Present
"Lily, Lily, Lily," Leah mumbled under her nose.
Leah closed her eyes, and soon a swirling feeling consumed her body. She shot her pale orbs open, finding herself in the familiar room. The sound of water dropping echoed through an empty bathroom. Scanning around, she found the person she looked for.
Lily's wrists were handcuffed to the leaky faucet. Her head repulsed against a titled white surface, black loose hair sticking to her pale face and the wall.
"Lily." Leah squatted in front of her friend, trying to touch her cheek. "Honey, can you see me?" Leah studied the girl's face.
Lily's eyes stared straight ahead, her lips moved but didn't make any sensible sounds. It seemed she looked straight through Leah and her sight held fixated on the golden doorknob.
"No-more-no-more," Lily mumbled words repeatedly, slightly rubbing her head against the tiled wall.
"Lily." Leah studied her friend's eyes, green color barely visible, only black pupils taking over her orbs. "Shit!"
Lily mumbled incoherent sounds once more, but the sounds quickly conflicted as two voices appeared outside the bathroom door.
"I will be right back," Leah mumbled, traveling through the brown bathroom door.
The sound felt more distinctive in the small corridor. "I don't want to stay alone!" Diesel yelled. Leah proceeded further into space.
Two men stood in the trashy trailer's living room. Silent murmurs come from the old tv. Tiny sat in the black leather armchair, inhaling deep breaths of tobacco. Diesel stood nearby with his hands intertwined on his chest.
"Look." Tiny flicked his cigarette. "I will stay some other time. There is no point for both of us to stay in this shit hole." He put out his smoke, rubbing the cigarette butt into the glass ashtray. "I need a break from this place, from you."
"Don't you think I want a break!?" Diesel yelled in a raspy voice. "No one wants her, she is all over the news." He pointed to the tv. "We need to get rid of her, man. And get away from Dover."
"But Dover is my home, I don't want to leave," Tiny pleaded.
"Cassie did, we should too. Can't you see this is not working out at all?" Diesel gesticulated his hands to the sides. "Do you want to go to jail? I surely don't. I'm telling you we need to leave."
Tiny nodded. "Okay. I will think about it, but for now, I'm leaving for my mom's place."
"Fine," Diesel scoffed, lifting his arms in the air. "What about the girl?"
"We will take care of her if we decide to leave until then you can have your fun." Tiny stood up.
"I'm not in the mood," Diesel muttered.
"I will bring you two burgers tomorrow, that will fix your mood." He beamed. "Just do nothing without me." He reached the plastic door and turned around to face Diesel. "No more drugs for the girl, she will be fine for the night and we both know you don't feel the limit on this stuff."
Tiny left and soon distant engine sound emerged in the trailer. Diesel stepped into the kitchen area and took two bottles of beer. He sat down in the armchair and increased the sound of the tv. Leah peered at the man who unintentionally became her killer.
Every time Leah looked at Diesel, she remembered her death. Not letting angry emotions get in the way, she quickly turned around. Already setting a rescue plan for Lily in her mind.
"Oly, Oly." The flying feeling consumed Leah while she whispered her brother's name.
"I'm telling you, she is different." A familiar voice reached Leah.
The swirling feeling stopped, and Leah opened her eyes. She stood in the entryway of her brother's apartment corridor. Oliver stood by the coffee table's side, his back turned to the hallway. Mark squatted on the living room couch, his elbows resting on his knees.
"Different from who she was?" Mark furrowed his eyebrows. "Or from other ghosts?" He looked at Oliver.
"From who she was." Oliver placed his palm on his stomach, swallowing a gulp of air. "She is here." He turned around and noticed Leah near the corridor. "What do you mean, Lily is like me?" He lifted his eyebrows.
While driving back to his home, Oliver shared with Mark the conversation he and Leah had in her old room. Both men felt shocked by additional information about Lily and the overall situation related to both girls.
"Do we speak in different languages, Oly?" Leah moved closer. "She has a sight."
"Sight?" Oliver's eyes widened.
"The gift, she calls it a sight," Leah explained. "Look." She lifted her palms in the air. "We will talk about everything later. We have little time, and tonight is the perfect night to get Lily."
"You know, Mark and I," Oliver motioned to his best friend. "We talked on the way back and we should call the cops to tell them where the girl is."
Mark could only nod, hearing what for him looked like a one-sided conversation.
"And what exactly will you tell them?" Leah peered at her brother.
"Um." Oliver lifted his head to the ceiling and then glanced at his best friend.
"Right," Leah smirked. "And now we can discuss my plan."
"Do you have a plan?" Oliver glimpsed at his sister.
"Yes. First, get your laptop, I will show you the place on the map." Leah peeped toward the kitchen.
"You realize, I do not understand what's going on?" Mark stared at Oliver.
"Right." Oliver nodded. "I'm going to look at the maps and Leah will tell me where the girl is. And you will come up with a semi-decent story about how we know all this, so we could tell everything to the cops."
"That is the worst plan, like ever." Mark stood up and moved toward the kitchen area. "First, you are terrible with maps, Oly, and second, I'm terrible with making shit up." He took Oliver's laptop from the kitchen counter.
"Except for your terrible nicknames," Oliver mumbled as Mark turned his back on him.
Both men sat down on the couch, Mark placed the laptop on the coffee table and they waited until the computer was fully loaded. Leah stood by the side of the couch, staring at Mark.
"I will try first and if I can't get it right, then you will try it," Oliver said, drawing the laptop closer to himself. "Well," he looked at his sister.
"Do you know where they buried me?" Oliver nodded. "Then find that place on the map."
"Okay."
Oliver squinted his eyes at the computer, navigating the touchpad to the road he drove so many times before. Drawing the view closer with a few clicks, Oliver looked at his sister again.
"This is the place, I think."
Leah nodded. "Good. Now go down until I say you can stop." Oliver moved the map. "I said go down, Oly."
"Sorry," Oliver mumbled.
Mark leaned closer to the monitor, trying to see where Oliver was looking. Oliver slowly moved the map a few times.
"Stop!" Leah yelled, forcing Oliver to let go of the touchpad. "This is the cabin, Oly—"
Oliver suddenly interrupted Leah. "It can't be, the cops searched that place."
"Let me finish." Leah lifted her eyebrow. "They took us to that cabin first." Leah pointed to the monitor displaying the roof of the small house. "After I died, and they took care of my body, they moved Lily and cleaned the place, that is why the police found nothing."
"So she is not there?" Oliver asked in confusion.
"Not at the moment. As I said, I'm traveling in this weird way. I can always find my body. And I was preparing for this, Oly."
"Still don't understand. Where is she?" Oliver stared at his sister.
"I knew you would try to connect with me, so a few days after my death, I traveled to my body, and then I walked through the forest. I passed by the cabin on the way back to Lily. Now go down on the map a bit more," Leah instructed. Oliver did as Leah directed and moved through the map. "There!" Leah yelled and pointed to the computer.
Oliver scrunched his face. "There is nothing there." He glanced at his sister.
"Maybe it wasn't there before, but now there is a trailer. You see this little line?" Oliver zoomed into the appointed place. "This is the road they are driving to reach the trailer. Now zoom out." Oliver did as Leah told him. "You will drive to this road." Leah showed another thin line on the map. "I will lead you to the trailer, it won't be that far."
"We will drive?" Oliver knitted his eyebrows.
"Yes, Oly. There is no other way." She stretched out her hands.
"You are talking about two guys who almost failed gym class. You want us to go there against—how many guys?" Oliver tilted his head to the left side and his brown curls brushed against his jawline.
"Just one, that is why you have to go now. One guy left, and I think you and Mark can take him out."
"You think?"
"Well, he is tall and kinda heavy, but there are two of you."
"Why is our gym class experience important right now?" Mark interrupted the chat between the siblings.
"Leah knows where the girl is and she wants us to go rescue her." Oliver looked at Mark.
"So no cops?" Mark lifted his eyebrow.
"We can't logically explain how we know this stuff, and besides, Leah will have to lead us through these woods." Oliver showed a wooded area on the map.
"Okay. So how many guys are there? Because now I get why the topic of the gym class was discussed."
"There is just one guy. Do you think we can overpower him?"
"One," Mark scoffed. "Easily."
"He has a gun, Oly," Leah warned her brother. "Do either of you have a gun?"
"Leah said the guy has a gun. I don't have a gun. Do you?" Oliver looked at Mark.
Mark shook his head. Stillness in the room took over as all three people stayed quiet for five minutes.
"Don't worry, I have a plan." Leah broke the silence. "All you have to do is listen to me, Oly."