Haven searched the blush section in a brightly-lit Sephora store for her usual as she thought about the previous day. She wasn't satisfied with Mr. Sloan's response about the cave or the fact that she also saw the shadow ghost people. In the latter, he had just questioned whether they really saw them at the exact same place and time and asked if they could prove it, which, of course, they couldn't.
"Hey guys, are you almost done?" Johnsie asked from an aisle over. "I've gotten everything already."
"I'm not even close," Lauryn replied. "I'm running out of a lot of stuff."
"I've finished," Haven said half-distractedly, plucking what she had been looking for off the shelf.
"So we're just waiting on Lauryn now," Allison said, leaning against the wall and staring at her phone, holding a small container of lip gloss in her hand.
"It's not gonna take very long to find everything!" Lauryn exclaimed in defense.
"I wasn't trying to attack you," Allison said, then paused. "Say, Haven, what were you doing yesterday that made you unable to go out with us?"
"I had to meet up with someone," the blonde responded, trying to sound as casual as she could.
Lauryn picked up an eyeshadow palette. "Who?"
"A friend," Haven replied in a vague manner. "I had made plans with him before you, so I had to respect that."
Lauryn raised her eyebrows like she did every time she heard something interesting. "Ooh, a guy?"
Haven rolled her eyes. "Yes, a guy." Johnsie, poking her head around a corner, and Allison stared at her with excited expressions on their faces. "You're just as bad as Micah!" Her sister still hadn't stopped pestering her about Matt.
Allison grinned. "Do you like him?"
"Not like that," Haven answered. "I barely know him at the moment. We just met, like, a couple weeks ago."
"But do you think you'll like him in time for homecoming?" Johnsie asked with a wide smile.
Haven's eyebrows skyrocketed in exasperation. "Seriously?" Her three friends laughed.
"Speaking of that, though, when should we go buy our homecoming dresses?" Allison asked.
"Maybe the Saturday after..." Haven began, but she ceased to speak when she detected a certain silence. Her friends all stared at her with concerned expressions as a chill ran down her spine. "Pay for my stuff if Lauryn's ready before I come back." She thrust her few items and lilac purse into Allison's hands, and her friends watched her race off through the mall.
Haven conducted a quick survey of the area and spotted the shadow ghost people at the other end of the ground floor beneath the one she was on, already making their way in her direction. She dashed away before they were able to come too close.
She darted into a large Forever 21 store and scoured the place for a spot to hide, but she couldn't find anything to crouch behind that would cover her completely. She had misjudged the store's hiding spot potential. She saw the shadow ghost people racing closer out of the corner of her eye, so she grabbed the nearest shirt, sprinted to the back of the store, and gained access to a dressing room. There she waited, hoping she had ducked low enough while in the main area of the store that the creatures wouldn't know where she had gone.
However, she doubted this had happened, and soon enough, she felt their aura of fear getting closer and saw their far-reaching fingers come toward her from anywhere they could get through, their soulless eyes agape. She shut her own eyes tight and covered her face with her hands. The shadowy phantoms moved around her as her heart pounded in her chest.
YOU ARE READING
To Survive without the Guardians
FanfictionHaven Avery and Matt Sloan have gone many years of their lives being haunted by Fearlings, or, as they know them as, "shadow ghost people" or "demons." They don't know why they're targeted, but they don't really care. They're much more concerned wit...
