Superhero, Superqueer

Ghost Ship

I WANT TO DEDICATE THIS TO Call-Me-Vlinder FOR LEAVING A COMMENTS THAT LITERALLY MADE MY YEAR AND I'LL GIVE A REAL DEDICATION BUT I'M ON MY PHONE RN SO YEAH

So many things to consider. We have school tomorrow. We don't know if they're at the Ozarks for real or not. I don't even know if those voices are real people or not. What will my parents think when I'm not in the house tomorrow?

One thing was for sure. Her little brother was missing. Carmen told her parents that he wasn't home, they tried contacting him through Skelephone, but there was no response. For all we knew, he was dead. Either that, or knocked out, or maybe intentionally ignoring his family. But there was no reason for an eleven year old boy to do that.

First had come Carmen's denial. Not fun.

"They didn't take him," she muttered. "Not gone. Not missing. At a friend's."

"Carmen," I said, trying to shake her from the trance she was in as she occupied the passenger seat of her car. I made sure I was the one driving for safety reasons.

"I'm dreaming. Having a terribly nightmare," she continued. I sighed. Maybe - no, definitely - I'll give her some time.

Driving for twenty more minutes with her nonsense mumbling, then I noticed we were low on gas. I groaned internally. It's not the best thing to be filling up a gas tank while wearing a super suit like I was.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Carmen announced. She, despite her emotional state, had not shed a tear. I knew when I first met her that she was the strong type of woman, who didn't like showing weakness. She stayed collected and walked inside the gas station as I started filling the tank, finding several twenty dollar bills in the center console to pay for the gas. I also found another gun, gum, earbuds, and other feminine products.

Since it was so late, around twelve in the morning, only one other person was in the lot. That was a lot of relief on me, but I still was tense. I didn't want anything to stop us from getting to the lake as soon as possible.

Carmen jogged out of the gas station and strapped herself in her seat. I sped out quickly, not caring to put my seat belt on. I was going about fifteen over the speed limit on the almost deserted highway.

"God dammit," Carmen cursed. "Why did I have to be so messed up? I'm not a bad person! Why did God choose me?"

Second stage of grief. Anger.

"God didn't choose you," I scoffed. "The human mind is a godless place. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves."

"I don't deserve this. Mason doesn't deserve this," she ignored me bitterly. I rolled my eyes and focused on the road.

She kept jabbering on, going through grief stages. Bargaining. depression, then acceptance. All in two hours! It was like the closer we got, the reality of it all sank in.

Finally we were only minutes away. I pulled the car over, turning off the lights and turning the ignition off.

"Carmen," I asked. "Do you think there is anything they might have said that would tell us where at the lake they might be?"

She shook her head. "Not that I can think of..."

"Vehicles," I suggested. "Types of trees, flowers, signs, addresses, houses, anything?" I added.

"I don't know..." she said, biting her lip.

"Anything that they repeated often," I added.

It seemed to take a minute, but it was as if a light bulb went off of her head. "Little stream!"