Passenger

Chapter 7

It was about halfway through the night when I heard noises.

Well, I think it was halfway through. It was pretty hard to keep track of time, being a ghost. I guess it had something to do with not having any kind of internal clock? Regardless, it was still night when I heard it. I had placed myself towards the top of the largest boulder in the cluster, and as I listened, I realized the sound was coming from below me. Leaning forwards and looking down, all I saw was Krys.

"are you having another nightmare?" I questioned, frowning. I'd been with Krys for three nights, and now two of them he'd seemingly had it rough sleeping. I decided it might be best to wake him up. "Krys. Hey, Krys."

No answer. Guess I was too far away. Floating down to ground level, I crouched next to him. "Krys...hey, Krys! Wake up, you're having a bad dream, dude!"

He didn't wake up – which surprised me, since I was yelling at him now. He was tossing and turning in place, brow furrowed as if in deep concentration. He must've been a really heavy sleeper.

I huffed, frustrated. In hindsight, maybe I should've given up trying to wake him, but at this point I was committed. "come on, Krys, wake up!" I shouted at him. "I'm trying to help you, so wake up already!"

For a moment, I forgot that I wasn't physical. I went to jab him with a finger and realized halfway through the motion that my hand would just go through him –

And as soon as my finger reached his shoulder, everything became engulfed in darkness.

Pain. So much pain. Burning, ripping, horrible pain –

What...what is this?

I can hear other voices, crying out in fear and pain as well. I'm scared. I'm so scared –

What is going on? What's happening to me?

A drill. A saw. So much red. I want it to stop. I'm so scared. I'm so...so...angry –

"Stop it!"

The words were torn from my throat without me meaning to say them. But something about screaming them returned me to my senses. I could feel my body again, and immediately I yanked my hand back, half flying, half falling backwards, rearing up to punch something in the face.

The only other person was Krys, back against the rock, staring at me with wide eyes and breathing hard. He looked afraid, but also surprised and confused. It was a weird expression on his face.

Seeing the expression helped bring me back to reality fully. "oh – uh, hey, easy! It's just me!" getting to my feet – sorta – I raised my hands. "it's just me. I didn't mean to spook you."

Krys' expression began to settle as I spoke. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before opening his eyes. "it's alright. Your face...it startled me."

"huh. You startle pretty easy, don't you?" I gave him a grin. "you know, most guys would be happy to see a pretty girl looking down at them."

Okay, so it was a bad joke, I know. But it was the first thing that came to mind and I was trying to ease the tension. Fortunately, I got a smile and a shake of the head from Krys. "no, it's not...not that. It was like your face had changed. It looked different than normal."

Huh? "different? What do you mean, my face looked different?" I repeated. "did I look upset or something? I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if I did..."

But Krys was shaking his head. "no, not like that." He replied. "your face...it was like it changed entirely. It became warped and...different. I didn't like it."