All the Pretty Ghosts (The Never Alone Series Book 1) (4 page)

Faith.

I only caught a glimpse of her before she slipped between two buildings. It had to be her, it just had to be. I changed direction to follow the shadow, hurrying as fast as my legs and the box would let me.

The alleyway she had entered was empty, I went right through it. At the end I could go left or right. The small figure was in the distance to the right so I went that way.

“Faith,” I called out, trying to get her attention. She didn’t stop or show any signs of hearing me. I kept trying anyway, desperate to have her acknowledge me.

I willed my legs to go faster. There was no way I could let Faith go, not after I had lost her so long ago. Not a day had gone by when I didn’t think of her, miss her,
grieve
for her. If there was the slightest chance I could find the girl, I had to take it. I would walk to the ends of the earth for that little thing.

She ducked around another corner and I followed. The gap between us was narrowing, it wouldn’t be too long before she would be able to hear me. I would yell as loudly as I possibly could to get her to listen.

I would scream if I had to.

Another corner.

She was in my grasp, if I could just go that bit faster, I would be able to catch up with her. But no matter how many times I called her name, she kept moving.

“Faith, please stop,” I begged, but I didn’t slow down. I couldn’t. If I found my sister, nothing in the world would matter anymore. We could leave the city for good, go deep into the woods where nobody could find us. It would just be the two of us, with no ghosts or people to hurt us. They wouldn’t be able to touch us anymore.

Maybe Oliver would come with us.

I turned another corner, certain this would be the one where I would catch her. We would embrace and cry and laugh, all because we found each other.

It would happen.

It would really happen.

I took the corner eagerly, my lungs burning from exhaustion. A lack of food, sleep, and sanity had worn my body out until I was barely more than skin and bones. I wasn’t equipped to run like this, not anymore.

One more corner and I found myself staring at a brick wall. It was a dead end, completely void of a door. I was surrounded by nothing but three red walls, covered in colorful graffiti.

I spun around, searching for my sister. She had vanished into thin air like a ghost.

Like a ghost.

I shivered with the thought. I didn’t want my sister to be a ghost. For the past year I had been holding onto the hope she was okay and safe, just lost from me. Sometimes that thought was the only thing that got me through an entire day of otherwise hopelessness.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement again. Every cell in my body screamed at me not to look but I did anyway, for the tiny chance it still could be Faith.

The ghost and I made eye contact.

It was only for a split second, but it was enough for her to know that I saw her. She was a woman, probably close to fifty years old. She rushed at me with the speed of a train, stopping with just an inch between us.

“You’re a seer,” she said, both hopeful and sad at the same time.

“Go away,” I urged her. I would have crawled down on my hands and knees and begged her if I thought that would have worked.

It wouldn’t have.

It never did.

“She can see us. Come quickly!” the woman shrieked. I braced myself because I knew what was coming. It wouldn’t just be an empty dead end at the back of an alleyway anymore. It would be hell.

In less time than it took to click her finger, I was surrounded. All of them were adults and all of them were dead. Men and women alike swarmed on me.

“She can really see us?”

“Marybeth, are you sure?”

“But nobody can see us.”

“That’s because we’re dead, stupid.”

“If we were dead, she wouldn’t be able to see us now.”

“We’re dead, when are you going to get that into your thick skull? Huh?”

“Tell her about the pain.”

“And how much it hurts.”

“I don’t need to interpret, she can hear all of us.”

I clasped my hands over my ears, desperate to drown them out. It was bad enough listening to the voices I had become accustomed to. These strangers didn’t understand how much they hurt me. I was just a vessel for them, a link to a world they could no longer be a part of.

I stepped backwards, trying to get away from them. My eyes were squeezed tight as I wished they would go away. Perhaps if I tried hard enough, I wouldn’t see them anymore. I could pretend they weren’t here and just leave.

But I couldn’t.

No matter how much I tried.

I crouched down on the ground, muttering under my breath for them to leave me alone. They were loud, getting louder by the minute as they each tried to get my attention. Each one thought their message or words or mission was more important than everyone else. As they fought to be heard, my ears pounded with pain. My hands weren’t shutting them out, nor were my eyelids.

“Please, please, leave me alone,” I whimpered, certain they weren’t listening to me.

“You have to find Sophie, she doesn’t have anybody.”

“Bradley and Toby, I left them behind. They are so scared.”

“You have to listen to me, this is important.”

“She cries every night.”

“It hurts so much.”

“I don’t know where she is, she’s just a baby. I need to know she’s okay.”

“Please help me.”

“Help us all. It’s too much.”

I started sobbing. Their pain was seeping into my bloodstream, making me ache inside. It was too much to take in as my brain started shutting down. I wanted to scream and run away from them but they would only follow me.

“No, no, no.” If I begged, perhaps I could get through to them. Perhaps I could convince
them
to listen to me. But it was useless. Nothing ever worked.

Suddenly, two strong hands gripped my arms. The ghosts couldn’t do that, not even if they tried. My hopes lifted, it had to be Oliver. He must have followed me so he would know I got home safely. That was something he would do.

Without opening my eyes, I let myself be pulled through the throng of ghosts. Of course, nobody else would be able to see them except me, but they would feel them. They would be able to feel the sudden drop in temperature, the inexplicable chill in the air for no apparent reason. They wouldn’t give it two thoughts, but for a moment they would wonder what had caused it.

I tripped over, unable to see where I was going. Oliver’s grip never wavered as he kept me from falling over. My eyes sprung open, hopeful the spirits were no longer following me.

But it wasn’t Oliver who had me.

It was much, much worse.

The hands belonged to two people, two boys around the same age as me – one either side. They were covered in dirt, their hair was matted against their faces, and they were just as thin as the rest of us. They weren’t rescuing me from the ghosts, they were dragging me somewhere I was certain I didn’t want to go. I started struggling against them.

“Let me go,” I cried out. Their grip tightened around my arms. They wouldn’t look at me, not either one of them. That wasn’t a good sign. “Where are you taking me?”

“Shut up,” the one to my right ordered. His breath reeked of death and decay. I doubt he had eaten a decent meal in many weeks.

I flailed my arms, trying to remove myself from their grip. If I could twist the right way, perhaps it would be just the amount of leverage I needed to escape. I tried and tried, but their hold never faltered.

“Please let me go. I promise I won’t come back.”

Without any warning, one of the guys slapped the back of my head so hard I saw stars. They swam in front of my vision, teasing me to pass out from the impact. I cried out from the sudden pain, more from the shock of it than anything else.

“Shut your hole,” he growled at me. “There’s plenty more of that where it came from.”

I couldn’t let them take me. Wherever they were going, I was certain it was not a pleasant place I wanted to linger. I tried kicking at them, going for the knees to knock them to the ground. I only needed one moment to be able to get away, just one moment where they were distracted.

That moment never came.

I was dragged into a hole in the brick wall. The room inside was pitch black. I couldn’t see a thing but they obviously knew the place well. We passed through a room that echoed our steps before a light started to flicker in the distance. We headed straight toward it.

As the light grew brighter, it revealed more details of the place. They were taking me to a room, small compared to the dark one we had gone through. And we weren’t alone.

The room was filled with about a half dozen boys, ranging in age from eight to eighteen. They were each as filthy as the boys who had my arms. I didn’t think it was a Tupperware party they were going to.

“We found this one out in the alley,” boy to my left declared as every face in the place turned to us. My throat was already sore from yelling at them, I figured now was probably a good time to shut up. The chances of them letting me go because I begged and pleaded was zero to none.

Probably even less.

“Is she anyone?” The oldest boy spoke with a commanding tone, the leader I guessed. Every group needed someone to make the decisions and my bet would be on him. His dark brown hair was in need of a good wash, as was the rest of him. But he seemed to take more care of his appearance than most of the others. He had found a bar of soap somewhere along the line.

“I am no-one,” I replied. “Just let me go and I won’t come back.”

The guy walked closer to me, inspecting every inch of my body from head to toe. I felt completely naked under his gaze, vulnerable beyond comprehension.

Now he was closer, I could see him better. His eyes were as black as the building had been as he studied me. There was intelligence behind his gaze, something the two thugs beside me clearly lacked. Once upon a time before the Event, he was probably a fairly decent guy, good looking, too. I hoped some of that decency still remained, even if he hid it most of the time.

“What’s your name?” he asked me.

“Everly.”

“I’m Jet, it’s nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for me to shake. Considering my arms were held out to my sides by my captors, there was no chance I was touching him. He took his hand back and crossed his arms over his chest. He was thin like the others, but there were still muscles on his body. “What are you doing down here, Everly?”

“I got lost, I didn’t know where I was.”

He came in close to me, his face only an inch away from mine. It was uncomfortable staring into his eyes but I wasn’t going to look away. I didn’t have my freedom, but my dignity was going to stick around for a little while longer.

“You should have left while you had a chance,” he warned. Like that wasn’t already quite clear in my current predicament. You didn’t need to be a genius to work that out.

“She had this with her,” the thug to my right said, holding up the food Oliver had found for me. “We’ve got dinner for an entire week in here.”

All the other boys were suddenly a lot more interested in me now with the mention of food. They all approached, making a circle around us.

“What should we do with her, Jet?” thug to my left asked.

Jet was still studying me like I was some sort of freak at the circus. I didn’t want to know what was going on in his mind at that point. It was probably not something I would be pleased about.

“Tie her up. I want to have a nice, long chat with Miss Everly here,” Jet ordered, managing to make every hair on my body stand at attention with fear.

I didn’t make it easy for them. I thrashed about with the remainder of my energy until they held me down and tied me to a broken wooden chair. It leaned dangerously to the side and creaked every time I managed to move. I didn’t trust it to hold my weight for very long.

I probably wasn’t going to last very long.

So we had the same life expectancy.

While my food was equally divided amongst the group, Jet pulled another chair in front of me. He spun it around backwards and sat down, leaning on the back with his head on his arms. “So, Everly, we don’t get many visitors.”

“I can’t imagine why,” I replied sarcastically. My mother used to warn me about my smart mouth getting me into trouble. I probably should have listened to her and developed better habits.

Too late now.

Jet laughed, snorting through his nose. “How long do you think you’re going to last here if you talk to me like that? Huh?”

“Let me go and you won’t have to hear it anymore.”

“When we’re getting along so well? What’s the rush?” He pretended to be offended. I doubted anything I said would offend him. Little girls wouldn’t even register on his radar. “So where’d you get the food? It’s a sweet haul.”

“From the hall at the school. They give away food every day.”