Daughter of Blood and Nightmares

3: To What? Dig Her Up?

The storm howls through the evening and gets stronger the later it gets. Scraping branches against the window, pelting rain ticks against the glass. I'm surprised that Winston isn't stepping in. The last time Sadie got worked up she flooded the town in a freak hurricane like storm. We're in the midwest...there are no hurricanes here.

The hushed lull would soothe me to sleep, but the familiar sound of a clicking lock wakes me right up. My vision decides to take several seconds to adjust to the pitch black room. Several seconds for me to rely on only my ears. I can't quite see the door opening, but the room fills with an audible creak. Images of ghosts flash through my mind. Addison's nightmare quickly becomes reality.

My name is said in a hushed whisper, "Ashton?" The floorboards give a creak as the unnamed intruder steps forward. "Ashton? Are you sleeping?"

As my fear dies down when the voice becomes familiar. "Addison?"

A chilly breeze passes by me and seconds later my curtains whip open and my head whips away from where I thought Addison had been standing to the window. Even with the storm raging outside, as the clouds churn, moonlight fights to shine down.

"What the hell?" My head whips back to the door from the empty spot in front of the window. "Addison?"

She stands just inside the doorway, wide eyed before she quickly shuts the door.

"How did you? What. The. Actual Hell?"

"It's Seraphina. She won't leave me alone." Addison paces the room, anxious, nervous. "She's not letting me sleep and then she unlocked my door. I told her I need your help."

"My help? But, I ca-"

"Yes, you can."

My head violently shakes before the word exits my mouth. I probably could help, but that's not what I do anymore. I only hurt people. "No."

"It's the most logical. We'll both be able to see. Two heads instead of my frazzled one. You're the more rational one anyways."

"Rational?"

Her shoulders shrug as she mutters, "Maybe not the best word I'm thinking of, but among other things, yes, rational when it comes to this." She sits cross legged in the middle of the floor. When I don't join her she pats the ground in front of her.

This is the last thing I want to do. Shit. This is the last thing I want to see. Possession is messy. A painful chill courses through my body, shaking my limbs in the process. My fingertips quickly go numb. Can ghosts cause frostbite?

On shaky legs, I slide from the bed to the floor. "Have you ever done this before?"

"Not willingly." She pauses, ringing her hands together. "It has to be better than unwillingly right?"

"Sure." It isn't.

We stare at each other for a while before she calls Seraphina's name into the room. It only takes a few seconds before the room gets deathly cold. Our breath mingles together in small puffs of white.

"Seraphina." Addison says into the room. "Show me. Show Ash."

The air that was thin and dry suddenly becomes dense and thick. The coldness that engulfed the room disappears. It disappears as Seraphina enters Addison's body. She takes an extremely long, deep breath as her head drops backwards, back arching.

When she straightens her spine, her head flops forward, her chin rests on her chest. She stretches her neck from side to side and I flinch as a loud crack fills the silent room. Addison is definitely going to feel that when she gets her body back.