Going Lucid, A YA Paranormal Read online

  “I’m fine. I promise. You wrapped up my cuts, so I would really like to get out of here.”

  The doctor raised a small light to one of her eyes, checking for a concussion since Malakha had a large bump on her head from where she had hit her head on the wall, a bump which she was currently holding ice to.

  “That’s what you say, but better safe than sorry,” the woman insisted.

  Malakha sighed, wanting to switch the arm that was holding the ice, but unable to since her left shoulder was stiff from being stabbed.

  “Now I’m going to need you to tell me again what happened,” she said.

  “I already told everyone what happened a million times. Eliza was cutting herself and I don’t know whether it was to kill herself or not. Then she saw me and I guess she thought I was going to tell and she attacked me. I swear I didn’t mean to knock her out. I was just trying to get away,” Malakha insisted.

  “You’re not in trouble Malakha, I just have to ask you to make sure the story matches up to the one you told everyone else.”

  “I cause a little trouble every now and then and skip a few classes and maybe I don’t believe in Catholicism, but I’m not a liar. And I don’t start fights! She attacked me first.” If she didn’t have such a reputation for causing trouble, they wouldn’t be questioning her like this.

  “And she stabbed you in the shoulder?” the doctor said.

  “Yes,” Malakha said trying not to lose her temper.

  “And the back of your leg?”

  “Why else would a stab wound be there?”

  “And what about the bruises on your wrists?”

  “Bruises?” Malakha asked confused.

  The doctor pointed to them and Malakha scrambled to find something, anything to say, because the truth was she wasn’t quite sure how they had gotten there.

  “I… I wore some bracelets too tight. You know the leather ones that look like mini belts that you can fasten on?” Malakha asked, not sure if those types of bracelets even existed, or if they could leave dark bruises like the ones on her wrists, but the doctor seemed to buy the story.

  “I have some cream you can put on it so they’ll lighten up and heal quicker,” she said going to a cabinet and taking out the cream and a bottle of pills. She shook them and as she handed them to Malakha said, “This should help with the pain if you have any.”

  Malakha took them from her and asked, “Can I go now?”

  “After I get you another blouse,” the doctor said.

  Malakha didn’t see why she couldn’t just leave in her tank top, but didn’t argue with the woman. She hoped the doctor would hurry up, because even though Eliza was still knocked out and on the other side of the room, being alone with the girl made Malakha antsy. The woman came back with a blouse that wouldn’t button up because it was too small, so Malakha left it open, put all of her jewelry back on, and left the infirmary.

  Malak and Sabrina were waiting outside of it.

  “You were in a fight!” both of them said.

  “I didn’t start it,” Malakha sighed.

  “We didn’t say you did,” Sabrina said. “Are you okay?”

  “Except for being stabbed in my shoulder and leg, along with the huge bump on my forehead, fine.”

  “She stabbed you?” Malak asked.

  “Yeah, but I knocked her out so I don’t know if I came out worse or she did.”

  “Don’t joke about this. You were just attacked,” Malak said solemnly.

  “I thought you were mad at me.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t want you to get attacked either,” he muttered and then added. “Sorry about all that yesterday by the way.”

  “I’ll forgive you if you forgive me for acting insensitive.”

  Malak laughed. “You weren’t being insensitive. You were just being Malakha. So what happened anyway?”

  Malakha groaned and said, “This is the last time I’m telling this to anyone. Eliza was in the bathroom cutting herself, she saw me, and then she attacked me.”

  “Eliza?” Malak asked stopping in the middle of the hall.

  “Yeah. Girl who went with us to the rave last night.”

  Malak frowned and began to walk again. “Her? She doesn’t seem like the type to do something like that.”

  “There is no type for that kind of stuff,” said Sabrina.

  “I know that, but her and Ashley are tight. If there was even the inkling that something was up, Ashley would have told me.”

  “Who is Ashley to you anyway?” Malakha asked. She didn’t know Malak had any female friends besides her and Sabrina.

  “My sister.”

  Malakha and Sabrina stopped walking this time and asked, “You have a sister?”

  Malak only rolled his eyes and continued to walk.

  “Anyway,” he continued, “it just feels weird to me.”

  “It’s not weird,” said Sabrina. “This stuff happens sometimes, even in a catholic boarding school.”

  “I’m just saying that it was so unexpected is all.”

  “I’ll tell you what’s weird then,” Sabrina said stopping to look at Malakha. “I think it’s weird that Malakha suddenly got all fidgety when the choir was singing and had to go to the bathroom just before seeing Eliza.”

  “It was nothing.”

  “You had that spooked look again.”

  “Malakha?” Malak said pointing to the girl. “Spooked? Nothing spooks her.”

  “Something during the sermon did. And so did something that happened at that rave,” said Sabrina.

  “She had a bad trip,” Malak replied.

  “I told you. It wasn’t a bad trip,” said Malakha.

  “Then what was it?” Malak asked expectantly.

  “You’re going to think I’m crazy… I think I’m crazy, but it was too real to be a hallucination.”

  “We’ll determine that,” Sabrina said. “Spill.”

  Malakha led them outside to sit on the steps of the church and launched into a description of everything she had seen during her experience, even giving in and revealing the slightly embarrassing detail that she was naked the entire time. When she was done, Malak sighed, arms draped over his lap.

  “Still sounds like a bad trip to me. A very vivid one, but a still a bad one.”

  “I’m telling you it wasn’t,” Malakha said standing up. She looked at Sabrina.

  Sabrina tapped both her feet twice before saying, “I don’t know. Maybe Malak’s right.”

  Malakha huffed and then said, “Oh yeah! This doesn’t happen because of a bad trip.”

  She held out her wrist so they could see the dark bruises on her wrists from where the demon-wolf man had grabbed her.

  “Are you sure you didn’t have these before?” Sabrina asked.

  “She didn’t,” Malak said grabbing Malakha’s arm to look at the bruises closer. “Ashley came and got me as soon as Malakha went out. I checked over her. The bruises weren’t there.”

  “Now do you believe me?” Malakha asked.

  “I believe that maybe you didn’t have a bad trip,” Malak replied. “But are you sure it’s not just something in your head. There are cases of people doing stuff like this to themselves and not knowing it.”

  “I hope not,” Malakha muttered looking at her shoes.

  Malak and Sabrina exchanged a look and then Sabrina asked, “There’s something else isn’t there.”

  “You’ll definitely think I’m crazy.”

  “No more crazy than we already think you are,” Malak assured.

  Malakha glared at him, but said anyway, “I heard laughter.”

  “Laughter.”

  Malakha nodded. “I heard it today during the sermon. I got up to see where it came from, and that’s how I found Eliza. But today wasn’t the first time. I heard it during the exorcism, before the rave, and no one could hear it except me.”

  Malak and Sabrina had nothing to say about that, but Malakha could guess they probably thought she might be craz
y. Malakha was beginning to think she had gone crazy. But none of that explained the bruises.

  “So what do we do?” Sabrina asked.

  “Well I was thinking that we could at least rule out the drugs first,” Malakha said.

  “And how are we supposed to do that?” Sabrina asked.

  Malakha didn’t say anything, only looked at Sabrina patiently, the look she only gave Sabrina when she knew her best friend wouldn’t approve of something she was about to do.

  “You want to go find the guy who gave them to you and take them again, don’t you?” Malak asked dryly before Sabrina could figure it out, looking resigned to the idea that he was going to end up helping Malakha.

  Malakha nodded to which Sabrina began to protest. Malakha spent all of ten minutes listening to her before deciding to ignore her. It didn’t stop Sabrina from voicing her disapproval though, even after Malakha and Malak decided to borrow a school van to take them into town.

  “This is against all kinds of rules Malakha,” Sabrina said as she followed Malak and Malakha to where the school kept passenger vans that were mostly used for field trips.

  “You’re saying that like it’s supposed to make me care,” Malakha said as she began to inspect the vans, looking for the smallest one.

  “You are,” Sabrina said, looking around to make sure no one saw them.

  “It will be real quick,” Malakha said. “We’ll be gone two hours tops. You stay here and cover for us.”

  “Can either of you even legally drive? I mean, it’s not like being at a boarding school gives any of us time to get our licenses,” Sabrina said.

  “I can drive good enough not to be stopped by the police. Relax,” Malak said as Malakha chose a car and got inside.

  Malakha opened the dashboard and found the keys inside, tossing them to Malak as he slid into the driver’s seat. Malak cranked up the car and Malakha rolled down the window.

  “What if someone asks where you are?”

  “Make something up. Besides, the problem won’t be if they discover we’re gone. It’s if they discover us coming back,” Malakha said dryly.

  Sabrina groaned and then looked around before opening the back passenger door and getting into the van.

  “What are you doing?” Malak asked.

  “If all three of us are missing at least no one will assume that the two of you are fooling around. They’ll assume if we’re together that we were doing something proper, like studying and not going into town to find an illegal drug,” Sabrina said as she closed the door.

  ******

  Malak drove them to a small house that was on the side of town furthest away from their school. It was in an old quaint little neighborhood that reminded Malakha of some of the places her friends grandparents from back home lived, friends whose families weren’t wealthy like hers were. But those houses were neat little houses with beautiful flowers and a clean yard. This house was not like that. The grass looked like it hadn’t been cut in two months and the house was in bad need of a coat of paint. The overgrown bushes did nothing to draw attention away from that either.

  “Where is this?” Malakha asked cautiously as she got out the car.

  “This is where Eliza’s boyfriend lives,” Malak said heading to the door and seeing that he wasn’t deterred by the outer appearance of the house, both Malakha and Sabrina followed.

  “Her boyfriend?”

  “The driver from Friday night. The one who gave you those drugs,” Malak added, still sounding irritated about the event.

  “Oh. You think he’ll still have some?” Malakha asked

  “Either that or he’ll know where to get it,” said Malak.

  “I can’t believe you two are talking so casually about this. We’re about to ask for drugs and if stealing—“

  “Borrowing,” Malakha corrected.

  “—the van from school was illegal this is outright sinful.”

  “Stealing is a sin and no sin is weighted any heavier than another,” Malakha said as Malak rang the doorbell.

  “I thought you didn’t believe in that stuff,” Sabrina said looking at Malakha out the corner of her eye as they waited.

  “I don’t. Doesn’t mean I don’t know how to use the doctrine when I need to.”

  The door opened, and standing in the doorway was their driver, Eliza’s boyfriend, from the night before. He stared at them for a minute, obviously recognizing Malakha because he said, “I see you’re not dead.”

  “Yeah,” Malakha said pushing her way into the house. “But I’m not sure if I’m out of the clear yet.”

  “Listen,” Eliza’s boyfriend said fidgeting with his beard. “I gave you the same thing I gave everyone else. If it had a different effect on you, that’s not my fault.”

  “We’re not saying it is,” Malak said closing the door behind him and Sabrina.

  “Then what are you saying?”

  Malakha exchanged a look with Malak and then looked towards where she thought Sabrina was only to find her wandering around the house. Finally she looked back at Eliza’s boyfriend and said, “I’m saying we need more of it.”

  The Caucasian boy stared hard at Malakha for a moment and then said slowly, “More of it?”

  “Is there a part of that you didn’t comprehend?” Malakha asked, undeterred by the boy’s stare.

  The older boy continued to stare at her for a moment. Then he went to sit down on the couch in the den and began moving paper and dishes that were on the side table out of the way as though he was looking for something. Finally, he found a lighter and leaned back on the sofa and began playing with the lighter by lighting it, letting it flicker for a moment, and then letting it go out before repeating the process again.

  “It’s going to cost you,” he said.

  “Cost me?” Malakha asked. “But you were passing them around like it was candy Friday.”

  “I was feeling a little generous. If you want more it will cost.”

  “For one tablet?” Malak asked.

  “I don’t sell single tablets.”

  Malakha and Malak groaned.

  “Really,” Malak said. “What the heck does Eliza see in you? You’re a—“

  “I bet you don’t know what happened to her do you?” Sabrina asked turning around to face him.

  “Nothing happened to Eliza.”

  “Did too. She was cutting herself in the bathroom at school and when Malakha found her, Eliza attacked her. It’s really weird too, for a person with no history of violent tendencies to not only try to kill herself, but kill someone else,” Sabrina said and then added, “I bet if we told the people investigating where Eliza was Friday and what you gave her, they’d not only come search the place, but you’d be an accomplice in attempted murder or something.”

  Eliza’s boyfriend rolled his eyes, getting up and heading into the kitchen.

  “Yeah right,” he said.

  Sabrina followed him, with Malakha and Malak on her heels.

  “Do you really want to risk it?” Sabrina asked. “That’s not the only thing they can clock you for. What are you? Twenty? And Eliza’s seventeen. That will add statutory rape to the books. You’re looking at a few years in jail for that.”

  Eliza’s boyfriend stopped at that, turning to Sabrina with narrowed eyes.

  “You wouldn’t,” he said.

  “Of course I would and look at you. Would someone really believe you over me if you tried to deny it?” Sabrina asked.

  Eliza’s boyfriend inhaled and let out a harsh breath before going to a locked cabinet in the kitchen and pulling out another bag of tablets. He handed it to Sabrina.

  “We only need one,” Sabrina said not taking the bag.

  Eliza’s boyfriend rolled his eyes and took out a tablet. He handed it to Sabrina, who handed it to Malakha.

  “If that’s all you needed, would you mind leaving now?” Eliza’s boyfriend asked, gesturing towards the door.

  Malakha, Malak, and Sabrina would have left without his urging
, but made a show of being displeased at his rudeness anyway before they left.

  It was darker outside now than when they had first pulled up to Eliza’s boyfriend’s house and a good thing too. Malakha figured they could use the cover of darkness to sneak back into the school, but before they did that…

  Malakha held the tablet up as Malak and Sabrina got in the van.

  “Hurry up Malakha,” Sabrina said urging the girl along. She started to close the door, but Malakha stopped her and climbed into the middle seat with her.

  “What are you doing?” Malak asked, cranking up the van after Malakha had closed the door.

  “About to take this and see what happens,” Malakha said.

  “In the car?” Malak asked.

  “Well I can’t do it at school,” Malakha said, “and you won’t believe it unless you see it obviously, so it has to be now. Hopefully I’ll be awake by the time we get back.”

  Malakha started to put the tablet in her mouth, but Sabrina stopped her.

  “Wait a minute. I just want to be sure. This isn’t some crazy elaborate plan to get your hands on drugs because you’re addicted to them, right?” Sabrina asked.

  Malakha gave Sabrina a wry look. “I would have taken the whole bag if that were the case. Just trust me on this one okay?”

  Sabrina nodded, sitting back as Malakha put the tablet under her tongue. Like Friday night, the tablet began to immediately take effect. She began to feel like she wasn’t in control of her own body again and though she was perfectly aware of what was happening around her, the world began to look surreal and dream-like again. Then she saw the other world begin to appear first like it overlapped the real world, but then it began to take over completely and after a few more seconds, Malakha was back in the barren and gray world.

  Chapter Six

  Julius

  Malakha was unsurprised to see that she was naked again. She was surprised to see that she was in a different place. She had landed in a rundown neighborhood where all the houses and landscape looked like it had suffered from a fire at some point; a bad one if the way the ash and smoke seemed to hang in the air and attach to the atmosphere was any indication. It seemed a lot darker too. Sure there was the permanent overcast, but something about this neighborhood seemed gloomier, tragic even.