The Medium

“We’re almost there!” Exclaims my mother excitedly, and I chuckle at her gleeful tone. Today is the day we are moving into our new house, about three hours away from my old home. My father got a much better job in a power plant in this area, so we had to find a house closer to my father’s new plant location. I’m pretty neutral about the whole thing. I didn’t have many friends in my hometown, and I’m home-schooled, so it’s not like I really left anyone behind. “Sweet, maybe once we’re there I’ll be able to get out of this car. My legs fell asleep an hour ago.” I joke, tucking a lock of my messy, dark red hair behind my ear. “Quit complaining, a little car ride never hurt anybody.”
“Well actually….” I begin, looking over at my old man currently driving this heap of metal.
“Car accidents are one of the leading causes of manslaughter. So yes, car rides have totally hurt lots of people. Your point is invalid.” My mother groans at my response, though she does snicker a bit.
“That’s your daughter, Tom.” The blonde accuses, narrowing her green eyes at the driver, who was about to say something right before my mom beamed at the sight of our new house.
“We’re here!” I giggle at my mom’s reaction, she always was much more childish in nature than me or my dad.
“Great! Now let me out of this death trap!” I say right as the car is parked, wasting no time in jumping out of the vehicle and stretching my cramped limbs.
Finally, three hours straight was way too long to spend riding in that Ford. After a moment I start to unload the boxes out of the u-haul that we rented out to carry our things, taking the boxes labeled with my name, and carrying them to my room. I ignore my parents commentary on the house, which to me didn’t seem like anything special. It was just an average sized place, like our last one. No big deal. “A few hours later, I’ve finally finished putting my belongings away. I look outside my window to find that it’s about twilight, the night sky looks so beautiful tonight. I decide to go out and enjoy the cool air.” “Alone at last,” I think aloud, walking down the neighborhood road with a small smile tugging at my lips.
“Not exactly.” I hear a girl’s voice behind me retort, followed by a giggle. Stopping dead in my tracks, I turn on my heal to see green eyes locked on my brown ones. The brunette seems startled by my sudden alertness, flinching when I turn to look at her before waving at me. I return the gesture, raising a brow at her puzzled expression. Her eyes widen, and then she beams with joy, her entire stature changing as she begins to jump up and down with excitement.
“You can see me?” She asks.
“Yeah, I can see you.” I respond, looking over the overly happy girl. She has short brown hair that perfectly frames her face, and looks rather young, about my age. My moment of daze was cut off by her rushing over to me, wrapping her arms around my torso and pinning my own at my sides.
“I can touch you too! Oh my goodness I’ve never encountered something like this before!” She gives me a small squeeze before backing away and bombarding me with the usual questions. What are you? How can you do this? She retains that same joy as I tell her what I tell all poltergeists I come across.
“I’m just like this I guess. I’ve been able to interact with the dead for as long as I can remember. My mother calls me a medium.” Which I actually did plug into google once, apparently its someone who is connected to the land of the dead, or in my case, ghosts and spirits that are unable to leave this realm, for whatever reason that may be.
“Oh this is so exciting! I’ve been so lonely over the years, but you’ll be my friend now, right?” She takes my hand in hers, lacing our fingers together, and I giggle in return, nodding.
“Yes, of course I’ll be your friend! What’s your name?”
“Alice!” She answers almost immediately, walking down the road back towards my house and pulling me along behind her. “What’s your name?” Alice asks, looking back at me with a warm smile.
“Kyra.” I smile in return, picking up my pace to match the ghost girl I’ve befriended.
“That’s a pretty name! But you really shouldn’t be out here at night Kyra! Its dangerous, he’ll catch you!” The girl’s tone changes to one of worry, and I notice that she is indeed taking me back home. Huh, maybe shes been watching me this whole time? Eh, ghosts are ghosts, can’t really blame the girl for her curiosity. Wait…”What? Who are you talking about?” I ask with furrowed brows, looking around to see if anyone is following us.
“Jared Newman! He’s a f*****g a*****e that lives in this neighborhood.” She growls, her previously cheerful expression turning into a scowl. “He’s the one who killed me, and he’s killed others too. Targets children, and the police have been after him for awhile, they just don’t know he’s the one they’re looking for.”
Well, just my luck. My new town has a f*****g serial killer living in it, great. A mix of panic and anxiety builds in my chest as my walk turns into a sprint back home. Nope, f**k this. I’m not about to die today. Alice easily follows me, floating at my side as I dash back to my house and nearly bust through the door, earning a startled expression from my parents, who were sitting on the couch in the main room.
“Holy hell, Kyra! What is all that about?” My father asks, who flinched from the sudden noise of the door slamming against the wall.
“There’s a f*****g murder living in this stupid place.” I respond frantically, shutting the door with as much force as I used to open it and locking the damned thing shut. “Congrats to us, we moved into a town harboring a child killer. Just our luck, and here I thought the worst thing that could happen was that car ride.” Okay, Kyra, tone down the melodramatic sarcasm I tell myself, huffing as I look up to find my mother standing beside me.
“Dear how do you know there’s a murder here? Did you see something?” As usual, my mom is the first to believe me. It always did comfort me to know that she at least attempted to find truth in my words, no matter how obscure they can be at times.
“No. Alice told me. She’s a girl about my age who was killed by him! She’s right there!” I point to the ghost girl standing in the middle of the living room, knowing that its pointless since my parents can’t see the things I can, but it makes me feel better to acknowledge Alice’s presence to myself.
“I believe you sweetheart.” Was my mother’s first words, and her green eyes met my brown ones as she tucked a stray stand of my hair behind my ear and out of my face. “But you don’t have any proof, not any that we can give to the police anyway. The best thing we can do, is for your father and I to keep an eye out for whoever this person is, and for you to stay away from him. Who is this person anyway, did your little friend give you a name?”
I nod, shoving my hands in my pockets. I really didn’t like the fact that we were basically sitting ducks in this situation, who would? “Jared Newman.” I say flatly, trying to keep a leveled head.
“Newman?” My father chimes in, getting up from his spot of the couch and running a hand through his red hair as the tall male walks over to my mother and I, keeping his gaze on his wife. “Honey, isn’t that the man that came to welcome us to the neighborhood? He seemed like a good man.” I scoffed at my father’s words, looking into his eyes that matched mine in color.
“Oh please, just because someone acts like a good person doesn’t mean that they are! This is f*****g how to be a psycho basics.” I retort icily, folding my arms over my chest. No way in hell I was going to let my old man defend this guy, or even sound like he was.
“Kyra!” Tom barked, glaring down at me. “Now I know you’re upset for whatever reason, and I get that you believe whatever is going on in your head is real, but for right now you just sound like a teenager trying to stur up trouble with no real evidence. You have no right to take that tone of voice with me, young lady, now go to bed. No talking to Alice or whoever either.” He ordered, pointing to my room as I shrugged my mother’s hand off my shoulder and marched to my room and fought the urge to slam the door. Eugh, that was f*****g uncalled for, and I can hear my mother through the thin walls of my house saying the same thing.
“Tom, you shouldn’t be so hard on her. What if she’s right?” The blonde questioned, glaring at her husband in disapproval.
“Elise, please. She probably just ran into Jared while she was walking and came up with this to cause a fuss. Maybe he said something rude to her or something, or as usual its all in her head. We should really put her on some sort of medication,” I have to hear this argument almost every time I talk about a ghost, my dad thinks I’m crazy, and my mom thinks I’ve been given a gift. Who do I believe? My mom obviously, I’m not crazy, I know what I see. Its not my fault others can’t see it too. I listen in on my parents argument as I get changed for bed, Alice phasing though the walls and into my room while the adults bicker.
“Your dad is an a*s.” The brunette says simply, floating above my bed almost lazily. “I know you’re not allowed to talk to me, so I don’t want you to answer, but I really don’t think sitting around waiting to get killed is the right option.” I roll my eyes at her statement. Well duh its not the right option, something needs to be done about this! What if he’s already planning on killing me? He came over to my house, did the old man tell him about me? A thousand questions buzzed through my head, but the train of thought was cut off by Alice continuing to speak.
“You need to tell the police! But the douche was right about one thing, you don’t really have any proof, they wouldn’t believe you.”
“Then what do you suggest?” I whisper, not really understanding why this girl feels the need to state the obvious and previously said facts about this whole thing.
“I’m getting there, geez. He can’t see me, and I can’t touch anything but you.” She demonstrates by reaching a hand out to grab one of my many books off the shelf, to no avail. Her entire arm goes right through it. “I’ve been following him, I know where he does his killings and how to get there! All I need you to do is follow me out into the woods, snap a few photos, and then I can lead you out! You can take the pictures to the police, and then they’ll go to the scene and see you were right! The cops arrest Jared, and you save the day!” Alice holds out her hand to me with a bright smile. “We can do it tonight after your parents have gone to sleep!”
I look down at her hand, then back up at her, gazing into her emerald eyes. Honestly, that didn’t sound like such a bad idea. My father had a gun that he kept in a lock-box with his tools in the garage, I had a phone to take the pictures and call the cops should anything go horribly wrong, and I’d be saving potential lives. After a moments hesitation, I firmly take her hand in my own and shake it. My expression showing confidence, despite knowing the dangers of this plan.
“Alright,” I agree, giving the ghost a small smile. “lets do this. Tonight, the sooner the better if you ask me.” I keep my voice down to avoid any conflict with my parents over hearing my end of the conversation and prevent me from sneaking out.
A few hours pass, its now midnight. Alice comes through the walls to tell me that the coast is clear and my folks are sound asleep. I’ve already gotten dressed to shield myself from the cold night air, making sure to take the red scarf my mother gave me for my birthday that year. It was far too big for me, being able to wrap around my neck and the ends still fall to my waist, but I loved it anyway. It reminded me of my mother, and was a comfort to me, to be reminded that she loved me. I nod at Alice and open the door to my room, closing it as quietly as possible before silently making my way to the garage. Once there I find the box that holds my father’s gun, a small handgun that I could easily fire with one hand. Opening the box, I take the firearm and check to make sure its actually loaded before heading out into the night.
I follow Alice into the woods, and we remain unseen by the neighborhood. It’s about an hours walk, and my feet are sore by the time we gett into the forest itself. I don’t complain though, merely follow the ghost guiding me with my hand on the gun, hidden in the over-sized pocket of my black trench coat. I keep looking around, making sure that no one has been following us, listening to the sound of the branches and fallen leaves crunch and break against the soles of my boots, hoping my ears don’t pick up on another pair of footsteps. Soon enough, Alice stops at an old, run down looking shed, hidden within the trees and surrounding wood. I almost didn’t notice it at first, since the forest itself camouflages the run down building to look like it completely belongs.
“We’re here.” Alice says in a soft tone, keeping a few feet away from the shed. “Y-you go ahead, I’ll wait here. I can’t go in that place again.” The girl’s green eyes stay locked onto my brown ones, and she looks almost as terrified of that building as I feel about this entire ordeal. I nod in understanding, knowing that she must be traumatized even in death. Taking a deep breath, I open the old door to the wooden shed, pulling out my phone to use as a flashlight. I squint for a second, as my eyes adjust I’m greeted with a horrific sight. The entire place is covered in blood, there are tools layed out on a table, and on one wall was a boy, chained to it. My eyes widen, but I don’t have the time to stand there in disbelief. I rush over to the boy chained to the wall, putting a hand on his face, then over his heart. He’s still alive. That’s good, but that also means that Jared is probably near, or at least on his way. I start looking around for the key to his chains, or at least something to try and break the lock with, snapping a few pictures here and there to take to the police. As I’m doing this, the boy came back into consciousness and screams, causing me to nearly jump out of my boots as I whip around to face him and take a few steps back. I see why he’s screaming, and soon find myself panicking as well. A tall, dark haired, dark eyed man stands in the doorway, holding some kind of lantern while he squints at the light coming from my phone.
“Well what do we have here? A lost little girl?” As he speaks, I waste no time in pulling the handgun from out of my pocket and pointing it at Jared, growling.
“STAY BACK!” I warn, keeping a tight grip on the weapon and my finger close to the trigger. “I WILL shoot! Just unchain that boy and turn yourself into the police, and no one has to die today.” My words stumble over themselves, and my terror is revealed by my voice.
Despite the threats made, Jared laughs, walking closer to me with a maniac grin. “Shoot me eh? Go ahead then kid, DO IT.” He yells before charging at me.
The sudden reaction causes me to take a step back, and I slip, falling to the ground with a loud crash as I blindly shoot the pistol in my hands towards the direction of the man. It goes off with a loud bang, twice, before I run out of bullets. When I open my eyes, I gasp at the sight of the man still on his feet, completely unharmed by the assault. Panic and fear rise in my chest as try to scream, but I’m cut off by Jared wrapping his large hand around my throat and lifting me up off my feet, before slamming me against the wall. I feel a burning sensation in my chest as I attempt to gasp for air, to no avail. Using his other hand, he takes a pair of metal cuffs from off the table, then grabs my wrists, allowing me to take in a desperate gasp of air as I struggle to get away from him. He wins the fight though, binding my hands behind my back before chaining my legs together so I am unable to escape. All the while, the boy held to the other wall is sobbing, begging for the man to stop and leave me alone. To let us go. Jared laughs at the boy’s pleas, turning to face him once I’m immobilized.
“SHUT UP!” He yells, smacking the boy across the face, hard. The young blonde does as he’s told, visible tears building up once again in his blue eyes. “That’s what little miss hero gets for butting into other people’s business.” Jared grins, walking over to the table and grabbing some kind of thin blade. I recognize it after mere seconds, its a scalpel, a surgical tool made specifically for cutting skin.
“DON’T TOUCH HIM!” I scream, holding back the tears threatening to run down my cheeks as I try to remain strong. Jared glares at me, picking up a roll of duct tape and harshly slapping a piece over my mouth so I am unable to speak. The man grabs my chin, forcing my head up and my eyes onto him. The sick b*****d is smiling at me, a huge toothy grin plastered on his face, sending shivers up my spine.
“Oh, you have such lovely skin my doll.” He coos, rubbing the pad of his thumb across my cheek. “I have big plans for that beautiful flesh, oh you will make such a great canvas.” His hand moves to the hem of my shirt, slipping under the red fabric to lay his palm flat against my bare stomach. I’m frozen in place, petrified with fear as this man runs his hand up to my chest. He slips a finger under my bra, and I close my eyes; inhaling sharply as I prayed for this to all be a dream, for me to wake up in my bed back home, safe and sound. Suddenly, there was another shaky call from the boy, causing my eyes to open and look at him.
“LEAVE HER ALONE YOU F*****G PERVERT!” The blonde yelled, now looking more angry with the man than scared. Jared growled, removing his hand from my person as he stood up and walked over to the boy struggling to break free from the chains binding him. Jared roughly grabs the boy’s chin, jerking his head up and running his fingers along the younger male’s jawline.
“Eugh, you’re disgusting. Your flesh is rough, and unclean. Oh, this won’t do. You’re barely even worth my time.” A crazed expression painted the killer’s features as he raised the scalpel to his victim’s cheek, pressing the blade against his bare skin and cutting into it, causing the poor crying male to wince in pain. “Lets see if you’ve got anything good underneath this hideous hide.” And before he could react, the man suddenly sliced off his victim’s skin. Blood gushed from the wound and dripped down his open jaw as the blonde screamed in pain. The man didn’t stop there, he tore off the boy’s shirt and started to skin him alive. Strips and chunks of flesh falling to the floor as the screaming, crying body was soon surrounded by a pool of his own blood and skin. After what felt like an entirety, the noise stopped. I stare with wide eyes, shaking while the poor innocent’s body went limp. Half of his face, and his entire chest were gone. If it weren’t for the tape on my mouth, knowing that if I vomited, I’d suffocate, I would have hurled from the sight of the boy’s innards and organs. Some falling out of his body and onto the bloody mess surrounding it.
After the boy took his last breath, the man responsible for his death turned to face my trembling form. My eyes lock onto him, filled with pure and utter horror as he comes closer and kneels down in front of me. His hands, coated in blood, moves to pull my coat off my shoulders. I tried to desperately control my breathing, to regulate my heart-rate an slow the rapid rise and fall from my chest. The back of his blade presses against my collarbone, and then flips over at the collar of my shirt. Slowly, he moves the blade down, cutting away at the fabric of my shirt and slicing through the middle of the bra underneath. He pushes the ruined clothing away to expose my bare skin, grinning madly as he runs blood soaked fingers over my body. “So soft…oh you’ll be so beautiful my doll.” He whispers softly, causing me to sob and squeeze my eyes shut. He presses the blade of the scalpel to the swell of my bare breast, cutting along the curve. I cry out in pain though the tape, hoping someone, anyone would hear. That I would be saved from this nightmare. I tried to scream for help, for Alice, but my call was too muffled to be heard. Jared doesn’t tear off my flesh as he had the boy’s, instead he was merely cutting into it, engraving my skin. I keep my eyes shut as I attempt to fight the urge to pass out, keeping the hope that someone would come rescue me from this nightmare.
And, my prayers were answered.
The door to the shed bursts open, causing my eyes to snap into alertness. I’m relieved by what I see, the police. One of the cops takes no time in shooting my attacker in the shoulder, making him drop the blade pressed to my skin and clutch the wound. An officer rushes over to me, telling me that everything would be alright, that I was okay now. Reassuring me that I was safe. I smile at the soothing voice, and soon let the pain win as darkness filled my mind, and I pass out.
About a month has gone by since that day. My wounds from the incident have scarred over, and now my torso is covered in them. I don’t mind though, in fact me and Alice actually think they look cool. Life has been going, okay for me since what happened. I attended the boy’s funeral, turns out his name was Robby Anderson. He was 15, and died in his prime. Today, was a good day though, to me anyway; because today was the day of Jared Newman’s trail. I was to testify against him, in a court of law, and he is going to spend the rest of his life behind bars. I’m currently sitting in the courtroom, keeping quiet and listening to the attorneys go back and forth, until its my turn to take the stand. I sit down where I’m told to, in a seat next to the judge, and place one hand on a bible, and the other hand over my heart. I repeat after the lady, swearing to tell nothing but the truth before sitting back down and fixing my skirt. The defense attorney approaches me, asking a few questions that I don’t pay much mind too and answer without hesitation. The lawyer stops for a moment, folding his hands in-front of him as he looks down at me, then asks his next question.
“What made you go into the woods that night? You were too far away to hear the screams, in-fact it seems like a long ways to walk for such a young girl so late at night.”
I blink a few times, it was a valid question, and one that I’m not unwilling to answer. “Alice told me to.” I explain simply. My response earns a raised brow from the man questioning me, but I retain a neutral expression.
“Who’s Alice?” He asks, walking closer to me as he spoke.
“A friend. She was one of the man’s victim’s. She warned me about him, so I went to tell my parents about Jared…” I begin, flashbacks of the event swarming my mind as I continue to speak, my voice getting lighter, and my thoughts turning fuzzy. “But my dad didn’t believe me, he told me that I needed proof. So then Alice came up with the idea that I should follow her into the woods where she was killed, it looked safe. No one was there, and it was so late at night, I figured if he was going to come he would have by then. But…then I saw the boy…Robby…” I trail off, staring out into the courtroom with a blank expression. The lawyer doesn’t seem all too interested in most of that story, since it was one he had already heard before. Instead, he returns to the topic of Alice.
“You say Alice was one of Jared’s victims. Does this mean Alice is dead? How can you talk to a girl if she’s dead?” He asks, placing his hands on the wooded frame infront of me.
“I can see allot of dead girls, and boys, people in general. I’ve always been able to communicate and interact with ghosts and spirits that haven’t left this world. They can usually touch me, and that gives them comfort. Its lonely being dead, so I’m happy to give them a friend.” I say, looking into the man’s eyes and not breaking the contact. To me this is nothing to keep a secret, I had told lots of people about my gift. Some believed me, others just said I had an active imagination, but I never felt like it was something I needed to hide. After a few minutes, my attorney requests that we move on from the line of questioning on Alice, and the trail continues. The jury found Jared Newman guilty of all charges, and he was sentenced to life without parole. As I stand, wanting to leave the courtroom with my family, a few officers along with a tall, fair skinned woman approach me. The woman states she’s a psychiatrist, and that the court wanted her to speak with me about these ghosts I’ve been seeing. Seeing as how I have very little choice in the matter, I go with her to a room in the courthouse.
“Take a seat, Miss Rose. We have much to discuss.” She says, gesturing to one of the chairs in the room. I thought it was weird she addressed me with my last name, but didn’t think much of it. Probably just trying to be polite. I sit in a large, comfy looking leather seat, and so does she, sitting almost directly across from me. She seems like a kind person, and asks me different questions about not only Alice, but all the other ghosts I’ve encountered. I tell her that I had been able to see them my whole life, that I never really had friends growing up other than the spirits. We both just wanted company, so we had each others. I tell her that not everyone is a good ghost, some are bad, and will trick you into doing things for them; and while I’ve seen that it is possible, I’ve never been possessed by one. That I know of anyway. After I answer all her questions, she smiles at me and tells me that she wants to send me to a center that will be able to help me with my loneliness. So I will be able to make friends and not need the ghosts anymore. At first I don’t understand, its not the I need the spirits, I like them. They’re my friends.
Then it clicked…”You don’t believe me.” I begin, shaking a bit in my seat as I hug myself. “You don’t think they’re real, you’re just like him!” I don’t understand, she seemed so nice. Why doesn’t she believe me? “I’m not crazy! I don’t need to go anywhere! I’m not lonely, the spirits are my friends!” My confusion soon turns into rage. After everything I’ve been through, this woman, this heartless b***h, wants to try and take me away from my family? From my mother? “I won’t let you… I WON”T LET YOU TAKE ME AWAY!” I scream, getting up from the chair with tears in my eyes. The same two policeman come into the room quickly, each grabbing one of my arms and forcing my hands behind my back. I feel the cold metal of the cuffs around my wrist, and the snap of them tightening around me. Constricting me, confining me, binding me. Just like he did. I completely snap. I scream for them to let me go and fight with all my might. I manage to knee one of the officers, hard enough to put him of his knees while the psychiatrist ran out of the room and calls for help. I keep fighting though, just like I should have on that day. Instead of sitting there petrified while an innocent boy died in-front of me, and a psychotic man drove a blade through my skin. It takes five men, but eventually they are able to hold me down long enough to insert a needle into my neck, injecting me with some kind of serum that made my entire body go limb, before I slowly drifted into unconsciousness.
I currently sit in the corner of a room with several other teenagers, all girls. Its free-time at the center, so I’m allowed to spend two hours in the break-room before lunch. There isn’t much here, just paperback books, a couple games, and a television set. I tend to keep to myself for the most part, so I’m just sitting alone, watching the news. Nothing all too interesting is happening, then suddenly the crime alert comes onto the screen, and there it is. A mug shot of Jared Newman, escaped felon. He…”He escaped.” I think aloud, shaking, trembling, as I hug myself tightly. I get up from my spot and dash out of the break-room and down the hall to my own. I lay down on my bed, curling up as I attempt to control myself while a rush of fear, anger, and hatred flowed through my mind. How could this have happened? Why? The law…they failed. I hear two familiar voices, and open the eyes I hadn’t realized I closed, looking up to find Robby putting a lock of my messy red hair behind my ear, and out of my face. While Alice lay behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist and snuggling up against my back. They followed me to the center, giving me company, and comfort. Alice has been so nice, she said she felt terrible for not being able to stop what happened to me, even though I told her not to blame herself. Robby is absolutely amazing, and adores me. It makes me feel happy to know I have such a great friend, even if it in turn makes me feel all that more horrible about not being able to save him.
“We saw on the news, I can’t believe that b*****d got out.” Robby is the first to break the silence, running his fingers through my hair.
“He should pay for what he did. He should have died just like you two did. He took so many lives, he should pay with his own.” I retort with an icy tone, sighing. He murdered my friends, lands me in a f*****g mental hospital, and the world can’t manage to keep him in jail? Whatever happened to karma? I suffer, and he escapes, that monster gets to run free while I’m stuck in this horrid place.
“Yknow…”Alice speaks up. “me and Robby have been talking, and we have a way to bust you outta here.” The brunette grins as both of us sit up, and Robby sits down on the other side of me. Her and the blonde boy exchange a mischievous look before she continues to speak. “Me and the boy toy here are going to possess two of the nurses, we’ll just e****t you out ourselves. Tell anyone who questions it that we’re taking you outside for some fresh air as a reward for behaving.”
I smile as Alice speaks. This could actually work, they take patience who have been good outside with supervision all the time, no one would suspect a thing.
“When?” I ask eagerly, flashing a smile at Robby before turning my attention back to Alice.
“Now.” She responses as two nurses come into the room to tell me its time for lunch. Robby and Alice reach out to the nurses, and their spirits disappear into the bodies. The nurses have blank looks in their eyes for a moment, then they smile as one of them, a ginger, holds out her hand. I return the smile and take her hand, feeling excitement rise in the pit of my stomach at the idea of what we’re about to do. I walk in the middle of the two possessed women, no one really seeming to be all that surprised. I was a well behaved girl and probably would have been asked if I wanted to go outside for a little while within a matter of time. Once outside, we walk to the parking lot before Robby and Alice exit the bodies of the nurses and I break off into a sprint, running as fast as my legs will carry me. I don’t look back, I just keep running until I was completely out of sight of the center. I finally come to a halt at a gas station, were I find someone has left their bike. Welp, s***s to be them. I steal the bicycle and ride it downtown, I was out, I was free. I was finally free from this madness.
Or so I thought…
It takes a few days, maybe a week, but I eventually make it back to my town. Where my parents are, I will be able to see my family again. As I’m riding down one of the roads, I notice a man and a woman. Only, the woman is trying to get away. He has her by the wrists, and she’s obviously struggling to escape his grasp. I stop the bike, nearly throwing it to the ground as I advance towards the two, yelling. “HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER!” The distraction is enough to get the man’s attention off the woman so she can slip free and run. The man briefly tries to stop the woman before getting angry and turning his attention towards me once more.
“Well what do we have here? A lost little girl?” He taunts, and I hear it. Those words, that voice, its him. I don’t hear anything after that, and before I know it, I’m pulling a switch-knife out of my pocket and charging at the man.
I drive the blade into his chest as we both fall backwards onto the concrete, with me landing ontop of him while still keeping a firm grip on the hilt of the knife in my hand. He lets out a scream of agony, and I flinch at the sudden noise, blinking a few times. Looking down, I see exactly what I’ve done, the blood on my hands, the knife in the man’s chest. My gaze moves to the man’s face, and…he’s not Jared. This man is not the one I’m after, though, this feeling. Its of complete power and control, so different from the usual helplessness I’ve grown so accustom to. I like it. I smile at the man for a moment, giggling as I begin to provoke him. “You scream like a girl!” After I utter those words, my smile fades, and turns into a scowl as I spit my next statement with a growl. “Its giving me a headache!” I complain before removing the knife from his chest with a swift motion, earning another petrified cry from the man. I giggle uncontrollably at the sound as I drive the blade into his jugular vein, a dark smile on my face. I rise to my feet, looking down at the bloody corpse, then my hands, covered in that same red liquid. “You sound allot better like this.” I remark before turning on my heal and walking back towards my bike. This is a pretty secluded area, so if I’m lucky, no one heard the screams.
Robby and Alice float along beside me as I ride down the road, not long after the bloody scene happens, my male friend comments on it. “That was awesome! What you did to that guy, he deserved it. The pervert shouldn’t have attacked that woman!” He’s…proud of me. Alice agrees, and the two talk about how proud they are that I stood up for someone else. That I was brave and kind for doing so. It felt amazing to have someone else’s life in my hands, a kind of power I never imagined before. I smile to myself the rest of the journey to my house, feeling relieved and oh so happy to see that my parents were home. Without a second thought, I rush through the door to greet them. “Mom, Dad! I’m back! I missed you guys so much!” I exclaim with glee, only my parents don’t seem so happy to see me, in fact, they look terrified.
My parents are sitting on the couch in the main room when I walk in, and they both rise to their feet when they see me. My mother’s eyes widen as she gaps at the sight of my bloody frame. She puts a hand over her mouth, and looks like she is debating between wanting to rush to me, or away from me. My father was the first to break the silence after my arrival, his brown eyes looking over my dirty, bloody clothes with shock and horror. “K-Kyra…how are you here? Who’s blood is that?” He questioned, not coming any closer to me.
“Why is that important?” I ask in return, hugging myself as I took a step forward. “Aren’t you happy to see me? Why does anything else matter as long as we’re together?” I could feel the tears building in my eyes. Why weren’t they happy to see me? Didn’t they still love me?
“Honey…” My mother spoke up, repeating my father’s previous question with a more stern tone. “Who’s blood is that? You don’t look hurt.” She comments, searching my body for any wounds, but the only blood on me was on my hands, face, and the sleeves of my shirt. No cuts, nothing to indicate that I myself was the one who had gotten hurt.
I can feel my heart shattering. Why was that important? All that matters is that we are together again. If I tell them the truth, then they’ll call the cops. They will take me away, but this isn’t my fault! This….this is his fault. I start crying, and suddenly my parents aren’t questioning me anymore. They are at my side, hugging me, comforting me, telling me that everything would be okay. I sob into my father’s chest. “Shhh~” He coos, running his fingers through my hair. “Its okay Princess, we’re here for you, we’ll always be here.” My crying slowed down at the nickname. Dad never called me princess, only…”Robby?” I ask, looking up at my father.
“Yeah, yeah its me.” He admits, offering a small smile. “They were going to call the cops, they were going to try and make you go back, so…So me and Alice possessed your parents.” Robby explains, and I turn to my mother, who nods in agreement. I wipe my eyes, I don’t need my parents. They don’t want me anymore, then fine. Robby and Alice are all I need now, they’re my new family. “Go get cleaned up, wash that blood off, change into some warm clothes. Me and Alice will pack up some of your things, and then we will hit the road. We can’t stay here long, so try to hurry.” My friend tells me as we both rise to our feet. I nod at his words and do as I’m told. I take a quick shower to wash off the blood and dirt from my body, then change into warm, clean clothes. As I finish tying the laces of my boots, I look over and see my favorite red scarf lying on the bed.
Its almost daytime now, and I’ve found an old, abandon house a couple miles north of my town that me and my friends have decided to rest in for awhile, Robby and Alice both tell me to get some sleep, but for some reason…I’m not tired. So instead I open the large, brown, one shoulder bag that they packed for me. Its mostly filled with nonperishable food and water, along with a blanket, and a few other necessities. As I shuffle through the contents, I notice a black book buried near the bottom, I pull it out of the bag and open it. On the back of the cover, inside, was a photograph of me and my parents after I had gotten out of the hospital. Oh, it’s my journal. I used to write stories, draw, and jot down random notes in it. Huh, about half of its pages are still blank. I search through the bag, hoping to come across something to write with, and find an ink pen under the blanket. I grab the pen and flip to the nearest open page, beginning to write down my entire experience, all the I’ve been through, right up until now. Maybe if someone finds this, they’ll turn me in? I don’t know, but I needed to vent, and these blank pages seemed like the best outlet. So there you have it, my story.
Signed
~~~~ Kyra Rose, The Medium~~~