Wednesday, September 28th, 2016

I’m kind of a mess, since Angie left shortly after I told her I’d think about helping her – not promising anything yet – and I was scared shitless she really left, and the black mass would be back to come after me.

It didn’t show at home, but now, everywhere I go, I swear I see some sort of dark mass; always in the corners of my eyes, in the corners of the room.

But I swear it’s there, and I don’t know what to do now that I’m almost completely sure Angie’s attachment isn’t my main problem. Something else is after me and if I’m right there is something else, I’m positive it’s not at all an innocent ghost of a young girl who wants to be found.

It feels evil, dark, malicious and all other synonyms for it in the same time.

If Angie is protecting me, and maybe my friends, from this evil mass, then I don’t think I have any other choice then to do something back for her.

But then again, I don’t wantto find her, because I fear the moment she will be gone.

But I’m starting to realise, Angie is functioning as some sort of shield between me and whatever is in that black mass.

I think I’m no longer safer out here, then in those woods. Because whatever puts us at risk in those woods, is now out here, on the verge of getting to me.

I know Edward was already freaking out in the woods beforemost shit went down, so I don’t think of him as a decent fellow seeker. I do, however, think Davy might be up for it if he knows what is going on right now.

Cory is too broken to be dragged into this more then he is already.

But I am currently pulling him along while Davy is following us through the empty hallways of school, outside, and to the park across the street.

“What’s going on?” Cory whines, rubbing his sore arm that I was squeezing until I let go a second ago.

“Yeah, dude? Where’s the fire?” Davy frowns, taking a seat on the bench next to us. “We gonna smoke?”

“No, we’re not,” I bite in his direction. “We’re in trouble.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Davy frowns, cocking his head sideways a bit. “Can you hurry and get to the point? We have to be at community service in half an hour.”

“Right, okay. I spoke to Angie again.”

“I figured you did.” Davy rolls his eyes. “Should Annika be worried you’re cheating?” He smirks, Cory snorts and I roll my eyes.

“She’s not our problem.” I send him a deadpanning look, annoyed because he’s obviously no longer taking this seriously. “Something else is.”

“What is ‘something else’?” Cory asks curiously, sitting down now that I gained his interest.

“I can’t describe it in any other way then a dark mass that is following me around since Angie threatened to leave me on my own.”

“She threatened to leave you, and you made her come back?” Davy frowns, seemingly lost because I know a couple of days ago I would do anything to get Angie to leave.

“I don’t know what happened. She left, this dark mass came up to me and the next moment I’m awakeand Angie is there.”

“You saw her while you were awake?” Cory gasps for air in shock, Davy’s head snaps back up to look at me with wide eyes.

I’m not sure if I should tell them the black mass isn’t the only thing that has been following me around today. Angie did too. I saw her a handful of times, just sitting around doing nothing else then stare in the directions I swear I can see the black mass. It’s telling me my mind isn’t playing tricks, it’s really there, just never showing itself fully.

And Angie might be keeping an eye on it.

She might be preventing it from attacking me.

“She’s with me all the time…” I drawl, scratching my head, noticing Angie is now seated on the swing set about 30 meters away.

There’s no wind, but still the swing she’s seated on is slightly moving as she’s moving it around.

Cory and Davy now too stare towards the swing set, confused and impressed in Cory’s case, worried in Davy’s case.

“Dude, this is starting to freak me out a bit.” Davy pulls my sleeve to gain my attention again. “Why are you that much more affected then Eddy or me?”

“Because he tipped over to unconsciousness in the woods.” Cory haphazardly guesses. “He was open to it in the woods, you two weren’t.”

“No…” I groan. “She says she likes me because she thinks I’m brave. If you would allow her, she would contact you too.” I gesture towards Davy. “I’m not sure what she thinks about you though.”

“She doesn’t like me.” Cory shrugs, staring at the moving swing from the corners of his eyes. “I killed her a bunch of times, I threaten her with a knife, make her scream…” He turns back to fully face me. “And you’re the one who showed her you’re willing to listen.”

“And now she’s asking for help.” I nod, agreeing to what he’s telling me.

“Help with what?” Davy asks, shuddering at the thought of helping Angie.

“Find her body.”

“Let me guess, in the Miller Woods?” Davy scowls. “No way I’m breaking in there ever again…”

“There’s a tunnel,” Cory and I tell him in unison.

“Cory, when you told me it leads to a small cabin, did you mean Hunter’s Lodge?” I ask him, ignoring the fact Davy choked on a sip of his drink when we told him there’s a tunnel.

“No, it’s not Hunter’s Lodge. I told you, it’s the building that was used by the rangers. Not hunters. Why did you think it is Hunter’s Lodge?”

“Because Angie took me there in my dream. I was aware so she didn’t make me sleepwalk all the way there, but she showed me Hunter’s Lodge.”

“Why would she show us two different spots?”

“She said she wanted to show me where to look.”

“Wait, Sid, are you actually contemplating on going back in there to find the body of a dead nine-year-old who went missing in the fifties?”

“I went missing in the sixties.” Angie sing-songs right next to me, skipping around our little group. “I was born in ’53.”

“She went missing in the sixties.” I bring over her message. “Born in ’53, so missing in ’62.”

Cory and Davy both look at me with frowns on their faces.

“She said so…” I defend the knowledge, ignoring the fact it’s kind of useless right now.

“Can’t you take Davy with you tonight?” Angie cocks her head, with a smile on her face. “I think he’s willing to help. And I can’t make a connection with him because he won’t let me.”

“How is he not letting you?” I ask, realizing I wondered it out loud, causing Cory and Davy to start looking worried.

“They think you’re crazy.” She giggles amused. “You need to find a silent way to answer to me.” She skips a new round again. “Davy’s been sleeping in the same room as Annika and she’s preventing me from coming close. She’s strong, you know? Smart, realistic. She’s like a shield. I couldn’t get to you while you were there either.”

“Davy, she wants you to open up for her too.”

“Hell no.” He scowls again, shaking his head quickly. “She freaks me out.”

“I’m not, he’s just worried he’s going to lose his mind.” Angie sings again, sitting down on the bench next to him.

I notice goose bumps on his right arm, seeing him shudder in cold.

“He knows I’m around.” She giggles, blowing towards his ear. Davy covers his ear, trying to play the sudden movement off as if he wanted to push back some hair. “And I tease him all the time. But he won’t open up.” She grins towards me. “I think the three of you could find me.”

“You’re worried you’ll lose your mind if you allow her in.” I point out what Angie said with a small smile on my face, liking the fact Angie is attached to him and knows some of his deepest thoughts because she did manage to haunt him during a dream once before.

Maybe being friends with a ghost isn’t that bad after all.

Well, as long as it’s just Angie.

* * * * *

I didn’t manage to persuade Davy to sleep over at my place, and I’m kind of nervous about being alone in my room while that very obnoxious and stubborn black mass is still lurking in the corners of my eyes.

Angie didn’t leave for even a second after I acknowledged her presence in front of Cory and Davy.

She’s been wearing me out with all her talking, while I couldn’t talk back because there’s always someone around me. During community service there had a hand full of other teenagers, at home my mom and dad keep their eyes on me and mom had been doing laundry in the other room in the attic for what felt like hours.

And all the while, Angie kept telling me things about the time she was alive – though she leaves out the story of what happened to her.

She keeps telling me things about Edward, Davy and Cory and I had to keep myself from laughing out loud when she told me Edward pied his pants in his sleep when she went to visit him.

He also cried in his sleep.

Edward isn’t brave, and she’s not interested in him to get him to help.

She is interested in Davy, knowing I refuse to go in alone if I were to ever go back into those woods.

And I know I have to, because I feel like I need to help Angie.

She’s helping me too, right?

But not alone. Never alone.

“Angie?” I whisper, watching her sitting on the windowsill, staring towards the forest.

“Sid?” She whispers back, staring at me amused.

“Can I ask you a very serious question?” I emphasize serious, because now that I hung out with her the entire day, I found out that Angie loves to fool around and mess with others.

“I don’t know, can you?”

I roll my eyes, and push myself up on my elbows, hugging the pillow against my chest. “What’s the black mass you’re keeping away?”

She scrunches her nose, and I notice her eyes flickering towards the corner behind me, causing me to snap my head and stare at it; nothing there.

“Will it kill me?”

Angie shakes her head, staring at me with something that looks a lot like worry. “It’ll make you kill. It’s the reason I died. It’s the reason people lose their minds in those woods. It’s been trying to find a new body to use.”

“And it wants me?”

“Well, it found you first. Honestly, it’s why I pushed you in the woods, you know?” She hops down from the windowsill and I watch her walk around the room, watching all my stuff from up close. “You have two attachments, while Davy, Edward, Cory, they all have one.”

“You.”

“Yes.” She nods, swirling around on her feet, making a short pirouette and a small bow as if she’s proud that she attached herself to us.

“Why me?”

“When you guys were at the lake, you jumped away to one side, while they jumped to the other side. So, you were weakest and it clanged onto you. The choking was part of him trying to weaken you far enough to take over.”

I stare at her with wide eyes in horror, again looking towards the corner she’s been keeping a close eye on. “So, it’ll take over if I am weak?”

“Not as long as I’m there to keep it away.” She giggles again.

“But won’t you be gone when I find your body?”

“Does that mean you’re willing to look for it?”

“I think we have to make a deal, and both keep our ends of the deal.”

“What is my part?”

“Help me to defeat that… thing… that want’s to take over my body.”

She bites her lip, visibly overthinking what I’m asking her to do.

“If you help me, I’ll help you.”

“I’m not sure how to, though. So, you’ll have to do everything I ask you to do.”

“And what would that be?”

“There’s some things I wanted to find out, but can’t…” She cocks her head. “I’m a ghost, I can’t read books, or use that box you use to read news articles about me and all the kids that went missing.”

“That box?”

She giggles, pointing towards the laptop.

“Oh, a computer.” I realise she never worked with those, so she doesn’t really know what it is or how it works. “You need me to look things up for you?”

“The history of the forest.” She nods and swirls around again. “There’s been weird stuff going on in there for ages already. And your little friend in the corner is one of the results.”

I snap my head towards the corner again, still not seeing anything. “Seriously, will you stop freaking me out by giving me the idea it’s here?”

“But it is. It’s just hiding and waiting for me to leave.”

“You’re not gonna leave, right?”

“No, we have a deal, right?” She smiles widely. “You’ll find my body and I’ll help you.”

“And you won’t leave as soon as I found your body, huh?”

“We’ll solve your little issue first. That way it’ll be safer to go into the woods anyway.”

“I do not consider an issue in which a black malicious mass wants to take over my body to use it in order to kill people ‘little’, to be honest.”

She giggles again, sitting down in the middle of the floor. “Let’s talk business, Sid. We don’t have all the time in the world.”

“We don’t?”

“You’re mortal. We don’t.” She giggles again, now sitting in a meditating pose. “Night time, is my time. Day time, is yours.”

“Which means?”

“We’ll solve my problem during the nights, don’t worry, we’re not going into the woods physically, yet. During the day, we’ll solve yours.”

“Sounds reasonable.” I nod, placing my head on the pillow. “So, you’re taking my mind into the woods again?”

“I’m going to guide you through the woods, night after night, until you memorize the route I need you to walk once we’re ready to find my body.” She winks at me, and then she closes her eyes and stays silent.

And I think it’s my cue to go to sleep and let her guide me to wherever she wants to take me.