|UNDER COVER OF D∆RKNESS|

"So, a lake? That's what you saw that has you freaked out?" Larson asked, one of his eyebrows sat further up on his forehead than the other.

I let out a sigh. "It wasn't an ordinary lake... It was creepy; it gave me a weird feeling that I don't think I can effectively describe.." I said, a bit frustrated with his doubt.

He sensed my agitation. "Okay, well let's go find this lake of yours." He said, pulling me up from the grass.

"How are we gonna find it?" I stared at his amused face.

"There are lots of ways to find things Harley, we're-"

I cut him off and finished his favorite catch phrase for him. "Dead, yes, I know... We can do whatever we want, right?"

He chuckled, "Exactly, now you're finally starting to see things the way I do.."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing..." I mumbled under my breath.

He heard me and laughed even louder. "At least we have fun, right?"

"As much fun as two dead people can have." I returned.

That joke won me one of his best dimpled smiles. "Yes." He said.

I followed him to the town square, still blind to where he was leading me. If I tried to get information out of him, he just smiled proudly and marched on.

Finally, as we stood in front of the huge court house doors, he said "Here we are." His arms were stretched wide as he presented the building to me with excitement.

"Yay, the court house!" I said, sarcastically.

He looked at me like what I was missing was obvious. "Just follow me." He said, heading up the stone steps.

He stepped through the double doors first. I attempted to step through, but I slammed face first right into the wooden door.

Larson's booming laughter emerged from the other side. I debated on whether or not I should just leave rather than face him.

He appeared back on the outside, doubled over with his unceasing laughter. "You...you didn't..." He could barely get his words out.

I crossed my arms waiting for him to get over it.

"You forgot to make yourself 'unsolid'.." He finally said, wiping away tears.

I just stared at him. Obviously I know that now.

"Whew!" He held his stomach now like he may throw up. I hope he does.

"Can you get yourself together so we can go inside?" I asked annoyed.

This time I managed to walk through the door. We made our way to a rack of magazines and pamphlets off to the side.

Larson dug through the booklets, finally locating the one he desired. It was a folded one. I watched as he carefully unfolded it, and I realized it was a map of the county.

"That's actually pretty clever." I said, giving him credit.

He glanced over with his prideful smile gleaming, then pointed down at the paper. "I assume that the areas in blue are bodies of water."

I looked over his shoulder at the map.

"There are three lakes." He said. "How big was the one you saw?"

"Really big. There were mountains way off in the distance. The other side of it was barely visible..."

"Well, this lake here is sort of big, but I don't think it's that big." I followed his point. He was right, it wasn't big enough.

"Wait this one here has mountains near one side of it." I said, pointing to the largest of the three, then to the triangles on the map.

"Oh, I thought those were teepees." Larson said. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

He sighed. "Okay, well let's get going. We have a long day ahead of us."

I imagined the closest familiar thing in my head, and took us both there.

We now stood at the edge of the woods. "The lake should be about a mile in that direction." I said, pointing south.

He looked up at the tall trees that were beginning to change for the fall. The air didn't feel any cooler, but I have a feeling that's because I'm a ghost.

We started walking, not speaking for a while. I was determined to get there quickly, and Larson was too busy looking at everything.

We had been walking for about a half hour, when he finally broke the silence. "You know what sucks the most about being dead?"

"Um... the fact that we'll never see anyone alive ever again, or either the fact that we will never experience anything beyond a teenage life?"

He pursed his lips.

"Not the answer you were looking for?" I guessed.

"Not exactly." He stared at me for a second longer before continuing. "I was gonna say that it sucks that we can't scare people. I always looked forward to hilarious pranks in the after life.."

That was a completely different answer than mine, although it is nothing short of the typical Larson answer.

I decided to humor him while we walked. "What kind of pranks would you pull?"

He smiled at my interest in his foolishness. "Okay imagine this." He held his hands out in front of him. "It's the middle of the night, and a floating sheet walks by your bedroom. Your first thought is 'oh, someone is pranking me by pretending to be a ghost...' so you laugh and snatch off the blanket. Then I'm like, 'surprise, I'm a real ghost!' and you say 'oh snap!' And run away screaming." Larson was smiling from ear to ear at the image in his head.

I couldn't help but laugh with him even though that was the dumbest prank idea ever.

Suddenly, a rattle snake crossed our path, and I nearly stepped on it. I screamed really loud before I could stop myself, and jumped a few feet backwards. Apparently I was afraid of snakes in my days.

Larson gave me the "really" look. "Need I remind you, we can't die again Harley." He said, shaking his head at my outburst.

He leaned down to touch it, caressing the snakes head. The snake didn't seem affected by it at all. Maybe it couldn't even feel it.

Then Larson scooped it up with both of his hands. I ducked behind a tree, fearing that he would throw it on me or something.

"Come on Harley, he's harmless." The snakes rattle vibrated. It seemed to be more curious about Larson than afraid of him.

"Just put it down Larson." I said, holding my hands out in front of me.

Then, Larson out did himself. He placed the long snake around his neck. "Look at me, I'm the snake tamer!"

I stormed off through the woods, leaving him behind.

"Wait, I'll put it down." A minute later, he was jogging to catch up.

A turned to make sure he didn't have his new friend with him. "I put him down." Larson said, showing me his hands.

"You're an idiot." I said.

He chuckled, but otherwise ignored my comment.

More silent minutes passed before I thought of something. "Larson?"

"Yeah?" He asked, startled by my sudden urge to communicate.

"After we drank, I saw the lake.. You never told me what you saw, or where you were for that matter.."

A strange look washed over his otherwise perfect face. "I didn't really see anything helpful.."

I got the feeling he was withholding information. "But..you did see something?" I pressed.

"Yes." He glanced over at me to see if he should continue. I patiently waited. "Well, I saw something kind of...freaky." His eyes darted through the woods before he continued, and I noticed his posture was a little more reserved.

"What I saw wasn't a memory, at least I don't think it was. It wasn't familiar to me at all..."

"Just tell me." I said, growing inpatient.

"I was in the woods..kind of like these, but the trees had no leaves. And, there was this...eerie fog all around. I was trying to find my way out, but something was after me." Larson's hands were both shoved in his pockets, and his eyes stared off through the trees. His mind was no longer with me, it was reliving his nightmare.

"What was after you Larson?" I asked, afraid of his answer.

"An animal. An abnormally, large animal of some sort. I didn't get to see much of it, but somehow I knew that if it caught me, I was done for, like gone forever.."

Every hair on my body stood on edge. "Did it have a tail?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Yes, it did. That's all I saw of it actually. Wait, how did you know?" His eyes looked down at me anxiously. I could tell that he was truly afraid of what he saw.

"Because I saw it too." I whispered.