Blend

02:00 | déjà vu

BEN GROWS motionless. His cheeks become fire engine red. "What're you talking about?"

"Oh, sorry. Did I forget to mention that I'm a medium? Yeah, you remember that white girl you murdered at Nate's party? Well she's been haunting me ever since and she's super pissed at you."

"Try fucking enraged," Peewee mutters.

"Actually she's fucking enraged," I amend, raising my camera higher. "And now for my final question. Why did you kill Penelope Adams?"

Ben stands to his feet. "I don't know if this is some cruel joke but get out. Now."

"Not until you explain yourself. I know you did it, Ben. The police are on the way."

His eyes dart from side to side, panic increasing his breaths. He starts to back up.

"That's right you son of a bitch," Peewee says, sliding off the bed and observing with complete glee. "You're going to prison for the rest of your life. Hope it was worth it."

"I'm still waiting for your explanation. Peewee deserves to know why you drugged her with Xanax when she thought she was taking molly. She deserves to know why you led her upstairs away from everyone else and wrestled with her until she drowned."

He stops and rubs his hands over his face. "Who the hell are you? And how do you know all this?"

"Bingo! We got him, Devy!" Peewee squeals.

I grin. "I told you. Your best friend has been haunting me. She wants justice. True justice. Not another Black guy taking the blame for a crime he didn't commit."

Ben's eyes widen even more. "You're lying! Tell me how you know all this. Do you have video footage or something?"

He stalks closer and yanks my phone out of my hands. Fear slides up my throat because he really is stronger than he looks. I watch as he pushes a bunch of buttons.

Peewee stalks behind him. "Oh hell no! He's deleting everything in your gallery."

"Hey! Give back my phone!" 

"No." He chucks it and it clatters between the crack of his bed and the wall. "Now tell me how you know all of this."

Ben menacingly inches forward and my heart thumps against my rib cage. I swallow, walking backwards until my calves bump the bed.

"I can't take this anymore. I'm escalating to Plan B, Dev."

"No, wait!" I cry out just as Peewee jumps into Ben.

We had discussed her doing this if things got out of control but I really didn't want her possessing anyone else, even Ben, who most definitely deserves it. Her eternal Peace is at stake.

After a few seconds, Ben's hard lines turn soft. "Okay," Peewee says. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't risk him hurting you."

"It's fine. Take off his bandage." I head to the bed to look for my phone.

"Motherfucking liar," Peewee mutters, holding up his hand.

I look over to see tooth-shaped punctures all around his thumb line. Relief courses through me. It's not like I doubted his guilt, but this is what Forensics needs to clear Ace.

"Okay, let me update this boy before he loses his damn mind."

At record speed, I type and submit my messages.

"Uh oh." Peewee makes a funny face. "I think he's fighting me. It's like I can feel his energy trying to push me out."

I become entirely still. "What?"

"Yeah. Oh, shit." She pinches his eyes closed. "Dev, I'm losing him. He's full of so much rage and hate. I can't stay inside him anymore. Ruuuuun—"

Oxygen catches in my throat as Ben's eyes pop back open and round over mine. He blinks down, seeing the bandage on the floor.

"Yeah, Dev. Run." He echoes Peewee's last words, smirking. Then his eyes narrow just before he barrels toward me.

I scream, dropping my phone and scrambling to get away. But he grabs me by the waist and throws me on his bed.

"You can tell our little friend that possessing me won't work. Good old Meemaw could see spirits too and always forced me to wear this." He holds up his wrist to my eyes—a bracelet reeking of the sage herb. "I always thought she was a quack until now, but man am I glad I kept it on out of nostalgia."

"The police are coming! If you kill me, things will only get worse for you."

He gives a smile so chilling it makes my insides curdle. "I don't believe you. I think you and Peewee came here hoping to catch me in a moment of weakness. No one is coming for you, Devyn. And if they are, you'll be long gone by the time they find your body."

These words poison my last threads of hope. I try to scream but he claps my mouth shut.

"Shh, it's okay. Now Penelope can have a friend in Ghostland." He presses both hands over my nostrils and mouth, cutting off all air circulation.

"NO!" Peewee screams, rushing to the bed. She climbs up beside me. "I don't know what to do, Dev! I can't possess him. There's like this block now." She frantically runs her hands through her hair. "Ohmigod, ohmigod!"

Ben presses down harder. My lungs struggle to catch air and my face crumples in pain. No matter how hard I kick, Ben endures the blows. And it's all a little too déjà vu for me considering I just watched this episode play out through Peewee's eyes and she didn't make it.

"I hope you're watching this, Penelope. You should've left well enough alone."

"No, stop! Don't hurt her!" Peewee roars, trying her damndest to push Ben away. But because of the sage block, her hands fall right through him.

I continue to thrash and make gurgled screams, the fight in me gradually weakening. And just when I think all is lost, that my fate is to join Peewee on the other side, the door swings open and in runs Ace.