Necromancer

Nightwalker

。O  。

That night I was reminiscing about school. I sat in my room at my desk, the algebraic fractions homework in front of me. My pen hanging limply from my mouth while I daydreamed. My bedroom door was open, and downstairs I could hear the TV playing a local news report about Tommy Phelps's grave robbery. No one was saying anything about Tommy digging himself out. It was all about the community's outrage and police imploring the local youth to be respectful of the Phelps family's loss.

They didn't give out a lot of information about the family, no statements or titbits. It made me think Tommy's Mum really had been schizophrenic. The whole family could've been looney and not good for this TV sympathy piece.

After all, I'd heard from everyone, so many different sources that it had to be credible: before hanging himself Tommy wrote on the wall in blood 'The Devil made me do it'. The blood came from a possum he'd shot with a hunting rifle. If that doesn't scream mental instability then what does?

My sister was scrambling about the hallway, racing between rooms and tripping on the dance shoes she always left out. Ballet ones with the long laces. I knitted my fingers together and rested my chin on my hands. Simon had been so rude in roll call. I'd said nothing to him in Maths, but I replayed our talk over and over for the rest of the day. Even forgetting my lines in rehearsals. Ms Worrall was not happy. You are Prince Demetri in the Enchanted Kingdom, you're a pivotal character! You must not forget your lines! Doesn't change the fact that between Acts Two to Eight I spend most of the play transformed into a tree and waiting to be rescued. Big whoop.

Simon was not the type of guy who cared about appearances. He didn't care if he was rude. He just said what was on his mind, instantly cutting through to the heart of any conversation. He wasn't cordial with me because we're not friends. But... I want to be. How do I say that to him though? It was my fault... I'd misread the situation and misread him. The angle I took when I chose to approach him wasn't the correct one, and now he had a bad first impression of me. I wondered what assumption he'd formulated in his head. My sister ran past my room and the pen slipped from my mouth.

I picked it up and dragged a hand down my face, blurring my tired eyes. I brought the pen to my margin and started to doodle a dark eye. Simon's dark eye. Downstairs I could hear my parents talking in the living room. I would keep trying to befriend Simon, even though he probably won't let me get close until he figures out why. I just want to figure out if he's gay without facing the embarrassment, rejection and crushing let-down if he isn't. I'm smart, I know I'll figure something out.

Suddenly I turned to my bedroom window, the curtains were parted and leaking moonlight. I set down my pen and got up for no reason, drifting over to the glass and peering into the forest that bordered our yard. The pines had leaves, but many other trees were crooked and skeletal in the black. A subtle mist left the night foggy and blurred the edges of the pane. Moisture glowing white as the moon sat unobscured amidst a cloudy night. I was hit with another strange burst of intuition. Nothing more than a feeling of eerie significance.

Something was out there. Wandering in the dark. I caught a glimpse of pale skin under moonlight. Grey with purpling veins from necrosis, soiled with dirt. Moving between my view of branches for just an instant. I wobbled between my bare feet on the carpet and blinked. A vision of reality where we suspend our fixed certainties, a moment no more real than a dream. I stopped entertaining it and went back to my desk.

。O  。

That morning I drove to school with a thermos of coffee. I'd dreamed the night before but couldn't remember what. All that lingered in my memory was the feeling of unease. I'd decided to take a different route so I could drive by the local cemetery - it was the only amount of immature excitement I was going to allow myself. When the tall fencing came into view, those crisscrossing lines of metal, I turned my whole head to get a peek.