Spirits Lost

Spirits Lost
“Help me! I’m lost and I don’t know where I am! Please, I just want my mommy!” The tow-headed boy looked to be about 7 or 8 years old. His forest colored eyes bored into her soul. “I need you!” The boy reached out to her and his arm was only bones, no skin, no flesh, just tiny bones.
Onyx fled the bed as if jolted by lightning, her own scream still resonating in her ears. This same dream had been robbing her of sleep for weeks. She ran her fingers through her short wavy black hair and gave herself a mental shake to snap her back to a reassuring reality. She really couldn’t explain why the dreams had started much less the “daymares” that had begun shortly after, but she felt that if something was repeated then there must be a reason for it. Onyx poured a cup of coffee and said a short prayer that the fog in her head would dissipate enough for her to get some work done on her manuscript before her editor called and bitched. She grabbed her pen and sat at the table.
* * *
“Hi Sweetie, I’ve missed you.” The woman looked to be about 30 and an older version of the boy.

“MOMMY! You found me! I missed you, I was lost, I couldn’t find my way out!” The little boy’s face lit up with excitement.

“Yes, Luke, I found you and I missed you too.”
The woman turned to face Onyx. “You don’t know what’s going on and I understand that, but the power in you is strong. I’ll do all I can to help you, but if we don’t hurry, you won’t have time to develop what’s needed to defeat her, and I can tell you that we won’t be the only two you will see.”

A ringing noise caught them both off guard and the woman said,

“My name is Sapphire, and later we need to talk but right now you need to go.”

Onyx snapped back awake and grabbed the phone.
“Hello?”

“Hi, Ms. Stone, I have your editor on the line.”

“Yes, I know I’m running behind on the manuscript.”

“Well she wants to talk to you, so I’ll patch her through.”

“Onyx, babe, how are ya? You know I love ya, but girl, you’re running behind schedule…when am I gonna get that book?”

“How bout when I get it finished?” Onyx couldn’t help the sarcasm, it just came out.

“Well, aren’t we crabby this morning?”

“No, I’m sorry, Alexis, I just haven’t been able to sleep lately.”

“Well, I want it done within the month or we might not have the chance to publish it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, it’s nothing really; just the publisher might have to drop it.”

Onyx was tired of constantly being reminded about her manuscript, and had many doubts when it came to finishing her book about perfect murders.
* * *
Onyx decided to watch a little television and hoped that would give her time to think about the newest member of her dreamstate and what the importance behind their appearance was. She grabbed the remote and flipped to the local news.

“Police are searching for a missing mother and child and need any information to bring them home. According to reports, the child is male, 7 years of age, with blond hair and green eyes. His name is Lucian Cyrus Smith, and he’s been missing for two weeks, his mother is Sapphire Ruby Smith and was reported missing by friends when she didn’t show up to continue distributing flyers of her missing boy. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Ms. Smith or Lucian, please call the Mystic County Police Department at 555-7120 or the FBI at 1 800 RED TAPE.”

The news station placed the pictures of Sapphire and Luke up with their respective descriptions. Her blood turned to ice, and Onyx immediately knew that these were the two in her “dreams”. They were dead, the same person killed them both, and that person was female from what Sapphire had told her. She decided to put her book on hold and went to her alter to meditate. She took her blue lighter out of her pocket and in order lit the candles: green for earth, red for fire, blue for water, yellow for air, white for spirit and black for balance.

She then sat cross-legged on the floor, closed her eyes and began to chant: “Air to inspire, Fire to bring desire, Water as my healer, Earth as my church. I call upon you To bless this day anew. So mote it be.”

Onyx breathed a deep sigh of relief as she watched the weight lift off of her shoulders. She was ready to proceed.

“I wish to see what came to be for Lucian and Sapphire. I wish to do what’s needed of me to stop the events transpiring.”

The image came almost instantaneously. He was warm in his bed and the smile on his face told her he was dreaming. A shadow slithered across the window and she felt the tingling of fear start to develop. A masked face appeared in the glass. Onyx felt as though the intruder was looking right at her. Its eyes were an odd shade of brown almost a burnt orange color and sparkled with malice. Onyx looked at the window, noticing it was latched. A strange humming noise began and without a hand on it the latch began to open. She saw the hint of a smile under the mask and felt the evil permeate the room. Thump, thump, thump. Someone was coming down the hall. The intruder’s head whipped toward the door. Eyes narrowed, it slipped back out the window. Onyx thought the person in the hall was going to catch the weird eyed demon, but just as she turned to see who was coming in the door she heard the window latch slide back into place with a faint groan. Sapphire walked into the room and gently ruffled her son’s hair as she pulled the covers back into place. With one last pause at the door, she flipped off the light and pulled the door closed. Slowly, the scene faded to black.
* * *
Onyx had managed to get just the beginning of the story, and decided that more was needed to envoke the rest. She reached under her alter and pulled out her herbalist kit that consisted of bags of dried herbs, resins, a mortar, and a pestle. She sifted through the bags and pulled out the Diviner’s Tears, Mugwort, White Sage, and the Jasmine flowers, measured the correct amounts and placed them in the mortar. As she mixed the incense, she thought about what she wanted to get out of the vision she was about to attempt. She placed a piece of charcoal on the burner then placed the incense on it, returned to her meditative state and began to chant.

“Spirits far, spirits near, hear my call, feel no fear; I call upon thee, Sapphire. Let air give you breath, fire give you life, water give you comfort, and earth give you grounding so that you can give me what I need, to see how to help you be at peace.”
* * *
Onyx opened her eyes to find herself back in Luke’s room. The sun was just breaking through the window and casting a cheery smile across the floor. Luke’s alarm went off and he sat up as though something was bothering him. Sapphire came in the door with his clothes draped across her arm.

“Good Morning, Sleepyhead. Breakfast is waiting on you and if you don’t put some energy behind that bag of bones you’ll be late for school…”

“Ok, Mom, I’m moving, I’m moving.”

“Good, I’ll wait for you downstairs and we can leave at the same time, okay?”

“Ok, mom.”

Sapphire left the room and Luke pulled himself into his clothes. As Luke left the room, Onyx found herself pulled right along with him. Luke and Sapphire ate breakfast together and got ready to head out the door.

“Bye, Luke, love you, see you later. Maybe we’ll go out for dinner tonight.”

“Ok, mom, love you too, and that sounds like fun.”

With that said, mother and son gave each other a hug, and went their separate ways. As Luke walked to school, he had the feeling he was being watched. Soon a bright yellow car pulled up alongside and a woman’s voice came floating out of the window.

“Hey young’n want a ride?”

“No, thank you, I don’t accept rides from strangers.”

Onyx felt the pride swelling up inside as this little boy made the right choice.

“Ok, well stay safe.” The woman called back and Onyx knew she had heard that voice before.

A few blocks up the street, everything was going smoothly, and Onyx wasn’t sure why she was seeing this. Suddenly, the intruder from the first vision came out from around a tree holding a suspicious piece of cloth.

“You should have accepted the ride, it would have been easier for you.” It was the woman from the car!

She grabbed Luke around the neck when he tried to run and forced the cloth over his face. Luke fought and no matter how hard Onyx tried to there was nothing she could do. Luke’s limp body was dumped in the trunk of the bright yellow car and the intruder shut the trunk. As she walked to the door of the car, she turned and seemed to look right at Onyx as she said, “I know you’re watching, but can you catch me in time?”
With a roar of evil laughter, she slid into the driver’s seat and started the car. Onyx focused her mind and projected herself into the trunk with Luke. It was pitch black and stuffy and the cloth was still over Luke’s face. She leaned in and sniffed to discover that the cloth was soaked in chloroform. What can I do? How can I save this child? The helpless despair went racing through her mind.

“There’s nothing you can do, Onyx. It’s too late for us.” The melancholy voice was Sapphire. “We will go on into our next incarnation eventually, but before we can, we have to help you.”

Onyx was confused, “What do you mean help me?”

“If we can’t help you stop the woman who killed us, we can’t go on and you’ll soon join us. However, while we can’t come straight out and tell you who’s responsible because that’s against the sacred rules, we can point you in the right direction of discovery.”

“So you’re telling me in a nice way that I’m next?” Onyx questioned.

“No, there will be one more, but after she is done with him she will be coming after you, so there is no time to lose. You must hurry!”

The car finally came to a stop. Slam. The sound of metal against metal came to her ears then the lid of the trunk opened. The woman took Luke out of the trunk and carried him into a dilapidated house. She took him downstairs to the basement where an alter table was set and Onyx immediately recognized it as one that belonged to a “Dark” Witch. The woman started to chant an incantation over Luke that Onyx didn’t recognize, then took her ritual knife and cut Luke’s right arm from the elbow to the wrist. As the blood poured from his arm into a chalice, the woman began her own chant:

“As your blood pours into this glass, I shall regain my strength, for because of your sacrifice, to my life I add length.”

Onyx watched in horror as Luke’s color changed from healthy to pasty grey and he took his final breath. The woman took the chalice from underneath his arm sprinkled some concoction on top, lifted her mask to her nose, and drank the glass dry. She smiled as though satisfied and with her ritual knife cut a lock of his hair and placed it in a decorated vial.

The tears were still rolling down Onyx’s cheek when she opened her eyes and she knew that she was going to need more help on this side of the spectrum. Still shaking, she picked up the phone and called her friend Marc Stiles. She had worked with Marc several times over the years when she was still an investigative journalist and knew if anyone could help it would be him. Pick up the phone, Marc. She thought as it rang in her ear and when his deep baritone came over the line she felt the relief course through her.

“Hi, Marc!”

“Hi, Onyx, what’s going on?”

“Listen, Marc, I need you to come over right away, there’s something going on, I need your help and I don’t want to discuss it on the phone.”

“Sure, Onyx, sounds serious…Give me 15 minutes.”

“Ok, Marc, not a problem.” A hope filled smile crossed her face as she turned the phone off. She went back to her alter, again lit the candles, and began to speak. “Spirits new and spirits old, forgive my trespass into your world, I have called upon thee to guide but find I need help on the mortal side. Know this that I do unto you, when this is over there will be salvation anew.” True to his word and fifteen minutes later, a familiar knock was heard. “Onyx, are you okay?” His concerned look touched her heart. “No, I’m not okay, but that’s where you come in.” With a deep breath she sat on the couch and patted the place next to her. “You may as well sit down cuz if you’re standing when I tell you what’s going on, you’ll fall down.” Marc sat his brawny 6’ 2” frame down and turned to stare at her with his gunmetal gaze. “Marc, you know over the years that we’ve worked closely together and that one of the main reasons for that is we never lied to each other right?....” She noticed the puzzled look that crossed his chiseled face. “Yeah, that’s right.” He agreed. “Well, I have information to give you, but I don’t want your cop buddies to know where it came from, because, well you know how cops tend to feel about psychics and I don’t want any flak from them.” “Okay….and your point is…” He pushed her on. “Marc, I know where Luke is. Lucian Cyrus Smith, the missing boy, I know where he is and he’s already dead, Marc, he’s been dead since the day he went missing.” Marc looked at her as if she was in a mental ward and cocked an eyebrow. “And how do you know that, Onyx? Did you do it?” He was mocking her. “I saw it, Marc, in my dreams. I know where he is. A woman took him she’d been watching him for some time. He was walking to school and she chloroformed him, put him in the trunk of a bright almost lemon yellow sporty looking car and drove him to a house. This house looks like it’s been abandoned for years, and I think I’ve seen this house before. It’s rundown, but at one time it was blue a colonial blue with white trim. The paint has chipped off of most the house now. It also has a wrap around style porch that is falling apart on one side. She took him downstairs and laid him on a table, only it’s not a table it’s an alter, a dark alter and once she got him there she cut his arm from elbow to palm drained his blood and drank it. His body is lying against the wall out in the shed by the house.” As she finished giving him the details, she looked over to see him scribbling furiously in his notebook. “And Marc, that’s not all, I don’t know where she is yet, but his mother was murdered by the same woman.” “Ok, Onyx, you know I adore you, but I think you’ve been working a little hard on the whole “perfect murder” thing, and I think that your imagination is running with you a bit when you’re dreaming. But, please, whatever you do, don’t tell anyone else.” Marc stood up and gave her a hug. “I’m going back to work now..” “NO!” She interrupted, “Let’s go for a drive. If I can find the house and we find his body will you believe me then?” “Alright, Onyx, but we’re not going to find him.” “We’ll see, Marc, we’ll see.”
* * *
Onyx and Marc piled into his Jeep Wrangler and left the house. “Where to, boss?” Marc teased. “Let’s start at Luke’s house. The ride in the trunk only took fifteen minutes and she only turned 4 times.” Onyx knew he thought she was crazy, and she prayed for the spirits’ help in guiding her to Luke. “Turn right at the next block.” Sapphire was back in her head. “Marc you gotta turn right at the next block.” “Whatever you say…” was the reply. After five minutes of going the direction given by Sapphire, she said “Turn left at the next intersection.” “Turn left, Marc.” Onyx relayed. After what felt like miles, Onyx felt a chill go up her spine. “We’re close, Marc, very close.” Coming into view was the house Onyx had described in detail and Marc began to feel anxious. They pulled into the drive and Onyx hurriedly exited the car. As they rushed toward the shed, Onyx knew she was right. As they entered through the side door, the smell just about made both vomit. It was the smell of rotting flesh and so putrid it could make even steel stomachs lose their contents. The tears stung her eyes as they came upon the body of Luke. He was curled in a fetal position with the exception of one outstretched skeletal hand. Marc’s face was the picture of surprise and dawning realization. Onyx hadn’t been pulling his leg and her imagination hadn’t run away with her. He grabbed his cell phone and made the call to the precinct. “Dispatch, how can I help you?” “Debbie, this is Stiles. Get the Chief on the phone pronto.” “Hold one sec, Marc, I’ll patch you through.” “This had better be damned important Stiles, I am in the middle of a meeting with the mayor.” “Who is in the room, Chief?” “The mayor and myself, Stiles, what’s the big deal?” “Put me on speakerphone, Chief, and I’ll tell you both at the same time.” Marc heard the click of the button and knew the Chief had honored his request. “Can you both hear me?” The reply was a unanimous “yes”. “Chief, Mr. Mayor, the body of Lucian Smith has just been discovered.” “He’s dead?” The chief reconfirmed. “Yes, sir, and from the looks of it, he’s been dead since the day he was taken.” “I’ll send out the investigation team and the coroner. What’s your position?” “The old Jenkins farm on Route 13, you know out by the lake.” “I’m on it, Stiles, hold your position until back-up arrives.” “That’s an affirmative, Chief, I’ll debrief when we get back to the station.” “Who’s we, Stiles?” “You’ll see.” Marc flipped his phone shut and turned to wrap Onyx in his arms.
“Marc?” “Yeah?” “I need to see the basement.” “We will when back-up arrives.” “Okay.” Marc was worried that Onyx might go into shock. Hell with that kind of discovery even seasoned veterans could face that, but here was Onyx, holding on like a hundred year old tree in hurricane winds. Back up arrived with sirens blaring. The officers poured out of their vehicles with guns drawn looking as though they would shoot first and question later. One of the men approached Marc, who then pointed them in the direction of the shed. Several others went into the house and came out a short while later announcing that the house was clear. Marc took Onyx by the hand and led her into the house and down into the basement. The table Luke was sacrificed on was gone, everything Onyx had seen in her vision was gone, except for chalice and that was wiped clean of finger and lip prints. All that remained was a little of Luke’s blood caked in the bottom. “Touch the right panel on the wall.” Sapphire whispered in her ear. Onyx immediately started pushing the wood paneling sections two at a time. Marc looked over to see what was making the thumping sound. “What are you doing?” He asked. “Sapphire told me to find the right panel.” She said as a panel slid in to reveal a door. She grabbed Marc’s flashlight and with the illumination of the light, found the altar and what was left of Sapphire. “Oh my God!” Marc exclaimed. Sapphire had been hung by her feet, her jugular vein cut and she was drained dry as well. “Hey Boys, get the coroner down here now!” Marc felt sick.
* * *
Onyx felt the spray of the shower trickle down her back, slowing working out the kinks of the day’s grim discoveries and the hours of questioning she had undergone to “test” her abilities. “Cops”, she huffed, “are all the same.” “No such thing as psychics,” she thought in her most macho tone, “Only suspects and witnesses. Blah, Blah, Blah.” She washed the rest of the grime, both physical and mental off and stepped out of the shower. Within minutes, she was dressed and again sitting in front of her alter for her final meditation of the night. She envisioned herself by a stream, a crystal clear, shallow, and cool stream. She could hear the birds chirping, the frogs croaking, and felt as though she were alone. She just about flew out of her envisioned skin when a pair of arms wrapped around her neck from behind. She whipped around to find the skinny arms of Luke wrapped around her. He was beaming at her, while his mother stood close behind. “Thank you for helping me find my mom and helping me go on.” He sounded so sincere. “I have something for you. It’s an ability I picked up on my short path and now I’m going to teach it to you. It’s called “Diviner’s Touch”. You can pick up something and tell where it’s been and who had it before. It’s really a neat trick.” Onyx reached out to take the small stone he offered and felt a tingle almost like pins and needles race up her arm. “Don’t worry,” Sapphire explained, “every time you learn a new ability that will happen. Now it’s my turn.” Sapphire sat beside Onyx and began to chant: “I bless thee with the ability to see all through the eyes of the guilty one and let it never be known that it is you who shall vanquish her until the final fight.” The tingling was stronger this time and Onyx had the urge to pull away. “I have given you the ability of empathic precognition. It will allow you to see what she is doing as it is being done while concealing her identity. Now, dear, one last hug and we must go. The Goddess waits for us.” The three of them said their goodbyes and Onyx wished them well.
* * *
Her eyes opened and she felt she was being watched. She decided that it was just the events of the past few weeks and decided to get some sleep. Onyx dressed for bed and was about to turn her covers down when she saw something glint in the moonlight. She flipped the light on to discover a wedding ring on her pillow. “Could this be a clue for the third one?” She mused. “Well, time to see if I can use those new abilities…” As soon as wrapped the ring in her palm, the vision hit. It was terrifying at first, and then she realized she could slow it down. The man in her vision, the one who owned this ring was gorgeous and so was his wife. He was dark haired and blue eyed like herself and the wife was a red head with eyes the color of gunmetal. The scenes were short, clipped as if fast forwarding through a movie. The next glimpse showed them celebrating something. Onyx honed in on what was going on. The wife was pregnant. They looked so happy. With a little fine tuning on Onyx’s part, she was able to pick up on the emotions in the visions, but it was like watching a silent movie. The wife was decorating the nursery, smiling the entire time; joy rushing through Onyx like the emotional dam had broke. She had forgotten something, she was grabbing a list and her car keys, kissing him goodbye, she never made it to her destination. Smiling, he answered the phone, Onyx could see the smile disappear and felt the shock and despair. The movie skipped to her being lowered in the ground then the vision shifted, she was looking at him and knew she was inside the killer. She could feel the absolute evil coursing through this person. She had picked him as the next target and what he didn’t know is that his wife’s death was no accident. Rage set Onyx on fire. She was going to make this bitch pay whether it killed her or not. She placed the ring on her dresser and began to pace. The myriad of emotions coursing through her veins made her want to scream, cry, and kill people all at the same time. “My name is Devon and hers was Pearl.” His voice slid over her ear. Onyx ceased her pacing and turned to look in the direction of his voice. “The baby would have been a girl. We had already picked out her name. Opal Rose, Opal for her grandmother, and Rose for mine. Pearl hadn’t wanted anything else, and so that’s the name I put right next to hers on the headstone.” He stated. Onyx just stared for a minute; this was the first time she’d talked to one face to face without dreaming or meditating about them first. “Devon, I’m so sorry.” Her heart went out to him. “I’ll do everything I can to send that bitch back to depths of hell where she came from.” “I know, Onyx. I know.”
Onyx finally stretched out on her bed and prepared for sleep. She knew if she didn’t get enough rest her abilities were going to pay the price and she needed every bit of strength she could muster for the fight to come.
The dream began the second her eyes closed. Devon had gone home after the funeral and for months threw himself into his work. She wasn’t ready to kill him. Suffering made the blood sweeter and stronger so it would add the most to her life. Devon had been asleep in his bed, more or less unconscious after binging on alcohol all night. Again, wearing her mask, the woman walked to the side of his bed. “Oh you poor soul,” the sarcasm oozed out of her mouth, “your suffering shall soon be over.” Onyx’s focus shifted into the eyes of the killer. The woman snapped her fingers and Devon lifted out of his bed. “Light as a feather, stiff as a board,” She muttered under her breath. She produced a hypodermic needle out of her pocket and slid the needle into him arm. “Just to guarantee you don’t wake up.” She informed him. She moved him through the house with unseen hands, stopping only long enough to flip on the television. “In a gruesome discovery by local police this morning, the bodies of Lucian and Sapphire Smith were recovered at an abandoned farmhouse. No more details will be released at this time pending a full investigation.” The newswoman related. “Damn, I have to move faster.” The woman thought to herself. She turned the TV off and continued out to her bright yellow car, Devon’s body in tow. She drove toward downtown and Onyx recognized the building the killer pulled into. It was her editor’s office. The woman drove to the lowest level of the parking area and moved Devon into a janitor’s closet that was already set up for her dark ritual. She set him down in a circle of black candles and reached for her ritual knife. “The heart of the lion to make me strong, now my will shall be done. After I ingest his heart, may the battle of foes truly start.” She cut the heart from his chest and took off her mask. Onyx knew that mousy brown hair anywhere. It was Alexis! Her editor!
* * *
Onyx snapped awake and grabbed her phone. A groggy “hello” answered her call. “Marc, there’s been a third and I know where he is and I know who the killer is!” She sped through her latest discovery. Ten minutes later, Marc showed up to find Onyx stuffing a bag. “What’s all that?” “Marc, promise me you’ll be careful?” “Yeah I promise, why?” “Because the killer’s still with him, she’s preparing for her final sacrifice.” “Do you know who the sacrifice is?” “Yeah, Marc, it’s me.” Marc called for backup as they arrived at the office complex. Onyx took off through the lower level, her knife drawn. Marc rushed to catch her. “ALEXIS! Show yourself!’ Onyx shouted. With blood still dripping down her face, Alexis stepped out from the shadows. “Onyx, sweetie, so nice of you to come.” Her eyes were burnt orange again looking as though she was possessed. “I knew you’d figure it out. I knew you would catch me, but this will save me the effort of chasing you down. You were supposed to be next, but I wanted you to finish your book…Just imagine how successful it would have been if its author had been one of those “perfect murders”.” Alexis was quickly proving how fast she was losing her mind. “Marc, Devon is in there.” Onyx pointed at the closet but never took her eyes off Alexis. “It’s over, Alexis, don’t make me have to kill you. Give it up.” Onyx tried to reason with her. “Onyx, she has a gun in her belt and she isn’t going to fight fair…I give you the power of telekinesis. Now take the gun from her and use it.” Devon whispered in her mind. Alexis threw her knife at Onyx. The knife embedded itself into a wall with the flick of her hand. The surprise crossed Alexis’ face and she knew Onyx had gained the ability to move things without touching them. Onyx focused her mind and yanked the gun away from Alexis. “It’s over.” She screamed as her blade nailed it’s target, Alexis’ heart. The sirens screamed into the building right as the blade went in. Marc stepped out of the closet to watch Alexis hit the floor. A bright light filled the garage, Alexis screamed and her spirit went through the floor. It was truly over, Onyx thought. “My husband will suffer no more.” Onyx turned to see Devon and Pearl standing behind her. “It’s time to say goodbye, even though we only knew one another for a short time. Opal is waiting for us. Thank you for releasing my soul. May the Goddess bless and keep you til we meet again.” Devon smiled. Onyx looked at them full of relief that it was over, “Thank you, Devon, for giving me the strength to take her out. Go on, your baby’s waiting.” Smiling, they both disappeared as Marc came up and wrapped her in his arms.
* * *
Epilogue
“I can’t believe this! You’re kidding me!?!” Onyx was dancing around her apartment talking on the phone. “Number 2 on the Bestseller list?!?” Onyx had scrapped her original idea of the perfect murder and instead told the stories of Alexis’ victims. She had titled the book, “Editor under pressure.” It was an instant hit and her publisher was calling to give her the news. Onyx couldn’t help but feel ecstatic.