“Holy shit.”
I shoot to my feet with a small shriek and stumble backward. The flashlight keeps rising in the air, hovering and revolving in a slow circle, the light still flashing on and off.
The light focuses on me, shining in my eyes, staring me down. Unblinkingly, I hold my breath as though not breathing, not making a sound, will make me invisible. Everything is still.
Then the flashlight hurtles toward me.
I barely duck in time, letting out another shriek as I raise my arms to cover and protect my head. The flashlight slams into the wall behind me, the light flickering out.
“I’m sorry!” I yell, unsure of whether or not I said something to offend them.
I notice a humming spreading throughout the space, growing louder and louder with each passing second, and pick up my head cautiously to assess the room. However, I don’t even have time to ask what the humming is before my camera lifts in the air and comes hurtling toward me as well. I scream and go to duck again, but my arms move independently of my body and snatch the camera from the air.
“Thanks,” I say to Kit, breath heavy.
“I got you,” he says in my head.
He does. Even with my heart pounding so intensely that I fear it will burst from my chest, I know he has my back. I should be safe. I stand steady on my feet, gripping the camera and facing the lens forward, using it like a shield. I say, “I’m sorry if I offended you. I am not here to harm you. I just want to talk.”
The humming grows louder and louder until it morphs into the definition of a blood-curdling scream. A shiver shoots through my spine, so intense I feel like I’m convulsing. And then?—
“Holy fucking shit.”
A woman appears before me, her long, dark hair swirling around her head and a blue light shining around her in a hazy aura. Black lines run down her face like dripping makeup, and her neck is bent at an odd angle. I inch backward until my back meets the wall. Despite my fear, I release an incredulous laugh. That’s a ghost. An actual ghost. And I am pointing a camera straight at her. I hope it’s catching her. Oh my god. My hand is quivering so bad this footage will be shit, but, just,oh my god. A full apparition. If I wasn’t frozen in place, I would jump for joy.
“Hello,” I say, unsure of what else there is to say.
She screams in response.
Without warning, my feet are hoisted off the ground, all the oxygen around me whooshing away.I can’t breathe. The ghost’s hands are clenched at her sides, and she is glaring at me like I’m the reason for her broken neck. I grope at the invisible hand around my throat.
“Kit,” I struggle out. “Kit. Help.” I scream the same words in my mind.
“I got you, babe.”
I’m thrown back into my head as Kit takes back control of my body. The walls are closing in on me, crunching inward bit by bit as the ghost attempts to squeeze the life out of me.
Then it’s as if all the air rushes back in and the walls go back to normal. Endless and invisible. I rush to my window and see Kit with his feet on the floor. I press my whole body against the glass, hands trembling and legs weak. He got out of her grasp. He reaches into my jacket pocket and pulls out a handful of salt, chucking it at the ghost. She blinks in and out of existence but is still there.
He rushes to the backpack in the corner of the room and, pulling my jacket sleeve over his hand, yanks out a piece of…what is that? Iron?
It’s black and looks like a part of the iron fence that surrounds my building. With a big gesture, he runs toward the ghost and swipes through her translucent body. She fizzles away with another shriek. He quickly gathers our things and is soon out the door, hurtling himself into the front seat of my car and slamming the door.
He cackles. “That was awesome! Oh, wow.” He drags a hand down his face. “She waspissed.”
He continues to cackle, but I don’t join in. I can’t. I start crying instead. Sobbing, in fact.
In the void, he says, “Oh, fuck. Are you okay?”
I offer a louder sob.
“Oh, no. Lacy, sweetness. You’re crying so hard you’re making me cry. What can I do?”
I can’t respond with my full-force blubbering. My void isfilling with water, similar to how it did when Kit got drunk, but now it is a sea of my own tears. Poetic. Pathetic.
“Fuck. Hold on.”
Everything goes black, and suddenly we’re standing in front of a green door I recognize instantly. Kit rings the doorbell over and over until my sister opens the door.
