac laugh, then, "And don't go looking for your other ghost friends, either. Neither of them are in any state to help you right now."
I was sorely tempted to turn and march back in, demanding what they had done to Liz and Aliena, but knew that that would only be putting myself in even greater danger. Getting myself killed would not help anyone, and going back in would make that inevitable knowing Royce's temper. Even if they only seemed to want to scare me right now, I wasn't so sure they'd be able to withhold themselves from actually killing me given the chance.
Once I had pounded out of view of the house, I let myself slow to a walk, dragging in deep breaths more to calm my racing heart than because of exertion. Suddenly glad I still had Derek's backpack, I subtly changed course towards what I hoped was the bus station. I was going to go back to Simon and Tori, and then we were going to get help. And I knew exactly who to get it from.
Sorry if bringing back all these characters is too weird…I'm just trying to keep you on your toes! Three guesses who Chloe's going to solicit help from?