Chapter Eight — Ghost Stories
Chapter Six — Ghost Stories
The rumors started three days later.
Avery heard them before sunrise drifting through the lower market corridors while she
traded ration filters for antibiotics she couldn’t really afford.
“Another body near Flood line.”
“They said his veins turned black.”
“Poison Girl.”
The words followed her through the crowd like smoke.
Avery kept her hood low and continued walking.
Don’t react.
Don’t look guilty.
Don’t let fear show.
Poison City smelled damp again today.
Rainwater leaked through broken ceilings overhead while flickering green signs buzzed
weakly above vendor stalls selling counterfeit Breath tablets and scavenged machine parts.
Somewhere nearby, a radio crackled distorted jazz through static.
Normal.
As normal as this city ever became.
But people kept whispering.
“A scavenger this time.”
“He tried robbing somebody.”
“They found him foaming blood.”
“She touched him.”
Avery’s stomach twisted harder with every word.
She hadn’t touched anyone.
Not this time.
Not recently.
Fear clawed cold beneath her ribs anyway.
Because it didn’t matter.
In Poison City, stories spread faster than truth.
Especially stories about monsters.
A child pointed at her from beside a produce stand.
The mother immediately pulled his hand down.
Too fast.
Too frightened.
Avery looked away first.
That hurt less than seeing their expressions sometimes.
By the time she reached the edge of Lower Vein Market, the city screens overhead flickered
alive again.
WARNING: BIOHAZARD ACTIVITY IN FLOODLINE DISTRICT.
REPORT SUSPICIOUS CONTACT TO LOCAL HOUSE AUTHORITIES.
The Moretti serpent coiled beneath the message in silver.
Avery’s throat tightened.
Flood line sat only two districts from her apartment.
Too close.
Far too close.
She moved faster through the crowd.
The rain had worsened by the time she reached her building. Water streamed through the
alleyways outside in oily rivers while old ventilation ducts screamed overhead under
pressure strain.
Avery climbed the apartment stairs quickly.
One flight.
Two.
Three—
She stopped.
Something waited outside her door.
Flowers.
Belladonna.
Fresh.
Avery’s pulse stumbled instantly.
Vinny.
The flowers rested carefully beside the frame wrapped in black ribbon. Beneath them sat a
folded scrap of paper stained slightly by rainwater.
Avery glanced down the empty hallway before kneeling carefully.
The note contained only four words.
TRY NOT TO MISS ME.
Her chest hurt so suddenly she almost laughed.
Idiot.
Beautiful idiot.
Avery pressed the paper briefly against her coat before unlocking the apartment.
The second she stepped inside—
she knew something was wrong.
Stillness.
Not ordinary silence.
Wrong silence.
Avery froze near the doorway instantly.
Her apartment remained untouched at first glance.
Bed.
Sink.
Window.
Flowers.
But—
The journal bag sat slightly crooked beside the chair.
Not where she left it.
Fear surged through her body immediately.
Avery crossed the room fast and grabbed the bag, fingers shaking as she opened it.
The journal remained inside.
Still there.
Still safe.
But something else had moved.
A folded page protruded slightly near the back where she knew she hadn’t left it.
Avery slowly pulled it free.
Not her handwriting.
The message written across the paper was short.
WE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE.
Cold flooded through her instantly.
No signature.
No symbol.
Nothing.
Avery spun toward the apartment door automatically.
Nobody there.
Rain hammered violently against the windows outside while ventilation pipes groaned
through the walls.
Someone had been inside.
Someone knew.
Her breathing grew uneven.
Think.
Think.
Nothing else appeared stolen.
No signs of forced entry.
No damage.
Just the message.
A warning.
Or a threat.
Avery grabbed the journal tighter against her chest instinctively.
The leather felt grounding beneath trembling fingers.
Someone knew what she was.
No—
Worse.
Someone wanted her to know they knew.
A sharp knock hit the apartment door suddenly.
Avery nearly jumped out of her skin.
Three knocks.
Too controlled to be Vinny.
Fear flashed hot through her veins.
Another knock echoed through the room.
Slow.
Patient.
Waiting.
The knock came again.
Slow.
Measured.
Avery stood frozen in the center of the apartment with the journal clutched tightly against
her chest.
Rain battered the windows hard enough to rattle glass while old pipes groaned through the
walls like something alive beneath the building.
Another knock.
Whoever waited outside wasn’t in a hurry.
That terrified her more.
Avery carefully slid the journal back into the leather bag at her hip before reaching slowly
toward the knife hidden beneath her coat.
The blade felt small suddenly.
Useless.
“Avery.”
Vinny.
Relief hit so violently her knees almost weakened.
She crossed the apartment quickly and unlocked the door only halfway before stopping
short.
Vinny looked terrible.
Paler than usual.
Breathing too hard.
Rain-soaked curls hanging over exhausted eyes.
And blood covered the front of his shirt.
Fresh blood.
“Vinny—”
“I’m fine.”
Lie.
Massive lie.
He stumbled slightly crossing the doorway and caught himself against the wall hard enough
to make Avery’s stomach drop.
The apartment door slammed shut behind him from the force.
“You’re not fine.”
“I’m surviving. Different category.”
Another cough ripped through him violently before he finished speaking.
This time blood sprayed visibly across his knuckles.
Too much.
Far too much.
Fear surged so hard through Avery it nearly became anger again.
“You need a hospital.”
“No hospitals.”
“You could die!”
Vinny laughed once weakly under his breath.
“Starting to think that might be your favorite sentence.”
“Stop joking!”
The sharpness in her voice finally cut through his exhaustion slightly.
Silence settled heavily between them.
Rain.
Labored breathing.
Blood dripping slowly from Vinny’s hand onto her apartment floor.
Avery stared at the black veins barely visible again beneath the skin near his throat now.
Spreading.
God.
They were spreading faster.
“What happened?” she whispered.
Vinny looked away immediately.
Wrong answer.
Again.
Avery stepped closer before stopping herself abruptly halfway across the room.
Every instinct screamed to help him.
Every instinct screamed not to touch him.
The contradiction felt unbearable.
“Vinny.”
He leaned heavily against the sink now, one hand gripping the rusted edge hard enough his
knuckles whitened beneath the blood.
“I got into an argument with my father.”
“That doesn’t explain this.”
“No.” His smile turned thin. “It explains my mood.”
“Vinny.”
Something flickered across his face then.
Not fear.
Not pain.
Guilt.
Avery’s stomach twisted colder.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Silence.
Then another cough doubled him over hard enough this time that blood splattered directly
into the sink basin.
Bright red against rusted metal.
Avery physically flinched.
Vinny saw it immediately.
Not disgust.
Fear.
For him.
His expression softened painfully.
“Ave…”
“You’re dying.”
The words finally broke out of her raw and shaking.
“You’re actually dying.”
Vinny straightened slowly.
Blood stained his mouth now.
His shirt.
His hands.
The sink.
The poison was killing him in real time and both of them knew it now.
Still—
he looked at her like she was the one breaking apart.
“It’s okay,” he said quietly.
Avery stared at him in horror.
“No.”
“Avery—”
“No!”
Her voice cracked through the apartment violently.
Rain thundered outside harder.
“You don’t get to say that like it’s okay!” she shouted. “You don’t get to stand there bleeding
because of me and act calm about it!”
“Ave.”
“You should hate me!”
The words hit the room like shattered glass.
Vinny went completely still.
Avery’s breathing turned uneven instantly after saying it.
Because part of her meant it.
Maybe most of her.
People were supposed to hate monsters eventually.
That was the natural order of things.
Vinny looked at her for a very long time.
Then quietly:
“I don’t.”
The simplicity of it hurt worse than anger could have.
Avery turned away sharply before he could see tears burning suddenly behind her eyes.
The apartment felt too small.
Too warm.
Too human.
Vinny coughed again behind her, weaker this time.
Then—
a crash.
Avery spun instantly.
Vinny had caught himself against the counter before fully collapsing, breathing ragged now,
blood streaking down his wrist where blackened veins disappeared beneath rolled sleeves.
And for the first time—
Avery saw genuine fear in his eyes too.
Not fear of her.
Fear that his body was beginning to fail faster than he could hide it.