Friday, October 7th, 2016

Cory and Sid explained their dream to Davy first thing in the morning, explaining everything Angela had said, and the fact she promised not to lure them back, as long as they would be her friends. Sid just hadn't anticipated in her yapping on and on the following day. He simply couldn't get a break from hearing her.

She did tell him Edward and Amara had been texting each other, about Cory's presence, during lunch, but Sid had decided not to do anything with the information out loud. Instead, he texted Edward to tell him that if he had a problem with someone in the group, he needed to spill it.

Edward and Amara had soon left, after sending him a glare.

Sid had ignored the entire conversation Amber, Annika and Davy had about their behaviour because it was tiresome. He didn't want to lose Edward as a best friend, but he didn't want Edward to scare Cory away either.

Since Angela, or Angie, promised to be a friend, Sid did feel safe enough to go home after school, have dinner with his family, and sleep in his own bed; by himself. He actually missed his bedroom, after not sleeping there for a good portion of the week. But plenty had changed in the days since he last slept there, and he was confident he would be fine, on his own.

He could finally show his parents he was just startled by the woods, but nothing to worry about.

Why have you been ignoring me, I know you can hear me. I read that message you sent Edward.

Sid chuckled, closing his notebook after he made sure he was caught up on his Biology homework, before he turned to face his room. "I do, but it's kinda nuts to talk to nobody in particular."

You'd be talking to me.

"Yeah, a ghost I can't even see, let alone others. I have a question though."

Which is?

"Are you with Cory right now as well?"

She giggled, and it was actually funny to hear a giggle from a disembodied voice, knowing it was a nine-year-old girl from the fifties. It was less funny to think she was murdered.

No, silly. I can't be in two places at once. I'm a ghost. Not a witch.

"Right, my bad. I was just wondering why you don't prefer him over me, since you've known him far longer. But ever since I went into the woods, you have spent most of your time haunting me." Which was true; she had spent most nights giving him nightmares. Only when he spent the night with Annika, did she go to Davy, and eventually back to Cory when Davy joined him and Annika in a room.

I like you.

Though Sid felt flattered he was preferred over others, he felt like her response was hesitant; as if she wasn't telling him everything. It was hard to judge though, since he wasn't able to see her facial expression.

"Can we talk in my sleep?"

Of course...

Sid sucked in his breath; now almost entirely sure she was holding something from him. She didn't seem too enthusiastic to talk face-to-face. Which was in sharp contrast with her behaviour the rest of the day, or all of last night, in which she had told them more about herself and her life in Greenville—the next town over—in the fifties.

Sid didn't reply. Instead, he got dressed for bed and turned down his lights, hoping he wouldn't take too long to fall asleep. It was past midnight when his eyes started to feel heavy, and while he blinked a few times, before closing his eyes all together, he noticed the vague shape of a young girl in his room, sitting on his desk chair, inspecting her fingernails.

And when he opened his eyes again, it was exactly where Angie sat.

"Morning sunshine," she said when she noticed him sitting up in his bed. "We're really good, right? No... knife?"

"We're good, calm down. I just have been thinking about everything, and I have a lot of questions, of which you could possibly answer some."

She nodded in understanding but seemed nervous about the thing he wanted to ask her.

"Let's start of lightly," Sid suggested, wanting her to be less nervous and more trusting of him. "When we were at lake Legis, our soccer ball was there. Did you do that?"

Angie giggled in response, nodding her head. "I'm not the best player, though. Daddy only taught my brother Tim."

Sid smiled at her as she reminisced in the memory of her father teaching her brother how to play soccer. But he only asked it to have her opened up to the idea of answer questions. Not because he wanted to know more about her family. He did, but not in that moment.

"Do you spend a lot of time in the forest?"

"Not anymore, no. Not ever since Cory came along. Like I said, it's a terrible place. Being outside the woods feels better, but I was never able to stay for too long. I always needed to go back to the forest because I felt weak if I stayed out. Ever since Cory sees me in his dreams, I haven't had that issue."

"And you said you needed to protect us both when we were in the woods. What did you mean by that?"

"I... I meant, like, I mean, Cory was wandering through the woods for a while before his presence was noticed. But you? With you and Davy, I instantly knew you were in the woods. I just wasn't the only one who noticed you."

"What do you mean by that?" Sid nervously asked, "Does it have anything to do with the dark smoke that surrounded you, right before I fell unconscious?"

"You remember that? I thought you didn't remember, because I haven't heard you talk about it with anyone. But you remember?"

"I do, and quite honestly, that was what made me freak out as bad about you. You were surrounded by it."

"Yes," Angie said hesitantly, slowly nodding her head a few times, "because I was shielding you. It's... don't freak out, please, but, I mean, it's why I'm always with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I'm not the only one who followed you out of the woods."

"What?" Sid chocked on his breath, shocked by her revelation. What did it even mean? Was he haunted by an unseen dark smoke? And what would it do to him if she wasn't with him?

"Whenever I leave you, it's coming for you. At first, I was scared it would go after Cory or Davy if I was with you, but I feel it. It's near. It's always near you."

"And what does it do?"

"Consume you. It consumes your body, your mind, you soul. I've seen it happen once, thirteen years after I died," Angie explained, waving a hand around, seemingly slightly panicking at the idea. "It's always there, and it wants you. It never followed someone out of the woods before. It always waited for people to come back to it themselves. Or it would get a new victim. But this? Sid, it wants you."

"But why?"

"Because you're weird!" Angie cried out. "Something about you isn't quite right and I haven't been able to figure out what. But you noticed my presence the second you met Cory. You felt the cold, right? And your concussion? How did that heal so quickly? I thought you died from head injury in the woods and the next day you were fine. My marks, the scratches I accidentally left on your arm, your energy."

Sid stared at her in shock as she listed all the things he brushed off as normal as reasons she thought he was weird.

"So, I'm a bit different? That shouldn't put a fucking target on my back, inviting dark matters to come haunt me. And how do I stay away from it? I mean... when you're not around?"

"It doesn't like Annika. It keeps a distance whenever she's with you."

"Annika?"

"Maybe it just really hates love? I mean, you two are so cute and adorable and—"

"Got it, maybe love. Then why not my parents?"

"Oh, it hates your father," Angie chuckled, though it seemed a bit forced.

"But I can't see it. So, I'll just have to trust Annika's presence, or my dad's, or yours? There's no way I can tell when I'm in danger?"

"I... I mean, you'd feel it?"

"I'd feel it?"

Angie nodded, holding in her breath as her eyes flickered to the corner of his room, furthest away from him. "I'm sorry, but you need to know what I'm talking about." And then she disappeared.

Almost instantly, a black substance started to form in the corner of his room below his windowsill, underneath his desk. It almost seemed to be crawling closer as the darkness became the darkest shade of black Sid had ever seen before. As it was shifting towards him, he sat frozen in his spot. He wasn't able to lift a finger due to the amount of fear that consumed his body, mere seconds before the feeling gave way for anger, and the worst sadness and pain he had ever felt.

The floorboards creaked under its presence as it inched closer.

He wanted to move. He needed to move, but he couldn't find the strength as it rose up from the floor in the middle of his room and suddenly he felt like he was sucked into a space where he felt every fibre of his body being squeezed together, while simultaneously being ripped apart.

And suddenly it was pushed backwards with force, Sid was able to breathe again, as Angie stood in front of him with a worried frown on her face.

"If you ever feel anything like that, ever again, you're in trouble."

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