Chapter 10

Heartless

The sweltering heat that had laid over everything and everyone within the area of the fields like a giant, thick, inescapable, suffocating blanket had become a distant memory as soon as night fell, causing the temperatures to abruptly drop so severely that the thought of wearing a jacket, which would have been considered as an immensely stupid idea during the afternoon, suddenly began to sound very tempting. And if you had to ask Cora, this would be the perfect opportunity to wear the jacket she and Darby had worked hard on to not only stand out as much as possible, but turn it into something that she would be more than happy to wear; to create a little bit of extra warmth, she had also chosen to wear her black beanie for tonight. Even by this time of the day, she still couldn't get over how awesome her new jacket turned out, and she knew that it was mostly thanks to Darby. She probably would have never guessed that deep inside the stoic enigma that was Darby Allin was an artist who was waiting to create something that was so aesthetically pleasing and be witnessed by someone, even if that someone was a temporary traveling companion. And she had to admit… working on that jacket with him had been really fun. It did help her to get her mind off a lot of things that had been subconsciously plaguing her: the monstrous heat that made her believe was no end to, the mildly anxious anticipation for what they could possibly encounter in the oil field as soon as the ghost hour would peek around the corner, that abnormally calm attitude of Tim Young during that interview, the fact that she would arrive at her mother's doorstep in Autumnfield sooner than she would have ever liked to hope… now that she thought about this, that latter thought had been that one thought she had been happy to forget about while she and Darby had been working together on that little fashion project. If Darby would ever decide to retire from ghost hunting in the future, he could always make a nice career in fashion design, she had thought to herself when she put the jacket on when the air around her had cooled down enough to give her actual goosebumps, which did kind of amuse her; she could already imagine his creations being proudly worn by thousands of goth/punk youth all around the world, all of them having been more than happy to cough up more than fifty dollars for an authentic Allin Couture t-shirt. And hey, who knew… perhaps, when this whole trip would be over, a couple of months would pass afterwards (during which she would have been able to find a place for her own, she dearly hoped) and she would choose to wear this jacket to shield herself from the cold one day, it could become a piece of memorabilia from the short but unforgettable time she had spend with the ghost hunter… a piece of memorabilia she could be fond of.

However, now was not exactly the right time to be thinking about all of this, because not only did Cora have to worry about the fence she was climbing on tearing a hole into her jacket if the possibility of her slipping were to occur, but also the dread of the bright light of a flashlight shining right upon her face blinding her accompanied with a booming voice asking them what the hell they were doing on this property, followed by the threat of the police being called. Neither Cora nor Darby had been able to spot a security guard when they started heading towards the oil site, but still, you never knew. The only thing that came close to actual security to guard this site from intruders was the high, iron, braided fence that had been build around the property, which they had only been able to see when they had gotten closer. But lucky for the ghost hunting duo (and the adrenaline-seeking visitors who had entered this place before them), there was no electricity pumping through the iron to knock them straight to the ground and lie there for a few minutes as a fried, twitching mess, thus making this little visit nothing short of easy for them. Even though Cora didn't intend to be so slow, she still tried to take her time, allowing her feet to find the right hole to step into while her fingers searched for something to hold onto as she made her way up the fence, trying her hardest not to slip.

She was more than grateful for the fact that Darby had taken a moment to rummage through the back of his van to look for a flashlight, since there wasn't any source of light whatsoever in this field's radius, so any employee who had forgotten to bring a flashlight or something like that while heading out to work their nightshift would be royally screwed in the complete darkness of the night. Darby was the one holding the flashlight, aiming it right at the fence so that his traveling companion could see where she was going. Even though the thought of a heavily built security guard popping up the hell out of nowhere still lingered in the rookie ghost huntress' head while she continued to climb, the reality was that it was truly just the two of them at this oil site, underneath the endless night sky filled with shining stars and a sea of dried, tall grass, which served as the home to the same massive swarm of crickets that had performed a private concert to the duo earlier that day, but even at this hour, they did not feel the need to cease playing their songs.

And yes, this would have really been a wonderful place to stop doing what you were doing and take in the atmosphere that only a summer evening could create, but that's not what they were here for, Cora knew. They had waited for this and they had waited for it long enough; it was now finally time for action. Time to lay rest to whatever weary soul was haunting this place, possibly sobbing until the despair and frustration would cloud her mind and turn her into a rampaging horror, and maybe even then, she would still be bitterly sobbing. Cora hoped to God that it wouldn't have to come to this tonight.

Her right hand finally touched the upper bar of the fence, and just like all the other visitors did, all she had to do was to position herself on top of it, swing her leg over the edge and hope for a safe landing. That's exactly what she did, and luckily for her, it wouldn't be that much of an anxiety-inducing drop, since the fence wasn't that insanely tall. As long as she would land on her feet, everything would be fine and no damage would be done to either her ankles, knees or even her face. The wind felt a little colder on her legs and face for a few seconds as she dropped down, and with her legs bend at the right angle to absorb the mild impact that was to follow, she made a fairly graceful landing on both of her feet, her knees only three millimeters shy from touching the pebbles. Cora then stood up straight and turned around to face Darby.

'Do you want me to hold the flashlight for you?' she asked him. 'You can toss it over the fence and I will catch it.'

'No need for that. Watch.'

In the blink of an eye, the skin on the right side of Darby's face grew so transparent that it exposed his skull and his heart was nothing more but a limp piece of meat inside his chest. Cora had long ceased to be stunned by the appearance he took once his powers were activated, but the ability that he was about to display to her did make her eyes widen for a bit. As if there was no fence in front of him to keep him away, the blonde ghost hunter nonchalantly walked right through it, without even breaking a piece of iron or leaving a single scratch on his body. This was the kind of thing only ghosts in movies could pull off, Cora had always believed up until now, her mind still finding it hard to process what she had just seen. Seeing the surprise on his traveling companion's face did make Darby twitch the left side of his mouth into a lightly humored smirk.

'Much easier than having to climb all the way to the top.' he said. 'And hey, who knows… I might have to take this form anyway later on.'

He did have a fair point in that; after all, there was no telling how this night was going to end.

'Would have been nice to have a power like that too.' Cora chuckled. 'It does look really useful, not gonna lie. Not to mention, pretty dope as well.'

'Well, next time you don't feel like scaling a fence, just burn a hole into it and crawl through it.'

'Nah, that raises way too much suspicion. And there's nothing wrong with a little bit of healthy exercise during the job.'

'Fair enough. Let's get going.'

Now that they had both entered the oil site, there was no longer any place for joking around, Cora quickly realized. She could instantly feel it in the cold air; a heavy, tense atmosphere, telling her to get ready for what could possibly end up in a fight where she had to give it her all. She could tell that there was something terribly wrong with this place, like it might be hiding a terrible secret, of which the only two witnesses were the massive oil tanks, a secret those ghost enthusiasts could have been this close to uncovering before they had taken more spookiness than they could have possibly handled and chose to run like hell before whoever was emitting that eerie sobbing could do something to them. There was a reason why this ghost was haunting this oil site, no doubt about it. Something must have happened here in order for her to manifest at this place. But what…? Both Cora and Darby knew that they would find out, one way or another. And in order for this to happen, they had to follow the disembodied sound of a crying woman.

Pebbles crunched under their feet as they began exploring the oil site. Cora tried her hardest to copy Darby's calm, no, professional demeanor as he pointed the flashlight from left to right, reminding herself to keep breathing and her ears perked. Aside from the crickets in the far distance and the pebbles, it was completely quiet; no sound that resembled a sobbing noise could be heard. It was chilly, but the temperature didn't even compare to the massive drop they had felt back at the park in Green Pines. Cora expected to feel it again at any moment, but the same chilliness remained in the air. Her eyes darted in every direction the light of the flashlight illuminated, all while she continued to remind herself to not hold her breath and stay calm.

'Nothing here…' Darby mumbled as he too didn't see or hear anything. 'But it did say in the post that the crying could be heard near the oil tanks. I suggest we go check out over there.'

'I just hope we aren't too late.' Cora replied, the calmness in het voice surprisingly matching that of Darby's. 'What if that ghost has entered the Restless phase already? Or worse…'

'I highly doubt that.' Darby slightly shook his head as he said this. 'No reports have been made about the ghost acting violent towards anybody, it's way more likely that it's still in the Wandering phase. If all goes well, it's gonna be an easy job for us tonight. And if not… well, I wouldn't be surprised. You always got to keep an open mind about this, Cora. Never fully expect a job to go smoothly.'

Again, Darby did have a good point about this. Cora could imagine living the life of a ghost hunter would definitely be an unpredictable one, given how quickly a confrontation with a ghost could escalate, no matter how hard you try to reason with it. Even if this ghost hadn't attacked anybody despite being in the least dangerous phase, there was still a chance that everything could go from a zero to a hundred in the blink of an eye; she had experienced that first-hand with the Mindless at Green Pines' local park, after all. But still… there might still be a chance that this would go smoothly, right? Well, whatever would happen, Cora knew that she wouldn't be fighting a raging, grotesquely warped specter all by herself. This realization did give her a bit of comfort, if she had to be honest.

It didn't take long for the light to slide across the metal of the tanks; now they were only a few feet away from them, and yet it remained silent as they continued to get closer. Even Darby appeared to be slightly puzzled by this. He was absolutely certain that this was the right place, he had expected the temperature to start dropping by now. Had the spirit moved on already by her own? That possibility too was always there…

That's when they both heard it.

Sobbing. Soft sobbing, but just audible enough to be noticed.

Cora instantly forgot how to breathe out, holding her breath as her sight remained glued in the direction of where the sound was coming from. It was definitely a woman who even in death experienced immense emotional pain, which was so clear. But there was something else in there too. No, it wasn't another emotion aside from sadness, not even rage, like you'd expect from a soul trapped in this world and unable to move on. Some of the sobs sounded more distorted than the others, though it did not resemble the distorted, disturbing pitch that lingered in the voice of the Mindless in the park. It sounded more like… bubbling. That was the best way Cora could describe it. It was like fluid was trapped inside the ghost's lungs as she cried her heart out, but no matter how much she tried to get it out, it was like her body couldn't stop producing whatever kind of fluid was stuck in her throat.

And that's when the cold followed. A piercing cold where even Cora's jacket could not protect her from, causing every single hair on her neck and arms to stand up straight. The source of the sheer cold was quickly revealed when the light of Darby's flashlight darted into the direction of the stairs. It had never truly been just the two of them this whole time at the site, as it turned out. Standing near the stairs was a humanoid figure that strongly resembled a woman, judging by what appeared to be the nightgown she was wearing. Her appearance would have made her perfectly blend in with the darkness if no light had been shone upon her, and it wasn't because she hadn't entered the Mindless phase yet; drenched from head to toe, she was covered in a black, thick liquid that dimly glistened in the light, coloring her entire nightgown, hair and the rest of her body nearly completely black, save for a few spots where her deadly pale skin was still visible; she was drenched to the point where drops of oil dripped down from the hem of her nightgown. As if she didn't notice the duo near her because she was too caught up in her own misery, the ghost kept her face hidden behind her oil-stained hands as she continued to sob, and in between some of these sobs, black liquid trickled between the thin gap between her hands, causing a bubbling noise to escape from her mouth; a gurgle was also thrown into the mix of the heartbreaking sounds she emitted. But the one feature about her that stood out the most had to be her stomach, which was so large, round and swollen that it looked like a logical place where the endless amount of black liquid was stored.

Oh dear God… what happened to her?

'Hey, is everything alright?' Darby suddenly asked while they slowly approached the sobbing specter. A pretty stupid question to ask to a spirit who was unable to move on for whatever reason, Cora thought to herself, but wisely decided to keep her mouth shut; after all, a calm approach was the best thing they could do right now. It appeared that the ghost had finally heard them, because she suddenly lifted her head with a loud gasp and looked at Darby and Cora with wide eyes that appeared impossibly blue as an effect of the oil that had trickled down her face, her tears having cut visible tracks over her oil-stained cheeks. Cora already mentally prepared herself to use her fire powers if necessary, but that's when she noticed something in the look of this ghost's eyes. No, it wasn't fear, nor rage. It was a brief look of surprise, followed by what appeared to be relief. Pure relief.

The ghost of the woman instantly ceased sobbing and she slowly walked towards Darby and Cora; perhaps the unnaturally massive size of her belly kept her from quickly rushing towards them like they were her knights in shining armors. Her mouth began moving in an attempt to communicate with them, but instead of expressing clear, understandable words, nothing but gurgling and oil spilled over the woman's lips. She fell silent for a short moment before she tried again. Sure, her voice was audible, but when she tried to utter a word once again, only more oil was sent dripping to the ground below, splattering the pebbles. Over and over again did the ghost try to verbally communicate with the duo, but not one clear word could be produced due to the massive amounts of oil that spilled out of her mouth each time she tried. That's when the frustration began to kick in, judging by how frantic the following attempts were and the fact that the woman's hands tightly clenched the drenched hair on top of her head. This was bad, Cora realized. If they weren't going to do something to calm her down, she was bound to shift into the Restless phase, or even worse, jump straight into the Mindless and become a rampaging monster. And before Darby could do anything about it, the rookie ghost huntress quickly approached the increasingly distressed ghost and gently put her hands on her shoulders, covering the palms of her hands with oil as she did this. Darby could scold her as much as he wanted later on for touching a ghost, but honestly, Cora couldn't really care less about that right now.

'It's okay, calm down.' she said, making sure to keep her voice low but soothing, comforting even. Thankfully the ghost of the woman wasn't too far gone in her frustration, because as soon as she felt the touch and the calming voice, she immediately quieted down, looking straight at Cora with widened eyes; it was only now where the rookie ghost huntress saw how bloodshot they were, undoubtedly due to the fact that she had been crying her eyes out for God knows how long. 'If you're going to get yourself upset, it's only going to make things worse, trust me. You don't need to speak to say what happened to you, okay? But you need to calm down. There must another way for you to tell us what happened. Could you maybe… write it down for us? Point at something? It's okay, you can trust us. We can help you.'

For a few seconds, it remained completely quiet between Cora and the distraught spirit, as if the latter needed a little moment to pull herself together. A little too quiet, if you had to ask Darby, and that's why he prepared himself to get ready in case this was going to escalate in the blink of an eye. But it didn't happen. Instead of flying into a rage and losing herself in the frustration, the oil-drenched ghost let out a soft bubbling noise before turning her head to look at the oil tanks. Then she slowly lifted her arm and pointed at the left tank.

'Do we… Do we have to look there?' Cora asked. Her response was a brief nod.

But before she could say anything else, Darby already started heading towards the stairs.

'Cora, you stay here with her, I will check it out.' he said. 'And keep an eye on her.'

As much as she felt genuine pity towards this poor soul and wanted nothing more but ease her suffering, Cora knew that Darby had a point about this; because no matter how sad and vulnerable this ghost appeared to be, there was still a chance that things could take a turn for the worse, one way or another, so she mentally agreed to this. They both watched as the blonde ghost hunter quickly walked up the stairs, the sound of his shoes thumping against the metal creating a soft echo across the silent fields around them. It didn't take long at all for him to get onto the platform. Darby was still holding on to the flashlight as he walked towards the left oil tank, aiming the light at the top. It turned out that a large valve had been installed there to keep the rounded lid firmly shut; Cora could imagine that it was going to take some elbow grease to twist that thing around. Remembering what Darby had told her mere seconds ago, she glanced at the oil-stained ghost, who didn't appear in the slightest to become increasingly agitated. It was the ghost had completely forgotten about Cora standing next to her, since her sight was entirely fixated on the young man near the lid of the oil tank. She saw new tears welling up in the corners of her sore eyes, accompanied by trickles of oil spilling past her lips as the black liquid bubbled in her throat.

Clearly Darby needed two hands in order to get this job done. The light coming from the flashlight briefly shifted when he put it down next to his feet and took a firm hold of the valve. Cora heard a soft grunt coming from the blonde ghost hunter when he began to put his back into trying to crank the lid open. Thankfully he possessed enough physical strength to do this, because less than five seconds later, a little squeak was heard coming from the valve, after which he could rotate it with ease. There must be a reason for all of this, Cora thought. There must be a reason why this poor ghost was pointing at that oil tank, there must be a reason behind it of why she ended up like this, right? Unless she was planning on tricking them somehow… but seeing how her sight remained glued on what was going on up there right now, all while her painful tears kept leaking, was there truly any reason to suspect her? Cora hoped to God not, but they were bound to find out about why she was so adamant on them checking out that damn oil tank. Finally, after a few more seconds of rotating, a click was heard. Darby quickly picked up the flashlight with one hand and opened the lid with the other, and he used the light to peek inside.

Cora saw it, as clear as it could ever be. Darby Allin, who she had always seen with a stoic attitude when it came to his life work, was seeing something inside that tank. Something that made the calmness and professionalism he had always carried with him waver. The light revealed to her how his eyes widened in what appeared to be complete and utter shock, his lips slightly parting as if he was about to let out a horrified gasp. This expression was so clear, but only lasted for a heartbeat, as if the ghost hunter had managed to keep himself together, unnaturally fast. It had been so brief that it would almost make anybody guess themselves if they had seen it, but Cora didn't need to, because she was absolutely certain that she had seen Darby's face waver with pure horror.

'What is it, Darby?' she asked. 'What's… What's in there? Can you see it?'

The blonde ghost hunter didn't say anything. For a few seconds, it looked like he was frozen solid, staring into the oil tank with his flashlight illuminating whatever was inside. The same went for the ghost of the woman, for who it was absolutely impossible to look away from him. Then, as if he had suddenly snapped out of a trance, he put the flashlight aside once more and reached inside the oil tank; soon he was required to stick his upper body through the open hatch to get a hold of whatever was drifting into that black liquid. Cora watched as he eventually pulled most of himself out, with his hands still sticking inside, and judging by the strained grunts he emitted when he began to pull, he must have grabbed something with quite some weight; dragging it out would perhaps require more elbow grease than twisting than valve. It took a few more tries, but something was eventually pulled through the hatch, but Cora found it incredibly difficult to see what exactly.

But after Darby had grabbed the flashlight again and has picked up this mystery object, she could see what it was.

Something that resembled a life-sized mannequin, no, a doll, drenched from head to toe in pitch black oil, laid limp in Darby's arms while he carefully walked down the stairs. The stoic expression, as if it had never faded once, remained present on his face, not hinting any sort of emotion whatsoever. When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs, he walked towards Cora and the ghost of the woman, and without saying a single word, slightly bent his knees when he gently laid the 'doll' on the ground.

Despite the amount of oil that had drenched her hair, clothing and most of her body, a horrified Cora Jade could still easily recognize the features of a young woman who couldn't be older than somewhere in the early thirties; her most defining feature being her round belly, which indicated that she must have been roughly seven months pregnant when she died.

But before she was able to let out a frightened scream or even a trembling whimper, someone was already ahead of her. A loud sob made her look up. This sob emitted by none other by the ghost that had been haunting this oil site. Something was happening to her; something that would only increase the horror that had engulfed Cora later on. Every drop of oil trickled down her body and onto the ground, as if she was standing underneath an invisible shower. Her long hair no longer remained drenched in black liquid as it revealed its natural color, a light shade of yellow peeked through the fabric of her nightgown. In a matter of seconds, not only single oil stain could be spotted on the ghost's body, having been collected into a single pool under her feet on the ground. The size of her bloated stomach reduced in size until it matched the size of the belly of the body lying near them. During this brief but astounding transformation, the ghost hadn't stopped sobbing for one moment.

'Lisa…?' Cora asked, her voice reduced to nearly a whisper. 'Lisa Young…?'

Two more tears trickled down Lisa Young's face as she was finally able to tell her story. 'I have tried so hard…' she softly sobbed. 'I have tried so hard to make it all work. I knew about my husband having a mistress, but I still loved him so much. Tim talked so many times about him wanting to move on with her, about him wanting to get a divorce… But I still saw the man who I had loved so much. I wanted to make our marriage work, especially now that we were expecting our first child together. That night, he…' Lisa paused to let out a shivering breath before she was able to continue. 'He was talking about a divorce again. He said he would be so much happier with his mistress and that he didn't see a future with me. I begged Tim to think of our baby, think of the fact that he would have to grow up without his father. And that's when he put his hands around my neck. I could feel our baby gasping for air along with me. Then… everything went dark.' Once again, Lisa was forced to take a small break, but now to take a long, sad look at the oil tank that had once kept her physical body hidden from the outside world. 'Tim has worked here for years, you know. He left us to drown in there. No matter how hard I tried to breathe in that darkness, I couldn't do anything. Neither could our baby…'

Then she turned her head to look back at Cora and Darby, while she let her hands rest on her belly. 'Can you promise me something?'

'Y-Yeah…' was all that Cora could say, trying her damn hardest to not let her voice break.

'Promise me that you will tell my story. Tell them what Tim has done to us, tell them everything. I need you to do this for me… and for my baby…'

The rookie ghost huntress nodded. 'We will. We promise.' Darby too gave her a brief nod.

For the very first time in ages, even during the time while she was still alive and had the horrible secret of her husband having an affair with another woman revealed to her, Lisa curled her lips into a small smile, which was accompanied with tears that didn't symbolize her sorrow, but pure relief. 'Thank you… Thank you both…'

Then, while she lovingly stroked her belly, her whole body brightly glowed with a white light while it floated into the air for a few millimeters… then it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Now it was truly just Cora and Darby here on this oil site, only accompanied by the shrill music of the crickets in the distance.

The rookie ghost huntress quietly knelt down next to Lisa's body. She let her hand hover above the round belly that had once contained something that was full of life, something that was so close to being brought into this world and live its life to the fullest.

This was too heartless, this was too horrible, this was too vicious, this was too… too…

'Why…? Why, why, why, why, why, why?!' Cora cried out.

She remained on her knees when she cried at the top of her lungs, unable to comprehend the sheer cruelty behind all of this.

Darby didn't say a word, remaining calm as ever.