Outside it was pouring. The gutters where filling up and flooding the streets with rippling puddles. What expanded there was an inch deep, citywide, lake. Outside was turned into a maze from which people fled, hazy with mist and filled with stark, shiny reflections that shuddered at the sight of color. Esther wandered. She spread her arms and looked up. Silver streaks fell between the tall buildings, water was everywhere. It soaked her sneakers and fell on her shoulders, soaking the black to a new sheen of darkness; eager and new. Her hair dripped and as she shivered, she suddenly felt like she could breathe again for the first time in ages. A little blood dripped from her nose but she didn’t notice. The rain washed it away in seconds. Somewhere else, about an hour earlier. A group of men came in from the highway riding motorcycles. They entered the city from the other side of the river, from the road that winded along the sea and bled into the land. They had the side where the shops, the schools and the restaurants bloomed. But their homes stood further away from that living center. They lived in what could not be called a “respectable neighborhood.” Still, rent was next to nothing and they had what they had to themselves. A collection of up to twenty bikers entered those grey, derelict blocks that most people shunned. Here where the gutters and the railway bridged. This was where the homeless found themselves flocking, like grey, non provoking pigeons. Those on the street when the bikers came by turned away. Not out of real fear, but more out of some kind of strange respect. Sleepy hookers went back inside and even a tailless dog went to tear at garbage bags somewhere else. Everyone moved but the drifter in the dirty green raincoat. He carried his net with empty cans and shouted at the cloud. As the gleaming vehicles came by he stopped his shambling walk. His yellowing beard, the reddened nose and grey eyes turned towards the gang. ‘Wanderers!’ he yelled, shaking his fist at them, ‘Hellish daemons from the fields around the fire!’ They drove by, slowly; the rumbling from their engines seemed to shake the buildings. One of them slowly raised his hand and gave him a friendly wave. The drifter shook his head with little jerks and shambled on. The leader who rode in front turned his black helmeted head to look at the biker who had waved. Then he steered his pack into a right turn and they accelerated again. They drove like they had done this a thousand times. Every individual adjusted to the movement of the group. They where a pack. Underneath the leather and the concealed weapons they wore suits, comfortable sweaters and glasses with their concealed weapons. They had computers and drank coffee. Most of them had quite normal day jobs. They got paid and had to listen to ranting from costumers like normal people. They had families. But together they always were the pack. They came along a tattoo parlor with bike repair shop. Smoothly some of the riders disconnected and went to the parking spaces around the back. As the housing blocks stared to thin out again, they could see their destination. Here the smog was further away and to the left in the distance, mountains and woods could be guessed at. There was a big, meshed wire gate, to keep the guard dogs in. The wooden fence was to keep people away from the dogs that where not for guarding. Because that’s what the bikers did; they bred expensive dogs. As a fine rain began to drizzle the bikers dismounted on a wide asphalt space in front of a big mansion like house. It was a whitewashed, square thing with a large porch and a grey roof. Once, it had been a grand thing with a big garden, now it was sad with a more purposed look to it. More housed stood with it around the yard. Inside the fence was a total of five family homes. Outside the fence was a little neighborhood, like a second wall of defense. Those houses looked newer, with green grass and shiny rooftops. Sometimes there where community barbeques, now there was a meeting. ‘Shit!’ Alexis cursed and pressed his hand tight across his lower left arm. He’d heard the motorcycles and cut too deep. ‘Fuck!’ he winched. After a few moments of wiggling with his legs tangled and his arms pressed tightly between his thighs, he dared to take a peek. He had cut too deep. Already his arm and hand where a bloody mess. Downstairs there were voices and he heard chairs being dragged around. One of his father’s tea parties was beginning. He had to get out of here. Now. He would not be able to stand their laughter. Panicky he looked around and grabbed a black shawl from the bedpost. His attic bedroom was spacious but a little dark. The rugged wood dominated the ceiling, the shape of the roof. There was one window, but he’d covered it with a black sheet. The only light came from the little lamp over his desk. While wrapping his arm tightly he looked into the standing mirror that stood between his desk and double closet. He sighed. Why did he have to look so sad? Sad and hurt. He combed his dark brown hair over the side of his face a little. He would look so good in his new, dark rimmed glasses. But not here, he didn’t dare put it on where his dad might see. ‘Sup?’ A girl had opened the door. Dark hair and a pretty face. It made her annoyingly confident. ‘Fuck off, Sam.’ He growled. ‘It’s Samantha!’ she shrieked. A thing that could always reliably piss her off. ‘Your birth certificate says Sammie,’ he teased her while pulling his sweater down over his arm. ‘Oh yeah, well yours say permanent failure!’ He turned around to look at her then. Only fourteen. Short shorts and a white tank top. Her hair shiny and styled with a curling iron, her cheeks dotted with silver glitter. Pink lip-gloss and fake eyelashes. She blinked in an attempt to look sexy, arm on her hip. A little lamb all dolled up. ‘Don’t let dad see you’re wearing make-up.’ She made an annoying gesture with her hand and showed him his palm. ‘Destania and I want to practice magic.’ ‘Destania?’ he smirked. ‘You mean Joy from next door?’ She shrugged, ‘we didn’t think it was witchy enough.’ She entered the room and closed the door. Alexis sighed, ‘and what did I tell you about entering my room? Knock!’ ‘Didn’t you hear me come up the stairs?’, she grinned mischievously, ‘I sneaked!’ ‘That’s nice.’ Then she saw the razorblade on his desk. He wanted to dart towards it and swipe it in a drawer. But that would make it worse. She looked worried, then tried to hide it. ‘Are you cutting again?’ he asked with an unaffected sigh. These things were a part of this world now. So mature of her. ‘No,’ he scoffed, ‘just cutting up the table. I was bored.’ She shrugged. Luckily he did cut the table as well. The ancient leather was riddled with scratches. Actually that was kinda sad. ‘Checking yourself out again?’, she smirked. He noticed that he was still standing in front of the mirror. ‘Just go,’ he waved her away and enjoyed the irritation that cause on her face. She was more like their father than he was. Strong and confident. There was even a little muscle, hidden away in the puppy fat that had not disappeared completely. They were half sister and brother. Her mother was somewhere downstairs, probably cooking. But unlike him, Samantha didn’t have a spark of the supernatural about her. That’s why she tried so hard. And she wasn’t leaving. ‘What do you want?’ he sighed exasperatedly. His arm was stinging and he felt a little dizzy. Was his sleeve soaking up blood or was that just a feeling? Luckily he was wearing black. ‘I want the Ouija board but I can’t find it,’ she complained. ‘That’s because your mother hid it.’ ‘Yeah, but do you know where she hid it?’ ‘Make your own board, Google it and stuff.’ ‘We did, but it has to be more special than that!’ ‘Whatever, I’m going out for a jog.’ ‘A jog!’ she laughed, ‘you! You won’t make out of the yard!’ ‘And you won’t be talking to any ghosts.’ ‘Fuck you!’ she said softly. ‘Language.’ She crossed her arm with a childish pout. ‘I get to say what you get to say.’ ‘Yeah, but can you pull it of? I don’t think so, Sammie.’ ‘I’ll tell mom I saw your razor again and she’ll tell dad.’ He stopped, doorknob in hand. The light from his desk casting his shadow in the door, on the dented wood. ‘You would do that?’ ‘N-no,’ she said, suddenly sounding small. ‘I wouldn’t.’ ‘Then have fun, it’s on the closet where the washing machine is.’ She hugged him in a quick dart of affection, then he was opening the door and she bounded down the stairs. You dress like a whore, he wanted to yell after her. It was sad he didn’t love her anymore.
‘Run for the parking garage!‘, the voice said in her ear, ‘they won’t let you go after that little gimmick you pulled.’ ‘I only meant it as a joke!’ ‘How many times? If you want to hurt someone, hurt them. Don’t fool around.’ ‘I don’t want to hurt anybody,’ she hissed in her phone, ‘I just want them to leave me alone…and that they don’t steal my money!’ ‘Then I have the solution, let me deal with them.’ Esther immediately shook her head. ‘No, that would be…wrong.’ She was pushing her way through the crowd again, a glance over her shoulder assured her of being pursued. ‘I know you want to beat them up, you hate them.’ ‘They hate me! And you wouldn’t beat them up…’ The voice sounded amused. ‘I wouldn’t?’ Esther jumped a little bench, making a kid drop his strawberry ice cream. As it screamed Shana leaped and cleared it cleaner than Esther had done, she was gaining on her. ‘You would want to scare them!’ Esther said, feeling a chill. ‘Just a little,’ the voice whispered eagerly. ‘I hate it when they want to hurt you. You’re mine.’ Esther shook her head, always with the jokes and the flattery, this one. Then she realized she was heading for the stairs. I really am going to the garage, she thought. Yes, you are, the voice thought right back at her. She felt it grin in anticipation. ‘Where is she going!’ the boy yelled. His name was Marcus and he was getting tired. His fall from earlier already made his ribs hurt. ‘The basement!’, the blond girl yelled, as the followed Shana. Shana had a healthy tan and was more athletic than the two of them. She had a kind of grudge to settle. ‘Why are we doing this?’ Marcus asked while they watched a mother comforting a screaming toddler. They jogged past the fountain, an ornamental swan that puked water with four identical siblings. ‘You remember how much she had on her last time?,’ the blonde asked him with a painful gasp, ‘that’s why.’ ‘Come on!’ Shana yelled at them. She was standing at the top of a staircase. They could hear Esther running down them. ‘There’s way too many places to hide down there!’ Shana exclaimed as she motioned them to follow her. The three of them bounded down the concrete steps. Since there where elevators, the place was ugly and deserted. They rounded a corner and Marcus felt dizzy, three more rows of stairs. They went down in a steep spiral, with little platforms between them. But he didn’t dare let Shana think he couldn’t take it. That remark from Esther earlier still stung, more than his ribs and sides did even. Shana was enjoying the hunt. ‘There!’ she pointed as they ran, ‘I saw her go in!’ And she was right. Esther had bounded for the first door into the parking deck. Pulling the heavy door open took her a moment and they gained on her further. When she darting in they where on the same platform. ‘She’ll be trying to hide,’ Shana yelled, ‘hurry!’ She grabbed the door before it could close and they streamed in. Shana didn’t know why he’d felt like hesitating before going in until they were already through the door. The lights where out. It took only a second for the motion detection to be activated and there where glaring light blinking on. Shielding there eyes ,they stepped forward, disoriented for a moment and blinking to see. ‘Esther!’, Shana yelled teasingly, ‘we know you’re here and if you move I’ll hear you! Just make this easy and hand over your money!’ ‘Yeah,’ the blonde yelled, her name was Tess. ‘Hand it over!’ There where cars everywhere, parked in absolute silence with no-one in sight. It was perfect. ‘Esther!’ Shana yelled impatiently. ‘There!’ Tess pointed. Esther had come out. She’d crept from behind a car a little ahead of them. Now she walked into sight and came to a standstill in the middle of the road. Her head sunken and shoulders sagging in defeat. Tess laughed and started forward. Shana felt uneasy. Why did this feel like some kind of trap? Marcus looked back at her questioning. Are you coming? Or are you chicken? He’d probably wanted to buy something to eat later. Fine, Shana though and moved out after them. I’m no coward. This is only Esther the little freak, the weakest link. ‘Interesting fact,’ Esther suddenly said as they where getting closer. ‘Did you guys know that the parking garage is closed off?’ ‘Yeah,’ Marcus said unimpressed, ‘all the better for beating you up.’ Esther nodded, still looking down at the floor, ‘You’d think that, you’d think that. It’s such a hassle for all those people, having to park somewhere else.’ ‘Are you stupid and blind?’ Tess laughed, ‘there’s loads of cars here!’ Esther sighed regretfully. ‘Yes I know, but they won’t be going anywhere anymore….like the three of you.’ Then she looked up, Shana wondered who was screaming so terribly and had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop. ‘Where did she go!’ Tess screamed. Marcus was having trouble breathing he pointed at one of the cars nearby. There was something in it. A mangled, white things slapped a broken hand against the window. Suddenly the whole parking lot was filled with the sounds of things trying to get out. ‘They’re dead!’ Tess screamed, ‘dead!’ The moment Shana looked over her shoulder for the door the lights went out. All there was, was a black shadow that stood in the last light of the hallway. It was inhuman, skin over long bones. Hips and elongated legs tuned to them and a thin, skeletal hand with only four fingers, waved sadly. Then it was gone and the door was falling shut. Shana felt sweat on her whole body, she’d never been this electrified with terror. It made her muscles jangle with tension. ‘Run!’, she screamed with a tensed up jaw that threaded to bite her tongue off. A car door opened and they heard a moan. ‘No! Nooo!’ Tess pleaded and Shana was already dragging them with her. Marcus was a surprise, Marcus could fly. He was pulling them as more doors opened and they’re exit was closing. The air was filled with a strange hotness and they could smell burning rubber that stuck to their tongues and in their noses. There was a shuffling sound behind them, dry and somehow…quick. A train went by in the distance, they could hear it clanking by. The light was so small now, barely a ribbon. Shana reached for it as something behind them reached for her. Then the door fell shut and they where falling. Not yet, someone pulled the door open before it could click shut and they where suddenly pulled forwards. Shivering, crying, they formed a pathetic heap on the floor. Someone looked down on them and ordered another to check the surroundings. “Try to catch it before it slips away!” Shana lifted her head, she felt sick, a fever was blurring her mind. Shocking blue eyes, she couldn’t see anything else. The man that had saved them shook his head. ‘Rest,’ he said, and she did.
It was now a question of where to go first. There were only three options, really. Fuells was closed. Esther felt a shock in the pit of her stomach that made her spine tingle. Shop closed, the sign on the door read, because of rat infestation. Her head made an involuntary move of disgust. Suddenly everything felt wrong; the sounds in her ears where muffled and she felt hot and tingly. Something was wrong. Every moment they could come out of the walls, eating people from the eyeballs into their brains. I have to go home and check if they’re still on my wall! I have to go home! ‘Hey! Hey,’ the voice came in from far away, ‘put your phone to your ear! I said put your phone against your ear!’ Esther yelped as her hand smacked the phone to the side of her head. It stung and for a moment her eyes where blurry with tears. Then she breathed in and did what the voice told her. ‘Now look, look and read it again. You see?’ She swallowed and brushed some stray hairs from her face. Then she read the sign again. ‘Oh.’ Shop closed. Nothing more. Esther knuckled her forehead and sighed, shoulders heaving with hatred and failure. ‘Do you mind?’ the voice said, ‘I’ve already eaten.’ ‘W-what now?’ Esther stammered, she felt lost and disorientated. ‘You are going to eat something.’ She groaned. ‘No, please, I don’t want to.’ ‘We’ll get you something see-through. Okay?’ Esther laughed mockingly. ‘Like soup, or ice cubes?’ ‘Something like that. There’s a nice Chinese restaurant here, on the upper floor.’ ‘No, just no.’ Suddenly she was whirled around in strong, cold grip on her shoulders. ‘You are going to die if you don’t eat,’ the voice growled in her ear. It was an unpleasant growl and the thin little girl in the mirror in front of her really did look ill. Esther blinked and looked away. ‘W-why do you care anyway!’ she hissed in her phone, people where staring and she tried to keep a pleasant smile on her face. It still looked a little strange because she was leaning backwards into something that wasn’t there. She decided to shake loose and walk on, but something made her stop. His voice was soft now, a little vulnerable even. ‘Because, if you’re not here,’ he said with a slight touch on her shoulder blade, ‘I can’t stay here anymore. I’ll have to go back.’ Esther never really asked where “back” was. But she’d imagine it sometimes and that only made him snicker. ‘Okay, but you’ll have to help me.’ ‘Gladly.’ Together they went back into the main crowd. ‘God, Esther you’re such a loser!’ Esther turned around. Right behind her where some kids from her class. She could never remember their names. Two girls, blonde and brunette, and a boy with prickly brown hair. What did they want? They came closer but before the blonde could grab her, Esther dove into the crowd and entered a random shop. Clothes.Racks and racks of them in all the colors of the season, rainbows that she would never wear. ‘Stay where you are!’ the brunette called. Annette? Jay? Something like that. Esther went around a naked dummy and shook her head. No, what was it? ‘Is your name Shay?’ she asked, barely out of reach. ‘Oh, you freak!’ the girl fumed, ‘I’m Shana! I sat next to you in class almost all of first year!’ Esther was baffled. ‘Really, what happened?’ ‘You happened!’ The other girls came from the other side of the rack, the boy was nowhere to be seen. ‘What do you guys want?’ Esther asked, slinking out of Shana’s purple fingernails and diving underneath the clothes rack. ‘We want your money,’ she head the other girl say, then there was nothing. She crawled through a maze of clothes and saw the boy’s ankles running. Esther tripped him up and giggled as he hit the shiny floor. She couldn’t help it, it looked so funny; he jiggled! ‘Esther!’ the blond girl said with vengeance in her voice. Maybe this was why she always got into trouble? ‘Fat boy in aisle two!’ she said loudly as she emerged with her black sneaker on his back. ‘Somebody clean up in aisle two!’ Then she ran.
The bridge. A giant's arm of dark metal, reaching across the deep and unruly waters of the river. Cars crossed it in double lanes, cyclists picked their way and Esther unsteadily walked the pedestrian strip. There where tourists, there where always tourists and all where bent double in the strong breeze rolling in from the sea further up. Esther watched the double networks of x's that reached out above her head. Strong and steady, glinting here and there in the harsh sunlight. The size of it made her breathless. And all the way there was something following her. There where people everywhere suddenly. Esther swayed and almost fell against one of the potted plants. Here there was a blue and yellow light that dazzled in from above. A dome covered the huge shopping center that looked like a glass beehive. Shops; tiny and "getting lost in in" big, where positioned at the edges. In the center, where she was now, there was a resting area. Spread out between the potted plants an little tables, a few pillars reached up and where surrounded at the base by thick pillowed couched. Esther always found a seat, even in this thankful, resting crowd of tired people. This time it was a heavy bodied woman with dark, curly hair and a sweat stained purple T-shirt. The moment she saw Esther a crushing look of pity stole across her face and she immediately reached for her many bags, herding them like plastic sheep around herself, and got up. Esther sat down and felt her bones creak. The woman looked over her shoulder a few times before she was swallowed up into the noise and the crowd. She watched the people and saw that the light did not meet them all the way down. There where other levels, in rings above her head, that got the filtered brightness in abundance. But here, there was mostly shadow. There was shape now, darting and gliding between them, Esther knew what it was. When it was done playing it sat down beside her. There was nothing to see, she just knew. 'Why do you do that?', she asked. 'What did I tell you about public appearance?', a somber voice said, suddenly clear again beside her. Normally she only heard it as a kind of thought, an imprint of some kind. Now it was of actual speaking quality. But she knew she was still the only one hearing it. That looked a little strange because her end of the conversation was all too human and audible to everyone. Grumpily she reached in her pocket and took out a lumpy, blue and grey phone. 'It's stupid,' she complained. 'What?,' the voice said, 'I can't heard you.' There was ever the tiniest clicking of class, Esther knew this was because of it's teeth. With a tired sigh she put the phone against her ear. 'Why did you that, what did you do?' 'I get tired, I need their energy.' Esther felt a chill. 'Does it hurt them?' 'No, that's why I need a lot of them. I take only the tiniest bit. They will be more tired when they get home, believe me, but noting serious.' She nodded, reassured a little. 'Now...You where going to tell me about last night.' 'I worry about you sometimes; you forget things. You see life a ghost, in glimpses of what impresses you most. That's no way to go, dearest.' Esther hugged herself, she suddenly felt cold. 'And then there the refusing to eat bit,' her companion continued. 'We wouldn't have to come here this often of you where healthier.' 'I know. It just disgust me. I can't do it.' 'Is it the old problem?' Esther nodded. Was it ever anything else? 'We'll deal with that later. Now get up, we're going shopping...for clothes.' 'What!' People stared at her and Esther pressed the phone harder against her ear, huddling in on herself. 'No, I don't want to. I hate it.' She imagined a gleam in stealthy, slits of eyes. 'You don't want to obey you mothers wished?' 'My mother?' The thing beside her nodded. 'That's where the money came from. You found it this morning, on your dresser?' Esther shook her head, uncomprehendingly. 'I'll give you a complete recap of things while we walk. I don't like staying in one place too long. It draws attention of those that take notice. We don't want a repeater of three weeks ago, do we?' Esther got up, he was right. Moving in the crowd was it's own thing. It was like being in the deep end of a wave pool sometimes. Esther felt like making swimming movements with her arms, she was a good swimmer and could swim to safe her life in a high tide out at sea. This was different. Noise, smells, people shouting, laughter, little kids crying. She held her phone and in one perfect moment, she was aligned with all the businessmen doing the same thing. 'You got beaten up after school,' she was being told, the voice a pleasant constant in her ears. 'Those girls, you know them, they're from your class and somehow like to torment you.' Esther had been walking up a small, deserted stairway, between the stuffed rows of escalators. Suddenly there was a skinny, sad looking girl walking towards her. Ashen grey hair in a random ponytail, sunken cheeks and black, sad eyes. It was her. She walked towards one of the many mirror of the place and touched the glass. 'It's because you look weak,' he whispered in her ear, 'fragile. And they hate what it reflects on them. They can't tolerate you like this.' 'I...' she swallowed. Since when was she this...emaciated? She touched her cheek, or the little hollow it had become. Grey, grey and pale and saddened black. It hurt her to see herself like this. She felt the littlest touch on her shoulder. 'You can't avoid every mirror for the rest of your life, ghost girl, you need....a make-over.' She nodded slowly. 'And black...is not your color. I'm sorry, but you're too pale right now. Get a bit of sun on your face and we'll see.' 'Tell me the rest,' she whispered, phone in her hand beside her black, wide pants, 'I'm starting to remember.' After they had beat her up she had limped home, defeated like the weakest dog of the pack. She'd taken the long road. The one that led around where the other kids hung out and lived. It had been a rainy day and it hit her just after she'd left the bridge. The path next to the river had been deserted as the drops made the surface a blur, misting over the grass and then the road, drenching her soft sneakers. They'd taken her bag and flung it in the trash, she'd left it there. It didn't matter, she didn't need it anyway. Her back hurt and her shoulders and head where hanging, a miserable picture of self-absorbed suffering. walking the white road that went beside the tracks and bent where industrial began. And then she'd tripped. The lukewarm rain of the spring splashing in the big puddle around her. She'd stared at the water beside her, still a strong current that led out to sea. It would be cold in there. I want... I want to... 'Hey, I know you,' someone had said. She'd looked up, startled, and there was the dark cheerleader. Also drenched, but less so. She'd offered a hand and she'd taken it. Dark streaks of mascara covered the pretty face that was now talking about things they had in common. They went to the same school, they hated the same people, "everyone", ...well, maybe they where hated by the same people as well. Then there had been the dare. They had been talking about Alicia, the girl that swallowed a pin and died. Her bigger sister had been in her class, Kimmie had explained, and after the accident they had moved out. This had all happened a few years ago and now the house was abandoned...haunted. Esther had laughed there, she knew the house and there where no ghost there. And so it had been a dare and later that evening, after the rain had stopped, they'd met there. 'Spelunking,' she giggled into her phone. 'We watched it and she scolded me for looking away when there was blood!' 'You did miss most of the movie,' the voice retorted. 'I know, but I still love it.' Esther nodded. 'I remember now, why did I forget? She went home after that and I watched the shopping channel. ...in the morning Stella came to clean and I stayed out of the way...She found the bottles but said nothing. The money! It really was on my dresser! But...mom, I didn't see her.' 'She even talked to you!', the voice said with an audible sake of the head. 'She told you to buy clothes and you agreed.' 'Fine, whatever. We're here now and that's what counts. I'll remember it later, I'm getting the hang of it.' 'You're strange sometimes.' 'Says part of the strangeness.'
Outside the world existed only of light, filtering in through the window. There where things in there, making a glare that cut like a knife as they moved closer. Esther was suddenly wide awake, breathing heavily with half her body on the couch and her head on the floor. Her head was pounding and she felt like blacking out while she lifter herself on the couch. 'I should have opted for the floor,' she groaned. This wasn't the first time she had woken up like this, she felt strange and disorientated. Why was she in the living room? Her hands felt too hot and the rest of her felt empty. As if something in the dream, she only half remembered now, had taken something away from her. Breakfast was a bowl of chocolate colored cereal balls with milk. The milk swirled until it was chocolate-milk. Esther sat dreamily on the high chair at the kitchen counter and stirred. Stirred it all into a brown slew and poured it in the toilet, flushing it away. Not hungry. She looked up sharply and listened. 'No, I'm really not very hungry,' she said a little testily. 'What is it to you anyway?' There was a silence in which the fridge acted up and then she shrugged. 'I don't care. I really don't.' In the little hallway to the front door stood a tall end table. On it stood a fancy vase with blood red, stiff flowers. Wire curled around their stems and Esther never knew where they came from. One of them shifted slightly to the left, pointing toward the door. 'Why?' she whispered dejectedly. 'If you want to see people, you can turn on the TV.' She shrunk back a little and raised her hands defensively. 'I know it's not the same, okay?' She felt a little worried. There was something she had forgotten. Something had been different than last night. But what? The was a silence in witch something shifted. With more than a little distrust Esther looked up towards the shadow next to the door. 'Oh, you'll tell me? Right, I am so going to believe that.' Suddenly the flower-vase cracked and a thin little shard fell lightly on the tabletop. 'You don't have to prove anything to me,' Esther sighed, but inside her heart was racing. 'Alright we'll go, but I don't want to be beaten up today. You'll have to try and look ahead.'
It’s weird, isn’t it? ‘No, no, I…well, I can’t say I like it..., but it has…spirit!’, Kimmie faltered. Esther sighed, her chest ached. Suddenly she remembered the drink in her hand and gratefully took a sip. Kimmie strolled into her bedroom, drinking slowly and looking around. White, very white walls without a poster in sight. A single bed with black sheets and there, a whole wall covered in magazine models. Kimmie leaned in. They were all cut up, letters removed from where they once adorned the cover. Someone had cut them into pieces, removing the letters and placed them back together again. sometimes lending pieces from somewhere else.Their sleek, glossy body parts; now tangled, sown together with black yarn, littered the wall. They stood a stiff watch over the bed. Kimmie swallowed while black eyes stared at her from emotionless faces. ‘You cut out there eyes?’ Kimmie asked a little hoarsely. Esther stiffened and moved a little closer, trying to hide her work. ‘They see through the darkness,’ she tried to explain, keeping a lopsided grin and motioning pathetically. ‘I…it’s not meant to be scary.’ Kimmie stared into space a little and then slowly shook her head, taking a sip. ‘You don’t have to explain it... IÄm the one that intruded here.’ ‘You’re not an intruder!’ Esther said frantically, shaking her head. ‘All right, fine. A visitor.’ Esther relaxed. ‘Yes.’ She motioned her drink and after a second Kimmie clinked her class against hers. ‘See, we’re having fun;’ Esther giggled. She took a huge gulp and then coughed heavily until Esther slapper her on the back. ‘Fun,’ she croaked with determined finality. ‘Then let’s have some fun,’ Kimmie smiled. ‘You want to watch something? I know you’re always watching something.’ Esther nodded, a little exhausted from her coughing fit. She pointed towards a white, sliding door in the wall. Behind it was her movie collection. Before Kimmie could slide it open she yelled for her to stop. ‘Wait just a minute, wait!’ she breathed and dashed in the way. With an apologetic smile she laid her hand against the thick cardboard. Nothing, she thought and felt calm once again. Feeling hot and stupid she slid it open herself and sighed; everything in its alphabetical order. Kimmie frowned but didn't comment. She took out a random DVD. 'The descent,' she read aloud, turning it around and skimming the text. 'Oh, they go camping...' 'Spelunking,' Esther smiled warmly. 'It's one of my favorites. You want to watch it?' 'I will be nice to see it with sound,' Kimmie smiled. Esther stared. 'You actually...' But Kimmie just grabbed her arm and steered her around. 'Come on then, lets's go see some spelunking.' Esther tried to maintain a smile. She was glad to be away from the closet. Somehow S had been rearranged; the M row now followed after it. All movies beginning with I had been put to follow that, which stood beside the L row. E was there too. Oh yes. Very funny, she thought darkly and stared straight into the darkest shadow that now occupied a corner of her room.
View attachment 3930 Kimmie froze, her hand still resting on the door crutch. The image on the wall in front if her had stopping quality. It was huge, a life-sized woman being devoured by a thick swarm of rats. 'It makes me feel...saver,' Esther muttered somewhere behind her. Kimmie squirmed a little. The picture made her anxious. She had a feeling the rats would move, should she'd look away. How could anyone sleep with this staring from across the room at them? 'How come? How does it make you feel safe?' Esther held her own arm and swayed a little. 'I'm afraid it might happen. It makes me panic to think of them out there. I imagine them getting inside the house. But when I see them here on the wall, I know the rats are actually inside my head.' Kimmie frowned. 'Instead of being in the walls?' Esther felt a chill at that thought. 'Y-yeah, like that.'
Kimmie was sitting on the steps at the back of the house. The sun was going down and the shadows where creeping in. Esther sat down beside her on the mossy stone. 'Here, it's yours.' Esther took the bottle and examined it. "Frank's triple distilled." The blank bottle with the black on white letters. I love this, she thought tenderly and stroked the glass. 'You want to mix it?' Esther nodded. 'Then you'll have to provide for that. I spent my last on that bottle.' 'Come on,' Esther jumped upright. 'Let's go to my place.' She hesitated for a moment and looked back. 'Go on,' Kimmie encouraged her. 'A prize well won.' Esther loosened the cap and took a swig. Burning and numbing. It was grand! They strolled through the derelict garden. An oil drum lay half sunken in the grass, someone had tossed a broken bike over the fence. There was a pet cemetery in one corner. Stick and string crosses stood silently beside painted stones. 'Have you seen it?' Kimmie asked while they stared. Esther took another sip and passed the bottle, she shook her head. 'Wait, well... think I heard it. Once.' 'A growl?' Kimmie asked with a smile. Esther nodded and then quickly shook her head again. 'No!' 'Don't be shy, everyone has at least heard it.' Esther reached for the bottle and was glad to get it back. It was really hers, a treasure. There was a hole in the scratchy hedge. Already the streetlights where casting their yellow light through from the other side. After listening for a while Kimmie went through, followed closely by Esther. The neighborhood they shared was isolated. Far away from the city. Far away from the docks. The river and the train-tracks where nearest. After industrial. Industrial was a place long abandoned. A bare wasteland filled with broken factories. Junkies had once gone there to die, now it was the place where the dog came from. The houses here where average, nothing special. A few streets where old people lived, silent couples without kids. People who left each other alone. Esther walked the white tiles to her blue front door. She had a key but it was unnecessary, the door was open. 'I...I think i forgot to lock it,' she said, nervousness creeping in her voice. 'Really? I know this is a boring street, but that's kinda pushing things.' 'Yeah,' Esther smiled weakly. She was listening intently for some sound. A sign of life inside. But there was nothing. It really was nothing, things where safe. It still costed her another full minute to cross the welcome mat though. Kimmie said nothing. If she found anything strange, it didn't show. Inside was big and bare. White and blue with new, fake wood everywhere in optimistic lightness. Little spotlights and dimmer switches, cleverly hidden light sources. 'The kitchen,' Esther said. Now that they where here, she felt herself relax. This was now her place again, now that all was well. Kimmie looked around and jumped on the cooking island, smoothing down her short, black skirt. She really does look like a cheerleader, Esther though while she took two glasses from a wall cabinet. With her loose, small black top. I can see the straps from her red bra. Her flat belly and bare back on display. Black sneakers with black laces, bare legs. She looked at herself in the tall glass of the winter-garden, quickly looking away again. Nothing too see, look away. 'What?' Esther shook herself a little. 'I didn't say anything.' 'I thought I heard something.' 'Like...what?' Esther had to really restrain herself from looking at a particular shadow. A strangely deep shadow beside the metallic giant that was the fridge. 'Ha!' Kimmie swung her long legs playfully. 'I'm cheating. I know you talk to yourself a lot.' 'And how do you know that?' 'I sneak around after dark and spy on people.' Esther spilled some orange juice and looked up. 'That's...kind of creepy.' Kimmie shrugged. 'I get lonely.' Esther sighed. Why? Why couldn't the only visitor ever to come by be a normal person? But she sighed and shrugged. There where after all creepier things. And creepy was always better than nasty and mean. 'And you cry a lot,' Kimmie gestured. Esther bristled as she handed Kimmie her drink. 'Hey!' 'What? You also cry in school where you think no-one is watching.' 'We go to the same school?' 'Yes. I've seen you in class.' 'I hate my class!', Esther blurted out. Her cheeks reddened and she had to look away. 'I know,' Kimmie said curtly and took a sip. 'This is good. You mix this up for yourself when you've had a bad day. Which is most of the time and when you have a bottle.' 'Are you my stalker?' 'A stalker,' Kimmie corrected her. 'But I like you best.' 'Why?' 'You have a big house and a cute face.' 'Ha, Ha.' I hate my face. '...and it's nice to be needed.' 'I don't need you!', Esther guffawed. This was getting ridiculous. Kimmie stretched her long arms above her head. 'Oh, you don't? You rage around the house with haunted eyes every night. You're lonely and weak.' 'And you are strong and happy I suppose?' 'I'm lonely too, if you must know. But yeah, I get to beat people up who annoy me. I don't let them steal my schoolbag.' Esther shrunk against the counter with the sink, ashamed and a little afraid. 'You saw that?', she whispered. 'Three girls, a year above yours.' Kimmie remembered it almost fondly, staring up at the ceiling fan. 'They chased you into that alley and then they made you kneel for them. You let them cut your hair to pieces, really? Was that necessary?' 'It grew back and I didn't mind.' 'Did you have to laugh apologetically while they maimed you?' Esther took a huge gulp and swallowed a delicious dizziness. Her hands where tingling and her stomach was cold. 'I hate them...I hate me, what does it matter? I don't care.' Kimmie looked at her for a little while and Esther endured. She was used to people staring. 'Maybe it's the T-shirts you wear,' she stated. 'I like them.' 'Really? Marilyn Manson, Cradle of filth. Do you listen to that stuff?' Esther laughed. 'Not Cradle of filth, I only liked the print on that one. But I have Marilyn's albums.' 'Do they make you depressed.' 'I am depressed.' Kimmie jumped to the floor. 'Can we go up to your room?' Esther frowned. 'If you like...' 'Because it's up too high and I've never seen it.' 'I keep forgetting you're a creep.' 'If you keep calling me that, I will call you a Goth.' 'I lack the make-up.' 'You have the style, my dear.' Esther laughed, it felt strange. 'You want me to paint your hair black?', Kimmie asked as she walked ahead towards the stairs. 'I dunno.' 'We'll see.' Is this smart? Esther asked herself as she followed the other girl up the rounded steps. She could be a serial-killer. Suddenly she remembered what last night had turned up and racing the steps three at at time. 'Wait! Don't open the door! Wait!'
'Get away from me!' Esther danced around the table. Slipping in her loose sneakers, tripping over the crooked planks. Kimmie was following her. Moving the circle across from her the table made them run. Always in a mirrored position from as long as Esther kept ahead. Their hands moving over the scratched surface, spreading frantic smudges in the dust. 'Stand still', the other girl yelled. But Esther made a dash for the door and was crushed against the cheap, yellowing plastic. Kimmie had caught her. Esther dropped before the other girl could grab her hair. They rolled. Scratching and biting in hands that made nails reap blood. In one breathless moment Esther stared up and Kimmie struck her in the face with her sharp fist. Stars burst as pain bloomed into white-edged flowers. Esther kicked up an rolled. Spilling her assailant on the floor. A kick in the ribs from her prone position. Up and at the door again. This seems so familiar, Esther thought as she raced down the hallway. Kimmie was on her heels and probably carrying some kind of weapon. Whitewashed walls with dark-red streaks coming down from the sagging ceiling. The grey boards that where never even. Dark cracks forming a network of darkness through the house. Here dust covered the spiderwebs, making them looked like tiny shrouds in less than a day. But never a spider in sight, something always seemed to eat them. Rusted pipes groaned and in the cellar a window shattered. This was the house where the girl from her class swallowed a pin and died. 'Stop!' Kimmie yelled, breathless from laughing. 'You scaredy bunny! You've won the dare! Don't you want your prize?' Esther had had enough but there was suddenly no way out. The front door was a dark shape covered in pale plastic. 'We came in from the back, remember?', Kimmie laughed. Esther kept her distance but it seemed unnecessary. Kimmie was having fun, her thin shoulders where shaking. The permanent dark make-up stains that surrounded her eyes dripped happy tears over her sunken cheeks. She looked like the split personality of a cheerleader. Unbelievably thin with dirty-blond hair in two chaotic ponytails at the sides of her head. Black streaks ran through the front of her hair, dark bruises covered her left shoulder. 'I only wanted to see if you where brave,' Kimmie said, 'and then I wanted to know if you could fight.' 'Why!' Esther breathed. 'Why not?' 'You're insane!' 'You have a way to talk, you're here with me,' she pointed a finger at her. 'And I know for a fact that you hate me.' Esther laughed. 'Why would I hate you, I hardly know you. The only thing we have in common is that we live in the same street.' 'That's why I could lure you here. You know you need me.' 'WHAT!' Kimmie nodded. 'Oh yes. You need me,' she pointed at her cheek, 'you call that a scratch? No wonder they beat you up all the time.' Then the other girl turned around. 'Come along, it's time to collect your prize.' Esther thought about staying exactly where she was. Then she heard the metallic click as the screw of a bottle was turned from somewhere around a corner. A sickening need filled her. Alcohol, friend and ally. That was a prize of great worth. Maybe they had more in common than she had though.