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

n i n e t e e n ✔

Come... meet me... I have it...

She approached, dragging her feet, head drooping, arms hanging at her sides. With each leaden step, she groaned, moaned, growled. The hem of her white dress swished against the floor, leaving a trail of blood in her wake.

Please... listen... secrets... secrets...

***

Arielle woke with a scream. "Fuck!"

She took a few minutes to slow her turbulent breaths, to take in her surroundings, to make sure this creepy chick hadn't been crawling around her room.

But no, she was alone. In the hotel. The TV was on, the sound muted; like her ears were clogged, her head underwater. Tiny beams of light fluttered at the bottom of the window, signaling it was still day, though probably nearing evening. A golden glow seemed to push against the cloth, wanting to blast in and illuminate her. Help her.

She hauled herself to a seated position and expelled a large breath. Passing a palm over her forehead, she widened her eyes; she was hot, damp with perspiration, sizzling with a fever.

"Shit," she said, removing the covers to find that her jeans clung to her skin, her shirt was drenched, and her legs and toes had gone numb.

Slumping over to her purse, she fished out some Ibuprofen, hoping to ease her temperature. Her temples throbbed with each stride, her stomach lurched with every movement.

Out of all the nightmares she'd had in the past weeks, this had been the most vivid. She saw the girl so close, so real, and not fizzing in and out of focus. Her voice still echoed in her ears, loud but clear. Simple but heavy with meaning.

Secrets... she continues to use that word, but why?

It became clearer by the minute; since they'd left Charleston, Penny had latched on to her. Haunted her, tortured her mind into having horrid dreams, worse dreams than those she already endured. Bullied her soul into being paranoid with every passing second. Yet it made no sense; how did she get there? Wasn't she a spirit in Ohio, lurking in Jade's house or its vicinity? How had she popped up in a school parking lot in Charleston, South Carolina? All the shows Arielle had watched with Jade seemed to imply ghosts remained near where they died.

Maybe she was chopped up... one half in Ohio, one half in Charleston?

She wanted to laugh at that ridiculous idea, but nothing was funny anymore. Tugging her lips up into a smile took too much effort and amplified the unease in her abdomen and worsened the hammering in her scalp.

She located her medicine bottle, unscrewed the top, and plopped three pills in her mouth. Hurrying to the bathroom, she filled a plastic cup with water and guzzled down a few sips to swallow the capsules.

Glancing at her reflection, she sighed—and froze. "Whoa."

Her complexion was pallid, blotched, drenched in glistening sweat. Red rimmed her hazel eyes, turning them bloodshot, terrifying. And her lips had turned a frightening purple—but she wasn't cold. She overheated.

"Fuck..." For a moment she looked like the girl who snuck into her dreams. The suicide girl, an unknown being, Penny—who knew? She wasn't sure she wanted to. "I need to see a doctor." She swept the back of her palm across her hairline and gulped as her flesh burned. "What the heck?"

Hobbling to the main room, she lowered onto the corner of the bed. Her hearing returned to normal, ears popping as if she were in an airplane. "Ah, well there's that, at least."