Hot Springs Horror #NaNoWriMo2020

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"We won't spare you."

I gulped, but daggers lined my throat and a dreadful taste of death filled my mouth. Had they already killed me and my own blood was what I tasted? Was I, like them, a floating see-through specter doomed to loom in this dreary place forever?

I felt around my body, prodding at my chest, my stomach, my upper thighs; but I was intact, untouched. Nothing drenched my clothes and I had no pain aside from my stomachache caused by all the vomiting.

"But... how?" I chewed on my lip as Jay, Rob, and Aaron marched over the recently extinguished fire, unaffected by any remaining brazes, any remnants of flames. "Ghosts... if they exist, they can't... kill, can they?"

Jay snickered, his face so bright, it was as if the moon shone a spotlight directly over him. He was pale, sickly, worrisome. "We told you... possession, Rose. We spirits entered these three while they slept, filled up their bodies, manipulated their limbs. We took control. And this one," he pointed at his torso, "was a bit more reluctant, I'll admit. He fought back, begging for us to give him a pass, to let him go because he believed in us from the start. The others," he motioned at Rob, then at Aaron, "were easier to command, and put up less of a fight."

I shivered at the idea of something slipping into my body as I slept. Had they tried to possess me, too? And somehow failed? Had they possessed the girls? I gaped over at my two friends, heads still lulled to the side, blood still dribbling from their neck wounds. And as I imagined them reanimating, standing, zombie-like with a hunger for brains, I skidded a few feet backwards, nearly tumbling into a prickly shrub.

"Shit." I lifted my leg and rubbed the back of my shin, where the dried leaves had left a mark. "So, what... you're going to possess me, then? Force me to... slice myself open? Is that... what you did to Jenny? To Millie?"

Rob shook his head. "We didn't need to get into them... you abandoned them in your search for us, so while you were sneaking around, we chopped into their necks. Wasn't difficult." He said it with such neutrality, as if the real Rob hadn't given a damn about Millie at all. As if he hadn't spent the night drooling over Jenny's boobs and even attempting to flirt with me.

But realization swept into me—I had abandoned the girls. I'd left them to sleep as I meandered off to investigate, which left them vulnerable. And I'd hoped they'd be okay, and I'd panicked when I found them like this... because it was my fault. I'd killed them.

Tears clogged my lash-line as the three boys continued their progress towards me. And all around, more translucent-like beings appeared, popping into the area, blending in with the scenery. Young men in shorts and tank tops, flip-flops on their feet, hair miffed and eyes like black stone. Young women with maxi-dresses or outdated bathing suits, sporting huge sunglasses and big, bouffant hair and crimson-colored nail-polish.

They gathered around, gaping at me as if about to dig into my flesh and have me for a late-night snack. I wondered if they were drooling, and they all mumbled something under their breaths. Like the moans zombies made in movies when prowling on towards their prey.

I was their prey.

One of them joined Jay and stood a few feet from me, his gaze wide, his lips chapped, his skin gray like a rainy day's sky. And when he spoke, his voice came out as a croak, crippled and creepy. "We did nothing wrong either, or so we thought." He must have been one of the kids that disappeared in the seventies. He wore high-waisted speedo-type swim trunks, and nothing else. There were deep gashes up and down his front, dried up with congealed blood and in some places covered in purplish bruises. "We were hanging out here, smoking marijuana, drinking beer, never befouling the place... or so we thought. But then this old hack who claimed to guard the place observed us, didn't like our actions, so he... took matters into his own hands."

Rob stepped forward. "This hack my friend refers to was the man hired to guard the springs, to monitor who entered and to ensure they cleaned up after themselves. And one evening, as he patrolled, he saw this group—these harmless but a bit rowdy young adults splashing around—and became angry. And the spring guardians sensed his rage, shared it... and possessed him."

"He murdered us right there, in cold blood, under the stars." The seventies' dude scoffed. "And then the springs guardian made him turn the knife on himself, because he couldn't be allowed to live with the knowledge that something oversaw this area already. It didn't need humans—it needed a powerful, all-seeing spiritual presence."

I wasn't sure how to react. They had me cornered—if I tried to run, one of these ominous specters would catch me, I had no doubt. And if I stood there and listened to their monologues, they'd soon be so close to me that they'd be able to reach out and stick their fingers into my gut and tug my intestines out. The vibe I got from them was that despite my supposed innocence, they wouldn't be swift about my death. They would drain the life from me and watch with satisfied smiles. And it would be gory, gruesome, and leave quite a stain—literally.

"Now, we're all cursed to wander this land and aid the guardian in taking the lives of those who disrespect the springs. We teach lessons, like that old man tried to teach us." The seventies' guy's smirk lessened as he glowered at me. "And you'll be cursed, too."

"Teach lessons?" I tried not to snort; there was that defiant demeanor that I'd been trying to suppress so as not to infuriate these ghosts... but I couldn't help it. "By slashing tires and throats? You call that a lesson?"

Rob chortled, though the sound was lifeless and bone-chilling. "A permanent lesson, yes. And sometimes, death is the only way."

"So..." I swallowed, heat rushing to my cheeks. "You murder any young adult that comes here looking for a good time? You do realize we were cleaning up, this morning? We wouldn't have left a single piece of trash in this place. We—" I flinched as I glimpsed my dead friends, "—respect nature."

"We noticed that," said Jay, brushing a hand through his hair. "But these boys," he motioned at Aaron and Rob, who marched up to be on either side of him, "planned on leaving before you woke. They wouldn't have aided in any way, and that provoked us."

I squinted at him. "You... Jay planned to leave early, too? Was he... in on that?" Something cold slithered from my belly to my heart and curled around it, squeezing, blocking my breaths.

Jay cringed. "No... he was genuine. He didn't want to do that, but didn't have much of a choice, since his friends were assholes and the car belonged to Aaron." He shrugged, obviously bored by the turn of the conversation. "He did tell you he wasn't like them, and he was sincere. But... he died all the same."

"These douches," Aaron reached around Jay and nudged Rob, "mocked Jay's beliefs, disregarded the legends. They claimed ghosts weren't real, that no mysteries surrounded this place... and that pissed us off, too."

Seventies' guy huffed. "Jay knew too much, so despite his good natured heart... we had to take him, too. We can't let this secret get out, you see. The spring guardian concealed all the bodies of those assassinated here, to preserve the history of the location. All our corpses are out here, laid to rest, some buried, some unearthed but hidden in bushes with a bit of invisibility magic." He fixed on me, eyes glowing red. "We're to stay here... forever."

My knees buckled and I nearly collapsed, but held my ground. I was weak from throwing up and from my grief, but I couldn't crumble, not now. There had to be a way to bargain for my life, to save myself. There had to be a means to survive all this. "Please," I whispered, grimacing at the tininess of my voice. "Please, don't do this."

Rob cackled, Aaron fiddled with his man-bun again, and the crowds around us began to close in. Jay took another stride forward, and I could smell him. The meat and pine and camp-fire scent I'd grown used to, that I'd come to enjoy—but it wasn't him. Inside him was some other entity, one who wanted nothing more than to see me expire.

"We must preserve history, Rose. Anyone involved in this place, even those who repent, those who have kind hearts... must die."

I gritted my teeth and tightened my fists and inhaled a deep whiff of the nighttime air, wondering if, this time, it would be my last. My vision blurred as my consciousness started to fade—out of fear or because they were already killing me, I wasn't sure. "So... you're definitely going to end me. That's it... I'm dying tonight?"

An eerie silence was my only answer.

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