The sun began its sluggish crawl over the horizon, casting golden light across the cemetery, bathing the tombstones in a warm, almost inviting light. Lilly was standing stock-still, out of place as dawn crept up around her. Her chest was heavy with events from the night before. The cool morning air provided a reprieve from the stifling energy that had filled the cemetery just hours before, but it did nothing to dislodge the unease settling deep inside. Her head was a maelstrom of memories and emotions, all revolving center-stage in her mind around that one terrifying realization: that her connection with the spirit world had grown more profound in ways not yet understood by her.
She stared at her hands, flexing her fingers as she recalled the feel of Silas beneath her fingertips-really beneath her fingertips. It wasn't a vision or a hallucination. It had been real, as real as the chilled stone beneath her feet and the morning light upon her skin. She'd crossed some unseen threshold, her ability to interact with the spirit world now something far more hazardous than sight. She could touch them, feel them.
It also terrified her.
For a moment, she had thought herself able to cope with the strange experiences she'd had over the years ghosts, sensing their presence now. Now she had to confront the fact that the barrier between her world and theirs was tearing away, and she was standing in the middle, with no idea what that meant for her future.
It was as if the weight of the revelation bore down upon her as the cemetery settled back into its peaceful silence. Gone, too, the spirits upon the gravestones, with the rising sun to leave her alone once more. The crumbling mausoleum behind her was a distant nightmare, though she knew better than to let her guard things were lurking there still, dark things, waiting for another opportunity to strike.
Her phone purred in her pocket, drawing her out of the trance. She let out a sigh, not wanting to look at it, feeling a dread inside her. Her heart fell at the sight of the time; she had overstayed her welcome in the cemetery while lost in thought, and now she had less than an hour to make it to class.
Lilly's stomach knotted with anxiety. Class. How was she supposed to sit through lectures on social psychology after the night she had just survived? How could she return to playing the role of just another college student when she had touched a ghost, and not just any ghost, but Silas, the same spirit who had once been tied to an ancient ritual gone wrong?
Her phone buzzed once more; this time, it was a text from Layla.
Layla: Where was he last night? You disappeared without a word about it! Lilly winced, rubbing her temples. She could already feel the too-familiar wave of guilt seep in. Layla, her roommate, and best friend, had been worried about her disappearing acts of late. And honestly, Lilly didn't blame her one bit. Between the late-night jobs and increasingly erratic behavior, she wasn't exactly the ideal roommate. But how could she explain the real reason she was gone all night without sounding completely insane?
There was simply no telling the truth to Layla. Not yet, anyway.
She took a deep breath and quickly typed a response.
Lilly: Sorry, got caught up with work. I'll explain later. See you tonight.
It was a lie, and she knew it. However, throughout the day, Layla would do nothing because she, too, was equally busy running from one lecture to another, juggling extracurriculars along with her social life.
Layla felt best when her life was full and planned out, wrapped in a neat little bow. Lilly barely kept her head above the water. She had once been able to control her life until the supernatural had picked up that tangled mess-but now it felt like she was drowning, trying to balance the world of the living and the dead.
For a moment, the thought of skipping her class tempted her. She could go back to her apartment and sleep off the exhaustion clinging to her very bones. The reality was, however, that she couldn't afford to skip more classes. Her grades were already slipping with her barely holding on by the skin of her teeth. Besides, she was on thin ice with her professors. Missing just one more lecture might indeed be the final nail in the coffin of her scholarship.
One last time, she looked back at the graveyard; her eyes rested on the mausoleum. The early sun had done little to run the darkness away from that spot. Whatever happened tonight wasn't over. The entity, the ritual gone wrong, Silas, and his ominous warnings were all cast over her, like a shadow she couldn't shake off.
She had caught herself letting out a heavy sigh now as she turned and made her way toward the cemetery gates. Her body just couldn't help but ache with every step; the night's events weighing well and truly on her shoulders. Her feet were almost dragging along the graveled pathway, and she forced her legs to continue their stride in an attempt to focus on something, anything, that wasn't the ghosts that appeared to jump out at the edge of her vision.
The short walk from the cemetery to her apartment seemed longer in the dark. The city started to slowly come alive around her cars honking, people hastily going down the sidewalks with cups of coffee in their hands it all sounded so very far away, as if she was looking at the world behind a foggy sheet of glass. Everything else moved along, happy and oblivious to the terrors that lurked just beyond their grasp.
Lilly longed to be one of them once more, to walk through life without the weight of the supernatural on her shoulders. But she was not that fortunate. Not anymore.
Her phone buzzed again. She ignored it. No more diversions. She knew she needed to go home, change, and then hit her class.
She was dragging herself up the stairs as she went into her apartment complex. Her body felt like it had been through a war zone- muscles sore and her mind heavy with exhaustion. She fumbled for her keys until finally, she managed an unlock the door and stepped inside.
The familiar scent of Layla's coffee brewing hit her right away, along with the burble of the kitchen radio playing some pop song that Lilly could barely stand. It was part of Layla's morning ritual, one that she never deviated from, even on days when chaos had already ensued.
Lilly plopped the bag down by the door and followed her nose into the kitchen, where Layla was standing in her traditional spot-stirring a cup of coffee with one hand, texting with the other. She had her hair pulled up nice in a ponytail, her perfectly pressed clothes and nothing on her face gave away even the hint of sleep deprivation.
Layla raised her head as Lilly entered, an eyebrow arched in surprise. "You look like you have been to hell and back."
Lilly gave a weak smile. "Feels like it.
You didn't come home last night," Layla said, her tone soft but probing. "I thought you were working late, but then I never heard from you. Are you sure everything's okay?
She shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Yeah, just got caught up in work. You know how it is."
Layla frowned, her eyes narrowing just a hair. "You've been getting 'caught up' pretty often lately."
It wasn't difficult to miss the underlying concern in her voice, and immediately Lilly's stomach twisted with a surge of guilt. Layla wasn't wrong; she had been disappearing more and more, sneaking off into graveyard jobs and supernatural encounters she couldn't explain to anyone. But how could she? How could she tell Layla it just wasn't working, that Lilly was dealing with ghosts and ancient rituals?
"I'm fine, Layla," Lilly insisted as if to sound convincing. "Really. I just had a long night."
Layla didn't appear convinced but let the subject lie, suddenly sipping coffee again. "If you say so. Still, you're going to wear yourself out at this rate. You are never home anymore, and you don't look like you ever get any rest.".
Lilly nodded, not trusting herself to say anything more, lest she say too much. She appreciated Layla's concern, but there was just no way to explain what had been happening without sounding like she'd lost her mind."Anyway," Layla said, her voice brightening, "you've got class in half an hour. Better get moving if you don't want to be late."
Lilly looks up at the clock above the microwave and lets out a low oath. She has no idea how it's already this late, as all she did was stand out in the cemetery, lost in her thoughts. In a flash, she's yanking a clean hoodie from her room, tossing it over her head, and stuffing her notebook into her bag.
"I'll see you later tonight," Lilly said, yelling out the door as she ran out.
Layla's voice followed her: "Take care of yourself, okay?"
Lilly didn't answer. She couldn't.