The Art of Reconstruction (Andley)

6: What Hides in the Shadows is the Scary Part

Kellin's POV (A/N oh things are getting exciting)

I walked along side a group of teenagers, smirking slightly amusedly. They couldn't see me, but I was sure that they could sense my presence even if they didn't know what I was. There were three people in this little group, two boys and one girl. "This is a stupid idea," the girl said, her arms crossed tightly over her chest in a feeble attempt to ward off the chill that the forest seemed to admit despite the fact that it was summer.  "We're going to get lost."

"Aw, come on, Stacey," one guy, who I happened to know was named Jason, said.  "It's not like it's even nighttime."   It was mid afternoon, but the woods were always dark due to the thick canopy of leaves and branches.  Everything about the woods screamed creepy.   I suppose that's why Jason took Stacey out into the woods with the other guy, Nick.  Jason, Nick, and several of his other friends had been planning to take Stacey out here to scare her a little bit and then let Jason step in as hero.  They were playing off the rumors of hauntings around here, setting up hiding spots for a bunch of kids to wait in until the appropriate time to jump out.  Oli and I, being the mischievous little fuckers we were, had decided to play our own little prank as we often did. 

Suddenly, Jason's other friends came bursting through the trees.  "Run!" one of them yelled, not even bothering to stop.  "There's a ghost!" A moment or two later Oli, sauntered out of the bushes, invisible again.  I knew he wouldn't be making any visible appearances again that day since it took so much energy to even walk away from the bridge where we spent all of our time.  Since it was the place we'd both died we were tied to it and couldn't get away without a struggle. 

"Take it away, Kells," he said, grinning lopsidedly. 

"What are they screaming about?" Stacey asked, her eyes widening.  "What did they mean they are ghosts?"

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Nick said.  "Let's go see what bunny rabbit scared them off, huh?"

"Yeah, Stace, ghosts aren't real.  They probably got scared by their own shadows," Jason supplied.  I decided that it was my time to pitch in, so I made myself visible behind them.  "Well, shadows are terrifying," I commented, "but only because you don't know what's hiding in them." They all jumped, Stacey shrieking, as they whirled around to look at me. 

"Who are you?" Nick said while Jason oh so bravely hid behind Stacey. 

"Just your friendly neighborhood ghost guy," I said.  "The name's Kellin, but that's irrelevant.  Listen, I'm really sorry to do this, but I-"

I was cut off when I disappeared entirely.  At first I thought I'd just lost my focus, but then a weird and painful sensation took over me.  It was like my entire body was being ripped apart.  I cried out.  I'd forgotten what pain felt like as I hadn't experienced it in almost a decade.  In an instant, it was over and I was sitting in a room that I'd never seen before. It was kind of smokey and the whole place was covered in what appeared to be different drapes of different a shades of red and purple with hints of gold. I was sitting at a round table and directly across from me was an old woman who was staring right at me despite being obviously blind, or at least mostly so.

"Kellin?" she said in a soft, throaty voice. My eyes widened. She knew I was there? How? More importantly, how did she know my name? "Where am I?" I demanded, not answering her question. "How did I get here?"

"You are in California, Kellin. I brought you here by manipulating the forces of the beyond," she said, her eyes still fixed on me.

"That's not a thing," I snorted.

"It is a thing," she replied calmly. "How else would you have gotten here?"

I frowned, terribly confused. "Why did you bring me here?" I asked. "Why me of all ghosts?"

"Look to your left, Kellin," the woman said. I did and my eyes widened. A very familiar looking person sat in the chair next to mine, looking just as befuddled as I was. It hit me instantaneously that this was Andy, even though he looked remarkably different. "If you are willing you may make yourself visible to him," the woman said. I felt conflicted. I wanted to speak with Andy, but was it a good idea? It felt like I was crossing some sort of line or breaking an unspoken rule. Andy was glancing back and forth between my chair and the woman.

I threw my common sense out the window and made myself visible. Andy's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Kellin?" The word hung in the air as everything seemed to stop in time. The intense emotions that I often experienced hit and I felt tears prick at my eyes. We stared at each other for a long while as if neither of us could accept that the other was real. It was just staring. Eyes locked. Silence.

"How?" Andy breathed. "How are you here? You're dead, but you're here. This can't be right. I saw. You were dead. Vic was there. I was there." The mention of Vic's name was enough to make the first tear fall, but I was quick to pull myself together. I tried to answer him as best as I could even though I didn't fully understand everything myself.

"I am dead, Andy. Somehow I ended up as a ghost and I've just been at that damn bridge with another spirit named Oli. I don't know how I ended up here. Normally, I can't leave the bridge," I said, trying to explain it to myself as much as him.

"There are ways you do not know of," the old woman interjected. "I can teach you many things."  I narrowed my eyes at her, frowning deeply. 

"Who even are you?" I said suspiciously.  "Why should I trust you?"

"My name is Madam Sili and I am a mistress of the beyond," she said, her blind eyes unblinking. I almost laughed at how ridiculous it all was, but something stopped me. Perhaps it was the fact that I was just as ridiculous in my own way. I was a ghost for heaven's sake. "Pray tell, what can you teach me?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"There are ways for you to leave the bridge. I can bind you to an object that way you can go between the bridge and that object's location as you please. However, that also means that you can be summoned to that object by anyone who knows how," Madam Sili explained.

"This is weird as fuck," Andy muttered.  I looked over at him.  He was quite pale, but then again, when wasn't he?  In my opinion, he was actually handling it pretty well.  If I were him I probably would have shat myself. "I mean, I'm happy to see you. Overjoyed, actually. I just-," Andy paused and sighed. "It's a lot to take in."

"I know. This is weird for me too," I said. In all honesty, I didn't know what to think. I'd spent the past seven years with only Oli, wholeheartedly believing that I would never see my friends again.  Somehow, I'd ended up sitting next to Andy, though.   It didn't seem real.  Perhaps it wasn't.  Perhaps it was all in my head.  I didn't want to believe that, though. 

"Wait," Andy said.  "You said you could...bind him to an object? Does that mean that I could summon him sometimes and we could be like-I don't know-friends again?" My eyes widened. That hadn't crossed my mind, but the notion was intriguing. All I had wanted for all this time was to see Andy and Vic again and now I could see Andy at least.

I wanted to see if Andy knew anything about Vic, but I was a little scared to ask. Would I even want to see him? Would he even want to see me? Could he forgive me for what I'd done? I wasn't sure and that terrified me.

"It is possible," Madam Sili answered. Andy and I looked at each other and nodded. "Then, do it," I said firmly. A small smile pulled at her lips. "As you wish," she said.
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Sorry if this is boring.  It's kind of just an informational chapter.  - Lily