Darkest Call

Chapter Five

Julia's party came with the beginning of March, when the sun had melted away the snow and left space for the early flowers to open. The day of Julia's party, Ad and I would go to Nicola's to get ready. It was Saturday, March 4th, I had not slept that night. The graveyard had turned up in my dreams. The smell of death. The voices. After turning for hours, I had finally given up. The party did not start before 9 pm, so Nicola and I both went to Blackwell's that day, Ad, however, had to go somewhere with his parents. Noah was there, when we came. Coming in, he looked up from whatever he, Teresa and 7-year-old Justin were doing and smiled at us. I gave him a smile in return, dropping off my small bag. Nicola eyed us suspiciously, but did not say anything. I was pretty sure, that Nicola and Ad had not lain down their suspicions about Noah and me, but I did not really care. Noah had become a friend, at least a Blackwell's. In school the interactions between us were barely more than a smile. My thoughts were interrupted, when Teresa stood up and came running to us. Justin, who was very shy, just sat back until I came in and ruffled his hair, to which he responded with a big grin.
"Mrs. B is just at the grocer's, it's playday today," Noah said explaining Nicola and me what we had to help with. It turned out, that Noah had already been here for a while, doing most of the day's chores. "You can help with the lunch though, as you see, I'm really busy drawing skeletons," Noah smirked at us.
I just rolled my eyes, but Nicola glanced at the drawings, "Why on earth would you draw skeletons?" she asked. Noah shrugged, "Well would you rather we'd draw ponies?" he said. Now it was Nicola who shrugged, but Teresa looked disapprovingly at Nicola, as if the thought of drawing ponies was something boring.
"Skeletons are way cooler than ponies" she said. Nicola looked at Teresa and smiled, "Way deader too," she said, to which Teresa just put on an unamused face and Noah snorted at the comment. I felt goosebumps on my arms as I tried hard not to vomit. The mention of dead had woken something in me. I stepped into the hallway, as the floor started swaying slightly under me. I felt cold and smelt Death, as if I was not at the orphanage any longer. I could not see the hallway clearly in front of me.
"Penny?" The voice was distant but it was the only thing I could sense. It blurred, and suddenly it changed to a whisper. Goosebumps climbed up my arms. Nicola the whispers said. There was something about that voice, as if I recognized it. Get Nicola.
The world focused again, and I saw the same graveyard. Only this time, I saw what I'd already seen before: The opening flowers, the trees slowly turning green. The smell of spring and death. The crow flying and screaming. I knew then, that the graveyard would look exactly like this, if I went there now. The only difference was a weird looking altar. As if it was ready for something... Someone. Someone was sitting in front of the altar. Whoever the person was, they were wearing a bog black cloak to hide their face. It worked. The person seemed to be praying.
Nicola, the whispers sounded all around me. I turned. There was no one except the person at the altar. I started to walk towards them. But the more I walked, the longer away they seemed. The person turned. Deep green eyes looked at me. I gasped.
Then the world blurred out again and I was staring into Nicola's worried face. She was sat in front of me. Noah stood relaxed and eyed the scene.
"Penny? Are you okay?" Nicola seemed worried. I looked at her, then at Noah. These hallucinations had to mean something, and suddenly I knew I had to tell Nicola about them. So far, I had kept quiet. Noah still believed I was suffering from anxiety or panic attacks, and because telling him the truth seemed scary, I found it smarter to keep him in the dark. But I could not keep Nicola in the dark, she would now I was lying anyway.
"Yeah, I'm fine" I looked at Noah, he raised an eyebrow at me, but did not utter a word. He just walked away. Nicola started to stand but I pulled her towards me, "I need to tell you something," Nicola must have heard the desperation in my voice, for her face turned from worried to something more like terrified.
"What did you just see?" she had that look in her eyes, the look she got when she discovered the small missing piece that made the puzzle come together. As if she had just cracked the code. I looked at her, how did she know, that I had seen something. "Penny..." whatever she was trying to say got interrupted by Luke and Lucy turning the corner into the hallway, fighting as only siblings could. Nicola's face changed at once when she stood up. I understood the glare she sent me: later. I stood up as well, but Nicola had already gone to stop Lucy and Luke's fighting. I headed for the kitchen, unsure of how to tell her.