Chapter 18

Part 1

Silently watching my friends ramble on about the swamp was oddly soothing. Many aspects of my life had changed, but so long as the Occult Research and Study club retained that enthusiastic vigor to discuss and investigate the occult, maybe pushing on wasn’t going to be impossible…is what I thought. “Fate, comrade, you and Demica should host the next portion!” Chester yelled, his voice fighting against the buzzing cicadas’ songs blanketing the area.

“Right. Demica, you guys didn’t mention the church. Do you want to do an interlude for it?” The factory remnants were so mysterious; I’d catch myself staring into the buildings through shattered windows. Though mostly empty, the few pieces of lab equipment skewed about painted a story of some peculiar operation. Flipped over metal tables, smashed beakers, and burnt pages mixed into the grimy floors.

Even with the insides caked in mold and some moss, I couldn’t help but meander in. Some legible writing had survived in the charred books, miraculously. “That look in your eyes says you’re getting sidetracked. This place is interesting, but keep in mind, this is occult research! The church in the swamp harbors a lot of speculations around it, even some saying there have been ghost sightings, so I’d like to focus our attention on it for the day.” Demica followed in behind me. She knelt next to me, whispering. “Where’d Anesha go? Mr. Sander looks concerned and probably not just because his new crush vanished.”

“I wouldn’t worry about her. She does that all the time, hardly ever tells me where she’s going. So long as Bramble’s around, we’ll be able to contact her and vice versa.” My reassurance was also partly for my own sake. Anesha had taken off in such a hurry, leaving with ominous implications, the usual slew of horrible scenarios began rearing their ugly heads. “I do want to come back here, once we are finished.”

“Noted. I’ll dig up some more information on it so when we do, we can give this more than just a casual look.”

“Wo…Demica, Fate, whenever you two have finished!” Preparing for the shoot, our backdrop was the most intact building, with a set of ruins in the background. Rays of light bloomed into the shot, casting a shimmery glow onto Demica’s dirty blonde hair, glittering! “Woman, do not move!”

“What did we jus-”

“N-no, Demica, C-Chester’s right! Stay there! These will be p-perfect for the website!” Teddy pulled up his other digital camera and began photographing Demica. Both Perry and Chester quickly began aiding in finding a good pose, all getting distracted, yet again.

With the lightest of tugs on the sleeve of my shirt, barely noticeable even, I turned to Erna, still holding the slumbering Bramble. “Fate…is everything…alright?” Sheepishly asked in typical monotone. The hefty dog man must’ve been a burden on her, noticeably trembling in the confines of her hefty belt jacket. I was a bit amazed by Erna though; not a single bead of sweat had broken her brow, despite the chunky sha-pei and humidity thick like walking through warm soup. “Uh…c-can you stop staring at my forehead?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” She’d hoofed the old dog man up in my face as a sleeping, furry barricade, creating space between us. Oddly, his fur stunk of alcohol, though I was sure no one was drinking around him. “If you’re worried about Anesha, she’ll probably be back sooner or later.”

“Well…that and…” With a free finger, she indicated her concern lay solely on the neck wound. I eyed Bramble for a second, making sure the dog man familiar wasn’t feigning sleep.

“It’s fine for now. I don’t think she noticed. Later on, we’ll talk more.” We’d wasted enough time goofing off. It was important that our first big trip yielded some site traffic and maybe good footage of the area at least. “Alright, we all recognize Demica’s beauty. Let’s get these this recording going!”

“You could recognize it more, but you’re also correct.” Demica laughed as the others set back up and we got into place. “I’ll start off, you follow up, okay?”

“No problem.”

After taking a deep breath, Demica began. “Hello everyone, Demica Fitzpatrick along with Fate Isley, and as you can see, we of the Occult Research and Study club are here in the Jasontown swamp!”

“That’s right, Demica! Now, as many of our fans are aware, the legends of the Jasontown swamp are numerous, yet one of the lesser spoken of area in the massive bog, is here! Look around us, we’re in what was once a pharmaceutical company’s factory complex, these very ruins!” With the camera still tracking us, we walked about. “We used to do a bunch of exploring back in the day, remember?”

“Yup!” Forgoing hosting attire, Demica wore a pair of cargo shorts, tan top, and boots, making it much easier for her to traverse the steep stairs. Though seemingly stable, I kept on guard just in case she took a spill. “The overpass tunnels were our first real trip. We went there at least three times, but with how things were locked down, never once could we get full access. On other occasions, we did manage to explore other abandoned buildings! Now, however, we have the entirety of the Jasontown swamp at our disposal!”

I leapt up to meet her, holding back to mask the seed’s power, feeling that jump could’ve launched me well over three times my normal height. “Come up, get a good shot!” I called to Teddy, who limped up the steps. (Fuck, right.) Before I could rush down and aid him, Perry had already moved to assist Teddy, casting me a frustrated glare the whole while. “Sorry…uh, yeah, this is a great view!” Teddy turned the camera onto a sun-drenched vista, weathered tan bricks, cracked foundations, covered in mold and pools of drying rainwater. Just beyond the edge of the manmade road, cypress trees were springing forth out of the greenish-brown waters. Beautiful, a sentiment shared amongst all the club members. “We’ll be picking up exploring this place more, soon enough! Stay tuned!”

“…Cut!” Chester called, relaxing the tension in my shoulders, like scraping away slowly drying cement. “I believe that should do for now. Let’s return to Mr. Sander and then venture forth, onto the church!” With that part of the filming completed, we returned to Erna and our guide, Mr. Sander, still searching for Anesha.

“Welcome back, kids! Where’d that pretty young lady go?” Intentions clear, the innkeeper liked having something nice to look at and I guess neither Demica nor Erna fulfilled him.

“She’ll be back! Anesha went to research another piece of the swamp!”

“Really? Well, so long as she didn’t head to that there church.” An unexpected call out!

“Huh? What’s wrong with the church?”

“Some guys came down from up the road, folks in the city, they said it’s condemned! Happened just two or so days ago.”

“I see…” Cheating a glance to the other members, we all discreetly nodded, leaving Erna confused. “Well, we’d like to head back for now. Go over our notes, and maybe we’ll decide on our next stop, if that’s alright? I think there’s a well-known cave north of the town, right?”

“Yes sir! I’ve been there a few times, but never went too deep…” Filled with energy, the innkeeper continued to ramble on as I planned our next move.

Part 2

“…And then we went to the boarder, met plenty of neat folks! We let them off and made sure to stay in contact with them, even now!” On and on, Mr. Sander, as nice as he was, kept talking our ears off even as Demica tried to close the door. “Do y’all young’uns in the city even learn metal work? They don’t teach that now, do they?” He persisted.

“Sorry, Mr. Sander, but we really need to discuss the filming! We’ll talk more later…okay…bye…bye…” At last, Demica was able to push the prattling older man out of the door with him still insisting on telling stories from his past. “…Good lord.” Exasperation filling her voice, Demica slogged over. “Okay!”

We all nodded again, leaving Erna further confused. She was left out, pouting a bit while clutching the sleeping dogman until we motioned toward the window to our back! “What…?! What’s going on?” Erna asked.

“Oh…I guess we should’ve told you. We’re going to the church no matter what.” A look of concern suddenly plagued her face. “I’m pretty sure we all thought the same thing when we heard the church was condemned.” The others agreed. “Wouldn’t be the first time we ‘wandered’ into an off-limits area.” I feigned innocence while yanking open the window. Chester, Demica, Perry and Teddy all followed in behind me as I checked the outside landing, seeing our chance was upon us. The area was basically deserted, leaving us with only but so much time.

“B-Bu-but…” Flustered, Erna hesitantly crept along with us. Fortunately, the awning outside our window wasn’t too steep, so we all managed to scale the structure. “Wait. I’m coming too.” Though he’d seemed totally asleep at the time, Bramble abruptly awoke and broke from Erna’s grasp, plummeting to the mushy ground below!

A quick glance around offered the dogman time to swap faces to the old man. “What a wonderous nap!” He yawned. “Hmm? Where is My Lady?” Demica explained to Bramble and the rest of the group while I aided Erna in safely descending to the ground. “…I see. Is all of that true, young Fate?”

“Yeah. She said you’d be making a barrier.” It was faint, but I could sense a different aura wafting off Bramble.

“It would appear that I am.”

“Comrades, though I understand your need to confirm our situation, we must make haste!” Correct. Chester led the group off into the swamp along the muddied paths, carefully watching each step on the slick route. On either side of our path were pools of water permeated with moss, and hovering mosquitos. If one got in close, the always prepared Demica would pull bug spray from her bag and blast it!

“Is the church close enough to walk to?” The cicadas buzzing nearly drowned out Erna’s monotoned voice, and in the distance, whenever the sound of a loud splash would resound, all of us would be put on guard.

“Don’t worry. It’s about a mile up the path we drove into Jasontown on.” Demica answered her while seeming to cling closely to the much smaller girl. “Aren’t you hot, Erna? Your jacket is really thick.”

“…I’m fine.” Shying away from the question and physical interaction, as usual.

“Where’d you get it? I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Demica pursued, a playful smirk edging onto her lips, eyebrows batting.

“Grandma.”

“Wow…let me see!”

“Huhuhu…O-okay…” Unenthusiastically, Erna unfastened each ornate, silver buckle. Once parted, a purple glow flashed through the belts, fainter than a firefly, it faded in an instant, before she quickly closed back up! “She…made it. She always told me…it was made with good luck charms.”

“It’s definitely a style. Kind of reminds me of Anesha’s…preppy punk style, sort of.” Being compared to her enemy elicited a wrinkle of the nose and scrunching of the brow, which spoke paragraphs. “Oh, how do you feel about going to a national history museum? I’d like to have someone along that isn’t there to assume every single exhibit is going to lead to him discovering an ancient hidden civilization! Chester, Fate!”

“Woman!” A noticeable flitch rolled down Chester’s spine at Demica raising her fist. “I mean, Demica. You’ve forced Fate and I into those museums since we were mere children! For how long do you intend to throw our days of adolescent merry making in our faces?”

“Considering we got kicked out a bunch in the 5th grade, because you two would jump the guardrails and try to see the exhibits ‘firsthand’, I’d say for at least a couple more years.”

“In my defense, I’m more interested in weathered and abandoned structures; plus, our nation’s history is a little off putting to some of us.” I said, keeping to the back and mostly watching Teddy to make sure he wasn’t off balance.

“H-Hey, when we went before, I paid a-attention!” A warm smile from Demica’s was returned to Teddy.

“Yes, you are in fact very attentive and actually like to learn. Unlike those two who just seem to only be interested when it comes to urban spelunking or even slightly related to the occult.”

“Huhuhu…Have you all…known each other that long?” Erna chimed in.

“Since 4th grade…right?” Demica and Chester quickly confirmed for me. “Too many years together making us all into cynical assholes.”

“Not all of us; mostly you.” Curt as always with her thoughts, Demica. “Look! The church!” After walking for what felt like a short time, the church finally came into view, but more so, the colossal tree blowing out the back of the chapel! Tilting the entire ground and foundation along with it, a cypress tree, infested with mushrooms, had sprouted diagonally, tearing the other side of the church open! Nature worked its way back up, reclaiming the area, yet being outpaced by the factory, only notably having the ground cracked with pools of swamp water. Caution tape, metal gates and signs were posted everywhere! Most people would’ve seen those warnings as a deterrent, but we felt it as an invitation to adventure. The withered white bricks on the outside were caked in damp mud and fungi, while the broken wooden doors splintered off the hinges, only held up by planks. A single window offered our entry point, dust laden and cracked as it was.

Part 3

Bitter aroma, warm air polluted with dust choking us, coupled with the humidity, truly only an abandoned hall left totally desolate for years could offer me such a rousing sensation. Greenish black mold ate away at the wooden pews and parts of the walls. Small mushrooms and moss grew from parts of the broken floorboards, widening a gap downward into a dark, dank, muddy underbelly. “Fate…before you start getting all wide-eyed, how about we figure out our plan of attack?” Demica poured cold water over my irrepressible enthusiasm; fairly, since I found myself beginning to stroke the moss with my bare hands.

“R-Right. This gorgeous building will have to wait. Chester, what’s the plan?” Embarrassed, I threw to Chester who brought up his tablet and began rattling off notes.

“Hmhmhm! We shall begin by studying the tree toward the chapel’s rear! Never would I have pictured such a perfect location for the Lizard King! A being known for once having had been a man of the cloth, corrupted by the temptations of our mortal world, having his soul and skin twisted until becoming an animalistic monster! A creature beyond human understanding! I believe the stories even more now with our discoveries of Fate and Anesha!” Yelling at full volume, Chester would’ve scared off any potential discoveries, which I would’ve been upset with normally, though the idea of encountering anything too dangerous without Anesha around unnerved me.

“Hey Bramble…” I whispered. “Is there anything in here that you can pick up on? Like…a big scary lizard monster?”

The shar-pei man simply scratched his floppy ears. “No, I do however sense spirits, which is not uncommon, as we’re in a heavily wooded area.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Should we worry?”

“Again, no. Were they malevolent, I’d be able to tell long before they would appear.” That was surprisingly reassuring.

“Fate, my comrade, come!” I rejoined the others who were discussing something. “We will divvy up the investigation and cover more ground should we separate into groups!”

“…Splitting up with our talking dog sidekick, huh? Well, there are 7 of us so I guess it’s not that bad…” The irony of my joke didn’t fly over the heads of my friends. “Anyway, how are we going to do it?”

“Perry and I will go to study the tree. Even if it does not offer us appropriate evidence of the Lizard King, it will be quite the site and a perfect opportunity to record some reporting! In the meantime, I’d ask you go with Demica and Teddy in filming the structure, as we all couldn’t help but notice the enamored look in your eyes when greeted with this area!” I hoped my face wasn’t as flushed red as I imagined it was from being called out.

“Gotcha’! We’ll look around.” An omission had been made, a glaring one, a sub five foot tall, pale, face jewelry adorned, belt jacket equipped omission. “And…Erna will go with you guys, right?”

“Ah! Indubitably!” Chester clearly caught onto his mistake as he noticed our disheartened friend shrinking in the back. “In fact, that’s even better! Perfect even!” Erna slightly perked up! “I’d forgotten we’d acquired further assistance in our endeavors! Erna will be of great use in note keeping as Perry and I work to study the tree!” With a smile cast down, Erna was clearly stifling an overjoyed expression.

“Cool, then let’s not waste anymore time!” With that, we parted.

Demica immediately pulled off her glasses. “D-Demica, shouldn’t we find a good filming location first?” An obvious point made by Teddy eliciting a groan from our exasperated hostess.

“Well, aren’t we just going to film the whole thing anyway?”

“I-I guess your right, but isn’t it d-dangerous for you to be walking around without being able to see properly?”

“I…yeah…” She looked to me, expecting assistance in her argument.

“If you want to walk around on floors that could be decaying while as blind as a bat, go ahead. So long as I don’t have to explain to Perry why his sister is suddenly in need of medical attention.” I jeered, annoying Demica in a playful way.

“Fine, but we better find a ghost, damnit! If you two see an orb forming or a full body apparition and we miss it, I’m going to lose it!” In a huff, she donned the thick bifocals stormed off to the next room over, followed by Teddy.

“Huh? Bramble, you’re sticking really close to me, aren’t you?” The chubby dogman was basically pressing his girth against the side of my leg and almost tripping me with each step forward.

“As instructed, I am keeping my barrier nearest you. Should there be anything unforeseen, I will aim to keep you safe!” I almost laughed at the idea of being protected by the overweight familiar, though I had no understanding of his true combat abilities.

In the room next to the main hall was a small corridor leading to a staircase. As we climbed Demica checked her buzzing phone. “What’s this? An e-mail…and again…another alert from the Greenville message board. I wish I never joined this thing. It hasn’t been useful since the Owlman incident!”

“T-That’s true. Fate, y-you still never talked to us about the Owlman. Y-you remember?” I hadn’t forgotten, as if I could!

“I didn’t forget.” Over the course of the last few weeks since Anesha had made herself known to the others, I started slowly explaining how many incidents in the city were linked to Anesha and myself. “There are a bunch of things I still need to tell you guys…sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just make sure that the stories are interesting, since I plan to have them recorded and put up on our site! That is…whenever Anesha will allow it.” Anesha was probably the only person to ever make Demica get so reserved when speaking.

“Good news i-is we’re not getting a-any more e-mails asking t-to have you interviewed though, Fate. T-they didn’t even care about our p-page or investigations!” A rare instance of bitterness shown by Teddy, likely due to designing the whole site alongside Perry and neither of them receiving the proper recognition.

“They were a pain anyway. Just wanted to know about the time when I went missing, the…fight with Ken and the incidents around Greenville.” All of those were admittedly newsworthy in many cases, but even if I was allowed to talk about it, I didn’t want to. (I haven’t told them about what happened with Lauritz, The Owlman or even Mary yet. The most they know is that a bunch of the crazy stuff in town involves us. I’m a little afraid that once they do hear of this, they may just decide that it’s best to just stop hanging out with me.)

“Fate, what’s wrong?” Realizing I’d stopped on the landing behind the others, lost in thought, I jogged along to catch up.

“Y-You can tell u-us if something’s wrong.”

“I know that. I…guess I’m wondering what you guys are thinking of all this. You know, this crazy world you’ve been dragged into.”

“Hmm…” Demica placed her finger on her chin and pondered openly. “I think it’s scary…no, maybe that’s not the right word. Exciting? No…exhilarating! That’s it! I think that doofus Chester would agree too.”

“Yeah! I-I mean…when I first saw that guy in the h-hallway at school, I was terrified…but kind of exhilarated!”

“Seriously? I guess we’re all similar in that sense.”

“Years of hanging out together made us all into cynical assholes who love the occult and weird things in this world, right?” A bright smile, one I’d had not directed toward me in a while came from Demica.

“Too bad I-I wasn’t i-in the same class as you guys growing up.”

“Haha! You probably were better off! Back then, we weren’t exactly the most…agreeable group of kids.”

“You don’t say! I mean, the first time we met was when that idiot, Chester, decided to make a…what was it again? Oh right, a bubble gum pistol!”

“Oh, you t-told me about this one!”

“…Yeah…I should’ve never suggested that idea to him, even though it was a joke.”

“You’re damn right you shouldn’t have! I almost had to have all my hair cut off!”

“B-But Miss June was able to get it out.”

“Good thing too, since the teacher was about to have a heart attack. Mom made us both apologize to you a bunch. Thinking back on it, good thing we did, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have known you were into occult stuff.”

“Ahh, Miss June really is an angel! Too good for anyone! I’ll never understand why your father-”

“D-Demica!”

“…”

“Oh shit! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring him up! I’m so sorry, Fate!”

“…U-uh…” Both of my friends were panicking. Hearing my father mentioned before, or even really thinking about him, would activate the seed, so I was fearful that I’d start transforming. There was a small heat building in my chest, but it was different from the normal one when I’d usually feel the seed’s power kicking in.

“Relax guys…it’s no big deal! I’m a big boy now, not some angry eight-year-old…watching his mother cry…” That absolutely wasn’t something I meant to say, immediately regretting it! (Fuck…got to learn to keep my mouth shut again?) In the back of my mind, I started remembering those days, younger days, repressed memories. Heat boiled up in my body, surging weirdly in the center of my collarbone as I could feel my body transforming. (Fuck! Calm down, calm down!)

“Young Fate! Calm yourself!”

“I know!” I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths, focusing on my surrounding and forgetting those horrid, emotion ridden memories! Tons I failed to stifle with age.

Standing in the middle of the kitchen, hearing my mother sobbing in her bedroom and my father, the bastard, trying to pay me off in a bid of false altruïsm. He wanted out, not just of my mother’s life all those years ago, but mine! All because he saw us as a mistake, wanted to try again somewhere else, with someone else! I could never, ever forgive him. The rage I felt as I slapped away that money, even as a child, I was sickened! Sickened to think that he and I shared the same DNA, sickened to think that I’d at one point ever loved him, and sickened that he’d think money was enough to get rid of us.

I began drifting, seeing nothing and yet I could feel something pulling my attention. Even with my eyes closed, they were being drawn to something invisible, near me, with a wave similar to when I faced Lauritz but much weaker in comparison!

“Agh!” Springing my eyes open, alarmed by Demica’s sudden shriek; slowly forming in the opposite corner of the rickety balcony we’d walked up to, we were greeted by a translucent orb! “Oh my god! Teddy, film this, film this!” Demica excitedly shook the much larger man, pulling the camera up! Faint purple particles were drifting into the orb, growing it in size. Appendages formed, followed by a set of staggering legs!

“Stay back!” I moved away from my friends, circling the ambling figure, which continued to approach, with me as the obvious target! “Stay there.”

“Ok! Teddy, keep filming though!” That annoyed me a tick, but making my way around, the forming apparition continued its tottering pursuit.

(It’s following me, must be after the seed. Wait, ghosts like to hang around trees, right? Does the seed of Yggdrasil count?) My guard was down, completely forgetting my situation, the ghost had caught up entirely!

A featureless face was merely a centimeter before my eyes! Like a pale, transparent, sheet of skin pulled tightly over a mannequin’s head, the spirit shoved their face right up to mine, shocking me into backing up, against the weak banister! My weight easily cracked the rotten wood as the floor also failed to maintain, breaking beneath me! “Fate!” Both my friends called, though it didn’t matter.

“Hup!” While falling back, I pulled my legs around, seeing where I’d land and backflipped to the floor below! (My reaction time has gotten much better!) For the moment, happiness, but then back to a fearful breeze overtaking me! On high, the ghost had fully taken shape. A weathered black habit sat atop the faceless head, swaths of the dark tunic hung from her shoulders and reddish liquid stained their hair! It was clear that she was some nun, likely of the very church we stood in. “Oh my gosh…uh, hello! We mean you no harm!” There was no reaction, just a silent unflinching stare. “OK…that didn’t get me anywhere.” Taking my eyes off it, even for an instant, was a mistake. Perry, Chester and Erna rushed into the chapel, so I turned to see them, and as I looked back, the ghost drifted right into my face again! “Agh! Stop!” I swung my fists, seeing each shot travel right through the spirit as it floated into me and out my back! Goosebumps riddled my whole being, from inside to out!

The apparition fazed through the floor behind me, disappearing silently. “Young Fate, are you alright?” Bramble yelled, leaping from the balcony! I dashed over, catching the dog man who was lighter than before. “Excellent catch, my boy!” The others ran up too as Teddy and Demica walked back down the stairs to join us.

“Bramble…that was a ghost, or spirit, right?”

“Yes, it was! I did not expect you to suddenly output so much mana, so I do apologize. I shall make sure the barrier is stronger.”

“…Is that the reason it came for me? Because of the seed…since it’s a…seed.”

“Oh my! Quite swift! That is true. I wonder though…” After having my theories confirmed, Bramble plopped down and walked over to the gap in the flooring. “Young Fate, come see this!”

Joining Bramble, cautiously peering into the darkness, just a cold, empty void stared back. What very little could be seen called for a light! “Someone, pass me a light!” Demica did as I asked, and the second the flashlight’s beam caught its target, I yelled in fear! “Agghh! Holy shit…! There’s…a skull down there.”

“What?!” As expected, the others were more thrilled than frightened.

Scraps of clothing had been overgrown with fungi off the ground, flakes of tiny bone fragments sat scattered about, and remnants of the skeleton were missing. “Chester, what do you see?” I had to pass the responsibility to Chester as looking into the dark triggered my apparent blossoming fear of dark places.

“This is quite the photograph.” On his phone, Chester showed what could’ve been an art piece in any other instance. The skull’s face was shattered, only leaving part of the jaw and upper brow; from the inside, a patch of flowers and mushroom caps had grown in, with a ray of light falling squarely on top. “…Sir Bramble, would this be the spirit we had seen before?”

“It appears so. A wandering spirit, to have formed here? How sad. They’ve likely not been sent.”

“Sent?”

“Yes, sent beyond to the afterlife. They likely died and were not guided to the afterlife via prayer or wishes of those who loved them. Judging by the decay of both this building and the skull below, the nun must have passed some time ago.”

Grief struck me, for a person I’d never even met or known. Whatever caused them to die, with no one to ever see their body again, to send them to the next life, must’ve been horrid. “I never really thought about it, but every ghost sighting around the world is probably something like this…”

“Likely, also true.”

“Huhuhu…can you send them…Mr. Bramble” Somberly chuckling, Erna turned away, not looking when she asked that question.

“As a matter of fact, I can. I do find it sad, however, we’ll have no knowledge of this woman’s name, or even her face.”

“Wait, I know!” On her tablet, Demica hastily scrolled through her notes. “Um…this church was shut down in 2001 due to the ground becoming unstable, supposed financial problems and damage to the structure…pretty obvious. There was a small clergy here, only being 4 to 5 nuns and one priest. Among the names…give me a minute…” Becoming totally engrossed in her research, flashes of news articles, websites and social media pages flashed in the reflections of Demica’s bifocals.

“…huhuhu…” Low chuckles from Erna, one would expect those to not send chills up my spine anymore, yet they still did.

“What’s the matter? Thinking of your grandmother?”

“Yes. You said before that…she was in my house, right?” It was true. I’d seen her visage myself, not realizing who she was until after the incident with Lauritz. “…Years ago, she disappeared. I remember it…like it was yesterday.”

“Disappeared?”

“Even though we lived in the projects, no one would ever bother us, however, at night lots of noises…were commonplace. One night, about 3 years ago…the neighborhood was dreadfully silent. We left the market after buying something and just before we went into the house, she stopped and looked back over the city. I…don’t know why, but I can’t remember what she said to me.” Wracking her memories, Erna was at a loss for that moment in time despite claiming she remembered the day so well. “She said something…I can even see her mouth moving in my head, but the words are just gone. It plunged a wad of uncertainty in my chest…I knew deep down…it was going to be the last time I’d ever see her…and yet…”

“I found it!” Exclaiming, Demica’s research had apparently yielded some results. “Via my top class researching abilities, tracking down the names and current locations of the former clergy was a piece of cake! All are accounted for…expect for one. Rose Martin, aged 22 at the time…would’ve been 37 by now, went missing a decade and a half ago. No one was able to locate her, not investigators or members of the church.”

“Rose Martin…” As the words left my lips, an ebb in the humid air pulled our eyes toward the hole in the floor. “Bramble…sounds like that’s her.”

“It does. Now, if you will, some space young ones.” Simultaneously, we all backed away as Bramble sat, closing his eyes.

“Erna, did you want to finish what you were talking about before?”

“…Later…” Tension further built in the church all about.

“Lord in heaven, hallowed is your name, grant this lost spirit a road to walk, and a guide to lead them. Rose Martin, open your eyes, ears and heart to the beyond, walk the path in which your life directed, leaving behind your worldly attachments!” All the humid air dissipated and along came a soothing breeze, wafting throughout the building. Again, the purple particles began forming an orb, then into the spirit. Solemnly praying along, we all clasped our hands, as did the spirit of Rose. “Walk shamelessly onto the next life, Rose. You lived as a valiant member of the church, and have the right to escape all of your suffering of this plane. Pass on in peace, amen.” Slowly, Rose’s spirit faded from sight. Each particle dispersed, as even with no face, I could feel a smile come from her.

Part 4

We concluded the research and trekked back to town. Managing to avoid prying eyes and reentering our room, tangible awkwardness draped over our shoulders, making calming down while sitting back on the beds still difficult. Teddy reviewed the footage as Perry brought up his laptop, preparing to transfer all the files. “Hey guys…” Demica was the first to crack open the silent wall erected between us. “It’s been weeks since Anesha came into all of our lives, but I still cannot believe all of this is real!”

“Aye. It is a lot to swallow. To think, in little under half a month, we’ve seen a twisted monster, a ghost, a witch and her familiar!” Elation in Chester’s eyes spoke more volumes than his booming voice.

“Keep it down, will you? We don’t want everyone in the village to know what’s going on with us, do we?” A small relief was given to me, based on the reflection staring back in my phone, I’d not transformed from the previous scare. It was one of the few things calming me then, as I prepared to finally open up about everything. “Everyone, I need you to listen to what I’m about to say.” Calling everyone’s attention, I took a deep breath, feeling a pit grow quickly in my throat. “Uh…”

“Young Fate, you needn’t worry. Lady Anesha has permitted you to disclose every detail, has she not?” Regardless of Brambles reassurance, I’d spent so much time hiding everything under a cloak of mystery, even then, it felt like my heart would just switch off.

“Whatever you have to say, just say it! You know we’re all a bunch of occult loving, video game playing weirdos too!” Her typical blunt and boldness on display, Demica didn’t waver. “We know you’ve been holding back now for a long time, so let’s hear it!”

“…Fine. It started in March…” Everything just flowed out. It was like I’d released a dam filled with weird and wild stories, that when reciting them back, sounded cool to me, if only I hadn’t experienced them myself. All of it, from the night I met Anesha, to her haunting me, the fights with the homunculi, the school incident, Mary Rockwell, and fighting Lauritz, I told them everything. Before I knew it, the night had totally taken us; the other stayed mostly silent during my retelling of my past few months, only stopping me to ask questions about terms I’d learned firsthand. “…That should catch you guys up on everything, I think.”

“…” Again, thick silence. “Well, that’s more on our plate.”

“Sorry. Wait you guys didn’t want to film that, did you?!”

“No. That would have been unnecessary.” Demica quickly shut down the idea. “Our fearless leader looks like he’s been in deep thought on the whole story.” Right as always.

Chester had spent the entire time scrunching his face up and massing his temples. “You do speak the truth, Demica. I am very deep in thought, some of the deepest thought possible, so deep, ever should I return to this level of thought I fear I may indeed become a black hole of endless thought!” Unsurprising, his excitement filled the room. “…The only thing I must ask about, that I hadn’t when you first began and is the most crucial of all details, is can you confirm for me one thing? Were you serious…when you said that in about three fourths of a year…you’d die?”

“Ah…?” Somehow, something so twisted, the ultimate inevitability that I’d resolved to fight against, I let it slip without a second thought. My plans with Erna had also slipped my mind, as I improvised and lied about our encounter without even planning on it. I eyed Bramble, the old dog man’s face, unreadable. “Yeah…in about 9 months or so, I’m going to die.”

“…You’re just going to say that so casually?!” Rarely did Chester ever get animated in a non-thespian way. “Anesha…Anesha can’t be alright with this. Mr. Bramble, Lady Anesha cannot possibly be alright with this, right?”

“…I will follow My Lady’s path, walking into any fire and flames alongside her to the very end. What she has decided, I know full well that she will see through, as it is a goal she sees as more important than anything else.” No confirmation was needed for me.

“There’s no way you’re just accepting this.” Hiding anything from my old friend was impossible. She could read me like an open book! “Once Anesha comes back, I’m going to talk to her.”

“No…!” A hushed yell erupted from Erna, who almost completely disappeared into a corner of the room, looking like a black leather traffic cone with a neon pink fringe. “Don’t talk to her about it. She…doesn’t care about Fate. She only cares about herself! I…we’re his friends, not her.” Anger and surprising determination sparked within her eyes. I knew why she felt that way, without further elaboration.

“Look, I get how you guys feel…” Lying to spare anyone’s feelings, even my own, wouldn’t work. “…I feel the same. I don’t want to die, but I’m trying to live out what I have as best I can.”

“I still want to talk with Anesha, but maybe it would be a waste of time. For now, I’m going to head back to our room.” Demica stood up from the bed and made for the door, stopping to look back and leave with a final statement. “I’m not accepting it, and neither should you.” She stormed off with Erna running up behind, flashing a little smile as she closed the door.

“Chester?” My best friend, he sat with his arms crossed and eyes locked onto mine. His demeanor had been ruined, in part to me bringing the whole group into a horribly dramatic story. “Teddy, Perry, I’m sorry. I just thought you should all know.” It seemed like no one was able to find the words they wanted for the rest of the evening, thus we ended up falling asleep in total silence.

Part 5

That slumber didn’t last long as I was quickly alerted to someone moving in our room. My phone screen would occasionally flash on, to keep me from having panic attacks from my fear of the dark, so I elected to sleep while shielding the blaring light from the others and with my back to the group. Without even turning to see who was stumbling about with uneven, heavy steps, obviously, it was Teddy. He walked out of the door and down the hall, not saying a word. (Sounds like he’s not heading toward the bathroom. What’s up with him?) Suddenly, I needed to head for the bathroom myself.

I exited the room and did my business, expecting to see Teddy on the way in or already asleep in bed again, but didn’t. A lump formed in my throat, but metaphorically and what felt realistically. Breathing got a little difficult as sweat began to break out on my brow. A pinpoint sized heat burned just under my collar. It wasn’t excruciating, but unignorably present! I stepped back into the hall, pressing my back against the opposite wall, trying to slow my breathing.

“F-Fate? Are you okay?” Teddy appeared on the other side of the dark corridor. He attempted to console me, which maybe because he was there and I had someone to look to, I began to calm down.

“…Thank you Teddy. I’m much better now. I never had that feeling before. Weird.” I pulled myself up from the floor and prepared to enter the room, but remembered I hadn’t figured out where Teddy was. “Hey man, where were you just now?”

“Oh…it’s just I h-heard that noise again.”

“Noise? You mean the one you mentioned last night?”

“Yes. I-I heard it a bunch today w-when we went to the c-church.”

“…You don’t say. What does it sound like?”

“Like someone is saying something to me. Somet-thing I should u-understand because it’s in my language b-but just can’t really make out.”

“…” Not my sixth sense, not any of my others, but a gut feeling that whatever Teddy was hearing wasn’t good resonated with me. “You guys may not want it, but I want Anesha to get back here ASAP.”

End of chapter 18