Water and Ghosts

Chapter 16

“BREAK!” I scream, but it’s useless. Glenden’s eyes go wide and his pupils dilate as he turns the wheel sharply.

We swerve to the right, but we’re going too fast. The car runs into a tree before we can stop.

All I can hear is the car crunching and things exploding and my own screams filling my ears. Adrenaline rushes through me, quick and fast, before it is replaced, once again, by terror.

I’m sitting in a daze in my seat. I bring my hand up to my pounding head and it comes away b****y. I have a cut on my head, and my wrist feels sprained, or maybe broken. My whole body aches. 

For a second, I’m confused as to how I got here.

My brain is slowing down. My body, stopping. But my heart, on the other hand, continues it’s erratic pulse.

I hear a door open and close, and by the time I look over at the driver’s seat, Glenden is gone. I close my eyes, leaning against the back of my seat.

And then my door is wrenched open and Glenden is picking me up.

My eyes fly open as my heart starts its own race.

Glenden sets me on my feet and holds my arms to make sure I can stand. “Aqua, you have to go! Run! Get back to Harbor Village. I’ll cover you.” He glances to the right, and I turn to see Cyra, with Nigel on her heels, running towards us.

I shake my head, not only in answer but to shake the confusion for my head. I need to focus. If there’s anything I know, it’s that I don’t want to run and leave Glenden alone.

“No,” I say. “I’ll help. We can take them together.”

Glenden growls. “No. You’re going to go back home, where you can’t get hurt any more than you already are.”

I shake my head again. “I’m not going to leave you behind. That’s not my style.”

“Please,” Glenden says, the anger disappearing and leaving only desperation. “Please don’t be stupid now. I’ve already died, and she’s not going to do anything too bad to me. But you? Aqua, she could burn you alive slowly. She could stand there and burn you for hours. You would wish you were dead.”

Dread starts in my mind and makes the rest of my body go cold. He knows her; he wouldn’t lie. She could actually burn me to death, just like Mom. Only it could be so much slower.

“You’re injured,” Glenden says, taking advantage of my doubt. “You’re weak right now. Please, just… go home. I’ll come as soon as I can get away.”

I give up. I close my eyes briefly and nod, taking a step back. I’m going to have to run.

Suddenly, Glenden grabs my wrist and pulls me against him. His hand wraps around the back of my head, stroking my hair, and he kisses me. Hard.

His kiss is desperate and not at all gentle. He is a storm that is holding back only for me. The second I turn my back, he will explode.

I kiss him back, in this stolen moment of ours. My heart pounds in my chest, in tandem with his.

A war cry goes up from behind us, and we break apart. We both look to see Nigel sprinting past Cyra towards us, fury reigning on his face.

“BACK AWAY FROM HER YOU—”

It’s then that Glenden grabs my face and kisses me again, this one softer and sweeter. He pulls away slightly.

We both hear Nigel’s bellow in the background. 

“I want you to know that I love you,” he whispers. “So go. I did not fall in love with an idiot.”

Tears fill my eyes. Speechless, I nod, over and over again as I back away. And then I start running home.

I don’t look back. I can’t. Tears blind my eyes; I can barely see in front of me. I run and I run, thinking of nothing but Glenden and moving these legs and Glenden and Glenden’s words.

I love you.

I will say those words back to him once I’m sure. 

As I run, I hear fighting. Nigel and Glenden, physically fighting. I flinch so many times I lose count— when someone grunts or howls our shouts or when I hear a c***k. But still, I don’t turn back.

I cross through the invisible barrier, and I instantly turn around to watch from afar. My hands instantly rise to cover my mouth.

Glenden is on the ground, struggling to rise. Nigel has backed away, and Cyra stands over Glenden.

“Traitor,” she accuses calmly. I’m so far away I can barely hear her voice.

Nigel taps her shoulder. “You said I could have my revenge,” he reminds her.

Horror.

Cyra makes a motion like go ahead.

“No!” I scream, meaning to run back out to help Glenden, but someone grabs both of my arms. 

Grandma Colette. And behind her, the rest of the town.

“Let go of me! Glenden! Nigel, no! Don’t! PLEASE! STOP!”

And then Nigel punches Glenden in the face.

“STOP!!!” I scream so loud, people behind me actually wince and put their hands over their ears.

Nigel moves in again and I’m still screaming, still bawling my eyes out, and I can’t get free of the restraints on my upper arms— the restraints called Grandma Colette’s hands.

Cyra says something else, and then she snaps her fingers. Glenden doesn’t make a sound; he just crumbles. All that’s left on the ground is spilled ink, blood, water, a piece of kale, and— something else I don’t want to know about.

“NOOOOOO!” I scream, my eyes closing, drawing out the word at the top of my lungs.

Inside, my heart breaks. 

Nigel turns to Cyra and says something angrily. I manage to make out, “I lied,” before she snaps again. Nigel bursts into flame, his screams going silent in a moment.

Behind me, Valeria screams.

I try to, by my voice gives out. I can’t talk; I can’t scream. 

Cyra erupts into flames herself, but when the flames are gone, so is she. No body. Not like Nigel. She has left.

Nigel is dead.

Glenden is gone.

And it is this thought that sears through all others; the final straw to my emotionally ravaged mind.

I faint as I crumple to the ground.