Faster! Faster! Faster! I dodged tree after tree and delved deeper into the woods. This was insane! Completely insane! He freaking tanked bullets! If he catches me I'm done for! I jumped over a bush and saw the bent over tree, that was the sign to turn left! I skidded to a stop and turned left. Then immediately took off again, right into Casey.
We collided and our heads bashed together. I stumbled and dropped back on my butt. While Casey stayed standing and whined.
"Ahhh! That really hurt Nyx!" She cried.
"Yet I'm the one on the ground!" I grumbled.
The world was still shaking for me, I swear I hit a freaking wall! I grabbed my face and rolled over on the ground. It was like someone was bashing my brain with a hammer. Then came Casey's feelings of agitation, which pissed me off. However, I wasn't really in a position to verbalize that.
"Come on! Get up! We gotta keep moving!" Casey demanded.
I groaned and started to push myself up.
"That's easy for you to say, I feel like I just dropped from two stories.."
Eventually I got to standing back up, and Casey pulled me over to her. Making me lean against her as she practically dragged me away.
"I managed to get a picture of the guy." I told her.
She sighed and nodded. The agitation slowly faded, and was replaced by a wave of relief. However, some Anxiety was still hidden beneath the banks.
"I'm glad you're okay." She said with a sigh.
I stood up straight and leaned on her less. My head still throbbed, but it was a lot better than before. I took a breath and scanned around.
"Casey, I couldn't sense emotion from him at all."
She continued her fast pace, and the anxiety only grew more.
"Oh.. maybe he's a psychopath then…?" She suggested.
"I don't know, isn't their thing not feeling empathy? So I'd imagine they'd still feel something."
"Oh yeah, my bad..." She mumbled.
It's not like we can even make good educated guesses at this point. I barely understand what my ability even was. I scanned over the treelines again and I tried to listen for anything off. Thankfully, only the sound of crickets accompanied us.
"Don't worry about it." I replied and continued to scan the area. "We can recollect ourselves once we're at your place."
We continued through the woods and thankfully nothing came out to greet us. Once we laid our eyes on her house, we ran to it. And for the first time in my life, I actually kept up with Casey. She leaped onto her porch and speedily unlocked her door. The excitement and relief in Casey was infectious, it almost didn't feel real! We actually made it!
Just as we were about to celebrate, her Abuela flipped on the lights!
"Ah ha! ¡Los atrapé a ustedes dos!" Her grandma yelled and pointed at Casey.
Then Casey's confident hope turned into panic.
"¡No! ¡No! ¡Abuela tienes la idea equivocada!" She replied.
"¡Tal vez soy viejo, pero no soy estúpido! ¡solo mira tu ropa! ¡Sé lo que has estado haciendo!" Her Abuela fired back.
What the hell is happening…
"¡No! ¡Abuela, solo somos caza de fantasmas, es todo!" Her Abuela said and glared at me.
I glanced at Casey, and her eyes were wide in shock.
"Do I wanna know?" I asked.
Casey bit her lip and looked down to the floor.
"Tal vez nos besamos un poco, ¡pero fue asqueroso y me golpeé!" She mumbled, then pointed over at my face. "Mira que golpeé tan fuerte que cayó, así que tuve que cargarlo."
A wave of guilt and embarrassment washed over her. For some reason I didn't trust that. The grandma smiled then started to laugh.
"¡Esa es mi nieta!" Her Grandma laughed. "I won't tell mama, but I hope you learned now boy. She's not interested!"
What?
….
"You told her what!" I yelled in a whisper.
"I'm sorry I panicked!" Casey whined and leaned back against the side of her bed. "I forget ghosts are really big no no."
"And me trying to make out with you in the woods should be a no no too!" He complained.
"What else should I have said! We were out alone together all night!" Casey huffed and folded her arms.
I grumbled and took my mask off. Then grabbed some tortilla chips from the bag.
"I don't know! I just don't want your family thinking I'm some pervert."
"They always thought you were kind of weird.." She mumbled.
I growled and scooped some salsa into the chip.
"Of course they do. Just like everyone else does." I sighed and went into my pocket. "Anyways, let's look over my findings."
I set the pill bottle down and then the wallet.
"I'll go through the wallet, if you can use your Einstein intelligence on the bottle." I suggested. She nodded and grabbed a handful of chips. However I smacked her hand while it was in the bag. "Hey! I still gotta eat!"
She grumbled and dropped most of the chips and kept two in hand. Then I opened up my mom's Wallet. A chill ran down my spine as I saw her I.D card. She was holding up the rocken roll fingers and sticking her tongue out. She didn't even have her eyepatch in this photo. That means this was before the incident…
'He’s cursed! Just like his father!'
My grandma's words slithered into my mind. Then my skin began to tingle as I remembered my mother's blood raining down on me. I've done nothing but hurt her haven't I? I jumped a bit and felt a hand rest against my shoulder. When I turned around I saw Casey looking me over, her eyes showing worry. That’s odd, for once I wasn't feeling it.
"You miss her don't you?" She asked.
I took a breath and nodded.
"I do, but. I'm starting to think, maybe she's better off away from me ya know? She's in the hospital right now because of me, and she's taking those pills because of me." I mumbled.
"Nyx, I looked into it. This is just an antidepressant. This isn't something you can control, or do anything about."
"My grandma told me that it was because I was born. That it’s because I have my dad's blood in me." I replied. "I'm starting to think, after all of this stuff. That maybe, maybe she had a point. After all, she is in the hospital because of me right now."
"That incident wasn't your fault Nyx, your grandma was probably just really hurt and lashing out." She assured me and I leaned back against the bed frame. "You were only five, you really couldn't have done anything."
"Who knows? Maybe I really am cursed." I looked over into her eyes. "Be honest with me here. Would it be that surprising that I was cursed?"
She opened her mouth, but immediately started to chew on her lip.
"As I thought." I replied and went back to the Wallet.
"Hey, just because it's possible doesn't mean that, that's the answer. We don't know what's happening yet."
"So what? We do know that things go wrong whenever someone's around me." I replied and started to take apart my mom's Wallet.
"Nyx, your mom loved you. She fought hard for you right?" She asked and I stopped.
"So what?"
"So, she loves you. No matter what, even if you're cursed. She was willing to die for you. I don't think she'd be better off without you. That's what you're thinking right? Like you tried to push me away earlier?"
I sighed.
"I just, I just don't want you two to get hurt." I mumbled. "I don't have a lot. Mom and you are family, the only family. I don't want to see you both hurt."
She rested her hand on my hand.
"Nyx, life is unpredictable. Bad things are gonna happen, to me and to her. That's just how things are. Either way, we need to stick together. Your mom believed in that so much that she fought a monster for you."
"She also shot herself because of me. What if I am the monster?" I asked.
"Nyx your n-"
"Can we just focus, Casey? It's late, and we need to figure something out." I said.
She sighed and sat back, moving her hand away.
"I suppose so." She mumbled.
"Thank you for your words. I'm just mentally exhausted. I don't want to think anymore if I don't have too."
"I understand Nyx."
We both went back to our tasks and I just about cleared her wallet out. I went to grab the last item and my heart stopped. I slowly lifted up a photograph. The top half was cut off and both people in the photos heads were cut off. One of the people dressed in a rockstar type of style. While the other was in fancy dark robes. I recognized the boots on the rock style one as moms. So that was probably her and somebody. I turned the photo around and there were words on the back.
"I will always love you and our Nyx. Even though fate has pulled us apart, I'll always think of you. I love you- Osiris"
Then the name was scratched out. However, it was apparent that this had to be my father. I stared intently at the scratched out name. My fathers name, I never even heard his name before. A lifelong mystery that I eventually accepted would never be solved. The answer was just beneath my finger tips. It felt almost wrong to care about it now. Yet the curiosity swelled up inside of me. I lowered the picture and took a breath.
“Did you brain blast anything yet?” I asked and looked over to her.
“Well, while you were all Spacey wacey about that picture, I found an old form about her history with antidepressants.”
“Oh?”
“The note says they think it was postpartum depression. Fifty to like, seventy five percent of new mothers experience something called ‘baby blues’ after delivery. Some of those women develop a more severe and long term type of depression. Which is probably what happened to your mom.”
“I see.” I lifted the picture up and held it out to her. “I think this photo is of my...my father, or some really creepy guy.”
She blinked a few times and dropped her paper.
“Woah really!” She squeaked and snagged the photo from me.
“Ssshhhh, don’t wake up Abuela!” I whispered.
“Oh, sorry!” She whispered and looked the photo over.
“What? Why are their heads cut off?” She asked.
I shrugged.
“My mom has depression, literally anything could've happened.”
“And this note on the back, it's so intriguing…” She mumbled.
“Huh? How?”
“Well, have you ever met your dad?” She asked.
“No, he wasn’t even at my delivery apparently.”
“Hhhmm, does your mom ever say anything bad about him?”
I blinked a few times and rolled the question over in my mind. In all the years, I think the worst thing mom complained about was how antisocial he was. Come to think of it, why would she never complain about a deadbeat like him?
“Casey, I think I see what you're getting at.”
“The line, even though fate pulled us apart. That’s an interesting choice of words.”
He was just a deadbeat. Never called, never showed, never once helped when we were poor. Mom would always tell me stories, till I demanded she stop. She was never mad about this deadbeat. No, just stuff this down Nyx. We don’t have time for your emotions right now. It doesn't matter how you feel. Put the pieces together.
I took a breath and looked over the photo.
“So, let’s apply all of this to your theory. Let’s say my dad is a type of pharaoh or something. Because of his high status or role, he might’ve had to depart from mom. Maybe he was a type of psychic which would explain my emotion thing. So where would the guy outside fit into all of this?”
‘Damn, I knew I should've called him sooner.’
A line my mom said right before she got attacked.
“Maybe he’s another monster guy? He did attack the police.”
“My mom mentioned needing to call someone sooner when she was being attacked, and that guy tonight mentioned something about his dad giving him a quest.” I said and smiled.
Yeah it’s all starting to make sense!
“What if you were the quest!” Casey cheered
“Exactly!”
“If I can decipher the scratched out name we can get all of it figured out too!”
She held up her hand and I high fived her.
“Yes!” We both cheered.
Bang! Bang! We both jumped as her Abuela banged on the other side of Casey's wall.
“Right, we should be quiet.” Casey mumbled.
“I bet she thinks I’m making another move on you…”I grumbled.