Indwell (Chasing Natalie's Ghosts) (13 page)

“No,” I simply replied. He didn’t know Adam. I may have mentioned him the night we first met but that was all he knew about him. I didn’t think I could explain to him that Adam was my one true love. How could I tell anyone my first love was a phantom and he left me here, all alone? I had to hold back my tears again. How could I possibly talk about him and the dreams I have been having? Hayden would drive me back to the hospital in a heartbeat.

“I think we need to talk about a few things,” Hayden said seriously. ‘Oh no, he wants me to leave,’ I thought.

“What things?” I whispered, shaking again. He quickly grabbed me as though I was about to fall.

“I want you to understand that I know more than you think Natalie,” he said looking into my eyes.

“Know about what?” I asked, feeling relief that he wasn’t asking me to leave.

“About you and Adam,” he replied. Did I mention his name to him before? I probably shouted it in my sleep.

“Adam is gone,” I said blankly, trying to hide my despair. I concentrated on keeping my breathing calm. Hayden watched me closely.

“I know where Adam is and I know what kind of friend he was to you. Do you remember the night we first met? You told me you had to get back to a friend that needed you. You also told me this friend was responsible for saving you from yourself. Do you remember telling me this?” he asked. I was so confused. Why does he want to torture me?

“Yes, I remember. I don’t remember telling you his name though?” I answered.

“No, you didn’t. I know Adam. I had been tracking him when you came into the picture. As soon as he met you, I couldn’t follow him anymore. It was like he was under your protection. I couldn’t get near him or his territory, which included your house. I was so confused and intrigued by this. It has never happened before, to anyone, as far as I know. I realized it had something to do with you.” He stopped talking, noticing my face was pale and the look of shock strewn across it. I had trouble listening to him after he had said
tracking
.

“What do you mean, `tracking Adam’?” I asked nervously.

“It is what I do. I track spirits Natalie. I’m quite good at it,” he bragged. So that was why he wanted me here, to help him with his work. I was angry now. I felt deceived. I thought he wanted to be my friend.

“Why were you tracking Adam?” I repeated, holding back more tears. I needed to know this before I left him.

“I was trying to bring him home. I was asked to keep him out of trouble, to bring him home before he made any bad decisions but I was too late,” he explained. I gasped. How dare he say that I was a `bad decision’?

I can’t stay here anymore. I couldn’t listen to him. I couldn’t look at him. I quickly ran to my room slamming the door. I dressed and grabbed the belongings I arrived with and headed for the door. Hayden was standing in front of it.

“Please Natalie, you can’t go. I need you,” he said.

“You don’t need me. You’re `quite good’ without me,” I said, anger rising in me.

“There is nowhere for you to go. Please just calm down and I’ll try and explain myself better,” he begged.

“I thought you were my friend Hayden, but Adam was right about you. You are evil!” I cried. He seemed shocked and saddened by my reply.

“Natalie, please. Let me explain myself. We belong together,” he calmly told me. I shook as I reached for the door.

“You don’t want me. You just think I can help you with your bizarre business. I don’t want to be a part of it!” I told him as I left. I could hear him moments later coming after me. I quickly ran down the stairs. Once I reached the fifth floor I raced for the elevator. I quickly closed the door and pressed the lobby button. I could hear him run back to the stairs. The elevator opened on the second floor, a man walked in and I ran out. I easily slid into the garbage chute and dropped down to the basement. Luckily it was a soft landing. I raced for the exit door and ended up outside, at the back of the building. Hayden wasn’t in sight. I raced down the street and then ducked into the nearest alley. I crawled in between two dumpsters and started to cry.

“Adam!” I whispered.

“I need you! Cheveyo, Anton, Elizabeth! Is there anyone out here?” I had never felt so alone before. Where are they? Have they all abandoned me? I remembered the warning Elizabeth had given me when I was in the hospital. Was it Hayden she was warning me about? Is Hayden really the darkness that is pursuing me in my dreams or is there something or someone else out here looking for me?

11. MILLICENT

After some time had passed, I stood up and looked around. It was early morning. I decided I would walk downtown and look for a shelter. I stayed close to the alleys just in case Hayden was still looking for me. I didn’t think he would bother for too long. I’m sure he didn’t care if I came back or not, especially after all the drama. I had the feeling he didn’t like being defied, but I had every right to be angry. He was tracking my life. Adam was my life. He was my reason for living and Hayden was using me to get to him. Who were these people that wanted him? Didn’t they know he couldn’t leave? Didn’t they know they wouldn’t be able to see him? Why did they want him? I had so many questions. Questions I knew only Hayden could answer.

An hour later I reached the main street. I continued walking until I came across a hostel. I reached into my bag to see how much money I had.

“Shit,” I shrieked, startling a couple walking past me. I didn’t have my wallet. I tried to remember if I even had it at the hospital. I decided to keep walking. I’ll have to look for a homeless shelter and hope they’ll let me in. I realized that I didn’t exactly look pathetic enough anymore. Hayden had kept me well fed and clean. I just kept walking, starting to realize the desperation of my situation. When I awoke this morning I had no idea I would be homeless before noon. I was not aware of my surroundings as I walked. People passed me but I was in my own world. I tried to force myself to focus. There was a shelter up ahead. Just as I began to pick up my pace I realized someone was walking in step with me. It was a girl maybe a year or two younger. I looked at her and smiled. She seemed so surprised and happy about it. She quickly smiled back.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. Her voice was squeaky but it suited her. She was tiny. Her nose was pointy, her blond hair was straight and jagged and her clothes looked old, she must have bought them at a vintage clothing store. I’ll have to remember to ask her where it was, just in case I ever have money to spend someday.

“No thank you,” I lied. She seemed pleased that I answered her question, regardless of my answer. We kept walking together until she stopped abruptly.

“Quick, come with me,” she ordered. I followed her as she dashed into a building and up the stairs. She gripped my wrist and ran up the stairs until we reached an apartment on the top floor. She tapped lightly, barely audible from our side, I didn’t think the person on the other end would have heard that, but to my surprise the door opened quickly and we raced inside. As soon as the door shut, my little friend looked at me with a frightened expression on her little face.

“He’s looking for you?” she whispered.

“How do you know that?” I gasped.

“He is close,” she said looking more at the person we barged in on than me. I looked over at this young man standing in the shadows, peeking through the curtain, to the street below.

“Hi,” I said nervously. He jerked his head, seeming surprised that I knew he was there. Well it wasn’t a very good hiding spot, I thought to myself. I guessed maybe he was the jumpy type. The apartment was dirty. The carpeting stunk and the couch looked twenty years old. The room was dark and I didn’t think there was any electricity in the apartment either. As I looked around, I noticed there were floor boards missing in the middle of the room and I could see down into the vacant store below.

“Why are we here?” I asked.

“This is one of the places we keep watch in,” she said proudly. I had no idea what she kept watch for.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“I’m Millicent and this is Joshua,” she said pointing at the man in the window.

“I’m Natalie,” I said.

“We know,” she replied, smiling.

“How do you know?” I asked, confused by this assurance.

“I’ve met you before, when you were little,” she answered casually. That’s when Joshua looked over at me again.

“It’s okay now, he’s moved on,” he pulled the curtain closed and walked over to me.

“Who has moved on?” I asked starting to feel a little anxious by these two.

“You really don’t know what’s going on here do you?” he asked roughly. What did I do to tick this guy off? I’d be happy to go. I backed toward the door.

“Well it was nice meeting you,” I said as I tried to open the door. It was stuck, so I tried pulling harder.

“Wait!” Millicent shouted. I let go of the door and turned to look at her.

“We owe you an explanation. Please, just give us ten minutes. Then I will happily escort you to that shelter if that is where you really want to go.” How did she know that was where I was headed?

“Okay, fine. I’m all ears,” I said impatiently. Today was full of surprises. Why not see what these two could shock me with? Joshua came closer to me, which surprised me, I shuffled back a little. He smiled at me but it didn’t seem very friendly.

“Why is Hayden looking for you?” he asked, angrily. Millicent jumped in between us.

“Joshua, this is not the time. Let’s explain some things to her first. I don’t think she realizes how important it is for her to stay with Hayden,” she explained to him, trying to calm him down.

“You’re right, let’s fill her in,” he said sternly. He was starting to scare me.

“How do you know Hayden?” I blurted, suddenly more afraid of these people.

“Do you know who we are or should I say what we are?” Millicent asked, looking into my eyes. I stared at her, trying to understand what she meant by the question. I looked closely at her, she vaguely reminded me of one of the girls that used to live in my closet when I was little. I wasn’t going to share that with her.

“I don’t understand. To me you’re two very strange people. I don’t know why I followed you into an abandoned building. What I would like to know though, is how you happen to know my name and the name of my pursuer,” I said, truthfully.

“I am going to be painfully honest because I think you can handle it,” she said.

“That’s what you think,” I whispered. I knew she heard me because she smiled.

“I am Millicent, born in 1908. I died just fifteen years later. I was murdered by a man shortly after he raped me. I have been wandering the streets of this city ever since. I am unable to travel out of it, once I reach the edge of the city, I am returned to the middle again. Unfortunately this is the curse of the pure eternal spirits.

Joshua was born in 1842. Again, he cannot leave this city either. We have seen so many changes. We have met so many new spirits with the same dilemma as us. There are two kinds of spirits though, I’m afraid. There are the ones like us, as I said, pure. There are unfortunately many fierce and resentful spirits roaming the city. The wicked ones, the Geist’s, as they are called, they are unfairly capable of traveling where ever they want to go. They have more power than the rest of us too. They can make their presence known to people, show themselves and physically touch most people, but they abuse this power. They hurt people intentionally, for fun or profit, not that they need material possessions. As a spirit you can usually find a way to live any way you want and the comforts of the human world are no longer necessary anymore,” Millicent stopped as I held up my hand.

“You do realize that you are talking to me. Doesn’t that make you and Joshua one of the Geist’s? ” I asked, trying to follow along with this tale.

“You are a special case Natalie, just like Hayden is. You can see, touch and talk to us just as if we were alive in your realm. You’re special, which is why Hayden is so infatuated with you. It’s also why he wanted to keep Adam away from you,” she explained. I gasped at the sound of Adam’s name coming from her.

“I have so many questions right now. Did you know Adam?” I asked.

“Yes, Adam used to live here with us,” she said sadly.

“That can’t be possible, Adam told me he hadn’t talked to anyone since his death and he has never left his home since that day,” I told her. She took a deep breath, but I wouldn’t let her continue.

“You said the pure spirits could not leave the city? I don’t understand this.” I was trying to find holes in her story. She just nodded.

“I don’t understand?” I repeated, feeling frustrated by her explanations.

“Adam changed. I didn’t know it was possible. We had never seen such a thing in all the years we have been here. After Adams death he was with us, we taught him how to live again. He accepted his fate, or at least we thought he did, but he faltered. He met up with some of the other ones, the Geist’s. He was fascinated by the way they lived, with no rules, no boundaries. It was what he thought he wanted. We never believed he would be able to join them, but after a while his boundaries changed and he found he could go further and further away. Just over a year ago he disappeared. We didn’t know where he went but we knew that his new friends would eventually find him. He would be numbered among them again.

That was when we asked Hayden to find him. We hoped we could get to him first and try and persuade him to come back to us. When Hayden finally found him, he was furious at first that Adam was with you. We had heard a little bit about you from Hayden and some of the other Seekers that have witnessed your interactions with the dead. Hayden kept his distance though. He was in awe of you and your relationship with Adam. He didn’t want to take him away from you. He watched as your bond grew. He came back and told us that Adam was in love with you. He also told us that Adam’s boundaries were back, but he was trapped there instead of here. Hayden told us there was nothing more he could do, but he still kept watch over you and Adam. I could tell that Hayden was quite fond of you. He told us about the first time he met you,” she paused, waiting for my reaction.