How To Go Back in Time – VI

What a weird day, I thought. All this asking and wandering had gotten nowhere. Sure, his alibi had been confirmed, but video showed otherwise. Maybe it’d hold up in court? I didn’t think he did it.

And as I stepped out I noticed a lady staring at me. White hair, wrinkles, and wearing a gray dress. She stared at me for a moment with eyes that could penetrate steel. Something about her was off, though. It was her energy.

“Hello Irwin.” She said, waving.

“How do you know my name?”

“I know many names. You’re here to question him about Justin, aren’t you? Well, I myself am a witness.”
“What can you share?”

“I’ll speak about it inside. Too many eyes here.” I watched as her gaze was directed to a window.

I followed her inside and she immediately got tea ready on the pot. Her yard was an overgrown jungle, but the inside was perfectly clean and perfectly placed. It seemed untouched. For a second, I didn’t wanna sit down as I felt I’d disrupt the purity.

But I did and she came out with tea. “So, what do you wanna know?”

“I wanna know what Justin was doing yesterday.”

“He was over at Gabriel’s—my neighbor. You just met him.”

“…And did you see him?”
She smiled. “Yes, I did, in fact. He waved hi and I waved back, and then he went inside. Didn’t come out for a few hours. He’s a nice boy.”

“Are you aware that he’s been caught on video tape committing a murder, at the same time he was supposedly here?”

She paused for a moment. I watched as her eyes traced down the carpet. “I didn’t know that. But that’s not true. I saw him, I swear it.”

I let out a grumble and chose silence. Then she looked at me with twinkly eyes and asked me a question. “Irwin, do you ever feel alone?”

“Pretty much all the time, yeah.”
“Ah,” She said, “Then I have to do this.” She went into the kitchen and came back with candles and salt. She cleared off the table and brought the flame to the candle. With the lights turned off, and the curtains closed, the room was a dim orange. Then she took the salt and poured it in a circle, drawing lines through it. The salt took on a pinkish hue, and the shadows began to move.

“These are their names.” She said. “These beings are made to make sure you’re never alone.”

I suddenly got the feeling that I was being watched. That I was not alone in this room.

“Now, I want you to stare at them.”

“Stare at them?”

“Yes. That’s how you meet them. By standing up and looking at them, they decide whether or not they want you.”

I sighed and stood up, pacing around. And the more I looked the more I realized that the salt was their bodies, and the lines were their faces. I became overwhelmed with a giggle fit and just felt the most intense euphoria ever. I liked them, and they liked me. There was four.

But the more I walked, the more I felt protected. Then loved. And then, with a scary under bite, I felt seen.

“They like you.” Gretchen said. “In fact, one of them likes you.”

“What? Which one?”

“The girl one.”

“Oh.” I giggled and said, “This one just likes doing his own thing. That one likes music, it’s pretty cool. And the girl, well, uh…”

“Good. You’re seeing their personalities.”

“Is the ritual complete?”

She nodded. “Yeah. They claimed you.” She went to snuff out the candle and found that the flame stayed. She tried again. But still, the flame would not go out. “Turn the fan on.” She said. And I did, but it still wouldn’t go out.
“I don’t get what’s happening.” Gretchen mumbled. “It’s not going out. Grab a pot of water!”

I began pouring the water and brought it over. “It’s not going out?”

“Yeah, dump it.”

I did and the light was vanquished. The shadows took over the room.