Apparition

Chapter 10: Here Again
“Go to sleep, Natalia. You need sleep,” Lawren murmured.
It was already midnight and everyone was asleep. Alex went home but Lawren stayed with me. He was excused from school for a week. I could tell that Lawren was very sleepy but he refused to sleep until I fell asleep first.
“I can’t,” I cried.
“Yes you can. I’m right here. Nothing’s going to happen.”
I didn’t like the way Lawren was getting uncomfortably close to me. When I got better I’d have to tell him that just because Nathan was gone doesn’t give him permission to take his place.
“Close your eyes,” he whispered.
I was afraid that if I closed my eyes for more than five seconds I would succumb to sleep and the dreams would come at full speed. I was sure that the time Nathan was there to hold back the dreams, the dreams were planning their revenge to create the most horrifying dream in the world that would almost kill me.
“You’re never going to get better without sleep.”
I looked up at Lawren and saw that his eyes were half-open. He wanted to sleep as badly as I did.
“I’ll be fine without it,” I mumbled.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
A tear rolled down my cheek. “If there is any sign that I’m having a dream please wake me up,” I whispered and couldn’t believe that I was walking straight into the trap.
“I will,” he said. He adjusted my blanket and fixed my pillow.
“Goodnight and sweet dreams,” he whispered.
I cringed.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, yeah. Goodnight to you, too,” I sighed.
I turned to my side to face the window in the room. Right that second my eyelids gave up on my and fell over my eyes. I fell asleep in less than a second.

“Oh no,” I whispered in horror as I looked around me. Everything was white and it seemed like I was the only person in the nothingness.
I fell to my knees and slouched over. It was happening.
Someone laughed from a distance. It was a sinister laugh. The laugh seemed to come from everywhere. “Your pathetic,” the voice said.
“Please,” I cried as tears rolled down my cheeks. I recognized the voice. The last time I heard it was months ago. It was the voice belonged to the sadistic person who enjoyed torturing me.
“Please what?” The voice asked.
“Please don’t. Please.”
“Get up,” the women ordered.
I did as she asked. My knees were shaking and tears were rolling down my face.
“Bring the weak ones out,” she called. I looked around me but there was no one in sight.
I heard the shuffling off feet but I didn’t know where it was coming from all I knew was that it was more than just ten people.
“How is this going to go?” The women mused. “I could take down all the weak ones first to explore their powers and see which ones I can use on the girl or I can kill the girl first then the weak ones.”
“What do you think, Natalia? Which one would you like me to do?”
I stood there quietly, not knowing what to say.
“So you refuse to answer?” She asked. “Alton.” She said the name in a commanding voice.
“Let go of me you cruel monster!” A women with a European accent ordered. It was Petronella, Keith’s sweet mother.
“No! Wait! Stop!” I cried. But I was too late. Ella screamed at the top of her lungs in pain.
“Enough,” the women ordered.
Ella’s screaming stopped but she was panting. There was a copious amount of muffled screams.
“Did you come to a decision? Or do you want another one of your friends to be burned?”
“Please,” I cried. “Just take me.” I didn’t understand what the women had against me. Why she chose me out of all the other ghosts in the world. What did I mean to her?
“That isn’t an option, honey. It’s either you first and them last or the other way around. Pick one,” she said. I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was smiling. “Amelia, you can remove their hands from their mouths now. It’s fun to hear their cries.”
Suddenly everyone was screaming and shouting.
“One at a time!” The women ordered. “Or your fist is going back in your mouths. Now… can we do this in an orderly manner?”
There was no response from anyone.
“Alright then. Amelia!”
“Yes!” The people cried.
The woman laughed. “I thought so.”
“What do you want with me?” I asked miserably. “What have I ever done to you?”
“It’s not what you did. It’s what she did,” she spat.
“But I don’t understand,” I cried in confusion.
The women laughed. “I find it quite sad that you’re unable to connect with your past life.”
“Past life? What’re you talking about?”
She chuckled. “You’re pathetic. You’re worthless.”
“You stupid lady! Who do you think you are?” Alex yelled.
“I’m pretty sure I’m Aurelia Vanburen. And who are you again?” She asked politely, yet, it was still cold and harsh.
“Don’t provoke her, Alex,” Keith murmured.
“Keith! Alex!” I called. I started to run. I didn’t know why I didn’t before. It was probably because I felt like my feet were hot glued to place.
“Arlington,” the women said indifferently.
I crashed into something and fell to the ground. I stood up and felt around. It was a wall. Was that possible? There was nothing in front of me. Nothing I couldn’t see at least.
“Don’t try to run. It’s useless.”
“Let them go!” I pleaded. “Please let them go.”
“No can do.”
I turned around and tried to run but I crashed into another wall. I turned to my other side and another but I was closed in. I was in a box. I banged my fists on the walls but they made no noise. I started to cry.
“Nathan!” I cried. “Nathan where are you?!”
“You mean Clarence? Unfortunately he couldn’t be with us today. He’s too busy sitting at the bottom of a hole, rotting as we speak. It’s too bad I couldn’t thank him for his powers. They’re pretty amazing when I use a power booster with it.”
Suddenly the room was freezing cold but I just stood there unresponsive to the drop in the temperature. Bottom of a hole? Rotting? Thank him for his powers? I couldn’t understand. I didn’t want to understand.
My head started to spin in circles. I squeezed my eyes shut and fell to the floor as the over-whelming tears fell from the corner of my eyes. I started to hyperventilate.
The women snickered. “To be honest he was a bore to me. It’s no fun when they aren’t struggling.”
I threw my head back and screamed a blood-curdling scream. Instantly I was in a frenzy of vibrations. In seconds all I was able to see was blackness and stars.
“Let me out!” I ordered. Suddenly the walls around me vanished.
“Let’s not got rowdy,” the women said with smile in her voice.
“Show yourself! If you want me, get me! Stop hiding you coward!” I screamed.
“Natalia, you don’t want to pick a fight with her!” Keith yelled.
“Too late,” the woman said and laughed.
“Run, Natalia! Run!” A girl screamed.
Right when I twisted around to run the opposite way, the women’s hands were on my throat. She slammed me against an invisible wall and raised my by my neck.
She had wild, curly hair, pure white skin and hair, and pitch-black eyes all around. “You think you can take me, don’t you?”
I gasped for air and tried pushing her face away. She was a hundred times stronger than I was.
“Let her go!” Lawren roared.
I kicked my legs against the wall as I became light-headed. Was it really going to be over so quickly? I didn’t even get a chance to get a hit out of her and already I was loosing.
“Let… me… go!” I yelled.
It was obvious the women was fighting my ability. Her fingers were loosening my neck but every time she was about to drop me she’d squeeze my neck harder.
“Let… me… go!” I repeated. “Let me go!” I ordered.
She finally dropped me and I fell to the ground, clutching my neck and gasping for air.
I looked up at her and she was looking down at me, her head tilted to one side.
I sprang up and ran away.
“Run faster!” Sarah cried.
The room suddenly went freezing cold. I stopped running and stared into space. I couldn’t find the strength to run anymore. I knew what she was doing. She was playing with my feelings, reminding me of Nathan. I started to cry as I felt the cold all around me.
“Keep running, Natalia! Keep running! Follow my voice!” Lawren pleaded.
Was I the only one freezing to death? The temperature plummeted even lower. I tried running but the cold was too much. It felt like a snow-less blizzard and I was completely naked.
I spun around as I sent out constant waves. There was no sign of my friends and worst of all no sign of the women. I went out more waves, trying to make them extra sensitive. There was nothing around me. I was an a large, empty room. Then the wave hit something. It was the women. She was running so fast that it seemed like she wasn’t even touching the Earth anymore.
I remembered practicing something like this long ago with Nathan. The thought made me cringe. I tried to map out her trail in my mind but she was running all over the place.
That’s when I felt it. The pain in my stomach. It was like a million needles sticking to the inside of my stomach like a magnet does to a fridge.
“No!” The crowd cried.
I spun around and there she was. The women was standing a couple feet away, her right hand stretched out toward me.
She jerked her hand to the right and the needles dug deeper and spun around at full speed.
I cried out in pain and fell to the floor in a ball, clutching my stomach.
“Stop it!” Lawren roared.
I felt the pain many times before in my dreams but this pain was worse. It felt more real. Maybe it was because the pain knowing that Nathan was gone made things much worse.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I wasn’t going to fight it. Either way I would die. That was probably the only way of me ever being with Nathan again so I just laid there, my eyes squeezed shut, my arms around my stomach, and my teeth biting my lower lip.
“What’re you doing?!” “Get up!” “Don’t just lay there!” “Stop!” The crowd cried along with a long string of cursing.
“Goodbye,” I whispered weakly.

My eyes flashed open and my body jolted as I gasped for air.
“She’s awake,” my mom sighed in relief. “Honey, are you okay?”
I looked around me as the sweat dripped down my face. My parents, Keith, Sarah, and Lawren were all around my bed.
I stared at them, not knowing what to say.
“Natalia, talk to us,” my dad urged. “Please.”
I opened my mouth to try to talk but I couldn’t.
“Why isn’t she speaking?” Lawren asked, scared. “She can’t be in shock again, right? I mean, it was just a dream!”
“If the dream was that bad…. But no need to panic, Lawren. Just let her recover,” Keith said.
They stared at me as I stared at them. It felt awkward. Have they been trying to wake me up? I looked at the clock across the room. It was a quarter past four in the afternoon.
“It… it was horrible,” I muttered.
Everyone sighed in relief when I spoke.
“What was horrible, honey?” My mom asked.
“Everything,” I whispered and shook my head. “They killed Nathan. They killed him.” Tears started rolling down my cheeks.
“It was just a dream,” my mom murmured and brushed the wet hair out of my face.
I shook my head. “It was more than that. I know what the dreams are trying to tell me. I understand,” I whispered.
“Understand what?” Lawren asked.
“Let’s not interrogate her right now,” Keith said. “She just woke up from a long rest and a frightening dream. Let her relax a bit.”
“Are you going to be okay by yourself, honey?” My mom asked.
I nodded my head and sighed.
“I’m going to make you something to eat and I’ll be back up in thirty minutes,” she said as she followed everyone out of the room.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and inhaled then exhaled. Then suddenly I started bawling.