Chapter 2
“ J ade! Jade, where the fuck are you?”
I swam toward Jenna’s voice in the dark ocean of currents in my unconsciousness. Footsteps crunched leaves and the smell of Jenna’s perfume drifted on the breeze. I pried my eyes open as she knelt over me and her bleach blonde hair came into focus.
“Jade, are you ok? What the fuck happened?” she asked, concern lacing her words. “Are you hurt?”
I struggled to sit up and she reached a hand out to help. Shaking my head, I pressed fingertips into my eyes, willing the world to stop spinning.
“I…I don’t know,” I said once everything righted itself. I glanced all around for a sign of the man and whatever had just saved me.
Only Jenna and Alex’s confused faces stared back at me.
“Why are you on the ground? Is someone out here?” Jenna searched my face as if an explanation would appear on my forehead.
Leaves rustled as Alex stepped closer, squinting his eyes as if I had a second head.
“No. No one is here. I probably tripped from exhaustion and maybe hit my head,” I rushed.
Telling them what happened would be useless.
Alex would be a disbelieving prick about it and Jenna would be ruffled unnecessarily.
Some of her inebriation had probably worn off by now, but she wouldn’t be herself until she slept.
She was an emotional drunk which meant she cried at the drop of a hat.
“Do you need to go to the hospital?” Jenna asked as I pushed myself off the ground to stand.
“No, I’m fine. I just need sleep.”
“Dude, haven’t you heard you aren’t supposed to sleep if you hit your head? You might die from a concussion or something,” Alex interjected. “That’s, like, common sense.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, his insult making my headache worse. “Listen, asshole, I lasted the hour. All I need out of you is payment and nothing else. Cough it up.”
“Jade!” Jenna squeaked. “Be nice.”
I whirled toward her after Alex slapped two twenties in my hand, the motion making me a bit dizzy. “You know what, Jenna. No. He’s the one who’s never nice. Direct your comments to him, not me.” I looked back at Alex. “Take me home.”
He scoffed and walked toward the car. “You better be glad you’re Jenna’s friend, otherwise, I’d leave your ass here,” he threw over his shoulder.
I rolled my eyes and glanced back at Jenna who was staring after us open-mouthed, her lower lip trembling slightly. “Oh, come on,” I said, stepping back and dragging her by the arm out of the woods.
The next night at work was slow. It was Saturday, but it wasn’t summer anymore so hotel traffic had died down over the last few weeks.
Despite the weekend, I’d only had a few check-ins and as the clock ticked to midnight, I knew there would only be a few stragglers.
After that, I usually had the rest of the night to myself.
In my seventh year with the hotel, I was the most senior employee there except the manager. Because of that, I was able to choose what shift I wanted. No one wanted the graveyard though so even before my long tenure, I’d been able to choose it.
Nighttime was when I was most comfortable so third shift was ideal for me.
Everything was quiet and calm. Unlike the hustle and bustle of the town during the day, at night I could hear the sound of the wind, and see the stars.
When I shopped for groceries at the twenty-four-seven market, I didn’t have to worry about running into anyone in the smaller town where everyone knew everyone.
With all my work tasks complete, I tried to read a book but couldn’t focus. The hotel manager wasn’t strict about always working so if there was downtime I could read, watch TV, or anything else. But out of all the things I could’ve been doing, my mind only wanted to think about the day before.
I’d run errands after getting off work that morning so I hadn’t slept when Jenna called about the party. The events that followed in the woods replayed in my mind over and over. At one point I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me and I was imagining it all. Deep down, I knew I wasn’t.
The voice repeated in my ears. It was harsh and sounded sort of like an angry witch.
But then I remembered what I heard before I blacked out.
Rather, what I thought I’d heard. It was almost as if its voice softened and had no anger behind it like when it confronted the man.
It sounded possessive in a way no one had ever referred to me before.
Mind shifting to the most recent situationship I’d had, I scrubbed my hands over my face.
Needless to say it failed miserably, and I didn’t want to deal with the complications of dating again, even though it ended eight months before.
I was a loner. I’d dated around but never found the right man or woman I wanted to settle down with.
Marriage wasn’t something that mattered to me so I was content with or without it.
If I never had a long-term relationship, I was okay with that.
I had a vibrator and that was all I needed.
I didn’t have a lot of family either so everything I had, I’d worked for.
Working so much didn’t leave time for relationships.
Shit was so expensive that I struggled to pay my rent in addition to bills, groceries, and my hobbies.
Paint and supplies were expensive too, but as my only escape, it was essential.
Although, I could be a bit better about starting pieces and never finishing them.
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I focused back on the book and forced myself to pay attention.
She’s mine.
The voice floated through my mind again later that night. Scared wasn’t the right descriptor. I was curious. What was it, though?
I settled in the chair behind the front desk pondering all the possibilities. Spirits walked the earth, that much I knew—some even malicious. Was it a spirit? All the spirits I’d read about were ones that were felt or were more like smoky apparitions.
The thing in the woods wasn’t smoke. Smoke couldn’t hold shape and be draped in a robe.
It had to be a solid being, yet I had no explanation for what it was.
It had to be some kind of creature. I wracked my brain.
None of my occult books had mentioned a being like that before that I could remember.
I made a mental note to scour them the next time I had a free moment.
“Hey, Jade.”
The pen in my hand flew across the desk as I whipped the chair around toward the employee entrance, my heart racing. Then I saw it was just Ruby.
“Fucking hell, Ruby, you scared the shit out of me. It’s only five, what are you doing here?” I asked, glancing at the clock. I’d wasted all my night in my head.
She laughed. “Oh, I couldn’t sleep so I figured I would come on in and let you go a bit early. Since you came in early for me a few weeks ago when I had that birthday party for the little one, it’s the least I can do.”
Ruby was in her late forties and had a cute grandkid she adored.
When she needed off early for one thing or another I always covered.
Ruby was sort of like a mom to me even though we weren’t that close and her daughter was younger than I was by a few years.
She would always bring me baked goods and check in to see how I was doing.
She had for all three years she’d worked at the hotel.
“It's no problem, Ruby. You know I don’t mind. You don’t have to pay me back or anything,” I said as an idea popped into my head. “Actually, you know what, I’m pretty tired and I do have to stop by the store on my way home so I’ll take you up on it. The sooner I get to bed the better.”
I wasn’t tired. I’d gotten to bed around 2:00 a.m. or so after Alex dropped me off the night before and I slept all day until I needed to be ready for work at 10:00 p.m.
“See you later.” I waved to Ruby as I grabbed my black purse from the break room behind the reception desk, slipped out the door. I still had a few hours before daylight, so I got in my car and sped toward the little church on the winding back country road.