“That wasn’t so bad…” AJ said as he helped Howie get down off the tree trunk. I however, couldn’t agree with him because as we all stood on the solid ground, the ghosts were now starting to swarm around us, kind of like what you see in Dawn of the Dead…without the eating the brains part. At least let’s hope no eating brains will be involved because that would suck.
“Take me with you…” One woman said, she looked like she was about thirty and had a pale face. She reached out her arms to me and tried pulling me out from behind Kevin who I managed to put in front of me like a creepy ghost shield.
“Alright guys, let’s get going.” He said just as the female ghost stuck her hand through him and reached out to me. I pulled away and back up against the tree we had just climbed, “What’s wrong?” Kevin asked me when he saw the look of freight on my face.
“Please…take me with you!” She begged. “I miss my daughter; I have to see her again.”
“I’m sorry…I don’t think I can.” I said to the air which made Kevin look past me to what I was talking to.
“You don’t think you can what? Nick we have to get going, if you didn’t think you could do it you should have said something before we climbed the first tree.”
“He won’t take you…he’s just a selfish kid! It’s not like he’s going to get out of here anyway.” A grouchy female who was standing next to the nicer one said. She was all black and blotchy.
“Maybe I’ll just grab him and take his place…” A man of about fifty said as he walked towards me, grabbing at my shirt. I moved just in time and instead he went right through the huge tree.
“AHH!” okay I wasn’t so calm anymore and I took that as a cue to start running to the next tree.
“Nicky, what’s wrong?” I heard Howie call after me, but I didn’t turn around, I felt them all chasing me, it was a horrible feeling.
“When you come back here, maybe you can play with me?” A little boy of about ten said, blocking my way towards the next tree.
I backed up and fell over a rock. “Nick!” Brian said as he came barreling towards me. “What is wrong?”
“I can’t do this Brian!”
“Yes you can buddy…”
“No, there are too many of them!” I was panicking now and felt my heart beating so fast in my chest I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
“Nick, you need to calm down…you can do this.” Once again I had that fuzzy feeling when I felt Brian’s hand reach down and grab my own. I felt transported or something. He made me feel so safe, like no matter what, as long as he said those words, I’d be able to do this. I felt like he was looking down on me even though we were pretty much at the same eye level. I also felt warm and comfortable as if I was lying in a bed. How weird, what the heck was going on?
“So…are you ready to get up and try again, for me?” He smiled at me, the loving Frick smile, the one that helped me get through so much stuff.
I nodded at him, “Yeah…I guess so.”
“Good, come on.” He helped pull me up, “You have a long journey ahead.”
“Don’t you mean we?”
He nodded at me, “Yes…we.”
Kevin, AJ and Howie were all next to us within minutes but none of them mentioned my outburst. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad thing. Maybe just like I was getting used to seeing dead people, they were getting used to me freaking out.
“Okay time to do this again…” Kevin said, once again jumping up on the big tree and pulling himself over. He was going to get tired eventually, I thought to myself as he yanked me up on top of the trunk again. Luckily there weren’t quite so many ghosts this time around. There were just a few staring, intrigued by seeing us living people I guess.
Once we were all up and over the second hurdle we walked on a bit, and repeated the same routine about three more times. Just as I expected after that third time, Kevin was a little slower at helping me up, actually grunting when he did. I felt bad, I wish I had the strength to do it myself but as we got further away from our little camping ground, it seemed as though my energy really began to drain.
“I think we need to rest for a little bit, maybe eat some food or something.” Kevin said, sitting down and taking a drink out of a water bottle before passing it down the line.
“Good idea man, I’m getting pretty sore. This is worse than a work out with Fatima.” AJ joked but he was really exhausted and sweaty, in fact they all were.
As for me, I wasn’t really that sweaty because I didn’t do anything, seemed like Kevin was doing all the work for me, but even still…I wasn’t feeling very well at all.
“Nick, are you okay? You don’t look so good.” I glanced over at Howie and shook my head.
“I’ll be fine D.”
“Did you walk into a patch of poison ivy or something?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“Because it looks like you’re breaking out in a rash.” He pointed to my arms and sure enough, when I looked down I had small speckles of red on my arms. Just great! That’s all I need now, seeing ghosts and uncontrollable itching…although the weird thing is, I wasn’t itchy at all.
“Weird.”
“As opposed to what exactly?” He asked winking at me.
“Do you have a rash?” I asked him now looking to see if maybe we had all maybe broken out but of course Howie didn’t and neither did Brian who I inspected next.
“Maybe the sun has just given you freckles or something.” Brian teased as he bit into an apple, handing me one and nodding to do the same.
I wasn’t very hungry, in fact I was so tired the thought of having to even move my jaw was too much to think about but I also wasn’t in the mood for a lecture so I bit into the thing. “Wow these apples have no taste at all!”
“What are you talking about? They are ripe and juicy.”
“It’s like eating Styrofoam dude.” I spit it out and placed the apple next to me on the ground.
“Come on little man, you have to eat something…”
“I’m not hungry Kev…we should get moving soon.” I tried to stand but grew a little dizzy so just stayed there, hoping no one would notice and I’m glad they didn’t.
“You’re right…just a few more minutes then we’ll be moving again.” He nodded at me and I smiled back at him.
Sighing I tried to close my eyes for just a little bit, maybe if I did, the headache I was getting would go away. I swear I felt like I was an old man or something. I heard Kevin and Brian talking about something but their voices grew distant and another one started to stand out.
“Sweetheart can you hear me?” I opened my eyes when I heard my mother’s voice, where on earth did it even come from?
“I’m over here baby…mommy’s right here.” Mommy? I haven’t called her mommy since I was 5 years old. I turned towards the sound of her voice and sure enough, there standing in the middle of the woods was my mom.
“Mom?” I asked standing up and slowly walking towards her.
“Baby…come here, I’ve missed you so much. You have no idea!” I was overcome with emotion. I was usually very angry at my mother these days, I’m pretty sure I was mad at her before we left for this little trip, although about what I can’t really remember, it feels like forever ago.
“Mom what are you doing here?”
“I came here for you.” She held out her arms for me to run into and I almost did…almost.
“Wait…you can’t be real. This isn’t real at all, is it?” I asked stopping more than an arm’s length away from her.
“Why would you say that pumpkin? Of course this is real. Now, stop fooling around and come give me a hug.”
I turned to look for the boys but they were nowhere to be found. This was a dream, just like when I jumped into the water. I took several steps back at that point, “Why would you do this to me? Why are you so mean!” I asked this thing that was clearly not my mother. I felt so hurt and betrayed, and now longing for my mother so badly I couldn’t even stand it.
“Oh sweetheart stop your crying…I’m not mean.”
“Yes you are and don’t call me sweetheart, I know who you are!”
“Oh do you?”
“Yes, and you’re not going to win!”
“Nick, I always win!” She said before laughing that same maniacal laugh I had heard in the lake as she ran right through me it seemed. For a second I couldn’t breathe, I felt like all of my breath had been sucked out of me.
I woke up wheezing and grasping for anyone’s arm I could find. “Something’s wrong with Nick!” Howie said alarmed. Obviously it was him that I clutched.
“I don’t think he can breathe! Nick slow and steady…come on…in and out you can do it…breathe buddy.” D’s soothing voice made me relax a little bit as my heart slowed down and my breathing went back to normal.
By the time the rest of the guys made their way over to me, I was feeling a lot better. I looked over at D and smiled, “Thanks Howie.”
He took his hand and sweeped it across my face in a loving way and as he did that my whole body responded by shivering. “Good boy…” He said as if I was his dog or something.
“Is everything okay over here?” We both looked up at Kevin who I could barely see through the intense sun in the sky. I wish I had sunglasses with me; this sun was really starting to irritate my eyes.
“I’m okay now…I said standing up and then lending a hand to Howie as well. Thankfully this time around the dizziness was gone.
“Okay good, let’s get a move on then.” Kevin firmly placed his hand on my shoulder and off we walked to the next big fallen log.
Kevin slowly climbed up, his feet having a hard time finding a place to fit as he tried to use his arms to pull himself to the top. It seemed as we walked along, the trees got higher and higher. “Okay little man, give me your hand.” He said while lying on his back and extending his arm down as far as it would go.
I grabbed at it and once again felt myself being lifted off the ground with ease. I swear to God one day I’m going to check under Kevin’s clothes to see if he’s wearing a big S or not.
One by one we all made it over the huge log, but I became numb when I heard her voice again, “Oh Nickolas…look up here. When I followed her voice I gasped when I saw her standing next to Howie, the only one who hadn’t made it down yet. She had the most evil smile on her face as she pushed at Howie. “Stop that!” I yelled at her.
“Stop what?” Howie asked, now looking confused.
“What do you mean honey…stop doing this?” The evil spirit dressed like my mother asked again, pushing D a little harder. It seemed to work that time because Howie’s arms started to flail a bit.
“Howie keep it steady.” Kevin called, panic settling in his voice.
“I’m trying…” but just as he said it, my mother gave him one final push and he came falling to the ground.
We all went running towards him as he writhed in pain, “Howie!!” I yelled as I was the last one to arrive to him.
Kevin was down on his knees looking at Howie’s ankle which didn’t look like it was in the best shape. “I told you, you’re not going anywhere!” she said and then disappeared into thin air.
“Howie, were does it hurt?” AJ asked, looking as panicked as Kevin.
“My ankle, I think it might be broken.”
Kevin looked at it a little closely and then frowned, “I think you might be right Howie.”
“I don’t know how that happened, I mean I was fine and then it felt like something was trying to knock me off of there.” Both AJ and Brian looked at me for confirmation which I gave them by nodding.
“We can carry you Howie…we might slow down but we can do it.”
“Kevin, no way, if we do that we’ll never make it out of here by nightfall…you have to leave me behind.”
“NO!” I yelled now sitting next to Howie in a pile of tears. “There is no way we can leave you behind…not here!”
“I’ll be okay Nicky…you guys can go get help and then someone can come and get me.”
“No!”
“Nick maybe we should.” Brian said looking down at Howie with some kind of knowing glance. What the heck was going on?
“We can’t Brian…” I was full on crying now, almost hyperventilating.
“Nicky, it’s the only way. Besides I’ll be fine.”
“He will be.” I looked over at Casper; I didn’t notice he was watching everything until right then.
“But my mother knocked him down!” I didn’t care that everyone was standing around watching. I was beyond trying to protect myself from being called insane. There was no way I could leave Howie in these woods by himself.
“He isn’t in any danger; remember it’s you my father wants, not Howie.”
“But maybe he’ll get mad and take Howie instead.”
I felt all their eyes on me but I kept going, “I can’t just leave him here, if something were to happen…I’d never forgive myself.”
“Nicky…I’ll be okay.” Howie’s soft voice came in reply.
They all were close to me now as if I was the one that needed consoling. What the heck was up with them? I mean Howie and Kevin had no clue what was going on, they didn’t know about Casper or the other ghosts or anything but AJ and Brian had no excuse being so calm.
“We can’t.”
“Yes we can and we will.” Kevin said rather sternly.
“Can’t you help him, make him float or something?”
“I’m not a magician Nick.” Casper said, now sitting right beside Howie, who continued to rub at his ankle.
“It’ll be okay Nicky really…”
“Maybe one of you should stay with him, maybe I should stay with him.” I insisted, I mean, at least I would be able to protect him just in case.
“You have to keep going, I’ll stay.” AJ said plopping down beside Howie, “Besides, I’m a little tired anyway.”
“You can’t stay here; it’s not safe for you guys.”
“Look nimrod, I have made up my mind. I’m hanging here with Howie. Besides, he’s much more entertaining than you bozos anyway.”
“No!”
“Nick, it’s going to be okay. As soon as we get back to the main road, we’ll tell Grim and he’ll send for help. They’ll be okay.” Kevin reassured, even though I wasn’t quite convinced.
“They will be okay Nick, your friend is right…now you have to get going, it’s going to be dark soon. Everything changes in the dark Nick…for you…not for them.”
“But they’ll be here in the dark.”
“That’s different, please Nick…you’re wasting time. This is exactly what he wanted to happen, don’t you see that?”
I looked up to see everyone staring at me, most of them looked concerned and perplexed but mostly, they looked scared. But they weren’t scared of the ghosts lurking within inches of them, they were scared of me.
“I think you guys should go.” Howie said softly to Kevin as if to just prove my point. Kevin nodded and then gave Howie two full bottles of water, a bottle of aspirin and his entire backpack.
“Keep these with you, just incase its dark by the time I come back. In fact, let me start a fire for you okay?” They both nodded, but Casper seemed annoyed. We were running out of time, I knew it, I felt it.
In about twenty minutes, Kevin had a pretty kick ass fire going, and both AJ and Howie looked content. I wasn’t though, I was a nervous wreck. There was something that seemed so completely wrong about leaving them here alone in a forest of death…call me crazy but ya know…
“Alright, I think we should get moving…” Kevin said giving one more glance to both Howie and AJ, “Are you guys sure you want to stay behind?”
“Kevin, everything will be okay….go and get him out of the woods.” Howie pointed to me when he said that and then he gave me a wink.
“Okay…” Kevin said before turning away and heading for the next tree to climb over.
“Take care guys, Howie don’t let this guy talk your ear off.” Brian bat at AJ’s head playfully and then shook Howie’s hand.
“Don’t worry…Kevin lent me his universal mute button.”
“Wow that was brave Kev, considering we have Nick with us.”
“Don’t worry I have an extra one!” He yelled as he tried to figure out the best way to make it over the next tree. “Come on guys, let’s go.”
Now it was my turn to say goodbye, and I almost wanted to cry. I felt like I was never going to see them again and I hated that feeling. Casper was still there, although he was being very quiet as he watched me move closer to Howie and squat down beside him, “Howie I’m sorry.” I said as I suddenly started to bawl on his shoulder.
He pulled me close to him and rubbed at my back as he spoke, “Nicky…no worries this isn’t your fault. Everything will be okay…we’ll see each other again.”
I pulled away from him, “But how did you know that I?”
“Because I know…now get going and be safe, you can do this Nick…I know you can.”
I glanced over at Casper who was smiling at me, “I’ll watch them Nick…now go.”
“Okay...” I turned towards AJ, “Bye AJ.”
“Wait a minute…for him you’re a blubbering idiot and all I get is a bye AJ? What’s that all about?”
“I just figured you’d be happy to not be around me.”
“I am, but still…” I rolled my eyes at him even though I knew he was kidding. “Seriously squirt…you’re going to make it, okay?” He nodded slowly at me and I smiled back at him.
“Okay…I love you AJ.”
“Oh stop with the gushy crap…but okay fine… I love you too!” I walked over and hugged him, I couldn’t resist.
“Let’s go Nick.” I looked up and Kevin had already managed to get himself over the fallen tree and was helping Brian up.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Go!” AJ demanded, so I did…I ventured towards the tree and once again Kevin pulled me up as if I was nothing more than a pile of dirty clothes.
I took one last look at Howie and AJ and began to wave when all of the sudden the ground started to shake…sending all three of us flying off the tree.And landing in a body of water.
Thanks for reading. :O)
