“We’ve been friends since second grade, Willow. Talk to me, I’ll believe you. ”
I was interested in finding out if Willow would tell Jina about me. I wasn’t worried about being revealed. Other creatures, like vampires, needed to keep themselves a secret because they could be killed. As far as I knew, nothing could kill a wraith. They couldn’t even keep me contained. So far, none of us had found a material we couldn’t move through given enough time.
Willow set down her drink and rubbed both hands over her face. I didn’t like how her hands were shaking.
“Willow?”
“I can’t,” she said, dropping her hands to the table. “I need to think about it.”
Jina reached out to take one of Willow’s hands. “Tell me one thing, did any of them touch you? Did they…?”
Willow shook her head. “No, they didn’t get a chance to do anything.”
Jina let out a relieved sigh. “Good. That’s good. It still sucks that you got harassed and frightened. I want to find those boys and do something horrible to them.”
Willow sounded a shaky laugh. “Don’t worry, I think that already happened.”
Willow
Much later that night, after Jina’s drink helped stop the shaking, I laid in bed staring into the darkness. I’d wanted to tell Jina everything, but what if I’d imagined it all?
Jina wouldn’t call me insane to my face, but I could see her staging some kind of intervention. She would have all our friends show up and together, they’d convince me to check into a mental institution. I wouldn’t be able to hold out against that level of coercion.
The problem was that, even though I’d seen everything with my own eyes, I had doubts!
Except it had happened. I was wearing the truth to bed. I’d slipped on the giant black hoodie with the hole over my pjs. I didn’t even think about it. Only after I was snuggled into it did I feel better.
Not perfect, but better.
Turning on my side, I curled up in a tight ball, tucking my legs into the hoodie.
Our apartment was a two bedroom in name only. Jina had the room, and I had a closet pretending to be a room. With no window and barely enough space to fit my twin bed and dresser, my office at the shop was bigger!
Unlike Jina, I didn't mind the lack of windows. I felt better when I could sleep in pitch blackness. The dark felt comforting. It was usually enough to make me feel safe. Except tonight, it wasn’t working.
Images of the young men filled my mind, making me whimper.
Suddenly, the darkness seemed to get a little warmer, and I felt comforted. It reminded me of how it felt when the monster touched me.
No, that couldn’t be right.
“He’s not real,” I whispered into the darkness. “He can’t be real. I had to have imagined it. That’s the only explanation."
My words didn’t change anything. The perfect blackness around me was still warm and calming. A wild thought made me uncurl and sit up.
“Are you there?” I listened hard, scared to turn on any light and cause the warmth to vanish.
No voice. No touch. Nothing in response to my question.
Right, I was insane. But I needed to say one more thing, even if it was all in my head.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Nothing.
I flopped back down. I felt better for having spoken. If that creature was here, I wanted him to know I knew. Or maybe that was the double strong margarita speaking.
I closed my eyes and was able to drift off to sleep.
