The Unhaunted

7. Distraction

The brightening sky held a faint blush of pink—the last remnant of a fading sunrise that I'd managed to miss by a scant few minutes as I checked and rechecked my gear. The weather forecast was clear and unseasonably warm for mid October. I intended to take full advantage of it.

"You're crazy," Donny said. He stood at my elbow as I checked my bike's tires for the third time. "It's too cold to ride in October."

"It's nearly sixty degress! Anyway, if you have the right gear, you can ride all year long."

"Sixty is a stretch," Donny shook his head. "It's barely 55 degrees right now and it's windy. You're going to freeze."

I ignored Donny as I pulled on my gloves and adjusted the strap on my helmet. I was wearing cycling tights, a short sleeved jersey with arm warmers and jacket over that. I also had calf warmers on beneath the tights. The only bit of skin that was exposed was my face, and after riding for 15 minutes, I knew the chill wouldn't bother me.

I swung my right leg over the road bike and clipped my shoe into the pedal, then pushed off and clipped my left foot in. The initial burst of momentum and icy wind against my face felt good. I smiled.

Donny kept up effortlessly beside me. I glanced down at my bike computer and watched my speed climb from 8 mph to 12 to 14 before I had to slow down as I approached the stop sign at the end of my road.

I navigated the maze of suburban streets effortlessly until I came to the one lane road that I would spend the next forty-five minutes riding. It wound out of the suburbs and into a more rural neighborhood, hugging a river on the left and spanning big empty acres of barren land on the right. It was a gorgeous time of year to ride—a canopy of brightly colored leaves from oak, maple and sycamore trees accompanied me. The morning light grew brighter and my sunglasses darkened, protecting my eyes from the autumn glare.

I was on a straight run and could feel my heart rate increase as I quickened my pedaling. My speed climbed to 15 mph, then 17. Donny was beside me, a blur of color.

"Riding isn't going to help you figure out what's going on," He said finally.

"It relaxes me," I huffed. The first twenty minutes of the ride were always the most difficult for me in terms of finding my breath. I struggled to control my breathing and dropped the gear down a notch so I could talk more easily.

"It distracts you," He said.

"Stop judging," I snapped and veered to the left to avoid a patch of broken asphalt that wasn't quite a pot hole.

"This road is a mess," Donny complained. I ignored him, dropping my gear even lower as I approached a small climb. I stood up on the bike, legs pumping, butt jutting out over the seat. When the road leveled off again, I sat and turned to look at Donny, but he was still a blur of color.

"We have to go back to that house," I said. "See if there are any clues about what that thing was and why it took that spirit."

"Bad idea," Donny said. "You saw what it was capable of."

I thought for a minute, my mind focusing on cadence of my legs as they pushed and pulled the pedals. The road curved right and adjusted my gears yet again, getting ready for a series of hills that rose and fell for the next two miles. The expert cyclists called them rollers. I called them fun.

"You have a point," I said, letting my legs rest for thirty seconds as I crested the first roller and coasted down. My nose began to run in the chill air and I sniffed. "What other options do we have? We have to figure this out, Donny. I haven't seen a spirit besides you in two weeks."

"Call Brian."

"Uh uh!"

"Isa, he's the only one who can help you at this point. You have to stop ignoring his texts."

I pedaled furiously as I thought about my encounter with Brian. We'd exchanged numbers after he took me home. I'd watched him drive away into the darkening gloom and made a decision to keep him out of this—whatever was going on, he was too green to help me and I didn't need him getting in the way. Still, he'd been at the house and seen the strange phenomenon twice now. That couldn't be a coincidence. He might have some connection to the spirit world that could help me.

I sighed and fell into an even cadence, keeping my speed at a steady 16 mph.

"Okay. I think you're right. I can't do this by myself."

"No. You can't."

There was something about Donny's tone that I didn't like. I shifted down and eased up on the pedals, releasing the clip on my right and hopping off the bike as I pulled back on the brakes.

"What is it?" I asked. Donny stood beside me, his face a mask of worry.

"I didn't want to say anything, Isa, but..."

"Just tell me!"

"There's another house where people disappeared. And not just live people—spirits."

"Wait...what? How do you know this?"

"Because we can see each other now," Donny said. He looked really frightened.

"Who?"

"The spirits, Isa. We can all see each other now—not like before when we could only see each other if we were on the same plane. And everyone's scared because this doesn't feel right. It feels forced—like something is making us visible to each other."

I stared past Donny at the long winding road then turned around and saw the same view behind me. It seemed endless—that road—a black ribbon that circled the globe.

My mind working furiously to try and figure out what this could mean. Spirits forced into the same plane—flushed out of hiding like...bees smoked out of their hive. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and suddenly I wanted to cry.

"Donny, I'm scared," I said. My nose was running profusely now that I'd stopped riding and I wiped the snot away with one gloved hand.

"What is it, Isa?" What's wrong?"

 "I'm afraid I'm going to lose you."