Derek and Chloe Imagine

Chapter 7

Chloe's POV
My lip quivers and I force words out. "M-mo-m-" but of course my stutter takes over.

"Baby girl," a low whisper.

"Wh-wh-what a-are you doi-"

"Baby take it slow," a gentle caress on my arm, covered with goosebumps-either from the cold night, or the terror of seeing my dead mother trotting around. I know, it's fairly cliché, but I think it'd happen to anyone if they saw what I see, ditzy heroine or brilliant protagonist.

"Who summoned you?" Somehow this came out clear, I assume it's the pure anger speaking.

"I-I don't know." My stutter came from my mom. "As soon as I returned to my body the necromancer was gone." A shrug exposing bone from the shoulder. Normally that would be disturbing, but I've seen it to many times before, and this is my mom.

"Okay well I'll release you," I lower myself, my knees hit the ground and I erase all thoughts from my mind- most of them, enough to concentrate.

I visualize pushing her out of the rotting corpse, mentally shoving her away from the disturbance of her decomposed body. A good five minutes of pure focus.

I open my eyes and there she still stands. I have to keep trying, I retreat back into a crouch, and amp it up.

A faint voice "Baby....take....easy raise... others."

"Oh-oka-kay." More visualizations, although this time as my mother warned me, I went slower. Ten more minutes and my eyes open to see no one but my mothers ghost levitating.

"Okay I know we obviously need to talk, but I-I'm out se-searching for my f-f-friend and Au-u-nt Lauren." Her eyes widen.

"Why baby girl? W-what's wrong?"

"W-well, they w-went o-on a w-"

"Baby remember what your counsellor said," we say it in sync, "Take a d-deep brea-"

I stop short, "How-how do you know that-" has my mother been watching me?

"I've been watching you. I was just going to for a bit after my death, to see how you're doing. But I just missed you so much, so every now and then I'd check up on you, I guess you'd say." The saying 'She'll be looking down on you', oddly enough was true, just not from heaven. The night wind sent a shiver through me, I rub my arms. She continues "Anyways this isn't the first time I'd been summoned."

"Wha-".

"Two years ago, I'd been drove back into my body and sent out along with one hundred other zombies to attack a sorcer named Samuel Lyle." What feels like a poison swims through my veins as I acknowledge that name. "Two years in Transalvanyia, forced to search for a madman, who possibly wasn't even there. Two years of not knowing if you were okay." My head throbs and I take a deep breath. None of this is possible, Sam Lyle is dead, the bodies in the basement told me. Why would they lie about that? I exhale. So I'd go away.

I stare at my sneakers lost in thought, scared,"Mom this is really something we should talk about when we have the time. I really want to hear about it, but I have to look for my friend and Aunt Lauren." I cover my hands with my sweater, they're red. I look up to find her fading, drifting away from me.

"Mom! What's going on? Hey!"

She doesn't respond, and in seconds she's gone.

I pull my hood up to shield my ears from the wind, and walk into the night.