Out of the Darkness

176

I watched her face fall, and knew that I had just gotten this woman's hopes up, only to let them drop from a 200 story building to shatter into the street. "But maybe I can help!" she exclaimed, grabbing my hand. "She only remembers my face. She doesn't have to know more than that right now. I won't answer anything. I swear it! I have to make it right. I have to help her, too. I have almost 30 years to make up for. Please!" I looked at Sam, hoping that he could help me figure this out, help me decide. "I think we should let her come see her. Like she said, she doesn't have to answer any questions at all. Lilith won't know anything, other than the fact that Anna remembers her face. If nothing else, it might help make Anna stronger, more likely to beat Lilith's hold. This could work in our favor," he replied. I knew that I could count on him. "Okay," I said, looking back at Christine's hopeful face. "Okay, you can come see her. Only, it has to be today. There's no one at our house besides her and Sam's girlfriend. Our roommates will be back tonight or tomorrow. Is that okay?" She nodded, and automatically called someone. "Diane, this is Christine. I won't be coming back in today. Actually, you can go home too. Lock up and have an early day." She tapped her phone again, disconnecting the call, then clapped her hands. "Oh my goodness, I don't know what to do. Is this real, or have I had a mental breakdown? Am I dreaming all of this? No, my imagination isn't good enough for this." Then she cut her eyes to mine again. "This is real, right? I'm not dreaming?" I laughed and shook my head. "No, Christine, this is real. As weird as it is, this is very real. Would you like to follow us back to our place?" "Right now?! Oh, I don't know! This is all happening so fast! Do I need to change? Should I bring something? Pictures of her parents maybe? Her little sister?" She was speaking so fast, that her words were blurring together. "First, you need to calm down before you hyperventilate," Sam joked, standing up. Christine and I stood with him, and I watched her wipe her palms down her skirt. She laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'm so nervous. I don't know what to do. Will she hate me?" I shook my head, as we walked towards the exit. "No, she won't hate you. She doesn't even know who you are. If she remembers, she still won't hate you. She doesn't have it in her. I'm sure she'll know that you did your best." "I hope so," she answered, nervously. She followed us a little ways down the sidewalk, then stopped. "I don't have my car. I took an Uber here." "You can ride with us, if you'd like," Sam replied. "I promise we aren't serial killers or anything. Just your average ghosthunters." She giggled a little, and bit her bottom lip. "Okay. That would make sense. I can just catch an Uber back to my office, from your place. Thank you." She kept up her nervous chatter for the entire two blocks back to my car. I listened and smiled at the happiness in her voice. I could tell that she had really missed Anna. I thought about how I would feel if I lost Sam. That would crush me. Christine had pushed forwards, and lived her life. Even made a name for herself. Would I have been able to do that? If Sam just up and disappeared, how long would I look for him, until I gave up? I imagined the guilt that I would feel if I did give up on him. That would be worse that the grief of losing him. If their friendship was as strong as ours, then Christine was incredibly strong. When we finally made it to my car, Sam allowed her to sit in the front. I started up and pulled out onto the road. "You know, we had so many amazing times together. Stacia really was my sister. My family didn't have a lot of money, so I wasn't really able to go out, or do things with others. Stacia changed all of that. She always tried to make me go places with her, insisting that she would pay. I went a few times, but it always felt like charity. So, I started to decline. I told her how it made me feel, even though I was scared that she would get mad. Do you know what she did instead?" I had my eyes on the road, but shook my head. "What did she do?" I asked. "She started staying at my house on the weekends, like we did when we were kids. We had been been best friends since we were 5 years old. She stayed with me, and planned the best sleepovers. We would veg out, then eat way too much ice cream and brownies. We would throw little fashion shows and snap pictures of each other, and we watched movies with every heart throb that we had. She was obsessed with Johnny Depp and watched 21 Jump Street religiously." She giggled again, and sighed over her memories. "What happened?" I asked. "How did she disappear? If you don't mind talking about it." She leaned her head back against the seat, and closed her eyes. "I don't really know what happened. No one does. She went on that date with Chad. The one I told you about. But she never came back. Never made it home. When she still hadn't returned by morning, I called the campus to see if she was there. No one had seen her. So, I called her parents, and Chad. I called everyone that I could think of, but no one had heard from her or Chad. They were both just gone. I went to the campus to talk to some of Chad's friends. To see if they knew where he had gone with her. Most of them wouldn't tell me anything. Either they didn't know, or they were just assholes. Finally, Matt Jacobs got in touch with me. He told me that Chad had told him that he was taking Stacia to the old Witch's House. He really liked her, and it was common knowledge that she loved the supernatural aspect. Haunted places, and such. So, I went to the house. There was no one there, but the inside was super cold 90 degree weather. I saw the dolls. I saw the one that looked exactly like Stacia. Then I found Chad's UCLA football bracelet that he never took off."