Children of the Night

Devin followed the mysterious (and angry) man through all the twists and turns that this new place consisted of. No matter where they went, there was nothing but fog. As they walked through a specifically eerie alley, Devin held up his arm to test his vision. He could barely see his own hand, much less the man Ryan who he decided it would be safe to follow.

'What am I doing? He thought to himself.

Ryan didn't say anything during their long trek through the fog. He just looked around every corner, and up every path, as if he were waiting for something to jump out at the two. Devin felt like he had gotten himself into something bad. He regretted ever even following Ryan. There were just too many unanswered questions.

Just for his own comforting, he tried to make small talk.

"Why are you looking around everywhere?" He mentally slapped himself, realizing how rude and dumb he sounded. "Sorry, that wasn't-"

The man turned around and cut him off, "Don't worry about it", he said with a tiny smirk that Devin could barely see through the fog. Ryan kept walking.

Devin hesitantly kept following. "Am I dead?" He asked, not caring how stupid he probably sounded.

"I don't know, are you?"

He should have expected a smart-ass answer.

Ryan kept doing the thing where he looked around, and it was starting to freak Devin out.

"Ryan, where are we going?" It felt like they had been walking forever.

"Calm down, Ghosty, we're almost there, then you can meet some other freaks like you."

The nickname hit him like a ton of bricks.

Ghosty

Now not only he himself thought he was dead, but someone else was confirming it.

Devin's thoughts were interrupted by a clearing in the fog. He looked ahead and saw a grassy, hilly, knoll. It was nice and open, a whole area about the size of a soccer field. At the top of the hill was the biggest, most run down abandoned smokestack he had ever seen. A forest was right behind it, and surrounding the whole place. It was like a secret space. Only there were a handful of people in the distance, maybe seven or eight, standing around the smokestack. Devin was so confused as to why the fog just cut off.

Ryan started walking up the hill towards the smokestack. One of the people standing a few hundred feet away ran down the hill towards Ryan. He heard a happy "Ryan!" and all of a sudden, the person who was running, was already to Ryan, hugging him. It was like Devin blinked and the girl (he could see the long hair now) had already ran hundreds of feet.

Taken aback, Devin jogged ahead to Ryan and asked the girl, "How did you run that fast?"

She had long, straight, brown hair, and black rimmed glasses. She was wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt, tight enough to show her slim but nice figure. She was wearing Chuck Taylor's, so rocket-powered shoes couldn't have explained her super speed.

She let go of Ryan, and looked Devin up and down. "Who is this?" She asked.

"Don't worry, he's cool." He turned to introduce the two.

"Devin, this is Allie. Allie, this is Ghost."

She smirked, just like Ryan had earlier.

"Ghost, huh? Are you dead?" She asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

Devin sighed, and didn't even try to defend himself. "My name is Devin. But apparently it's Ghost now. It's nice to meet you, Allie. How did you run so fast?"

She did know-it-all smirk again. "Like this?" She turned around and was gone. Devin felt a short wind behind him. Turning around, Allie was standing there with her hair a little bit messed up. "I just circled the smokestack three times."

Ryan looked unimpressed. "Quit showing off..."

Devin looked ahead and noticed the rest of the people staring at him. It made him feel tiny and very uncomfortable, as he suddenly felt out of place. Noticing his uneasiness, Ryan put a hand on Devin's back, pushing him forward.

"Come on, meet the rest of us." His hand went through the ghost. "Oh... sorry."

Devin ignored him, and started walking towards the smokestack. Everything felt eerie and spooky- there was something not right about where he was. All of the people hanging around were wearing black, and he felt like he should be at a funeral.

One man was sitting on a tree stump that looked like it had been burnt many times before. He paid no attention to Devin, because the sketchbook in his hand seemed more important. Long thick black hair fell to his broad shoulders. He was a huge guy, one Devin would never want to be in a fight with. Standing behind the drawing man was a tall, slender man. He was as pale as a ghost and has thin black hair shaved on one side. He looked so peculiar, with eyebrows drawn on and just like everyone else- all black (except for Ryan and Allie). Tim Burton came to mind, which caused Ghost to momentarily forget his problems. The next man was standing in an opening in the smokestack, like a big window. He was short and taking a drag on his cigarette.

The oddest looking one was the only one to walk up to Devin and say anything.

"What's up?" He asked cheerily, holding out his hand for Devin to shake it. He didn't want to be rude, but didn't know what to say.

"I...can't..."

"He's dead! You'll go right through him!" Ryan said approaching from behind.

The man had a confused look, then understood. "I'm Josh, but call me Balz." He had his head shaved, but covered in tattoos. His ears had big plugs in them, like everyone else. 'Maybe it's a gang thing.'

Balz kept talking. "Ryan brought you here, so I know you're cool. Why are you here exactly?"

Now I have to share my life story with everyone?

"I just want some answers, then I'll be on my way..." where that would be, he still had no clue.

Balz turned back to the man with the sketchpad. "Get this man a seat, will you?" He turned back to Devin, "That's Angelo."

Angelo didn't even look up to acknowledge Balz's request, but kept frantically doodling away on his page. He looked up for the first time, and Devin could really see his eyes. They looked old, and full of stories. He looked right past the both of them, still not saying anything.

Devin turned around to see what Angelo was looking at, and a chair was there. A flimsy looking lawn chair that definitely wasn't there before. Nobody put it there. It literally appeared out of nowhere. Devin looked back at Angelo with wide eyes. The artist had a tiny smile, then it went away as he looked back down at his pad and went back to his doodling (or whatever it was he was doing).

At this point, nothing could surprise Devin.

"Did you do that?" He asked walking towards Angelo. "How did you do that? How did you get that chair there?"

The tall man standing behind Angelo spoke up. "Sit down." He said in a commanding voice.

Devin had no clue why, but he found himself backing up and sitting down in the chair. Completely against his will or intention.

More afraid than he had ever been in his mortal life, Devin tried to assess the situation before him out loud.

"Okay," he said still unsure of himself, "I'm dead. A Ghost. Nothing can hurt me, and I can't hurt anyone. But I'm still alive, sort of... Why can you all see me? Is this hell? Am I supposed to do something to escape this place?" The questions kept flowing out.

He started becoming louder as he grew more confident. "You... people... have powers. And answers, according to Ryan. Well, I have questions, and I'm sure you want something in return from me, so where do you want to start?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------