Not so Imaginary // On Hold // GxB Paranormal Romance

Part Four | You Can't Be Serious

F O U R 

The address where I was supposed to go turned out to be the back parking lot of an industrial building. Not exactly the kind of place you would want to hang out alone in the middle of the night. The only light came from an yellow streetlamp that illuminated a narrow arc down the side of an old, brick building. That was about it. The light hardly reached the ground.

Still, I was pretty sure I would have noticed if there was anybody else around. I didn't hear anything. And there had been no cars on the street nearby.

"I'm here," I messaged the unknown I was waiting for. I was on time. That made one of us, at least.

Or so I thought.

"You're on time," was the reply, "But did you bring the book?"

Perhaps I wasn't alone after all.

"Yes." It was tucked safely under my coat. "What are you going to do with my diary?"

"That is none of your concern," came the message back.

"Fine," I typed, even though it wasn't really true--  "Then I'm leaving."

I turned as if to go, but my phone buzzed with another message. "So much as step one foot out of the parking lot and Ren dies."

If I'm being perfectly honest, I was bluffing anyway. Well, sorta. I couldn't really leave knowing that Ren might be in serious danger.

Still, I said, "Quit hiding and show yourself before I call the police."

"The police? They won't do anything. Haul you off for being crazy, maybe, but they won't do anything. There is nothing you humans can do that will get to me."

I stopped walking and turned back toward the empty expanse of the parking lot. 'You humans.' So as if I wasn't already completely crazy enough for believing Ren, now this unknown was telling me they wern't human either.

"Humans cannot see Morrir," said the unknown's next message.

"Not true," I said. "I did once. I can learn to do it again." Couldn't I? A part of me wasn't so sure.

"Hold out the diary in front of you," was the next order.

"Why?" I'm not really sure what I thought I would gain by resisting, but I guess I wanted to stall. Something didn't feel right. "Why don't you come take it from me if you're so strong?"

"Do you hear that," was the non-response reply. "That beautiful buzzing. My babies are getting hungry."

I would really like to deny it, but it's true. I could hear a low buzzing pick up and start to vibrate the ground beneath my feet, softly at first, then growing. It had to be the moths. And fom the sound of it, it was a lot of them. The vibrations echoed through the cracked asphalt and up into the soles of my shoes in an unpleasant tickle, rather like the bone-shaking feel of a car passing by with their car stereo cranked up way too loud.

"Yeah, yeah," I replied, trying to play it cool. Like I wasn't worried. "The moths. I get it, you sicko. You're controlling them."

"You know, Ren is dying. You should hurry."

"Bring him to me." I still had the diary, after all. I could bargain.

Or so I thought.

"Why? He's lying right in front of you," said the next message, "Now hold out the book."

If Ren was really there, I had no way of knowing. I knew I shouldn't believe it. But... what if he was? And what if he really was hurt? The buzzing of the moths picked up louder and louder. I could swear I even felt the wind around my shoulders each time one swept too close. The noise was actually starting to hurt. The sound vibrated through my skull and made it hard to think.