Amberrivera121

Dedicated to Amber for being such an awesome friend!

[ Laura ]

I felt as if all of the air the universe had had disappeared. My heart stopped as confusion rose in my mind.

Was this really a forest or my nightmare? Where was I? Who was the little girl? What's this graveyard? And most importantly, why is there my own grave before me?!

Scared and confused, I started observing the grave. On the black gravestone,  inscribed in white marble were the words

LAURA HANNIGAN

Except for the green moss which happily grew on my supposed grave, there was no trace of anything. I bit my tongue until I felt the bitter blood. But what was before me still sustained. This was no dream. Whatever this was, it was happening in reality.

What the hell is going on? My mind screamed. I'd barely held up myself after what'd happened back at Sebastian's uncle. I'd somehow managed not to think of that gross blood and look for what's going to happen. Somehow, I'd felt there was something much darker coming than Alzaknos and yet a part of me believed everything will be over soon. I was broken but my shards were still together. And when I thought I'd meet the psychic who'd manage to make sense of everything,  or perhaps make it worse, I was stuck here looking at my own grave. What was going on!

Then a wave of fear washed over me when I heard whispers behind me. The hair on my neck stood up as I prayed the whisper to be just my imagination. What if it's the pale girl? Shh! There's no one here. The little girl disappeared. She wasn't there anymore. I tried to calm myself down. But, as usual, it didn't work. Instead, the whisper started growing in my ears. It must be a ghost, my logic replied. Or what could whisper in a graveyard this vast and spooky. Either I was going crazy or something was really really wrong with this forest. Both ways, I was in trouble, serious trouble.

With one quick moment of painfully gathered courage, I shook my stiff face and turned my gaze over my shoulder.

Fortunately there was no one there and the whispers had also stopped. But that just confirmed it was some paranormal I was dealing with, right? Sebastian,  where are you!  My mind screamed. Ghosts didn't scare me, after having dealt with them and creatures nastier than them for quite some times. But everytime, I was with Sebastian. I wasn't alone. I had my partner beside me everytime. But this time, I truly was alone. And alone, I knew I couldn't do much. Besides, somehow,  I got the feeling there was something strangely familiar yet unfamiliar about this graveyard, like I've been there before. But it didn't click my memory. And right, why shouldn't it be completely unfamiliar, it's after all where I was buried, well at least according to someone who was messing with me. And then there was that pale young girl with eyes darker than black.

Phew, I guess it was just my mind, I sighed with relief after quite a few quick glances around me when I could no longer hear the whispers. But before my mind jumped to think how to get out of here and how to find Sebastian and address other worries, another whisper hit my ears. This time, the voice seemed to be heavy, different from the first whisper. I froze.

"Who...who is it?" I sounded terrible. Even if you'd hunt deadly creatures many times, it's not true to say you've killed fear entirely. Just go in a graveyard full of ghosts alone , if you don't believe me.

To this, I didn't hear any answer nor any whisper.
I looked here and there, frantically, waiting for the unholy restless spirit to whisper. But no sound hit my desperate eardrums. However, when my gaze shifted from one grave to another, I saw or at least I thought I saw something silvery at one of the graves. Either the pale sunlight reflected on the marble or there was something, rather someone there.

Ok. Calm down. You can handle this. You've been to many hunts with Sebastian,  jobs way spooky and dangerous than these. Besides ghosts don't usually show up at dawn. You just need to stay calm. You don't need Sebastian just to make way through a graveyard, that too during sunrise.

I tried to convince my frightened brain.

But a big chunk of it was still with the fear side.

A ghostly presence during dawn just tells how strong it is. Run, Laura, you can't face the evil here, at least not alone.

But though I wanted to travel back through the watery tunnel I'd emerged through, I found myself stepping forward, one step after another, slowly.

But the pale figure I'd been staring at, disappeared. I quickly became over conscious about my near surroundings. A spirit disappears only to reappear behind you, ready to pierce its cold hands through your throat. But all I could perceive was another whisper, a whisper not far from me. Again, I mustered courage to turn my gaze around.

The figure I was now staring at was none other than that girl. Afraid and confused, I stepped backwards again until I reached my grave. While all my attention was focused on the girl, who seemed to stare back, I happened to stumble across my grave yet again. Her gaze then turned to the white letters which said 'LAURA HANNIGAN' and her face lit up with a sinister smile. I froze. What was going on with me?

All this time, after making it through all those creepy packages of hardcore freak shows, I'd somehow developed a brave image of myself. I'd been through a lot of scary incidents, but I'd never been this much scared. Hell, I wasn't this scared even when Alzaknos had appeared. Is it because then a part of me believed Sebastian was still there to save me? Was I that dependent on Sebastian?  Was I still the afraid girl I'd always been? Or was this girl a being darker than the darkest demon I'd ever seen? As a matter of fact, she indeed was. And what she did to me in future was way more than just some staring. 

As my mind flooded with questions and terrors, the girl suddenly looked at me and whispered. But again, I couldn't make sense of what she said. But before I'd drench in further fear or confusion, I realised I was staring straight at Lucy Deathstar's grave. She'd disappeared again.

Again, I became over conscious of my surroundings. Subconsciously, I took a defensive stance and steadied my senses. Somehow, I got the feeling I was about to get attacked. Maybe, because of the increasing intensity of whispers and momentarily flickering of pale lights around me.

"He killed us." Finally, a clear whisper hit my ear and I instinctively turned towards the direction of voice.

This time, there wasn't that pale girl from before. Instead it was a tall wide chested man who had green eyes and messy black hair, like those of Sebastian's.

I brought out my dagger, knowing that I was dealing with not one but more ghosts. Actually, the ghost should have attacked me by now, but he stood there, still, as if he was trying to warn me of someone.

"He killed us." A soft melodious voice like that of musician's fell on my ears and I turned in the opposite direction.

A flickering image of a beautiful woman dressed in pink gown stood before me. She had long black hair which reached till her knees and looked distantly at me through her beautiful blue eyes.

Again, even this one didn't try to attack me. Something was wrong with these ghosts.

"I won't call them ghosts, Laura." I heard a voice behind my back which startled me. I quickly jumped forward and toppled over as my leg got caught in some thick grass edging my grave.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard him say. I cleared the dirt around my eyes and looked at the stranger, hoping he wasn't some another ghost. He wore a simple white shirt and blue jeans. He wore a navy blue blazer over a white shirt and white pants. His tie and shoes were black. A crest of an eagle adorned his left chest. Judging from his wear, he must've been a college student. But the only thing that mattered the most to me wasn't that what a student might be doing in a forest this weird. It was the detail thag he wasn't translucent,  like others.

Confused, I took his hand and instead of a pleasant 'thanks', I said

"You're not ghost?" I wasn't sure what he was. He had straight black hair and sea green eyes, like that of the ghost I saw moments ago.

"No, I'm not dead neither I'm living. I certainly am no ghost. " he replied spontaneously.

"Who are you? What's this place?" I asked and remembered how he first addressed me as Laura.

"How do you know my name!?" I asked, confusion clear in my broken voice.

"Well, honestly,  I don't know who, rather what I'm. I can feel myself out there somewhere but also I'm trapped in this stage here. Maybe I'm a memory, like all these are." He said thoughtfully while looking at the graves with such saddened face as if all were a part of his family.

"As far as this graveyard is concerned, sorry again but I'm afraid I don't truly know. It might be just a normal graveyard or the Garden of Eden for that matter." Again, he made no sense to me. Why would Eden be a graveyard?

"And about you, how can I say this? Well, I don't actually know you but being a fragment in this memory, I kind of know you, but not in reality." He continued with his weird way of explaining.

Though I did not understand most of what he said, the word reality gained all my attention. I knew it. This graveyard is fake. My grave is fake. It's just a game this forest is playing with my mind. Damn it, why did I separate from Sebastian? Didn't he tell me to be careful?

"Just because something doesn't exist in reality doesn't make it fake. True, I've a different manifestation in reality,  but this is a memory after all. And memory knows everything. Besides, reality or not, I insist you to stay here. Haven't you heard the spirits?" He began blabbering.

Had he somehow managed to break his head without me noticing?  How can he speak something this weird? But then again, it was just my mind. And being an adventurous nerd, not to mention a newbie hunter, my mind might have cracked further.

"He killed them all." He said sadly.

"Who, who killed them? And why am I stuck here. Just calm down Laura, this isn't real, this isn't real." I said out loud.

"I told you. Even if this is just in your mind, doesn't mean this isn't real. It is as much real as this forest, or as the fact you are being chased or that you are falling for a certain somebody." He said calmly.

I looked at him, my face slightly red and my eyes full of surprise.

"Whom...whom are you talking about?" I asked.

How did he know all these things. Think, Laura, think. This forest is messing with your mind, wouldn't he know your thoughts?

"You've fallen so hard for him that you no longer consider him to be at fault. Your trust for him has blinded you, Laura. And that blindness will tear you apart, if demons can't." He continued.

"No, I'm not blind. Who are you to question my trust?" I said, my voice shaking slightly.

What he talked didn't make much sense to me. I wanted to know more of where he was getting to. But somehow, I also wanted to ignore him. Maybe the forest was indeed playing mind games. But if this really were a graveyard, and he a spirit, I shouldn't lower my guard. Sebastian had taught me that some ghosts, after staying too long without passing on can somehow develop abilities to mess with people's minds and play their manipulative skills until we are utterly crumbled.

"You talk about manipulation?  Even if this were manipulation in any way, are you confident you can get away from it? No. He played with you all this time and you never even caught a smell of his true nature, did you?" He said.

"Who are you talking about? Who the hell are you?" I asked with a weakened voice. I couldn't take it anymore.

"As I told you earlier, I'm a manifestation of mental thoughts." He said calmly.

"And that's why, I'm here to make you reconsider your choices, your trust." He said.

"I don't need to reconsider anything. And why am I even considering what you're speaking. After all, aren't you just something this forest has come up with? I'd rather banish you, if you really do belong to my conscious." I said.

"That might be true in a way. I'm just a memory. I can very well be forced to vanish. But can you banish all of us." He smirked.

"What do you mean?" I raised my eyes.

He didn't move nor did he say anything. Instead, he kept on that arrogant smirk and playing with his chin. Then suddenly, I started hearing whispers, more intense and numerous this time. I looked around for the source. But there wasn't just one being around me. Every grave in this graveyard was now occupied. I could spot pale translucent ghostly bodies slightly hovering above every single grave!

He killed us.
He killed us.
He killed us.

They started chanting,  first at random and then all in chorus. Then I happened to look at the weird guy in uniform. But I could no longer see him.

"Perhaps, these unfortunates would make you understand better what your choice might result to." I heard his voice in my head.

I clasped my hands tightly at my ears. The chants grew louder and I could barely hold myself. My mind which always insisted on believing in logic had nothing to offer. I was too confused and frightened to think rationally.

I looked at the spirits. I was standing right at the centre of the spiral, at my grave whereas the spirits were still at their respective graves, whispering the 'he killed us' chants but not leaving their places. I noticed that the graves near me were empty. There weren't any spirits in my nearest surroundings. Then I happened to look at the nearest spirit and my heart stopped, if it hadn't already.

Standing before me was Janice, a Kitsune we'd decided not to kill two weeks ago as she was innocent. What was she doing here?

"That's right. You trusted him? And look what she's saying."

"He killed me." Janice said.

"And all these graves. They may not exist currently. But if you don't heed, he'll kill all of them. And see where it will lead to." He said as my eyed fell on my grave.

"Yes, your own grave. One day, like he betrayed all of us, he'll betray even you, Laura. One day, he'll show you your true self." The uniform freak's voice in my head continued.

The chants had now became so loud, that even through my clasped hands, I could hear the 'He killed us" chants. I opened my eyes and saw that the ghosts were now slowly approaching me, their hands stretched out, their eyes distant and mouths chanting without any pause.

He killed us
He killed us
He killed us

They continued as they approached me. I tightened my grip on the dagger, wondering how can I single handedly defeat all these spirits.

Now, they were so close that I could almost feel the dread and cold washing over me. I could see their sad distant pupils gazing at me, scarlet marks or tight strangled bruise marks on their necks or throats slit in the middle.

The first spirit to finally stand just before me was Janice. She wore brown jacket over a green shirt and blue jeans. There was a deep cut on her forehead and her black straight hair were messed up and drenched in blood.

I closed my eyes praying harder. This was when she'd take her pent up rage on me. Sometimes spirits which don't pass on are so frustrated that they don't care whether the person they are killing actually is the one who killed them. They just need a dummy. And I was about to become one of like 100 such spirits. The blade in my shaking hands fell on my grave as my head itself fell on the engraving. I felt the cold marble making my frightened heart more scared. Confused, I prayed harder.

But she didn't try to scratch or bite me like I'd thought she would. She just touched my forehead.
And what I saw then made me wish it would be better if she'd have eaten me alive.

For what she made me see was how she was chased by a tall man with a scar on his cheek, how he finally got her and kicked her on her stomach, how he unsheathed his dagger and slit her forehead. And through the moon light, I could see a sparkle of pleasure in his eyes, in his blue  eyes.

"Yes, the one who'd one day be your betrayal is none other than the man you love. Irrespective of your choices, destiny will play her role.The one you think is your saviour will be your killer. You know whom I'm talking about." He paused.

"Sebastian." I whispered weakly, my broken voice shaking and teary eyes full of disbelief and confusion.

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Hey guys, please note that Kitsune is a Japanese mythical creature. The thing was, weeks ago, when Laura had just started a hunter's life, she and Sebastian were hunting down a Kitsune but she happened to be innocent. Sebastian wanted to kill her badly but Laura somehow made him promise not to. But when Laura was asleep, Sebastian went and did the job anyway.

I won't talk much about this now as I don't want to reveal yet how Sebastian actually is. Sorry ( :

And please let me know what you think of Laura's tale. The next chapter concerning Pamela is my favourite.  I hope you like it as well! ^_^