VANISHED (#1 in the VANISHED series) #NaNoWriMo2019 ✔

f i f t e e n ✔

***

Arielle's nightmares were almost normal at this point. This time, the constant tossing and turning was caused by the black-and-white girl blinking in and out of focus, her neck whipping in impossible ways. And of course, Jade made an appearance, her face splattered with blood and her mangled figure crawling up to eat Arielle's heart out. Common visions Arielle hated to be used to... yet she was.

But that night, Stella had nightmares too. She never had them, she'd told as much to Arielle weeks ago. But Arielle heard her as she mumbled sentences in weird languages that sort of sounded like Latin. She whimpered and huddled into a ball under her covers and shivered to the point of making the mattress beneath her shake. She even started convulsing like during the Cemetery seance, and Arielle almost woke her.

Hours later, a flutter of light pried into the room, seeping under Arielle's barely closed eyelids.

Should I bother trying to sleep more?

She checked the time—six AM. She had no clue when Stella had set her alarm to go off, nor when she'd want to head to St Augustine, Florida, their last stop. But she needed air. Fresh oxygen. A minute alone to think, to hash out the emotions festering in her abdomen and to calm the erratic beating of her heart.

She got up, tiptoed to her bag, and extracted a pair of sweats she'd brought in case the hotel rooms were cold. She shrugged them on, pulled her hair into a bun, splashed some water onto her face, and exited the room, her key in one hand, her cell and ear-phones in the other.

A jog—that's what I need.

She hadn't gone running in years, because she hadn't needed to. It was therapy, in Middle School, when dealing with her mother's death, her brother's death, her best friend's death. But after meeting Jade and Stella, finding her way into their routine, becoming a part of their clan, she'd stopped the jogging and took up yoga and Pilates and cycling instead.

Today... she needed that therapy again.

She set off through the foggy morning breezes, unsure where she was going, but not caring too much. Switching on her music player and pressing the shuffle button, she smiled when one of her favorite Lana Del Rey songs came on.

And she took off.

Penny.

The name swirled in her head like a poisonous smoke, infusing into every crevice of her brain as her sneakers hit the pavement.

Unavailable.

Warning lights had flashed to life after that word. That was a lengthy set of letters for a spirit to move a planchette over. And the marble thing moved so fast, not letting Stella finish her sentences. Like this Penny anticipated everything they said... or Jade sat right next to her, telling her.

Was she there? Did Penny lie? Or...

Unwelcome images of the paranormal shows Jade once watched floated into her mind. The stories of ghosts trapped by other ghosts, by malevolent spirits, by... demons. Those who were in pain, suffering, stuck, unable to move on because another being wouldn't let them. Was Jade... trapped by Penny? Penny, the one who bullied her all those years ago, caused she and Arielle to never want to see another Ouija board again—did she hold Jade captive?

You must die... to find out...

Jade had said that in her nightmares. She rarely spoke in them, but last night, as she clawed her way up to Arielle, shoved her down and snarled, her chapped lips moved and raspy voices erupted. And a recent addition to the dream was fire. Arielle assumed the burning Ouija board had something to do with that. But to envision red and orange and yellow sparks and swirls billowing up Jade's bloody arms and surrounding her head in a halo of flames had prompted her to stop seeking to sleep altogether.