The In-betweens

Chapter 4

I have to think fast. "Look at this, Sam!" I turned to call on Sam, making it sound that my *hey* was actually about discovering this picturesque boulder of rocks which I have been gazing at moments ago. But that seconds of pause might have given me away, because this in-between is circling me like am a prey to his vulture stance.

I ran towards the rocks coaxing Sam to follow.       "C'mon Sam". I have to lose this in-between. How stupid of me to think that he is one of us. Who in their right mind or right realm would wear a hoodie at the beach especially on that rocks where you can actually be soaked. I had a glimpse on what he's wearing, mainly because of his constant circling, but I tried so hard not to look at his face.

Maybe this one drowned because beyond his noir glow, I can assume that he is dripping wet. The good thing about me seeing in-betweens is that they do not look grotesque or mangled up as horror films morbidly portray them. They actually look normal to me, except for their faint glows, ability to pass through barriers, and an inkling of how they die.

With my ten-year encounters with in-betweens, I have not seen such menacing ones like this one here. On my early years of seeing, feeling, and hearing them, only a few have actually acknowledged my presence. One of which was from my mother's workplace immediately after our transfer to Lluvfrea.

∞

As I was behaving myself at one of the corners of the nurse station, clutching my sheep stuff toy close to my chest, and while most of the in-betweens are busy passing through people and walls, one of them stood out.

An elderly woman with a face like porcelain caught my attention because of her lilac dress, with tiny white florals, paired with coffee colored brogues. If not for her wrinkled hands and silver hair adorned with flowers with the same lilac hue, I would have thought that she's younger. With her shifting eyes, she was muttering "where did I put it?" over and over again. She was a little on edge and biting her nails, when she realized that I was staring at her and not at the room door that she just passed through.

She hurried my way, at the corner where I was trying so hard to make myself invisible, traversing through the people, a wheel chair, and a cubicle along her path. "You got to help me find it" she said in a soft harp-like voice while placing both hands on her knees so her gray eyes would meet my amber pair. Along with her faint glow, I could feel her despair and desperation. Still holding her gaze, though she was translucent and I could see the sphygmomanometer behind her, I nodded slowly.

That was one of the seldom incidents that my mother did not find me where she left me. She found me at the information desk, insisting that the reception should call this number for I have to return a vintage brooch I found somewhere in the hospital. "She had to complete her ensemble", I told them in my squeaky eight year old voice. That was three hours after I left my post and searched hi and lo with Miss Fernandez, the elderly in-between.

She knows that she belong to the other realm, but she has to find the brooch. She died with it at the hospital but it was never returned as one of her belongings. Turns out one of the cleaners got it and kept it to herself. I don't even remember how we ended up tracking the whereabouts of the golden forget-me-not brooch after sneaking to the morgue, asking nurses on duty, and the utility staff. Seemed like a long shot but we did find it.

"It was a parting gift, from my paramour, he died as a soldier during the war. It has been years of waiting and longing. How will he recognize me, without the brooch?" she narrated while we walk the corridors, me opening doors, and forcibly talking to people with the same question "Have you seen a golden forget-me-not brooch about two inches in size?" Her reason did not resonate with me. Why should they see each other again? At that time, I, who noticed her because of her dainty dress, am more concerned with her outfit. It would be more perfect with the golden brooch.

∞

As I reach the foot of the tabletop rock, pretending to wait for Sam,  I am carefully  tracking the in-between, without looking at him. One moment he is so near, I can feel chills at the back of my neck, but at times he is distancing himself, I can feel the cold wind being sucked away from me. The goosebumps on my arm might give me away, but it can easy be attributed to the breeze brought by the smashing waves.

As Sam caught up with me, pointing her phone as to wait for the perfect moment for the waves to hit the rocks, the in-between settled at the apex of the formation right at center of Sam's screen. This opened up an excuse for me to stare and scrutinize a little longer, looking for clues of who he was. Aside from his gray hoodie, the in-between is donned in a tattered blue jeans, and a signature sneakers. That was the only things I noticed before he paced back and forth  from the apex to the foot of the rocks, in erratic speed and glow. I tried not to bat an eye but his unpredictability is hard to ignore.

Like right on cue, Sam remarked "Got it! This would be the talk of my instagram fans later. Look" handing me her phone. Flashed there in her 8 inch screen is a scenic shot of the tabletop rock, with its tint of silvery gray and emerald green, in contrast to the glistening bubbly white of the waves as it collided with the rock's blunt corner, beautifully framed by the azure blue sky. Right there at the far right of the picture is an imperceptible black glow, noticeable only to me who witnessed in source in its full form.

"Would you like me to take a remembrance of you being here? I think I could recreate that" Sam is holding her palm towards me asking for her phone but it took me too long to realize what she meant "Addie?".

"Yes. I mean, No. It's okay. Less evidence that I am here, the better. Mama will never unearth any proof, just in case" returning the phone to her, ignoring how close the in-between is to Sam. Did she have some chills too?

"We should head out. It's getting cold" wrong statement. This might give me off again, but the in-between did not budge. She is looking directly at Sam's, trying to have a glimpse of her phone. I do not want him to see what I saw at the picture so I just blurted out "You should call Jess. What time would he be here?"

"Well, that's new. You being excited to see Jess?" Sam looked at me with her surprised eyes and teasing smile. Definitely missing the point but I got her to change her screen from the picture to her contact as she searched for Jess' number. I actually wanted to leave early this time around. This in-between is making me uncomfortable.

Sam and I walked side-by-side towards the beach entrance while she talked to Jess on the phone but I can't hear the words she uttered because I am too caught up with my thoughts on how to lose this in-between who is constantly lurking from a distance. I can see him in my periphery and I can feel him in my bones. 

While Sam and I laid on the sand to get ourselves dry before Jess arrived, the in-between did not get too close. I got myself to close my eyes, to listen to the song of the ocean. When I opened them, the persistent in-between was nowhere to be found. Great.

We head out to the curbside, and there it is Jess' Smoked grey with old english white trim Austin mini cooper. I love the car, always makes me happy, but I hate the owner, so my feeling towards it is always neutral. "You go shotgun, I'll take the back. I need to sleep. Pretty please?" Sam rhetorically mentioned while overtaking me and running towards the back door of the cooper.

Right before I complain, the chills are back. I hurried to the passenger seat with a panicked gait. Opened it and settled in nervously. "Hey weirdo" Jess greeted. But I was too busy calming my nerves, too busy to commit a mistake again. I peeked towards the in-between's direction. My heart is thumping loudly as he caught my eye. In an instant, he was right beside me as I was about to close the door. He whispered with that same rough and distant tone "I'm gonna come find you".