by Yari Garcia
“Stop it, Bella!” Emily cried from the ground. “Stop it! We’re sorry! We were just kidding! Please stop!”
But Bella didn’t stop. One after the other, the objects in the room zoomed towards the two girls. So many objects were fired at the girls that when Bella ran out of items, she raised her hands once more. The drawers and wardrobe opened up and more items hurled towards them.
Ducking and grabbing Emily by the waist, Karissa pulled them towards the door. “We have to get out of here!” she cried into Emily’s ear. As soon as the two staggered and ran out of the room, Sey burst in to see Bella standing there.
Chapter Nine
It broke Sey’s heart to see Bella in that state. She hovered above the bed, soaking in the moon’s magick, with a look of pain and anguish on her face. His friends had gone too far. If he had known that the séance was just a cover to do a major prank on Bella, he never would have brought her here.
“Bella,” he called out to her. Wind whipped around the room, even though all the windows were closed. Bella looked to be in some state of painful and angry trance. “Bella, it’s me, Sey. Please, stop.”
Bella’s hair stopped its frantic snake-like moving as the wind slowed down a bit. “Sey?”
“Yes, it’s me, Sey,” Sey ventured closer to the bed, where Bella stood. He held his hands in front of him, urging her to calm down. “It’s okay. I’m here. I got you, Arabella.”
The wind picked up in speed again and Bella’s eyes turned to angry slits.
“I hate that name!”
****
Bella’s heart bounced wildly in her chest. She was angry, in pain, feeling betrayed… all at once. Had Sey been part of setting her up for this? He was, after all, friends with these heinous people who did nothing but attack and torment each other.
And he had just mocked her with her own name.
Bella stared into Sey’s face. His eyes were pleading, his features concerned and caring—but she wasn’t fooled. She had seen enough sweet faces on Emily, only to be acidly cut down by her. She wasn’t going to fall for it on someone else. As much as she liked Sey, she just wasn’t falling for it.
Bella began to raise her hands once more. Whatever objects were left over—candle sticks, shoes, magnifying glasses—all kinds of things elevated in the air slowly.
“Arabella,” Sey said, his hand raising up defensively. “Arabella, call off the ghosts.”
Arabella’s breath caught in her throat. She looked at Sey in disbelief, then her eyes darted around the room. All around her, where the objects had lifted as if on their own accord, were ghosts, holding each object, waiting for her to command them to throw. Each semi-transparent silhouette was the ghost of someone long gone—the energy imprint left behind after years of people living and dying in the cabin. They all stood still, waiting for her next command.
Her eyes flowed back to Sey’s. “You… you can see them?”
“Yes, Arabella,” Sey said, stepping closer to the bed. “Yes, I can.”
Arabella allowed herself to slowly descend back onto the bed. Her naked toes touched the soft and worn fabric, and she realized for the first time that one of her shoes had fallen off in her frantic escape from the men with chainsaws.
Which reminded her of how she had ended up in this situation in the first place.
“Why?” she demanded, her eyes full of angry tears. “Why did you set me up?”
“Arabella, I swear, I didn’t know,” Sey pleaded. “I didn’t know they would do this.”
Arabella slowly stepped down from the bed, always keeping Sey in her line of vision. She looked up at him when he started talking, unable to contain her feelings for him, even though she felt betrayed.
“I came because I had a feeling that you were… like me,” he began to say. “I thought the séance, if it worked, would be too much for you. If you saw ghosts and got scared, I wanted to be there, holding your hand, making sure you were okay.”
Arabella could see the concern in Sey’s eyes, and his voice sounded genuine and true. “You really didn’t know?”
“I swear,” Sey repeated.
As Arabella calmed down, the ghosts slowly faded around them—the objects they were holding clanked onto the ground, rolled, and came to a stop. Arabella saw Sey walking around the bed towards her. She allowed him to step close to her and grab her trembling hands.
“Arabella, I know you’re eternal. You’re a Deathless, like me.”
“A… what?” Arabella knew that she could see and command ghosts. It was something she had always been able to do. She thought she was the only one in the world with this power, which should have made her feel special. Instead, she felt different and odd, like an outcast.
And it didn’t help that she had never died.
“A Deathless. We’ve been around for more centuries than we can remember,” Sey continued. He rubbed her hands with his thumbs as he spoke. “You’re like me.”
“So… wait… you’ve never…?”
“My real name is Seymour,” Sey said and chuckled. “And you thought your name was bad.”
Arabella allowed the laughter to escape her lips, the sudden release easing the incredible tension she had felt only moments before. When their laughter subsided, she looked into Seymour’s green eyes.
“I didn’t know anyone else was… like this,” she said, barely above a whisper.
“I didn’t know either,” Sey said. He smiled and made a dimple on his cheek. “But now I’m glad.”
Arabella couldn’t help but smile. She had had the craziest night. But, as she stood there, holding Seymour’s warm hands, she suddenly realized she didn’t feel the crippling loneliness she had felt for centuries. Seymour was eternal. He wouldn’t die. Couldn’t die. Just like her.
When Seymour placed his fingers under Arabella’s chin, she let him. She slowly raised her face to his. “Arabella,” he said. “I think I love you.”
Arabella closed her eyes, a tear quickly rolling down her cheek. Seymour wiped it away with his hand, then slipped his fingers into her hair. He gently pulled her closer, waiting for her to open her eyes and give him permission to kiss her. When she leaned forward to him, he pressed his lips gently against hers.
Arabella was enveloped by his strong arms and soft lips. She could have stayed there, kissing him, for a hundred years if she could. As their lips parted and they gazed into each other’s eyes, Arabella asked, “What now?”
“Now,” Seymour said, “Now we spend eternity together.”
The End
About Yari Garcia
Yari Garcia is best known for her short stories, such as
The Girl in the Converse Shoes and Nikki and the Vampire.
She is the author of the forthcoming full-length novel,
Strega Fey (2016).
Connect with Yari Garcia at
yarigarcia.com
Other Stories by Yari Garcia
Full Novels:
Bryexe: She Lives in a Dollhouse
Strega Fey (coming 2017)
Short Stories:
Paranormal Romance: A Short Story
Black Magick: A Sinister Romance
The Short Story Collection
About Falling in Love
Chloe’s Lyrics
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