I was still frozen, which was fine because I was here for moral support and to dish out chicken wings, not to kill a ghost. Theo rushed ahead, checking the tree that wasn’t far from us. He moved around the whole thing before returning, his brows furrowed. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I saw his expression and knew the ghost wasn’t here.
I was actually glad I wasn’t responsible for destroying these ghosts. Then neither of us would get any answers.
“Come on,” Theo said to me, placing his chainsaw back in his inventory. “We’re getting close.”
Theo probably tried to make that comforting, but I didn’t feel any. He was right, though. The shadows kept doing weird things, and my sanity dropped to ninety-two percent. I still had a lot, but I also didn’t want to die again. If I dropped below forty percent, then I’d eat one of the plates of chicken wings.
We walked deeper into the forest. There were whispers all around me, and goosebumps rose on my arms. The moment we destroyed Theo’s father’s ghost, I was going back home and eating that plate of tater tot casserole. It was for experimentation purposes, obviously. I needed to know how much it gave me.
Theo froze, and I did too. Theo was the braver one of the two of us, so I refused to take one step near something he wouldn’t. I looked around, trying hard to see the ghost. It was difficult when all the shadows seemed to move, and the whispers getting louder, yet still unintelligible.
Smoke drifted through the trees, and Theo pulled out his chainsaw again. I gripped Theo’s arm, the terror strangling my voice as smoke swirled in front of us. A humanoid figure appeared before the glow of the cigarette solidified the male face. He smirked at the sight of us.
“Hello, boy.”
Black sludge appeared at Theo’s feet. The echoey voice dropped my sanity to eighty-five. I focused on the ground, trying to stomp out the sludge that was quickly creeping up Theo’s leg.
“S-stay away from my mom and Nana,” Theo said.
The male ghost laughed, flicking away his cigarette. “Really, boy? You think you’re here to change the past? Is that what you think this little game is for?” Theo’s dad disappeared, then reappeared right behind us. I screamed, gripping Theo’s arm. Theo whirled around, breaking out of my grip. The chainsaw roared as he sawed the ghost in half. The smoke appeared through the midsection of the ghost before weaving together again. The man stared right into Theo’s eyes with an almost bored, emotionless expression.
“They’re dead. I killed them. You couldn’t protect them as the new man of the house. And there’s nothing you can do to bring them back.”
Theo swung wildly with his chainsaw, slashing his father’s ghost again. The man chuckled as he disappeared, then reappeared right next to me. I screamed, stumbling away as the man kept staring at me with a predatory smile.
“Get away from her!” Theo shouted, swinging the chainsaw again. I fell to the ground mostly because I was terrified of getting hit with that weapon.
The man chuckled as Theo kept slashing at his father. They were pouring into Theo’s face like Theo was an upside-down waterfall. I tried to grab some of the sludge, but it felt as useless as grabbing a river.
“Theo,” I whispered. I didn’t know why I felt the need to warn him. No doubt he knew about them. After failing to slash at his father multiple times, Theo was bent over, gasping for air as they continued to shove themselves into his face.
“They’re dead, boy,” the ghost said again, his voice echoing through the forest. “And you can’t get your revenge.”
Theo kept gasping, and I managed to find a piece of them and held on. It didn’t feel like much, but it was something. My gloves got spotted with them, and the warning appeared in my vision that I couldn’t repair furniture, but at this point I didn’t care.
“You can’t get rid of me. You’ll have to live with me and my choices. Forever.”
“No, he doesn’t,” I whispered. The ghost ignored me, and Theo kept panting, but I tried again. “Stop trying to kill him, Theo.” I tried to add some strength to my voice. “Because he’s already dead.”
The man laughed, turning his sights on me. “Theo can never forget me. I will remain, like a shadow on his life. He doesn’t even know my name, and yet I haunt him.”
“You’ve been staring at me through my window since I’ve arrived. But that’s all you’ve ever been able to do!” I said, trying to will courage into my voice. “You can’t do anything more than that.”
I wondered if the man could see my sanity bar. It was dropping below seventy percent, but I tried to ignore it. I was hiding behind a courage I did not feel, and I doubted anyone else believed it, considering the humorous look the man gave me.
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The man laughed, disappearing again before appearing behind me, pulling out a ghostly knife. Theo straightened, then every muscle in my body froze.
“How much do you want to test your theory, little girl?” His voice stopped being echoey. He was here, solidly. Every muscle in my body stopped working, and the only thing I could do was stare right at Theo. Theo brought out his chain saw again, and the man smirked.
“Do it, boy,” the man said.
“Don’t, Theo. Please. He can’t hurt me. But you can. Put the chainsaw down!” I shouted.
Theo still kept his eyes on the ghost of his father. With trembling hands, Theo dropped the chainsaw. They were still shoving themselves into his face, and he dropped to his knees, exhausted.
“She’s right,” Theo said. “I might hurt her. But you… can’t.”
The man sneered right next to my ear. In the few seconds of silence, I remembered all those beer cans by my window. How very physical they were. The used up cigarettes that I could scoop up in a bag and get dopamine points for. Something about that was not ghostly at all. That was an actual manifestation of some physical being, and there was still a knife inches from my throat. The same place where Nana had her cut.
“You’re dead,” Theo said, still on his knees. “You can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
“I’m still hurting you. Look at them. You’re at one hundred percent, boy,” the man said. I flinched, noticing that the streams of them looked as though they were being turned away because there was no more room in Theo. “I brought this about. I live through you. In your nightmares, in your drawings. You cannot get rid of me.”
Theo kept staring at the ghost, and I could tell he was done. Emotionally and mentally checked out. The energy to even sit up like he was took everything he had.
“Do it, then,” Theo said, leaning forward to brace himself with his hands. “If you think you still have power, slit her throat.”
I stared at Theo, trying not to panic. As I gave it a second’s thought, I felt the remains of my fears seep away. The ghost had a knife to my throat, but he hadn’t grabbed me. He had done nothing to restrain me, because Theo was right. He couldn’t.
To test it, I reached forward and moved my finger through the knife. It misted into smoke before reforming. Theo saw that and his lips turned upwards into a smile. All of them trying to get into Theo dropped to the ground.
“I knew it,” Theo said.
“I still have power!” the man said.
“No,” Theo said, essence of them leaking out of the corner of his mouth as he spoke. “You no longer do.”
“I murdered them, Theo! I murdered your mother! I murdered your Nana!”
“Then you murdered yourself,” Theo said. “You got rid of yourself, and I don’t have to be scared of you.”
“But you are,” the man sneered. “I am a haunt! I cover your days in shadow! Fear me!”
Theo stared at the ghost of his father. I recognized that look. Annoyed, almost exasperated. He was struggling so much with depression that the ghost’s demand to be feared was almost annoying for Theo.
“No. I will not fear you anymore,” Theo said.
The man screamed in a rage that made me jump. My body moved through the knife at my throat, and I backed away. The ghost barreled toward Theo, and all he did was close his eyes. As soon as the ghost hit Theo, he turned to smoke before disappearing. I covered my mouth, tears in my eyes.
2/4 ghosts defeated
Power of them reduced by another 10%
I let out a breath, but my relief was short lived. Theo leaned down before collapsing on the ground, coughing up chunks of them that turned around and reentered his body. I rushed forward, grabbing the tail end of them and pulling.
“Stop,” Theo moaned. “Please, just stop.”
“I can get it out.”
“I have… no energy.” Theo pushed my hands away, making me lose my grip on them. They entered Theo’s face again as he kept his eyes closed, panting like he’d finished a marathon.
“Theo, please eat something,” I said.
“Can’t…” was all Theo said.
“Please. It’ll help you feel-”
“It’ll make it drop fifteen percent!” Theo suddenly shouted. “Which means I’m left with eighty-five, and it doesn’t matter. It will still feel like one hundred. Nothing matters. I’m too exhausted. Leave me alone.”
I flinched at Theo’s words. “I can’t leave you alone in the woods.”
Theo closed his eyes, curling up in a ball. They had returned, trying once again to enter his face, but I could see them clogging his nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. Theo was bursting with them, and they remained glued to him.
“I hate this,” Theo moaned. “I hate this. I hate this.”
“You’ve done it,” I said. “You defeated another ghost.”
“Twenty percent,” Theo mumbled again, hands in his hair. “The corruption is supposed to lose twenty percent of its strength. I have never heard a bigger pile of bullshit than that. This isn’t twenty percent less. It’s stronger than ever.”
I had physically dragged Theo before when he was unconscious. I wasn’t sure what he’d think if I tried that now. But I couldn’t let him stay here in the forest.
“Come on, Theo. Think of all those games you played. All those bosses you fought. When you got half-way, you always expect them to get harder before they died.”
Theo didn’t say anything. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he was asleep, but I did know better. He had used up so much energy that he was done. He did the thing he wanted to, and now he was done with everything else.
“You can’t stay here. I won’t let you. Let’s get back to the house, or I can help you get to your base camp. And you can just sleep. Sleep for as long as you want.”
Theo shook his head, saying nothing. A single black tear formed at the corner of his eye before sliding off the bridge of his nose and dropping to the ground. In the liquid state, it didn’t try to reenter, but there was plenty of them on the ground to replace the tear.
“Come on, Theo.” I grabbed his arm, pulling him up. “All I need from you is ten minutes. Ten minutes where we walk back. I won’t say a word, if you want. There’s too much them here on the ground over here.”
Theo thankfully got up, but he didn’t say anything. We walked in silence, as I promised. After his first few stumbles, I took Theo’s arm again and draped it over my shoulder. I was shorter than Theo, but it kept Theo focused a little. He was battling something in his head, making it difficult to do anything else. I focused on making sure we got back home.