Chapter 5: This Doesn't Go Well

Alice was running out of time. If she didn’t act soon it would be too late. The clock ticked in the background. Alice shook her head to clear her thoughts. Why was she thinking that? Maybe she was just tired, after all it was almost midnight. She checked the clock, 11:45. It was hard to imagine that an hour ago, or so it had seemed, her life had been perfectly normal. Now she was trapped in a room with a bunch of potential psychopaths surrounded by ghosts after teleporting six hours into the future.

Funny how quickly one’s life can drastically change in the blink of an eye. Although, if she was being honest with herself, she was taking to this change extremely well. It was like she’d always known that ghosts were real, she’d only needed it confirmed.

Rumbling sounded from above again, this time louder than before, and growing louder each time it sounded. The light in the room began to flicker and Alice could feel fear rising in her stomach, just like what had happened at her locker earlier.

“You doing okay?” Gale asked as a particularly loud boom of thunder tapered off.

“It’s just that the thunder’s a little scary,” Alice decided it would be best to give an ambiguous answer. Why did people always ask if another was okay when they clearly weren’t? By this point she honestly must’ve look tired, distraught, and frightened, so why bother with the niceties?

“Thunder?” His eyes widened with shocked, she couldn’t tell why though. Out of all the things that had happened today thunder couldn’t have been the weirdest. She would’ve guessed that escaping the so call ‘Absolute Trap’ would’ve been the most shocking thing of the day, but apparently it wasn’t. Not to him at least.

The noise sounded again, rumbling through the entire school like an echo. “Yeah, can’t you hear it?” He had to be able to. Things like that couldn’t be imagined, could they?

“Well,” he looked away, as if trying to put his words together, but couldn’t quite figure out what to say. “Of course I can hear it, but that’s not the problem…”

Her hands naturally raised to her hips, she’d just about had it with these half answers. “Well then,” she snapped, “what’s the problem?”

He took a small step back, obviously noticing the change in her attitude. His voice was quiet as he continued, “You shouldn’t be able to.”

All of Alice’s anger dropped in an instant. “What?”

Gale glanced around the room quickly, making sure that no one was paying attention to them. Once he was satisfied he pulled Alice closer and she noticed for the first time the trace of vanilla that lingered on his skin. “I don’t have time to explain right now,” he whispered, “But what you’re hearing is frictional static. Normally only people like me can hear it.”

“People like you?” She said, just a bit too loudly because Gale hushed her as soon as she said it.

“Yes, people like me. Special people with special powers. Look, I can’t get into right now but-”

“Can’t get into what right now?” Mandie’s curious voice sounded between the two of them. It felt like the temperature in the room had dropped twenty degrees as Alice slowly turned to face the presence looming over them. Gale, on the other hand, almost jumped out of his skin and fell onto a desk.

“N-nothing,” he responded frigidly as he stood up and tried to brush himself off.

Mandie fixed him with disbelieving eyes and an ‘I know better than to believe that’ face. Alice would’ve laughed because of the similarities between Mandie and Billie in that single stare, but found herself petrified against cold emerald eyes.

“I know better than to believe you when I get a reaction as good as that. Now, what were you two talking about.”

Gale panicked, obviously he didn’t know how to deal with someone who turned questions into demands. Alice had learned that in these situations it was always best to just tell the person what they wanted to know. Everything turned out better that way.

So, while Gale stood their wordless, Alice spoke up. “We were talking about the thunder.”

“Thunder? What thunder?” Apparently Alice had managed to peak Mandie’s interest in their conversation. But that still didn’t answer why everyone was so oblivious to the sound.

Gale sighed, obviously he’d given up on keep their conversation hidden from Mandie once Alice had shared her part. “She means the Static.”

Mandie instantly turned all of her attention to Alice, “You can hear it?”

Alice nodded, struck silent by Mandie’s undivided attention.

Mandie’s eyes shot away from her to the other side of the room. “Jackson, how’s the barrier?”

“Falling to pieces,” he managed to spit out between gritted teeth.

“Fantastic.” She turned back to Alice, “Look into my eyes.”

“Why?”

“Just do it,” Mandie rolled her eyes then concentrated on staring uncomfortably deep into Alice’s. Mandie had her look up, down, left, and right, all the time muttering unintelligible words under her breath.

After what had seemed like ages Mandie finally backed away and leaned against a desk, all the while looking at Alice like she was some great puzzle to solve. “You can’t see spirits, can you?”

It was more of a statement then a question, but Alice didn’t know exactly what Mandie meant by it. “You mean like the ones trying to get into this room? No, I can’t.”

Mandie readjusted her stance, crossing her arms with annoyance. “No, I mean like floating orbs or different sizes and colours.”

Alice was confused. She hadn’t heard any sarcasm in Mandie’s voice, but was this a real question? Was she supposed to give a real answer or was this all some kind of joke? She decided to setting in the middle. “No?”

A smile hinted at Mandie’s lips, but before she could speak Gale interrupted. “Why are you asking if she can see spirits when I’m the only one here who’s likely to have that power?”

“Because, unlike with you, they can actually see her.”

This wasn’t making any sense. What could see her? The spirits? Alice had thought they were outside of the barrier Jackson had up, wasn’t that why they were hiding in this room in the first place? Or wait… Did Jackson only have a barrier up because the spirits could see her and not them? That made even less sense.

Gale was frozen halfway into a step towards Alice. “That’s impossible.”

Mandie shrugged like it wasn’t important. “That’s what I thought; apparently I was wrong. If you look in her eyes you can see the reflection.”

Gale rushed over to Alice and looked deeply into her eyes, like he would find the secrets to the universe buried in her pupils if he looked hard enough. Alice was transfixed as he looked, but she could still smell the vanilla on him, something about that made her trust him.

“Anyone ever tell you you smell like vanilla?” She hadn’t meant to say that. It had just kind of slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it. But, from the confused look that passed across Gale’s face, she wished she could take it back. She had just about had it with people being confused about her when she was just as confused as they were--if not more.

Before Gale had the time to say anything Alice changed the subject. “What the Hell are you two even talking about anyway?” She also took a few steps away from him for good measure.

“To put it simply, we’re talking about the dead,” Mandie started, wasting no time like usual. “Not the ghosts that interfere with our world and cause hauntings, but the ones that just float idly by throughout our days. Even though our realities overlap we can’t see them and they can’t see us. However, for some reason, they can see you. It would make sense if you were someone like Gale, but you’re not. And the amount of magic I sense coming from you shouldn’t cause an abnormality like this, or allow you to hear Static. It’s quite odd.”

“So I’m an anomaly,” she responded flatly. “Awesome.”

“Mm, not necessarily,” Chase interrupted for the first time in ages. “It could mean-”

His words were covered up by thunder so loud it shook the school. Small cracks spread across the classroom walls and the door began to splinter with a sickening creak as the floor swayed beneath them. The light in the center began to flicker again, and the sound of banging fists were coming from every window.

Alice backed a little bit closer to Gale, thankful that there was someone else right beside her. Opposed to earlier, she didn’t feel frozen from the cold, and she didn’t appear nearly as frightened as she actually was.

“Jackson?” Mandie called as soon as the noise stopped, instantly taking control of the disastrous situation.

“Ten seconds,” his response was instance to a question Alice didn’t even know had been asked.

“And if we’re being optimistic?” She said with a calm collectiveness that Alice had never seen in anyone before. It was almost like Mandie wasn’t concerned about what had just happened. Like she didn’t care that everything was falling apart.

Jackson’s face was pinched with pain. “A minute,” he growled.

“Cast a small barrier around yourself as soon as it breaks. Now, Chase?”

His dark mahogany eyes were hurriedly skimming over a small section in an old red leather bound book. “Memorized and ready to go, captain.”

“Fantastic. Gale and Alice,” she turned to them, her eyes still soft, “make sure you keep behind me. And don’t move unless I tell you to.”

Gale responded in an instant, just like the others had done. All Alice could manage was a faint nod, but that seemed to be enough for Mandie because she turned her eyes fiercely on the door; almost like she was trying to will whatever was out there to go away.

It didn’t work.

A moment later the sound of breaking glass and splintering wood filled the room with chaos. None of the exorcists moved, except for Jackson who Alice had seen fall to the floor after the door had broken. Alice forced herself to stay still, finding it hard to calm her panic filled mind and stop her shaking legs from crumpling beneath her weight.

Alice was terrified, after all, they were only coming here for her. Her heart was racing, faster than it ever had before. Once again she felt a chill to her very bones as panic threatened to overcome her. She could hear her heart pounding and her ragged breathing. What had just happened? A few moments ago she’d been holding herself together pretty well, so what was going on? How was everyone else so calm and collected? She tried to calm her breaths as the questions repeated over and over again in her mind.

The three remaining exorcists stood around Alice, concentrating on the opening that now existed where the door had been. Alice couldn’t move her eyes from the entrance, something was coming, even she could tell that. She could feel the pressure in the room rising, like something was making the air heavier.

The clock ticked.

She was running out of time.

A green light flashed in the hallway, filling the room with more light. As the glow disappear the light from the lantern also decreased. The room was plunged, once again, into darkness.

Alice couldn’t see anything, but she could feel Mandie pushing her towards the back of the room, as well as two warm presence beside her. Alice walked backwards making sure she didn’t make any sounds, all the while keeping her eyes locked on where she thought the doorway was.

Seven radiant green lights formed in the room, six were about the size of baseballs, but the seventh looked twice the size of the others. The lights filled the room with a soft green glow, allowing Alice to see where she was going, but not make out anything specific.

“Alice don’t look at the orbs.” Mandie whispered harshly. Alice tried to look away, but it was too late. She’d already looked at them. She couldn’t move her eyes. She tried again, but she was fixated on the radiance of the orbs. Gale moved closer to her and placed his hand in front of her eyes, forcing them closed.

“I don’t know why they’re just sitting there, but are you three ready to run?” Chase whispered, “I’m gonna try and take out all of them, but I’ll probably only get two or three with the amount of power I have left, so you guys’ll have to move fast if you wanna get away.”

There was a pause.

“Yeah, we’re ready if you are.” Mandie replied softly.

Gale uncovered Alice’s eyes, the room was exactly the same, nothing had changed. The clock still ticked in the background, 11:58.

“Ready?” Mandie asked. Gale and Alice nodded in silence.

“Alright.” Chase shifted into a fighting stance, “Three, two-” but before he could say ‘one’ the orbs shimmered. Their glow diminished as they shifted into human-like forms. Soon, seven people with a faint green outlines stood on the other side of the room. They didn’t look dead, but they didn’t look alive either.

The girl that stood in the middle of the group stepped forward, “We don’t want to harm any of you. We’re just here for that girl.”

“Like hell you are,” Chase retorted, a soft blue light surrounded his right hand.

The ghosts all stepped back. Weren’t these ghosts supposed to be extremely dangerous and powerful? Were they actually afraid of a little light?

“Th-that incantation! You couldn’t have done that in your head,” the girl stuttered.

“Well,” a devilish smile came across Chase’s lips, “I did.” He swung his hand and a blue light flew across the room, hitting four of the poltergeists. They disappeared as soon as they came in contact with the light, almost like they had evaporated

“Run,” Mandie commanded, grabbing Alice’s hand and pulling her to the front of the room. They ran through the doorway. Alice looked back just in time to see Chase collapse and the spirits turn her direction.

They were barely down the hall when Alice felt something ice cold wrap around her arm and pull her from Mandie’s grip. She tried to call out, but her breath was knocked out of her as she was slammed into the wall. Alice struggled to get her breath back, straining against the glacial grip that formed around her neck. She tried to get her footing, only to realize that she could hardly touch the ground.

Alice opened her eyes and focused on the scene before her, finding herself face to face with a female spirit, a different one from the one who had spoken earlier, and an angrier one at that. Alice looked the direction Gale and Mandie had been running and saw them backed into a corner by the remaining two poltergeists.

“You two,” the female spirit spat, “Remember, we’re not here for them, we have what we came for.” They stopped.

“What do you want with me?” Alice gasped, knowing that this could very well be the last thing she ever says.

The spirit smiled sincerely, “Oh don’t worry, we just want to kill you.” Alice couldn’t feel anything. The icy feeling persisted through her body, numbing her entirely. Her heart slowed and she began to grow dizzy, she still couldn’t catch her breath.

Alice’s feet grew warm, which was nice until it was unbearable. It felt like they were on fire. She looked down as the heat crawled up her leg. She tried to cry out when she saw that her feet actually were engulfed in black flames, but the poltergeist quickly covered her mouth with her free hand.

She was running out of time.

Something clicked in Alice. She didn’t know what she was doing, or how, but she focused all of her strength into her hands. She felt that someone was nearby, waiting to help her. It wasn’t Gale or Mandie, it was someone new, just out of sight. Alice brushed her hands together, a bright light exploded from her body, forcing the spirit away and putting out the flames.

The first link in a chain formed in the middle of her sternum, more links attached until the chain reached a few feet down the hall. Alice could feel a tremendous power at the end, she knew that whatever it was would be able to help her. Links stopped forming, the chain glowed brightly in the dark hallway, but there was nothing at the end.

The poltergeist laugh filled the hall, “Sorry Alice, but your spirit is long gone by now. You were too late to save her poor tortured soul. Any minute now she’ll appear as one of us and strike you down.”

Alice grew dizzy again. She couldn’t focus on anything as the colours around her began to blend together. She lost all hope, this was the end. She was going to die.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Alice recognized the confident voice. She forced her eyes to concentration on the end of the chain. All she could make out was a white hand gripping the chain and the radiant glow of green eyes. She didn’t recognize what she had seen, but the voice, there was no mistaking it, it was the voice of the girl who had helped her escape from the Trap.

“There’s no way. How are you still here?” The poltergeist shrieked.

Alice closed her eyes, there was no response from the girl, only a short laugh, followed by a burst of light. Alice drifted into darkness, noticing, for the first time, how warm she felt.

Author's Note

I'm always open to reviews, criticism, and comments