Out of the Darkness

51 Anna's POV

I stood next to Colby, watching him as he waited with his eyes closed. The other guys were walking slowly towards him, trying to muffle the sounds of their footsteps. One had even taken his shoes off. That was Sam. I remembered his name. Colby spoke of him often. Colby's face seemed to get a little anxious so I instinctively reached my hand out to his, trying to offer comfort. When my hand slid through his, it frustrated me. Until I saw the slight smile on his face. I felt like that smile was meant for me, letting me know that he felt me. That made me happier than it probably should've. The guys moved in on him then, blowing gently towards his face, barely touching his shoulder. One of the others, Kian or JC, I wasn't sure which. He was tall and lanky, with a handsome face. He walked away, further back, then took out his flat mirror screen contraption. He poked it with his fingers a few times, then the sound of a maniacal laughter came through it, sounding slightly further away than it actually was. Colby tensed against the sound, but didn't move. Sam and other, who had been whispering something into Colby's ear, back away then, walking back towards the tall, lanky one. Once they were there, they started whispering, their heads close together. I almost floated over so that I could hear what they were saying but then something changed where Colby and I were at. The darkness somehow got even darker, and the silence became deafening. If I had been a normal human, I wouldn't have been able to see Colby standing there. Thankfully, I wasn't a normal human. I could see Colby through the darkness, standing next to me, his eyes squeezed tightly closed. "Don't move," I whispered, as my eyes caught movement from the other side of him. A dark shadow, more like a wisp of smoke, was floating next to him, almost caressing him. I wasn't sure that it was friendly either. My mind raced with thoughts, trying to sort through anything that I could possibly remember. Did I go through ghost training? Was there any way that I could help fight off another ghost? I had no idea but I wasn't going to sit by and willingly let something hurt Colby. He shivered as the shadow seemed to trail it's finger up his arm to his neck. I stared at the smoke, trying to make out the shape that kept bobbing and weaving inside of it. Finally, it became clear. It was a woman, her hair tied tightly up into a bun. It was so tight, it seemed to pull her eyes up at the corners a bit. She was pale, almost like moonlight, her skin shimmering in and out of the dark mist. Her face was painted, with bright red lips, reminding me of blood. Her white dress was cinched around a very tiny waist. I thought that she looked old fashioned and had to be wearing a corset. No woman's waist was naturally that tiny. Her eyes were hungry as she trailed her finger from Colby's neck to his hand, over and over again. "No," I said, my voice turning to stone, as I stared at her. Her eyes shot to mine and she let out a throaty laugh, throwing her head back. "Silly child. Who do you think you are to tell me what I can and cannot do? This is MY home. I can do what I want, take who I please. I promise that you do not want trouble from me, little girl. I'd advise you to mind your business." Her voice ended on a snarl towards me that sent chills down my transparent body. She was not a friendly ghost at all. She was malevolent for sure. "You won't harm him. I won't let you," I said, somehow keeping my voice steady. Her eyes glanced over his body then back towards the other three guys. "Oh there's more to play with. Hmmm," she said seductively. Her black eyes met mine again. "Oh I think that I will play for a little while first." Her form faded, and the black smoke retreated, leaving a light smell of burning ash behind. "What's going on?" Colby whispered, his lips white from holding them tightly shut. "It's safe...for now at least. There's a ghost. A woman. She's not nice," I replied. It sounded so lame coming out of my mouth, and when Colby opened his eyes and met mine, I knew he thought so too. He didn't reply however, and shut his eyes again. The other guys hadn't noticed a thing, while they were over there making whatever plan they were making up to scare Colby. It was like Colby and I were the only ones who noticed anything. That may have been for the best, because I feel like it took him every he had in him to not start screaming and running away. The other guys wouldn't have even tried to stick around. "They're coming," I whispered, watching the other guys take off their shoes and start moving slowly towards the dark end that we were stationed at. "Your friends," I clarified, just in case he thought I meant something else. He gave me a slight nod of his head and stood there, breathing heavily out of his nose. The blonde one, Sam, he came  up to Colby's side, and just stood there for a moment. The tall, lanky one, Kian I think is what they called him, stood behind Colby, while the other one stood on his other side. They were quiet, unmoving for so long that I was actually getting anxious. Suddenly, they all moved together at the same time, and grabbed Colby, on his sides, and his arms. Before this game had started, I would've said that Colby would win. He didn't seem overly scared when he saw me. He had been hanging out with an actual ghost for a while now, and he obviously liked to explore haunted things for YouTube...still wasn't quiet sure what that was, but it seemed like some sort of television station that you found on the World Wide Web. I had watched Colby type in some words and it would pull up an assortment of different videos, based on what he had typed. It was pretty radical to watch actually. I was wrong though. Colby let out a scream that would shame any lead horror movie woman. It was shrill, and loud enough to cause Sam to plug his ears as he started laughing so hard, his entire body was shaking. I was thankful that the sound had echoed around the room, because I had accidently screamed myself, clapping my hand over my mouth as quickly as I could.