Darkness Echoes: A Spooky YA Short Story Collection

by L. A. Starkey

  “Thank you, I would like that.”

  Tori turned her head so he couldn’t see her blush. She tucked the tools back inside the nursing bag. “Goodnight, Jared,” she said as she hung the lantern back in its place.

  Chapter Nine

  Two Days before Halloween

  Shawna answered Tori’s call on the first ring. “So, how’s the lantern project going?”

  “Not sure you’d believe me if I told you.” Tori crossed her legs underneath her and rested her back against the wall behind her bed.

  “Did you open it and find out how it lights up?”

  “Not exactly. It sort of talked to me.”

  Shawna clicked her tongue. “Are you going cray out there at your granny’s? Because if you are—”

  Tori laughed, picturing her friend’s gray eyes, wide and serious. “At first, that’s what I thought. I couldn’t open it. I tried different tools—”

  “Why didn’t you just smash the freaky thing open?”

  “Come on. I didn’t want to break it—there’s someone living inside of it.”

  “Whaa?”

  “I asked the lantern some questions and it—he—answered me. A tiny person told me his name was Jared by writing it in mirror image from the other side. He smeared the fogginess inside the glass. When I finally saw him, I asked more questions, only he was too small. I could see his mouth move, but I couldn’t hear—”

  “Shut up!”

  “I’m serious. So I borrowed my grandma’s stethoscope, figuring that would help. And it worked.” Tori sat waiting to hear something other than silence from the other end of her phone. She cringed as Shawna sucked in a long breath.

  “Tor, I don’t know what to say. Is this Jared guy at least cute?”

  “How can you think about that? I have to help get him out!”

  Laughter jingled through the speaker of Tori’s phone. “The boy must be adorbs if you want him out so badly. He is, isn’t he?”

  “Well…” She pictured Jared’s dark eyes and messy curls. “I think so, but it was hard to tell for sure because he’s not exactly solid. He fades in and out with the light.”

  Shawna’s lips made a popping sound. “You’re not telling me that he sparkles.”

  “Funny, no.” Tori blushed. “It’s more of a…glowing.” She twisted her lips, holding her phone away from her ear as she waited for Shawna’s laughter to die down. “Finished?”

  Leftover giggles escaped before Shawna caught her breath. “Yeah, I’m good. Whew. So, what does Glowboy look like?”

  Tori tilted her head to the side. “Dark hair, dark eyes—like Adam, but with a thinner face and more muscled, like someone who’s had to work a lot. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his pants looked like something from pictures my grandma showed me of my grandpa. His leg looked muscled too.”

  “He showed you his leg?” Shawna barely got the words out of her mouth before erupting into another fit of laughter.

  “Yeah,” said Tori, remembering how Jared had tried to show her a missing leg. But it was there, muscled and whole.

  “Okay, okay. What are you going to do about getting him out of the lantern and stretching him out into a full-sized hottie?”

  Tori frowned. “Don’t know. I haven’t worked that part out yet. Right now I need to make sure I can go back and visit him again without getting caught.”

  ***

  Tori met her grandmother in the library to fill her in on the most recent updates.

  “Then the stethoscope worked? You could hear the boy?” Tori’s grandmother adjusted her eyeglasses.

  “It worked perfectly. I’ll leave the tools here tonight, though. They didn’t work and Jared told me the lantern was made out of material so dense that it couldn’t be opened.”

  “Then how is it that he got inside?”

  “He started telling me a story of how he apprenticed under some guy named Machin who worked on mechanical devices and had a bunch of lanterns in his shop. Jared opened a lantern by making light bend through it. He didn’t give me the details on how that worked, exactly, but whatever he did must have opened the lantern and pulled him inside. He said that was the last thing he remembered before meeting me. Grandma, I think he is the light inside the lantern. He’s what makes it shine.”

  Her grandmother pursed her lips. “It makes no logical sense; I know of no science that would back up what is happening here.” She pulled her shawl more tightly around her body. “But here’s what I think we should do.”

  Tori watched as her grandmother grabbed a notebook from a pile of books and handed it across the table.

  “Take this with you, Tori. Tonight when you visit Jared, I want you to take notes of everything he has to say, what he did to open the lantern—everything he can remember. In the meantime, I’ll conduct research here in the library and on the internet. Don’t think for a second that I haven’t kept up with technology. Some of my favorite medical journals are more conveniently perused online.”

  Tori grinned. “Sounds great.”

  “I wish I could give you a basket of food to give Jared, but I suppose it wouldn’t do him much good in his present form.”

  “He doesn’t seem hungry, just confused…and lonely.”

  “Well, then I think it’s wonderful that he’s found you. Now, go spend some time with your parents before they go to bed. I’ll start researching. We’ll meet at the side door after everyone’s asleep”

  “Okay, sounds good.” Tori gave her grandmother a light peck on the cheek. “Thank you so much, Grandma.”

  Tori exited the library and smiled to herself as she walked down the hallway. A collection of paintings lined the walls. She trailed a finger across the wooden frames as she passed, her socks slipping along the smoothness of the marble floor.

  She found her parents sitting together in front of the fireplace. Kimmy lay asleep in his mother’s arms. Tori plopped herself on an overstuffed chair next to the couch.

  “Hey, baby,” said her mother. “Your father and I have been talking, and we’re happy with the changes we’ve seen in you.”

  Tori’s cheeks flushed. Her chest sunk with guilt. They have no idea. But she was also grateful, because she and her grandmother had been successful—they hadn’t been caught.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled, trying her best to sound indignant. She’d found something marvelous; an anomaly surrounding a person who needed her help. And she would have told them all about it, if they would only listen.

  Her father gazed at the fireplace. Flames reflected in his eyes. “Halloween’s just a couple nights away, hon. If you’re still up for taking Kimmy trick-or-treating—”

  “I am.” Tori smiled as she looked at her brother’s face. His long lashes cast shadows on his cheeks. “He’s going to love it.”

  She felt a gentle pressure in her chest, a dipping of her heart. Taking her brother out for the night meant less time to spend with Jared. He’d be alone for Halloween unless she could figure out a way to help him escape the lantern by then.

  Chapter Ten

  The glow of the lantern warmed the clearing more than the night before. Tori sat on a patch of leaves with the lantern nestled in her lap. Leaving that night, undetected by her parents, had been easy, especially now that she and her grandmother had a tried and true plan.

  Tori told Jared about her parents’ aversion to her wandering outside late at night. She’d expected him to praise her sacrifice or at least look grateful. But he frowned instead.

  “They care for you.” Jared spoke into the stethoscope’s chest piece that Tori had pressed against the glass. His forehead creased.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I wonder if my parents worried for me the way yours fear for you.”

  Tori blinked, her lips suddenly dry. “You didn’t know them?”

  “They died when I was only three. My sister, Moretta, began working as a seamstress at the age of nine to support us.”

  He lost his parents whe
n he was Kimmy’s age. Tori’s cheeks sagged. “I’m sorry. I’ll bet you and your sister were close, seeing as she helped take care of you.”

  Jared scratched his head. The motion was both concerning and adorable. “We weren’t close. She hates me.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Moretta never shared a kind word with me. I was a burden to her. After long days of work, she had to come home to take care of me, to cook and to clean the hovel that our parents left us. I was too small to help. When she turned twelve, she began courting. But no one ever proposed. She blamed me.”

  Tori bit back tears. Jared’s life had sounded awful, hard. She couldn’t imagine it. “Why didn’t anyone adopt you? Couldn’t Social Services help find another family member to take care of you or put you in foster care?”

  Jared stared, confused. “I’m not certain Havenbrim provided such options.”

  “Where is Havenbrim?” While waiting for an answer, Tori took another look at Jared’s appearance. He looked human. His ears weren’t pointed like an elf’s; nothing looked out of place except for the fact that his body seemed to be made of light rather than flesh and bone. Yet, somehow, he looked solid, lifelike, and whole.

  “It’s a village in the country of Llum.”

  Okay, maybe he is some kind of fairy—a light fairy, maybe? “Do others in Llum glow like you?”

  Jared shook his head. His hand touched the glass, fingers spreading as he flattened his palm. “We are like you.”

  “Human,” Tori whispered.

  “Yes.”

  Her heart thudded. “Are you from an earlier time?” she said, wrinkling her nose at his plain button-up shirt and pants that faded in and out as she spoke.

  Jared shrugged. “I don’t think so. Where am I now?”

  “In a lantern—well, obviously in a lantern.” Her cheeks flushed. “We’re on my grandmother’s property in Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s a gothed-up plantation, the perfect place to spend Halloween.”

  Jared tilted his head toward her, pressing his forehead to the glass. At first, Tori thought maybe he hadn’t understood what she’d meant by gothed-up. But then he smiled. “It’s Halloween?”

  “Almost.” Her heart fluttered. He recognizes Halloween as a normal holiday. Maybe he’s not so foreign after all. “It’s not tomorrow night, but the night after. Our costumes are ready, but—” She frowned, trailing her finger along the glass. “I’d rather come back here and figure out how to get you out of the lantern.”

  “I see.” Jared reached out his hand to touch the tip of Tori’s finger where it met the glass. “You have plans to dress in costumes—you and…?”

  “Kimmy, my little brother.” She winced. “He’s three years old.”

  Jared smiled. “He’d be disappointed if you didn’t go with him. I will miss you, Tori, but I can wait for you.”

  “I’ll visit you afterward. I promise.”

  “I’d like that. You can tell me all about it. Halloween was Machin’s favorite holiday. All the lanterns in his workshop glowed brighter that night. Sometimes one or two of them would burn out, never to light again.”

  Tori’s hazel eyes narrowed. “There’s something strange going on at that shop. The lantern that you bent light into…was that one that had burned out?”

  “I’d never seen it before. Once a lantern burned out, Machin refused to light it again. He said it was a used casing, a closed door that would no longer open.”

  “That sounds wasteful. What did he do with the lanterns that burned out?”

  A strange look passed over Jared’s face, something Tori wasn’t able to read. “Once the lights went out, they were finished and could be broken. Machin crushed the glass into a powder.”

  “So, you’re telling me that these lanterns that couldn’t be opened before they were lit all of a sudden became breakable?”

  “Yes, after their light was gone.”

  Tori shuddered, but it wasn’t from the cold. The warmth and the light that flowed from the lantern was stronger that night than it had ever been. “Do you know whether this happened to anyone else before you—someone who disappeared after bending light into one of Machin’s lanterns?”

  Jared frowned. “Machin was a well-known scientist in more than the field of mechanics. Young men and women from all over the world wanted to train with him—the most talented and the brightest. But his methods of choosing an apprentice were strange. From what I’d heard, he chose his apprentices based on specific criteria and trained them one at a time. Most were broken and in need like me—from families who’d been torn apart.” He absently rubbed a spot on his leg, above his knee. “And with injuries that made them feel less than whole.”

  “So you don’t think he’s done something wrong. Isn’t he the reason for all these missing people? What if he killed them? Has anyone come back to say that they were happy and safe?”

  “No, but his apprentices were desperate for change and hope.”

  “I don’t like it. There’s something sinister going on, and none of it’s helping me figure out how to get you out of here.” Tori lightly tapped the lamp. “Are you at least comfortable in there?”

  Jared shrugged. “I’m not hungry or thirsty. I feel no need to sleep or…” His cheeks tinged. “I have no need to use lavatory facilities. All I feel are thoughts and emotion. I can sense sight and sound; but it’s as if my body is somewhere else.”

  “Are you…happy?”

  “I don’t know, Tori. It’s better than living with Moretta. And as much as I enjoyed working for Machin, I feel less awkward and clumsy. My missing leg doesn’t shame or pain me. But it’s not a life. I’m comfortable, yet I’m trapped with no idea how to get out of here.” He pressed a hand to the glass. “But with you, I’m happy.”

  ***

  Tori walked back to her grandmother’s house with her thoughts dazed and swirling with emotion. The lantern’s warmth lingered on her skin, fighting off the night’s chill.

  After saying goodnight to Jared, she’d left feeling fortunate and embarrassed. She’d wanted to tell him about her friends back at home and more about her family. But his situation derailed her. Who cared that she played racquetball in the winter and tennis in the summer, that she loved hiking and candy, and that her mother was usually okay with Tori’s sugar intake as long as she didn’t overdo it and stayed active? All those things seemed meaningless now. Jared wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of those things with her, not in his present state.

  As she felt around inside the nursing bag for the key to the side door, her fingers brushed against a notebook. Oh, shoot! I completely forgot! She pulled the notebook out of the bag, vowing to scribble down everything Jared had told her during her visit—not just for her grandmother, but for herself. For the next morning, to prove it hadn’t been a dream.

  Chapter Eleven

  One Day before Halloween

  Whether it was more due to the darkness or a general sense of emptiness, something felt wrong long before Tori approached.

  She followed the stream of light that projected from her flashlight. Each step felt as if it led in the right direction. But something was missing: the glow of the lantern. Maybe he hasn’t noticed that I’m here yet. The words inside her head sounded hopeful, but she worried they weren’t true. She clenched the flashlight tighter as she turned the familiar bend.

  Leaves and their shadows scattered across the ground. Tori was certain that she was in the correct location. She pointed the flashlight at the ground near where she remembered sitting the night before. Light reflected from the base of the lantern’s pole. Raising the flashlight, she traced its beam along the pole. The lantern hung—quiet and still—on a hook.

  Tori’s heart plummeted inside her chest. The lantern was there, but she wasn’t sure whether Jared was with her. There was no light.

  “Jared, are you there?” Grabbing the sides of the globe with her hands, she whispered, “If you’re here, then light up for me. Please.” After several breath
s of silence, Tori’s eyes misted with tears.

  With a click and snap, her grandmother’s nursing bag unbuckled. Tori threw open the flap and pulled out the stethoscope. Ear tips found her ears and the chest piece clinked against the globe. All of it felt surreal. Tori moved as if her body was playing a game of catch-up with her mind, dazed as if someone else pulled the strings.

  “Jared?”

  Silence followed, deadly and certain. She stared at nothing but a lantern made of metal and glass. People don’t live inside lanterns; they don’t light them up. Tori questioned her imagination—whether her nightly conversations and the lantern that lit only for her were real. Whether she was the butt of her own Halloween prank.

  “No,” she muttered. “I remember everything so clearly. The stories he told me about his life in Havenbrim. They have to be true. I wrote them down and reread my notes ten times this morning. Who makes up stuff like that?”

  She filled the silence with her thoughts. But no one else saw him. I have no proof. Her grandmother’s research had turned up nothing that could explain any of it. As if disappointment and doubt weren’t enough, another emotion broke to the forefront of her being. Loss. Whatever Jared had been, he wasn’t there now, and she had no idea whether she would see him again. Shuddering, she realized that she’d taken his presence—his friendship—for granted. She’d assumed he’d always be there each time she returned, locked in his prison of glass.

  But where did he go? Where could he have gone? Back to Havenbrim to Machin’s workshop? Or— Tori noted the darkness of the lantern as beads of cold sweat broke through the pores of her neck and arms. She frantically shined the flashlight on the globe, searching for any sign of him through the mist of condensation.