Chapter 9

Zoey's face went a beaver brown. There was a ghost, there had to be. Or else… What was it she saw?

"No, no you're lying." Kingiver shook her head side to side at the woman's exclamations. Clearly seeing the sorrow in her eyes, the old woman reached her wrinkly hands up to stroke her cheeks.

"Sweety, I was joking." Crying, she wraps her arm around Zoey, but still staying cautious of the blood. "By the goddess, I was joking." All this didn't make sense. She saw the ghost. Heck, she heard its voice. Nothing, NOTHING was going to convince her that wasn't real. She had the hand to prove it. She had blood. Real blood.

"What."

"Zoey, nothing hap-"

"Get off me!" She pushed the old woman with force but quickly felt bad. "You're… you're with them are you?" A tsunami of confusion made its way over Barbra's face.

"With who, sweetie?" She reaches out her hand to try and comfort Zoey but is quickly forsaken. Tears of anger and confusion rivered its way down Zoey's face as she spoke.

"You're with my voice. MY VOICE!" Zoey's voice was strained. She would do anything to leave this place, this town, but she couldn't. No matter what she did, she always ended right back here. She lived far away for a while, but couldn't afford the costly rent. Her money was all spent up from college. Granted she finally got a degree in something, but the debt still stung. Her hand was still shaking with the crystallized weapon.

"Zoey. I know it's hard to understand, but please… just go to sle-" The woman's words ceased as Zoey dug the reflective dagger into her neck. A gush of red liquid came sprawling out onto her body, the floor, anywhere you could mention. Feeling that rush, Zoey pulled out the shard before interesting it into her scaly skin once more.

And more.

And more.

Zoey kept repeating this process until there was no indication of life in the woman's eyes. The thirty-one-year-old hands were covered, tip to wrist, with blood. The putrid smell of it was almost enough to make her puke all over her body. That was it. It was over. She didn't have to worry anymore. She was safe, free to live.

"Goodbye, Barbra." As she spoke, the sound of a sinister laugh interrupted her. Oh god. "I thought I got rid of you, I thought you were dead now." She placed her hand over her ears to block out the sounds. Just then, a shriek of terrible sounds placed its way into her head. Zoey couldn't place a time when that voice didn't make her want to scratch her eardrums out. The mere sound of the damn thing made Zoey want to, kill yourself. Zoey thought that was the sure way to get out of this. There was a lot of screaming, so the police were bound to come. Wanting to end this cycle of suffering, Zoey grabs the blood cover shard and lunges the see-through object into her abdomen. It didn't take long for the world around her to subtly turn black.