Page 18 of Insatiable Hunger

My head moved, searching the emptiness around me.The whispers.It must belong to them, the victims.I gazed back at the tombstone, everything molding together and making sense. They were asking me to help them.

I placed my hand against the top of the tombstone, the feeling of suffering and sorrow slamming into my chest as the memories of the victim’s painfully agonizing deaths flashed behind my eyes, the sounds of their torture echoing in my ears. The loud, vivid nightmares played all at once in my mind as the overwhelming sense of feeling lost sank in my stomach. Such tremendous fear, pain, and despair.

The victim’s murders continued to play, black flashes splitting them apart as an unknown man’s eerie laugh rang through each, as if sewing their endless trauma together.

You can’t save them.

The memories collided into one, the sound and images scrambling together, rupturing as my mind fell into silent blackness. I could feel myself standing in an endless void of my consciousness as two green eyes stared back at me, glowing. A deep, distorted, unnatural voice shook my bones as it spoke.

You cannot save them. Their souls are forever mine.

The voice growled, the volume immediately intensified in such a way that my hands covered my ears, attempting to block the painful trembles. The overlapping whispers returned, speaking all at once, twisting with the ominous laughter as everything swirled around me like a strong wind. Pain, fear, sadness, and evil looped together, constricting me. It was too much and became overwhelmingly intense. I closed my eyes, fighting the whirling air and growing sounds, struggling to contain my sanity.Stop, I cried to myself.Stop!I screamed, awave of my magic bursting from my body as everything collided into blue flames, consuming the world.

My body shot back, slamming into the overgrown grass as I broke free from the darkness that resided deep within the gravestone. I struggled to catch my breath, my eyes trying to adjust to the darkness as I looked around, realizing I was now back in the cemetery. Alastair’s head nudged me, attentive to my unsettled state as he observed me. “I’m okay.” I stroked his head, trying to control my breathing. “They’re trapped here.” I spat the words between heavy breaths, pointing to the victims’ headstone. “They need me to set them free, to break whatever evil is holding their souls captive, but how?” I rolled to my knees, crawling back to the stone as Alastair shadowed me. “How?” I asked the victims. “Tell me. How can I help you?”

Magic.

Of course. I glanced at the golden eyed wolf, knowing what I had to do.

I quickly removed my bag, placing it on the ground as I carefully propped the flashlight on top of it to illuminate the memorial tombstone. Alastair sat down, watching me closely. “These people deserve eternal peace, Alastair,” I positioned myself in front of the stone, my hand quickly igniting, “and I intend to give it to them.” One of the few perks of being a witch was being born with the substantial knowledge of how to cast such spells.

I lifted my index finger, now burning bright, and touched the cold stone as I began to chant to myself, my words blending with the overlapping whispers. “Mother of magic, hear my words.” My finger moved as magic burned from it, searing a protective circle into the top of the tombstone. “Guide these innocent souls through the shadows and bathe them in your light.” A strange resistance pushed against my hand as I tried to continue, fighting the invisible power. My jaw clenched, my free hand nowgripping my wrist as my finger burned and I pushed the words from my mouth. “Shield them from the unwanted and keep them safe within this divine circle of this protection.”

Be careful.

He is here.

I was too focused on the spell to register the meaning of their words, groaning, desperate to complete the protective circle. I looped the inside of the enchantment and connected the symbol to itself. The foreign resistance immediately disappeared as the symbol burst with light, faint blue sparkles drifting from it onto the damp ground. The whispers had vanished.

The feeling of dread now absent, replaced with a calm silence. Faint sparkles of my magic glistened in the air of the night as I panted, pleased with the completed spell.There. Now you can all rest in peace.

Alastair huffed, wagging his tail. I wiped a few small beads of sweat from my forehead, grabbing my things. “Come on, we should leave them be now.” I glanced over my shoulder, the protective symbol faintly glowing from within the stone.

Thank you.

Chapter

Seventeen

LAZARUS

The southern path of the cemetery was steep, sharp edges of the earth peeking from the ground as if some of the graves were carved into chunks of the side of the mountain itself. Truthfully, I was glad Cain sent me gallivanting in this direction. Ruby and Jinx wouldn’t have been able to trek this far, especially not Ruby in her boots, and Alaska would’ve struggled. The path was old and narrow, warping around the vicious landscape of the mountain. Trees from the forest trickled into the cemetery, piercing through the iron fence, flooding it with layers of moving shadows that swayed with the night air. Aside from the surrounding nature, it was peaceful. This was one of the reasons Alaska and I chose the graveyard back home for our time together; we found the silent cemetery to be oddly comforting.

A red fox stepped from the woods, stopping just a few feet ahead of me, walking along the rippled landscape. My feet halted as I slowly pulled the polaroid camera from my bag, hoping to remain unnoticed. The copper-colored fox sniffed the air, still unaware of my presence as I snapped a photo of it. The loud flash startled the fiery creature as it sprinted back into the thickwoods while the photo printed. I grabbed the warm instantprint and fanned the gray photo, waiting for the image to appear.

Snap.

The sound of nearby twigs breaking pulled my attention from the photo and back to the overgrown trees. I studied the never-ending twisting branches, my eyes lingering a moment before glancing down at the print in my hand. I had captured the fox clearly, smiling at my success.Alaska is going to love this. As I scanned the photo closer, my smile faded. Just beyond the fox, between the trees, was what appeared to be a blurry outline of a person. “What the—”

Snap.

My body whirled as my foot stumbled back, kicking a few loose rocks, listening as they tumbled down the hill. I waited a few minutes before calling out. “Cain? Is that you?” There was no response. “Look, man,” I began to slowly back up in the direction I had come, my voice wavering, “this isn’t funny. You’ve already scared me once tonight, alright? That’s more than enough.” Still no response. My heart raced, adrenaline pumping through my veins as I glanced back at the photo, examining the outline of the human body.Who would be hiding in these trees, all the way out here?“Fuck this.” I turned, quickly scaling back and lightly sprinting in the opposite direction. My back burned with the sensation of being watched, adding to my discomfort, increasing my speed.

The new pathI traveled was less challenging, with not as much of a rocky incline. I had shaken the incident from earlier from my mind and, after my nerves settled, I casually continued to take various photos of my surroundings. The old cemetery was intriguing, filled with decades worth of headstones and statues, each more beautifully artistic than the last. The stone structures were peacefully tucked away deep in the woods. Aside from a few trees scattered within the plot of land, it looked as though the forest had wrapped itself around the fence of the cemetery, slowly strangling the acreage, determined to take it over.

My hand raised the camera to my face, snapping another photo of the woods, hoping to capture its essence. I didn’t bother examining it, adding the flimsy print to my ever-growing pile as the more recent photos had all looked about the same: normal. No ghosts, no random person, and no proof of anything out in this isolation except us and the woods itself.

It had been at least an hour, maybe two, since the group had all split up and gone our separate ways. I mindlessly snapped a few more photos, thinking about Alaska and how she was doing, wandering the enormous graveyard. I didn’t particularly enjoy the idea of her being alone, even if she did have Alastair, not after what happened last night. It was obvious we weren’t the only ones out in these woods.

---