Below The Waves

Chapter Ten: A Great Honor

"Who is she?" Shawn whispered. Ricky shrugged and turned the picture over, checking for a name.

"She'll be his next victim." He breathed, staring at a name on the back of the photo. It was smudged and he could hardly make it out. "Alex McKinley." He said, pinning it back on the board. He looked around and saw another couch and a chair across from it. Suddenly footsteps and muffled shouting echoed from above. Ricky's heart nearly exploded from his chest as he and Shawn dove behind the couch. The sound of sobbing and kicking enters the room. He peek around the side to see a girl that matches the picture on the board. Same bold red hair, and freckles. She is blindfolded and tied down to the chair across from the couch. A person, who Ricky can not see sat down on the dark green couch.

"Alex." A gruff voice speaks.

"Where's my mom?" She sobs. The man chuckles.

"I can't believe the hag wanted to come camping with us. Anyway, she's at the bottom of the lake. A nice cinder block tied to her ankles and rope around her wrists."

The young girl sobs harder, hanging her head. "It's ok, you'll be next to her rotting corpse soon enough." He says cheerfully.

"Dad. Why?"

"Because dear. This is a great honour passed down in the family. If you were a boy I would have trained you to be next in line. Over the years my father and his father had been doing this. Marrying and re-marrying. Pulling apart those cute little families, like yours! And why you ask?" Ricky watched him stand up and throw his arms in the air. "For fun!" The girl freezes and struggles against the rope, which leaves angry red marks against her pale skin. Tears are staining the old cloth tied around her eyes. The man took it off and shoved it in his back pocket.

"You-you said we would roast marshmallows." She whimpers. Ricky felt his heart shatter. This-this- organization fools the parents of these poor girls, then kills them all off. They promise to protect them, but their fingers are crossed behind their back.

"Yes I did, but I lied. I lied about so many things." He laughs.

This man is insane. Ricky looked over at Shawn. His eyes are squeezed shut and he is plugging his ears. Don't blame him.

"I will be right back little one." He says, patting her head as she flinches away. Out of no where wind starts to pick up and water begins to drip for the ceiling, out of each droplet forms a ghost, who begin to whisper to the trembling girl. She stares, wide eyed at the many spirits surrounding her. Ricky recognized some from the pictures, and the girl who was in Shawn's cabin.

Some are in soaking wet outfits that date back to a time before Ricky was born. Others, like the one from the cabin seem more modern that others. He noticed some are more mangled than the others. There are fishing hooks stabbed through ones hands and feet, ones eyes are bloody and hollow, bruises cover her dark skin.

Do not fear us. Their voices ran through his mind. They must be speaking to her like this.

So why can I hear them?

We were killed in this same basement. More tears run down the girls face. She opens her mouth like she's going to speak.

No. He will hear you.

"Are you going to save me?" Alex whispers. The ghosts shake their heads.

We can not. Alex slumps over in her chair and sobs harder. A figure catches the corner of my eye. The girl. Ricky gasped and all the spirits turn to the couch. The ghost floats forward, her black hair swaying above her head. Alex is trembling at the sight. Even the other ghosts seem afraid of her. She silently floated over to the couch. For the first time he noticed that her pale skin was covered in blood coated words. He had never seen her this close up. His eyes widened. Then, she made a shivering sort of motion and all the words disappeared. The other spirits gasped and backed away.

A small sound escaped her lips. It sounded like a tiny little scream. But then it grew. It grew so loud that dust fell from the rickety ceiling and that his ears bled. The other victims were still huddled in the far corner of the room. Terrified of this girl. Within the scream he could hear her voice.

"Ricky. Take her. Do not stand by and watch again." The voice echoed in his mind.

"Again? What do you mean again?!" He screamed. Her eyes turned red as she stared daggers at him.

"She may forgive you. But I don't don't."

Ricky remembered his dream. This girl, before she got killed, said that he couldn't have done anything. Her alternate self is not as forgiving for whatever Ricky did. She was gone as soon as she appeared. Leaving Ricky gasping for breath on the hard wooden floor.