To Kill a Ghost

Dedra’s breath hitched in her throat as she hauled herself away from the man at speeds she didn’t know she could reach. Her palms stung from the feel of his black bomber jacket mixing with her sweat. Had he coated his jacket in something in case she touched him? She wanted to cry or scream. Kicking his ass seemed like a great idea, but fear made her blood run cold. He was so vivid in her mind, and then he stood in front of her and she had no other choice. So she ran, cutting through every pedestrian stop light, through ever hustling crowd. No matter how many steps she could still feel his dark eyes on her back, as if he had a gun pointed at a giant, flashing target glued to her back. She tried to push down the memories of him, but they bowled over her like tidal waves.

“NO!” She screamed. Her body bolted upright in her small bed covered in pink sheets. Sweat dripped down her forehead and the back of her neck, tickling her spine. Her breathes came in dangerous sobs.

“Hello,” he whispered. He couldn’t be more than her imagination, but she watched the dark corner where his voice emanated like a hawk. “It’s all right, my child.” His tone was low and soothing. It sounded almost like a lullaby as his feet moved against the creaking floorboards. “My sweet baby girl.”

“Who are you?” Dedra whispered. She gripped her sheets until her knuckles stood out, stark white, against the pink color. The voice didn’t come again, but a face did. His skin was the same olive tone as hers. Their noses were short and regal, exactly the same. He came to kneel by her bed.

“I am yours.” He said with a smile as he reached for her little hand. “Whatever you need me to be, that is what I am.”

The moonlight shown through her curtains revealed his dark, almost black, irises and his startling white teeth. Moonlight also revealed the color of his short wavy hair. Chestnut brown with streaks of auburn, the same color as Dedra’s long curls. Her wide silver eyes took in everything about the man from his black clothing that blended into the shadows of her bedroom to the glinting piece of silver sticking out of his pants.

“I don’t need you.” She whispered as she looking into his dark eyes. The longer she looked the more fear consumed her. Shivers engulfed her while goosebumps attacked her skin. With each passing moment his presence gave her reason to scream, but it also stopped her screams. “I need my Momma.”

“Don’t you recognize me, Baby?” He whispered, pulling his hand away when she flinched from his touch.

“I want my Momma.” She repeated.

“Why do you keep saying that, Dedra?” His voice was rougher, sounding more like the sandpaper on the wall before they painted her room rather than the soft lullaby.

“I don’t want you here,” she retorted through a crying sob. Tears flowed freely down her face as she wished her mother would walk through the room and the monstrous man would disappear.

“What did she tell you?” He growled.

Dedra screamed.

Tears washed down her cheeks as she skidded to a halt in front of Kirkland’s office. There was a gun somewhere. She could feel it. The metal scope lingered on her body as she punched in the code. The door buzzed and she threw it open and slammed it closed behind her, drawing the binds. She didn’t stop there as she ran to her office taking out her red pistol with the silver handle, checking to make sure it was loaded, and hiding behind the desk she never used.

Dedra panted enough to regain her breathing before she held her breath, listening to the silence. He couldn’t get to her here. Not unless Kirkland let him in which he wouldn’t. Hopefully. She gripped her gun as she gripped the her pink sheets from the first time she saw the man.

Dedra’s screaming brought her mother into the room. Her longs legs were bare and her ebony hair swayed around her shoulders. She sat beside Dedra, pulling her into a tight hug. “It’s okay, Sweetheart. I’m here now.”

“There was a man,” she sobbed. The tears slowed, but not much. “He went out the window.” Dedra pointed over her mother’s shoulders to the curtains moving with the night breeze.

“What man, Dedra?” She questioned, holding her daughter tighter. “Who did you see?”

“He said he was mine.” She breathed through her sobbing now, calming herself down more.

“Your what, Baby?”

“Whatever I needed.” She moved from her mother’s embrace to look at her face. “He had the same color hair as me. He looked like the old photos you showed me, Momma.”

“That’s impossible, Love, you know that.” Her mother’s smile was far from sincere as she rocked herself on Dedra’s bed. “Why don’t you come to my room? You’ll sleep better in there, right?”

Dedra nodded and watched her mother lock her bedroom window.

“This can’t be happening to me. Not again. What the hell does this guy want?” She whispered to herself. Her brain wandered as she let herself relax into her thoughts, but the relaxation did not last long.

A knock echoed through the room. Three taps followed by five more. She was horrified. Words evaded her as she pushed herself farther under her desk.

“Dedra?” Kirkland’s grave voice called as the door squeaked open. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

“He’s here.” She knew he couldn’t hear her soft whisper, but she couldn’t talk louder. Not yet.

“Sweetheart? What’s wrong? I need to know.” His voice came again as his feet neared her desk.

“He’s here,” she said just loud enough for him to hear.

Kirkland sighed as he squatted next to her. “Who is here?”

“The man! That man from the night Tanya died, from the night my mother…” She forced herself to look into Kirkland’s eyes. “I saw him!” Fear radiated through her bones. She held the hilt of her gun close to her chest as if it were a teddy bear.

“No one is here except Linox, you, me, and our new client,” Kirkland whispered.

“Oh God, no!” She hissed. “Why would you let him in?! He’s trying to…” Her body trembled as the fear consumed her. “Why would you do this to me?”

“Honey, our client is a woman.” Kirkland reached for her, but she jumped away from his touch.

“Dedra, Sweetheart, you are safe now.” He nodded as she stared through him. She’d had this look in her eyes before, but never this bad. Everything faded from her reality as she let the thoughts consume her again and again.

“He’s going to kill me too,” she sobbed.

Kirkland crawled under the desk beside her. He moved around so he could hold her head against his chest. “He’ll have to kill me too, Sweetheart.” His warm hand smoothed her hair back gently. “No one is going to hurt my daughter. I’m here, and I am not going anywhere.”

Dedra released the gun and clung to Kirkland’s jacket as she let the sobs fall from her lips. She cried until she couldn’t breathe. He never let her go.

“You are mine.” He whispered into her hair as he kissed her head.