Walk Through Thorns

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I rode for home at the witching hour. A silent sound hung in the air, like the moment before a scream. There were few streetlights, so I crossed town by moonlight. It was a dead place, frozen in time by the passing of the stars. Children's toys lay motionless on the grass. Stop signs leered at me at the crossroads. Homes stood in somber lines, like tombstones.

The whir of my tires filled the quiet. Sometimes I had to stop because I thought another bike was following me, but it was just my own noise bouncing off the buildings — echoes of my past self.

I went north, following the main road where I could take a right at the mechanic's garage to go down Old Creighton towards Auntie's. Outside of town, the houses broke from their neat rows and receded into dense forest. Shadows crept up the road's edge. It made me wish I had a flashlight.

When I turned the corner, the ghost was waiting for me in the middle of the road. My brakes squealed as I came to a sudden halt. The shape was humanoid, female, but all the details were blurry. Like an out of focus picture.

At first I was sure I wasn't seeing right. It was standing almost still, twenty feet away. When it moved, it was a blur, not striding but just shifting forwards and becoming a blurry solid of faint light closer to me. It did this every few seconds, pulsing forwards like an after image catching up to something.

I pushed off the asphalt and rolled my wheels backwards. It blinked forwards, crossing the distance between us in an instant. With a hazy hand of shimmering fire, reached out for me, I screamed. Blind instinct guided my legs to push and turn. I peddled as hard as I could, not daring to look back and see if it followed.

I kept that pace until I got to an intersection with lights. It hadn't followed, there was no sign of it at all. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I realized my hands were trembling. That was the same ghost. I don't know how I could tell, but deep down it felt the same. It was just getting more... there.

What the hell is that thing?

For a moment I considered calling for help, but people would only think I was crazy. Even Auntie had dismissed me when I saw it by the fireplace. In the end I decided to wait until the morning, and maybe talk to Auntie then.

But I had to get home, and it might still be on that road. Sighing, I crossed town on the main roads, now wary of every shadowed alcove. It wasn't the most direct route, but going up on the road that crossed the golf course would get me to the other side of Old Creighton. Then home, and safety.

A shrill scream cut through the night, and another wave of adrenaline passed through me. It was a primal noise, the kind that came in the last moments of life. My eyes focused, trying to pinpoint where it came from.

The golf course club house was lit by a pair of head lights. Shadows moved, bouncing across the wall, and twisting as a trio of bodies struggled against each other. Two bodies, thick and clothed in coveralls, dragged a third, struggling, form through the front doors.

I breathed out slow, knowing I should run. No, I should run for the cops. That was someone being attacked, right? Was I sure what I saw?

Swearing under my breath, I dropped my bike and leapt the ditch. There was a long stretch of flat green between myself and the lodge. I ran forward, hunching low for all that it mattered. There wasn't a single street lamp between the street and here. You'd need a spotlight to see me. Still, I wished I had a wolf for a companion at a time like this.

As I got closer, a window lit up on the interior. Voices became audible, and clearer the closer I got. Finally there, I peered through a gap in the curtains and felt my blood run cold.