Fly ∆way Girl

|11|

|DROP THE G∆ME|

We sat in the tall grass near the dock for maybe an hour, just staring at it.

I couldn't form thoughts, let alone any words. It was nearly too dark to see now, but the blade still held a gleam of moonlight that stared back at me.

Larson was being patient with me, but I knew he was probably bored out of his mind. I couldn't move though; I'm stuck here.

I'm sitting right where my story came to an end; obviously a violent end. Life as I knew it stopped here. Do you know how mind boggling that is? There's nothing I can do now. How do I move on from this? I'll never know what happened to me. I'm lost; literally and emotionally.

Those thoughts were cut short by a sudden howl that echoed through the woods. It felt as if the rest of my blood drained from my body and poured out into the dirt.

My body struggled to comprehend the severity of the situation; my muscles simply didn't care about the pending threat that sought us out.

"Harley!" Larson screamed. "Harley, get up! "

His arms scooped under me, pulling me to my feet. I still couldn't escape my daze.

"Harley, we have to get in the lake!" He pulled me towards the boat.

"Wait!" I yelled, snapping back into reality. "It can probably swim. I'll take us somewhere safe."

My thoughts were in overdrive, so I took us to the first place I thought of.

Then, it was quiet, and dark. Larson was still huddled close to me, breathing rapidly. We now stood in a hallway in my old school. "It's okay, we're safe now." I reassured him.

He stared at me with a strange look on his face. "No we're not, Josiah can be here just as easily." He turned and rushed down the hall.

"What do you mean?" I asked, running after him.

"You met him here, right? So he can come here." He still walked quickly down the hall, looking in the window of every door he passed.

"We don't know if he has anything to do with this." I said. Although, I agree, Josiah is strange. Something is off about him. I don't really trust him myself, but he hasn't hurt me; not yet anyway.

He stopped when we reached the intersection of hallways.

I suddenly remembered my memorial, and that I hadn't shown it to Larson yet.

My eyes searched over the floor and walls, but it wasn't anywhere. Confusion hit me at first, then reality. "They took it down." I said quietly to myself.

"Took what down?" Larson asked.

"My memorial...it was here a while ago.."

He slumped to the floor with his back against the wall. "You're lucky you even got one."

I decided to ignore his comment. "Why would they take it down so soon? They don't even have my body yet..."

"That's how humans are. When someone dies, they take a few moments out of their time to mourn or whatever, then they move on. Human life goes on without us Harley, you may as well accept it."

I wasn't ready to accept it though. Not at all. "I'm still human; well the spirit of one." I said, again mostly to myself.

"No you're not, you're a ghost, nothing, at least not to them. They don't even care enough to find out what happened to you." He looked into my eyes for a few seconds before continuing. "I do though. I care about you Harley, and me and you are going to solve your murder together." His hand gripped mine tightly.