A Grave Problem

16. Crying

As the door to the roof opened slowly, Mia was immediately greeted by a terrible wail. She instantly recognized it as being the same one that she'd heard more than once from her bedroom. Only this time, the crying was much, much louder.

The sound had been more than enough to make Mia reconsider this whole excursion. It was so gut-wrenchingly sad it actually started to depress her. Even though she had no idea who or what this banshee was crying for, she couldn't help but empathize with it.

As soon as Mia walked through the door and onto the roof, she'd spotted the banshee. It wasn't hard; she was sitting across from the door, on the waist-high wall that surrounded the roof. She sat there, perched delicately on the ledge. Her head was down, and her long white hair covered her face. Mia was surprised at how small the creature actually was. She thought that anyone who could make that much noise must be at least six feet tall, but the banshee was barely four. It sobbed quietly for a minute, clenching its tiny fists in its lap. Then, without warning, it leaned its head back and wailed at the night sky.

As the banshee tilted its face towards the clouds, its sheet-white hair fell away from its face and Mia realized that the hair color wasn't because of her age. In fact, Mia thought the banshee looked like she was maybe only a year or two older than Mia herself. Her skin was pale, almost translucent, and she seemed to have a kind of glow about her. As Mia continued to stare at the figure, she realized that the only part of her that wasn't a pale, glowing white were the banshee's eyes. Those were a bright red, with deep black irises indistinguishable from her pupils.

Even though she was half-expecting to see one, the sight of the banshee sitting not twenty feet away had taken Mia aback. She let go of the door, still staring at the figure on the other side of the roof. The door quickly started swinging shut, but the sounds coming from the banshee caused Mia to be too dazed to grab it. She turned back, too slow, and watched as it neared the frame.

Mia stood there, knowing that the sound of the door banging shut would clue the banshee in on what was going on around her. So far, she seemed to be too busy crying to notice them, but Mia was pretty sure a noise that loud would grab the attention of even the most depressed banshee. But just before the door swung shut, something popped it back open a few inches. A hand wrapped itself around the edge of the door. Mia knew instantly that they'd been caught. She was already forming an excuse in her head when Luke appeared from around the door.

"Luke!" Anna exclaimed, a mixture of excitement and confusion.

"Uh...hi." he said, just as surprised to see them.

Just that short exchange was enough to catch the banshee's attention. She whipped her head around to face them. Her face was streaked with tears, and Mia wondered how well she could see through all that crying. But as soon as her eyes landed on them, Mia knew they'd been spotted. The banshee took one look at Mia and her friends standing at the door, and her wail changed. Slowly, it turned from a sad, heart-breaking sound into a loud, angry screech. Mia stared for a moment in shock. The banshee looked angry enough that she might come rushing towards them, and Mia had no idea how to defend herself. She tried to look brave as she steeled herself for the attack. Then, without warning, the banshee simply disappeared from sight. The silence that seemed to echo around them was a welcome relief.

"What was that?" Luke asked.

No one said anything. Mia just stood there, staring at the spot where the banshee had been only seconds ago. How could she just vanish into thin air like that? Luke waited a few minutes, but when it was obvious that no one was going to answer his question, he repeated it. "So what was that, anyway?"

"A banshee." Carmine told him wearily.

"A what?" came the incredulous response.

"You know, a banshee." Carmine said. And for once, she didn't seem to be taking any pleasure in explaining the supernatural. "A demon whose cry can be heard before someone dies."