Part 1

  Buzz…buzz…buzz…click!

  “Hello, 911. What’s your emergency?” The voice of an older woman inquired from beyond the speaker of a payphone.

  “Y…*Cough*…” A cough to clear one’s throat surprised the operator! The young man on the other end of the line spoke again, noticeably deepening his voice. “Yes…t-there’s an officer at Newtonville rock - err…the ridge on the outside of Newtonville. I’m not sure, but I think he may be seriously hurt! I don’t know what happened! There were some gun shots and…something just threw him from on top of the ridge!”

  “Please calm down, sir! We’ll send some cars out immediately. Sir, what is your name…?”

  “…”

  “Sir…?”

  “…”

  “Are you there? Hello?”

  Click…buzz…buzz…buzz…

  Part 2

  Harper Wolf rushed back to the ridge as fast as his chubby, short legs could carry him! What he returned to could only be described as a bloodbath. Katie Vang, the red-haired waitress, desperately wiped pieces of the formerly living cop, Niles, off her person! She’d tossed aside her jacket, despite the cold, attempting to remove the gore which had seeped into every nook and cranny of her body.

  Vernon Marino stormed up to Harper and gripped him tightly by the shoulders, locking eyes with the boy! “Did you do what I told you, kid?”

  “Yeah…I mean, I didn’t know what I was supposed to tell them though.” Sweating bullets, Harper replied while trying to avoid eye contact with Vernon’s intense gaze.

  “Hey, hey! Up here, look me in the eye and tell me you followed my instructions!”

  “Yes! I did, okay?! I called the police, I used a fake voice, I didn’t leave a name, I used my jacket to avoid getting fingerprints on the phone, and then walked on the rocky path to avoid leaving tracks!! Are you fucking happy; man!”

  “Ecs-fucking-tatic, kid!”

  “Enough!!” Nicous Thompson yelled at his two hysterical peers as they argued! “Look…I just…we just need to do something.” Trying to regain the minimum level of composure, despite his own actions minutes beforehand, Nicous knelt on the ground taking deep breaths.

  “I think I’ve got it covered. All of you need to work with me. Understand?” Vernon pulled a knife out of his jacket pocket. As the cool headed Italian-American man made his way into the woods he stopped and called back to the others. “Nick’o, you come with me! I need your help! Harper, Vergil get the dies back to my car and wait for us there! Get a move on, Nick’o!” A swift smack to the back of Vergil Trask’s head snapped him out of his daze as Harper pulled his friend along! The young men moved to carry the unconscious Ama Singh back to Vernon’s car. After witnessing the horror of a person’s body being obliterated, with her possibly being the root cause, Ama had passed out from the trauma.

  Nicous and Vernon skulked about the woods attempting to leave as few footprints in the mud and dirt as possible. “Vernon, what are we doing?”

  “There isn’t much time, so we’re going to mess with this area as much as possible! Break branches, turn up dirt, throw rocks around…whatever! We need to get the police off our trail.”

  “We’re really not going to turn ourselves in?”

  “Turn ourselves in? Are you kidding me? We’re done for if we get caught with all the ws we’ve broken! Probably won’t even go to trial! Bet they’d just throw the book at us.”

  “We killed people, man! We need to…do something…”

  “WE shouldn’t even be here in the first fucking pce! What do you think the jury will say when they hear our side of the story, huh? That we came up to this deserted mountain ridge for answers about the voices we’re hearing in our heads? If I were them, I’d think we were a weird cult, or something. Not to mention, if you happen to forget, it was whatever the hell you and Ama did! I’m just trying to help you here!”

  “I…I don’t even know what I did.” Nicous trembled, hardly able to stave off a panic attack. (I killed a man…right? I didn't mean to.)

  “Quit standing around Nick’o, no time!” Snapping branches and sshing at tree bark with his knife, Vernon rampaged through the forest doing everything he could to destroy the trail! Nicous joined in and the two wrecked the path that ran around the ridge. They finished and hurried down towards their cars. While Ama sat, still asleep, Katie shivered in the backseat from both the cold air and the shock. Harper and Vergil were in Nicous’s sister’s car, calling out for the others. Nicous and Vernon got into their cars and sped off, leaving just dirt clouds behind as they zoomed away!

  Part 3

  Everyone, apart from Katie, sat in the front room of Vernon’s house. The fiery redhead was busy scrubbing herself so vigorously in the shower that her normally pale and freckled skin was reddening like a tomato. Vernon turned on the TV to break up the dead silence that’d engulfed the room. Some time passed, and Katie meekly entered, joining the group without a word. As soon as everyone had sat down Vernon stood up and called their attention.

  “Alright, let’s get this started; we all need to talk about what just happened. We’re all freaked out, I get that, but we can’t just sit here.” No one responded, causing Vernon to pace back and forth across the soft white rug underfoot. He pced his hands over his face and unleashed a muffled scream into his palms. “Okay, you know what?! I’m not asking anymore. I’m telling you; Ama, Nicous, expin what the fuck happened!”

  “What makes you think we know?!” Nicous exploded in his retort! He looked over to Ama who’d awoken from her fainting spell. She sat lifelessly staring at the floor.

  “What about you, Ama?” No physical or verbal response was given. “Ama!!” Ama cut her eyes to Vernon, then back to the floor without a word. “None of you understand how serious this is! This isn’t a joke! We need to get our stories straight before the police get here!”

  “Get our stories straight? That’s what’s on your mind?” Massaging his temples, Nicous pressed his back against the arm of the sofa. Katie sat grasping her knees tightly whilst rocking back and forth. Vergil was pulling at his long white hair making strands fall to the floor. Ama catatonically looked off into space. Harper, with his back turned to the group, seemed to be typing things into his phone nonchantly.

  “Harper, what are you doing? Give me whatever you’re pying with over there.” Vernon called out to Harper nearly making the boy drop the device.

  “Will you just chill out?!” Harper snapped back, then showed Vernon his phone! The screen dispyed a website with accounts of paranormal activities ranging from possession to spirits attacking people.

  “Let me see that.” Vernon snatched the phone. “…This also lists aliens and stuff. This is nonsense.”

  “Coming from you? That’s funny.” Taking umbrage with the snarky and ill-advised rib coming from the spiky haired pessimist, Vernon turned his gaze back to Nicous.

  “Okay then, how about it, Nick’o?”

  “What?”

  “How about you tell us what you think?”

  “Well…I...”

  “Wow, funny! It’s almost like you’ve been opening your mouth all this time and nothing but blind cynicism has been coming out. Some things never change!”

  “Okay, fine then…um…”

  “What? ‘Um’, what?”

  “Give me a second! It’s…” Nicous took a minute to gather his thoughts. “I don’t know if I can convey this the right way, but it was definitely me. My hand… there was some weight when that blue misty stuff came out of me. …I don’t know. Never mind, it’s dumb.”

  “…Do you think you could do it again?” Quizzically, Nicous tilted his head at the proposal made by his typically detested peer.

  “…Maybe…”

  Both men made their way towards the front door. “Wait up, guys!” Harper got up and quickly followed suit. After a minute, Vergil stood up and joined them outside of the house. The four men walked into the wooded area close to Vernon’s home. Said homeowner looked around and set his sights on a tree roughly twenty feet away.

  “Alright Nick’o, try and…I don’t know, knock that tree over.” Indeed, it was a rather sizeable tree, however it leaned significantly. If a car were to collide with the tilted sapling it would have been easily uprooted.

  Nicous sat focusing for a few seconds, trying to imagine the tree moving. Nothing happened. “Agh!” He began fussing with his hair in frustration!

  “H-how about trying to think back to how you felt before?” That was the first time that Vergil had chimed in, surprising the others who’d forgotten he was even outside. “You know, when A-Ama was about to get shot…”

  “I’ll give it a try.” Nicous closed his eyes, recalling the scene from before. He extended his hand again and tried to move the tree. Once again, nothing happened. “Hang on…wait…” He concentrated, furrowing his brow, to the point of nearly connecting the tips of his eyebrows. Unfortunately, the tree remained motionless.

  “*Sigh*…maybe I should get a gun and point it at Ama to see if that gets a reaction.” A joke, all be it in bad taste came from Vernon. “What, not funny?” Nicous gave Vernon a disapproving gre and tried again. “Look…it’s not working.”

  “Stop it, will you? I need to focus.”

  They gave it a few more tries, but after a couple of minutes Vernon gave up completely on the experiment. “Alright boys, let’s pack it in for the night. You kids called your folks and told them you were staying over a friends’ house, right?” The others seemed done with their test, nevertheless Nicous remained steadfast. His belief that whatever the phenomenon from before may have been, it was controlled by him.

  “Wait!” He shut his eyes as hard as he could, focusing his mind, trying to make even a single leaf around him move. “Well?”

  “No way…”

  “D-Did anything move…?”

  “…” Vernon let out a gasp. Nicous turned to face the group. “…nothing moved. Alright, let’s go!” They left Nicous outside feeling dejected and annoyed.

  (That…asshole.) Even though Nicous thought of punching Vernon in his smug face, knowing it wouldn’t change anything stopped the surly young man. “*Sigh*…”

  Part 4

  The powerful silence bnketing the group of anxious young people was only pierced by inappropriately timed ughter resounding throughout the dead air of the home from Vernon’s television. Be it from fear of nightmares or that something may transpire while they slept defenselessly, not one of the participants of the impromptu sleepover could manage to drift off. As the clock’s hands ticked past midnight, Vernon got up and grabbed some bnkets for the others and then sat back on the couch.

  (Even he can show some compassion, I guess.) Nicous thought; then took notice of Katie ying within ear shot with her bright red hair spilled out across the carpet like a drop of paint. Her eyes were locked on the ceiling so firmly that it looked like eye contact wouldn’t break even if the house came crashing down. “Hey, Katie, you feeling any better?” Nicous whispered as to not disturb the others. She rolled over, gloomy expression basically answering Nicous.

  “…I…” She started to say something but stopped before getting the thought out, shuttering slightly. Nicous reached out and grabbed her hand, softly. His hand easily eclipsed hers, wrapping it in a secure net of warmth. The young red-haired waitress stopped shivering, letting out a sigh of relief.

  “Sorry, I just…you know…”

  “…Thanks, Spike.” Katie pulled her hand away. “You’re pretty cheesy, you know?”

  “Yeah?” Nicous chuckled.

  “…I just can’t forget that sensation. His body…it was all over me.”

  “…”

  “Spike…Nicous, what’s going to happen to us…?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Could you lie to me…and tell me everything’s going to be okay?”

  “…No, sorry.”

  “Hehehe…you really know how to spoil a girl.”

  “Gss half empty is kind of my thing.”

  “I can see that. Thanks, all the same. I may actually be able to sleep now.”

  “Cool, you should. I think the others have all nodded off too.”

  “Seems like it. Night, Nicous.”

  “Good night, Katie.” Katie shut her eyes and almost immediately drifted off to sleep. (…I wish I had a clue what’s going on. How am I even supposed to look myself in the mirror? I killed someone…and just left the body there. I haven’t felt this hopeless since…high school.) Despite being able to provide Katie with some soce after the night’s events, Nicous was still anxious. He didn’t sleep much that night. Instead, his mind was filled with thoughts of the officers, death, and days from long ago.

  Part 5

  Vernon was the first of the group to awaken. The sun’s powerful rays broke through his curtains almost pinpointing his eye lids, forcing him up. Taking special care to avoid stepping on the others that y sprawled out across his floor, Vernon made his way to the kitchen. Coffee was his objective, and he was determined to get some. With the coffee pot starting up, an arm sounded waking the sleeping freeloaders! The arm originated from Katie’s cell phone, who hastily turned it off!

  The others angerly shoot gres toward her, upset at the rude awakening. “Uh…” She started. “It’s so that I don’t oversleep and miss my shift.”

  “Geez…is that all?” Vernon went back to his seat on the couch next to Ama. “Okay, so what are we going to do now? Come on, people! We can’t just sit around all day!”

  “Will you shut up?!” The jarring roar that erupted from Ama surprised everyone! She’d not spoken throughout the whole escapade until that point so no one was expecting it. “I…I mean, please, my head hurts. So, can you stop yelling?”

  “O-Okay.” Vernon was visibly shaken eliciting a stifled chuckle from Nicous.

  “I guess we should return to our own houses for now. I’ve still got to drop off my sis…” Nicous halted halfway through his sentence, forgetting Katie was in the room. (I’d rather not look like more of a dork in front of her. She doesn’t need to know that I’m driving my sister’s car around.) He restarted his expnation. “I’ve still got to drop off my sister at her job.”

  “I’m still concerned about what happened yesterday. Honestly, I didn’t expect the police to just show up in the middle of the night and arrest us, but even with that said, we still need to stay on our toes.” Vernon’s calcuting nature wasn’t a surprise to Nicous who’d already associated that with his character, though remaining calm in their situation was an unnerving stance.

  Harper held up his phone and showed it to Vernon. “I’ve been looking at all the news sites and they haven’t said anything yet. You think, maybe they haven’t found the bodies?”

  “Impossible. That ridge was covered in gore.”

  The room returned to it’s all too familiar uncomfortable silence. Suddenly, Katie’s phone began to ring! Looking at the caller I.D. caused her to jump up and exit the room in a hurry. A light tapping on the shoulder then caught Nicous’s attention.

  Ama leaned in close to whisper. “You’re dropping me off at home, right?”

  “Huh?” Even though Nicous acted surprised, he knew that was coming. He’d given her a ride to Vernon’s house in the first pce, so taking her home was an obvious part of the informal agreement they’d reached.

  “Don’t, ‘huh’! I need to get home and you brought me here, so take me back home.”

  “You’re really freakin’ bossy, you know that?” He said whilst running fingers through his quill like spiky hair.

  Katie returned to the room looking a bit distressed. “I’ve got to go. …Someone’s looking for me. Can we maybe talk some other time?”

  “Alright. I see everyone has got to get back to their normal lives now. But just remember, we need to stay in contact. If something else happens, like the police call or come to you, or even more so if that mist stuff comes out of anyone else, contact the others! Let’s exchange numbers, people!” They started exchanging phone numbers, then gathered their things and headed for the cars.

  “We can actually walk from here.” Harper spoke up for himself and Vergil, who’d remained totally silent the entire morning.

  “Nah. Hop in; I’ll drive you kids home. Yo, Katie, what about you? Need a lift?”

  “N-No… I’ve got to run. I’ll see you guys ter!” She quickly sped off on foot despite Vernon’s offer.

  “Okay…Ama?”

  “No. Nicous will drive me home. He doesn’t live too far from me, so it shouldn’t be a hassle on his end. Also, I’d hate to impose on you any further, considering how accommodating you’ve been thus far.” The amount of politeness Ama exuded made Nicous gag, so Ama jabbed the overly expressive man in the ribs with her elbow.

  “Okay. I see. Well, if you’ll excuse us. Come on, kids, let’s go!” Vernon was blushing a bit. It was clear Ama struck a chord with him, though he still tried to py it off coolly.

  Nicous started up his sister’s car, and with Ama in tow, drove off. They made their way to the highway without a single word exchanged between them. Silently, Ama slouched down in her seat and closed her eyes.

  “…Uh…” Nicous took notice of his passenger and began to worry. “Hey, are you okay?” He reached his arm over and touched her on the shoulder, but it elicited a reaction he wasn’t prepared for!

  “AGHH!!!” Ama began filing her arms causing one of her fingernails to cut across Nicous’s face, just below the eye! That caused the young driver to temporarily lose control of the vehicle, just barely being able to pull over to the side of the highway!

  Other drivers drove by honking their car horns and cursing, as Ama and Nicous sat on the side of the road catching their breath.

  “Ugh…” The cut on Nicous’s cheek was deep, bleeding down onto the young man’s shirt! “What the fuck was that for?!”

  “I’m…” Nicous demanded an expnation from Ama as she backed into the car door, looking like a frightened animal! “I-I just…” She scrambled for the door handle. Once Ama got her hand on it, the young woman bolted from the car!

  “Wait!! Ama!!” After putting his fshers on and setting the car in park, Nicous got up and ran after her! “I said wait!” Once he caught up to her, he grabbed the small woman by the wrist!

  “Ahhh!!” Again, Ama backed away in terror, falling to the ground with a feral look in her eyes as she shielded herself!

  “Sorry…I didn’t mean to…”

  “No…just…” A car slowed down behind them and an older, rge woman got out!

  “What are you doing to that poor girl?!” The woman came up pointing her finger, looking positively livid! “You get away from her, right now!”

  “I didn’t do anything, I swear!” Nicous and the woman bickered for a few minutes until Ama got back to her feet.

  “I’m fine, ma’am. Hey, come on.” Ama shuffled back towards the car and Nicous followed suit.

  “You better watch yourself, boy!” The woman yelled as she got back into her own car.

  Nicous sat in the car with Ama watching the one woman from before drive by, angry and gesturing that she was watching him. The two remained totally silent for a few minutes without so much as making eye contact. Nicous pulled a napkin out of the glovebox and pressed it over the profusely bleeding wound on his face.

  “Sorry.” Ama sincerely said as she lowered her head.

  “It’s okay. Do you want to expin why you freaked out like that?”

  “Should be pretty obvious…”

  “…Yeah, I guess. You didn’t freak out this morning though…”

  “Probably because, I didn’t sleep yesterday. Every time I got ready to close my eyes…I kept seeing, you know what, happen repeatedly.”

  “Wait, are you saying you didn’t sleep at all st night?”

  “Nothing more than for a few minutes. I was starting to fall asleep in the car before…then when you reached across…” Ama covered her eyes and started panting. “I-I’m sorry…I don’t…I don’t think I can take it…”

  “…” Nicous sank down into his chair. “I don’t know what to tell you. I did the same thing…kind of.” He said while reaching for a new napkin to help his cut. “Seems like the both of us spent st night trying to figure out what we’d done. Ouch!” The gash on his face continuing to hurt abruptly cut short the attempted expression of empathy. “I need to get something for this cut.”

  “I think there’s a gas station just up the road.” Nicous noted that statement and drove to their new destination.

  The two arrived but before Nicous could exit the car Ama stopped him! She got out herself and walked into the store as the young man waited, nursing his wound. Ama returned, and through the window handed Nicous some medical supplies. “Thanks.”

  “Pop the gas cap. I…owe you gas money too.” He obliged and waited for Ama to finish filling the tank while tending to the cut on his face. She finished and rejoined Nicous, who then parked the car in a nearby lot. “What’s the matter? Just drop me off at home.”

  “Hang on…” Nicous started pying with his hair.

  “I’m sorry. I know it hurts, ok?”

  “It’s not that…what I’m trying to say is…”

  “…Out with it, Nicous!”

  “Ok, ok, ok! I was going to say…” Nicous took a deep breath, making Ama get nervous and recoil slightly. “…We…meaning you and I…went through a lot st night. I was thinking about it while you were in the gas station and realized that even though we did two different things, they were kind of simir! We’d probably not be able to talk to anyone of the others about it - or anyone for that matter! I’m trying to say…that if you need to talk to somebody about the way you’re feeling, about…you know, stuff, you can talk to me.”

  “…”

  “Or you don’t have to…whatever.”

  Ama snickered. “You’re really a rare type of person, Nicous Thompson.”

  “…Is that a good thing…?”

  Ama smiled, not like her previous smiles Nicous had seen before. Even with bags under her eyes and hair out of pce, the goofy and wide smile looked genuine. “Thanks. Maybe another time though. I’m hardly keeping my eyes open right now.” With both cking sleep and barely able to put together a truly coherent thought, Nicous conceded that maybe it would be best just to end things.

  “Right! Well, let’s get you home then.”

  Part 6

  Nicous drove up to Ama’s apartment. She got out of the car and prepared to wave goodbye but stopped and leaned into the window signaling that she had a question.

  “I forgot to ask; do you remember that…chubby kid from earlier?”

  “Uh…yeah. What was his name again?”

  “Harper Wolf…right?”

  “Yeah, that’s it. You know him?”

  “Oh, no. I had a…friend with that st name years ago. Just thought maybe he was a cousin…or son…maybe.”

  “Ask him next time we meet up. I’m sure that Vernon will make us all have another meeting.”

  “Yeah. Probably will. Anyway, thanks…d-dude…” She said, recoiling slightly.

  “Chill out, ok? I’m not mad. See ya’!”

  Nicous drove off, leaving Ama shrinking in the rearview mirror until she was out of sight. A sudden ring on the young man’s cellphone surprised him. It was Dani, Nicous’s younger sister. The pessimistic young man audibly sighed as he expected to be chastised for not returning home the night before.

  “Sup, Dani?” Rustling came from the phone speaker. Nicous could make out what sounded like his younger sister talking to an unknown man with a heavy Spanish accent.

  “Dani, come on. I don’t see why…” The voice of the man sounded distraught.

  “Just not yet, okay? My mother would flip. But since you’re here, I’ll introduce you to Nick…whenever the hell he gets back here with my car! You know what? Let me give him another call…” The rustling came again, then prolonged silence.

  “What’s up, Dani?”

  “…Hi, Nick.” Dani’s voice trembled.

  “Something you want to tell me?” Nicous replied in a snarky tone.

  “W-When’ll you be home?”

  “Soon.”

  “I’ll…tell you when you get here?”

  “Sounds good. See you then.” Nicous hung up the phone. (Whatever this is, it can’t be good.) Another call came in! Nicous pulled over to the side of the road and prepared to answer, scoffing when he noticed it was Vernon. “Yeah…?”

  Vernon started off sounding troubled. “Listen up Nick’O, I just got a call from the cops, so you’ll probably be getting one soon too. They’re most likely going to want you to come down to the station.” Nicous’s heart jumped in his chest with the thought of blowing that officer off the side of the ridge resurfacing! Nausea swelled in his stomach due to the sudden overwhelming anxiety. “Hey, you still there? I need you to listen! Remain calm and don’t…”

  “I know, okay! I’m headed home for now. If they call me…and only if they call me, I’ll go.”

  “Fine…keep in contact. I’ll let you know if anything changes.” The phone call ended.

  Nicous sat in the car off to the side of the road. Since the radio was turned off, only the cars whizzing by filled the dead air. He pced his head on the wheel, then undid his seat belt and cranked the car seat back to stared up at the ceiling. (And I’d almost gotten that crap out of my head. I’m saying that was ‘crap’ now…what’s wrong with me? How can people live with themselves after killing someone? I should just turn myself in. No, I can’t! If I did, then…everyone else would get in trouble too. It’s not like we meant for that to happen! I…I just…I’m making this worse. The longer we wait, the worse it’s going to get. Dammit! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do! If only I had an answer or…knew what the hell I was supposed to do. That Vernon could remain calm this entire time is so…screwed up! The more I’m around that guy…the more he confuses me. At work, he’s the type to come up with the pn; the others would rely on him for answers. Years ter, and I still don’t trust people like that…people who can always remain calm and try to maintain control. It’s so unnatural…)

  Nicous peered at his phone once more, noticing he’d spent nearly an hour just staring off into space. (Dani’s probably still waiting for me.) He still had a twenty-minute drive ahead of him. After taking a few deep breaths he resumed his trip home.

  End of Chapter 2