Apparition

Chapter 17: Realization
“Do you know what I hate?” A woman’s voice asked me. The voice that came out of no where in the large what room. She didn’t wait for a response. “I hate how ridiculously easy this was. I thought that I would have to work so hard and build a large army to defeat you all but it was all pretty easy,” she said and laughed devilish.
“So tell me again, Carlos. How hard was it to take the blonde one called Nathan?”
“Simple!” A man with a deep, Hispanic voice said. I noticed the voice. It was the voice of the man who came up to Maddie, Alex, Chloe, and I when we went to downtown Seattle to shop for Prom dresses. Then I realized something else. A couple months ago Nathan once told me a story about his friend, Julie. Julie told Nathan that one of her kidnappers had the name ‘Carlos’. I was positive that the man I encountered in Seattle and the man that kidnapped Julie were the same people. Coldness ran down my spine and I shuddered.
“With Veena’s mental control already over him, it was pretty simple to knock him out. All Veena had to do was make him leave the girls room before she woke up, make him go to his house on the island-where I did a little searching and found out that the other two Ashburtons, Keith and Sarah were still alive-leave a note and after he finished the note, I simply knocked him out. So congrats to Veena for most of the help… Oh! And props to Nathan for not struggling through the process.”
“Thank you, Carlos,” a woman with a bold voice said.
My head started to spin in circles.
“Savannah, can you tell me how you got the girl to come to you instead of Boston?” The voice asked.
Savannah laughed. “When everyone including the girl was under the impression that she was going to Boston, I lured her to Ephrata. It was pretty simple. She then found the Nathan sitting at the bottom of the hole. Too bad she was a couple days too late and he was already dead; his power with you. Carlos knocked her out and we brought her here!”
The woman laughed. “You see how easy that was?” She asked. “No fun!” She yelled. “None of you even put up a decent fight. You Ashburtons and the ones that are backing them up are useless things.”

I woke up with a jolt of my body. I felt weak but I still gathered up the strength to prop myself up with my elbow.
I was in my bedroom. I looked at the clock and school was already halfway through. I sighed and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
My eyes widened and I jumped out of bed. I slammed open my junk drawer where I kept all useless things including notes I’ve passed since the third grade. When I found what I was looking for I smoothed it out on my floor and looked around my room and found the letter from the night before. I smoothed that out on my floor as well right next to the note. I looked around my room, wiping the new perspiration from my forehead. When I remembered where I put what I was looking for, I picked up one side of my bed and threw it over. I snatched a piece of wrinkled paper from on top of the box spring and smoothed it out next to the other three pieces of paper.
I examined each paper closely, matching up each letter from the note the night before and the note from on top of my box spring. Then I matched each letter from the note in my junk drawer to the letter from the night before and the one on top of my box spring.
“Oh no,” I whispered when I finally added it all up. I folded up the papers and shoved them into my back pockets. I faced my window and closed my eyes, taking deep breaths and concentrating on keeping my emotions in balance like Keith once told me. It was a bit difficult than before, knowing that the thing that used to bring me happiness now brought me distress. It took me a couple of tries but I did eventually get it right. I shook myself from head to toe to release my jitters.
Then I jumped out my bedroom window. It was a good thing I couldn’t see or else I wouldn’t have the guts to do what I just did. Right when my feet hit the ground a massive wave shot out from my body like I was the epicenter of a huge earthquake. As the wave traveled through the ground I instantly got familiar with my surroundings. I knew where I was and where I was headed. I was confident that I was able to do this. I felt the wave slowly weaken and disappear and by this time I knew my way-eyes closed-all the way to Warren G. Magnuson Park near Lake Washington which meant I didn’t have to send out another wave until I hit Seattle which would be in only a matter of minutes since I just jumped over Montlake near the University of Washington. Wow. I was never good with the names of cities and directions but I felt like this was second nature to me.
I got to my destination successfully. Unhurt and not tired. As I walked to the front door I transformed back into my human self. I knocked on the front door.
“It’s open!” Sarah’s voice called from inside.
I twisted the doorknob and entered the house. I closed the door behind me and looked around. Everything seemed to be back to normal from where I was standing. The railing of the staircase wasn’t torn off, there wasn’t any dents in the marble flooring, and there was a new crystal chandelier above my head.
The Ashburton household brought me sudden calmness but at the same time it brought me agony. Every part of this house had a specific memory and when I looked at one thing a flashback would play in my head. The confusing times. The happy times. And the sad times.
“Over here, Natalia,” Sarah said.
I jumped.
Sarah was sitting in the living room and for some reason it seemed like she was waiting for me. It looked like she just woke up with her hair pulled back, her black robe wrapped around her, and for the very first time she wasn’t wearing stilettos.
“Sarah I have to tell you something,” I said and sat down on the couch in front of her. “Where’s Keith?”
Sarah sighed and rubbed her temples. “Keith is with his Ella, Leonardo, and Charlotte in Olympia. Natalia, I know what you’re going to do. Let me just tell you that what you’re thinking is stupid.”
“How do you know?” I asked, confused.
“Robert messaged me.” She pushed her phone across the table over to me.
Clarabelle is about to make an infantile decision and try to save Clarence. If she goes with it, her future is going to branch out into something dreadful. You need to stop her.
I shook my head and slid the phone back to her. “You don’t understand, Sarah-”
“No,” she interrupted. “You don’t understand. Robert didn’t tell me exactly what’s going to happen to you or any of us if you go along with what you’re thinking but I already know that this is going to lead to something incredibly horrible. I know that I‘m the last person you‘d ever listen to but you have to listen to me. When Keith received the message from Robert he was desperate for me to save you from the reckless decision you’re making. ”
“What if something incredibly horrible is going on right now?” I hissed. “What if as we speak Nathan is… gone? Or what if it’s only a matter of minutes until they do something to him and we still can save him but we choose not to? Think about to, Sarah! We need to save him!”
“And how do you know we need to save him? Nathan is safely with his family in Boston right now. Why in the world would he need saving?”
“Okay then. He doesn’t need saving. So why can’t I just visit him if he’s doing just fine?”
“I don’t know! All I know is that it only takes one rotten apple to ruin everything.”
I jumped up from the chair, snatched the phone from the table and pointed to two words in front of Sarah’s face. “Save Clarence,” I said. “Why would Robert say that if Nathan wasn’t in any danger?”
Then the phone vibrated. I looked down at the screen and it said ‘one new message’. I handed it to Sarah to check it.
As she read it, it was obvious that she was fighting back tears. Sarah was strong and built of stone but whatever the new message said must’ve been bad.
“What is it?” I asked, worried.
She was still looking down at the screen, fighting back tears. Then she took in a deep breath and cleared her throat. “You’re family is in danger.” When she said the last word her voice cracked and her lower lip trembled.
Sarah got a hold of herself and looked over up at me. “Are you happy?” She asked and laughed embarrassingly. “It seems like your mind is set. You’re leaving tonight, aren’t you?” She whispered.
I stared at her in disbelief then my eyes narrowed in on the cell phone and I glared at it. “How is my family in danger?” I asked incredulously.
She looked back down at her phone to reread the message then looked back up at me. “In your dreams, have you ever wondered why Lawren and Alex were there?” Sarah asked me.
“I wonder that all the time but what does that have anything to do with my family being in danger?”
“It has everything to do with your family being in danger.” Once again she looked down at her phone where she read for more information. “Lawren and Alex are permanently set into your dreams but your family hasn’t been… yet. Lawren and Alex are there because they know about ghosts. When the Vanburens come for you they’re going to have to find you through the mortals that know about ghosts: Lawren, Alex, and now your family. Before you set your mind to this decision your family was supposed to vacation somewhere-”
“Australia?” I asked.
“Probably,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Australia would be the best place for them to hide. The Vanburens would never go that far away to get to the people who knew even if they did know where your family was. But now your leaving tonight. Robert doesn’t know if your mission will be successful or not but he does know that you’ve entwined your family into your fate.”
I didn’t know how to react because of the confusion. Lawren and Alex were in danger because they knew about ghosts. Nathan was going to die if I didn’t save him but if I did save him then my family might be the one sentenced to death. I had to chose between the love of my life and the people who has always been there for me and gave me unconditional love. And I had to chose fast.
Even though I was with Lawren now did not mean that I didn’t love Nathan. I would always love Nathan no matter what. So just because I was with Lawren did no mean all feelings for Nathan were completely gone.
“Is there a way to save everyone?” I asked quietly.
“Natalia, what happens to Lawren and Alex in your dreams?” Sarah asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve never seen them in my dreams. I’ve only heard them. I’m guessing that someone named… Arlington is keeping them under his control. All of them.”
“All of who?”
“Everyone. You, Keith, Lawren, Alex, Ella, everyone.”
She went speechless. Sarah was never the person who goes speechless. Lately Sarah hasn’t been the Sarah I knew. It was clear that our loss didn’t effect only me. “Are you still leaving tonight?” She asked. I knew that she wanted to say something else but she decided to change the subject.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I can’t let Nathan get hurt and I can’t let my family get into this mess I made.”
“I don’t get it. Why now? What made you realize that Nathan isn’t where he says he is?”
I remembered about the notes in my pocket and I pulled them out and set them on the table. “Sarah, can you tell me the difference between these two notes and this one?” I asked.
Sarah looked at me like I was weird but she still took the two letters from the table, examined them, then set them back down. Then she picked up the note, examined it, then set it between the two letters. She looked at each piece of paper carefully, her eyes squinting and her forehead creasing. “Well… this one,” she pointed to the note, “is a bit more sloppy. It looks more like human handwriting. These two look a bit more like… computer font. Like it was written slowly and carefully. The writing in the middle one is slanted and the other two, the handwriting is upright and stiff. But what are you trying to say?”
I pointed to the middle one. “This was written before the incident. Nathan and I were passing notes in class. I could recognize this handwriting in a pile of a hundred more papers like these two which was written, one on the day he left and the other on the night of my birthday. The handwriting of these two are completely alike. Definitely with Nathan’s hand but not by him. Someone is controlling Nathan. I heard it in my dreams. Someone named Veena made him do this. They did this. The Vanburens little helpers. My dreams tell me the future and in the future Nathan is… gone.” I cringed. “It seems to me that whatever happens in the present, whatever alters, is going to effect the future. A long time ago Nathan was in my dreams and he was there with everyone else. Before Alex knew about ghosts, she wasn’t in my dreams but when she found out she suddenly started showing up. Same goes with Lawren. But the thing is that my family never showed up in my dreams. Not once. I think the reason for that is that, like you said, the Vanburens won’t know where my family is and that’s because they’re going to be in Australia. My family is planning on leaving this summer after I graduate. My graduation is about a month away which means we only have a month until they find me and until they find everyone else.”