CHASING ASH (GXG MAFIA) BURN THE DEVIL SEQUEL

Chapter Three

It's been two weeks of working, eating, bringing Adeline to school, and repeat, yet it feels like I've slept about three nights. Her ghost followed me back home and I couldn't stop seeing Carmilla everywhere. Her cunning face has infiltrated my life once again, it's like she knows I'm about to drop a book about her and she is making sure I am a wreck before releasing it. I don't blame her, the book reveals all the nitty gritty details of her life. Her killings, her past, and most importantly, the torture she put me through and all the people that couldn't live to tell the tale. Even though she is gone, for the past two years, she has been holding my hand through this writing process, manipulating my fingers to spill all her dark, buried secrets.

George groans in his sleep due to my endless spinning back and forth in the bed, subtly telling me to just go to sleep, but I can't. Tomorrow is the day and I feel like my mind is going to explode with all the worries about the possible outcomes. What if people think this is all made up? What if she has people watching and they come after me? What if? Ahh just shut up, brain! Let me sleep! I smack my arms against the mattress in frustration at my mind not being able to let me get just one good night rest.

"Baby? Why are you beating up the bed?" His croaky voice causes me to face his sleepy face.

I whine as I place myself on my side to explain my erratic behavior. "I can't sleep and it's driving me insane.'' I elucidated.

His body shifts to switch the bedside lamp on as he re-shifts his focus on my aggravated expression. "Are you nervous about tomorrow?" he questions in a low voice, as to not awake Adeline sleeping next door. I nod in agreement as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me into his embrace. "You've released books before, what's making you feel like this now?"

I let out a sigh, piecing everything I've wanted to say to him. "I don't know why but I feel like I'm being watched" I confess in a whisper. "I keep seeing this black Mercedes everywhere I go, I even tried walking up to it one day and it just sped off" I expressed in a ramble-like manner, completely oblivious to his concerned face.

"If someone is following you, you should have told me, Jane." he voices in an almost -offended I didn't come to him- tone. "How long has this been going on?" he questions. I tilt my head up as he retreats himself slightly so we're facing each other.

"I uh- I didn't want you to think I'm crazy" I admit, my eyes dancing between him and his chest, struggling to keep eye contact with him.

His head leans back in curiosity, taken aback by my confession. "Why would I think you're crazy?" He chuckles dryly.

I exhale deeply at his question, "Because I keep seeing her, everywhere. At the grocery shop, at work, at the park, at Adeline's school, at the cemetery, at the local-"

"Wait, wait, what cemetery? The one back home?" he disrupts my rant, trying to process what I'm interpreting.

A moment of silence passes as we stare at each other, each one displaying a completely different expression on our faces. "Yeah, I saw her at the cemetery, near her grave, I thought it was a one off so I didn't mention it" I defend, attempting to diffuse the gravity of what I'm saying.

He lets out a betrayed sneer, "And when were you planning to tell me you're being haunted by this woman?" his tone seemed so filled with worry, and anger, simultaneously.

"I didn't want you to worry, I just get scared that somehow they're coming after me." I stammer in retaliation.

I gaze at him as his features soften, "Hey, no one is coming after you. No one's going to hurt you. She is dead, I mean, if the top dog dies, everything else falls. Right?" he reassures as he pulls me back in for an embrace. And that was just that. What if she wasn't actually dead?