Spirits: Waking Up Alone

Disbelieving

     Kiara and Hunter were sitting in Hunter's room, and the spirit was watching him flip through a book on the supernatural, muttering to himself under his breath.

     "What are you looking for?" she asked, sitting down beside him on the bed.

     "A clue as to why the shadowbeat activities have picked up so much," he replied, not bothering to look up, "Usually, I only see them once each month, but I've seen like five in the past week, and it's weird..."

     "The ghosts have been disappearing too," Kiara said softly, turning a lamp on and off repeatedly, as if interested in it.

     Hunter struggled to ignore the irritating clicking sound, "How can you tell?"

      "I saw a ghost each day.... until last week," she said in her soft spoken voice, continuing to click the light, "Around the time the black creatures started to increase in numbers."

      Hunter removed the lamp from her reach, "Yeah, that would make sense. Shadowbeasts eat ghosts." he got up, pacing around the room as if hoping the answer would magically appear in his mind. "But the shadowbeasts.... why would their population suddenly rise like this?"

     There was suddenly a knock on Hunter's door, and a voice called, "Hunter? You back from school?"

     Kiara blinked, and Hunter rolled his eyes, muttering to her, "My Dad. Don't touch anything, he can't know you're here. And don't worry, he can't see or hear you," then he called through the door, "Yeah, I'm back. What's the problem?"

    His dad pushed open the door, then leaned against the doorway, "The school called. Again." he paused as if expecting a reply, then continued, "They said you told them you saw a ghost. And some sort of demon creature trying to eat it." he let out a long sigh, his dark eyes not leaving Hunter's face. "Could you tell me what you really do when you skip classes?"

    Hunter flipped another page in his book, muttering, "I'm not crazy. You don't need to take me to another doctor again, I'm fine. You could be a supportive parent for once though."

    "You keep telling me you see ghosts. Ghosts don't exist, Hunter, everyone knows that. And you do too. But you need to stop skipping classes and making poor excuses," his father sighed wearily, rubbing his forehead.

    "What if they weren't excuses? Imagine just for a second what you're doing to me if there really were ghosts and I could see them," Hunter said quietly.

    "There are ghosts," Kiara said, floating up to his father, waving a hand in his face, "It's not his fault you can't see us!"

    "Don't bother," Hunter muttered, shaking his head slowly, "He's a realistic man. If he can't see it, hear it, or feel it, he won't believe it."

     "That doesn't mean he should write you off as crazy," Kiara murmured, sitting down again beside the lamp.

    "It's better if he didn't know anyway." Hunter turned back to his father, who was giving him a concerned look, "It's nothing. Pretend you didn't hear anything about ghosts. Also, I wasn't talking to anyone, so forget that too."

    He hesitated, then gave a small nod, "If you say so. But if you skip class again, there will be consequences. Also, I'm running up to the store. We need more bread. So that's where I am if you need me," and he left, closing the door behind him.

    Hunter sighed, "Don't you just wish parents were more... open-minded? That they'd actually believe you once and awhile. I feel like all I do is give him reasons to hate me."

    Kiara sighed too, swinging her feet from the side of the bed, "I don't feel anything anymore. I cannot relate."

    Hunter glanced over at her with a small smile, "Guess we both have our own problems, don't we?" 

    They were silent for a long moment, just sitting and thinking, then Kiara glanced up, "I feel... strange. Peculiar... almost as if something bad is about to happen, or is already about to happen."

     Hunter shrugged his shoulders placidly, "Rainy nights always make you feel like that."

     "No," her brow furrowed, then she stood upright, "Bad. Something really bad is about to happen!" there was a loud crash from outside, and she leapt forward, tackling him away from the window as a huge creature burst through.

     Broken glass shattered onto the bed, and the bed itself broke beneath the beast's weight. It opened its huge, fanged jaws, letting out a thunderous roar.

    "A shadowbeast?!" Hunter scrambled away from it, his eyes huge, "B-but they're not supposed to be able to touch objects of the living!!"

     It towered over him, saliva dripping from its jaws, and Hunter reached into his pocket for his dog whistle. But, of course, it was gone. Instead, he was forced to roll aside to avoid being killed, and he jumped to his feet.

    "Over here!" Kiara shouted to get its attention, "It's me you want, I'm the spirit!!"

    The unusually enormous shadowbeast turned its head to face her, then its eyes narrowed as it snarled viciously. It stepped an enormous paw forward, on top of a thin wire. Her eyes followed it up to the lamp beside Hunter, "The lamp!" She shouted, and he understood.

    Hunter lunged forward, flipping on the lamp, and the bright light made the black demon rear backwards to get away.

    "We gotta go!" Hunter grabbed Kiara's wrist, pulling her out of the window. They fell into a shrub, then continued to race away. The shadowbeast bounded instantly after them, its paws splashing in rain puddles.

    "It targeted you specifically," Hunter gasped as they ran, "They never do that! Their attacks are always random!"

     "Is this yours?" Kiara handed him a silver whistle.

     Hunter's jaw dropped, "My dog whistle! Where'd you get this?!"

    "Your desk. It was shiny."

     Hunter skidded to a halt, turning to face the demon, then blew the whistle as hard as he could. The shadowbeast instantly jerked away, clawing at its ears. A moment later, it stumbled back, fleeing down the alleyway, its long tail flicking behind it.

    Hunter let out a sigh of relief, leaning against a slick stone wall, "That... was weird."

     Kiara gave him a sad look, "I'm sorry... this is because of me, isn't it? This is all my fault..."

     Hunter shook his head slowly, "No it ain't. This is too bizarre to be tied to any one person. But we're gonna get to the bottom of this, even if it's the last thing we do."