Shade

Chapter 8 - Dear Daniel

Eddy and Daniel were lovers. I had discovered that early into my stay as I walked by Eddy's room one morning. The door was open a crack and I found Daniel sleeping soundly in Eddy's tattooed arms. They were a case of opposites attract to be sure; where Eddy was crass and loud, Daniel was thoughtful and reserved.

I had intended to talk to Jonas about what I had heard and seen in the orchard: the mysterious spirits of Molly and Arthur, strangers from the past, something I couldn't explain. But I heard the life emanating from Eddy's room as I entered the house and jogged up the stairs. I heard Caroline's giggles and smelled the aroma of weed. I wanted to feel safe in their company, the mundane joy of their idle chatter.

I stood in Eddy's doorway like a ghost, unsure of what to say or even how to announce myself.

"That's nice," Caroline was saying. "This batch is smoother."

A plume of white smoke exited her lips. She passed a glass piece back to Eddy. Her hair was tied back in a scrunchie. She looked relaxed in a tye-dyed sports bra and athletic shorts. Eddy was in his usual black jeans but wasn't wearing a shirt. His large tattoo of a deer was on full display; sinewy antlers connected the dots on his freckled back. Dear Daniel sat between them. He was the only one who noticed me, but he said nothing.

"Cause that's what I was sayin' you know?" said Eddy gesturing to his pipe. "This shit's got a hoo-haa, but yesterday's had a heeeeh."

"That's poetry, Eddy Hart." Caroline chuckled and fell backwards on the bed.

"You're my muse."

"I'm everyone's muse."

Eddy finally noticed me. His bloodshot eyes widened. I spooked him.

"Kitty Kat!"

"Hi," I said without any of his exuberance.

"Would you like to partake?" He asked. He held out his pipe and a lighter.

"No thanks." I must have looked terrifying, pale in the dark of the hallway. I might've been shaking.

Caroline rolled onto her stomach. "Are you alright? You look like you saw something."

"Yeah, one might even say a ghost," I replied.

Caroline and Eddy cocked their heads. Daniel continued to stare into me.

"I mean, I think that's what I saw," I said. "I was out in the orchard-"

"Nope," said Caroline abruptly. She stood and put her hands over her ears. "Nope. I cannot hear this right now. I am too high for ghost stories."

She left the room without another word. Eddy remained seated and shrugged.

"Takes a lot to rattle me. I used to roll out in haunted houses, abandoned factories, insane asylums... That was the cool shit back in Charm City."

"Have you seen anything haunting here?" I asked.

"Sure," he said without giving it a thought. I emitted a sigh of relief. It was nice to not be alone.

"When I trip balls, I see all sorts of shit," he said with a laugh. "But, nah, I'm just fuckin' with you. I haven't seen shit here... but it's cool that you do. What'd you see?"

I deflated. "Just now, well, a man and a woman. They looked like they were from the 19th century? 18th century? I never understood how that works."

Eddy shrugged again.

"The 1800's," I decided. "It was like they were standing right in front of me and then they would like disappear any time they left the shadows."

"That's mad nuts."

"Yeah. I was going to go with- I don't know. Maybe mad nuts is the best way to describe how I'm feeling." Eddy remained completely chill. I held my hands out in exasperation. "And there's been nothing, nothing like this has ever happened to anyone here?"

"No. Not that I know of. You sure you don't need a hit?"

I shook my head. That was the last thing I needed. I drifted out of his doorway feeling helpless and crazy. I didn't know how I even wanted Eddy and Caroline to respond. Nothing they could have offered me would have provided an explanation for what I had seen.

I returned to Jonas's room. I sat on his bed. The black journal still rested on his desk. A shadow moved in the hall. Daniel entered my doorway.

"Hey," he said softly.

He entered and sat across from me at the desk. He massaged his slender wrists. His arms were narrow and hairless like a child.

"I've seen things here," he said. "Not during the light of day, no walking in the shadows, but in my dreams."

I put my head in my hands, expecting Daniel to tell me another unrelated instance of drug-addled visions.

"This place has history," he continued. "All places do, but I mean, something bad happened here. I've seen the lovers, Arthur and Molly."

He knew their names. I gazed into his eyes. He had my full attention.

"They speak with fear. They talk about this mission where people are tortured. They talk about the lake. They talk about Ms. Dunham. And they talk about Jack." He paused. His forehead wrinkled with distress. "Have you seen Jack?"

"I, I'm not sure," I said.

"He's dead. They all are. But Jack looks dead. His skin's like chalk and his eyes are only darkness."

I found myself nodding. My eyes were damp, my throat was choked.

"Yeah, yes I've seen him," I said. "I saw him in the first moment I got here."

"That's when I first saw him too, the day you got here," said Daniel. "In a dream. He told me he's not after me. He said he's mad at the others. He told me I was gonna die, but not at his hands."

"What can this mean?" I asked him. "If we're both seeing the same things-"

"I don't know," he murmured.

"And you didn't tell Eddy any of this?"

"No."

He stood and walked to the window. He traced his fingers over the warped glass. I looked again to the journal on the desk.

"And that black book isn't yours?"

"No," he repeated.

"Do you think we should tell someone?" I asked desperately. "Eddy or Jonas or Walter or Evelyn?"

Daniel didn't look at me. He was transfixed by the view outside.

"Whatever is going to happen to us has already happened," he whispered.

Frost collected on the window. A chill came over the room. The shadow of a man moved across the hall again, but whoever it belonged to didn't appear in the doorway. It was only a shadow.