Eternal Midnight

           A crimson stained hand reached out towards the brilliant lamp light, struggling to stay raised in the air. It took me a moment to register that hand as my own. It looked more like a slab of meat you’d find at a butcher’s rather than something that actually belonged to me.  Having expended all of the energy I could to keep it raised, it fell to the floor with a thud. It didn’t even hurt anymore, it was like that one time I went to the doctor and they pumped my body with anesthesia during a surgery, except there was less pain than even that.  I reached out my other arm, gripping the pavement as I attempted to drag my body forward. Contrast to my arm I could feel pain bubbling up on my left side, near my stomach. Unable to even let out a scream without unleashing the flood gates I moaned, turning my head.

          There my gaze was met with a scene I’d only seen in cheesy slasher films. For a brief moment I couldn’t help but appreciate the special effects work that it took to pull off such an effect. Then it clicked for me. Those intestines that were strewn around like decoration were attached to me. They were my own.  A soft, hoarse laugh escaped my lips. I could feel blood leaking out of my mouth and dropping to the concrete below with every laugh, but I couldn’t stop. My laughter grew more intense as I rested my head against the floor, shutting my eyes. I couldn’t help it; the entire situation was just so hilarious, it didn’t even feel real. I was scared to no end, I didn’t want to die, but I couldn’t help laughing.  

          “You’ve grown mad in your last moments have you? Pitiful, at least die with dignity.” A voice called to me in the distance, cold and devoid of emotion, the voice of my killer. I didn’t even want to look at his face, just keep on laughing and laughing until my throat started to burn. It was all I could do to keep myself sane, to keep myself from going mad just from the sheer stupidity of it all. I think the funniest part of all of this was how I was going to die. I could accept, albeit begrudgingly, if it were an accident, or maybe some kind of sickness, die without any regrets. However this situation, being killed by some guy straight out of a comic book was just absolutely ridiculous.

          I could feel tears dripping down my face, I don’t even know if it was from the laughter or just the fear of it all. The sound of footsteps grew closer and closer, the sound of death approaching. A sigh escaped somebody’s lips, presumably my killer’s. Eventually I heard the footsteps cease. Cracking an eye open I gazed at the sight of a tall man standing before me. Due to the poor lighting I was unable to make out his features. His voice I could hear loud and clear, however. “It shames me to do this but… I’ll put you out of your misery, child of man.  The fault doesn’t lay on you.  If you want to put blame on anything, blame the fact that destiny decided that the two of us should meet.”

          He raised his hand, his inhuman clawed hand, and prepared to bring it down over my head. I shut my eyes, embracing death. I just wanted it over with; I wanted this pain to end. Maybe dying like a background character in a slasher film was the perfect kind of death for me? I hadn’t really done much in my twenty one years, so I guess it wasn’t a waste. I smiled, waiting for the end to come. However as much as I waited, it never came. Even though every breath grew more labored, the fact of the matter was that I was still breathing.

          I opened my eyes again, using every ounce of my strength to lift my head. I saw the back of a figure clutching the man’s hellish arm. The turned it around, twisting it in unnatural angles until I heard a loud snapping noise, like somebody crushing a twig underneath their feet. The man tore his arm away, stepping backwards, trying to flee from the being in front of me.  I heard a noise coming from his mouth; however it sounded muffled to me. My vision was slowly starting to blur too, now that I thought about it. The man turned away and left, fleeing from the park presumably.

          “Oh dear… It looks like you’re not doing so well, boy. Won’t last another minute or two by the looks of it.” A sweet, mature voice entered my ears, alleviating any pain that I was feeling. Although it was a struggle, I kept my head up, looking at the figure that stood before me. They turned around, gracing me with a full view of their body. Through my fading vision I could see a woman seemingly in her mid-twenties, with long, black hair that went to her back. Her skin was as pale as the moonlight, her red lips and blazing red eyes clashing with the rest of her body. Ah yes, she looked just like a beautiful grim reaper coming down to claim my soul, carrying it away to the afterlife. If she were the one to be my demise, I think I could die at least a little bit happy.

          “Hm… You do not wish for death, do you?” She asked playfully, kneeling down in front of me, one leg sticking out of the long black dress that she wore. I tried to formulate a reply but the only thing that came out of my mouth was more blood, even the laughter from before had gone and died. This really was the end for me, I could hardly even breath. At this rate I was going to choke on my own blood.

          “You need not speak.” She whispered to me, leaning her head down so it was right against my ear. It felt as if I had a monopoly on her voice, as if her words belonged only to me. “It is not your words I want to hear. If you truely have the desire to live, muster up as much strength as you can, will you not? If you cannot even muster up all of the the strength left in your body to grab ahold of my hand, you are better off just facing your death here. If you want to die a peaceful, quiet death instead of live a harsh life, I’ll give you my company. It is the least I can do for you for the time we spent together tonight. It is but your choice, die an easy death or live a harsh life?”

          She pulled herself up and offered a hand to me, looming over my dying form. I didn’t even need to think, I knew my answer before I even acted. Forcing my gnarled arm up I reached out for her, for the last salvation I had. My fingers wrapped around hers before I felt my body growing limp. It was no good, everything was fading away. My head hit the pavement as I heard the woman’s chuckle, the last things I would ever hear. My heart stopped beating and my brain stopped functioning. Everything turned a pitch black, I didn't ascend to heaven or fall into the pits of hell. All life had faded from me and I was gone, fading away into nothingness. 

            Normally this is where everything would have ended for me. The story of my life had already ended, gone at only twenty one years of life. However, this isn’t the story of my life. This is the story of my death, of how it came to be and the aftermath. This is the story of one who doesn’t deserve to belong on the planet earth anymore, but still remains.

                                                                                 Chapter 1

      “Hey have you heard?”  A girl asked, looking up at me as she had her hands folded behind her back. Keeping a tight grip on the hand rail, I stared at her with half lidded eyes, rocking back and forth as the bus sped onwards. Her smile remained ever present, refusing to go away despite my glare.  Her eyes were hidden by the glare of the sun reflected off of her blue rimmed glasses.  Deciding it was better to respond rather than just ignore her and nod off to sleep, I dignified the girl with a reply.

            “Heard what, Katie? I haven’t heard any good rumors all month, so it better be something interesting and not some crappy rumor being spread around school.” My voice barely rose above a whisper; I could tell that Katie couldn’t make out what I had said as she just tilted her head.

            “Huh?”

            “The rumor you heard, is it something interesting or not? “ I asked again, making sure that my voice was loud enough for her to hear me this time, fighting off any fatigue I’d been stricken with.

            “Well probably. It’s definitely something that will be interesting for you. You can use it our podcast.”

            The girl in front of me, Katie, was referring to a podcast I ran with her since we were in high school. It was about urban legends and other such rumors that we found lying around.  Most of the time we talked about crappy internet ghost stories written by some middle school kid, which might explain why we haven't had many followers over the course of five years. Figures, only really charismatic (or annoying) people really made it anywhere on the internet.

            “As long as it’s worth my time, the podcast can wait.” A yawn escaped my lips as I leaned over to my right side, discreetly looking around to see if a seat opened up on the crowded bus.

            “There’s a rumor of a strange man stalking the night, picking up women and whisking them away. Nobody knows who he is or where he comes from. Rumor has it he’s handsome, from what I’ve been told even I might fall for him.”

            “… Are you sure this isn’t the plot to a shitty young adult novel for women?” I didn’t have an interest in those types of plots. They always ended the same; a girl falls for a tall, dark, handsome man and develops a shallow romance with him. My sister used to be all over those novels when she was in high school.

            “What? You don’t like those types of stories, Will?”

            “Of course not, you don’t do you?”

           Running a hand through her long brown hair she turned her head away from me, avoiding my gaze.  “Of course not, I prefer more mature books. You know, classic literature? If I were to read a vampire story I would just read Dracula again.”

            I stared down at her with a smirk on my face, leaning forward slightly. I knew that was a lie. I’d caught her reading some trashy novels before in high school, and even if she doesn’t read them anymore, I at least knew that she had read them in the past. She was trying to put up a front, that’s for sure. Of course I was going to let that matter rest for her sake. “So what? Did a new vampire novel come out? Somebody borrowed the idea from that and decided it would be fun to spread around that type of rumor. I don’t think it would be a middle schooler. It’s probably high school student.”

            Clearing her throat Katie shook her head at me, her eyes narrowing. “No it’s nothing like that at all. You see, this rumor actually has something to do with current events. All of these girls actually did go missing… For the past two weeks missing persons reports have been filling in, according to my father. It’s serious, even the police are confused by how such a large amount of women could go missing in such a short span of time.”

            Shrugging my shoulders, I closed my eyes and bit at the dry skin on my lip. “So? That doesn’t make it any different from any other missing person cases. You have to think logically about these kinds of things, it sounds like something that should be left to the police. “

            She turned away from me with a pouting expression, stumbling as the bus stopped. A swarm of people hurried for the exit, leaving room open for the two of us to sit down. Katie quickly took a seat, patting the spot next to her before looking out the window. With a heavy sigh I plopped my butt down next to the girl, my shoulders gently brushing with hers. For a brief moment I could feel her soft skin colliding with mine.

            “Don’t be so negative… We could still look into it some more since it’s rather unusual.” Brushing a hand through her hair she continues to stare as the world passed us by. “At least think about looking into it, will you Will?”

            I briefly wondered if that was some kind of pun. I didn’t take too kindly on puns involving my name, thank you very much. Running a hand through my dark brown hair, I stared up at the ceiling. “Sure, I’ll give it some thought… After I get home.”

            “Good…” She spoke in a way that made it seem she was still a little mad at me. “I want to get the script written out before the week is over. Also… I think we should  talk this over steak tomorrow.”

          A smile tugged at my lips, I could spend that much money for the two of us. It was only like what, forty bucks? Quickly my face returned to its natural, irritated state. Might as well make her think it was more of a pain in the ass than it really was. “Sure that’s fine. I don’t have any problem with it… Just don’t order anything too expensive.”

          “Good…” Sighing she turned back to look at me, a small smile on her face. “By the way, how are you doing? You look very tired today.”

            I tried my best at hiding it, but truth be told, I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. I hadn’t been able to sleep much because my throat had become all sore and congested. I had the chills even now, but I couldn’t skip school today because we had an important lesson. It wasn’t like high school when I could just ditch sometimes and get caught up to speed the next day. Looking back on it, I stayed home for insultingly petty reasons back in those days, but nobody’s going to hold my hand in college. I blame the weather for my condition. It was early march, but the lingering cold of February still hung heavy in the air.

          “I’m fine, just feeling a little tired. It’s probably allergies.”

          I lowered my gaze, only to see that she quirked an eyebrow at me. Our eyes met for a brief moment. “Huh, really? I don’t remember you having seasonal allergies.”

          “Well, you know these kinds of things can pop up out of nowhere...”

          Laughing she shook her head, before flicking me on my stuffy nose. It was already a little irritated from my illness, which only further served to aggravate me.  I gently slapped her hand away, licking my dry lips.

          “It’s not that bad. Maybe I’m a little sick, but it’s just a small cold.” That was a lie, this was one of the worst colds I’ve had in years. I could barely stay conscious, I just wanted to lie down and close my eyes all day during classes today.  Just between the two of us, I actually took a rest in one of my four classes.

          “Fine, I’ll take your word for it.” She rested her hands on her lap, staring out at the seat in front of her. Not yet breaking my gaze, I decided to let my eyes wander over her body. Her brown hair reached down to her back, brushing up against her blue jean jacket.  Her frame was rather petite, I don’t think she reached above 5’4. It was hard to make out her figure beneath her clothes, however due to the shorts she was wearing I’d say she had decent legs. Her bust was… Decent, I suppose. Not that big, but the shape of it was visible through her shirt.  

          This wasn’t the first time I’ve looked at her this way. No matter how long I checked her out for, it wouldn’t change the fact that she was an above average, so-so looking girl who didn’t put as much thought or effort into her appearance as other girls. Not much make up, only basic touch ups to make herself look somewhat presentable. I guess somebody who didn’t know better would call me a pervert for constantly paying so much attention to her looks, but while I found something attractive about her, I wasn’t attracted to her. The way I saw her wasn’t the same as how I saw a girl I wanted to date.

          For a brief moment I wondered, how did she look at me? That thought quickly died, of course I knew how she saw me. She saw me as her friend and co-host, Somebody who could talk on the bus to and back from school. But how could I know for sure that’s how she saw me? Maybe she was just bored and hung out with me because she had nobody else to talk to? She might hate my guts and enjoy making fun of me behind my back.That probably wasn’t the case, of course, but it’s fun to think about what other people are thinking.

            “Hey Willard… What are you looking at?” She turned her head, using my full name instead of my usual nickname. Adjusting my gaze, I shrug.

          “Just looking out the window.”

          “Right…” Her eyes were full of doubt, as she scooted closer. “Are you sure that’s all you were doing?”

          I open my mouth to speak but a sudden fit of coughing escapes my lips instead. I raise my arm, covering my mouth as I hack away for at least half a minute. I raise my hand when I’m done, taking deep breaths. “… Keep your distance if you don’t want to get sick.”

            “… Maybe you really should just go home if you’re not feeling that well. I’ll walk you to your house when we get to the bus stop.”

            “No, I’m fine.” I lie, again. I feel a sharp pain in my chest and lean forward a bit, groaning. It seemed as if Katie had taken a little jab at me with her elbow. I decide to give up. “… I’m sure Dad and Willow would love to see you.”

            Smiling contently, she leaned back in her seat, folding her arms over her chest. And so the ride continued with mostly idle conversation. It took the bus thirty minutes to get from the closest stop from my house to the college campus and back.  Honestly it was such a pain, especially since my high school was a lot closer. But hey, it was either do this for a community college or leave and stay at a dorm for a university. As much as I would have loved to leave this town, we didn’t have the money to afford that and I knew my family needed me around.

            The bus stopped out in front of the local ice cream shop, cuing for Katie and I to get off. Normally she would have had to stay for another five or so stops but that didn’t really matter much right now. Unleashing another fit of coughs into my arm, I take a few steps forward. It seemed as if Katie sympathized with my plight, as she reached into her pocket and handed me a small packet of tissues.

          We walked in silence, appreciating how serene and well-kept the neighborhood was.  It wasn’t exactly the wealthiest part of town but it was decent, only one or two houses could really be accused of being in disrepair. It was only after we passed this nice, clean neighborhood, did we make it to my four story apartment complex. The building was pretty nice, built about twelve years ago. We were lucky that we could afford one in a decent part of town; it would have sucked if we were stuck in one of the crappier parts.

          Entering the building we approached the elevator, my finger jamming on the up button. The two of us stepped inside. As the machine went up, I hung at the back, staring at the ceiling. We had four floors to go up before we reached my room. I hated staying at the top, but that was the only room we could afford right now. I shouldn’t be complaining, after all we could have been living in a run down ramshack building infested with roaches. Without too much thought, I decided to say something random to break the silence.

            “You know, you’re always coming to my place.”

            “Oh is that so?” Katie spoke in an even tone, keeping her back turned to me. “Is there a problem with that?”

            “Not really. It’s just that it’s always a pain trying to keep my house looking good when guests keep on visiting.”

            “It takes a lot of effort to clean only once every few weeks?”

            “I do more than that. I do all the housework around there. Dad and Marina just ruin it by the next time you come over, so you don’t see it clean. But rest assured I work my ass off.”

            “…” She remained silent for a bit, I could tell from behind that she was occasionally nodding her head. “… Is it really a problem?”

            “Everybody messing up my house? Well yeah.” I took out one of the pocket tissues and blew my nose,

          “I don’t mean that, Will. I’m talking about me coming over to your house all of the time… Is it a problem?” I couldn’t tell what she was feeling, she kept her voice at a neutral tone. “I’ll stop coming if it is.”

           Wincing I looked off to the side. I didn’t think my words over when I started just complaining. Closing my eyes I sighed.

            “No it’s fine… I’d be bored out of my mind if you didn’t come over.”

            “Only bored huh? Sheesh, you could show a little more concern over my feelings...”

            “I’d die of sheer loneliness, is that better?” I didn’t want to let her know just how much I’d miss her if she stopped coming over. She made being at my house just a little more bearable. Of course I didn’t want to say anything that would give her any wrong ideas. I had an image I was trying to keep up after all. I didn’t want people thinking I was too soft or anything.

          “… Fine, if you say so.” She finally relented.

          “Is there a reason you prefer going to my house over your house?” I chose my words carefully, I wanted to sound at least a little less careless.

          “Oh, no reason in particular.” She sounded distant, as if her mind was a million miles away from this elevator.

          “I think I get it…” We remained in silence for the rest of the ride. As soon as the doors flew open she reached out and took my hand, leading me to my own room.

          “Come on let’s go! I really want to sit down, my legs are sore from standing up for so long.”

Without giving me time for complaint she lead me down to the very end of the hall, where my room was. Letting go of my hand she turned around, giving me the biggest smile she could muster up. “Come on hurry up, open the door.”

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Peeling back some of the dead skin on my lip with my teeth, I reach around my pockets, fiddling around to see if I can find my key. I shift around though some change I left just hanging around before finally pulling out my house key, jamming it into the keyhole. Turning my hand I pushed my door in, quickly taking a step into my home.

            “Willy!” I was greeted with a high pitched shriek, and the feeling of something small crashing into my leg causing to me to wobble. Grabbing the doorframe to keep my balance I looked down, being met with the sight of a small girl of at least five years old beaming up at me. Forcing a smile I lean down to give the small child a gentle pat on the head.

          “... Hi.” I speak in a gentle voice, forcing a smile. I needed to seem as friendly as possible as not to scare her away. If I was in my usual mood I’d probably cause her to run to her mother.

          “Oi Marina, leave him alone!” A woman waltzed into the hallway, wearing nothing but a tank top and gym shorts. Her hair was an unkempt mess and there were very dark circles under her eyes.  She leaned against edge of the hall that lead out into the main room, resting a hand on her hips. Looks like somebody decided to be lazy today. The women walked over to the small girl and lifted her up from behind, carrying her in her arms.

          “Hey, I’m back. Did get you any sleep?”

          “Yeah, and I sure as heck needed it too. They kept me until two, can you believe that? Two in the freaking morning.” The woman complained, gripping the girl tightly.

            “I miss mommy.” The young girl complained wrapping her arms around her mother’s neck.

          “I miss you too baby, but mommy’s gotta do what mommy’s gotta do. Your lazy as heck uncle’s gotta work too.” The woman smiled at her daughter, not bothering to look at me. The older woman in question was my older sister Willow Waters. I don’t know if it was because of some sick sense of humor or what, but my sister and I were cursed with such stupidly similar sounding names.  It was always a pain in the ass growing up together with such weird names too. Who heard about people naming their kids Willow or Willard this day and age anyway?  I thought those names fell out of popularity decades ago.

            Quirking an eyebrow Willow looked me over. There was a long pause, before she finally spoke up. “You look like crap. You get sick or somethin’?”

            She always told me to watch my language in front of her daughter, Marina, yet she still swore like a sailor around the house. Great parenting, am I right? Shrugging my shoulders I closed my eyes.

          “Yeah I have a cold, it’s not that bad. “ I sneezed into my hands, snot flying from my nose. Unfortunately for me it had started to turn into an ugly green color, a stark contrast from what it had been last night. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out the tissues, rubbing my hands off.

          “Gross. Listen if you’re sick you should stay away from Marina until you get better. You know how it is, it really sucks when kids get sick.”

          “Don’t worry I don’t plan on getting her sick if I can help it.” I decided to say that for Marina’s sake. Of course Willow wouldn’t show any concern about me being sick. I wasn’t mad, but she could have at least said ‘Hope you feel better soon, little bro’, or something like that.

          “But I wanna play with Willy!” The girl protested kicking around in my sister’s arms.

          “Shhh, calm down, you can play with Willy later. Mommy’s gonna’ play some games with you after she takes a shower, okay sweetie?”

          “Uh huh, okay.” The girl responded with those simple words, still sulking.

          I took my shoes off, and placed them off to the side. It was only then, that I got out of Katie’s way, allowing her to enter my home.  From the corner of my eye I noticed Willow’s smile brighten as she walked over towards Katie.

          “Oh, Will didn’t tell me he was inviting you over. Come on in, Will Should have said something sooner.  I’m sorry my brother was so rude.” Of course her attitude changes as soon as she sees Katie.

          “Oh no that’s fine, I’m used to it. I just didn’t want to get in the way is all.” Laughter escaped Katie’s lips as she took her shoes off, entering my home. She stepped past me and Willow, entering the main hall, stretching.  “Thank you for always having me over, can I stay for dinner tonight?”

          “Sure, you’re always welcome. You’re not like that Ian punk you guys always hung out with in high school. Hey Will whatever happened to him?”

          “Don’t know and don’t care.” I muttered standing up, walking over towards the couch. Our apartment wasn’t the biggest. It only had two bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Willow and Marina shared a bedroom, I had a room to myself and Dad slept on the couch. We were lucky to get as big of and apartment as we had, so I wasn’t going to complain. It was the perfect size for a family like us.

          Resting my feet against the table in front of our couch, I looked up at the ceiling. “I’ll make dinner in a couple of minutes. Just let me rest a little.”

          “Oh no, like hell you’re cooking dinner, you’re sick. Don’t want to get anybody else sick. I’m gonna’ make dinner for you and Katie alright?”

          “You sure you have time to?”

          “I don’t have work tonight, it’s my day off. You actually have a shift tonight right? I have more free time than you do..” She put her daughter down, tying her hair into a ponytail.

          Willow worked at a 24 hour café as a waitress. Her hours varied from very early morning to late at night, they were hardly what one would call consistent. Both she and I needed to work to help support our family. Our dad didn’t exactly bring home the bacon. In fact he currently held the title as the only unemployed person in our family. Besides, you know, Marina of course.

          “Hey Willow, where’s dad?” I shout from across the room, as my sister started up the stove. Katie joined me on the couch, crossing her legs slightly.

          “Oh our old man? I don’t know he was gone before I woke up. Doesn’t matter anyway does it?”

          “I guess not, but I’d like to see him home for once. Or you know just see him at all. He’s probably messing around with some woman.”

          “I’m sure Mr. Waters wouldn’t ignore his family over something like that right?” Katie piped up, fiddling around with her cell phone.

          “No, dad does this all the time. Ever since mom left…” Muttering under my breath I look over at Marina. She never met her grandmother, probably never would. Mom ran out on us when I was around twelve, and I’ve only heard from her a few times since then. I doubted she even knew about Marina’s existence.  

          “You don’t have to talk about your mom if you don’t want to. I know how you feel…”

          “Damn right we don’t need to talk about her.” I hear Willow call out, she was cracking eggs over a frying pan, looks like we were getting breakfast for dinner again. It was just about the only thing Willow could cook after all. I wasn’t that hungry anyway though, and I’m sure that Katie was just about happy to eat.

            Snatching the remote Katie turned on the television, turning it on to some random, cliche  ridden sitcom. Maybe cliche ridden was a harsh way of putting it, boring and uninspired would be a better word. The two of us sat there for a few minutes aimlessly watching the TV, Marina soon joining us sitting down next to me. Clicking her tongue Katie pushes herself up from the chair, waltzing on over to me and grabbing my wrist, trying to pull me up.

            “Hey let’s go to your room.”

            “Sorry not in the mood for sex right now.”

            “I don’t mean it like that. I just want to see your room, it’s been awhile since I’ve been in it. I always knew you were a pervert.”

            “Relax, can’t you take a joke?” I try to save myself, following along behind her. Honestly knowing her I couldn’t tell if she was serious or not, but might as well play it off as a joke so I can save some face.

            “Just get married already.  We need somebody else to earn some cash around here.” I heard Willow call out. I didn’t even dignify her with a response as I entered my room with Katie, harshly slamming the door shut.

            My room was rather basic. Neat and tidy, not much trash laying around. All garbage immediately got thrown into the trash can next to my computer desk. The window was thrown open, allowing light to flood through onto the spotless floors. There was a shelf off to the side containing a number of horror DVDs and documentaries on urban legends.  Hidden off from view was a box of old comic books I used to collect that I keep under my bed. Only I knew about its existence and I wanted to keep it that way. The room wasn’t exactly large, could only have about two people in it without becoming standing room only.

            A smile around her face Katie held her arms behind her back, looking around. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here, as clean as ever I see. Now… Where do you keep your porn?”

            “Look who’s a pervert now.”

            “I’m just kidding.” She turned around sticking her tongue out at me. “So what do you want to do?”

            “I don’t know, check the podcast forum?” I suggested, walking over to my desk and plopping down onto my computer chair. I booted the machine up, leaning back.

            “You really like looking at our forum don’t you? I don’t look at it that much.”

            “You should, the few fans we have lose their mind whenever you show up.”

            “I’m sure they like you too, Will.”

            I smirk as my computer boots up, clicking open my internet browser. “You should hear some of the complaints they have about me. They don’t hate me but they definitely prefer you over me.”

            A sigh escaped the girl’s lips as she pressed her hand against the desk, leaning over my shoulder. “I know you have to have some fans that prefer you over me. Your fans are more dedicated than mine are after all. I’m sure most of mine like me because I’m a girl.”

            “Don’t complain about being popular.”

          “I’m not complaining…” She kept her voice low, I thought I could almost hear a hint of hostility.

          I open up the official website for our podcast, and entered the forum. We posted our episodes a few hours earlier on the site than on another more popular video sharing website.  As mentioned before we had a small following, about 2000 followers and around a couple hundred of them actively lurk on our forum. It wasn’t too big but it made interacting with the community easier. Hell some assholes with a bigger follower count don’t even talk to their fans. At least Katie and I were a little more willing to interact with our fanbase.

            Scrolling through the boards I decide to click on the “rumors and urban legends” section. Obviously it was a section where the forum members talked about recent rumors going around, or about some unsolved urban legends. I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t get inspired by some of the topics brought up here occasionally. I did my own research of course but it was easy to find what topics people would be interested in from the forum.

            At the very top of the page there was a fairly recent topic. The timestamp for the latest post read only a few minutes ago. If we were lucky enough that would mean it’s still an active thread. Quickly opening the link I started to glance over the replies, there weren’t that many but the thread hadn’t even been an hour old yet.

Topic: The woman dressed in black

John_Titor: So guys you’ve heard the rumors involving the missing girls, right? It’s been talked to death on these threads.  For those who haven’t had the pleasure, in a small town in Michigan women of all ages have gone missing. At least that’s what’s usually talked about.. The truth is both men and women have been going missing, but the media only really covered the disappearance of the women. The good people on this board decided to treat all of the disappearances, including both men and women, as part of the same case. Rumor has it that these missing people were seen with an unusual looking man before their disappearances. His identity hasn’t been discovered yet but the man has been described as having long black hair and red eyes, people say he’s always seen wearing a business suit. Now we don’t have any confirmation of those rumors but it’s possible this could be some kind of human trafficking, not necessarily anything supernatural. Or all of the incidents could be somehow unrelated (doubt it). However there’s another interesting rumor floating around that town.The rumor of a mysterious, ghastly woman.

The woman is said to appear at the Forest Green park every night at ten. She was first spotted by a couple walking through the park on a date. Since the beginning of march she’s been seen every night, at the same time, same place. She’s said to have perfectly pale skin, almost like a porcelain doll’s. Her hair is a pitch black and her eyes a fiery red. She’s said to look completely inhuman in her beauty. She wears a beautiful black dress that looks like it came out of the 1800’s. Nobody knows if she’s just wearing a costume or actually involved with the occult. Nobody who’s talked to her has gotten a response. It’s unknown if she has anything to do with the disappearances.  You think this is worth any discussion?

Takeshi: I want a mysterious sexy woman to step all over me LOL. I wonder if whoever came up with that rumor had some kind of fetish! I’m so jealous, please take me mysterious woman! I’ll gladly be kidnapped by you!

Mysterious_Wonder: I wonder if she’s supposed to be a ghost or a vampire. You have any idea John?

John_Titor: I don’t know, she wasn’t described with any fangs or anything. A ghost is always possible. Weird that she’d haunt a park. Were there any local accidents? She might be the spirit of some dead girl.

            I look through some more of the comments, finding nothing of value before looking up at Katie. “Hey do you think I should send a reply?”

            “What are you going to say?”

            “Going to ask a few questions, of course.”

            Pushing up my glasses I place my hands against my keyboard and begin typing away. Hopefully I’d be able to get something out of this John Titor guy.

Will_waters (Admin): Hey, can I ask what other information you have on this girl? I’m pretty interested, since I live right in the area.Also I can say without a shred of doubt that nobody’s died near the park in the past couple of years. This is a small town, accidents don’t really happen too often. If somebody died I would have heard.

Takeshi: Oh shit it’s Will.

Mysterious_wonder: Hey will!

John_Titor: Thought you’d be interested, LOL. Well the info I have so far says that she likes to hang out near the small wooded area out by the park, rather than directly at the park itself.  She’s always seen singing some song to herself, sitting on a nearby bench. We don’t know if she’s looking for something or not. Like I said before any attempts to approach her have proven unresponsive, however maybe the right thing hasn’t been said to her yet. Whatever it is she wants to hear is still up in the air, but I feel that cracking that code should shed some light on this little mystery. If you can find any more information on her I’d like to hear about it in your next show Wink [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/wink.png].

Will_Waters (Admin): Thanks for the information! I’ll be sure to credit you if we ever use any of the information you’ve given us. Thanks for being our fans for so long. I’ll make the next episode an extra good one for you guys. So stay tuned, in a couple of days we’re going to have something great out.

            Smiling I leaned in my seat, occasionally refreshing the page. I felt Katie place a hand on my shoulder. I turn my head to look up at her.

            “You know, you can be a real jerk sometimes, but deep down you’re nice when you want to be.”

            “… Thanks?” She totally caught me off guard. What the hell was she going on about? “Don’t really know what the hell you mean though.”

            “Well it’s just… You act so distant to everybody, like you barely notice they’re around.  But when you’re online you’re your true self you know? Friendly and always willing to tell people how you really feel, you know. You’re a good person, Willard.”

            Staring at her I retreated from my chair, shrugging my shoulders. I turned my back to her, in a vain attempt to hide my own embarrassment. “… Thanks. Anyway, I think dinner should be ready about now, want to go check it out?”

            She gave a firm nod of her head and we went to harass Willow about our food. Dinner was uneventful enough, we sat around and after another two hours Katie had to leave. She bid me a polite farewell and headed back home. I lingered at the doorway, watching her head out before slamming the door shut. I didn’t have time to think about how I would have liked Katie to stay a little longer. I had to get ready for work. Locking myself in the bathroom I turned on the shower only to instantly back off as soon as the water hit my skin.

            “Crap!” Reaching out I grabbed at the wall, trying to keep myself from falling down and cracking my head open. The water was way too hot! Our shower had been broken for a few weeks now and always came out too hot or too cold. Usually I could deal with it but the pain was just too sudden and extreme. If I could give up any sense of pain I would. That’d make everything In life far easier, honestly. That sort of thing would only exist in an ideal world though.

            My routine shower took shorter than usual, about 6 minutes since I had to do it in the cold. I quickly finished preparing, sliding on a warm jacket to fight off the cold March air. Winter had just ended but it was still like 40 out. One foot out the door, I turn to look over at Willow, who was sitting around the couch with Marina sitting down on her lap.

            “I’ll be back around midnight. You don’t need me back earlier to watch Marina right?”

          “I told you I got a day off so it’s fine, you don’t need to worry about us. Right Marina? You get to spend all night with Mommy.” Smiling she rubbed her daughters head.

            “Yeah! Come home tomorrow Willy!” Marina waved with a small hand, giving me a cheerful farewell as I slammed the door, heading to work.

            My job was about a twenty minute walk from my house. It was a small liquor store smack dab in the busiest section of town.  The pay wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t anything special but I was paid decently for a part timer. I was only hired a few weeks after I turned 21, so that’d be around 8 or so months now. To get to my workplace I had to pass by Forest Green park, the place mentioned on the podcast forums. I decided to move right past it, letting any curiosity I had die down within me. I didn’t have time to be looking around for some kind of ghost, after all I needed to get to work at six on the dot. If I was late my manager would bitch me out.

            I got to work without any problems, and went on with my day like usual. It wasn’t until around 9:30 or so that my manager, Carter, decided to come and talk to me out of the blue. I had just gotten done taking care of a customer. A forced smile was still plastered on my face. I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder and I turned around, glaring at my manager.

            “I don’t know how you manage to do that, switch from calm to pissed. It’s like some kind of talent bro.”

            “H-hey look I’m not that pissed, I’m just feeling miserable.” I sniffle a bit, wiping my nose with the last tissue I got from Katie. My voice had grown hoarse from all of the talking I had to do, I sounded like a dying cow.

            “Yeah I can tell man. You look like complete shit.” He shook his head, folding his arms.  “I’m surprised you can even pretend to be in a good mood. The difference between the normal you and when you deal with customers is like night and day.”

            “Really? I don’t notice much of a difference.”

            “There’s a complete difference bro. You’re so much more tolerant when you’re dealing with the customers. Wish you’d be that nice around me man. It’d be nice hearing you complain less..” He laughed resting his hand on the table.

            “Hey I can’t be an asshole all the time now can I?” I cough into my hand violently, resting on the countertop . “Besides I’m too sick to argue with you.”

            “Yeah I can tell. Look I’m already taking a risk letting you work as long as I did, and you look like you’re just about to die dude. I’ll let you off early tonight, we have enough people to cove for one missing dude.”

            “What’s this going to do about my pay?” I was strict and blunt. I didn’t hate working, but I wasn’t going to lie if my pay wasn’t top priority. What’s the point if I didn’t get any money.

            “Hey calm down pal. I’ll see what I can do about giving you extra hours next time. I’m not just going to jip you out of pay. Not gonna let you off for free, of course you’re going to work your ass off for it. I’m going to give you a hell of a lot of extra hours.” He gave me a playful wink as he turned away from me, grabbing hold of some boxes. Just as I was prepared to leave, he decided to pipe back up again. “ Hey Will. I think maybe you should try being cheerful like that all the time. It must be lonely dude.”

            “You’re speaking gibberish.”

            “I’m not dude. It must be lonely, chilling by yourself all the time. Maybe you’d be in customer mode all the time if you talked more people around here. I’m always here to listen if you ever want to bitch about something.”

            “Good… To  know.” I step out from behind the counter and remove my apron. I head towards the exit, before pausing, walking towards a shelf. I turn back by the counter, shouting over at my boss. “Hey I’m going to take a few bottles of alcohol alright? Specifically some Red Vine wine.”

            “Sure that’s fine but you gotta scan it first broseph. I’m docking it from your pay.”

            A heavy sigh escaping from my lips I grab two bottles, and head over to the counter. Carter scans them before slamming them down in front of me, bagged. He places a fresh box of tissues in front of me too.

“That’s on the house.” He adds, before I head on out, quickly intending to make my way back home.

          My thoughts wander back to what Carter and Katie both said. Both of their interpretations were conflicting. Which was I a guy who was nice deep down, or some lonely “dude” who complained all the time? I never really thought about myself all that much, really. I got over my whole self identity phase all the way back in high school. However, maybe that was something I really should put some thought into. I mean I thought I understood myself perfectly fine, but I guess other people know you better than you know yourself. As I made my way back home, lost in thought,I couldn’t help but notice that I pass by the Forest Green Park.

          I grind to a halt, staring at the property and the woods beyond it. It seemed rather barren tonight but that rumor said that the ghost woman only appeared in the wooded area next to the park… Checking my watch I look for the time 10:02. Apparently it was about the time she was supposed to appear. Licking the corner of my lips I stare at the park. I stand there for about a good minute before my legs carry me, almost instinctively to the park. I walk along the stone path, passing by a playground as I make my way towards the woods almost like a man possessed.

            My throat grew hotter and hotter, I didn’t know if it was from the cold (or whatever it was that I had) or if it was from the anticipation from heading to the site of an alleged rumor. The description of the woman ran through my head, devouring my each and every thought. I might have run a podcast dedicated to the paranormal but that didn’t mean it actually existed, did it? As I enter the woods I begin to regret coming here without contacting Katie first. Maybe we would have been better off venturing here together. Well it was too late now. I was this far already,there was no way I was going to stop. Clutching my chest with my free hand I quickened my pace.

          The friendly open space of the park disappeared behind me as I became trapped by a wall of trees. The only thing to keep me company was the occasional lamp post, to make it so visitors didn’t lose their way and become lost within the maze. I could see my breath in the cold air, my breathing slowly starting to become unsteady. Clutching my bag tightly I walk through the darkness, occasionally looking off to the side to see if something was lurking through the tree line. I could feel my heart about to explode from my chest out of sheer excitement. Everything came to a halt however, when I saw a figure standing in the road in front of me.

          She was bathed in moonlight, as if she were some sort of actress and the moon was her own personal spotlight. Even through the expansive thicket of trees I could make out her slender form. Long flowing black hair that came down to her waist, matched with glowing red eyes that pierced through the darkness. Her dress was something far removed from a hick town like this. It’s elegance befit a someone from a higher class society, something that didn’t belong in a filthy forest such as this.  Her skin was as pale as a doll’s, she looked more like somebody out of a classic renaissance painting painting than an actual person.

          She looked up from the ground she had been staring at, her eyes locking with mine. The look she gave me sent a shiver down my spine, my heart instantly grew to a stop. An unyielding terror rushed through my body, this woman caused me nothing but sheer horror. She wasn’t human, I could tell just from looking at her she was some other being that didn’t belong in our world. She was far too grand to exist in our feeble reality. Everything about her made my stomach feel like it was going to churn. I just knew, that if I stayed here any longer I could probably die, turn victim to whatever this woman’s legacy. Yet despite these feelings, despite all of my rational thought telling me that she was somebody I didn’t want to associate with, only one word rung through my head.

          “Beautiful.” It was barely above a whisper. Even I could barely hear my own words, however… She must have caught what I’d said, because her ruby red lips contorted into a smile.