VANISHED (#1 in the VANISHED series) #NaNoWriMo2019 ✔

t w e n t y - f o u r ✔

Penny—and all her billowing breezes—vanished. And though the storm outside didn't stop battering the house foundations, desperate to shatter them and let Arielle out, she could finally breathe. The toxic, trapped air in her lungs blew out and allowed her to expand her rib-cage. And after two giant puffs, she collapsed against the balcony railing, somewhere between the main bedroom and the one where she'd found the rag.

Fear still paralyzed most of her motor functions. But without Penny's overwhelming hurricane of emotions swirling near her, the fog lifted a little. Enough for her to realize how much danger she was in; and how she'd underestimated the power ghosts might have.

But... ghosts can't kill, they can't. She threatened, but... she can't kill.

"R-right, Penny?" She couldn't stand, not with her legs shaking harder than they ever had in her life. She glanced at the wall, noticing its cracks near the base, its faded stains along the parts where the paper had been plastered. "You can't kill me... you're trying to scare me. Because..." She gulped. "I know too much? What, though? I've got nothing." Her body sagged against the balcony, its wooden bars indenting into her back, massaging the discomfort that had settled there.

Penny seemed to imply she'd reveal more to Arielle... if she died. Or that Arielle would find out on her own once she no longer lived. But why do that when Penny could come clean? Or contact Jade or even Stella somehow and have them tell her? They'd talk; they wouldn't be frightening and weird and cryptic like Penny was.

Would they?

"Penny? Are you there?" Though her chills had subsided and oxygen flowed freely to her lungs, she had an eerie feeling the specter hadn't abandoned the premises. No... she lurked somewhere, re-energizing herself, preparing for another round of arguments about who knew what and how much of it was allowed.

Arielle still wanted to leave, still felt like the longer she stayed, the closer she got to death. But one last hunch prompted her to sit up straight and attempt another move. One she should have tried earlier.

"Hey, Penny... where is Jade?" Her voice quivered with each word, and hesitated on Jade, but she wouldn't relent; she was too close. "Can she answer my questions? Because you keep saying you can't, wanting me to die for them. But maybe Jade won't be as mean. Maybe Jade has an alternative."

The idea of seeing her beloved best friend again packed her with well-needed relief, no matter how temporary. Her perfectly round curls, her bright eyes, her tanned skin. The voluptuous form of her waist and hips and how her back arched when she stood there, arms crossed, glaring but with a spark in her gaze.

So beautiful. I... fucking miss her.

Thunder boomed, more distant than before, though still close. Arielle whirled around and slid against the wall, watching as the tree branches whipped against the windows.

A jagged, slicing sheet of lightning pierced overhead. Its brightness blasted all over the balcony—and revealed a shape, fizzling in and out of focus, to Arielle's left, near the top of the stairs. A faint outline of a woman, with dark, long hair pooling over her shoulders. With a lacy, ancient-looking dress dropping from her waist and barely covering her bare feet. She kept her chin down, her arms steady at her sides; but Arielle had no trouble recognizing her.

The ghost from the Cemetery. Or... was she the suicide girl, from Queen's University?

Fuck...

A mix of the two? It was the same being that started to haunt her dreams a few days ago, that Jade seemed to morph into, that spooked her beyond anything she'd ever imagined. Was this Jade, but transformed, appearing as someone else because she was a ghost?