What Lies Beyond

by B. B. Palomo

  “I brought something—extra.” Adira smirked.

  Cora groaned while I looked on expectantly as she reached into the deep confines of her Coach purse and pulled out a mostly full bottle of Jack Daniel’s that I was sure she swiped from her parents’ liquor cabinet. Cora looked away, not enjoying the view and likely formulating why we shouldn’t be partaking in those types of activities. I, on the other hand, had already turned to the fridge to look for our cans of Coca-Cola, willing to do anything to rid myself of the drummer inside my head and relax.

  “Time to get this party started, am I right?” Adira placed the bottle onto the counter with a clink.

  “No way.” Cora shook her head at Adira, who was struggling to work the cap off the bottle.

  I grabbed three glasses and filled them with ice from the tray in the freezer. I made sure to fill Cora’s glass up with soda first and slide it out in front of her before setting the other two for Adira to show off her YouTube training on mixology. She gave me my drink proudly and waited for me to taste her concoction. The first sip burned from my tongue down into my stomach, where it settled and turned into liquid lava.

  “Strong?” she asked, looking at my face.

  “Just a little,” I coughed out and watched her take her drink without issue.

  “Hmm.” She smacked her tongue in her mouth, savoring the taste. “Seems right to me.”

  “Did your taste buds get scorched off or something?” I asked, laughing as Cora shot her a disgusted look, covering the top of her glass like Adira would spike it.

  “I just have a refined palette.” Adira gathered her drink and the popcorn. “One day, you both will understand.” She finished and moved to the living room with a playful flip of her hair, making sure to grab her favorite chips.

  Cora and I struggled to keep our composure while following her. My drink was filled to the top and sloshed over the rim when I walked. We all took a second to shut out the lights and get comfortable on the couch before pressing play on the movie. The thunderstorm had picked up the pace and now rumbled so loud we had to turn the TV volume as high as it could go to drown out the squall. Not even halfway through the movie, I’d begun to feel the effects of the alcohol. The buzz that hovered over my skin like static and made my head spin slightly suppressed any remnants of the pain that had just been there a moment before.

  Thunder cracked right above us just as the DVD skipped, freezing on the scene where the demon head showed himself at the doctor’s office. All three of us screamed out, not expecting either thing before breaking into a roaring laugh. Once the giggles died down, I got up to make another drink as Adira tried to get the disk to work. I didn’t have to look back to know she was banging her hand against the player as if she could break it into submission. We were the last people on earth to get rid of a phone line and would probably be the last to stream instead of using a DVD player. If my mom had her way, we’d be watching this on VHS.

  The kitchen light burned my adjusting pupils as I padded back to the fridge. I rubbed at them with my free hand to try and stop their watering, which only made me dizzy when combined with the alcohol coursing through my veins. I reached out for the handle as the lights started to flicker in and out, stopping me in my tracks, fingers frozen against the cheap plastic. I stared up like it would force them to stop, and before I could call out for my friends, I was cast into darkness.

  It must be the storm. I rationalized, waiting to hear Adira call out from the dark, but when I looked back toward the living room, the TV’s blue light still shined bright.

  Weird. My fuzzy brain managed to say.

  I opened the fridge in front of me to check the light in there, and when it came on just fine, too, I figured the bulbs above me must have blown. I shuddered, the room growing ice cold. I rubbed my arm harshly to try and create some friction between my palm and skin, still clutching the cup in my other hand. The light flicked back on with two clicks, and I exhaled, the breath fogging around my face as if I’d stepped into the arctic.

  Suddenly, the whole house went black, and my friends’ screams barreled from the living room. I dropped my glass, and it shattered against the ground. The tiny shards ricocheted off my feet as I rushed toward them, but something grabbed my leg, stopping me. The momentum forced me forward as I tumbled over whatever had a hold of me. Glass sliced through my palm as I pushed my hands out to brace myself from the floor.

  “Aah!” I hissed, pulling my injury in close, out of reflex.

  As soon as the darkness had enveloped us, it was gone. Lights around me sprang back to life. My head spun, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the drink or the fall. A steady flow of warm blood was already starting to pour from the two-inch gash in my palm. A thin piece of glass still protruded out of the skin, reflecting the deep crimson. I searched behind me to see why I had fallen, but nothing was there.

  Then I remembered Adira and Cora.

  I jumped into action, the remains of my cup crunching under my feet, and rushed to the living room. Adira was clutching her chest with Cora well hidden behind her. She laughed nervously, trying to figure out what in the hell just happened. I held my fist closed to slow the bleeding and surveyed the room. Besides overturned popcorn, no one was there.

  “What happened?” I meant to ask, but it came out in a frantic yell.

  “T-there’s someone out there.” She pointed to the window toward the front of the house.

  “What?” I hollered before cursing myself.

  The last thing we’d want to do was draw attention to the fact we were here if there was an intruder.

  “I’ll look—”

  Ding, dong.

  “Aah!” We all jumped in unison, clearly not over the fleeting moment.

  “Wait.” I shook my head in disbelief. “What are we doing? It’s Noah.”

  “Oh.” Adira’s voice returned to normal. “I forgot.”

  “Oh my God.” Cora’s eyes widened as she pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “Are you okay?”

  “Willow!” Adira took notice, following her sight. “Your hand!”

  “I’m okay, I just tripped and my glass, well, it’s gone.” I tried to laugh, but the pain was increasing, and I winced instead.

  “That could need stitches,” Cora added.

  “I don’t think—” I opened my palm to look, which started the bleeding again. “Ouch! Can you get the door? I need to clean this up.”

  I took off for the bathroom, trying my best not to drip blood onto the carpet and ignoring Adira’s plea for me to stop. Once behind the safety of the door, I ran the cut under the water and grabbed a pair of tweezers to pull the piece of glass out. The blood ran faster, mixing with the water and turning a diluted reddish pink as it traveled down the drain. Buzzing erupted in my ears, like being surrounded by the sounds of the Sonoran Desert, lying there for the buzzards as they circled my carcass for their next meal. It increased in volume, getting so loud I closed my eyes and put my wrists to my ears to block it out.

  “Willow?” Cora called from the door. “Are you okay?”

  Just like that, it was silent. The only sound being the running sink water and my rushed breathing. “Y-yeah,” I answered, wetting my lips with my tongue. “I’ll be out in a second.”

  The blood flow had slowed, so I felt comfortable just wrapping it with an ace bandage I fished from under the sink. I finished cleaning myself up and took a hard look in the mirror, realizing I no longer recognized the person who stared back at me.

  Chapter Eight

  Clear shards of glass clanked into the tin dustpan as Noah swept the remnants of my broken cup. I was careful to sidestep the tiny drops of crimson that had followed me to the restroom. Noah’s jaw worked overtime as he focused on cleaning the crime scene he’d unknowingly walked into.

  Adira walked a bundle of bloodied paper towels over to our squeaky lidded trash can. The sight was surprising. I knew I bled, but the amount explained why my group of friends worked in thought-fil
led silence.

  I must have made a sound when I got closer because Noah jerked his head up to find me, his face pinching in concern as his eyes locked onto mine. I snuck my hands behind me, trying to hide the evidence regardless that he’d probably already been told what happened. The broom was long forgotten, bouncing off the floor until it settled as Noah dropped it and rushed to my side.

  “You got hurt.” It wasn’t a question as he gently reached behind my back for my hand, clasping it in his and inspected my poor bandaging skills.

  “I’m okay—”

  He clicked his tongue when I winced after he moved my hand too fast. “We should go to the hospital. It could need stitches.”

  “It’s not that bad, really,” I tried to assure him. Thankfully, only a small amount of blood had begun to seep through the gauze, or convincing him a trip to the ER wasn’t needed would be impossible. “It stings more than anything, but it wasn’t as deep as I thought. I promise it looks worse than it is.”

  I refused to look up at Cora or Adira, whose eyes were boring into me as I spoke, afraid they’d recognize the lie better than he could. Wheels turned in Noah’s head as he watched for any hint that I was in shock and not able to choose for myself, but when his shoulders settled with a sigh, I knew I was in the clear.

  “What am I supposed to do with you?” He smiled tightly, still worried as he tilted his head slightly to get a better look into my eyes. I swallowed a guilty gulp and shrugged helplessly.

  “Ew.” Adira let out an exaggerated gag. “Get a room!”

  I couldn’t help but laugh as Cora hid her face, and Noah turned to roll his eyes at her, making sure she saw him. It hadn’t always been like this, at least with Noah and me. I’d spent a long time admiring him from a distance, nervous to admit my feelings. Truthfully, I was convinced being honest with him about my heart would drive a wedge into our friendship and destroy the group we’d become.

  I didn’t want to lose him, and in turn, force my friends to choose a side.

  It didn’t help when Adira made some overly suggestive comments about Noah and how he’d really grown into himself. I laughed, encouraging her but deep down, my heart shattered. The idea wasn’t new. I’d heard the whispers around school questioning their relationship with one another. Some were from people who looked at Noah as a potential prospect, and others were just putting together that they’d make a great couple.

  It was out of character for me, but I took a leap of faith and was surprised when Adira told me she, and apparently, anyone who had eyes, knew how I’d felt about Noah. After that, a jumbled confession to him and a busted ankle from slipping on wet bleachers by the football field. The rest was history. I’d never intended to follow in the footsteps of my parents with their high school sweetheart romance, but I wouldn’t trade it or him for the world.

  Now, the concern that pulled at his naturally relaxed face was more than that of a friend, but what he regarded as his future. I knew how he felt. I wouldn’t take my eyes off him if he got hurt either, but luckily for me, after some extra convincing and Adira saying I was a big girl who could handle it, everyone settled back into the night. We finished cleaning the mess, making sure to clean the blood from the floor with disinfectant before putting the liquor back in Adira’s bag. I did my best to pretend everything was normal, not failing to notice Adira and Cora still being on edge.

  Finally, we all filed back into the living room so Noah could fix the DVD player. Adira held a brand-new, piping hot batch of popcorn to replace the bowl that had been overturned and hurried to the back corner to grab an oversized blanket to share.

  “So, what did I miss?” Noah asked as he got comfortable on the love seat. “Besides Willow’s tumble in the dark.”

  “That and the possessed DVD player, so, nothing much.” Adira’s answer wasn’t what sent my back rigid.

  Just as the words left her mouth, what a second ago was a simple shadow hovering near the stack of freshly laundered afghans manifested into a figure that darted from my direction and disappeared through the opposite wall before the shocked gasp had fully sprung from my lips.

  “Jesus, Willow, I was just kidding.” She stared wide-eyed at me. “Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

  “I haven’t, I just—” I fumbled and rubbed at my eyes like it was nothing more than a fuzz.

  I could believe that if Cora wasn’t staring right at where the shadow dissipated. She looked away as soon as she noticed me, avoiding the question playing on my face. The realization that this wasn’t just me seeing things sent my heart into my throat. If I wasn’t crazy, what was happening?

  “Did you see that?” I asked Cora, but she refused to answer.

  “What’s going on with you?” Adira jumped in. “Seriously.” There was no malice in her voice, but I still stepped back from the question.

  I waited for Cora to change her mind and back me up, but she stayed silent, trying to slip into the background. My mouth opened and shut as hesitation took hold. Could I have imagined her reaction? Maybe the shadow?

  I studied each of their faces, not sure how to proceed. I could verbalize what I just saw, what I’d been seeing, but what if my friends thought I was crazy? They could leave me, and the fear I’d been harboring about being alone would become my sickening reality.

  Who could love a crazy person?

  “Willow.” Noah stood to face me, and the raw panic fluttering in my chest calmed instantly.

  “I think my dad is around,” I blurted out, refraining from slapping palms over my impulsive lips.

  No one spoke or moved.

  Instinctively, I sank away from the three pairs of round eyes pelting me. The range of emotion left me dizzy. Cora pressed her lips tight, unwilling to speak, while Adira gaped at me with an unnerving interest. On the other hand, Noah looked on with pity, like I was an injured animal that needed to be nursed back to health.

  “You’ve seen him?” Adira asked, breaking the silence.

  “No,” I scoffed to play it off, but the fib coated my mouth in turpentine. “Well, I don’t know, maybe?” I shook my head, but before I could stop the flood of words from coming, they spilled from my tongue. “I’ve been seeing shadows and signs that someone is around me. Just now”—I threw a thumb behind me—“there was something there—someone. Last night!” I moved forward excitedly but quickly stopped when Cora backed away. “He sent me a message, a picture of us together. I think he’s trying to reach out but just can’t.”

  “Willow,” Noah began, but I cut him off.

  “No.” I laughed painfully. “You think I don’t know how crazy this sounds? But ever since my mom brought out that Ouija board, something has changed. I can sense a type of energy surrounding me, and I just know it’s him.”

  Noah opened and closed his mouth, at a loss for words.

  “I know what you’re going to say.” I sighed. Noah was rational and steady. Everything had a reason behind it, just like the paintings he’d done at the apartment. Each stroke of the brush was purposeful, precise. For him, I was mourning, but for me it was more than that. Something unexplainable and—

  The board.

  It was like an aha moment. With the support of my friends, I could confidently use the board to contact my dad. They’d see I wasn’t crazy, and he could be with me, even if only for a moment.

  “Let’s use the Ouija board.” I tried to sound excited, but it came out more like a plea.

  “I’m in.” Adira jumped up, ready.

  “Adira!” Noah scolded as he looked between us. “Do you really think that’s the smart thing to do here?”

  “I mean, how much could it hurt? Best case it works, and it’s a night for the books. Worse case we find out that Willow is just crazy.” She shot me a wink.

  “Hey!” I fake pouted and suppressed the growing excitement running through my veins.

  “Then it’s settled!” She clapped her hands together, ignoring both Noah and Cora as they thought up an argument to d
issuade us. “Besides, I would give anything to talk to my aunt, so maybe we can try to reach them both!”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’m in!”

  Adira squealed, Cora looked like she would be sick, and Noah just looked like he was stuck with a bunch of girls playing a game that would give them nightmares. When his eyes met mine, they were unreadable, but I was sure he thought this would be the last thing I needed to heal from the accident.

  “We can do it in the office.” I pointed as if the house was large enough to need directions.

  Adira rushed from the room with Noah following her out. Just as I was about to enter the kitchen, Cora’s soft voice called out to me. I turned to her, not expecting the thick angst pinning her eyebrows together.

  “Please don’t do this.” She stepped forward while her eyes darted around us as if someone was listening in.

  “It’ll be okay,” I reasoned, remembering her family was religious.

  “I can’t be around it.” She shook her head like I wasn’t understanding.

  “Just wait in here.” I smiled to reassure her. “It’ll probably only be a minute anyway.”

  “You okay?” Noah stuck his head through the beads and called to me.

  “Yeah,” I hollered back. “Be right there!”

  Cora had moved away from me and turned her back. I hesitated on my heel. While the energy surrounding me grew thick with anticipation, guilt still bubbled in my stomach over doing something that made her so uncomfortable. The right thing to do would be to plan this for another day, but I needed to know if this could work, and Cora was just going to have to understand.

  I left her in the living room and entered the office, the beads sashaying behind me at being disturbed.

  The board was already out of the box when I grabbed a seat next to Noah. Adira was studying the planchette, looking through the glass circle in the middle, and from where I was sitting, it made her eye enlarge like looking through a magnifying glass. I couldn’t help but laugh when she turned her jumbo eye on Noah and asked if he’d always had a booger hanging from his nose.