Wicked Delights

Ghostly Procession [01]

Every moment of that day was imprinted on my memory. The feeling of the evening breeze as it danced over my skin, still thick with the dying heat of the day. The cheers of the crowd in the bleachers as Kyle Pfeiffer raced toward the end zone. It seemed like the whole town had shown up that day to show their support for The Pirates, it was the first time they had the possibility of going to State. It was a big deal for our small town of two hundred or so.

I was only eleven years old, spending time with my brother as he snuck a smoke in the parking lot of the high school. Our grandmother would have knocked him silly if she found out about his habit. It was our secret, a secret he bribed me to keep with a weekly bag of jelly beans from Mr. Powell's candy shop. Everything about that day was perfect. If I could have stayed frozen in that moment with Harrison, I would have. It was only a second later, the span between one breath and the next, that my whole world shattered around me.

"Hey, Thorn." A deep voice called out and we turned around to see two of the town burnouts, Ethan White and Gabriel Vega, as they staggered towards us. I noticed the wary look my brother cast in my direction, "Thought you were real cool when you ratted us out to Principal Monaghan, didn't you?" 

I caught a flash of silver as Ethan whipped something out from his waistband, "Not so cool now, are you?" There was a spark of fire, followed by a booming sound. It rang in my ears as I watched my brother's body crumple, his cigarette still glowing orange at the tip as it hit the ground.

I stared on at the scene, still and unresponsive. My heart and lungs felt like they had frozen over in my chest. I was nothing. I was simply a hollow shell of the girl I had been moments before. I had seen everything that had happened, watched it as if trapped in a world where time ran infinitely slower. I had seen and yet, could not react.

"Oh my god, Ethan. You shot him..." Gabe wheezed as he stared down at my brother, lying motionless on the asphalt. "You weren't actually supposed to shoot him...oh my god, oh my god..."

"Shut up, Gabe." Ethan slurred.

"You killed him, man. He's dead...look at him."

"I said shut the fuck up." Gabe flinched, his words tapering off into silence. Ethan turned to me, gun still in his hand, "You better not tell anyone about this, Jez. Not a goddamned soul or y'next, Y'hear me?"

I stared down at my brother, his vacant gaze focused on the stars above. It all hit me like a train. My senses coming back to life abruptly. My heart beat with an adrenalized frenzy as a burning sensation raced up my spine and into my brain. It was a burning fire that pulsed in my skull with a painful fury. It was a pain I had never known, a pain that had darkness creeping into my vision. Wisps of shadows swirled around me as tears rolled down my cheeks and my limbs shook. My lips parted and I sucked in a sharp breath before I released a gut-wrenching scream.

As I screamed, something happened- the shadowy tendrils wrapped around Gabe, pulling him back with surprising speed into a nearby car. The metal folding slightly around his unconscious body. Ethan's eyes opened wide with terror as he looked back to me just as he was hurtled up into the air, disappearing from view for a moment before he plummeted back down to the earth. He hit the ground with a sickening crack, his limbs contorted and his eyes still wide as blood began to leak from his mouth.