Luna's Awakening

5

"What did she do to you?" Grandma Marie asked as soon as she slammed the basement door shut behind us. Johnny, Helen, Anna Marie, Grandma Marie and I rushed down the basement stairs.

I still felt the pain I'd felt in my stomach when I'd been in that woman's presence. I was used to feeling pain whenever I was around a new spirit, but as soon as I got away from them or they vanished, the pain instantly went away, but for this, the pain was still there, persistent and aching. I winced and sat down in the chair in front of my grandma's desk, taking deep breaths, trying to tune out the pain the best I could.

"What did she do to you?" Grandma Marie asked again. She crouched down in front of me and stared up into my face with wide, alarmed eyes.

I tried to tell her, but I was still breathless, so all that came out were little gasps of air.

She asked again, and I raised a trembling finger to ask her to give me a second.

"Marie," Helen said gently, placing her hands on my grandma's shoulders, her blue tinted hands transparent to where Grandma's blue work uniform was visible. "Give her a moment. Let her catch her breath."
Grandma Marie leaned back but didn't get up from the floor, watching me intently.

Fortunately, Helen and Johnny seemed to be fine. They didn't have any bruises or anything--if ghosts could even get bruises--and appeared to be in okay shape. They were both watching me, fear in their faces. Anna Marie stood behind them, watching me, her face just as frightened.

Finally, once I could breathe normally, I told them, "It felt like something was stabbing me. It was the worst pain I ever felt."

Grandma Marie stood up and walked over to one of her many bookcases. She pulled out a huge, thick, yellowing book, the cover of the book ripped and torn away, the edges of the pages a dark, disgusting yellow, indicating the book was extremely old.

She flipped through the pages, scanning the pages intently. As she did, I turned to Helen and Johnny.

"Are you two okay?" I asked them.

Helen nodded. "We're fine. It hurt, but we're okay."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded again then touched her jaw, wincing. "Though she got me good."

Johnny growled and hit his fists together. "I swear, if I see that bitch again, I'm throwing her ass across the whole damn continent."

Usually, Helen tried to calm her boyfriend down whenever he got angry, but this time, she was just as mad. My eyes widened as I listened to her and him call the woman all sorts of names. This was the first time I ever saw and heard Helen get angry. In fact, I never even saw her in a bad mood, so it caught me off guard to see how furious she could get.

Anna Marie was standing in the corner, silent the whole time, watching the whole interaction.

I just sat there and listened to them. I was too exhausted and in too much pain to interject.

After a few more minutes of flipping through the book, Grandma Marie shut the book and growled in frustration. "A page was ripped from the book. I'm pretty sure I saw that woman somewhere in one of my books, and I'm pretty sure she was on that page."
Anna Marie came to her side and peered down at the book over her shoulder, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Who would do that?"