Sky Forever

Chapter 9: Lonely Soul

"We're going down!" Ryder screamed, above the noise of the ship shaking fiercely.

"Then do something about it!" Amber screamed back.

I managed to grasp hold of the control panel to haul myself up from the floor.

"I'm going to go down to the engine room," Ryder yelled, "Jared, you're coming with me!"

"Why me?!" I asked.

"Because Amber knows how to work the controls!" Ryder answered.

He headed for the door, while Amber made her way across to the control panel. We were all being flung about violently. I took a step away from the panel to follow Ryder and instantly stumbled into the wall.

We both made it out into the hall and I followed him down a thin flight of stairs. We arrived at a door. There were loud, mechanical noises coming from inside.

"Dammit, I forgot my keys!" Ryder exclaimed, "Jared, go and grab them, they're back up in the control room."

I started back up the stairs, but a sudden convulsion of the ship sent me straight back down. I slammed my back against the door hard. So hard, in fact, that it flung right open. I fell inside.

"Well, that works too I suppose!" Ryder said, walking into the room.

I got up and we both looked around. The room was so full of steam that it was hard to see anything. And it was freezing.

"What's with all the steam?!" I asked Ryder. I had to shout to be heard above the clanging and banging of the engines.

Ryder glanced around with a puzzled look on his face.

"This isn't steam," He said.

He started walking towards the engines on the other side of the room. He soon disappeared through whatever gas was clouding the place, so I went to follow him.

"I have no idea what this is!" Ryder shouted back to me.

There was a pause and then I heard him scream.

"What's wrong?!" I yelled.

He emerged back out of the steam-like mist.

"You look like you just saw a ghost!" I said.

"I did!" He said. He looked petrified.

"What?!"

"I think there's a ghost in the engine!"

"That's ridiculous!"

Then I saw a hazy figure appear behind Ryder. He must have noticed my expression because he turned around. He immediately backed into me.

The figure came into focus. He looked like a young boy, just younger than me, but quite tall. He was slightly transparent and grey. But his eyes were bright red.

What happened next was perhaps the most shocking part of this encounter.

The ghost smiled to us and said "Hello, friends. I am Lonely Soul!"

 And Ryder fainted.