“Yes, he is.”
I walked Mae to her apartment complex. She leaned heavily on my arm, using me as a crutch as we slowly made our way down the cracked and crumbling sidewalk. The apartments were small and rundown. Garbage littered the walkway and cigarette butts and empty beer cans were strewn across the property. I walked beside her as she slowly made her way to her unit. While she was preoccupied with digging her keys out of her purse, I slipped two twenties and some of the food I’d bought into her bag.
“Thank you,” she said, turning and taking her bag. “Let me give you something for helping—”
“No, no, I can’t take anything. I did it because I wanted to help, not because I wanted you to give me anything. You have a good day. It was nice meeting you, ma’am.”
“Goodbye, Milayna.”
“Bye.” I waved and walked down the walkway, making my way across the street and back to my car.
Sometimes life as a demi-angel sucked, especially when you had demons up your butt. But sometimes, it was the best thing ever, like when I could help someone who really needed it, like Mae.
“Milayna, where’s the lettuce and tomatoes?” My mom dug around in the bag. “You didn’t get half of what was on the list. What happened?”
I told her about the vision. “Oh, and I kinda slipped your forty dollars into Mae’s shopping bag,” I said with a cringe.
“That’s okay, Milayna. You did the right thing. We’ll just have pizza for dinner instead of cooking.”
I wondered what Mae was eating and prayed she had enough.
***
“What are you doing up?” my dad asked on his way to the kitchen. It was just before midnight. I was sitting on the couch in the living room. It faced a large picture window overlooking our front yard and the street beyond it.
“Texting Chay.”
“You two need to knock off the texting so late at night. Your fingers are going to get raw from pushing the buttons.”
“Yeah. Look in the street, Dad.”
“Who is that? He stood in front of the window and moved the sheer curtain out of the way. “Uh-oh.”
“They’ve been out there for an hour. The hobgoblins are here too. They run through the front yard every once in a while, but for the most part, they’re in the back with Chay.”
“Why didn’t you come get me, Milayna?”
“Chay saw the hobgoblins in the yard and jumped the fence. He’s out there with them. I’ve been watching Lily and Jake, and they’re just standing there. I didn’t see any reason to come get you. Besides, I didn’t want to upset Mom.”
“She isn’t taking this too well, that’s for sure. She thought we were done with this mess. We all did. You still should have let me know what was going on.”
“Sorry.” I never took my eyes off Lily and Jake, who were standing in the street like statues watching our house.
“Who else did you text?”
“Everyone in the group.”
“Good. I’m gonna call the police.” He sighed. “What a mess.”
The pain came swiftly, piercing. It felt like someone was stabbing me between the eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers. Bending forward, I wrapped my arm around my knees.
I felt the phone vibrate next to me.
Chay. He’ll be inside in a few seconds. As soon as he realizes I’m not going to answer, he’ll come see what’s wrong.
I was right. It wasn’t ten seconds later that he barged through the door, nearly knocking into my dad.
“Sir,” he said.
“Son, what are you doing?”
“It’s Milayna.” Chay rounded the corner followed closely by my dad. “A vision?” he asked me.
“Not yet,” I answered. My teeth clenched so tightly against the stabbing pain in my head that my jaw throbbed and the muscles in my neck were corded.
Me. Arms stretching out toward me. A hand grasping my neck. Squeezing, squeezing. I can’t breathe. My head pounds, and stars blink in front of my eyes. The person squeezes harder… The edges of the room start to blur…
I clawed at invisible hands around my throat, gasping for breath. Chay touched my arm gently; I flung his hand away. I couldn’t breathe. My head pounded in time to my rapid heartbeat—like a drum banging inside my skull, pounding out a rhythm only it knew. My lungs burned, starved for oxygen.
Can I die from a vision? Is some unseen force really strangling me?
I felt dizzy. Kicking my feet back and forth against the carpet, I tried to back away from the sensation. My back pressed deep into the sofa’s cushions. I could hear my dad’s panicked voice. He sounded so far away.
The hands squeeze harder. I scratch them with my fingernails, blood oozing from the angry lines, but my attacker doesn’t let go. I’m going to die.