Flash of Light

Chapter Ten

   "C-Corvus, what happened to you?"

   "I don't really know. Everything from the last year or so is a little hazy." The ghost gave a shy smile that looked genuine. It was strange to see Corvus show emotions so brazenly.

   "W-what do you last remember?" stuttered Rita as shocked as I was when I saw him for the first time.

  "Um, well, I guess about a year ago the spirit that stole my body strangled me. That was during winter break, so when I came back, that's when I had the big personality change. I'm pretty sure my eyes had a change too. Nothing else big happened that I remember. The bruises were hurting a lot this week though."

   "What do you mean stole your body?" I asked before adding, "and what spirit is he?" 

   "I can't remember anything about his appearance, but I do remember him saying something about a plan. He didn't elaborate it though. Last night he possessed me I guess. After he jumped out of the window I lost track of him. That's all I can recall, sorry."

   "We need to find out what his plan is, and we need to get Corvus' body back," Miles' stated as he started passing back and forth, swapping ideas with Rita about what to do. Corvus sat down in the air and listened to them. Taking a deep breath, I turned to look out the window. I watched the sky rapidly darken as a storm approached. I blinked in disbelief. How could a cloudless, bright blue sky covered with dark grey clouds in seconds? I stood up from the bean bag and walked over to the window, looking out onto the street and neighborhood entrance. A handful of eldritch abominations scurried passed as one entered the neighborhood.

   "Guys, you might want to come see this," I muttered in fear before I saw him. It was Corvus, the one I had met, followed by a big black dog made of what looked like mist. He stopped walking and turned to face me. The blood drained out of my face as we made eye contact. Even from this distance, I could see how his face split into a cruel smile. He waved at me before turning around again and walking away. The nausea from yesterday came back full force causing me to fall to the floor with my hands wrapped around my waist.

   I don't know how long I was on the floor before reality finally focused again. Ice cold hands rested on my shoulders, a wet towel laid on my forehead, and my head was in someone's lap. 

   "You okay?" someone, maybe Miles, asked. I tried to answer, but my throat was far too dry. Miles carefully moved me out of his lap and against the wall as the cold hands, Corvus, took off the wet towel the  best he could. Rita walked into the room with a glass of water and made a b-line towards me. She was asking a lot of questions , but everything was blending together. 

   "Rita, slowdown. I don't think he can understand you," Miles said from next to me, taking the cup and raising it to my lips. I quickly drank the water which somehow made everything go back to normal. 

   "I saw Corvus, his body. And it was walking after these," I took a deep breath before continuing, "eldritch-like monsters. One came into the neighborhood, but I lost sight of it when I saw the ghost." Rita crept over to the window to look around. As she opened her mouth to say something, a loud, terrified scream cut her off. Her eyes widened, and she hurriedly shut the curtains.

   "W-what the actual fuck was that? That creature thing was literally crawling on someone's wall after leaving through their window. Oh god, oh god, oh god- it was so creepy what the hell?"

   "What did it look like? What was the cause of the scream?" asked Miles.

   "Black, really big, um, like three sets of arms. It's face has a ton of super sharp teeth. That's pretty much all I saw before shutting the curtains."

   "Do you think that's his plans, scaring people? It would get people to listen to him out of fear," stated Corvus from where he floated next to Miles. Before any of us could answer, the forgotten movie began to glitch out and changed to show the front of town hall. Corvus' body stood there with some of the creatures behind him.

   A glitchy voice emitted from the screen, "Hello citizens. Welcome to your last day living. Some of you might encounter some of my friends," he said gesturing to the things behind him. "You may be wondering why this is happening. Easy, your ancestors brought upon the death of an innocent man who was very dear to me, so I decided that you would all pay. A little warning in advance, my friends like your fears and know your worst one, so I'd avoid them if I were you." The screen cut to static as he gave a terrifying grin. We all turned to each other in fear as the glitched out voice echoed once again. "C̷̱̗̼̞̊̒a̵̛̭̼͕͛͗͌̌r̷̦͚̗̠͝t̴̯̟̥̅͗͌͝ȩ̴̥̥͊̀r̴̛̮̟̺͊̊̍,̸͕̯̾ S̸̖͙̻͙̎̅̃͠͠á̷͔̞̽͗́̃n̴̩͈̘̖̦̊͘ḍ̸̀̉̈́̋ͅe̸̙̫̒̓͛̈́r̵̭͔͈͊̀s̵̫̊̽̔͜ò̸̱͂̍n̴͖͝,̴̡̛̯̘̒ a̸̯̿͆̈́n̵̠̜̤̪̠̓̋̒͝d̴̦̎̈́̀̕͜͜͠ Ṇ̷̗̉̾̑ě̵͓̪̭͆͝l̷̰̦͇̆̏̉̕s̸̝̏̾ó̸̡̙͎̰̺̋̿̀̄n̵͈̲͇̤̥͗̅̇͐͝ w̷͍̾̆͐̅̐i̷͍͉͊l̷͆̽̄̀͜ḷ̸̬̏ b̶̬̗͙̉̈́̉̕ẻ̵̝̃́̾͂͜ t̷̬͙̊̈̄̄̔h̶̻̗̅̌̈́̓e̸̢̲̝͈̓̐̈̔͆ f̷͖̪̰͒́́ĭ̶̧̛̱̲̳͋̀̕͜r̶̦̙̤̈́̒̕ͅş̶͔̊̀̓̓͠t̶͎̟̤̙͖̋̆̓͋̔ t̶̝͖̘̪͆͗ȯ̶̙͘ d̵͔̏í̴͓͖̃͘͘͝ē̶̪͆͊.̷̛̝̲́ Ì̷̻͝'̶̜̉̀͐̋m̸̼̻͈̰̣̏ c̵̼̥͖̳̳͘ó̶̡̦̹̕͝m̸̝̝̫̊͒́̍ḭ̴͎̌̐͊́͝ͅn̵̘̱͚̼̜͊̀g̵̡̼̬̔̀͊ f̴͚̟̰̗̆͝ǫ̷̨̫̀̂r̵͖̜̦̰̲̀̋̈́͐ ỳ̵̜̝ọ̶̪̝́͒ȕ̵̝̉́̋̐.̴͈̪͍̀̋̍" When the threat finished, the TV exploded, scattering glass around the room. All four of us screamed in surprise.

   "I-I'm hearing things right? That wasn't our last names just said, just threatened  by an insane ghost hell bent on revenge for something who knows how long ago? Two hundred years or so?" Miles asked panicking. Corvus gave us a sympathetic look, more helpless in this situation then we were. Tears ran down Rita's cheeks as she wrapped her arms around her hips, shaking in fear. I pulled her into a hug, trying to control my own frantic breathing.

   A pained noise startled us out of our own thoughts. We all whipped our heads over to where Corvus was floating. Dark mist was wrapped around his body, slowly growing to cover him. Giving me a pained look, he ripped the ring off of his finger and threw it at me as the mist consumed him completely. The last thing I could see was the sky blue color of his eyes change to the dark blue that I had known. The mist disappeared along with Corvus without a trace off either of them. 

   The rain finally began to pour down as we stood in confusion and horror of what was truly happening.