The Wandering.

Chapter 12

They wander these streets
In this ghost town
Wandering lost
But waiting to be found

- Taken from my poetry book "A boy in this f***ing world."

1

Tobias Loren closed his laptop and stretched into a yawn. The Monday afternoon was quiet, but relaxing, and the only thing bothering him was the fact Shari hadn't returned to the boarding house after rushing out of the diner the day before.

As he thought of this, a Volvo pulled up to the boarding house, a two women began walking towards him.

"Hi, I'm Diana. This is Gia." The first one said.

Diana had long brown hair that fell in loose waves, a tan petite face with ruby red lips. Her eyes were large, of a mysterious chocolate brown, with long lashes and groomed eyebrows. Gia was a little less Victoria secret model, but beautiful nonetheless. Gia had her brown hair in a ponytail that fell to her shoulders, her dark caramel coloured skin a little lighter than her hair and her dark eyes looked fuelled with adrenaline.

"Hi... I'm Tobias." He replied awkwardly.

Gia nodded. "We're here to tell Lorelei Devereux of Shari's situation, do you know where we can find her?"

Tobias stiffened. "Is she okay?"

"She was shot." Diana said simply.

"Woah woah, hold up?" Tobias cried. "What the hell? When did this happen?"

"Look, come inside. We'll find Mrs Devereux and we can all talk about it at the same time." Gia suggested with a sigh, beckoning Tobias towards the boarding house.

Feeling confused and flabbergasted, he followed the two women into the boarding house, in disbelief.

After the two brunettes told the story of the cult and the showdown with the trigger-happy old man, silence had overcome the room.

Lorelei shook her head in disbelief. "I spoke with Shari about The Wandering. I didn't know she'd put herself in such danger."

"The Wandering?" Diana repeated, an eyebrow raised in question.

"It's what we call the spirits. Those on the astral plane, stuck in limbo." Lorelei said.

"This stuff is all real?" Tobias asked, dumbfounded.

Gia rolled her eyes in sarcasm. "No, we're just making it up. For fun."

Tobias smiled, appreciating her humour in such worrisome times.

Gia got to her feet. "Enough talk, let's go visit her."

2

It was almost silent, the spiritual purgatory had only the sound of the constant blowing wind as Shari made her way down Main Street, passing the empty diner. It seemed she was in the Further, and she could feel that she wasn't supposed to be there.

Her flame red hair blew behind her, for the wind seemed to be picking up already, making it difficult for her to move forward at a quick place.