Dancing with the Dead ✔

Chapter Eighteen - Just an Average, Everyday Teenage Ghost

Strange.

I mean, sure I don't want to die, but this? There's a sudden rush of feelings in my stomach: anger, pain, and betrayal. It's nothing like I've ever felt before. Sure, I've never felt death before, but still. This doesn't feel like me. I've never experienced this much hatred towards anyone ever before. It feels as if something else entirely has taken over my body.

Out of curiosity, I open my eyes. My vision is blurry. For a while, it seems like there's a thick fog in front of me. Slowly, the fog starts to clear out as my eyes come into focus. The moon is the only thing lighting my path. There are trees—woods, maybe—not far from me and somehow I'm gripped by a sudden urge to run towards them. That's when my senses start to come back to me. The next thing I know, my feet are moving by themselves and then I find myself running faster than I've ever run before, like my life is depending on it.

What am I running from?

Where am I?

Why is he doing this to me?

Wait, what? Evil Me, was that you?

Nope, not me.

As questions after questions invade my head, I stumble. My hands try to prop my body but I'm too late, my face already hits the cold grass. Pain radiates through my whole body as the rest of my body hits the ground. I wince painfully. Strange how there's a huge urge in me to run, to get away and hide from something—no, someone, even though there isn't anyone else here but me. In fact, the only thing I can hear now is the harsh sound of my own breath.

So why am I running?

I try to get up and continue to run but the pain on my ankle is overwhelming me. I blink a few times, trying to adjust myself to the darkness when suddenly, I hear a loud creaking sound of a door being swung open from behind me. Not long after, sounds of footsteps stepping on the grass mixed with the roaring thunder echo throughout the vast land. Little by little, dark clouds gather around the moon, causing its light to fade away.

I gather every power inside of me to roll over. With the help of what little light I have left, I can see the silhouette of a huge old mansion standing tall before me, making me realize where I am: the backyard of the house on the hill, just a few feet away from the backdoor.

Meanwhile, the hooded person flashes his flashlight right in my face, causing me to drag one hand to shield my eyes. I peek a little as I narrow my eyes, trying to get a clearer view of the hooded person. But all I can see is a silhouette of a man holding the flashlight in his right hand and another small thing in his left hand.

What is it?

I can hear my own heart beating faster and faster. Blood quickly rushes through my veins. Then, as the man walks closer towards me, it becomes clear to me what he is holding.

A gun.

In a desperate and frantic move, I crawl backward, trying to get as far away from the gun and the person holding it.

"No... Please... don't..." My mouth opens by itself, pleading to the unknown man in front of me, but the voice coming out doesn't sound like me at all. The voice sounds a bit more strained and nasal than mine, it sounds like...

"I'll do as you said... I'll... " there's clear hesitation in my—no, her—voice. As if there's an unknown force, my gaze is drawn to my flat stomach. Now there's another new peculiar feeling inside me. It's... a sense of protectiveness. Slowly, tears mixed with the cold rain slide down my cheeks as I continue to drag myself backward.