Voodootown

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Eun Kyung

Eun Kyung nodded to herself as she looked through the peep hole on her front door. It was Ash and that cheerleader girl, Bambi. She opened the door and nodded at them. "This is not a surprise," she said.

Ash looked over both shoulders, but Bambi just stared at the door frame. The cheerleader blinked and moved her face like she was having a silent conversation with herself. Before Eun Kyung could speak, Ash held out his hand and offered her a necklace with an oval ring on it.

"You came here to give me jewelry? The two of you?" she asked.

"Uh, pretty much," Ash said. He had a backpack, the straps over both shoulders like he was hiking somewhere.

Eun Kyung nodded at the pendant. "What's that for? Saving your ass?"

He hesitated a moment, looked around again. "Not exactly," he said.

He kept looking around like he was expecting someone to jump out of the hedges. "God, if you're going to act that way, come on in," Eun Kyung said. She moved out of the way and first Ash, then Bambi stepped inside. "Ya know, when it comes to weird, you do not disappoint." She closed the door and took the necklace. It was heavier than it looked.

Eun Kyung turned to Bambi, saw the girl was still working something out. She hefted the necklace and looked at Ash. "Does this have anything to do with that invisible friend you keep talking about? I had a dream about that."

Ash gave her a nod. It was small and the way he was chomping on his lower lip screamed at her that he had a secret he was afraid to talk about. Eun Kyung didn't feel like she had time to wait for him to spit it out. Things had been getting very weird, and since Ash was weird, he might know what was going on.

"And what about everyone walking around like they're on Prozac?" she asked. "My mom is just sitting in the back yard. She never sits."

He nodded again, then craned his head around. "She's in the back yard? Can she see us?"

She glared at him a moment then jerked her thumb back. "You know...there's a house in the way. So, no." She was getting impatient, but the thought of her mother's weird behavior brought up another question, the important one that had been bothering her all afternoon. "Is it happening to me? I've been tired all afternoon. Felt like total crap."

"No. It's not happening to you," Ash said. "It's just...today's been kind of a weird day."

Bambi seemed to stir out of whatever state she had been in. She turned to Ash, but said nothing.

"Put on the necklace. You'll feel better," Ash said.

"You're kidding, right?" Eun Kyung asked.

"It really works," Bambi said. She turned back to Ash. "You should tell her. Everything. Show her."

At that, Eun Kyung saw Ash go pale. "I'm not supposed to," he said.

"Tell me what?" Eun Kyung asked.

"I don't want to be the only one who knows," Bambi said as Ash just stood there. "Show her."

"You haven't met Twister or Ju Ju," Ash said. "They're cranky. They wouldn't like it."

Eun Kyung put out a hand to stop them. "Okay. I'm fine with weird. But rude pisses me off. This is rude."

She watched as Ash leaned his head back. It almost looked like he was listening to his backpack. The only time she had really talked to him before was when he had his nose broken the week before, but she had been impressed by how he handled it. He had sounded crazy, but he hadn't whined or cried about it. And listening to his backpack was plenty crazy, but at least it was still interesting.

He slumped a little, like the backpack had told him bad news. "Okay," he said. "You'll need to have the necklace on." He took the backpack off and set it on the ground.

Eun Kyung slipped the necklace on and sucked in a deep breath. Her eyelids stopped drooping and with one shake of her head, all the drowsiness left her.

"You know how I said that you have a friend too?" Ash asked. When Eun Kyung nodded he reached for the zipper on his backpack. "Yours is named Root. She wants to meet you."

As the zipper buzzed open, Eun Kyung frowned. Then the bag opened by itself and a small cloth doll climbed out. Its black hair was messily cut and it wore a hoodie and dark jeans. It was like a little copy of Eun Kyung, with buttons for eyes. "Holy crap," Eun Kyung said.

The doll looked around. "It's nice to be home."

"You live here?" Eun Kyung asked.

The doll nodded. "Under your bed. Sometimes in the closet."

Slowly, Eun Kyung began to nod. The sight of a talking voodoo doll should have made her call a psychiatrist, but something about the doll felt real, and familiar. She tried to remember what Ash had said the doll's name was. Root. "So, all those weird ass dreams...that was you?"

Root shrugged. "Yeah. I guess we have a lot to talk about."

Eun Kyung snorted. "No doubt." She saw two other dolls peek out of the backpack. One had on a rocket ship pajama top and the other had dirty, torn clothing. Finally, one more doll came to the edge of the pack, but it wore a blindfold. "Who are you, the blind swordsman?"

Everyone just stared at her. No one ever got her martial arts movie references.

"We should get the others," Root said. "You want to come?"

Eun Kyung looked up to Ash and Bambi. The cheerleader was back to her staring and now Eun Kyung knew why. She nodded at Root. "Hell, yeah. I gotta see what comes next."