The sky is pitch-black, too hazy for stars, over the city's glimmering lights.
A slow, fragrant breeze wafts from the sea.
Looking out from his balcony, David wouldn't think anything is wrong if not for the slight chill that creeps over his shoulders.
He can sense an impending disaster.
David rubs his dark, close-cropped hair as another breeze blows, then stops, sniffing the air.
There's a scent to it that reminds him of something, of a day not long ago that he'd rather forget.
As the scent becomes more vivid, as that day becomes closer in his mind, his breathing accelerates, and his thoughts grow incoherent -- no just stop no no no not that no i'm here now on the balcony everything's fine that smell is nothing nothing nothing but --
The air is acrid, smoky.
He internally recoils from its smell as it burns his nose with the smell of tires lit on fire. All around him is the sound of the shouting of children, boys about the age of his brother who have just barely started high school. Despite their age, there's determination in their eyes as they stand in front of them. He remembers what a friend told him: They carry the weight of their people on their shoulders. Maybe that's true, for in their eyes is not just determination, but anger.
David bursts from the memory, tears in his eyes, shoving his muscular arms out in front of him like there's some enemy he needs to ward away.
"No more..." he whispers, pleading to himself.
The breeze becomes a stronger wind as it continues to carry the smell of smoke with it, and for the first time, he hears a keening sound with it, faint as if from far away, so faint that the words it carries are indecipherable even to his straining ears.
Maybe it's the scream of a broken parent, or of a child begging. Or maybe it's anger at one who has the power to bring justice and yet does not.
David shivers, clenching his hands around the railing of the balcony now, listening for the faint sound as if his life depends on it.
The sound becomes clearer, and starts to form words...
YOU ARE READING
Ghostland
ParanormalSaid is a ghost who was recently murdered by an IDF soldier. David is a traumatized IDF soldier, and one of the witnesses. Is justice for Said possible? Or will he, and all the other children, be forgotten?
