Status: Active.

Andy

Danger.

"So how do we defend ourselves against them?" I ask him as he walks up the sloped hill in my backyard towards he house. He looks thoughtful for a minute. "Well, evidently, crosses are a good start, but they're only a good repelent for you, because you're actually alive and carry the faith."

I frown, and wrap the chain of my necklace around my fingers. "You didn't say that my religion could save my life..." I mumble, "That might have been enough to convince me weeks ago that my beliefs weren't all a big lie. I almost took down the cross in my bedroom a few days ago."

"What changed your mind?"

"I wasn't sure, yet... I'm glad I didn't, now. Will it keep them from entering the room at all?"

"My guess would be the ones that have bad intent will be repelled by it, because they're Hellish creatures. The good ones, like myself, can come and go as we please, at least until I decide all of the sudden that I want to murder you for your body, of course."

"Better keep my cross handy, then..."

I think about that for a moment, and something clicks in my mind. I want to ask Andy, but I also do not want to make him mad, especially not after all we've been through today.

I don't remember a time when Ashley had actually entered my room. He simply refused. The most he would do was poke his head in, or pace anxiously around the door. And with all the weird stuff that's been happening since his arrival, it's honestly not to crazy to believe that it's because it's trying to suck my body dry and use it as a 'vessel' so he can walk freely among his peers.

Agh... I promised, and so did he. No more conspiracy theories.

"How many do you think are out there?"

"In the woods alone? Over a hundred and fifty, I'd guess." He shrugs, stepping up on the back porch, sliding open the glass door and stepping in.

"I can walk." I tell him, and he sets me back on my feet. "Are they all bad?"

"Actually, the ones closer to the Dead Zone aren't too bad... It's the ones that have wandered away in search of a body that are evil-minded. They're more willing to risk venturing further from their death place to find it, and if they're willing to do that, I doubt that they'll let anything stop them."

I nod, and take a deep breath, taking a moment to peek through the doorway of my mom's sewing room to see if she's there, but it's empty. I'm about to walk away, but I catch a glimpse of one of the projects she is working on, so I step into her workroom to check it out.

The curtains are drawn making the otherwise white fabric glow a pale blue. It's not finished yet, but I can already tell from the carefully pinned pieces of white lace and satin that it's going to be beautiful. It's long and graceful, hugging the figure of her model form, the satin grooves around the hips and remains form-fitting all the way to the floor, where it disburses into a mermaid-style train filled with big, thick ruffles, accented with pearl studs and gems.

It looks like she took a break while working on the bodice. I look down at her desk, reviewing the notes in her notebook to figure out who the client is. It could easily be a wedding gown, but it could also be a prom gown. There's no name or number for contact on the paper, just a few sizing measurements.

"It's beautiful..." I breathe, touching the sleek fabric on the hip. "She'll have lots of new clients in California."

"You really don't want to move, huh?..."

I turn towards him, and see the honest curiosity in his eyes, and I shake my head. I can't bring myself to sugar-coat it anymore, I simply can't do it anymore. California is too daunting of a place for someone like myself.

"I can't." I sigh, stepping back from the partially clothed form, admiring it a little while longer. "California isn't somewhere I want to be... I only have one other option, and I'm not even sure how to propose it to my parents... I haven't even decided if I want to, yet."

"What is it?"

"Elizabeth offered me another option today." I murmur absently, my eyes following the trail of sequins and beading pinned into place temporarily with small silver pins. "She said that I could stay here with her until after graduation, so I wouldn't have to worry about adapting to a new school... But no matter what I do, I am stuck. If I stay, I am without my parents. The guiding lights in my life. If I go, I am without everything I've ever known, away from the only place I'll ever know as 'home."

He nods softly, and looks down at the floor, dark eyelashes casting long, scratch-like shadows across his cheekbones. "I won't lie - leaving home for the first time is one of the most amazing and terrifying things you'll ever do. You'll feel sick and start to regret your decision, but then you somehow manage to talk yourself into sticking it out instead of going back. Don't make my mistakes. Evaluate all your options before making a decision. Weigh every aspect of it, because the smallest detail could play the biggest part in the plot later on."

I sigh, and nod a bit, brushing his shoulder with my hand in reassurance as I walk past him, exiting into the music room again. The house sounds empty, so perhaps my parents are not home yet, or my Mom had to run some errands. I know that today is her day off, so maybe she's just out.

We make our way to the kitchen, cutting through the dining room connected to the music room, and walk into the kitchen. On top of the island, sure enough, is a piece of christian themed stationary featuring the faint artwork of a lighthouse and some doves. Written on it is a simple note, left by my Mother to no one in particular.

Went to the craft store to get some more sewing items.
Be back before dinner.
Mom


"Well, that clears things up." I murmur, leaning against the counter. "Where's Ashley?"

"I don't know. He probably decided to stay out in the woods a bit longer."

"Shouldn't we be worried about him?"

He looks as though he had not thought of that. Concern crosses his expression and he paces the kitchen a little. "I could go back out there after him, see if I can find him."

"What if you don't come back?"

He sets his jaw in frustration, concentrating hard on coming up with another option.

"Are there any means of defense that you could use yourself? Since the prayer clearly doesn't work..." I fiddle with my hands, trying to recall from all the Halloween movies I've seen over the years, a time where a spirit fought another spirit. I can't think of any.

"Aside from ripping off their head before they get mine? No."

"... What do they look like?"

He pauses, "A human." the darty look in his eyes says otherwise.

"No they don't." I narrow my eyes at him like a suspicious child, "You told 'it' to not reveal it's true self, and when you were fighting with it, your hands were conforming to a face that was far from human. Cough it up."

He crosses his arms and leans against the counter across from me, looking at the kitchen tile intently for a few seconds before speaking. "They're... Dog-like, to say the least. I don't know the details of how they evolved from being human, to that, but God I'm praying that doesn't happen to me." He cracks a small, crooked smile and looks up at me. "I'd be nothing without my looks!"

I quietly laugh, and he continues. "There are spirits in the Dead Zone that are still perfectly human, but they have dark intentions, so I don't think their looks fall on the 'karma meter'."

"They're Hell Hounds." I murmur without thinking, blinking, then looking at him, having a revelation. "What if they're Hell Hounds? Maybe they started out human, but sold their soul to satan or something, and now they're stuck like that until they can find other ghosts to turn them back, or a human vessel."

I hate the word 'vessel'... It sounds so direct and empty, like your body is nothing more than a visual canvas of all that you are. Makes you feel really strange to think that you could wake up tomorrow and your body could be someone elses.

He scratches his chin and shrugs. "Could be... Damn it, we should have never gone into the woods to begin with. They were kind of brain dead out there before, milling around aimlessly until we drew attention to ourselves that day, and then they realized that there's a whole world beyond the forest, full of people to abduct and eat..."

I think about that, and the thought turns dark quickly. "A whole world... Do you think that Pendant might be in danger once those spirits make it out of the woods?" Worry fills my voice, and all I can imagine is Hell breaking loose in the streets, the people unable to defend themselves, and nowhere near enough preists to go around.

He grits his teeth. "Fuck." He mutters under his breath.

"We have to do something..." I sigh, realizing that the daunting task has been placed on our shoulders. "No one will believe me if I warn them that something is coming to kill them, much less something they cannot see. We'd have to take action swiftly and quietly.

"Like what?" He mutters hopelessly, slumping into a chair at the island, sighing loudly in frustration into his hands. "There's two of us, and only you have the real ability."

"Maybe we could corrall them? Gather as many of them together as we can, then I can use the prayer and exile them in the masses."

"...That could work... But there's still the danger aspect of it. Between me and Ashley, we couldn't keep an eye on you to make sure nothing sneaks up on you out there. There's only one of you, and thousands of them..." He lazily gestures towards the door, in the direction of town.

"Are you implying that it's better to save the few than the many?"

"Think about it, Ash... I know you, and care for you... I either don't know them, or hate most of them, anyways."

"What about your family?" I whisper, "Your friends? CC, Jake, Jinnx? And after they get done sucking the life out of everyone in Pendant, what's to stop them from moving on to other towns?"

"Okay, I get where you're coming from, but think about this, as well... The Dead Zone cannot be the only place harboring negative spirits in the world. There's caches of them all over the world, and you never hear the horror tales of them overtaking towns looking for human vessels. I'm just saying, let's not blow this out of proportion yet, yeah?"

"What do you think we should do?"

"Wait a bit. See if anyone starts showing symptoms."

"We're going to wait until after it happens?" I deadpan, feeling sick about the plan. "What do we do then? They could attack any one..."

"Then we get a priest to perform an exorcism on the affected people."

"They'll remember every minute." I set my jaw, "We need to do something besides sitting on our asses waiting."

"What's your plan, then?" He furrows his brow, looking to me for an answer.

"Like you said, there's no stories of mass attacks from spirits... So think about it, what do people do when land is tainted with angry spirits? What do they do to cleanse homes and purify soul?..." He watches me expectantly, waiting for an answer. "They bless it. They wave branches of burning sage, and sprinkle salt and holy water around the affected area to keep them at bay.... So maybe we don't need to kill them perse, just need to lock them in the trees and keep them manageable. If we miss any, we'll deal with them with the prayer attack."

He processes it and nods, "That might just work... Where do we get holy water, though?"

"It has to be blessed by a priest... So probably at a church... But I don't recall anything like that at mine, at least, not holy water that is available to the public."

"Okay, well, let's sleep on it, and see what we can come up with."

I hesitate, then nod. "Yeah, okay."

"Come here."

He holds his arms open and I walk toward him and envelope him in a hug, resting my chin on his shoulder.

"You know that everything is gonna be okay, right?"

I nod softly. "I do... Just sometimes it's hard to believe. But we'll get through it, right?" I pull away from him to look at his face. His eyes are kind, hiding all worry for what is to come. "We will." He agrees, voice unwavering.

I take a deep breath and nod. "Okay."

"Your parents will probably be home soon, huh?"

"Probably..." I nod, then frown. "I hope they'll be okay... We can't defend everything. I'll look into that holy water - maybe we can make a border around the house, keep them safe while they're here, at least."

"I won't let anything happen to them or you. I promise." He hugs me again, this time with more urgency. I knot my fingers together around his back, feeling worried despite his reassurances. No one can gurantee the safety of everyone I love, but I have to trust him. I have no choice, he's all I've got. I love him with all my heart, and pray to the God above that everything will turn out okay.
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Huge thank you to Sindie! Thank you for commenting, I love hearing your theories and seeing your reaction. :D I'll be updating lots this month for the Mibba writing challenge! <3