Researching The Dead

Mrs. Rickson - There was nothing better than drinking a hot cup of steamy coffee in the glowing cast of morning in your newly remodeled kitchen. Absolutely nothing could beat it. Yes, nothing could be better. Well actually, nothing could be worse if she was being completely honest. Her seventeen year old son, Rory, wasn’t home and it had been since last night since she’d seen him. It was completely normal for him to spend the night with friends and forget to tell her (usually yelling at him and grounding him would put him in his place), but it wasn’t that that bothered her so deeply. Rory would usually text to apologize for his absence at this time in the morning. It was almost a ritualistic mother/son recurrence with them. He would mess up and she would get angry out of worry for her son. He would apologize and she would give him a bunch of chores that weren’t going to do themselves. No. This time, something felt wrong. Her gut twisted in what she assumed to be maternal instinct, but was actually just her in her mind. 

With a sigh, she set down her mug on the marble counter at her side. Time to make a call. A very unpleasant call.

Rory - Holy shit, nothing could be worse. This was bad. Why the hell didn’t he stop Noah from being such an idiot?? That was his job after all: to be the designated party pooper. What was worse, is that he sucked at his job. It’s a lame one and he sucks at it. There he was, tall, lanky, and freakishly ginger, and stuck in the middle of the goddamn forest. His best friend had been kidnapped by ghosts. Who was he going to run to? The police weren’t known for voluntarily coming to the rescue when a victim of ghosts came forth. Even worse, Rory had absolutely no idea where Janelle and Yosef were. They split from the group whenever they were being chased. So that left Rory. He knew he had to step up to the plate, but he desperately didn’t want to believe it. He felt his heartbeat rapidly incline against his chest and felt his windpipes shrink. Oh god, he was about to have a panic attack. Okay, okay calm down. This could be alot worse, his left brain thought. How could it be worse?! We’re in the middle of nowhere and our friend is about to freaking kick the bucket, his right brain thought.

Amidst his inner debacle, he thought back to how this all started…

Rory- He was used to Noah and his shenanigans, but this seemed straight up dangerous. Crisscrossed in a circle with his three friends, Rory opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by his good friend Yosef.

“So let me get this straight, you saw some old-timey pilgrim ghosts in the woods and you think we should stalk them??”. Janelle laughed and tucked her book about the Salem Witch Trial under her yellow book bag. The whole reason this conversation began was because of that book and because Noah always had a story to tell.

Noah straightened his back and looked Yosef dead in the eyes, “I didn’t say we should stalk them” he rolled his eyes. “I’m saying that there were like four burned up ghosts that must have been tied up in the whole Sailor Witch Trials-”

“Salem” Janelle interrupted with a breathy laugh. “Exactly. This is important research for Janelle” Noah said while pointing at her new book. Yosef looked back at Noah with a pointed stare that always said “you’re crazy and I act like I care, but secretly I don’t”.

“Alright, sounds fun. I mean I wasn’t planning on going home tonight anyway” Yosef said.

Now all three pairs of eyes turned on Rory. This was Rory’s time to shine. The spotlight usually shown on him once Yosef agreed to this shit. Janelle never needed to speak up against Noah. She was his side-kick and they would always do the most random stuff without thinking. Well in this case, Janelle was thinking about her research, but Rory thought she wasn’t thinking for the right reasons.

“Are you kidding me?” Rory questioned. “Last time we followed you to see ghosts, Yosef ended up on the roof of an abandoned house with a bloody nose”

“He only got a bloody nose because he ran into that poll because he’s blind” Janelle reminded him. Yosef shook his head in protest, “No one could see that coming! It was pitch black. And just so you know, I am not blind as everyone thinks, I’ve only had glasses for three years now”. “Yeah, yeah how could I forget? You only talk about that eyesight test four times a day” Janelle snorted.

“I would’ve passed if I hadn’t gone swimming earlier!” Yosef fought half-jokingly. 

“Guys, we’re off topic again” Noah intruded. “Please continue on your argument on having fun Rory”. Rory only snorted and folded his arms in response.

“I’m just saying, we need to be more careful. This idea of barging in on a very angry clan of dead Puritans just so we can literally get zero information on them seems very dangerous”.

Despite him making what he thought was a good argument, he knew he wouldn’t win. He could never win with Noah. Because they both knew that deep down, Rory wanted adventure too. Even though he fought and argued and ruled as the beacon of reasoning, he too, was a person of daring capacity. They all fit together like a puzzle. They were all different in many ways, but they all had one thing that made them fit so easily into their weird little puzzle. Adventure.

So they all packed up for a forest excursion and made their way to Noah’s car. All the while, Rory made protesting curses under his breath. Janelle and Yosef were laughing in the back seat of the car. Noah smiled and drove with the confidence of a leader or a captain winning over his crew. All Rory could do was make swift glances at the driver and curse interally.

Janelle- Her lungs were on fire. She never was the best athlete or runner at school, so she was shocked to find herself blazing down a forest trail at the same tempo of a regular athlete. That athlete being Yosef, captain of the volleyball team. Her old soccer coach was wrong. She was fast. Well, she was fast in certain circumstances. Those circumstances of being chased by crazy Puritan ghosts with a desire to burn the living. 

They had finally made it a well hidden spot intervening two broad trees. They were so massive that they managed to tuck away anything that stood directly behind them. Feeling light in the head but more secure, Janelle turned her head to whisper to Yosef. However, Yosef didn’t look back at her. His line of sight wasn’t even in the direction of the ghosts. They were wide-set and shaky, fixated on something opposite to what Janelle thought was eminent. Slowly, Janelle turned her head in the direction of Yosef’s and saw something that shook her to her core.

Sat on the decaying matter of a fallen tree, a young girl with white eyes stared back at the two teenagers. This girl wasn’t your average fifteen year-old. Long blonde, frayed hair hung over her grey frock. Her feet dangled below the collapsed tree as if she was suspended in mid-air. Her neck was purple and her lips pale as a ghost. Because that was what she was, a dangerous ghost. Her eyes were blank, but it was obvious that her attention was on Janelle.

This is it, Janelle thought. Yosef and I are going to die here because I was a curious idiot. She felt Yosef push a firm arm against her. He was shaking, but still wanted to play hero till the last second. I guess I’ll let him. 

Janelle expected some flash of blinding light or the ghost to smile with sharpened fangs or her to jump at them in suspended air and rip out their innards. Janelle may have seen too many horror movies because the exact opposite occurred. The girl started to cry. Now, the fear in Janelle’s system evaporated and turned into confusion. The girl truly looked broken. Metaphorically and literally. It was now obvious from the weeping stature to see that the girl had a broken neck due to the protruding purple bulge that met her jawline. Instantly, Janelle’s mind recalled how the men and women accused of witchcraft were sentenced to death by hanging.  

Suddenly, the girl spoke in a cracked and raspy voice, full of deep emotion, “You can see me?”

Dumbfounded, all Janelle and Yosef could do was nod. The girl’s wide, white eyes grew even larger. “Thank you God” she shuttered in disbelief. With a shaky glide of her hand over the vastness of the forest ground, a pile of rocks appeared. Each rock had a dark symbol that Janelle didn’t understand. But to be completely honest, she was more fixated on the dead Puritan than the pile of rocks near their feet.

“This all must be strange to you, but I do not have the time to wait. I must explain my position before your friend dies a painful death of demonic fate” the girl spoke. Janelle swallowed a lump, but forced herself to listen and not go numb. How could she forget about Noah and Rory? She had no idea where they were, but if this girl wasn’t lying, one of them was in trouble.

“We’re listening,” Janelle spoke.

Noah- Jesus Christ I am screwed. Noah always believed he would gather a following. People would want to listen to what he had to say. He would stand strong on a tall platform and speak to those willing to listen. However his vision did not include himself tied to a stake, being surrounded by angry Puritan ghosts. One of which was holding a unlit torch. Yes, this was not what he had in mind.

Second to his fear he felt a duplex of emotions, but mostly guilt. He brought his friends into this despite Rory’s warnings. It wouldn’t be so bad if he was the only one to pay the price of curiosity, but knowing his friends, they would try to rescue him. He didn’t yell for help or try to plead with the ghosts. It wouldn’t work. He knew ghosts and how they saw this new world. His whole life, he had been (what he thought) blessed with the ability to see and understand ghosts. He was born with this ability like his late grandfather. As a child he would befriend the apparition at his daycare or seek out the drowned man at the beach. He once even managed to find his grandfather. But he tries to keep that memory out of his head. Ghosts don’t see the world like humans do. They don’t know that they are deceased. They go on oblivious to the fact that everything around them evolves, except for them. It’s almost as if a core part of their memory is erased and they are unable to comprehend change. The Puritan Ghosts saw four weirdly dressed teenagers of different race and were terrified of the odd implications. They probably saw my Black Sabbath shirt and thought I was a demon. Why am I such an idiot? I couldn’t have changed first??, He thought warily. No, he wasn’t getting out of this alive…

He twisted in his tightly roped situation and watched the ghosts speak in tandem around him. They were praying. Is this what Puritan life was like? They couldn’t even enjoy a good burning without chanting a boring invocation over and over again. Well, at least I can tell my new ghost friends that I died a holy death, he thought.

All of a sudden, a white figure appeared from behind one of the houses. Noah would’ve thought it was another ghost (because wow he was pale) if it wasn’t for the bright red hair and rosy face. Oh no. It was Rory. Rory made eye contact with Noah from his hiding place. From his end, it was a look of pure hatred, but Noah only saw a look of compassion from his friend. Noah silently pleaded with his eyes for Rory to leave him and not get hurt. However, he knew Rory well enough to know that Rory could never leave his friends behind and that Rory always wanted the opportunity to tell his friends “I told you so”. Even from the pyer, Noah could see that Rory was visibly shaking. Rory quietly and hastily walked up to the group of praying individuals. What the hell is he doing?? 

The Reverend looked up and gasped at the sight of Rory. He rose one hand and screamed while the Puritan men hustled over to Rory and locked his arms behind his back. What is he doing?!! Rory didn’t struggle, but his face went from a rosy red to a pale, sickly green.

“Speak Witch”, the Reverend hissed. Rory glanced at Noah and looked back at the ground. He breathed out a heavy sigh.

“I’m here to release my friend. If you don’t comply, I will cast a-” Rory gulped and continued, “I will curse this village”.

The townsfolk let out a despairing echo and Noah heard the cry of one of the women. This is not gonna go well.

“You wretched witch! How dare you bring such corruption to this holy state. You will be burned for what you say today. And you will fall deep into the abyss of hell…”

In that moment, Noah swore Rory would have a panic attack from the way his chest heaved, but Rory collected himself and swung his head from side to side.

“No. I mean no harm. Just let me and my friend go, and we will never come back..” Rory glared at Noah when he said the word “never”. The ghosts began to whisper among themselves. Well, everyone except the reverend. He kept his eyes glued on Rory.

“SILENCE” the Reverend bellowed. The word crashed over the others like a wave and left them in a quiet daze. The Reverend moved along the crowd and towards the man with the torch. Noah felt his body tense when the torch was handed over to the furiously devoted man. The realization that for the Reverend to make room for Rory, they would have to burn him first made his skin turn cold. Rory’s eyes went wide and he began to stutter.

“Don’t go near him!, I- I’ll do it. I’ll start cursing!” he threatened. Noah was about to scream once the lit torch got closer to his pedestal of death, but something stopped the reverend in his tracks. That something was what came out of Rory’s mouth next.

“Roo do moth de liche coo mir tel a phone an batt er ies de tv” he spoke in gibberish. “I’ll stop once you untie him!” he pleaded. It seemed to be working. Rory’s curse of gibberish seemed to have an effect on the Puritans. That stupid genius. Two of the men caught up to the Reverend and yanked the torch out of his hands. The Reverend wined for the torch but the Puritans had had enough. They began to gather around Rory. Noah’s heart filled with a smidge of relief and a pound of worry because what they did next surely wasn’t in Rory’s plan. They gagged him with a rag and tied his arms behind his back.

“No!” Noah screamed. However, his screams proved to be completely useless.

Yosef- Finally, they made it to the top of the hill just in time. He and Janelle had lugged around twenty “ghost-begon” stones once the ghost girl told them what needed to be done. The rules of ghost killing were quite simple. Or, he was trying to convince himself that they were. First, tell them that they are dead. Simple, maybe. Second, Touch them with an object that is engraved with the symbol of some god of death. He couldn’t remember which mythology it was from. That was what the stones were for.

Once Yosef saw the scene going on down below, fear and anger bubbled in his stomach. Rory had been gagged and forced onto the ground. Noah was in an even worse position being tied to a stake. Now was the time to strike. He looked at Janelle and saw militant confidence. We’re going to win this,fight, he thought. He quickly thought back to the ghost girl’s words: “Please set me free”. He clenched his fist. This poor girl and all the others that suffered during the time would finally have the revenge they deserved. And in the process, they would rescue their friends.

“Janelle, you ready?” Janelle nodded her head and made her descension into anarchy. Stone in hand, Yosef made a running start.

Mrs. Rickson- “So let me get this straight, Rory. You and your friends decided to go into the middle of the woods in the middle of the night to see some Puritan ghosts for some ambiguous research purposes. Then, you get rapt up into a storm of kidnapping and eulogies. Noah’s about to burn to a crisp and you get gagged for speaking gibberish. Janelle and Yosef start throwing stones at ghosts screaming about how they’re dead. And y’all make it out scot-free because the god of death takes them to hell…” 

“Yes, but when you put it like-”

“Rory, just be honest with me… Did you try drugs or something?”

“What?! No. I would never do-”

Mrs. Rickson crossed her arms in a bitter and cold manner. This kid was going down a darker and darker path everyday. She knew she had to do something dire about this situation, but she couldn’t even wrap her mind around what he just said. All she could do in that moment was think about all the sweeping and cooking he would be doing for the next year and a half.