“Please don’t,” Harbor says, wrinkling his nose. “That would make a terrible first impression.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll hold it. It’s fine. Everything is totally and completely fine.”
“Deep breath,” Bently tells me as he turns off the headlights and pulls the RV right behind the car. I might actually throw up that burger I just scarfed down, but again, that would be a shit first impression. I gotta keep it together. I gotta calm down.
My hands are shaking as I hold up the compass, letting my cousins see the same thing that I do; my spark is straight ahead. Sure, it could be a coincidence and they’re actually miles down this road, but I know in the pit of my very soul the truth. They’re right in front of me in that car.
“Willow and Jude should have warned me it would feel like this,” I whisper under my breath, trying my best to keep myself from leaping out of the RV. I can be composed. I can!
“They tried to explain it but I think it’s something you have to experience to really comprehend,” Harbor says with a shrug. He puts his hands on my shoulders. “Are you ready?”
“I have no fucking idea,” I tell him seriously. “Yes. No. Yes. Maybe. Oh my gods.”
The three of us climb out of the RV. I move to the left, watching as the arrow on the compass moves, keeping itself pointed at the little blue car in front of us. Even if I didn’t trust the feelings welling up inside my gut, the compass doesn’t lie.
Harbor walks around the RV so he can get to the car from the passenger side while Bently and I stay by the driver’s side. The window is open but the person inside is so engrossed on their phone that they haven’t even noticed us yet. From here I can tell they have a buzz cut and a variety of piercings lining their left ear and wearing a denim coat covered in random patches.
They’re so fucking cool.
I can’t stop smiling. My smile is so wide it’s starting to make my cheeks ache. This is it. This is the moment I’ve been looking forward to since I was a little boy. All of the lead up and chase has led me here, to this very person. My soul aches, reaching out for the person in front of me, longing for the spark that’ll use us, embrace us, and complete us.
Just as I’m about to clear my throat and announce my presence, Harbor opens up the passenger door and slides inside the car. My spark flings her phone down, screaming at a pitch I didn’t even think was possible. My head is buzzing from how loud and high pitched the noise is.
“Hey, chill!” Harbor says, shoving a few fries into my spark’s open mouth.
My spark turns away from Harbor, spitting the fries through the open window to her left which just so happens to be where I’m leaning down. She spits them right into my face, her eyes widening when she sees Bently and I.
She screams again.
“What the fuck? Jesus Christ! Get the fuck out of my car! Who just gets into a stranger’s car like this?”
“Just calm down,” I say after spitting the fries out of my mouth that she just spit at me. I hold up my hands, showing that I mean her no harm. “This is all a really weird misunderstanding, I promise.”
“Like fuck am I going to take your word for it! Random ass dudes creeping around my car spells future trauma. No fucking thank you!”
My spark picks up her phone, calling someone. Doesn’t she feel the same connection I’m feeling? Doesn’t she know that I’m not just some weirdo who’s trying to creep on her?
I take a step away from her car. Okay, from any other point of view, this doesn’t look good. We really are just some guys who’re in the middle of nowhere bothering someone we don’t know.
“You need to get your asses out here right now. I don’t care how close you are to doing your dumbass ghost bullshit. There’s some weirdos out here bothering me and I need some back up. Now.”
Harbor is staring at my spark in confusion. “We’re not weirdos? Don’t you feel that we’re connected? Well, not you and me. You and him?”
“They’re saying weird shit, Zeke. Get out here. Now.”
Bently pulls me back, leaning down so he can yell at Harbor. “Get out of her car, Harbor. You’re not helping things!” Then he turns to look at my spark. “I’m really sorry about the confusion. We thought you were someone we already knew.”
“Right. Uh huh. Likely story, big guy.”
“I think if we all just settle down and take a step back, we’re gonna look back at this someday and laugh.”
How the fuck have things gone so wrong? I was so happy to meet my spark but all I’ve done is convince her I’m some sort of asshole. Why doesn’t she feel the longing that I’m feeling? Why doesn’t she want me? Was the compass wrong?
Before I can properly freak out and have a full blown breakdown, there’s a noise behind me. I turn around as I hear a few people coming out of the rundown house across the street. A woman and a man come running out towards us, looking ready to raise hell.
Fuck. Could tonight get any worse?
Chapter Two
Zeke
“Are you sure about this, Zeke? As creepy as this place is, I’m not so sure it’s actually haunted.”
“All the signs are here,” I say, pulling out my notebook and sitting down on the floor. “Strange noises at night, things moving on their own, cold spots, and the EMF monitor going off.”
Page nods her head as I speak, looking around the living room. “It all tracks. I’m not questioning you, for the record. Just curious why the ghost hasn’t shown its face for us yet.”
“Maybe he’s shy.”
Page hums as she looks around, squatting to pick up one of the fallen picture frames, careful not to step on any of the broken glass. She lets out a long sigh before putting it back onto the mantle.
All of the signs point to a haunting, that much is certain, but what I don’t voice out loud is that I can feel a presence here. Someone’s been stuck in this world instead of crossing the veil into the afterlife. They’re stuck, holding onto something so tightly that it’s caused them to twist themselves into something they’re not. They’ve made themselves into something that allows them to stay for whatever reason.
I’ve been best friends with Page and Ray since we were all awkward teenagers but recently, something happened to Page that made her realize the world as we all know it isn’t exactly all there is. Her eyes were opened to the very real fact that the supernatural exists. Though the circumstances of that were incredibly unfortunate, it did have its upsides.
I can finally show her who I really am; a banshee. And in turn, she can trust me with her secret of being a vampire.
I’ve been a ghost hunter for many years now but once Page entered the supernatural world, I offered to show her what I really do on the weekends. It was her idea to record these sessions and edit them into silly videos we can put online. Throw a few ads onto the videos and bam, the funding for these excursions were finally entering our pockets.
