Back From The Dead

Back Again

On October 2nd, 2017, I was sitting in a booth of a diner somewhere in Kansas. I didn't feel like going anywhere near my hometown, so I took a bus from Little Rock to Jefferson City. I hadn't been able to sleep on the bus, so I stayed there for the night and headed for Kansas yesterday. Now, in that diner about an hour away from Topeka, I was waiting for my first real meal in two days. I was staring at nothing in particular when the waitress put down a plate in front of me.

"Enjoy," she said while already walking away.

I murmured a thank you and sized up the gigantic burger on my plate. Beef, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, onions. My stomach growled when I looked at my dinner.

"Here are your onion rings," the waitress said as she took a basket from the tray she was carrying on her shoulder and put it on the table.

"I didn't or-," I started, but she interrupted me and pointed at a pale girl with red hair sitting at the bar.

"Treat from the redhead over there."

"Oh," I said, "thank her for me."

The girl looked at me and I gestured a thank you to her. She smiled and got up. I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes. I did not want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to eat my dinner.

"Can I?" the girl said as she pointed at the empty seat in front of me.

"Sure," I said, "if you don't mind me eating my dinner while you sit there."

"Of course not," she said and sat down.

"Thank you for the onion rings."

"You're welcome."

She stared at me, but I didn't mind. I grabbed my burger and took a bite. It was glorious. The girl looked away and waited until I put my burger down to take a sip from my drink.

"Are you Katherine?"

"No," I said, too fast.

I knew she knew I was lying. She looked at me with curious brown eyes, waiting for me to say yes.

"Okay fine. Who's asking?"

"Charlie."

I took an onion ring and took a bite.

"Bradbury," she added.

"Okay Charlie Bradbury," I said and pushed the onion rings towards her, "how do you know my name?"

She took an onion ring and held it in her hand.

"That doesn't really matter."

I rolled my eyes. Great. I grabbed my burger again. Charlie slowly ate the onion ring.

"What do you do for a living?" she asked.

"I'm a student."

Another lie. But I looked young enough to still be in college. Scratch that, I still was young enough to be in college if I hadn't chosen to become a hunter. "What about you?"

"I'm a software engineer."

"Cool," I said, not knowing what that exactly meant but also realizing that if she would start to explain I would probably not understand.

Charlie looked away, which gave me the opportunity to look at her better. She had red hair, light skin and brown eyes. She was wearing blue jeans and a khaki-colored jacket over a dark blue and red plaid shirt. She carried a brown backpack that seemed new.

"Where are you headed?" Charlie asked when I wiped my hands with the red napkin the waitress had given me.

"Nebraska," I lied.

"Me too," she said.

"Lincoln, Nebraska?" I asked.

"Yes."

Now it was my turn to wait for her to tell the truth.

"No," she said after a few seconds, "I'm going to Lebanon, Kansas."

"I heard that's the geographical center of the lower forty-eight states," I said, offering her another onion ring and taking one for myself too.

"I didn't know that," she said.

I didn't know what to say so I gave Charlie the last onion ring and I put the cutlery and napkin on my empty plate as a sign that I was done and about to leave. I grabbed my backpack and got my wallet out. I put a twenty dollar bill on the table and got up.

"I gotta go," I said and held out my hand for her to shake it, "it was nice meeting you."

Charlie ignored my hand and got up, "I'll walk you to the bus stop."

I realized I never told her I was traveling by bus. I wondered how she know, but I wasn't worried. I could take care of myself and she was not much bigger than me.

"Sure," I said, fairly sure that she had realized her mistake by then.

The bus stop wasn't far and I wasn't in a hurry, so I walked slowly. Except for Charlie next to me, there were no people close by. I heard some car noises somewhere in the distance. As soon as we stepped into the shadow and the faint light coming from the windows of the diner disappeared, Charlie grabbed my arm. She didn't expect me to be prepared, so it only took a few seconds for me to pull my arm from her grip, push Charlie against the wall, pinning her arms to her back, and holding the knife I always carried in my pocket to her throat.

"Wait!" she said, out of breath.

"Why?" I said.

"I'm a hunter," she said, "check my arm."

I pulled up the sleeve of the arm she was trying to wriggle loose. An anti-possession tattoo. I let her go.

"Fine," I said, still holding onto the knife and pointing it at her, "what do you want with me?"

"I need your help," she said, rubbed her arms where I had held them.

"What kind of help?"

"I need to get to Lebanon," Charlie said, "I need to get to my friends."

"Why do you need my help? There's a bus stop right there."

"I have been...," she didn't finish her sentence.

I waited for her to say what she wanted to say.

"I have come back from the dead," she said, "I don't know how. I just know I have been dead for three years. And they told me to look for you."