"I hate this place," I muttered.
"It looks foggier here than the last time we were here."
When we drove by the cemetery where the burial was going on it was deserted this time. Much more eerie.
"Shit," D said.
"What?"
He groaned.
"My phone decided to die while charging."
He looks at me for a few seconds. Something was off about that.
"Do you remember how to get back?" I asked when I realized that we were now without GPS.
He stared out the windshield window silently.
"I should be okay."
We pulled up to a stop sign. I looked down at my own phone which had chose to die not too long after D's did.
"This shit is crazy," I muttered.
Then, a stillness. I looked up and at D then from him to his dashboard.
"The fuck just happened?" He shouted.
"What?"
"The car turned off."
I know he fucking lying.
"You fucking serious?"
He tried the ignition again and there wasn't a sound or anything. He then turned to look at me with proof before him.
"I'm about to lose my shit," he said after he pressed his head down on the steering wheel.
I looked around outside. Couldn't make out much.
"It's hella weird that there's no other cars on the streets."
But my head snapped in a direction when I thought I saw something. It looked like a figure walking. The person was on my side across the street walking towards the intersection we were stuck at. I couldn't find the voice in me to let D know because I didn't like the vibe I was getting from seeing that person. Something about the way they walked reminded me of someone. I couldn't make out anything else about them besides the walk since they pretty much looked like a walking shadow. Just when I was about to say something the person vanished. Just gone. I blinked my eyes several times but no one else was there. I leaned back in my seat trying to wrap my head around what was happening when I felt something over my shoulder. I sat up and slowly looked over into the back seat.
Something was there. Someone was back there. I moved away despite having nowhere else to go, but then what was back there exposed themselves as if coming up from whatever shadows.
"Tahj?" But I jumped away because this also wasn't Tahj.
It was Tahj's smirk that greeted me. This person had Tahj's look, wear and for the most part his appearance. But I knew this wasn't, couldn't be Tahj. One reason being the face. The eyes. They were bloodshot red, no pupil, no iris. And all over his face were blue veins. They protruded from his skin and snaked all over his face.
Something told me this was the figure that was across the street. I couldn't take my eyes off him... it.
"Hi, Les," it smiled at me.
I don't think I was breathing. He looked down and traced his fingers along the car seats before looking back at me.
"How's your trip going?"
No I was still breathing, I could feel it and hear it. My pulse was in my ears my heart felt as if it wanted to leave me.
"What are you?" I asked.
It frowned at me.
"It's me, Les. Tahj."
My eyes finally parted and I looked back at D but he was still in the same position I last seen him in: forehead and hands on the steering wheel. Except this time it was as if time stood still. He wasn't moving.
I look back at Tahj.
"What's happening?"
Tahj took a deep breath before slowly letting it out.
"You've been very untrustworthy, Les. You don't think I know what happened this weekend?"
I sat there stuck because I still didn't know what the hell was happening. But one thing was for sure:
"You're not real."
He leaned forward and gave me a sinister grin.
"Is that what you think?"
He looked amused.
"If I'm not real then how do I know what you've been doing this weekend? I followed you here, Les. I saw everything."
I shook my head. This wasn't right.
"You cheated on me, Les."
I look back at him, didn't even realize I had looked away.
"After everything you've been through and told me you cheated on me anyways."
"You're not—"
"You lied to me," he said over me. "About him." He nods in D's direction. "I thought you said you wanted me and that there wasn't anything serious happening between you two. But you lied."
"Tah—"
"You fucked him!" He yelled over me. There was a depth to his voice that seemed to come at me from all directions. I tried to move back but I was already up against the car door.
"You're a liar and a cheater. You might as well have stayed with Jackie instead of wasting my time or even Damario's."
I shut my eyes.
I had thought of that.
"Of course you did."
I look back at him.
"You are the piece of shit, aren't you?"
He was back to smirking at me.
"You're not real."
He slowly blinked at me.
"You're just my guilty conscience."
He sat up straighter before doing a slow clap.
"But what makes you think that Tahj isn't already knowing?" He chuckled. "Leeeeeessssslieeeeeee," he sang. "You're a hypocrite."
I shook my head.
"Yes you are."
"I know," I shouted.
"So what you going to do about it? Continue fucking us both?" He then laughed.
"Shut up."
"It's a legit question, don't you think?"
"Shut up! You're not even real! You're just my mind fucking with me. I already know all of this."
"Not too loud now," he whispered. "Or you'll wake him," he indicates to D before chuckling again.
I wanted out of this Hell. I started to lunge for Tahj.
"Les?! Les?! Les, what are you doing?!"
I whipped around and saw D looking at me in terror. His hands were gripping my arms.
"Holy shit!" He breathed and backed up away from me. "I was about to take your ass to the ER."
I looked all around. The car was no longer in the middle of the road stuck. We were just outside of Section 1. The sun was shining bright, there was no fog. I looked back at D and he was trying to catch his breath.
"What happened? When did we get out of Section 2?" I asked.
I glimpsed back in the backseat but it was empty. Even the shadows were gone.
"You started flipping the fuck out when we were in Section 2, Les. I couldn't snap you out of it for shit. Thank God the car eventually started. I was trying to calm you down but you wouldn't stop so I pulled over once we were far away from that shit."
"What happened?"
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"I should be asking you that," he said.
"D, I don't know," was all I could say.
"I don't even want to think about it," he said quietly.
We sat in silence for a good five minutes. I quietly watched the road and the multiple cars that drove by, trying to relax.
"After a while you started having a seizure," his voice draws me back. "You were going through different phases. At first I thought you were having a bad dream, I couldn't believe you fell asleep on me at a time like that. But then you started jerking and moving and turning and... it was like your ass was possessed in your sleep."
"Fuck," I mutter.
"Then the seizure started, that's when I pulled the car over but then you threw yourself. At first I thought you were about to attack me but it wasn't directed at me. It was as if you were about to throw yourself out the back window."
I looked back into the backseat.
"You good?" He asks me.
I was still shaken.
The sun was quickly setting by the time we got back to D's place. I was still out of it. I felt like I was being watched.
I took a long hot shower. Couldn't close my eyes for shit because I saw him every time.
"KJ said he's good where he's at. Thank the Lordt," D says while making up his bed.
It was going to be a short night for me because I had to be at the center at 5 in the morning.
I silently hit D's bed and fell asleep a few seconds later.
I didn't dream but I woke up an hour later. It was dark and something told me I wouldn't fall back to sleep. I looked over and D was sound asleep.
My mind wandered back to the one thing I was tired and scared of thinking about. His words came back at me. It's crazy how real it all felt but it wasn't. That place is just straight evil like that. I've never experienced anything like that the first time I drove through there but I heard the stories. It's gonna be a minute before my momma sees me again.
D made a movement in his sleep that drew my attention. I exhaled and wiped my face. As thrown off as I still felt about what happened I feel this was some sort of epiphany.
"Les?"
I looked back at D. He was peering up at me over his forearm.
"I woke up not too long ago."
"I'm sorry about what happened to you. I was scared. I thought something really bad was going to happen to you."
"You got me out of it."
My hand fell on the back of my neck and I tried to rub away the stress.
"Tahj was in the car," I blurted out.
D rolled onto his side with confusion written on his face.
"It obviously wasn't legit him but I don't know what it was. It was him and yet it wasn't. And he was saying a lot of foul but true things about me. It felt too real to be a dream but I also knew that it wasn't real."
"Damn, Les. I don't know what to say."
"It's opened my eyes now, though. I can't put my finger on it exactly."
I move closer to D and turn to face him.
"As strange as this sounds the whole thing made me realize something."
"What?" D asked as his eyes searched my face.
"I don't think I need a week," I tell him.
We silently stare at each other. I slowly move in to kiss him.
I was able to get back to sleep... D helped some with that.
I had my bags packed again, ready for another adventure. D and I made out a little before stepping foot outside.
It was still dark out as D drove me to the center.
Upon pulling up I noticed the coach bus out front. I saw Brie guiding two students into the building.
"I'm gonna miss you," D tells me. "It's gonna be so quiet. I got used to you being there."
I turned to look at him.
"I'll be back before you know it."
I pecked his lips slowly. When I went to move away his eyes watched me with a look that meant to undress me. I smiled back.
"Keep that same energy," I tell him.
"Mr. Les is in the building," Jerome announced when I walked inside.
Him and Marcus showered me in pats on the back.
"It's so weird not seeing you in a suit or button down," Brie tells me.
I had on a black hoodie and sweats.
"Need something comfortable to wear on that bus because I'm still tired."
"Facts," Dana'i voiced nonchalantly.
I spot Triana and playfully walked up to her.
"What's up, best friend," I tell her.
She rolls her eyes and chuckles.
"I'm ready to get up out of here."
I nod at her before I turn to everyone else.
"And who exactly is watching the students right now?" I asked.
Jerome immediately walks passed me with his head down and back towards our Group room.
Oh, that's what I thought.
I follow everyone else back to the room, Brie besides me.
"I guess now is the time to get that count," she says.
"You think everyone is here?"
"All 31 students, they've been real eager."
"Thirty-one?"
I had walked in the room, Brie in front of me talking to me and I was planning on listening to her but once inside the room it was like time stopped.
My bags dropped from my hands onto the floor.
Shawn and Raheem sat there cheesing at me.
With Tahj right between them.