Lisa sat cross-legged on her bedroom floor, her new book of necromancy sprawled open in front of her. The thick, crumbling pages were covered in cryptic symbols, most of them twisted and unrecognizable. She squinted, tilting the book to catch the dim glow of her bedside lamp, muttering to herself as she tried to make sense of the strange language.
"So… you're telling me all I have to do is chant… what, like this?" She stumbled over the words, the syllables feeling foreign and awkward on her tongue.
The absurdity of it all made her laugh under her breath. Here she was, a high school junior, trying to pronounce ancient incantations from a language that probably hadn't been spoken for centuries—all to humor the ridiculous idea of raising the dead.
"If anyone saw me right now…" she muttered, shaking her head. She was just practicing, she told herself. No harm in that. She could stop any time she wanted.
But as she read on, her curiosity took hold. The words, strange as they were, seemed to hum with an eerie energy, and the more she deciphered, the more she felt as though something were pulling her deeper, urging her to go further.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed when Emily's face popped into her mind. Lisa smirked at the thought of her friend's reaction if she walked in and found her muttering spells. "Lisa, what are you doing?" she could practically hear Emily's voice, dripping with skepticism.
Lisa looked back down at the book and stifled a laugh. "Don't worry, Emily," she whispered to the empty room. "I'm just… experimenting. No harm done."
But as she said it, her mind flickered to Liam's face. His hollow gaze from her dreams lingered, stirring something inside her that felt uncomfortably like longing. She brushed the thought away, focusing back on the text, feeling a bit of warmth rise to her cheeks as she muttered the words under her breath.
Alright, Liam, she said to herself with a smirk, "let's say, hypothetically, I could bring you back. Would you even want to come back? Or would you just, like, haunt me for dragging you out of the afterlife?"
The idea of Liam responding, of him laughing at her efforts or giving her some sardonic answer, made her grin. It was silly, she knew that, but there was something undeniably thrilling about entertaining the possibility, no matter how impossible it seemed.
As the hours crept by, Lisa lost herself in the book, her fingers tracing over the spells, her mind whirling with possibilities. She felt like she was on the brink of something—whether it was discovery or disaster, she couldn't tell, but the uncertainty only made her more determined.
The next night, Lisa found herself back at the graveyard. She'd tried to resist the urge, tried to distract herself, but the pull was undeniable. The book was tucked safely in her bag, its weight pressing against her like a secret she couldn't ignore.
The moon cast an eerie glow over the tombstones, and as she walked, her breath puffed in the chilly night air. She made her way to Liam's grave, her heart pounding with a strange mixture of fear and excitement. Standing there, with only the rustling trees as company, she felt a pang of nervousness.
Alright, Lisa, she whispered to herself, half-joking, "this is where you officially go from weird to full-on creepy."
She took a deep breath, feeling the thrill of it all surge through her. She wasn't planning on actually casting a spell… just experimenting. Just… reading aloud.
Here goes nothing, she muttered, opening the book and tracing her finger over the words she'd practiced in her room. She took a deep breath, whispering the incantation in a shaky voice, the syllables strange and chilling as they slipped from her lips.
The air around her seemed to grow colder, a biting chill that nipped at her skin. Her pulse quickened, but she pressed on, her voice growing stronger, her words blending into the night.
Just as she finished, a sudden gust of wind whipped through the cemetery, blowing out the small candle she'd brought. She froze, her heart hammering in her chest, waiting for… something. But nothing happened. The graveyard was as silent as ever, only the distant hoot of an owl breaking the stillness.
Lisa laughed, relief flooding through her. "Of course nothing happened," she said, shaking her head at her own foolishness. What did I expect, really? That he'd just… pop up and say hello?
She turned to leave, but a flicker of movement stopped her. She squinted into the darkness, her heart skipping a beat as she saw a shadow shifting near the edge of the cemetery. Her pulse quickened, and for a moment, she could have sworn she saw a figure—tall, with dark hair, just like…
No. That's impossible.
But the shadow lingered, watching her, and Lisa felt a shiver crawl up her spine. She blinked, and just like that, it was gone.
Lisa took a shaky breath, her mind racing. She knew it had to be her imagination, fueled by all the time she'd spent pouring over that book, letting her thoughts run wild. But as she turned to leave, the feeling remained—a strange, thrilling certainty that, somehow, her actions hadn't gone unnoticed.
When she finally made it back to her room, she collapsed onto her bed, her mind buzzing. She couldn't shake the image of that shadow, couldn't dismiss the sense that something had shifted, like she'd crossed a line she hadn't even known was there.
She glanced at the book, lying on her desk, its cover glinting in the moonlight filtering through her window. She knew she should put it away, leave it alone, but part of her couldn't let go. This strange fascination was consuming her, leading her down a path she didn't entirely understand.
As she drifted off to sleep, her dreams were filled with shadows, whispers, and glimpses of Liam's face, watching her from the edge of the dark, his expression both amused and unreadable...