The Haunting

Chapter Five

"Wait, can you repeat that?" I asked in shock.

"I, you got that? Am. Here. To teach you, yes you. To be, as in the letter. A Shaman."

"Butthead," I muttered under my breath.

"Hhmm?"

"Oh, nothing. So, back to the matter at hand. You plan on me becoming a shaman. Is Adrian high, or something? I don't take jokes that threatening my safety, or my boyfriends saftey, funny." I actually started to giggle, even though I was perfectly serious.

He gave me a long, cold, meticulous look, that dragged on forever. "I assure you. Adrian is not under the influence. He is perfectly serious and you should not question him." The last part was said in cold fury. That is when I started to get nervous. I gulped and looked down at the floor.

"I-I-I," I said, and not because of the stutter, for once, because I could say nothing. I continued to stare down at the floor.

"You will not insult Adrian before me again. Okay?"

I nodded in acknowledgment. I don't know why, but the way he said that, and the way he was holding himself, in total confidence, I think he's gay. Don't ask me why. It's just a sneaking suspicion.

"Today we are going to learn how to Astral Project." I stared at him mutely. I swear he was bent on destroying me.

"Isn't that, like, the hardest thing to do?" I asked. It sure sounded like it.

"Actually, no. It is one of the first things you can do as a Shaman. Also the most versitile. What you do is you go into a state of relaxation, imagine the place you want to go to with no distractions. Soon, it will feel like your falling, and then poof, your there."

Okay, it sounded easy in theory. Still. "Can I imagine a person, rather thana place?" I said wanting to see Derek.

"Well, yes, but only if you have a deep connection with that person. Even then it might not work. Skill comes with age and only the most skilled Shamans can do that. Sometimes an especially gifted Shaman can do that, but that's really rare."

I harrumfed at him but closed my eyes. At first I was trying to just pick a place at random, but after a while I just pictured Derek. I focused on his smile, the way he looked at me, his smell, the way his voice rumbled in his chest. I started smiling a little, but then I started to feel light-headed. Then I started to fall. I was flailing my arms and legs in an effort to stop my fall, but all it did was make me even more light-headed. Then I was on the ground.

I let out a squeak of surprise. I was sitting in a cell like my own. Had that all just been a crazy dream then? Then I heard a moan and the rattle of chains. I looked over and saaw that Derek was chained to the wall. He had bloody slashes all over him, and one of them was still bleeding freely. I gasped and rushed over to him.

"Derek? Derek? Are you okay?" He didn't even seem to notice me. "Derek! Look at me! What's wrong with you?!" I was getting more panickd by the second. "DEREK!"

Then I had a weird sucking sensation and I was back in the room with Ash. He was shaking me with a worried expresion on his face. "Chloe honey? Whats wrong?"

"What did you do to Derek? He... you...hurt him! Slashes all over him!" I was shaking, but I didn't feel cold.

He looked confused. "Chloe? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I w-was doing w-w-what y-you said. I pictured Derek and, and, and hes hurt So badly! And he wouldn't responed to me when I called him."

His face was expressionless. "Chloe, your telling me that you pictured Derek, then you travled to where he was?" I nodded my head, confused by the lack of emotion in his voice. "When you Astral Project nobody can see nor hear you." he said it with a numbed voice. Then he looked me in the eye and wispred one word, "Freak."