Page 76
Story: I'll Be Waiting
Now I’m back in the same position, and part of me is screaming that I’m making the same mistake, and part is screaming back that I’m still not sure Ididmake a mistake.
No, I did. I made the mistake of not telling my parents what happened. I’d been afraid. Not of what they’d do—my mom and dad were great. But when you have parents you actually respect, you’re afraid of disappointing them.
And whathadI done, really? Supervised my friends with a relatively mild bit of drug experimentation? My parents wouldn’t be concerned about the séance part. Kids will be kids, and my parents were rational people who recognized things like “dark entities” as irrational. Their entire focus would be on the drugs.
I should have confessedbecauseof the drugs. Because something is wrong with Patrice, and I’m withholding vital information from her doctor.
I’ll fix that. I swear I will. I’ll tell my parents, who will tell Patrice’s family. I can even swipe a sample of the mushrooms tonight.
There. That’s a reason for coming, right? To get that sample?
“What do you think is going on?” Heather whispers as we walk.
I want to glare at her. After we promised Patrice we’d do this, I’d tried to talk to Heather. We had time then, without Patrice around to hear. Heather didn’t want to talk about it, just like she’s refused to discuss any of it for the past fucking week.
We’re trudging through a dark forest, five feet behind Patrice, andnowHeather wants to talk?
“Nic?” Heather whispers.
I can’t answer. Patrice is too close. I slow my steps, thinking Patrice will notice, but she’s marching on like she did that night, as if we aren’t even there.
Finally I deem her far enough away.
“I don’t know,” I whisper to Heather. “I think it’s a bad trip.”
“Lasting this long?”
I say nothing.
Heather whispers, “What about the voices? The footsteps? Roddy’s ghost was there.”
Was it? At the time, it seemed obvious that we’d conjured the ghost of Roddy, come searching for his Sam. But since then, doubt has crept in.
Did we really hear anything? And if we did, are we sure it was a ghost? The longer I thought about it, the more it felt like a prank.
The adult me rouses from the memory then. Had I really thought this at the time? Or was that my current knowledge rewriting history?
No, Ihadthought it. At that moment, in that forest, my gut had told me the truth. That “Roddy” had been fake.
I hesitate, torn between mulling over that and returning to the memory, so vivid it’s like I’m watching a reenactment.
Go back. There are answers there. Go back.
If you dare.
That last part does it, as if my inner voice is my child self, knowing exactly which button to press.
I sink back into the memory.
Heather has just mentioned the voices and footsteps from the first séance, and I shrug and mutter, “I don’t know.”
“Something happened to Patrice,” she hisses. “You know it did.”
“Then I’m hoping this will help. The drugs made her hallucinate that something got into her—Roddy’s ghost or whatever—and she believes this ceremony will send it back. That’s the power of suggestion. She thinks it happened, so this time, we convince her it un-happens.”
Heather doesn’t answer, but I’m on a roll, so certain I have all the answers.
“If it fails,” I say, “then it’s the drugs, and we tell her parents. We need to do that. For her own sake.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76 (Reading here)
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134