Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-29791712-20150522192922

I know this is a relatively long story, but hang with me please. I do not expect that many readers to give this story a try, and I do not blame nor attack you. But for those of you who would actually read this, I give you all of my thankfulness and kindness. Sorry for this long story, but I enjoyed writing this. Please provide feedback, and thank you very much.

She waited for her next victim to arrive. She stood next to the tar road with a calm posture, and made sure to concentrate all of her energy within. Her blue denim jeans, along with her white hooded-sweater, flapped and danced with the howling wind the night air provided. The woman’s watchful blue eyes scavenged for the next car to drive by of her. She narrowed her vision to only see what laid ahead of her. It was a breezy autumn night in the middle of October. The night was as quiet as a highway could become. The only sounds were the occasional car that rushed by on the other side of the road, and the low squeaks coming from animals near the forest. She waited patiently with her skin itching for a great murder.

Soon enough the woman glanced at a car heading her way. The vehicle was short and skinny, and was painted a deep blue. Parts of the paint were chipped off, and the entire car in total appeared as a complete disaster. It must be a bachelor’s car. Perfect, the woman thought, and a smiled crossed her thin red lips. The headlights of the tiny car flashed at the woman as it came closer to her. The woman held up her right arm, and pointed her thumb up towards the black sky. “Hey! Hey, I need a ride!” the woman squeaked innocently. The headlights approached her, and aimed directly at her pale face. The car made a harsh stop once it drew near the woman. The woman’s eyes lightened up, and she waited for someone to come out with full attention.

Two men pushed out of the car from the passenger’s seat and the driver’s seat, and slammed the door shut. They appeared in their mid-twenties. The man driving had a grey beanie on top of his black wavy hair with a scarf wrapped around his neck. The other man was a bit on the chubby side with his cheeks glowing red like a tomato.

“Hello ma’am,” the driver said. “You’re in the need of any assistance?”

“Ohmygod, yes!” the woman exclaimed, and came close to the driver. Her short heels grinded against the paved road. As the woman walked, her blonde and straight hair shifted left and right swiftly with grace. The driver noticed her complexion of beauty. Her skin tone was set in the perfect tone of white. Her cheeks flushed with a precious red the color of roses, and her eyes reflected the shade of a peaceful ocean. The driver also noticed the woman’s curved body. She contained the image of a model. A young, sexy, beautiful young mistress.

“I’m so glad you guys came!” the woman said with grace as she stepped in front of the driver. “Jesus Christ, at least you guys have manners. I’ve tried hitchhiking three other cars, and they all just ignored me. This world is filled with cruel and shitty people, I swear.”

“You can say that again,” the chubby mad spoke out of nowhere. Anyone could have noticed how nervous and shy the man was. “Oh, uh, sorry. What’s your name, missy?’

“My name is Sarah,” the woman, Sarah, informed the driver and his friend. “How about you guys?”

“Well, I’m Dereck,” the driver said, and showed his hand politely to shake it with Sarah. They shook hands, and grinned at each other. “This here is my friend Pablo.”

“Hello there,” Pablo gave a friendly waved. “Well, let’s get a move on! It’s freezing tonight.” Dereck motioned Sarah to enter the passenger seat, and ordered Pablo to sit behind. This caused Pablo’s face to grow in solemn disappointment.

After everyone was settled, Dereck started the car again. It turned on, and they went back onto the highway road once again. Sarah smelled the inside of the vehicle. It had the scent of potato chips, beer, and cigarettes. Typical, ugly, and disgusting men. Oh well, they look like kind people. They don’t strike me as the type to rape. During the beginning of the ride Pablo and Dereck tried to make conversation with Sarah. Dereck first asked her where she was headed. They were in the state of New Jersey, and were driving on Route 95 near Jersey City and Union City. Sarah told them to please enter Jersey City, and she’ll find her way there.

“You sure?” Dereck asked. “I mean, we can drop ya off wherever you need to head to.”

“Yes, I’m positive,” Sarah spoke kindly, and thanked them of their generosity. The night road ahead grew with a dismal darkness. The headlights of the vehicle did so little to omit the accumulating shadows that crossed around the car. The night never appeared so depressing. The wind outside whistled with a petulant tone. It made the trees branches and bushes, which stood paralleled to the road, dance and shake left and right. The moon above shone with a dying grey light, which intimidated Dereck.

“So do you guys live here?” Sarah brought back the discussion with both men.

“Not exactly,” responded Dereck. “We live near North Bergen, which is close to Jersey City and all.”

“Interesting,” Sarah spoke, and nodded her head. It was time. She smiled. “Hey, do you see that spot over there?” She pointed ahead of the road at a single spot the car was approaching.

“Uh, what exactly are you pointing at?” Dereck questioned. He couldn’t see a damn thing. The only thing he saw was the endless black road ahead, and the grass that stood next to the car.

“There, that spot on the side of the road,” Sarah said, and laughed to herself. It was a cute, girlish laugh that would make a man find a woman very attractive.

“Well, what about that spot?” Dereck asked. They were driving closer and closer to exactly where Sarah was aiming at.

“Well, years ago, I had a car accident in that exact spot. The car burst into flames, and I died inside that vehicle.”

In that exact moment, Dereck did see something. For a split second a vision occurred inside his mind and imagination. He saw it all. Dereck saw a burned down car similar to the one he was currently driving. The car was engulfed in flames, and contained two people inside the vehicle. The car was in the exact position to where Sarah was pointing at.

The imaged disappeared from his mental state, and he was back into reality. He turned his head to stare at Sarah for a quick second.

What Dereck saw would forever haunt him even after death. Sarah was looking directly back at Dereck, but instead her face was in a completely different form. The beauty and perfection she once maintained died and blew away with the nighttime’s wind. Sarah’s face was in a state of utter destruction, and it was unbearable to glance at. Her once white skin was now a moldy, ashy, and crisped burnt black. Parts of her cheeks were shining with a crimson red by parts of her flesh being torn opened. Blood leaked out of her eyes in a hellish cry. Her light-blue eyes manifested into a burning and bloodshot orange. Most of Sarah’s hair was removed from her scalp, which left her bumpy head bold and burnt.

Before Dereck and Pablo even had a chance to even omit a yell for themselves, Sarah yelled at the top of her lungs. It broke and shattered every single window that was on the vehicle. Her howling voice caused Dereck’s eardrums to explode, and for his ears to drip with a puddle of blood. Sarah’s yell caused the entire car to incinerate into flames, and both Dereck and Pablo burned alive. Their skin touched and mixed with the fire that was all around them. Both men screamed in complete agony. Their whole bodies lit up like the human torch. Soon their nerves stop functioning, and they were left to stare at each other with melting faces. Parts of their limbs exploded due to the water level flowing inside their bodies.

Sarah laughed and smiled as she cuddled and became one with the flames. She made the vehicle flip over and land exactly where her death car landed. The car exploded, leaving Dereck and Pablo dead once and for all.

Maybe this would finally get Andrew’s attention.

My eyes kept on tracing back and forth on the newspaper headline. I couldn’t keep my vision off the heading. It kept attracting my eyes like a powerful magnet. I never thought I could produce large amounts of sweat during the cold autumn in New Jersey, but while reading the newspaper article I was sweating like a pig. I had to snatch a paper towel from my friend’s kitchen in order to dry my drenched forehead. I never sweat much, unless I am utterly nervous.

“So it’s true, ain’t it bro?” Dom asked, and placed a glass of water with ice in it next to me. I heard the ice cubes crack inside the water. Somehow that sound relaxed me. My friend, Dom, took a seat next to me in his dining room table. I was visiting his house when he produced this newspaper article. My friend informed me that this will definitely catch my attention. It certainly did.

“Shit man,” I said with an indolent tone, and sighed with depression. My back was beginning to accumulate sweat, and it was spreading all over my long-sleeve and sweater. I decided to remove my windbreaker in the hopes that it would help me cool down. Dom’s dining room was always nice and chilly. I felt cozy every time I stepped inside his apartment. “It may damn well be right. Holy fucking Christ…” I placed both my hands on top of my face, and had to force myself not to cry. My eyes stung with the dawn of tears arriving. I tried breathing in and out in a relaxing matter, but my nerves were jittery and shaking all over the place. I never thought I could be so scared in my life.

“Hey man,” Dom began, and placed his hands on my shoulders. My hands fell from my face, and I looked eye to eye with Dom. I liked his eyes. They were a glowing green that reminded me of a lantern. “You’re going to be okay? You lookin a bit red, dude.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll be fine,” I spoke with no effort. “Actually, to tell you the truth Dom, I have no clue how I’m going to be.” Dom was my closest friend, and the only person I can actually cry in front of. I felt two wet tears drip from my eyes, and immediately wiped them away. I took hold of the tissue I used to dry my sweaty face, and cleaned my eyes.

“I don’t know exactly what to say,” Dom said. “I know you rather not talk about it, but I need some sort of explanation. What does that article mean, Andrew?”

The headline of the article read this: Horrific Car Accident Results in Unaware Circumstances. Below the title the story began. It described that on October 9th, 2014, a car accident occurred near Interstate 95. Two men, Dereck Gomez and Pablo Enriquez, were both involved in a terrible accident. Photos of the scene were displayed near the text. It showed a burnt down small car with the fire still alive inside the vehicle. The car was flipped upside down, and parts of the vehicle were either missing or near the car itself. Police investigators had no exact clue or indication in which made the two men have the car crash. After an autopsy, the results showed no sign of alcohol abuse nor drug usage. Authorities were looking into a guess that either someone planned out the murders of both men by placing some type of incendiary device inside the vehicle, or it was all in the matter of pure misfortune.

But this wasn’t what made my blood boil. What made every fiber of my being terrified for its life was one image of the accident. They took this photo on the side of the car crash. It reminded me so much of that one unforgettable night. The more I gazed at it, the more memories raced back into my cranium unwantedly. Memories that I had tried so desperately try to forget. They were thoughts that I wanted nothing to do with anymore, yet they returned to me to haunt me once again. That car accident appeared so identical to what happened to me that it was not a mere coincidence. The car crash that had happened three days before I went to Dom’s house was not just another little story of my town that everyone can chat about. No, it meant more than that to me.

“I’ll tell you what this article means,” I said slowly. “It means shit!” I tore the newspaper into shreds, and stomped on each individual piece. “Fuck! This cannot be happening. This is not real, dammit. No. NO. NO!” My mind was bulging with hysteria and fear. I sat back down to try to calm myself down. I formed fist from my hands that made my knuckles bone-white. I had the uncontrollable urge to hit something, anything.

“So it is true then?” Dom asked, but he didn’t say his sentence as a question, but more as a statement. “Where that car accident occurred, that was the exact same spot you had yours with…You know who.”

“Yeah, you’re damn right it is,” I grunted. “Dom, I’m so scared man. I’m scared shitless.”

“Hey bro,” he said, and embraced me in a hug. I wept silently on his shoulder, and felt the tender touch of his hands on my hair. “I don’t blame you. I’d be horrified as well.” There was a few seconds of quietness as I cried on my friend. After a moment I ended up talking once more.

“If Sarah wanted to get my attention,” I spoke with a running nose. “She got it.”

As much as I try to forget that night it stills roams in my mind almost every day. Nobody can ever experience such a tragedy in their lives, and expect to not remember it years after. It’s one of those events where you just knew that it was going to leave a permanent mark on your heart and soul. At times I find myself blessed, but there were some moments in my life that I found myself cursed.

I dated this girl named Sarah Goodwill the start of my high school year, which was freshmen year. I know most guys say this about their first love, but I am not over exaggerating when I say that this girl was absolutely beautiful. Her eyes were a vibrant shade of blue, and they always appeared so alive and lucid. I used to always burry my face deep into her luscious, soft, and silky blonde hair. I used to enjoy most of our time when we were cuddling next to each other half naked, and she’d wink at me with the most lascivious eyes imaginable. I was crazy in love with her.

It began as puppy love as most relationships do, but it grew into something more during the end of our sophomore year. There was this undeniable bond we had for each other that was indestructible. Every night I’d fall asleep thinking about her, and all of the great memories. The best part was that she would ponder about the same things. It was so special and fortunate to have someone who daydreams about the same things as you do. I felt connected and attached to her in ways only we knew. I’m not going to say that there weren’t any arguments. Trust me when I say this, we fought a lot! It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbow. But each time we argued over something I couldn’t help to feel in a way joyful. We loved each other so much that we were willing to have the most brutal of discussions, yet stick together through thick and thin.

Our junior year flashed by in a second, and we found ourselves in summer instantly. I had recently received my driver’s license, and had the freedom to take my parents car to go for a joy ride occasionally. It was only under certain conditions. I couldn’t have any friends that they didn’t know inside the car, and I had to always ask permission for the car. I didn’t mind those terms, since they gave me a lot of freedom.

Most of that summer was spent with my friends and me camping and going on road trips. It was so mesmerizing each moment I spent with them. I also invited Sarah to a lot of these adventurous drives. She always had the privilege to sit in the shotgun seat, and not even Dom had that title.

During the ending of August Sarah and I decided to go to a waterpark by ourselves. It was a cute little date we’d had before our senior year started. We departed off early in the morning, and arrived at the waterpark two hours before noon. We stayed until twilight, and headed back home.

During the ride I held her hand with my own. They were wrapped around each other like a lovable pretzel. I kept my eye on the road while also conversing with my adorable girlfriend. I could talk with her for hours, and never find myself at the brink of boredom. Our conversations were accompanied with the occasional kiss, and the laughs we would share.

It was around nighttime when we were arriving close home. There were no cars that drove by us, so we had the rode to ourselves. At least we believed we did. “Damn Sarah, we start school soon. I don’t want this summer to end. I’ve been having such a great time with you, man.”

“Same here, baby,” she spoke, and wrapped her arms around my own. I had a tang-top on as I drove, which showed off the muscle tone of my body. I felt her busty, soft breasts on my arm as she squeezed tighter. “You think you can visit by my house when we get home?”

“Sure baby, I’d love that,” I said a bit reluctantly. The thing about me was that I agreed with her a lot, which I didn’t mind. “So, you know I’m feelin kinda hot right now. You think you can give me some road head as I- OH SHIT!”

It happened just like that in the flash of a second. One moment I am having the time of my life with the girl I truly love, and the next a car comes crashing towards me at full speed. I hovered my right arm over Sarah with visceral instinct in order to protect her in any way. It was a useless attempt to play the hero since at that exact moment my car osculated with the car ahead of us, both vehicles burst into flames. I just saw it by a split second. I felt the momentous impact our cars made, I felt the heat surrounding me increase in unbearable heights, and I heard my beloved Sarah scream her lungs out.

After all of that I blacked out.

When I awoke hours later, I was still inside the car. I opened my eyes dimly, and felt multiple lights shine across my face. This made me keep my vision closed for several minutes before I adjusted to the brightness. My head felt woozy and heavy, as if my skull was replaced with lead. Each time my heart beat my brain would thump with agony. I was out of breath, and tasted the foul flavor of smoke on my tongue. The acrid scent of smoke also filled with nostrils.

I eventually opened my eyes, and was welcomed with flashing blue and red lights. They shone luminously due to how dark it was outside. Copious flashlights danced and scattered all around me, and I was hit with the surrealism of my situation. There was something wrong, or at least something horribly wrong happened. I just couldn’t remember a damn thing. I huge chunk of my memory felt fuzzy and out of place.

“Sir? Sir are you alive?” A police officer asked me from the window next to me. He tapped on the glass, and shone his flashlight at me. I gingerly turned my head at him, and stared him right in the eye. “Holy shit he’s alive! Guys come here and help me bust this guy out!”

Polices officers crowded around me due to his command. The police officer that found me alive was named Roger Guzman. I became friends with him soon after that night. The officers tried to open the car door next to me, but couldn’t remove the damn thing. It was stuck, and they had no tools to help them detached the door. I was trapped inside my own car.

I looked around my area to see if I can find anything to escape. I kept on seeing the same things over and over again: Black ashes and even blacker smoke. My eyes stung by the amount of smoke suffocating me, and I kept on puffing out smoke from my chest. I felt around the passenger seat to see if there was anything there, and touched something crispy and warm.

It was Sarah.

The large part of my memory rendered back into my mind, and I remembered everything. Sarah appeared horrible and disgusting. Her whole body was black and ashy, and her skin was melting like an ice-cream cone in a scorching summer evening. Her darkened lips were frozen in a hollow scream, and her eyes were opened staring directly at me. The Sarah I once knew and loved was now a monster. She was dead, and I could never hold her and love her as I used to. Sarah was gone from my life, and a huge part of my heart felt dead inside. All of her hair was burnt into loathsome ashes, and she now looked like a black skeleton.

I never yelled so loud in my life. I kept on screaming and shouting until my throat grew sore. Even then I couldn’t stop myself from screaming and crying. I wanted nothing more than to just evade from my demise. I banged and kicked on my door in order to escape. It still wouldn’t give. I started punching it with both my fist until my knuckles bled, and my skin peeled. I kept on screaming the same phrase, “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” The authorities noticed my struggled, and attempted to aid me in my escape. With one final kick the door finally gave, and I dropped to the paved road with tears spilling out of my eyes.

I blacked out again thereafter. Roger informed me I kept on repeating “Sarah! Why Sarah! COME BACK TO ME!” Till this day I do not remember that. Roger and I were inside my room when my parents outside with the cops. I could have heard their cries from miles away. They were huger crybabies than I was.

Roger informed me with everything they knew and discovered. Apparently I had an angel on my side. When the police arrived the car was still on fire. Roger said that the entire vehicle was engulfed with flames. Firefighters were able to evaporate the fire, and the police started investigating the scene right after. They found Sarah the way she was when I found her. She was burned like a forgotten piece of bread in a toaster. I, on the other hand, was in perfection condition. Not a single scratch or bruise on me. The officers kept a close eye on me as more police cars arrived. I was “asleep” for four hours until I eventually woke up. After that, Roger said, I knew what happened.

“You know, Andrew, you’re damn near lucky you didn’t get burned,” Roger spoke with amazement. “I swear that whole care was covered in flames, yet you remained as clean as a plate. Why so?”

“I have no idea,” I said with an apathetic tone. During that time inside my room I didn’t want to speak. I wanted to be left alone in my own depression. Roger picked up on the hint, and left me on my bed with food near me. I didn’t feel lucky at all, but instead felt dreadful. Throughout the years I could never forget that night. Even after a year after that tragic car accident, and I thought I was recovered from my lugubrious stage, I was still carrying the weight of that night. There was a lot of sleepless nights, and sometimes I stayed up two days in a row. I wasn’t healthy in the beginning, but I soon cured myself of that. Things slowly progressed better, and everything was turning out alright. But it was the mental blockage and damage that incident created that my mind would never let go. I thanked the heavens for saving me from a terrible death, but never questioned how in the world I was able to live without a single mark on my body. I was getting asked day after day how I did it, but I just responded with awkward silence. I never knew how, but I thought I knew who. For some reason something told me it had to do with Sarah. But I couldn’t think of her.

I lost the love of my life. It was as horrible and as simple as that.

Four years after, and she came back to haunt me.

I made the decision to stay in Dom’s house for the night. I didn’t feel like returning home after the abysmal news I had just found out. Dom always had a bunker bed for as long as I can remember. Dom used to share it with his older brother until he eventually moved out. I was given the privilege to be able to sleep on the top bunk. The lights were out, and Dom and I were doing our usual late-night conversations we always do before diving into our dreams.

“So what do you plan on doing, bro?” he asked me.

“There’s only one more thing left for me to do, dude,” I responded. “I’m going to have to revisit that spot once again. I plan on going tomorrow night, around eleven.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going alone.”

“Relax. I wanted to ask if you can come with me please,” I reassured Dom. I knew he would stay yes. We somehow developed an unconditional brotherly love and bond for one another. If our asses were on the line, we wouldn’t hesitate to help each other out.

“I’ll be glad to help, man,” he laughed. “You don’t think we might get killed right?” I stood quiet at his remark. I didn’t know what to respond with. After everything that had been happening there was no guarantee what was going to happen. The solution of my problem was a long distance away.

“To be honest, I have no clue,” I simply said.

“Oh.” There was a pause. “When was the last time you had those…Visions or dreams about, um, Sarah?”

“A week ago,” I informed him. “It wasn’t as bad as before. The dream or vision was that we were swimming together in a lake. It was nice and all, but scary at the same time.”

“Did you hear any whispers?” Dom was the only person I ever told about the quiet and furtive voices that sometimes talk to me inside my mind. They started occurring soon after Sarah’s death. Everything was making sense at that moment. There was something paranormal involved with Sarah.

“No I hadn’t,” I finally said. “Let’s just hope I don’t hear any tonight as well.”

“Ight,” Dom said, and yawned. “Let’s get some shut eye. You think you’re going to be good?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I lied. “Goodnight.”

The next morning came, and I was awoken by the sunlight spilling from Dom’s curtain. The whole day and afternoon I wasted watching TV and eating. I felt depressed again, and conserved all of my energy for tonight. It was a weekend, so neither Dom nor I didn’t have school to attend to. The whole day was spent killing time until ten o’clock arrived.

Dom said we could use his car, so we did. It was a white small car that was brand-new. He bought it six months ago, which surprised me that Dom would allow me to use his neoteric vehicle. I thought he knew that wherever we were going to it involved something dangerous and risky, and we may have to damage a few things. Even if that meant his car.

We drove into the night, and tried to chat during most of the car ride heading to Interstate 95. I couldn’t keep the conversation alive, since all I thought about was what little sleep I received the night before. The whispers that night were clearer and more evocative than ever. They rang inside my ear like busy bees, and kept my eyes from never shutting. I heard my name and Sarah’s name over and over again, and as the seducing voice continued to speak I kept on imagining Sarah and I together. All of our memories sparked alive, and was playing inside my imagination. I somehow transported back into the past, and there I was with my beautiful Sarah. In my thoughts we held hands, and ate all sorts of sweets together. I kissed her soft and gentle lips, and she would scratch my hair with ease.

A smile would cross my face, but soon my thriving fantasy would rip apart into a nightmare. I snapped back into reality, and found myself gazing at Sarah from Dom’s bed. It was a figment of my imagination, but part of her figure truly existed. She appeared as a spirit, and her face and body was transparent. Sarah would grin at me, and place her smooth hands on my arms. Then she would crush and squeeze hard on them, and place her butt and hips on my chest to choke me. Her weight increased dramatically, and I felt every breath I inhaled become weaker and weaker. My vision would be colored black, and I had to fight for my life. As I laid there gasping for air, Sarah would kiss my neck cell by cell, and reminds me that I will always be her lover. She would remind me that if I ever tried to go for someone else again that her throat would be cut. Sarah would place her lips on my cheek while suffocating me, and tell me that she loved-

“Jesus Christ, Andrew, a CAR!” Dom snapped at me. We were driving on the grass field that followed the paved road. I yelp quietly, and steered the vehicle back to the road. My heart pumped faster, and my nerves twitched. “You gotta pay attention to the road. Almost got ourselves killed, dude.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” I repeated. “My bad. I barely got sleep last night.”

“Well you shoulda told me somethin,” Dom spoke. “I coulda let you sleep more. Are we getting closer?”

“Yea, we’re almost there,” I said, which was true. The road and its surrounding was familiar. The car moved smoothly against the road even with the rain dropping outside. I kept on hearing the constant swoosh sound the tires made when rolling over the drenched road. “It’s right here.”

I pulled over the exact spot where both car accidents occurred. The reason I wanted to go late at night was because it would help me face Sarah in complete privacy. Also the authorities would most likely not be in the area, which gave me freedom to do whatever I desire. Dom and I hopped out of the car with our sweaters suited up, and I checked the time before exiting. It was eleven thirty-six in the night.

The cold rained tapped against my face as I waited outside with Dom. The sky wasn’t gushing out a whole ocean of rain, but there was a light drizzle. My nose picked up most of it, and I had to constantly swipe it with my sleeve.

“So what now?” Dom asked. I shushed him, and looked around our setting. Each step I took made the road crunch with my shoes. Every glimpse I took around my surroundings made the hair on my arms tingle. Flashing images of my accident flared in my mind, and I thought I was going to be sick. My stomach made a three sixty, and I had to take hold of my belly in order not to barf.

I spotted something far ahead of Dom and me. It was a tiny light climbing closer and closer to our position. The light grew in size as it came towards us. Soon it became more than a light. It grew a figure and shapes. I first saw a head form from the light, then limbs, and then a finished body. The light dimmed, and there was only the human being remaining who walked with sass. Each step the figure took made the highway echo. Hair ran down the woman’s head all the way to her lower back. The hair was blonde and beautiful. At last I saw a tiny twinkle in both of her eyes, and knew who it was.

“Sarah,” I said, and I saw her crack a smile. “Jesus Christ. I was right, then.”

“Of course you were,” she said, and hearing her voice made me step back a few inches. Her voice struck me with more shock than seeing her walking to me. It still had that sexy and unique tone to it. There was no other way to describe her tone than exquisite and sexual. “And I see you brought Dom here. How are you Dom?”

I turned to face my friend, and found my best friend looking dumbfounded. His eyes, which were normally squinting and small, were now dilated and in complete surprise. His mouth was open like a dumb man, and he mumbled to form words that were comprehendible. “C’mon now, Dom, speak up for me please,” Sarah giggled. “Is this how you react when you haven’t seen a friend in years?”

“N- n- No,” Dom managed to say. “Thi- This is impossible. You’re dead. You’re supposed to be dead. I went to your freaking funeral for god’s sake! What’s going on? Andrew?” Dom glanced at me as if I had five eyeballs. “Are you not seeing this? How- How are you not in shock?”

“Well when you’ve been getting visits from her almost every night, you grow fond of her presence,” I said sternly. I shared Sarah and icy look, and she returned my gesture with a cute wink. My heart dropped all the way to the pits of my stomach when she did that. “Enough games, Sarah. Let’s get down to it. What do you want?”

“You say you want to get straight to the point,” Sarah started, “yet you know damn well what I want. You never cease to surprise me, Andrew honey. You always want other people to start off the bad job. If you’re not going to say it, than I will. I came back for you, baby. I don’t know why you had to bring your friend here since you know it was going to come down to this. He can either try to stop us from being together, or he can leave us alone and make his way back home. Either way, you’re not going to get away from me this time, Andrew.”

Dom gave me a questioning look. “Hey, what the hell is she talking about? What da ya mean you guys are getting back together. Dom, she’s a freaking ghost! Wha- What type of bargain have you done, dude?” I ignored my friend, and instead walked towards Sarah. I tried to block out Dom’s words of protest, but they slammed against my ear at every minute.

I reached my ex-girlfriend, and stared her in her eyes. Being this close to her in person brought my knees to shake and shiver. The air circled around us, and leaves danced as I held up my hand for Sarah to take. She smiled, and laughed powerfully. “Oh Andrew! You think it’s that simple? You think I’m going to just take you like that after everything I have done for you?”

“Nice try bitch, but I’m not going with you,” I said, and pulled the knife from my pocket with my other hand. Without thinking about my actions, I aimed the point at Sarah’s neck. It hit home, and the knife protruded out of her throat. Sarah’s eyes widened in denial, and she grabbed onto her neck. But the bizarre thing was that no blood leaked from her wound. The knife just stood out from her neck, and nothing else happened. I realized she was faking her suffocation.

She burst into laughter. “Oh god, Andrew, aren’t you stupid! You really think a knife can kill me? If a fire couldn’t destroy me, what makes you think a knife can harm me?”

“NO,” I simply said. Her appearance changed into something of formidable strength. I felt a rush of her aura heating up, and becoming exhilarated. “You’re dead. You’re supposed to be dead. Why aren’t you dead, dammit! Who are you, Sarah!”

“Boy you are stupid!” she exclaimed. “But enough of this. You try to kill me, and I have to end your misery. Did you expect me to be so naïve? Oh well, you’re better off dead.” I ran away that instant. My feet dashed against the wet road, and I screamed at Dom to enter the car. He received my signal, and we both sprinted to the vehicle.

We were inches away from the car when it exploded. It happened too quickly for me to comprehend. I felt the tips of the fire touch my skin, and I was pushed back by its blowing force. Dom and I landed on our backs against the sprinkled grass. My spine ached with pain, and I grunted cuss words. “You cannot escape me this time, Andrew! You’re a dead man!”

“Dude,” Dom sighed as he tried to pick himself up. “What the hell is she?”

“I have no idea,” I said, and was being honest. “I thought she was dead, and just some sort of ghost. But that knife was a test. I thought it would go pass her, and not harm her. I was expecting that, which was why I also brought holy water with me. But the knife hit her neck, and I felt real skin. I was so shocked and confused. I don’t know what the fuck she is. Which makes me more scared.”

“Well obviously she must have some supernatural powers since she just made our car explode!” Dom spoke. Sarah took her time to approach us. Why wouldn’t she? We were prey who had entered her kingdom, and it was our time to be slayed.

“You know, Andrew,” Sarah started. “I think you never loved me as much as I wanted you to.” After that statement the grass incinerated into fire. My shoes touched the heat of it, and I jogged away from the burning grass. “Why can’t you love me, Andrew? Why! After all I have done for you, and you still do not love me. I even saved your life, Andrew! You need to love me!”

“What are you talking about?” I yelled at her. But then it hit me. It occurred to me exactly what was going on when I focused my eyes on her face. I spotted chips of her skin peeling, and revealing burnt black skin. Parts of her limbs also contained little dots of burned scars. I figured it out then and there. It all made sense.

Everything she did was some sort of illusion or a mirage. She was in fact not dead, but to the brink of death itself. The more I concentrated on her marks and damaged skin, the more I realized how she was able to continue on with life. The beautiful and vibrant girl who was coming near me at that moment wasn’t the true Sarah Goodwill. It was some sort of mask or costume that she cloaked herself with, and Dom and I were falling for her games.

“She’s not real,” I whispered to myself. “Dom! Dom, she’s not real. Everything she’s doing is not real! She’s not real!”

“Just what the hell are you talking about?” he questioned. I saw Sarah’s face flush with anger. Her apoplectic gaze made my mouth dry, and caused me fall to my knees. I crawled back while moaning with fear. Her face was deforming itself. She knew I figured out her trick.

“That’s not really her!” I yelled over the cracking and snapping sound of the fire trapping Dom and I. “Sarah’s true self is the burnt Sarah! I figured it out now. She’s an illusionist. She’s messing with our minds. This whole time she has been able to have this power. She must have somehow been able to survive the fire in our accident by using her abilities. Ain’t I right, Sarah?”

Sarah stood a few inches away from Dom and I. We laid on the rough road with our palms and feet pressed against the tiny pebbles of tar. Sarah kept her eyes on mine, and never left them. The fire around us silenced itself, and I was left to hear the harsh breathing coming from her. “Yes. You’re right, Andrew. How’d you figure it out?”

“Your face,” I responded. “Parts of it is showing the damage from that night. You can never hide your true self from me, Sarah hon. True lovers always know when the other person is displaying a mask.”

I saw Sarah’s mutter “shit” to herself. “I’ve been able to perform illusions since I was a child. It was just something I can do. At first I played prank on some people that I didn’t really like. It was all fun and stuff until I realized how serious it was. After my childhood experiences I stopped myself from doing them again. You say you knew me completely, Andrew, but you never knew of this power. I was considering discussing it with you, but you didn’t seemed so trustworthy. But when junior year’s summer came, I considered telling you. I came to the decision that I wanted to, and I was going to bring it up the last day of summer. But then…I ‘died.’ How do you think I saved your life, Andrew?”

I gave her a confused gaze. “I was able to prevent you from burning, Andrew,” she stated. “It was me. Why do you think you weren’t even scratched that incident? You really think it was the work of an angel? Maybe so, if you have a name for what I am. But it was all me. I was able to mask my death as well. I didn’t have enough strength to go around and to also place a barrier for myself. I had to sacrifice my own being in order to save you, Andrew. It cost me my life, basically, but as long as you lived I was happy. “I had to fake my death, obviously. The whole time there was a fake copy of me inside the casket. I fooled you all during my funeral. I ended up running away into the woods, and have remained there ever since. One day I decided that it was time I confronted you, and here we are. I knew killing those men would have caught your attention, and it did. Like you said, lovers know each other so well.”

Just like that all the pieces fit together. In just one second every single one of Sarah’s illusions shattered into nothingness. The fire enclosing us disappeared with the yowling wing. Sarah’s outer beauty descended into her true form. It was the Sarah I last saw inside my car when she was presumed dead. Some of her hair grew back, but not all of it. She contained lines of wrinkles on her forehead, which made her look twenty years older. I saw Sarah for who she truly was. This whole time she had played with my thoughts, whispered sweet nothings into my ear, made me believe over and over again that I loved her, and brought an imagination land where we had the chance to be together. Every single dream with her in it was actually caused by her hands.

“Throughout the four years I was presumed dead, I have been visiting you, Andrew,” Sarah said. “I’ve seen you sleep, and have installed in your mind that our love was still thriving. No matter how many years had passed, I made sure you still loved me. Just for this moment, Andrew. Just for us to be together forever.”

“Well I don’t want any of it,” I said after a long pause between the three of us. “You think I want to live a world with you in it, Sarah? Everything you are is a complete phony. This whole time you were a complete fake. I’d rather die than to be with you. I know who you truly are now, and I want no part of it.” I sprang up from the ground, and positioned myself for either fight or flight. I hoped I would have to choose the latter.

Sarah giggled. She then proceeded to laugh like an insane person. Her chest went up high by how much she was chuckling. I heard her raspy voice crack as she couldn’t control her laughter. “You think you have a choice!?” she said with her brusque tone. “Oh no, Andrew. I took precautions in case something like this happened. Alright guys! You can come out now!”

She shouted that last phrase behind us, as if talking to someone else. I turned around with indescribable trepidation. My eyes widen as I saw the plethora of men and women materialized out of the blue behind me. As each second passed more and more people came alive from out of nowhere. The whole time they were all hiding incognito. The men and women had faces and bodies of all types. Some where young, fresh-looking, and beautiful. Other were ancient, and had faces filled with austerity. I felt hostile in my position. The bewilderment I had induced myself in now was at a level of pure panic. All of their eyes dropped on Dom’s and mine position. I staggered back only to find Sarah right above me. I hadn’t realized I fell to my knees once more.

“See, during the four years I was gone,” Sarah began, “I’ve been searching for people just like me. Like I said earlier, it was a shame you brought Dom here. He now has to suffer a horrible death because of you. There cannot be any witnesses, after all. Alright guys, go get them.”

The crowd of illusionist followed Sarah’s cue, and piled around me. I tried sprinting away from them, but found my feet sinking into the earth’s soil. I knew this was an illusion, but I couldn’t break out of it. There were too many of them to stop all of their powers. My mind kept on being filled with more and more whispers, and I thought my brain would explode.

Multiple hands snatched my limbs and bodies, and I started screaming for my life. “Let go of me! Dammit let me go! Sarah! You bitch! Why? Why are you doing this?”

“You’re unappreciative,” she said. “I have to teach you a lesson. How can you be so shallow? I bet if I was sexy like before, you’d have your hands all over me. But now that I’m ugly I’m just some ‘bitch.’”

“You’re crazy, that’s what you are!”

“Call me whatever you want, but I win.” The hands that trapped me pushed me down into the wet road. The whole highway transformed into a dirt pit, and I was sinking in. It felt as if the tar was quicksand. “After this, Andrew, you’re going to live a happy, safe, and loving lie of a life. And you’re going to enjoy it. But for now, you must be trapped inside.”

My body sank deeper and deeper, until eventually I reached darkness. The last thing I saw was Dom’s limbs being pulled apart. 