Two Souls: Into the Fire # 243

Warning … adult content

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When Ghost got back to the motel room, he climbed into bed, feeling sleepy and satisfied, now. It was not long before he was asleep.

~

The next morning, Steve woke first. He lay there trying to remember the dream he’d had. He knew it was about Ghost…then he remembered.

“Hey, Ghost, wake up,” he said, shaking Ghost until he did wake up. “I had a dream about you.”

Ghost was barely waking up, as Steve was talking, but he knew this dream of Steve’s was different.

Steve continued, “I dreamed you were walking in the desert, in the dark…and these…well…this is the silly part…these UFOs were up in the dark sky. They kinda glowed, and they were beaming a light down on you. It was kinda cool, but scary, too. I thought you were gonna get abducted, so I tried to warn you, but you just smiled, and kept walking. Well, that’s all I remember. What do ya think of it…pretty weird, huh?”

Trying not to scare Steve, Ghost kept his voice low when he said, “Steve, that wasn’t a dream. It happened just like that.”

“Huh? What do ya mean?” Steve asked, frowning.

“Well, I did go outside, and I did talk to the UFO people,” Ghost said. “I didn’t see them, but I knew they were there. They even said they’d be waiting for me.”

Steve was quiet for a minute, thinking about it. “You went out…last night…when I was asleep?”

Ghost nodded. “For a little while. It was just like your dream.”

“But, how?”

“I don’t know…your subconscious must have followed me, and sent the images to you, ’cause it was the same…except I didn’t see anything. I just sensed they were there,” Ghost said.

“But, how can I be seeing something I don’t even believe is real?” Steve asked. “I don’t get it.”

Ghost shrugged. “Dreams are dreams, I guess. They don’t have to make sense.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but wait…you heard them say they’ll be waiting for you…where?”

“In New Mexico, I think. That’s their UFO Base.” Ghost said. He sat up in bed, leaning on the headboard. “They go all over, but always come back to base.”

“Come on…you’re just making shit up, now,” Steve said, skeptical, as usual.

Ghost shrugged. “Well, it’s as good an explanation as anything else. See, we don’t know if it’s real or not, yet. Nobody does. So, that’s just what I think.” He smiled.  “Are we getting up, now?” He stretched, and yawned. “If we are, I need coffee.”

Steve didn’t answer. He moved closer to Ghost, slowly reaching his hand up under his t-shirt, which tickled Ghost’s stomach, and gave him goose-bumps. Then, leaning over, he kissed where he’d just touched. Ghost drew in his breath, enjoying the sensation. He reached out his hands to clasp Steve’s unruly hair. They didn’t get out of bed for a long time.

Afterwards, as they dozed, there was a knock at the door. “Steve, Ghost…are y’all awake?” It was Linda. She kept knocking.

“You think I should let  her in?” Steve asked.

“Mmm-hmm, but put something on, first,” Ghost said.

Steve laughed. “Oh, yeah…uh, just a minute, Linda,” he hollered toward the door. He got up, and scrabbled around, looking for his clothes. Finally, pulling on some jeans and a t-shirt, he opened the door. “Hey, Linda,” he said.

“You know what time it is, Steve?” she asked.

“No, why?”

Linda pushed past her brother and into the room. She came face to face with a mostly naked Ghost, who’d only managed to quickly pull the sheet over his private parts, as he was getting up to find clothes. She stopped immediately, seeing his frightened face.

In that second, before she murmured ‘sorry’ and turned away, the image of Ghost’s scars was seared into her brain. She grabbed hold of Steve’s arm, to steady herself, as silent tears sprang from her eyes. She stumbled to the door, and out. She knew now, why Ghost always wore clothes that covered him…from his funky cool socks, to his long sleeved, soft hoodies.

Steve was frozen to the spot he stood on for a minute. Should he go after a distraught Linda, or comfort Ghost, who was sobbing into his pillow. He went to Ghost.

“I didn’t ever want her to see,” cried Ghost.

“I know, I know, Babe, but she did…it’ll be ok…she already knew…she understands…” Steve said into Ghost’s ear, as he held him close.

“But knowing and seeing is different…now, when she sees me, she’ll know,” Ghost said, trying to control his crying. “She was scared of me, Steve.”

‘No, no, of course not…she loves you.”

“But, she ran away…and now she won’t be the same to me. She’ll see this when she sees me…it’ll be weird, now…”

“Look at me, Ghost,” Steve said, pulling him up, and wiping his face. “We’re all family. It’s better that she saw how hurt you’ve been. It brings family closer together…it binds us like nothing else does. Sharing our lives…the good and the bad…you understand?”

Ghost nodded.

“Now, y’all need to face each other, and get past this, right now, or it will get awkward. So, get dressed, and come on out. I’m going to go see about her and the kids, then we need to get something to eat and get on the road, ok?”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be okay, just go and…and tell her not to be scared of me,” Ghost sobbed, one last time.

Steve took Ghost’s face in his hands, and kissed him. “I love you so much,” he said. Then he turned and left to go to Linda.

~

When Steve left, Ghost got up and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. He looked at himself in the mirror…really looked. He hated what he saw. He ran his hands over his scarred body…remembering…the many burn scars, from the long ago torturing from those boys at school…the places they’d kicked him, and cut him, and left him bleeding…his missing toe…the scar on his head, that still showed a little, where they’d bashed his skull with the baseball bat…and…and the worst of all, the ones that didn’t show…the ones Steve had put on him…the one under his hair, that was indented from Steve smashing his fist into his head over and over until his skull cracked again…and the ones on his heart…the most painful of all…from Steve. He still couldn’t grasp why Steve loved him…why…after all this ugliness.

He could feel his mind taking a wrong turn somehow. He knew it was not the way to be thinking, but was unable to push the thoughts away. Maybe Steve was lying to him all this time…not loving him…just staying out of pity… “No! No! Please No!” Ghost cried out, and in that moment he lost control.

He drew back his fist and slammed it into the mirror, as hard as he could,  to erase the image of himself. Shattered glass sparkled, even as it cut his hands, his arms, and flew up, striking his face, as he watched the shards coming at him, as if in slow motion. He didn’t even flinch as they penetrated his skin. He was too far into his psychosis, his seizure, to notice any pain.

As it continued, he sank to the floor, bleeding. Eventually, the convulsions stopped, but he did not get up. As he slowly came to awareness again, his head was pounding, and his vision was gone.

***

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Next part coming soon!

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2019 BS

***

This is a work of “fan fiction” based on the novel, “Lost Souls” by Poppy Z. Brite. All credit for the original characters, places, and some backstory mentions, belong to Ms. Brite and her publishing affiliates. Only newly introduced characters, places, and original elements of this story are entirely from my imagination. Character descriptions are a blend of the original book descriptions and my interpretation of them.

Two Souls: Into the Fire # 242

Warning … adult content

***

They kept driving down Route 40, heading for the next overnight stop. Steve kept seeing notices for the Petrified Forest National Park. It was right on their way.

“You know what’s coming up?” Steve asked.

“More desert?” Ghost said.

“Well, yeah, but there’s a petrified forest up ahead. That sure would be cool to look at.”

“Petrified…like scared?”

Steve laughed. “No, it’s like trees that turned into rocks, like a long time ago.”

“Rock trees? Tell me when we get to them. I’ll take a picture,” Ghost said.

“Okay, we’ll pull over.”

In a little while they came upon the place. “It didn’t look so big on the map,” Steve said. He slowed the car down, looking for a place to pull over.

“This place looks kinda scary. Whatever scared the trees, is scaring me, too,” Ghost said.

“They didn’t get scared, I told ya…it just happened after a lot of years.”

“I don’t care when they got scared…just what scared them.”

Steve shook his head, knowing Ghost would carry on about it for awhile. He pulled over to wait for Linda to catch up with them.

“I have an idea,” Ghost said, as he stared at the scattered, petrified logs laying around the area. “Get your guitar, Steve, I want to take a picture. When Steve had gotten it, they walked over to a fallen tree.

“Now play something,” Ghost said. “These here trees are rock stars.” He took a few pictures.

Linda and the kids arrived, and the kids ran around from tree to tree. They were in an area off the main highway, back along the winding little road. No one else was around.

“Hey, that was a good idea, y’all had,” Linda said. “Take my picture, too.” She took the guitar, and posed. The kids wanted in on the picture taking, and so they all posed by the rock star trees. It was getting late, though, and there were quite a few miles yet to go before stopping at a motel. Before Ghost got back into the U-Haul, he reached out his hands, touching the tree.

“Thank you, rock tree, for letting us take your picture. I’m sorry you got sacared a long time ago. I hope we made you happy today.” He smiled. As he got into the truck, Steve asked, “What did the tree say?”

“It said it had fun, too.”

“Oh, well good. You ready to get back on the road?”

~

They drove for another hour or so. In the next town, they found a motel, and a place to eat. This time a fast-food restaurant.

“You know what?” Linda asked. “I think it’s going to take longer than three days, Steve.”

“Yeah, it looks that way, now, but I don’t care, really,” Steve said. “We’re having a good time seeing parts of the country we’d never have seen if we’d gone by plane. You are enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Nodding, Linda said, “Oh, sure I am, and the kids are, too. They haven’t complained hardly at all about being in the car for so long. These little sightseeing stops makes all the difference.”

They finished their meal, and headed back to the motel. Linda, in her room, got the kids ready for bed, then herself.

Steve and Ghost did the same, after watching TV for awhile. When the lights were out, Ghost began talking about UFOs. “Steve, are we gonna see  one? Do you want to see one? It’s UFO country out there, now.”

Wrinkling his nose, Steve said, “No, I don’t want to see one. Only a few people get to see them Ghost…and nobody believes them, anyway. So we probably won’t. Aren’t they mostly seen at night? We’re asleep at night.”

“Well, I’m gonna stay up and look for one. Maybe I’ll be lucky. I see dead people, so why not UFOs?”

“Okay, if anyone could, it would be you, I guess,” Steve said.

“Yeah, and if I see one, I’ll holler for you to  come look,” Ghost said.

“But, I don’t want to see one,” Steve said, shaking his head.

“Why not?”

“Because they’re scary, and maybe the aliens would take us away. They kinda do that, don’t they?” Steve said.

“Hmm, well, sometimes, I guess,” Ghost said. “I’m going outside after while, and call them to come.’

“What are you gonna say to them?”

“I’m gonna at least tell them we’ll be in their state, and we want to see them. They can hear us, right?”

“Hell if I know, Ghost. I hope not…anyway, I’m going to sleep, I’m getting spooked, now.”

“Petrified?” Ghost laughed.

“Yeah, like a log…see, I’m not moving…I’m a rock.” He drifted off to a sound sleep.

Ghost tried to sleep, but it was no use. After a few minutes, he got up to look for a snack in his backpack. Finally finding a mostly uncrushed package of peanut butter-cheese crackers, he quietly went out the door. He munched on them, as he looked around.

The parking lot was lit by a few street lights, but over to the far edge, it was dark…only moonlight in the emptiness of the desert. This motel was the last one on the edge of the little town they were in.

“This is perfect,” he said out loud to the night. Walking across the parking lot, he had a quick thought…that he should have left a note for Steve, but he didn’t plan on staying out here for long. He kept going into the darkness. Finally about half a mile out, he stopped. There in the moonlight, he looked up at the stars.

They were really clear out here in the wide open spaces. At home, there were always trees that blocked his view. Scanning the sky, he looked for anything that was moving, hoping to see a UFO.

“Hey, y’all…if any of you are listening, my name is Ghost. I want to know if y’all are real. Show me. Come out of hiding so I can see ya.” Then, he waited. He detected no movement, no beams of light, no noise.

“We’re gonna be closer to where y’all hang out, in the morning, so when it gets dark again, I’ll call for ya again, okay?” A sudden cool breeze ruffled his hair, and he imagined he heard something say…”We’ll be waiting…” He grinned, knowing it was his wishful thinking, but secretly hoping it was real. He walked back toward the motel.

The neon sign was tiny from so far away, but a beacon to aim for. The whole way back, he felt something was watching him. He did not turn around to see, though.

“They’re checking me out…seeing if I’m real,” he thought. He sent a silent message through the air…”Yes, I’m real…”

Back at the motel room, he let himself in. Steve was still asleep.

***

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Next part coming soon!

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2019 BS

***

This is a work of “fan fiction” based on the novel, “Lost Souls” by Poppy Z. Brite. All credit for the original characters, places, and some backstory mentions, belong to Ms. Brite and her publishing affiliates. Only newly introduced characters, places, and original elements of this story are entirely from my imagination. Character descriptions are a blend of the original book descriptions and my interpretation of them.