Carvings That Bind

The Churches Chase

Sawyer

She remembers.

Alyssan remembers how she died.

I'm not quite sure how I should act. Happy, remorseful, pitiful. I have no clue, so I sit quietly across from her, leaning on my desk. She hasn't said anything since we left my backyard. Lynn had found us back there or, more accurately, she found me hugging thin air and questioned what the hell I was doing. My only excuse was that I still needed some more rest and wasn't feeling the best. I didn't hear what she had to say since I'd made a quick escape, herding Alyssan up to my room.

Since neither Lynn nor my father have made an appearance, yet, I'm assuming I'm off the hook. For now, anyway.

I sigh and run a hand down my face in exhaustion. This whole day has seriously been something strange. I don't even think there's a proper word for what it's been.

My eyes scan over Alyssan for the umpteenth time today and my stomach tightens at the sight of her. Ever since she'd remembered her death, it triggered something that brought out all of the injuries she'd sustained before death. No longer is she perfectly polished and gorgeous. Now, she's just bloodied, cut up, and looking like something straight out of a horror movie. Her clothing is slashed and ripped. Her beautiful auburn waves are tangled and a mess. Blood stains her alabaster skin. Those amazing brown eyes hold a haunting note of everything she's seen.

What really catches my attention, though, is the carving right on her collar bone. It has my stomach turning and goosebumps rising on my skin. The numbers 666 and a building that looks to be a church right under it are messily made.

"Hey," My eyes move from the carving and to Alyssan's. She's looking at me, now, rather than down at her hands. "You haven't asked me anything." She stated before going quiet.

"Do you want me to?" Alyssan looks back down at her hands and closes them into tight fists. Her mouth becomes a taught line before she gives a quick shake of her head and says,

"No, not really. I'd rather not...relive it, if I don't have to." I nod at that and push off of my desk.

"Then, I won't ask. I don't really need to, anyway." She looks up at me in question at that. "You remember what happened, so, you should be able to move on or whatever it is ghosts do, right?" Alyssan shakes her head once more.

"I still don't know."

"You don't know what?"

"I still don't know where my body is. I need to find my body. You need to find my body, Sawyer. My parents need to know what happened to me." When she looks back up at me her eyes hold the same pleading look they had in my dream earlier. I bite down on my lip at that and look away.

Find her body? Can I even do that?

I look back at Alyssan and she's still giving me that look and I know I won't be able to say no. I sigh and cross my arms over my chest.

"You're going to have to tell me everything that happened, then."

"Everything?"

"Well, not everything, just what you think is important." My eyes zero in on the carving. "Like that." I said, pointing at it. "There has to be a meaning behind it." Alyssan's eyes flicker down to the carving and her left hand lifts up to cover it slightly.

"I'm not quite sure what it is. When he..." She pauses for a second before continuing. "When he did this, well he never really said anything. He was quite for the most part aside from laughing." Alyssan visibly shudders as she recalls what happened to her and I frown slightly at that.

"Well, it looks like a church to me. I mean, 666 and a little house with a cross, what else could it be?" Alyssan simply shrugs and meets my eyes once more.

"Maybe we should check out the church in town? It might lead to something." I nod and look over at the clock on my desk. The illuminated numbers read 7 P.M.

"Alright, we should go now, though, before it gets too late." Alyssan nods and stands from the bed. There's a newfound determination in her eyes, the haunted and sad look gone as if it were never there.

"Let's go."