~Abby~

It was impossible to stay focused on her Art History homework with a ghost staring at her. Every time Abby lifted her eyes from the page in front of her, the woman would be standing there, blood covering her white lace blouse.

Shifting her chair so the ghost disappeared in her peripheral, Abby tried to read the words in her textbook. Taking a few deep breaths, she worked to pull her mind away from the pale and sightless woman. But her presence still sent chills up Abby's spine, making concentration difficult. This was her favorite coffee shop close to the University of Seattle; she would not let a ghost chase her away. No matter how creepy the ghost may have been.

The smells of roasting beans and baking cookies saturated the air; the low murmur of other patrons the constant background music, their voices turning into a muffled sort of hum. Abby had been coming here every afternoon for weeks, ever since she moved into her apartment. The school semester started soon afterward and she had needed a place to study, one where her roommate's loud pop music wouldn't be able to bother her.

The Lava Java was the perfect atmosphere and Abby loved it. Until the ghost had appeared, anyway. Unfortunately, the cafe wasn't the only place that ghosts were making her palms sweat.

There was one in the university library, in the back room where Abby liked to study for exams. The young man would stand in the corner of the room, staring at her, his sunken black eyes unnerving.

Another one, an old man, sat at the bus stop she took to and from her apartment every day. When she had first seen him, about a week and half ago, she had reached out to touch him. She thought he had been a flesh-and-blood old man, who fell asleep while waiting for the bus. It was obvious he wasn't when her hand went right through him.

At first she thought she was simply studying too hard, exhausting her mind to the point of lunacy. But then it had gotten even harder to ignore. Like how her normal trek from the university to her apartment was suddenly ambushed by two kid-ghosts.

It happened in the park that sat between the bus stop and her apartment building. It was a perfectly normal October day, the first time she saw them. The sun shone, making the bright yellow, orange, and red leaves dance in the breeze. She was strolling around a small pond, covered in green algae when she saw them.

They were slight and had clearly been malnourished during their lives. Their eye sockets sunken and cheekbones overly defined. The girl wore a raggedy gray dress, the lace trim falling off in places. No shoes covered her feet. The boy held her hand tightly. His hair short and scruffy looking. Overalls covered his legs and torso but left his thin arms bare.

At first sight, Abby was concerned that the children were cold. They shouldn't have been dressed like that. Where the heck were their parents? But then she had gotten closer.

Where their eyes should have been were black holes void of any life.

The only assurance Abby had gathered over the last few weeks, was the ghosts seemed to stay in their designated areas. The woman staring at her over her shoulder in the cafe never left. The man always sat by the bus stop, never on the bench outside her apartment. The library ghost stayed in the library. Knowing this, Abby could avoid them when she really wanted to. Like how she had found a way to avoid the park where the child-ghosts lived by adding ten minutes to her walk home.

But today all she wanted was a good cup of coffee and some quiet study time. She was not going to be scared away.

Trying to ignore the way her heart jackhammered in her chest, Abby took another deep breath before peeking at the corner of the room, again. The ghost woman stood there, ignorant of the world around her. If it wasn't for her black and sightless eyes, Abby may have been a little worried about the knife protruding from her sternum. But under the circumstances, Abby quickly directed her emerald eyes back to the table.

Why was this happening? She hadn't always had the ability to see the dead, so what changed?

Sure, if she thought about, there were a few times growing up when she thought she saw something in the shadows. But every little kid was scared of the shadows in their bedroom. It didn't help that she had lived in a dozen or more bedrooms throughout her life, none of them ever feeling quite like hers.

No, something had changed. Thinking hard, she thought back to her birthday just over a month ago. Had she felt anything weird before the day? Had she accidentally pissed off the wrong person and got cursed because of it? Nothing stuck out to her, everything had been normal until that day. That was the first day she had seen the library ghost and screamed so loudly people thought someone was being murdered. The librarian still didn't like her.

Shock hit her like a lightning bolt. Murder - there had been a murder on the college campus the April before she started school. Some poor college girl had been found with her insides on the outside of her body. By the time she arrived on campus, the body had been covered up and police surrounded the area. But that day - months before her birthday - Abby had seen the ghost of the dead girl. How had she forgotten that? Why had she seen that ghost in the first place? And not another one until her birthday in September? Nothing made sense!

With a groan, Abby pushed her History of World Art I textbook aside and pulled her laptop closer to her. There was no way she would be finishing her homework with lady danger staring at her or the memory of the murder fresh in her brain. Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, dread filled her stomach -- there might be a way to find some answers. Reluctantly, Abby thought about her nightmare.

It was the same dream every time she closed her eyes to sleep, ever since her eighteenth birthday. Never before had she had the dream and now she couldn't seem to get rid of it, and she had tried everything from oils and dream catchers to meditation.

Sitting in the cafe, Abby could still remember how her pulse had felt inside her veins, how her head pounded every time the thunder rumbled. She had woken up screaming that morning, after the clouds in her dream dissolved into air and she fell into darkness. The ghost's words still rang in her head, over the din of the cafe.

If that hadn't been enough, the notes she had left on her bed before sleeping had been covered in three words when she woke up, the black marker still in her hand.

A shiver went down her spine, causing Abby to look away from her computer and back at the ghost.

But she wasn't there. She had vanished while Abby had been trying very hard to ignore her.

Another chill wracked her body, causing Abby to pull her purple cardigan closer to her body. It was worse when the ghosts disappeared - she didn't like not knowing where they were.

Shaking her head, ignoring the coldness in her fingers, Abby opened a search window on her laptop. She would find out what that ghost in her dream had been trying to tell her. It had been the first time any ghost said a word to her, it had to mean something. But what?

As soon as she put the first word into the search bar, results showed up for a town called Buern, east of Seattle in the National Forest. Her brows pulled together as she clicked on the first link, bringing her to the town's homepage. Why would a creepy ghost from her dreams want her to visit a tiny mountain town? Could the answers to why she could suddenly see ghosts be hidden in Buern? If they were, Abby had a bone to pick with the little girl. It had been almost a month of seeing ghosts everywhere she went. If the answers had been that close, the girl could've said something sooner.

The second word proved to be more of a mystery. All she could come up with through multiple searches was that the word 'Faye' was both a girl's name and another word for fairies. Why would a ghost talk about fairies? Something told her that the ghost wasn't referring to little winged pixies.

And she wasn't going to touch the third word with a ten-foot pole. Not when past-Abby had been a little too obsessed with myths and legends, especially things that went bump in the night. No, she wasn't about to go looking for her soul-mate. She just wanted answers.

Squeezing her hands tight, trying to rid her fingers of the lasting cold that never seemed to leave her, Abby sat back in her chair. Following a ghost to a small mining town was probably a stupid idea, she knew that. What she should do was catch the bus to the nearest hospital and check herself in. But was that really an option? Sure, she could see a psychologist. Which was what her roommate had suggested after Abby woke her up screaming two nights in a row. But after being carted from foster home to foster home, Abby had seen enough friendly faces hidden behind a clipboard.

No, going to the psych-ward was not an option. Not yet, anyway. She needed answers, and not just answers about this ghost girl from her dreams. Something told her this ghost, all of the ghosts, were connected to the reason why she couldn't find anything on her birth parents; why she didn't seem to have any memories of childhood before the age of five. She didn't know how, or why, but deep down she knew it was connected. She needed to find out why.

A bone-chilling cold seeped into her back, making goosebumps rise all over her skin. The familiar feeling made her sit up straight and grab the table in front of her until her knuckles went white. She glanced at the door in front of her but it was closed, no one had opened it to let in the chilly October air.

Her gut clenched tight, dread seeping into her bones. If the door was closed, there was only one explanation.

Swallowing her anxiety, she held her breath as she slowly turned her head. Standing behind her with only a foot between them was the girl from her dream.

Abby sat frozen in fear, grip like stone where her hand still held the table. She had no idea how long she had sat there staring. She must have looked crazy to everyone else in the room, staring off into nothing. When the ghost didn't move or say anything, Abby's body relaxed just a fraction. For the first time, Abby took a moment to study the girl. She was older than Abby had first thought, but she was still tiny. Something in her iridescent eyes told Abby she knew a lot more than a seemingly normal nine-year-old girl should. In the daylight of the cafe, Abby could see the girl's ears came to a slight point.

A small smile began to grow on the girl's face, transforming her into a less intimidating figure and more into a little girl. With the smile still on her face, she raised her arm and pointed behind Abby. Letting out a puff of air, Abby looked back at her computer to see the Buern township page back on her screen. Taking a deep breath, squeezing the back of her chair with one hand, Abby turned back to the girl. "What does -"

The girl was gone.

A customer at the table behind her looked up at her voice, an eyebrow raised. With a blush heating up her face, Abby smiled at the woman before turning back to her computer. Glancing at the screen, an image of a quaint town looking back at her, Abby sighed. If the answers she sought were in this town then it looked like she had plans for the weekend.