“She’s a part of me now. I don’t know which parts are mine, and which are hers. If I’m honest, that gives me some comfort.”
----------------------------------------
“Oh my gosh,” Maggie exclaims, twirling in the center of the school rotunda, analyzing every detail of these confines we call a school. The bone white painted brick walls, the harsh fluorescent lighting, the Greenfield Gators mascot adorning the walls, all of it a prison to me. But to her it’s wonderfully nostalgic. She scans every student she passes like some alien species. She walks beside them as if she wasn’t a wandering specter, but a young student just like them. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear her pale skin is a shade warmer.
“A lot’s changed, huh?” I speak softly with my head low. I’d hate to give anyone the impression that the weird witch girl talks to herself, not that it matters. I doubt anyone would be surprised at this point.
“Actually, no,” she replies. “I mean, other than the students. Not sure how I feel about boys in skinny jeans though.” I release a breathy giggle. “Other than that, it’s like nothing’s changed at all. It even smells the same.” Suddenly, the smell of citrus-scented cleaner mixed with an array of perfumes, colognes, hair sprays, and other teenage fragrances floods my nose. It isn’t a smell I’m normally aware of, just something that’s always been there and suddenly feels new.
“I guess that heart knot worked,” I say. “I can smell what you smell.”
“God, I hope not.” Maggie sniffs the air around a boy passing by. My nose is assaulted with a wave of body spray. “Because now he is all I can smell.”
The smell lingers with me until I reach my locker. I stuff my backpack inside, retrieve my History book and notebook, then begin to close the door.
“Wait!” Maggie shouts. “Don’t leave me in there. I can’t go far from the sasquatch. Take me with you.”
I hide my face behind the locker door. “I can’t just bring a stuffed animal into class, Maggie.”
“Why not?”
“W—Because that’s weird.”
“What’s wrong with being weird?”
I sigh. “Fine. Just promise me you’ll behave.”
“Mmmm… I promised your dad I wouldn’t behave.”
“Maggie.”
“Ugh. Fine. I’ll be a good little ghost.” Maggie places her hands together and tilts her head, resembling one of those painted baby angels that hang in the church.
I grab the sasquatch and shove it under my arm with my History book. Then, I spot Liam walking to class. I offer a smile, but it quickly fades as he passes without acknowledging me. His long blonde hair is disheveled, falling over his eyes. He keeps his head pointed at the ground as he enters class.
“Who’s that?” Maggie whispers beside me.
“That’s Liam. He gave me the nice notebook after Jaqueline stuffed that dead cat in my locker.”
“Aww, what a sweetie. I like him already. I wonder why he’s so down.”
“Same,” I say, closing my locker door.
I follow Liam into History class. Maggie walks beside me with a giddy smile.
“Hood off, Miss Ev—” Mr. Martin stops himself when he looks up and notices I’m not wearing a hood today. Even I’m surprised by it. I normally hide away in my hood, but today I just don’t feel so alone.
I offer an awkward grin and find my seat. Maggie picks an empty seat in the back and sits up straight, ready for her first lesson. I sit the sasquatch on my desk, strategically placed behind the back of the boy seated in front of me to hide it from as many students as possible. But the boy suddenly grunts and arches his back over the chair to pop his back. He leans back, gracing me with his lack of deodorant, and knocking the sasquatch onto the floor. He returns upright in his chair after a cacophony of sickening cracks vibrate my desk. I quickly grab the sasquatch and return it to its original position, but it's too late. I glance at Jaqueline and catch her whispering to the girl in front of her as she side-eyes me. Both of them cover their mouths to hide their snickering.
God, why do I even care what that corpse of a personality thinks? Dr. Ward’s words echo in my head, “Does fear control you, reaper?” No, it doesn’t. And neither does Jaqueline. I clench my fists. Then, I turn and stare back at her with a withering gaze. She scoffs, so I let an evil grin crawl up my cheeks and roll my eyes into the back of my head until only the whites show. She wants a freak? I’ll give her a freak. I almost pity her. She’s an empty casket of potential who has peaked in high school. Once I’m satisfied, I blow her a kiss and face forward as Mr. Martin begins his lecture.
“Damn,” Maggie says. “A casket of potential? I gotta remember that one.”
Slowly, I turn to look back at Maggie. How did she hear me? I don’t think I said anything out loud. Did I?
“I can hear your thoughts, dummy. Duh!” She doesn’t move her lips, but her whisper swims in my head as she smiles at me.
Great. Just what I needed. Less privacy.
“This is going to be so much fun!” Maggie exclaims.
I sigh and repeatedly bang my fist into my forehead as Mr. Martin drones on about our upcoming finals. Eventually, I spot Liam again. He’s furiously scribbling something into his notebook. I can’t see what it is, but it has him enthralled. Strands of his disheveled hair shake as she presses his pencil hard into the paper.
“Let’s take a peek,” Maggie exclaims.
Slowly, she floats beside Liam. He quivers as Maggie nears him, as if some rogue breeze just crossed his neck. Sometimes I forget Maggie is dead. I wonder what it must feel like to feel the presence of the dead, but have no awareness of it. Even normal people, or mundanes as Dr. Ward calls them, can feel the dread of a passing soul. Just like me, they feel the change in temperature, the shiver down their spine, or that feeling like someone is watching while they lie in bed at night. Only, they can’t see it. They can easily rationalize it as their mind playing tricks with them. I can’t. I guess ignorance really is bliss.
“Woah,” Maggie mutters. “How did you describe the monster, Autumn? The one in the woods. Picture it in your head.”
Unconsciously, I crack open a door in my mind I’d rather forget existed. But the mere mention of it is enough, and the creature’s form bores into my mind. Its long branch-like arms, its scarred flesh pulled tight against its bones, the pungent smell of decay, all of it—patched together in some impossible shape. A hodgepodge of human flesh stretched apart like putty, with bone-like antlers bursting from its skull.
“You need to see this,” Maggie says.
Suddenly, a new image paints in my mind. I see Liam from Maggie’s perspective. As the image focuses, I see what he’s drawing. To my horror, I recognize the drawing immediately. The monster from the woods is scratched in graphite across the paper, hiding behind the tall trees. Liam’s eyes are dark and sunken in as he scribbles away unblinking.
“How does he know what it looks like, Autumn?”
I don’t know, respond in my mind. But we need to find out.
I sit through the rest of class carefully watching Liam. Slowly, his demeanor calms until he stops drawing. Whatever was bothering him subsides, likely soothed by the monotony of class.When the bell rings, I quickly gather my things to watch him leave. He spots me and offers a weak grin, but walks past me without a word. I stand to go after him until I see Jaqueline. The smirk on her face tells me she has something planned. I defied her in front of her friend. I should have expected consequences. Now, she needs to put me in my place. But if I act quickly, she’ll have to do it on my terms.
I cram myself into the herd of students leaving class so she can’t catch me at the door. She’ll likely want to make a scene somewhere public. If I can take that power away from her, I may have an edge. I walk quickly toward the bathroom. When I reach the door, I turn back to look at her. She needs to see me go in. Her eyes are already locked on me as she marches toward me.
I rush into the bathroom and check every stall. Empty. No witnesses. Perfect.
Hiding in a stall will only corner myself. I need enough space to keep my distance or flee if I have to. I choose the sink furthest from the door and begin to wash my hands. Then, the door creaks open. I let out a slow breath to calm my thumping heart.
“Oh, hey Autumn,” Jaqueline says calmly, trailed by her friend.
I think her name is Nikki. She has long dark hair and tan skin, but otherwise feels like a clone of her plastic master. She’s wearing a light blue velour tracksuit with pants just low enough to reveal her pink undies. Jaqueline wears the same, but hot pink with stars bedazzled on her top. The two of them check their make-up in the large mirror, pretending this is all a coincidence. I know she won’t come to me, I need to spring her trap.
I turn off the sink and turn toward her. The hand dryers are near the door, just past Jaqueline. Quietly, I walk toward them with the sasquatch tucked tightly under my arm. Just as I reach her, she places her hand on my arm.
“Hey,” she says gently. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
I narrow my eyes. I know this is a trap, but what is it?
“I’ve been just awful to you. I admit I was sort of jealous seeing you with Ethan. Boys, right?” She smiles at Nikki, who circles behind me. A shiver crawls up the back of my neck and I glance in the mirror. Maggie smiles back at me in the reflection. Our connection feels stronger since last night. Maggie feels stronger.
“Let’s just put it behind us,” Jaqueline continues. “Friends?” She extends her hand out to me. I stare down at the hand, knowing this is a trap. She’ll pull my hand and hurt me somehow. Maybe she’ll throw me into the sink or trip me. But if I resist her, she’ll only make it worse for me later. At least in the bathroom it’s private.
Hesitantly, I grab her hand and offer a small smile. To my surprise, she gently shakes my hand and smiles back. My shoulders relax slightly. Am I just paranoid? I do have a habit of assuming the worst in everyone, but this is strange.
But I quickly realize how wrong I am. Nikki suddenly snatches the sasquatch from under my arm. Panic explodes across my skin. I was too busy worrying what she would do to me, I didn’t think to protect the damned doll.
“Oh, you brought your teddy to school. That’s so cute.” Jaqueline says, taking it from Nikki.
“Give it back.” I reply, terrified of what could happen to Maggie if she damages it.
“It’s so dirty. Teddy needs a nice bath.” She shoves one of the stall doors open.
I rush toward her but Nikki steps in my way.
“Don’t worry. Teddy’s in my care now.” Jaqueline says
She dangles the sasquatch over the brown speckled toilet. Then, the lights begin to flicker wildly. Jaqueline’s smile slowly fades as she looks around the bathroom. Suddenly, something catches her attention in the mirror behind me.
“The fuck?” She mutters.
I turn around and see Maggie standing in the mirror, appearing only in small moments as the lights flicker on and off. Her smile is too wide, theatrically wide. Then, she slowly tilts her head. Nikki screams and runs from the bathroom. A new feeling grows inside me. Something wicked, but I like it. The lights suddenly blink into darkness, stealing away our vision. And my eyes turn black.
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The lights flicker back on and I stare at Jaqueline with a smile on my face. A very wide smile.
Jaqueline screams and scrambles backward. She tosses the sasquatch at me as she slams her ass against the side of the toilet and coils on the grimy floor beside it. Her screams of terror echo off the tile walls, ringing through the air.
The bathroom suddenly door swings open and the lights return to normal. As the bright florescent glow returns, so too do my human eyes. A teacher bursts into the bathroom.
“What is going on in here?” She demands to know.
I put on my sweetest, shittiest face. A face Jaqueline knows well. “I don’t know,” I reply. “She started screaming after she saw something in the mirror. I think it was a pimple.”
“Jesus girls. There is no need for hysterics. You, get to class.” The teacher steps past me to help Jaqueline. “Come on. I’ll take you to the nurse.” I pick up the sasquatch from the floor and look at Jaqueline. Her eyes quiver in their sockets as she looks back at me in terror.
And I wink.
----------------------------------------
My heart races as I enter Physics class. I anxiously glance around the room, watching the faces of my peers for looks of fear or judgment. Does anyone know? Did anyone else see? Of course not, there were no witnesses. But showing my powers in school, using Maggie, all of it was incredibly reckless. But as I find my seat, slowly, I let a smile grow. Why should I be afraid? I’m a Reaper. I wield death.
“That was totally wicked!” Maggie spins beside the lab table. “Gosh, I feel so alive! Did you see her face?”
I did, I pass my thoughts to her. This new telepathic link feels almost natural, like Maggie is some imaginary friend.
“Look,” Maggie points to the classroom door behind me.
Jaqueline enters. She’s touched up her makeup and switched her entire outfit. Of course she has a second outfit at school. Her eyes meet mine. She quickly shakes off the panic and straightens up, ignoring me. She smiles and finger waves to her girlfriends across the classroom.
Liam enters behind her. His tired eyes stare unblinking at the ground, lost in thought as his body moves through space on autopilot. He sits in the chair beside me and offers an obligatory smile, then sets his notebook on the table.
“What’s up?” I ask after an awkward pause.
“Oh, nothing much,” He quickly answers. “You ready for your bridge experiment?”
“Don’t be dumb,” I narrow my eyes. “You look like a sad puppy killed another sad puppy. What’s up with you?”
He lets out a soft giggle and shakes his head. His eyes look down, then back at me, as if he’s debating trusting me. “Your grandmother is at the Ward Estate, right?”
“Yeah,” I jerk my head back slightly. How does he know that?
“My pawpaw does too—did.” He quickly corrects himself. “He passed yesterday.”
“I—,” I stop myself. He doesn’t want sympathy. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” he replies, staring at the table absently. “He was fine one day, then he wasn’t. They said it was congestive heart failure. He’s not even that old—or was. Whatever. But he started having memory problems. The last time I saw him it was like he barely recognized me. Like he was lost. Then, he was gone.”
“What are you doing here then?” I ask. “You should be home with your family.”
“It’s too sad at home. School is a nice distraction.” He rests his cheek on his palm and draws doodles on the cover of his notebook.
“That’s so sad. I just want to hug him.” Maggie wraps her arms around Liam. His body suddenly shivers. He looks up at the ceiling for an air vent to blame, but finds none. I raise my eyebrow at her with a sighing glance. She backs away grimacing.
“So what were you drawing then?” I change the subject. Partly because I know he needs it, but I can’t contain my own curiosity. Why is he drawing the monster? “In history class today, you were drawing for most of the class. Come on,” I jab his shoulder with my elbow. “You’ve seen my doodles, show me yours.”
“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” he says.
“Do you even see who you’re talking to?” I gesture to myself.
“Fine.” He smiles. “I’m writing a horror comic, so I like to draw creepy monsters. Lately, I’ve been dreaming of this one monster, but every time it looks a little different. So I try to draw it.”
He opens up his notebook and flips through the pages. Every page has some new monster on it. Some pages have blocks like a comic book. But he stops on the page from today. Its resemblance to the creature in the woods is unsettling.
“I think I’ve got the details right,” he continues “I don’t know what to call it yet, but it’s super gross. It’s like a bunch of people were thrown into a blender and reassembled into some long legged creature with antlers.”
“I really hate that description,” Maggie groans. “Man, can’t you have just one untraumatized friend?”
Liam looks at me concerned. “You think I’m a freak, don’t you?”
“What?” I shake myself out of the trance. “No! No, no. I just,” I stammer. “It’s really good. I didn’t know you were a fellow monster lover.”
“Yeah,” he smirks. “I’m no good at comedy, and love doesn’t really interest me. But horror I can do.”
A chill settles over my chest as I stare at the drawing. I can almost smell it. The muggy air of the woods sticking to my skin, the sour scent of rot, the cracking of bones, the—
“Hey!” A low, raspy voice punches my ears.
I jolt upward, standing from the table ready to run. As I turn to see where it came from, I find a familiar face instead.
“Woah,” Ethan staggers backward holding a large popsicle stick bridge. In my shock, I nearly knock the bridge from his hands. “That was almost a catastrophe.” His speckled green eyes disarm me as he offers a warm smile. “You got the report?”
“Uh,” I release the air in my lungs. “Yeah, right here. You think it will hold?”
“I used three bottles of glue on this thing. It better.”
“Alright,” Coach Jackson shouts. “Don’t get too comfortable. Everyone get up and find a table with your lab partner. Only your reports and your bridges should be out. Let’s go, let's go.”
I look back at Liam and offer a soft smile, then grab my things to follow Ethan. We find a table at the edge of the classroom. Jaqueline and her partner, another plastic clone, are seated directly in front of us. She glances back at me, then quickly looks away. Maybe I really have scared her away for good. Or maybe I’ve only given her more ammo.
Ethan sets the bridge down and gestures to it as if to present some ancient gemstone.
“So?” He asks. “What do you think?”
The bridge is constructed just as we planned, a simple truss bridge with sticks assembled in connecting triangles to support it. However, Ethan has painted it and added small action figures to it like a mini battle scene.
“We were only supposed to use popsicle sticks and glue,” I reply. “He’s going to dock us points.”
“What? No, it’s just decoration. He’ll probably give us extra credit.” He smiles at me. “Besides, you’re on here.”
“Am I?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you’re the sorceress right here.” He points to the figure of a small barely clothed woman with plastic lightning extending from her hand. “You’re killing the evil witch and her army of goons attacking the bridge.” He points to a pink-haired troll doll on the other end of the bridge.
“And who’s this valiant knight supposed to be?” I pick up the figure holding a silver and gold shield.
“That,” he begins, taking the figure from me and placing it back on the bridge beside the sorceress. “Is me, fighting by your side. We make a pretty good team.”
“You’re a bigger nerd than I took you for.” I smirk.
“Eh, I was bored and you never texted back.”
Last night I was too busy binding the soul of my dead best friend to a stuffed animal to even notice he texted me.
“Yeah I don’t really check my phone,” I reply.
“Well, that sucks for me. I like talking to you.” He says, fiddling with the bridge and its figures.
“We’ve barely talked,” I scoff.
“Exactly! I want to know more about you, Autumn.”
Hearing him say my name sends goosebumps across my skin. What does this meathead pretty boy want to do with me? I’m not used to this kind of attention.
“What do you want to know?” I ask, turning my face to hide the warmth flushing my cheeks.
“Like, what’s your favorite color?” He asks after a bit of thought.
“Black. Obviously.” I gesture to my outfit, ripped black pants with a zip-up hoodie over my ribcage-printed shirt.
“Quiet!” Coach shouts. “Let’s get started.” He wheels a small cart with two tall bars on either side. A stack of weights are placed at the base. “I’ll bring the cart to your desk and place your bridge across the bars. We’ll add weights, ten pounds at a time. Your bridge needs to hold 80 pounds to pass.”
Ethan bumps my arm. I glance at him and see him pass a sheet of paper toward me.
EpicEthan is written with a crude drawing of a sword above it. He’s added a lightning bolt below it with Screen name written beside it. I smirk. Of course he has a cheesy screen name.
“Since you don’t look at your phone,” he whispers as Coach Jackson wheels his cart around the class.
I hesitantly look at Maggie, who stands across from me. Her jaw drops.
“We are so stalking his profile tonight,” she says.
I shake my head and write Spooks92 under the lightning bolt. Ethan tears the sheet of paper in half and hands me the piece with his screen name on it, then pockets the sheet with mine.
Coach Jackson wheels the cart beside Jaqueline’s table. She giggles with her partner and confidently hands him their bridge. Then, I see a mischievous grin crawl up Maggie’s face. As Coach sets up their bridge on his cart, Maggie climbs on top of their table. She looks back at me with a wide smile, then, just as the first weight is placed, she leaps onto the bridge. Her body passes through it, snapping the bridge immediately. Sticks pop and fly in every direction. Jaqueline’s mouth drops open.
“Well, that’s our first failure,” Coach says disappointedly. “I’ve never had a bridge break that easily before.” The class giggles and Jaqueline’s face flushes red with anger and embarrassment.
“You dropped the weight too hard,” she complains.
“Even if I did, that was only ten pounds. You weren’t anywhere close.” He begins to wheel the cart away. “Maybe you should focus more on class instead of your cell phone.” Jaqueline leers at him and pouts in her seat.
He brings the cart beside our table, and stares at Ethan’s masterpiece.
“What is this?” He asks unimpressed.
“We got creative,” Ethan replies proudly.
“You broke the rules,” he replies. “This isn’t art class. I’m taking ten points off your grade. Follow instructions next time.”
I place my face in my palms. My mom is going to kill me. Then, I hear giggling. Jaqueline and her partner snicker to each other as they look at our bridge. Maggie huffs. She reaches across the table and touches the sasquatch doll sitting against the wall.
Suddenly, the possessed doll twists its head toward Jaqueline. She leaps from her table in a frenzy and screams. In her panic, she knocks her stool over. It crashes to the floor with a loud metallic bang. The room falls silent as the entire class stares at her.
“Miss Summers, if you’re going to throw a fit, you can go to the office.” Coach crosses his arms.
“What?” Jaqueline stammers. “No! Her doll!” She points at the sasquatch, now limply falling over. “She brought her freaky haunted doll. It moved! She’s got like demonic powers or something. She is evil!”
Dumbfounded, I look around the class. After an awkward pause, whispers and giggles begin to pass around the room.
“Okay Jaqueline. Office. Now.” Coach demands.
She grunts and grabs her things, then marches out of class. The giggles grow louder as she leaves.
“What a psycho,” Ethan snickers.
I stare at Maggie, who crosses her arms proudly. I guess we’re both being a little reckless today.
Surprisingly, our bridge passes the test, holding 100 pounds until it finally snaps, sending action figures tumbling across the floor. Ethan excitedly shouts and gives me a high-five. I may not share his childlike excitement, but he did good. Maggie awkwardly high-fives herself behind Ethan.
----------------------------------------
“Maggie is here?” Hannah shouts, her voice carrying only a few feet from the table and drowning in the chatter of the cafeteria. “Where is she? Hi Maggie!” She waves.
I use my fork to point at Maggie sitting beside me, on the opposite side Hannah was waving to.
“Is her power any weaker?” JJ asks. He sits close to Hannah, a bit closer than he normally does. Since the Windy House, he’s remained at her side, opening doors for her and even carrying her books.
“Uh,” I glance at Maggie. “If anything, her power is stronger. I think she’s pulling energy from me.”
“That would make sense,” JJ replies. “We’ve already proven you’re like a walking battery. Tethering you to her likely connected her directly to the source. Though, I can’t help but wonder what happens when that power runs out.”
I honestly hadn’t thought of that. Hairs stand on my arm. Have I accidentally put a timer on Maggie’s life?
“But,” JJ continues after Hannah elbows him. “She’s still connected to her portal right?”
I nod my head.
“Then as long as she gets some time to recharge at home, I think she’ll be fine.”
“Look at you.” Hannah smirks. “Already a ghost expert.” Hannah has regained most of her strength after her encounter with Shy Boy. Her face is still a bit more pale than usual and she refuses to talk about that night. In fact, she barely remembers getting possessed. But every time we bring it up, she closes up.
“That’s not even the weird part about today,” I say. “Liam is dreaming about the monster. He was drawing it in class today. It’s a perfect copy of what we saw in the woods.”
“Could he be the cannibal?” Hannah asks. “Think about it. You fight off the monster in the woods, and suddenly he takes an interest in you? Why was he drawing it anyway?”
“He said he’s making a monster comic.”
“And he likes creepy monsters?” Hannah raises an eyebrow. “Come on.”
“Thicket Grove has a weird effect on people,” JJ adds. “I’m pretty sure his house borders the woods. Maybe it’s affecting his dreams.”
“Either way, we need to keep an eye on him,” I say.
“Yeah, we’ll watch him.” Hannah accidentally drops her fork onto the floor.
“I’ll get you a new one.” JJ leaps from the table and walks away.
“He’s awfully helpful today.” I raise my eyebrow at Hannah.
“I know.” Hannah smirks. “Serving his dark queen like a gentleman.”
“You’re cruel. You know he likes you.”
“Of course I do,” she snaps back at me. “Not everything needs to be so blunt, Autumn.”
“Do you like him?” I ask gently.
“You know what he did when I told him about my sister?” She asks rhetorically. “He read every book he could find on spirits. Three days later he was quoting facts to me. All because he knew how much my sister and I liked paranormal studies. He didn’t want me to be alone. So, yeah. I fucking like him.” Her breath shudders as she says those words. “But I want him to say it. I want him to have the strength to do something for himself for once. Until then…” JJ returns with an extra utensil and some napkins. “He’s my faithful knight.”