Whispers on the Shadow Wind — Daily Flash Story: Chapter 15
Each chapter will be written by improvisation and inspired by a random InspiroBot poster until we reach a natural end. I hope you enjoy it!
Click the chapter to link to other segments: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
THE PRICE OF COMPLIANCE
Misty hated herself every time he made her go into that basement, but she had to do as he said. She didn’t even know his real name, though the woman in the chair kept calling him Craig in her rare moments of lucidity. It wasn’t the name he’d given her at first — that was Peter, another alias worth nothing to Misty.
After all, Peter had lied about everything else so far, why would he give anyone his real name? His lies made her want to stop working with him, but she wanted to believe the one thing he’d remained consistent on. He was the only one who could restore her clairvoyant powers.
Of course, he’d also stolen them in the first place. Misty doubted he would keep his word and restore them, but the tiny shred of hope kept her coming back — kept her helping him with more victims to sate his lust for the future.
“Lillian,” Misty said, forcing her voice to remain calm. “Can you hear my voice?”
“Too many. Too many voices!” Lillian screamed, shifting in the chair as if trying to roll away. “Who are you? What do you want? Where am I?”
“I’m going to need to you to reach out to my voice. Find it in the dark. You know who I am. We’ve met before, here, yesterday,” Misty continued, her voice maintaining a steady cadence. “I can’t come to you,” she winced at the admission of her inability to touch another person’s mind, “but if you focus on my voice, you can find me.”
“Your voice?” Lillian screeched. “Yes, yes, I can hear you! Where are you!?”
“Keep walking forward,” Misty said sadly. “Keep coming toward my voice and the others will become just whispers.”
“About time,” Craig muttered. “I swear, she’s far more frantic than Austin was.”
“She’s calm now, can I go?” Misty asked. “You can question her on your own.”
“I can, yes,” Craig replied. “And I don’t really care what you do now, but if she gets anxious again, you better answer your phone.”
Misty sighed. “Of course, and I’ll be right over.”
Craig nodded and then turned back to Lillian, ignoring Misty completely. Misty sighed again and walked out of the basement and around the building, and climbed into her car. It took her nearly a minute before she felt ready to drive,
She drove for a mile before a flash of movement from the backseat nearly made her drive off the side of the road. A person was sitting right behind her! How had she not noticed before?
“Who the hell are you?” Misty asked.
“That’s unimportant,” Dawn replied. “What’s important is that you’re Misty Sandoval. I prepared myself to follow two trails today, one to Lillian Bennett and one to you. Imagine my surprise when I found you both in the same location.”
“Are you a psychic then?” Misty asked. “How did you track me?”
“Magic, bitch,” Dawn said, growling. “I used a scrying spell on Lillian while I was waiting outside. I saw what you were doing to her. This was just a few minutes ago, and I haven’t called the cops yet. Any chance you want to give me more information before I do? How many people are working for Craig? What are the chances he’ll kill Lillian or use her as a hostage?”
“You have the wrong idea,” Misty replied.
Dawn raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“I’m working with him because I have to. Those experiments he’s doing? They make you use your abilities at a heightened level. You use them that high for too long, it burns you out and you can’t use them anymore,” Misty explained. “It happened to me, and now he’s the only one who can fix me.”
“And so you’re helping him do the same thing to other people?” Dawn scoffed. “You really are a bitch, aren’t you? You’re lending Craig a hand while he steals their abilities, but in your case apparently he made you an idiot, too. You’re an accessory. I’m calling the cops and getting Lillian rescued.”
“You do what you have to, but he probably already knows,” Misty said.
Dawn laughed, “how could he? I never stepped foot inside the building. “
“Those experiments? He’s raping the minds of people who can see the future. From what I understand, your friend is new to her powers? He might not have heard anything yet, but he probably knows exactly what is going to happen in his life for the next few weeks at least. He’s obsessed in the future.”
“Meanwhile you’re living in the past,” Dawn said with a frosty glare. “I’m going to call the cops, and you are going to explain to them what exactly you’ve been doing?”
“Is that so?” Misty asked, seeing an opportunity ahead of her. She was steadily approaching Lake Greene and the bridge that crossed it. “But can you swim?”
“What does that have to do with anyth — ”
Misty jerked the steering-wheel to the side and opened her door, dropping out of the car as it continued its forward momentum, over the edge of the bridge and into the lake. Misty felt a bone snap painfully in her arm when she hit the pavement and she screamed in agony.
But in glancing at the car she assumed Dawn had it much worse. The car hit the surface of the lake and immediately sank, taking Dawn and her problems with her. Misty nodded in satisfaction as she rose to her feet, glancing around, hoping no one had seen her stunt.
She cried out in horror as she turned and came face to face with Dawn, standing dry as a bone in front of her. “Now listen here, bitch. There’s this thing called Astral projection, and if you think you can get rid of me that easily, you don’t have any idea of who you’re messing with. Let’s see what the police have to say, shall we? Should I have them pick you up here, or would you like an ambulance first?”
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Thank you for reading! I write fiction for a living, and I’m currently trying make ends meet. If you like this short story and would like to read my other work, find out more at Patreon or email me at Samuel.D.Roe@gmail.com.
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READ THE NEXT CHAPTER HERE.
