Psyche Transfixed (First 4 Chapters) (5)
Why did he seem actually upset about this? That didn’t sound like him--usually he acted nonchalant toward me. Maybe he really did know something was up but was hiding it. I still found it strange that he could actually hear me when the woman couldn’t. He was a Nixie, though, and that was what they did. I sighed and shook my head. “I just…you really can’t tell?” “What do you mean?” he asked, frowning greatly, watching me closely. “Is something wrong? Are you sick?” He froze. “Is it the Seer’s Fate?” “What?” I asked. “No.” And if it was, why would he care? “I’m not sick,” I said, shaking my head again. “At least I don’t think so.” Was it possible for a ghost to even get sick? “I just…I don’t really know what happened. I can’t remember.” His frown deepened. “What do you mean you can’t remember?” Seers had a great memory--it was both a blessing and a curse. I shrugged slowly. “I don’t remember what happened to me. I don’t even know how I got here.” “Didn’t you come in your car?” He began moving toward the window, no doubt to look outside. I let him because I knew he wouldn’t find anything. He looked at me after glancing out the window. “How did you get here, then? Did Tony drop you off?” “No.” I took a deep breath. Was I ready to admit it out loud just yet? I didn’t want to be dead but apparently I was. “I…I think I’m d--” The phone began ringing, cutting me off. I closed my mouth and Damien sighed heavily. “Sorry, hold that thought,” he said, moving out of the room to answer the phone. I sighed and followed after him because I had a feeling I knew who was calling and what it was about. “Hello?” he asked as he picked up the cordless phone. “Hey, Tony.” I flinched--I knew exactly what was going on. I knew what Tony had called to say. “Damien--” I started. He ignored me, which really wasn’t a surprise. “No, I don’t want a new partner,” he said, clearly confused as he glanced at me. “I’m paired with Will.” I couldn’t understand why he was defending our partnership. I thought he’d always hated it and would have liked getting paired with someone else. “What?” Damien gasped suddenly, his voice quiet and breathless as he looked at me with wide eyes. I could guess what Tony had just told him. I turned and walked from the room, not wanting to be in there when he got the details. I was sure he’d tell me later--if I was still here later, of course. “Will!” I heard him cal after me. I flinched as I entered the room with the crystal ball again. He shouldn’t have said my name because now Tony was going to wonder about him. He was going to have questions. I stood near the old, towering bookcase that stood near one of the windows. Peering outside, I sighed heavily, wondering how my life could have come to this. How could I be dead? Why couldn’t I remember? What had I been doing to get killed over, besides working for the Underground? I couldn’t remember anything and that scared me. Seers were supposed to always remember--the great memory was supposed to help them with their visions. So why was I drawing a blank now? What would happen to Pie? My God, Pie! I’d almost forgotten about him for some reason. He needed me--or at least someone. He needed someone to take care of him because he needed love and food and attention… Sighing, I scrubbed a hand over my face and tried to think clearly. Unable to do so, I leaned against the wall again, concentrating enough that I wouldn’t glide through. That was an experience I didn’t wish to repeat quite so soon. Would it always be like this from now on? Me, wandering around and floating through walls? Would I only be able to speak to Nixies from now on? I sighed at the thought. “Will?” came Damien’s shaky voice. I paused and then realized that he couldn’t see me from where I was leaning on the other side of the bookcase. I stepped out of the shadows and he looked at me, his eyes wide. “You…You’re dead?” he whispered quietly, as though he couldn’t believe it. “Yeah,” I said with a small breath. “That’s what I was trying to tell you before the phone rang.” He shook his head and sat heavily in one of the chairs at the table in the center of the room. “I don’t believe this…” he murmured, his eyes on the floor. I didn’t like the expression on his face--it seemed vaguely lost, which didn’t make any sense. He should have been thrilled that he’d be getting a new partner. “I thought you would have been happy,” I finally admitted, needing to say something to cut through the suffocating silence in the room. It was then that I noticed that I still breathed--I could draw breath but went through walls. Was that supposed to happen? Was there something wrong with me, even in the After? “Why would you think that?” Damien asked, giving me a tortured look. “God, Will…you’re my friend!” “…I am?” I asked, surprised. I’d really thought he hadn’t liked me at all, had just put up with me because he had to. This change was startling and threw me off guard. “Of course,” he said with a sigh. “How could you not know…?” The way he spoke, it made me think he was going to say more. But he closed his mouth quickly and shook his head, scrubbing a hand over his face. “How…How’d it happen?” “I don’t know,” I said. “That’s what I don’t remember.” “Well…what is the last thing you know happened?” “Uh…some old guy took my wafers,” I mumbled. He looked at me incredulously. “Don’t ask,” I told him. “Then I remember going home…then Tony called. After that…” I shrugged. “I don’t know, Damien, I don’t remember.” He put his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands. “I shouldn’t have gone on leave. I should have been there.” “It’s not your fault,” I told him, surprised he was blaming himself. I had would have never guessed he would have cared. I moved closer to the table, frowning slightly. “So who’s your new partner?” “I don’t want one,” he mumbled. “How come? You could have a vampire…anyone, really, maybe some hot girl.” Trying to cheer up a Nixie was like smashing your head against a wall--it only succeeded in giving you a headache and it accomplished nothing. Damien flinched. “I don’t want a new partner,” he told me again, his tone clipped as his expression guarded suddenly. I paused and watched him. He shook his head, looking at me. “I’m sorry, Will--I should have been there.” Guilt crumpled his face. “I’m so sorry.” “Don’t blame yourself,” I told him, standing next to the table. I would have put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him but knew it wouldn’t do anyone any good. I’d just slip through him and we’d both be extremely uncomfortable. “It’s not your fault, Day,” I said, using the nickname I’d given him when we’d first been partnered together. His expression twisted further. I felt like the world’s biggest jerk. What could I say to make him feel better? Why was he even so upset? I would have gambled money that he didn’t care, that he never liked me. Now I was beginning to see that he thought of the two of us as friends and I’d been oblivious all along. A sudden, intense pain in my head caught me off guard. Were ghosts supposed to feel pain? Weren’t dead people just that--dead? I gasped and took a step back at the suddenness of it all. Damien looked at me with alarmed eyes. “Will?” he asked, jumping to his feet as though to help me even though we both knew he couldn’t. I couldn’t understand why he even cared in the first place. “Is this supposed to happen?” I asked, clutching at my head. I was surprised to see that I could still grip at myself, just not anything or anyone else. “My head…” I cut myself off as the pain intensified, making me lean heavily against the wall. Unable to concentrate, I slid through. “Will!” Damien cried from the other roomed, sounding panicked. I found myself between the walls, just floating, growing more and more numb with each passing second as the agony in my head grew, startling me. “Will! Where are you?” I pulled myself out of the wall, gasping. “What’s…happening?” I murmured to him as he looked at me with wide, ample eyes. “This isn’t supposed to happen,” he said, worried. “Are…are you having a vision, Will?” It occurred to me then that I was. The images started and I gasped, falling back into the wall and disappearing from the room. He cried my name again but I couldn’t respond, couldn’t move, too agonized to move--or glide, whatever ghosts did. I saw a face, familiar, young and scared. Pale blue eyes and brown hair, a kid chained to a wall and terrified as he looked around helplessly. Matt, I realized with a jolt. That was the kid’s name. His name was Matt. For some reason, I knew him. Then I saw another face, angry and growling at the kid. Fisk, I recognized. The Empath…that had killed me. Yes, it was all coming back to me now, getting the phone call from Tony and picking Matt up and all that had happened after, ending with the attack in the alley. Fisk had the demon kill me and then he’d taken Matt. I’d failed in my job so maybe it was better that I was dead. Another image came…and I saw myself lying prone on the ground, my eyes closed and my face pale, my arms held behind me by a length of chain. I was breathing though--I could hear the rasping breaths. Was I alive? What was going on? When the images stop, I stayed where I was, gasping as my head pounded and throbbed incessantly. What the hell is going on? I thought frantically. “Will!” Damien was still shouting my name, his voice frightened. “Are you still here? Will!” I shoved out of the wall and appeared in front of him. He jumped back a step, startled at my sudden appearance. “I don’t know what’s happening,” I murmured to him. “I…I saw myself.” “What do you mean? Like…” He swallowed thickly, looking pained. “Like your death?” I frowned. “No…I don’t think so. I…I saw myself…I was breathing, Damien.” I shook my head, not understanding. “I think I might be alive.” His eyes went wide. “What?” he breathed, sudden hope gleaming in his eyes. “Really? You got a vision of you being alive? Right now?” “Uh…yeah,” I said, my frown deepening. I still couldn’t understand why he didn’t like the thought of me being dead. Why would it possibly bother him so much? I paused and then felt strangely lightheaded. A thick haze settled around me and my stomach twisted in knots. “Will--” I heard Damien call out to me but it was as though I were under water. Everything sounded muffled and my vision began to spin. “Damien--” I gasped as my world lurched and tilted, spinning so quickly that I had to close my eyes. A weight settled over my chest and I couldn’t get enough air, couldn’t breathe when I needed to. My breaths were shallow and all I could think was that this couldn’t be happening. I was supposed to be dead already…right? Ghosts didn’t need to breathe. At least, it wasn’t a necessity. I pried my suddenly heavy eyelids open and peered into the darkness around me. My throat ached and pain resonated through my head, causing me to flinch slightly. Flinching caused more pain and I found myself afraid to move, desperate for the agony to recede, at least a little. What’s happening to me? I thought as my mind flickered in and out, leaving me confused and scatterbrained. I tried to move my arms but my wrists were still held together with that blasted chain. My hands had long ago gone numb and I couldn’t even begin to move them, so any hope of escaping dissipated. “H-Hello?” I croaked into the waiting darkness. Coughing thickly and spitting out the blood that coated the inside of my mouth, I tried again. “Hello? Is…anyone there?” I didn’t hear an answer. I was resting on my stomach and the ground was cold and hard. I longed to roll over but knew it would only bring more pain. I wondered how I was still alive--hadn’t the demon stabbed me in the chest? I couldn’t even glance at said chest because of how I was laying on the ground. A dull ache resonated through me and my head throbbed all the more. Groaning aloud, I bowed my head even more, letting my forehead touch the cold, unforgiving cement beneath me. I coughed again, unable to stop the tickle in my throat. I couldn’t breathe correctly and I knew I was in trouble. “Damien,” I found myself whimpering. I had been with him just moments ago, safe and in his place. I hadn’t been alone and he’d actually been worried about me, which was a huge surprise. Where was I now? Was I now in the place I’d been in my vision? How was that possible? I had just been with Damien…and now I was here, along and cold and in pain. What was going on? I tried to move my fingers, even just a little, so I could begin to get feeling back in my hands, but I couldn’t even make the appendages twitch in the slightest. I felt exhausted and I knew it was from both the blood loss and from being drained by the Empath. I had been fed on by an Empath before but that wasn’t a feeling anyone seemed to get used to. “Anyone?” I tried again, coughing at my efforts. The cough sent fire through my veins in the form of pain and I wound up gasping for breath once more. I tried to move my legs to shift my body so I could maybe get a little more comfortable but then realized they were chained together as well. I couldn’t roll over--didn’t necessarily want to, either, because moving would result in pain. But the gravity pressing against my arms was putting a great strain on them and it was really beginning to hurt now that consciousness was fully seeping in. I wasn’t sure how long I lay there, shivering on the cold floor, wincing in pain every few minutes when I had to shift or accidentally gasped too quickly. My side was aching tremendously and there was a weight on my chest that I couldn’t quite place. A door finally opened somewhere. My eyes were adjusted to the room by now and I could see a door opening near the far wall, light seeping in behind it. The sudden light blinded me and I winced, bowing my throbbing head to touch my forehead to the ground. Next I heard voices, low and grumbling as footsteps moved toward me. I didn’t lift my head, not wanting more pain to befall me if they thought I was awake. So I stayed limp and where I was, closing my eyes as two people knelt next to me, one on either side. Hands grabbed I my arms and I suppressed a wince at their rough treatment. When I was hauled to my feet, though, I couldn’t hide the whimper that escaped me. I wasn’t a fighter--I wasn’t strong. Pain broke me--every time. At my pathetic whine, they stopped. I pried my eyes open because they already knew I was awake. They were both demons--I could tell by the flicker of fire in their eyes and the scars lining their face. The elder a demon got--around eighty was when it started happening--it started getting deep grooves in their faces, hands, neck, and feet. The tallest one--and I guess the eldest of the two, judging by the amount of scars plastered on its ugly mug--sneered at me vehemently. “Look who finally decided to join us,” it laughed. “I have to be honest, I thought you were dead for sure.” I coughed as it tossed me into the second demon. Strong arms wrapped around me like a vice. “Sorry to…disappoint,” I grumbled weakly. I knew I should have been keeping quiet but being smart in this type of situation had never been my strong suit. The first demon laughed--its laugh made me shiver with dread. “Oh, we’re not disappointed,” it crooned. “Now we get to have some fun, Seer.” Seer…that made me remember Matt. “Where’s the kid?” I asked, trying to keep my voice strong even though every part of me--every muscle and every joint--ached violently. “Matt,” I breathed when the second demon shook me a little. “Matt Hawkins…where is he?” I was surprised I remembered his last name from when I’d heard the Empath say it. “You’ll never find out,” the first demon guffawed, shaking its head as it cuffed me in the back of the head. Black spots danced in my vision as I bowed my head forward, biting down on my lower lip to deal with the sudden explosion of pain. “You’ll be dead by morning.” Well at least that gave me the time of day it was. Somewhere during the night, then. But hadn’t it been light outside when I’d seen Damien? Had that even been real or had I just been having a very vivid dream? Was I going insane? I was dragged from the room roughly. Every cell in my body multiplied the pain and I felt sick to my stomach, nauseous and dizzy. “Stop,” I gasped suddenly, trying to force my legs to work and my knees to bend enough to put pressure on the ground. My legs were thoroughly asleep, though, and they only laughed at me as I struggled. “Stop,” I gagged, bile rising in my throat. I doubled over but they held me up, keeping me upright. “This guy’s pathetic,” the second demon grumbled, obviously disgusted with me. Well I didn’t like him either so I guessed we were even. “Can’t we kill him now?” “No,” the first growled, “you know our orders, Mikashi. We take him to the boss. He’s not our catch.” The second demon, Mikashi, sighed and said nothing more as they carried me through the halls. I tried to keep track of where we were going but was far too lightheaded and dizzy. The bile was back in my throat and once again I tried to jerk free of them but found myself unable to do so. Instead, I found myself hit in the back of the head for my efforts. I gasped in pain and went limp, trying to deal with the inferno blazing behind my eyes. I yowled as something tugged harshly at my side as I was tossed into a room. The door behind me closed and I was left there on the floor, alone in the dark. I whimpered and gasped for breath, my whole body in agony. I was pathetic--I knew that. I’d never claimed I wasn’t. I’d never claimed to be strong. I couldn’t handle pain very well. “Who’s there?” a startled, female voice asked quietly. I jerked in surprise because I’d thought I was alone--why would they throw me into a room with someone else? I tried to peer through the darkness. “H-Hello?” I coughed. I heard chains rattle and stiffened, trying to roll away from the noise and toward the door, but found myself unable to do so, my legs and hands still numb. The rest of me was in pain. It hurt too much to even think about moving--really, thinking hurt. My head was killing me. Then again, story of a Seer’s life. Our heads seemed to always be hurting. “Who are you?” the voice called. I paused. Did I tell the person my name? Who was it? “Who are you?” I asked in return. “Shadow,” she replied quietly. “I’m Shadow.” That was an unusual name. “I’m Will,” I told her, trying to clear my throat. “What are…you doing in here?” “I don’t know,” she told me. “I…woke up here…a few days ago. Been here ever since.” I winced. “That must…suck,” I breathed. “Are you okay?” Her concern was touching, considering that we’d only just met. “I’m fine,” I said. “Just…ow.” I hadn’t meant to say ‘ow’ but it had just seeped out and I couldn’t take it back now. She laughed softly. “What did they get you for?” “Was helping a kid,” I murmured. “They wanted the kid…got in their way…here I am.” “Oh.” Yeah. Oh. Yeah, house the kid for a few days, it’ll be fun! What the hell was I thinking? I mentally scolded myself as I tried to shift and move my chained hands. Were they really going to leave me like this the whole time? What’s it matter? my mind spat. You’ll be dead soon anyway. Why thank you, mind, you’re so helpful, I thought. I needed to find the kid…I needed to find out where they’d taken Matt. I had to help him somehow…but I was useless. I was pathetic and useless and I couldn’t help myself let alone him. I released a small breath. What am I going to do?
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