Ghosting

Chapter 4 - The Reaper

Lance could only stare, eyes wide and fear prominent. His body held taunt, braced for an attack. But as the seconds ticked by the creature was still, its white skin giving it a look of a marbled statue.
He released a slow, shaky breath, not wanting to disturb the creature.

'wh- what are you...?' he grimaces as the soft words felt like a scream in the already deafening silence.

The creature finally moved, after what felt like forever. A simple tilt of its head and it leaned back on its hunches, no longer crowding the cowering boy.
Lance tensed at the movement but the fear that once clouded his mind had faded, leaving him more curious than scared.

'what are you.' he says again, louder and more forcefully. 'and why are you haunting me.' Lance doesn't know why but a nagging at the edges of his mind left him feeling second hand confusion, it took a moment before he realised that feeling was coming from the creature before him.
He stared up at it-her he thought,
It was a she, he was sure of it but didn't know why..-

'You're telepathic...' He said mostly to himself in the revelation. The sense of dread faded slowly and he sat himself up properly and crosses his legs.

As he stared up at the creature he felt a happiness run through him, stemming from being understood, he thought.

The creature mimicked him, pulling it's own elongated limbs into the seated position, she tilted her head at him, as if she had something to say but couldn't.

A barrier, lance thought, a barrier preventing him from.... he didn't know

He reached up to touch her blank face. He felt a sudden jolt go up his arm as he got too close.
He jerked his arm back and held it to his chest in shock.
The creature projected a disheartened mood in the way she lowered her head into her now hunched boney shoulders, as if she were expecting that outcome differently.

Lance didn't understand. He continued to stare, clutching the hand that he had reached out lightly.

The creature's posture softens, an expression almost akin to understanding flickering in the way she held herself. It should've been comforting, but only felt more uncertain. What did she understand? What did she know that he didn't?

He suddenly got a feeling, a tightness in his chest. He couldn't explain it but it didn't feel like his feeling. It was an ache. Like he had just watched someone walk away without saying goodbye, had to let something go that he wasn't finished with. It was intense and he gasped with it and the creature sat up in response to his feeling. She nodded. The feeling lifted, and he breathed easy again. He didn't fully understand, but he felt calmer now.

The creature stood then, to it's full height and took a step back cocking its head in a farewell.

Lance stood and watched as it disappeared into the pitch black fog.
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Lance blinks awake from the odd dream and frowns, his chest felt lighter but his head still swam with uncertainty, he felt as though he had been given the answer to a very hard question but in a language he didn't even know.

He groans and rubs his eyes, in an attempt to restart his brain rather then alleviate the ever growing exhaustion.

He just didn't understand what was happening to him, was he really being haunted? Or was something more sinister or magical going on... he wasn't one to believe in magic but in this case he'd believe anything, just to give himself a shred of closure.

Why could nothing be simple, straight forward, clear pointed. No everything has to be hard, a challenge.

He sighs, the frustration draining away, leaving him with nothing but how awake he is. No matter how exhausted and heavy his body feels, it's like his mind is running at a million miles per second and that he'll never sleep again. The feeling disturbed him so his looks out the window, the view is the same as its always been, rolling farm paddocks with sheep and cow alike grazing peacefully.
Staring out onto his family farm always calmed him down but- as he stared out of this window  a view that used to fill him with such joy now only left him more uneasy.
It was different,  he didn't know how or why but somehow everything had changed. It was in the little things, a shed that had not been there before and calves that were not there that morning, he didn't recall it being calving season either.
The confusion only set deeper into his bones, he couldn't understand what was happening. He pushes himself away from the window as feeling similar to dread creeped at the edges of his mind. He staggers out of his room and down the stairs, there was a panic in the way he moved.
He couldn't fathom the details, no matter how minute, things were changing around him.
Was it the stress?
Captain of the swim team
Keeping straight A's
Balancing it all with his partime job and family.
Yes that must be it. He was simply stressed.

Or that's what he had wanted to tell himself until his eyes fell on his mother's well kept callender. She was obsessed with keeping it concise and up to date, and she never varied or missed marking off a day.

And the date that sat clear as day upon that dreadful calendar 10th of April, a good two and a half months since when he had seen it that morning.

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