Star Bright

Cathleen stared out at the dim landscape. The night, which had once felt so calming and nurturing to her, now just felt empty. She didn’t know what time it was, only that it was very late. From outside her room, not a sound stirred. In so many ways, it felt like her house had become a tomb. Never before had Cathleen ever felt so alone. She knew what Lance had said to her in the darkness, but he wasn’t with her.

She knew that he was still out there, lurking in the black void that existed just beyond the lights of her house. She could feel him, more so than she ever had before. It was, well a kind of sense, like seeing or smelling, that she had never experienced before. Yet, it was as easily recognizable to her as the feel of the cool breeze that drifted in through her window. Cathleen shuddered, but not from the cold. Once again, something was happening to her that she had no memory of ever experiencing, yet it felt as if she had known of it all her life.

Although so many amazing things were happening to her, Cathleen didn’t have an ounce of joy within her. So many things were going on all at once, all centered around her, and she was the one who was completely clueless. It wasn’t fair at all, Lance had been right about that. But, as she thought on it some more, he was also right that sometimes that was just the way things were. Still, that didn’t mean that she had to enjoy it.

Cathleen sighed sadly, resting her chin on top of her folded arms on the window sill. She wanted to know what was going on, and what was happening to her. But everyone was still keeping her in the dark about it all. Thinking more of it, Cathleen’s hands tightened into furious fists as her mind dwelled on the knowledge that her parents had known something all along, and they had hidden it from her. What was it that they knew? What had they been trying to hide from her all these years? What right did they have to do that to her?

As the questions piled on, Cathleen felt her anger mounting from the feeling of betrayal that had been done to her by her own parents. They had no right to hide things from her. No right. The more she thought of it, the more Cathleen felt her eyes being drawn to the shady outline of the barn. Before long, she was staring at it, as if inspecting something that her very life depended upon.

It was in there. She didn’t know what, but it was calling for her. There was no voice or anything like that, only a feeling that reminded her of a faint magnetic pull. Cathleen had felt this sensation before, it had been with her for a while now. But it had only happened in short, explosive bursts. Now it was a constant hum in the back of her mind and hauntingly captivating. Only through extreme force of will was Cathleen able to pry her eyes away from the barn. She cautiously lifted up the small crystalline shard that she held between her fingers. It was so strange, it had been so stunningly captivating, yet now it didn’t seem any more than just a well cut piece of glass. Staring at it long and hard, she tried to will it to return to life. To become what it had once been. But it wouldn’t heed her pleas.

Frustrated by its emptiness, Cathleen clenched the shard tightly. Her face winced as the sharp edges pierced through the delicate skin of her fingertips. She dropped the shard as some of her blood seeped out onto its surface. Sucking on her fingertips softly, Cathleen quickly grabbed a nearby rag and placed it over her injures. Grumbling under her breath, Cathleen looked back at the piece of crystal, and froze.

It was shimmering faintly along its edges, like a dim version of what she had seen earlier at the waterfall. The glistening surface drew her to it like a moth to light. Leaning closer, Cathleen was simply stunned by what she saw. The surface of the shard itself wasn’t glowing, it was the parts that had been coated in her blood. Cathleen didn’t know whether to be amazed or freaked out by seeing her own blood glistening under the light of her room. With her bleeding fingertips all but forgotten, Cathleen reached out to snatch the crystal piece. Her fingers, still slick from bleeding, lost their hold on the smooth surface. Cathleen gasped as the sliver popped right out of her hand. Spinning through the air, it fell over the edge of the window sill.

Cathleen’s heart jumped into her throat. Without even thinking, she launched herself out the window. There was the briefest moment of complete freefall as she lashed out and snatched the spinning shard from mid air. Feeling the first cold tremor of fear spike through her Cathleen blinked…

…and fell flat on her bottom in the damp grass. She sat there for a time, her mind all but completely locked down from what had just happened. She wasn’t even sure exactly what had happened. There had been…something. Cathleen had no way of describing it, because it had been unlike anything she had ever experienced. The only thing that she was certain of was that her whole body was aching, as if she had been lightly punched all over. Weakly pulling herself up on unsteady legs, Cathleen slowly looked around herself. Her jaw simply dropped when the realization hit home in her mind. The house, her house, was far away from where she was standing. Easily several hundred yards off. She had leapt out of a second story window to her house, and had landed on the ground and instantly far away from the building. That wasn’t a bizarre occurrence. That was downright impossible.

Cathleen took off in a dead run for the house. She didn’t give a momentary lapse which would allow her mind to think, because she was just too bewildered to even try and ponder what had just happened to her. Every part of her body stung from even the slightest movement, but she pushed herself to keep moving. She didn’t care. All she wanted to do was get back to her room, throw her head under a pillow, and try to pretend that nothing crazy had ever happened to her.

The house grew larger to her with stunning speed. Cathleen had no concept of exactly how fast she had run, but it was obviously quicker than she had ever done before in her life. She leapt the small flight of stairs leading to the front porch, clearing them with ease. Rushing up to the front door, she tried the knob. It was locked. With no other way to get in, she began pounding her fists against the door.

“Mom! Dad! Open the door!”

Cathleen didn’t care if they got mad at her. She didn’t care if they demanded to know exactly how she had gotten out of the house. In truth of it all, she didn’t care anymore. She just wanted it all to go away. She almost wished that things could go back to the way they had been. Even as her fists slammed against the seemingly feeble door frame, something deep within Cathleen just knew that things would never be the same again. Things were changing. She was changing. And there wasn’t a damn thing that she could do to stop it. Davis had been so right. Thinking of him, Cathleen longed to have him with her right then. She longed for the way that he could drive away all the things that made her feel bad, and bring joy to her heart like a ray of sunshine. But…she also longed for Lance, for the way he could make her feel as if nothing in the entire world could ever harm her.
The door swung open, and Maude stumbled into view. She looked very tired and was gently rubbing her eyes. Maude looked up at her with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. “Cat?” she said with a yawn. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Cathleen took a step back, her head turned completely upside down now. “What am I doing here? What are you doing here?”

“Um…I live here. Remember?”

When she said that, Cathleen finally began to really look around. She noticed instantly that the front porch and various other aspects of the house were completely different. None of them matched her own home. She hadn’t just fallen and landed several hundred yards away from her home. She had landed halfway across the whole damn town. Cathleen’s legs suddenly became very, very weak. Unable to hold herself up, she fell to the floor. Maude was by her side in an instant.

“How did I get here?” she asked her friend weakly. “How?”

“Uh, Cat, have you been eating mushrooms or something?”

“How could I get here?!” she screamed, shutting her eyes tightly. “I just blinked!”

“Hey, Cat.” Maude said, trying to sound reassuring. “Why don’t you come inside, and we’ll figure this all out.”

“I fell out the goddamn window to my house, blinked, and I was here!” she shouted. “You can’t figure this out.”

“Cat,” Maude was beginning to sound scared. “Just calm down and come inside.”

Cathleen was in too much of a daze to object or even try to resist her. Taking great care, her friend lifted her off the wooden floor and helped guide her inside. Maude had a home that was, to say the least, plain. One small television with a comparably small couch made up her living room. The kitchen was equally plain. One rickety round table with four folding metal chairs was where she ate. Still, Maude didn’t seem to mind her living conditions. Maude helped her over to one of the chairs and sat her down. She left for a moment and then came back with a pair of soft drinks from the refrigerator.

“Ok, Cat.” Maude said, taking a sip from her own drink. “I want you to tell me everything that happened. I want to know what’s going on.”

Feeling like she had nothing left to lose, Cathleen told Maude everything. She started from where she had left her during school, the conversations she had with Lance and Davis, her trip to small waterfall by her house, the crystal shard that took her to another place where she felt so at home, and followed through right up to where her parents had forcibly tried to run Lance off. She could have been talking for ten minutes or four hours, time really had lost its meaning to Cathleen as she felt the great weight of everything that was happening ease from her shoulders with the telling of the tale.

“…and then I pricked my finger on its edges, and my blood made it glow.”

“Are you sure what you saw was real?” Maude asked.

“Of course it was real, Maude. Why would I make up something like that? Here look…”

She held up her hand to show Maude, and froze. The tips of her fingers, the ones that had been oozing blood not too long ago, were healed. Not just scabbed, but completely healed. It was like she had never hurt herself at all. She stared at her fingers wide eyed with such intensity that the spell was only able to be broken when Maude lightly tapped on her shoulder.

“Cat?”

“I…I was just bleeding. But, it’s gone. Maude, it’s gone.”

“Cat…”

Cathleen looked up at her. “Maude…I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m scared.”

“Listen, Cat…do you want me to take you home?”

Cathleen thought long and hard over it. Home. She didn’t really know what home was anymore. It didn’t feel like a place of comfort and safety to her anymore. Now it felt so much like a place of secrets and lies, all of it centered around her. As she thought about it all, trying to make some kind of sense to what was going on, Cathleen gave a weary sigh that sounded more fitting for an eighty year old woman than an eighteen year old girl. She slowly clenched her now uninjured hand into a tight fist. In that moment, something sparked within Cathleen. She didn’t know what it was, only the effect it had on her.

She was tired. Of the secrets, of the lies, of everything. She had to know what was going on. It was in that small kitchen that Cathleen decided that one way or another, and from who she didn’t care, the truth was going to be revealed to her before the rising of the sun. Maude, for her part, could easily read the intense thoughts that must have been surging through her clouded mind. She cautiously waved her small hand in front of Cathleen’s face, breaking her train of thought.

“Hey, Cat. You want a lift back?”

“Yeah,” Cathleen replied, her voice sounding distant. “I’d really appreciate that.”

Maude was out of the seat and marching towards her room in a flash. “Alright, just let me get dressed.” Cathleen followed after her, moving as if in a daze. She moved down the narrow hallway into Maude’s room. Cathleen wasn’t surprised to see that she hadn’t changed it at all since the last time she had slept over. It was completely dark inside, and not just because it was night out. The sole window to the room had been covered over with tons of black garbage bags. The whole room had a very cave like feel to it, which was only enhanced by the faint blue lights Maude had installed. Maude quickly shed out of her pajamas and threw on a mixed match of various clothes that had been discarded on the floor.

Cathleen looked over her shoulder at the room that belonged to Maude’s mom. The door was shut and no light came out from underneath. She turned back to her friend. “You’re mom’s not going to mind you taking her car?”

“She’s out with her boyfriend. Remember, the one that works over at the mill. She left the car here with the keys. Besides,” Maude said, snatching up the keys and jiggling them to Cathleen. “I think this an exceptional situation. Now come on.”

Maude grabbed her by the hand and dragged her out of the house. Cathleen was a little surprised by how eager Maude appeared to get her back to her house. “Maude, what…”

“I’m just as tired of being in the dark about all this as you are.” Maude snapped. “I’m sick of the mind games that those two are playing on you. And I want to know what you’re parents are hiding about you.”

As they neared the car, Cathleen dug her heels into the ground and stopped Maude. She looked over her shoulder. “What is it?”

“I’m sorry, Maude.” Cathleen said in a faint whisper. “I’m sorry for pushing you away when all this began.”

Maude’s grip fell away from hers, and she sighed. “Well, Cat, I can’t say that I’m thrilled it happened. But…I understand.”

“You do?”

“Cat, if I looked the way you do, and had no one else like that around for my whole life, how do you think I would act if two guys that looked exactly like me suddenly showed up?”

Cathleen frowned and looked at her feet. She already knew the answer to that, but still didn’t make her feel right for the way she had been acting for the last few weeks. “But…”

Maude’s hands fell upon her shoulders, causing Cathleen to look up at her. “Hey, Cat. You’re my best friend. You’re the only person in my life I’ve ever really trusted. And I know that you would never intentionally hurt me. Whatever’s happening to you, I’m with you all the way. I’m not going to let you go through this alone.”

Standing there, in that moment, Cathleen suddenly understood. This feeling, this friendship that she shared with Maude, built upon a trust that was so powerful that one would entrust the other with their very life. This was the same kind of friendship that Lance and Davis shared, the kind that made them as close as brothers, if not closer. Tears began to tickle at Cathleen’s eyes with this realization. And what she was endangering.

“Oh Maude.” she cried, hugging her friend tightly. “What am I going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“About Lance and Davis. No matter what I do, one of them is going to get hurt. And they’ll hate me for it.”

“It’s alright, Cat.” Maude whispered, “whatever happens, I’ll be here to help you through it. And I don’t think either of them will hate you in the end.”

“You don’t?”

“I’m sure they won’t. That Lace is an ass, but I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I mean, he protected you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he did.”

“And Davis is really kind to you? He tries his best to make you happy, right?”

“Yes.” Cathleen sniffled slightly.

“Then stop beating yourself up. Let’s just get you home first, and we’ll figure everything else out from there.”
Cathleen sobbed softly, releasing her hold over Maude. “Alright, let’s go.” Maude smiled at her warmly, but didn’t say anything. Without another word, they climbed her mom’s car. Cathleen buckled herself up and stared distantly out the window as Maude turned the engine on and pulled out of the long driveway. Driving in the car was very different from traveling on the back of Lance and Davis’ bikes. She really missed being on them, the feeling of complete and total freedom that they gave to her. Cathleen tried to do her best to not really think very much of either Lance or Davis. She certainly tried with every ounce of her mental strength to not think about exactly how she had ended up on the other side of town. There was a very real fear in her that she would suffer a nervous breakdown if she did try to understand what had happened.

“Cat.”

Cathleen woke from her nearly catatonic state. Looking over at her friend, she saw her eyes full of resolve, and hope. “We’re going to figure this all out.” She smiled weakly, glad to know that at least one of them had confidence about the outcome of the night. Nibbling on her lips a bit, Cathleen pulled out the crystal shard from the pocket of her pants. It didn’t surprise her to see it the light of the moon reflecting off of its surface. Its brightness was still diminished, but it was impressive to look at. It certainly caught Maude’s attention.

“Wow.” She whispered. “Is that the crystal?”

“Yeah, it is.” Cathleen said, not taking her eyes off of it.

“It’s beautiful. Almost…otherworldly.”

“It feels otherworldly. But it also feels like a part of me.” Cathleen lightly brushed her fingers across the area of her shirt where her own gem was hidden under. “Just like my family gem.”

“You know, this is some really freaky stuff, Cat.” Maude looked over at her as they came to a stop at a red light on a four lane intersection a quarter mile outside of the main town. Cathleen was worried by what her friend had said, until she noticed the way the corners of her lips were curved upward. “But you know what? This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened in my life.”

“You are?”

“Sure, I wouldn’t have traded being friends with you for anything in the world.”

Cathleen smiled back, grateful to know that she had such a trusting and loyal friend. The smile vanished from her face in an instant, as if she had been slapped. Cathleen didn’t know what caused it, but deep cold fear suddenly gripped her heart so tightly that she almost certain that it had stopped. Maude noticed the change almost as fast.

“Cat?”

“Maude, get us out of here.” Cathleen said in a low, panicked voice as she rapidly scanned the forest surrounding them. Cathleen couldn’t see anything, but that didn’t matter. Her gut was forming into a knot. Something was lurking out there in the darkness, something dangerous.

“Cat…” Maude was beginning to sound worried.

Before she had a chance to explain, the red glow of the traffic light above died. A split second later, so did the car’s engine. An invisible clamp snapped shut around Cathleen’s throat, killing her voice just as a startled gasp came from Maude. Her friend turned the ignition key again and again, but each time she tried the car only made a faint clicking sound.

“What the…what’s wrong with this thing?” she asked, more to herself than Cathleen.

Cathleen hardly paid any attention to her. All of Cathleen’s hair was standing on end. Every fiber of alarm that her body had was firing off like a series of massive explosions across her skin. She began to frantically dart her gaze from one spot of the dark woods to another. There was still nothing that her eyes saw, but…the danger was rising rapidly. Cathleen’s pulse was racing throughout her entire body, causing her to completely freeze.

“Cat….what’s happening?” Maude asked, her voice now full of fright. “What…”

A heavy force impacted against Maude’s side of the car. It all happened so fast that Cathleen had no idea what the hell had happened. Her mind tried to process that the car was suddenly and violently flipping over and over, like it had been hit by a train at full speed. She heard screams as her entire world spun end over end, only when her door crumpled in from smashing into a tree and the world came to a sudden stop did Cathleen realized that it was her that was screaming. It took her several deep, desperate breaths before she began to get some form of control over herself. Control was hardly the word that she would put it as. Her entire body was trembling and she couldn’t stop her heart from slamming against the back of her rib cage. A faint moan came from the other side of the car.

Suspended upside down by her seat belt, Cathleen turned her head, and was mortified to see Maude dangling also. Her arms were limp as they hung from her suspended body. When Cathleen saw blood slowly dripping from her head into a pool below her, she felt like she was going to be sick. “Maude.” she whispered, cautiously reaching over and touching her friend’s shoulder. When Maude moaned again under her breath, Cathleen felt a relief unlike anything she had ever known before.

The relief transformed into a heart gripping terror in the next instant. Heavy impacts happened all across the car, and Cathleen felt herself being tossed around in her straps as the car began to lurch hard to one side. Panic overcoming her, Cathleen frantically struggled to pry herself free from the straps that were digging into her skin. She clenched her teeth, and found the release button. There was no time to brace herself for the fall, her entire weight slammed into her shoulders when she dropped onto the roof. Fiery needs shot through her body and Cathleen cried out. Blinking away the tears, Cathleen weakly got on her hands and knees and scooted to the other side of the car to Maude.

“Maude.” she said, shaking her friend gently. “Maude, wake up.”

Maude mumbled something incoherently as her eyes fluttered lightly. Cathleen was about to say something else to her, when the car was rocked violently from behind her. The force knocked Cathleen down. Her hands scrapped across the roof’s interior that was littered with broken bits of glass, the jagged edges dug deep into her skin. Cathleen stifled a scream as she grabbed onto Maude’s seatbelt. Her stomach did several flips as the car began to slowly slide across the ground, back towards where it had been hit. The fear was surging all through Cathleen now. It was no longer a faint chill of concern or the momentary surge of blood through the body. What she was feeling was genuine fear. Cathleen had no idea what could have tossed the car like it was a toy, or have the strength to drag it across the ground, but whatever lay just beyond the flimsy door that was served as her only defense, it had gripped her heart with such terror that it may as well have been death itself lurking just beyond her sight.

Cathleen felt warning signs go off all through her body as the car was moved inch by inch. And they all told her the same thing. If she and Maude didn’t get out of the car right away, she was going to die. With that terrible plight hanging over her head, Cathleen immediately leapt into action. Placing one of her bleeding hands under Maude’s head to catch her, Cathleen fumbled around blindly to unbuckle her seatbelt. When her fingers brushed against the familiar surface of the button, she jammed down on it without another thought. The full weight of Maude’s limp body came down on Cathleen’s burning hands, smashing them into the roof. She bit her lip as the fiery stab of hurt surged up the length of her arms. Maude groaned again, but didn’t move. Fighting through her suffering, Cathleen laid Maude down and tried to get the door to open.

A faint grinding of metal tickled at Cathleen’s ears as she pushed against the door with all her might. She pushed and pushed, but the door wouldn’t budge. Stinging beads of sweat rolled down her pale skin as Cathleen glanced over her shoulder. The car was starting to tilt, and she knew that meant that they were being dragged out of the ditch. She didn’t have much time. Sucking in a deep breath, Cathleen kicked the door’s frame as hard as she could. It rattled at little, but remained stuck. Crying out, Cathleen smashed her foot into it again and again. After several blows, her foot was throbbing in pain. But the tendrils of impending death continued to coil themselves around her, crushing all feeling life out of her. She needed to break through the door, no matter the cost.

Not caring if she broke her foot, Cathleen felt the pulsing warmth against her chest as she summoned up all of her courage to do what needed to be done. Yelling at the top of her lungs, Cathleen smashed her foot into the door with all her might. The blow didn’t force the door open. It blew the hunk of twisted metal off its hinges completely. Cathleen blinked, completely stunned by what she had just done. Just as her jaw dropped, a face appeared in the gaping hole.

Relief unlike anything Cathleen had ever felt surged through her when she stared into Lance’s gleaming red eyes. “Lance!”

As the corners of her lips curved upward in an incredibly grateful smile, another pale face came into view. Cathleen’s eyes began to tear up when she saw Davis’ twilight colored eyes gazing at her with their unnaturally gentle worry. “Davis!”

Lance stuck his arm inside the car. “Come on, Cat!”

“No!” Cathleen shouted, lifting her still unconscious friend up with great effort. “Take Maude, get her out of here!”

There was a momentary hesitation in Lance’s outstretched hand, but then a bizarre glisten came over his eyes. He grasped Maude by the shoulder and pulled her out with ease. In the next instant, Cathleen saw a blur of motion, and they were both gone. From beyond the car, Cathleen heard a loud, and completely inhuman roar. The car was suddenly lifted off the ground, taking her completely by surprise. The fear surged through her so much that Cathleen was sure her heart would stop at any moment. “Davis!”

He trusted his arm into the vehicle, his hand reaching for hers. In blind panic, Cathleen lashed out and grasped it. Before she had a chance to say or do anything, she was flung out of the car at a speed too fast for her to comprehend. She only had a moment to feel Davis wrap his arms around her before they smashed into a heavy object. He cried out, his voice full of agony, as they both collapsed to the ground. Cathleen groaned, her head spinning. She rubbed her eyes gently, trying to make sense of the way the world around her was dancing about insanely. It felt very much like she was shifting in and out of reality, but the world returned to its rightful solidarity after a few deep breaths.

Nearby, a heavy hiss filled Cathleen’s ears. She turned her head, and gasped. Davis was lying on the ground only a few feet away from her, his face twisted in obvious pain. His eyes were shut tightly and his mouth hung open loosely in a voiceless scream. Cathleen was by his side in an instant. “Oh my god.”

When she reached out to touch him, Davis grasped her hand and held it tightly. “Ca…thleen…” he whispered, his voice full of hurt. Her lips trembling, Cathleen gently squeezed his hand.

“Cat!”

Cathleen’s eyes darted up, just in time to see Lance appear before her with a flash of movement. Maude was weakly moving about in his arms, her eyes fluttering repeatedly in and out of consciousness, but she seemed to finally be coming around. Lance laid her down on the grass beside Davis with great care. He then looked down at Davis. Cathleen only needed to glance at his eyes once to know that the pain she was enduring from seeing her best friend lying before her in a state of agony was mutual.

“Davis, hey, Davis.” Lance said, lightly shaking Davis’ shoulder. “Snap out of it man, we’ve got a big problem.”

Cathleen wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but a terrible ruckus nearby was all the answer she needed. Startled, Cathleen turned around, and her jaw dropped. Standing in the middle of the road…was something that she had never seen before. Whatever it was, there didn’t exist a single doubt in her mind that it wasn’t natural. It stood somewhere between eight to ten feet on bipedal legs, although the lanky appendages it had for arms were long enough to allow it to walk on all fours with ease. The body, while vaguely shaped like that of a person, was completely transparent. Cathleen could see right into it, and the multitude of constantly shifting, what she guessed were organs, within that gave off a faint glimmer. If she tried really hard, she could even see the hazy outline of the forest that the creature was standing in front of. The texture of its body reminded her very much of a jellyfish. And just like a jellyfish, at least six ropy tentacle like appendages constantly snaked and slithered back and forth through the air around it. But what scared Cathleen more than anything, were its shimmering lime green eyes. Their entire surface was dull, almost lifeless.

From somewhere near the two shimmering orbs, a mouth of sorts opened. The surface all around the hole began to shift, the fluid like surface extending out and hardening, becoming an endless maw filled with row upon row of deadly looking dagger like fangs. From that abyss, a sickening, low pitched clicking sound came. The very noise of it chilled Cathleen to the bone.

“What…what is that thing?” Cathleen whispered, not daring to take her eyes off of it.

Lance said nothing. He got up and moved himself in between the creature and them. “Cat,” he said, his voice for the first time sounding deadly serious, “I’m going to draw it away. Once we’re out of sight, take Davis and your friend, and get them back to your house. I’ll meet you there later.”

“N…no…” Davis said as he weakly tried to force himself to sit up. “Lance, don’t do it…”

Lance glanced slightly over his shoulder at them. He locked eyes with her for a brief moment, and she saw the undying drive of protection that lurked there. Cathleen instantly remembered what he had told her earlier, about his pledge of protection…

“Lance…”

“Don’t worry about me.” he said with a smirk before turning back to face the monster. He cracked his knuckles as he gazed at the vile entity. “I’ve never had a real fight before, this might actually be fun.”

Cathleen wanted to say something to talk him out of it, but deep in her heart she knew he was right. Whatever that thing was…it was dangerous. She saw his feet shift slightly, and with a blur of movement, Lance was gone. The thing threw back its head and an ear piercing croaking noise filled the night air. Then it too was gone.

“Lance, dammit…” Cathleen turned back at the sound of Davis’ voice. He was already weakly sitting up, straining to get himself back on his feet.

“Cathleen.”

Hearing her name, Cathleen looked over Davis to see Maude cautiously moving her eyes about. As if he had read her mind, Davis released his grip on her hand. Cathleen’s eyes darted to him, and he nodded his head slightly. Relief flooding her weary body, Cathleen rushed over to Maude’s side.

“Maude, are you ok?”

“What the…hell happened?” she whispered. “It felt like we were hit by a train.”

Cathleen bit her lip nervously. How could she tell her friend that they had just been attacked by a real life monster? As insane as everything was that was happening all around her, Cathleen couldn’t see how her friend could be made to believe that. Yet, seeing her friend lying injured on the ground, she didn’t know how she could dare lie to her in that moment. Cathleen felt her mind torn between the two choices.

“It…it was, I don’t know.” Was the only reasonable answer that came to her mind. “But whatever it is, it’s dangerous.”

“Cathleen.”

Cathleen looked back at Davis, and was only a little surprised by the fact that he had already managed to get himself back on his feet. He wobbled slightly and still looked very weak, but she didn’t think that he needed her help with getting around. “Come on, Cathleen. We have to go.”

“But…” Cathleen glanced nervously down at Maude, who was only beginning to get some form of herself back. She remembered some of the health ed classes she had taken, and they had mentioned something about not moving injured people. “Is it safe for us to move Maude?”

Davis limped over to him, his face grim and straight as he tried to hide the pain he was in. As he knelt down, Cathleen saw his jaws tighten and his eyes wince slightly. He calmly placed a hand on Maude’s forehead and shut his eyes. A moment later, Cathleen felt the familiar warmth of her gem radiate across her chest. In ways that she still didn’t understand, Cathleen knew Davis’ answer before the first sound escaped his lips. “She’s banged up a bit, but it’s all superficial. There’s no internal damage.”

“I know.” Cathleen responded with a sigh of relief. When Davis motioned for them to head to the car, Cathleen didn’t need any directions for what to do. Slipping her arms around Maude, Cathleen hoisted her friend up with surprisingly little effort. Even though adrenaline was surging through her, Cathleen had a strange sense of knowledge that there were more reasons for why she suddenly had a renewed and greater strength. But the mysteries for that were of little concern to her in that moment. The only thing that she was really worried about was getting Maude and Davis away from that damn thing before it decided to come back. Hobbling across the short distance to the overturned car was awkward, but far from impossible.

“Damn,” Maude muttered as she looked at the remains of the car. “my mom’s going to be pissed.”

Davis walked over to the vehicle in a clumsy stride. Peeking inside, he turned back to them. “I think it can still run.”

“Not a lot of good that does us.” Maude stated sarcastically. “Unless you’ve got a tow truck with a crane under your hair.”

Davis didn’t say anything. The look on his face seemed more akin to sympathy rather than frustration. Cathleen heard him take a deep breath and turn back to the car. He slowly rotated his arms in a full circle, clearly loosening them up. As Cathleen looked on while holding Maude up, Davis squatted down and grasped the jagged edges of the car’s roof. A deep grumble came from the back of his throat, and he began to lift. At first it wasn’t noticeable, but soon enough Cathleen could see the whole frame of the vehicle shaking along with Davis’s body. Cathleen knew that she should have expected what was coming, yet as the car slowly and laboriously began to roll, her mouth fell open slightly. Next to her, she heard Maude exhaled with a stunned voice. Davis was struggling, his face twisted once again in that display of pain that made Cathleen want to rush to his side. But she couldn’t just abandon Maude, so she stayed back and watched. Through several cries of pure suffrage, Davis heaved the car, and it rolled back onto its wheels. Collapsing to his knees, Davis gasped for air as his body continued to shake.

Cathleen carried Maude over to the car quickly and gently set her down in the passenger side seat before checking on Davis.

“Davis, are…”

“I’m fine.” he said through tattered breaths. “Just…help me into the car.”

Cathleen opened the back seat door and lifted Davis into the seat. He eased back into the upholstery with a weary sigh. Maude, her eyes still wide with shock, leaned her head around her seat and stared at him like he was the eighth wonder of the world.

“You…flipped the car.” she stated.

“Yeah.” Davis replied weakly, not opening his eyes.

“You flipped a two thousand pound car over.” Maude said. “How…the hell…can you do that?”

“Simple movements of the body and flexing of muscles. Only I’m a lot stronger than you.” he answered. As Cathleen peered down at him, Davis’ eyes opened and he looked right at her. “Cathleen, we have to get out of here, right now.”

“But…” Cathleen began, glance at the dark forest all around them. “What about Lance?”

She knew he was out there somewhere, either hunting or being hunted by that thing. Concern for him raced throughout her entire body. Some part of her wanted to rush out into the night, brave the dangers, and find him. But the other part knew that she just couldn’t leave Davis and Maude. She had to trust that Lance knew what he was doing, and that he would somehow find his way back to her parents’ house. When Davis looked at her, she knew he was feeling the same way.

“He can take care of himself, you already know that. Hell, he’s probably enjoying the whole thing.”

Cathleen nodded, and turned her attention to the road ahead. Every nerve was firing off like a great explosion as she slowly grasped the keys that were still in the ignition. When she turned the car on, Cathleen fully expected the entire vehicle to explode and consume all of them in a fiery death. When the engine gave a heavy clanking noise in a sort of protest, she breathed a sigh of relief. Sinking back into the driver’s seat, she attentively placed a foot on the gas pedal. She decided that it wouldn’t be a good time to mention to anyone that she still wasn’t very good of a driver.

“Buckle up.” she said, leading by example. Maude and Davis both followed suit, each of them still moving as if they weren’t really there. Cathleen eased the car into a steady drive, pressing her foot harder onto the peddle every few seconds. Even though she couldn’t see it, she knew that monster was still out there, and she wanted to get all of them as far away from it as possible. In no time, the speedometer had passed the seventy miles per hour mark. Next to her, Maude leaned as far away from the gaping hole in the car’s side from the missing door, her hands tightly clutching anything that seemed sturdy enough to keep her from falling out. The wind howled all through the car as heavy gusts of air washed all over them. Cathleen did her best to pay attention to the road as her hair danced about her head, but her mind continually shifted in and out of the present. There was just too much that was happening for her not to. She was tired, scared, and worried. Not even when she recognized the stretches of road beginning to become more familiar to her did any of it go away. But it did ease a bit, enough for her to finally summon up the strength to ask the question that was burning in her head.

“Davis,” she said, slowing the car down as they neared a turn, “what was that thing?”

“I don’t know.” Davis said, looking out the window at the dark forest zipping by them.

“Please, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying, Cathleen. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Cathleen chanced a glance in the rearview mirror at Davis. He didn’t seem to be lying, and that familiar trace of warmth in her chest told her that his words were true. But underneath that, she could see that his eyes were distant, working over something that she still couldn’t comprehend. Watching him, Cathleen accepted a hard truth. Davis may not have known exactly what it was, but there was a definite understanding that he had a strong suspicion about it. As they finally pulled onto the small gravel road that lead back to her house, Cathleen had never felt more exhausted and alone in that moment. And, far back in her consciousness, too deep for anyone to ever guess what she was thinking, Cathleen wondered why she hadn’t killed herself one week earlier.

Parking the seemingly dying car in front of her house, Cathleen killed the engine and looked over her shoulder.

“Alright, Davis.” she spoke without any anger or fear, only with complete conviction. “I have to know what’s going on. I have to know everything.”

Davis sighed, resting his head against the back seat. From the way he was breathing, Cathleen thought that he was going to cry. “I wanted… it to be easier for you than this, Cathleen. But there’s no more time…”

Cathleen felt her lips quivering, knowing that she was on the verge of discovering what all this was about. And what part she had to play in all of it. As she leaned closer to hear what Davis had to say, the front door to her house flung open. Cathleen’s head darted toward the house, and she saw her mother cautiously approaching the car.

“Hello?” she said, clearly unable to see who was inside. “Who’s there?”

Cathleen unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the car. Her mother stopped in her tracks when she saw her. “Cathleen?”

Cathleen nodded her head. “Yeah, mom. It’s me.”

“But…how did you…” Her voice died when Davis and Maude weakly pulled themselves from the car. “Maude, sweetie, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Maude insisted, lightly touching her head to see if it was still bleeding. It wasn’t. Cathleen was thankful to know that.

Her mom’s eyes darted over to Davis, and she curled her hands into tightly clenched fists. The expressions that she showed were identical to the way she had viewed Lance, both enraged and terrified at the same time. “And who is this?!”

“It’s alright,” Davis said as he braced himself against the car. “I’m a friend of your daughter.”

“Another one.” Her mother began, her face growing red.

“Mom.” Cathleen said softly, walking over to her, stepping between the two of them. “What’s going on? You have to tell me.”

Fear flashed across her mother’s eyes as she looked away from her. “Honey, you can’t…”

“Mom.” Cathleen said again, placing her hands on her mother’s shoulders. “You can’t do this to me anymore. I…I have to know what’s happening to me. I have to know the truth.”

She knew before her mother said anything that there was no way she was going to skirt around the issue this time. Cathleen saw her eyes dart over to where Davis and Maude were standing. A heat began to form in the pit of Cathleen’s stomach, and it wasn’t a gentle one. She was, without question, fed up with the lies and the secrets. She wanted to know the truth.

The fear in her mother grew cataclysmically, and she backed away. Cathleen stood her ground, looking at her mother with nothing but hope of a daughter who was lost and needed her in that moment more than ever. Her mom’s lips parted slightly, as if she were going to speak. A faint sound came from the back of her mouth, and died almost instantly. As Cathleen looked on, she saw the tears beginning to roll down her mother’s cheeks and the color drain from her face. In that instantly, Cathleen knew. Whatever her parents had been hiding her whole life, it was about to come to light, and it seemed to terrify her mother. Cathleen wanted so badly to just walk over to her mom and hug her, but she knew that she needed to be stronger than she had ever been her whole life if she was to discover the truth.

Her mom dropped her head, and beneath her curls of hair, Cathleen heard the soft sounds of sobs. Without saying a word, she turned around and slowly began walking back to the house. Cathleen took a step after her, then looked back and Davis and Maude.

“Go.” Davis said, motioning towards the house as he stepped beside Maude. “We’ll be here.”

“Hey,” Maude said in her usually fiery voice that seemed very hollow this time, “I want to know what’s going on here too.”

Davis rested his hand on her shoulder. “What Cathleen is about to discover, she has to do alone.”
Maude looked appalled at the thought. “But…”

“Please, Maude…” Cathleen begged. “I…I have to do this alone. Please understand.”

Maude stared at her intensely, locking eyes with her. Not a sound was made as they continued to gaze back and forth at each other. After what felt like forever, Maude sighed wearily and plopped herself down on the ground. “Go, Cat.” she said, sadness infused into each word she spoke. “Go find out what’s going on.”

Turning away from Maude was very hard, but Cathleen somehow summoned up the fortitude to do it. Looking ahead, she could see that her mother had already disappeared into the house. Going the forty something foot distance was the most difficult journey that Cathleen had ever experienced. Every step drained her like a thousand mile journey on foot, every inch gained tightened the invisible grip around her weary body. As she struggled to reach the door, the door she had passed through a million times before, yet now felt like a portal to another world entirely, Cathleen knew that she was terrified. She had always felt truly alone, and now she was enduring this ordeal under the circumstances that she dreaded the most. She wished that she could be strong like Davis and Lance, but she didn’t see how to do that. Wasn’t she, after all, a sleeper? Whatever that meant.

As she stepped up to the door, Cathleen dangled her trembling hand inches over the door knob. Glancing out at the seemingly endless darkness around her, her mind drifted momentarily off in worry about Lance. She hoped that he was alright out there, facing off against that thing that only belonged in the darkest nightmares she could possibly conjure up. Swallowing hard, Cathleen forced her mind, with tremendous reluctance, to focus on the present. Taking a deep breath, Cathleen opened the door and stepped inside. Quietly shutting the door behind her, she looked over to the dinner table. Both of her parents sat there, their eyes bloodshot and their faces completely drained with worry. Her father silently motioned for her to come and sit down. With her throat tightening and her heart slamming inside her chest, Cathleen awkwardly stumbled over to the table and sat down.

“Mom…dad…” she began, but she just couldn’t find any more words beyond those two.

Her dad, for the first time in her entire life, gave off such a weakness that he couldn’t even look at her. With his eyes cast down at the table, he slowly slid a medium sized envelope across the wooden surface to her. Cathleen glanced down at the folder, then up at her parents. Her eyes met her mother’s only for a brief instant before she buried her face into her father’s shoulder and began to sob uncontrollably. Her dad, after taking her tightly into his arms, gave Cathleen an expressionless gesture towards the envelope. Cathleen’s eyes slowly fell to the small rectangular piece of paper before her, gazing at it as if it were some amazing discovery that had eluded human eyes for millennia.

Biting down slightly on her lower lip, she took the package in her trembling hands and opened it. With a heavy lump in her throat, she spilled the contents out upon the table’s surface. What lay before her wasn’t quite what she had been expecting. There was nothing more than just two nearly identical sheets of information, and a picture. The simplicity of it all felt unnerving to her.

Unable to restrain herself, Cathleen snatched up the photo first. It was easily an old colored photo, Cathleen recognized its texture from the time period of roughly being around when she had been born. In it was her mother, a much younger version of who she was now, lying on a hospital bed. Clutched in her arms was a baby, a baby whose color was a healthy pink, just like any other normal new born infant. Puzzled, Cathleen stared at the picture long and hard. How could this be possible? How could she have been born…looking so normal, when she was nothing like that now?

She wanted to turn her attention back to her parents, to ask how and why the picture was this way. But before she could, the two sheets lying just under the photo drew her attention. Gulping, Cathleen set the photo aside and rested the tips of her fingers on the edge of the top sheet. With her mouth now completely dry, she slid the piece of paper closer so she could gaze at what its contents consisted of. “Cathleen McAlester,” she read out the name at the top of the sheet, “born May 7th, brown hair, blue eyes, seven and a half pounds.”

Cathleen glanced up from the sheet, which she now realized was a birth certificate, at her parents. Neither one was looking at her, so the many odd questions that were now swirling around in her mind were just going to have to remain there for the moment. Holding her breath, Cathleen set the birth certificate aside and grasped the final sheet. Her eyes quickly scanned over the contents it contained. Her eyes only worked over two lines before they stopped instantly. Cathleen’s entire body went cold and the air in her lungs escaped her. She felt as if she had just been shot by what she read. The sheet slipped from her shaking hands and her eyes slowly lifted to face her parents.

“It’s…” her voice died, and she struggled with all her might to just push out the other words. “…it’s…a…death certificate.”

Her mother’s crying instantly sparked up a thousand fold from what it had been moments before, and for the first time in her life, Cathleen saw tears rolling down her father’s face as he gazed at her with a completely helpless look. Cathleen began to hyperventilate. “I…I died?”

Her mom lifted her head slightly, her face just as pale as hers now. “Honey…”

“I died!” Cathleen shrieked, launching herself up from the table, gazing down at the death notice as if it were poison she had just swallowed. “It says I died three months after being born! It says I was buried in a cemetery! How can I still be here if I died?!”

“Cathleen…” her father croaked, barely able to bring the words out, “it’s…”

“It says I’m dead!” she screamed, her voice echoing throughout the entire confines of their small house. “How can I still be here breathing if I’m dead? What the hell am I?!”

She didn’t give her parents a chance to even try to explain. Cathleen raced away from them, bounding up the stairs to her room three at a time. Charging into her room, she slammed the door shut and fell against it. The tears that poured forth from her where the most painful ones she had ever experienced. Collapsing to the floor, Cathleen curled into a pitiful ball and became completely submerged in the agony that flooded through her body. How could she cry? How could she breathe? How could her heart beat? How could any of that happen…if she was dead?

Unable to cope with any of it, Cathleen’s mind fell apart, just like the world around had so suddenly.