Walk Through Thorns

Part 1 Chapter 1

Part 1: I Drift Through A Sea of Fireflies on Wings Made of Wind and Time

Chapter 1

The old growth trees trapped the red-blue flash in their crooked branches. The forest was shifting in its sleep, disturbed and rising to this shrill and unwelcome presence. My bicycle kicked up a cloud of dirt and gravel as I skidded to a stop.

The officer didn't hear me over the chatter coming from his radio. I hesitated there in the twilight, unable to turn back. I felt like I should have called out to him, but my words caught in my throat. After sometime, maybe a minute, maybe more, the officer noticed me squinting at him through the pulsating strobe. His eyes widened, and the color drained from his face. I was phantom pale, my hair colorless, balanced on my bike in the distant shadows, and staring at him. There were no streetlights, not this far from town.

Far past him, past his squad car, there were men in hi-vis rain jackets emerging from the underbrush. They had heavy flashlights in their hands, thick as clubs, and bright enough to make me flinch. Among them they carried a pallet. Strapped to it was a bundle, small and unmoving, all wrapped up in blankets.

I'd never seen so many people on Old Creighton Road. I'd never seen so many people awake at once in this town.

"Hey!" the officer said, and waved for me to approach.

Turn around and run, I thought. But dawn was coming in a few hours. It was time for me to get home, and they were in my way.

With a sigh, I rolled up. The door clicked as the officer got out, and whispered a thump as he closed it behind him. His expression relaxed as I got closer, proving that I was real.

I smirked at his name and said, "Constable Love?"

He seemed off put, until he realized I had read it off his badge. His expression turned stern. "What are you doing out here?"

"Riding my bike."

"At four in the morning?"

I rolled my eyes. "I have a skin condition. Can I just get through?"

"Oh, shit, are you Dana's kid?"

So he he knew Auntie. "Niece."

"Yeah, yeah, same thing. Celeste, right?" he asked, while pulling out his radio. He turned away from me to speak into it, as though it offered some kind of privacy. "Are you loaded into the ambulance yet? We have a civvie who lives up the road."

"Did you find a body?"

Constable Love turned back. Expressions flashed across him. First annoyance, followed by a deep consideration. The wrinkles around his eyes made his face look older than the rest of his body.

He leaned closer to confide in me. "A girl, roughly your age. Be careful out here. This might not be the best time to go bicycling after midnight."

I considered telling him about the ghost. Instead I said, "I can take care of myself."

"Every teenager thinks that."

I didn't bother to hide my scowl.

He added, "I have to look after the ones who were wrong."

I arrived at Auntie's doorstep with a scribbled note in hand. Constable Love had pulled his notepad from the same pocket he kept his cigarettes in. The smell had seeped deep into the paper and clung to my fingers. He'd left me with one parting message, "Call this number if you see anyone strange around. And tell Dana that Howard says hi."