Voices From Beyond

Chapter 7

Her cold and lifeless fingers feel suctioned to my skin, my head begins to spin. "I don't... I don't know what you're talking about," I sputter out between breaths. I'm sweating now, I can feel droplets running down my forehead.

"My son!" She screams into my ear, piercing my eardrums with every syllable.

I stumble forward, my hands connect with the sink for balance. I stare in the mirror, my eyes twitching back and forth. "Please, whatever you're doing, please stop," I whisper as I clench my eyes shut. My brain feels like it's going to explode, the throbbing spreads throughout my whole body. With every passing second, I feel myself pulsing as if I were a giant heart fighting for the next beat.

"Find him, find my son," She draws her face close to mine, I can't see her but I can feel her breath hot on my neck.

The room is spinning in every direction, I think I might pass out any minute now. "Who..." I take a breath, "who is your son?" I choke out, my knuckles turning white from gripping the sink so tightly. My veins pulse crimson black. It feels like she's suctioning out my blood and draining me to nothing. I'm sure that I'm going to die.

Just as soon as she'd appeared, she disappears. I'm left alone in the bathroom, breathless and tired. I stumble, my back connecting with the bathroom door when I crumble down and run my fingers shakily through my hair. I'm trying to catch my breath, wiping sweat from my face. I choke down the tears and ignore the throbbing of my shoulders as I let my head lean back against the door. All I can think is, why is this happening to me? Who is her son? How do I make all of this end?

I wish it were that simple. If I find her son, give her what she wants, maybe she'll go away forever. Maybe I'll feel normal again, be able to sleep at night. But that's just too easy, and deep down I know it.

I regain my strength and adjust my sleeves in the mirror. I smooth down my hair and take in a deep breath. Everything will be fine. I do my best to play it off, to walk down the stairs of Sydney's house and join my friends for some drinks. The further down the stairs I make it, the louder the kitchen sounds. Music, laughter, and conversation all blend together.

Bruno stumbles out of the kitchen, his phone to his ear. "Babe, I'm sorry. I know, I'm just out with my friends," he pauses while his girlfriend, or so I'm assuming, answers him on the other end, "I'll stay safe. Can't wait to see you tomorrow, I love you," he slurs a few of his words, but it's the thought that counts. With that, he hangs up and slides his phone into his pocket. "Oh, Cora. I didn't see you there," he waves up to me.

"Hey Bruno, hows the party going in there?" I ask him as I reach the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh you know, same as usual. So far Kennedy, Sydney, and Mitch are hammered. Drake and Aaron probably will be soon too, Ryan and I cut ourselves off for a while because we don't want to overdo it. Don't need another blackout," he laughs at that part and shakes his head, "Noah and Samuel are pretty cool, just kind of quiet tonight," he finishes.

"Ah, well I think I'm gonna head in there. You aren't planning on driving, right?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"No way, all the dudes are sleeping over. We might do some dumb stuff but we aren't complete idiots," he shrugs.

I nod to him approvingly as I slide through the kitchen door, Bruno follows behind me. Drake and Aaron are shoveling chips into their mouths across the room. Sydney is perched on the island counter, her legs are wrapped around Mitch's waist and her eyes are hungrily looking into his. Bruno slides into a chair next to Samuel and Noah at the table, Samuel is telling a story, Noah and Bruno find whatever Samuel is telling them funny. Ryan and Kennedy are pouring shots of tequila, they down them like it's water on a hot summer day. Apparently Ryan didn't actually cut himself off like Bruno had said a minute ago. I cross over to Kennedy and Ryan where I snag one of the shot glasses and down it suddenly. The tequila slides down my throat and I can practically feel it crash into my stomach. I do one more shot before I hand the glass back to Ryan, his eyes look tired but his smile shows his excitement. I lean against the opposite side of the counter than they're on, wiping the sides of my mouth with my sleeve.

"There you go, let loose a little bit," Kennedy winks at me, her eyes dare me to drink more.

"As fun as that sounds, I don't feel like getting wasted tonight," I shake my head.

"Oh, yeah okay," she rolls her eyes sarcastically. I smile and shake my head again, crossing the room back over to Bruno. He's waving me toward the table.

"Cora, Cora. Tell them about that one night at the lake house, that night we all went skinny dipping. They don't believe me," he laughs and motions toward Samuel and Noah.

I pull out a chair between Noah and Bruno, Samuel is across from me. I prop my head up with my hand. "Oh it happened, it definitely happened," I confirm Bruno's story.

A couple summers ago, Ryan invited some of us to his family's lake house. We all got super high and dared Drake to go skinny dipping. Before we knew it, we were all in with him. I still remember the adrenaline I felt, the way the night sky looked when we glanced up at it, how the stars would reflect off of the water. It was definitely a night to remember. Samuel and Noah look surprised for a second, but after it sinks into their heads, it isn't that big of a deal.

We can't wait to go to your school, you guys are really cool," Samuel thinks aloud.

"What can I say," Bruno pretends to dust his shoulders off. Bruno crosses the room over to Ryan and Kennedy, he joins them in another round.

"There was this one time, I convinced Samuel to sneak into this abandoned building with me, we spray painted the shit out of that place before we heard someone and sprinted the hell out of there," Noah tells a story, his eyes wide with excitement.

"Yeah, and what a dumb idea that was. My shoelace got caught on something and it completely yanked my shoe right off. I had to run home with one shoe all because of his crazy idea," Samuel smirks and rolls his eyes.

"Hey, no you didn't. You ended up wearing my shoes, remember? You got mad because you almost stepped on a piece of glass so I just gave you mine. I was the one running around in socks," Noah throws his head back laughing.

"Fine, fine. But I still lost my favorite pair of shoes because of you," Samuel laughs along with him, taking a swig of his drink. I laugh along as well, we each tell a few more stories. I almost forget about what had happened in the bathroom only moments ago.

A few hours go by, I find myself perched on Sydney's downstairs bathtub while I hold her dark hair out of her face. She blows chunks into the toilet, I keep my eyes locked on a painting on her wall. It's a ship, if I stare at it hard enough, I can almost see it crashing through the waves. I hand her a water bottle when she looks up at me gratefully. She chugs down half the bottle and wipes her face on a cloth. I'm still sitting on the edge of the tub when she leans up against her sink. Her hair is an absolute mess and her eyes are only halfway open. Somehow she still manages to not look ugly even in this state.

"I have to tell you something," she croaks with as much excitement she can muster up.

"Okay," I let her continue, thankful that I didn't let myself get hammered.

"Mitch and I..." her smile grows wider.

"Yeah?" I grin, predicting her answer as I flush the toilet for her.

"We had sex for the first time last night," her eyes open as wide as she can get them before they fall back shut.

"Oh my! How was it?" I nudge her with my foot.

"Great. It was perfect," she mumbles half asleep.

I stand up and cross over to her, grabbing her hands and pulling her up to her feet before she falls asleep again. She drapes her arm over my shoulder and I help her walk to the couch where she collapses beside Mitch, he nods to me gratefully and wraps her up in a blanket. She falls asleep in his arms almost instantly. Kennedy is on the couch across from them, she's staring at the ceiling sleepily. On the floor, blankets and pillows are scattered around the room where everyone else is sleeping. I turn off the kitchen light and use my phone flashlight to find another pillow and blanket. I make my bed in a corner and face the wall laying on my side. I force my eyes shut long enough for me to join everyone else in sleep.