The Delusion

by Laura Gallier

  There was no indication he was lying, and yet how could I believe him? My grandparents had been horrible, abusive people. That’s the one thing my mother had told me.

  “I made your grandparents a promise. If I ever had the pleasure of meeting you, I swore I’d tell you how much they longed to know you. If only your mother . . .”

  It was too much to take in—the idea that my mom may have walked out on perfectly loving parents. Was she that messed up? That totally selfish?

  I bolted out of my chair. “If you were so close to my grandparents, why’d they leave their estate to me and not you?”

  He calmly stood, giving me a compassionate smile. “They wanted you in this town in the hope that you would someday carry on their family legacy here. Charitable works and religious activism.” He stepped close. “Owen, I swore to your grandmother on her deathbed that if you came to Masonville, I’d teach you the principles and way of life they so diligently instilled in me.”

  He took a nostalgic glance at our surroundings. “And here we are. Matched in a mentoring program—can you believe it?”

  I was still confused but found myself starting to believe him.

  “I want you to know something.” He spoke with the passion of a coach rallying an exhausted team. “I can teach you incredible things. Self-assurance. Keys to success and influence like you’ve never known.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that.

  “Do you have a father, Owen? A man who’s investing in your future?”

  I was willing to give an honest answer, but paralyzing shame came over me so that I could barely shake my head no.

  “I understand,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You know, you could be the son I never had.”

  I furrowed my brow. “You already have a son.”

  He dropped his chin and let out a long, exasperated sigh. “He’s unteachable. Reckless.” He looked me in the eyes. “Weak.”

  And that’s when his whole vibe changed. The compassion was all gone from his face, but way worse than that, his eyes turned different. Dark and cloudy. Threatening as a Creeper’s.

  And the temperature in the room plummeted.

  I took a big step back. “Um . . . I’d better get to class.”

  I darted out of there, swearing to myself that I was forever done with the mentoring program.

  I admit that for a second there, I had liked the thought of having an accomplished man—a doctor, even—take an interest in my life. But Dr. Bradford was clearly not a good person.

  What had I just witnessed?

  I meandered to class and slid into my chair, even more curious and confused about my relatives. I glanced at Dan, in the back row as usual. It was hard to believe, but it was actually possible his home life was about as messed up as mine.

  The Watchmen didn’t bother coming back to Masonville High that day.

  Jess texted me after school: Miss you. You want to hang out tonight?

  I don’t know which was more baffling—making sense of my paranormal world or trying to figure out why females do what they do. Why would she want to spend time with a crazy person? Her words, mind you.

  Didn’t matter. I had plans with Ray Anne. I was hoping to keep that on the down low though, so I took the easy way out: Sorry, have to help my mom do stuff around the house.

  I always did most of the chores anyway, so it wasn’t a total lie, just a mini-lie.

  She replied right away: Okay. Call me this weekend?

  I went ahead and said I would, then added: Really hope you stay away from Dan.

  She replied with a thumbs-up. I could only hope that meant she would.

  I jumped in the shower to get ready for my date—more like fact-finding mission. It was hard to tell if I was nervous because I was going out with a girl I barely knew or because I no longer trusted myself to act rationally. I didn’t want to tell her too much, but I feared I would. And I hoped I could ignore the supernatural distractions, but I feared I couldn’t.

  I styled my hair to perfection and sprayed on some cologne. I talked my mom into letting me use her SUV for the night, then headed out the door, fighting back the nerves building in my gut. Adrenaline and a belly freeze didn’t mix well.

  Ray Anne welcomed me inside her house. Thankfully there was still nothing around her neck except a cross necklace.

  I stood by the sofa and tried to figure out what to do with my hands. No matter where I put them, it felt unnatural. I was like a geek trying to look cool.

  Her parents came into the living room together, both glowing—literally. They stood by their daughter for a moment, and a whiff of something wonderful hit me.

  Weird, I know.

  Mr. Greiner approached and gave me a super firm, confident handshake.

  “It’s great to see you again,” Ray Anne’s mom said, hugging me. Unexpected but nice, I guess.

  They sat and motioned for me to sit across from them.

  “So, tell us about yourself,” Mr. Greiner said.

  I’m a psycho who sees beings from another dimension. Mind if I take your daughter out?

  I went with a different approach. “Well, I’m a senior. Moved here from Boston almost four months ago. I played on the basketball team at my old school; I run track here. And I always drive the speed limit.” We all laughed, except Mr. Greiner.

  The interrogation continued. “How did you meet Ray Anne?”

  “She was the first person I met at Masonville High. I thought it would be good to connect again.” A stupid answer, but it was the best I had.

  “What are your plans for tonight?” Mr. Greiner crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

  “I’m taking Ray Anne out for dinner. I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

  Mr. Greiner stood and pulled me to the side. It was just as awkward as it sounds. “Owen, you look like a nice young man. You know that I’m entrusting you with one of the most precious people in my life. I have faith in you that you’re going to act like a gentleman and treat my daughter with decency and respect tonight.”

  “Oh yes, sir, I will. Of course.” I really did have good intentions toward her.

  As Ray Anne and I headed out, Mr. Greiner gave her a hug and me a heavy pat on my shoulder. Really heavy.

  I decided to take Ray Anne to the river walk in San Antonio. It was over an hour away, but I’d heard Lance say he and Meagan loved going there, and the long drive would give us more time to talk.

  Our conversation on the way there was more comfortable than I’d thought it would be. We kept making each other laugh, which was cool.

  I couldn’t help noticing Ray Anne’s beautiful, muscular legs, but I tried not to let my thoughts get away from me. Mr. Greiner’s handprint still stung on my back.

  By the time we got to the river walk and parked, the sun was setting. Ray Anne’s glow looked even more spectacular in the dark. As unusual as it was, nothing about it felt weird. It seemed natural, like something everybody should have.

  It was a good social scene—neon lights, live music, buzzing restaurants. But it made me jumpy. I hated crowds now. And of course there were Creepers in the mix.

  The word sick was slopped on the side of a restaurant in huge lowercase letters. That didn’t help my nerves.

  I settled on an upscale seafood restaurant. Not cheap, but it had a great atmosphere.

  It took almost an hour, but we were finally seated at a candlelit table next to a massive aquarium loaded with rainbow-colored fish and a few sharks. It was awesome. And, to be honest, slightly romantic.

  In the dim restaurant, Ray Anne’s illumination reflected upward, creating a soft shimmer on her face. It was so . . . intriguing. It was nearly a perfect moment—the only downer being that I kept catching whiffs of Creeper odor.

  “So, what’s your family like?” It was a reasonable question for her to ask—thoughtful even. But it threw me.

  “It’s just me and my mom.”

  “Oh.” She cleared her throat. “Is she
strict?”

  “Not even a little.”

  “Lucky.”

  Ah . . . no. “It’s not as awesome as you think. My mom is . . .” I took a sip of my sweet tea, as if I could swallow my discomfort.

  “Come on. She can’t be that bad.”

  “Trust me.”

  A cute smile crept across her face. “From what I can tell, she raised a good son.”

  I’ve never been one to blush, but she got me on that one.

  “What about you?” I said. “Your parents seem like the perfect—”

  “They’re not.” Her whole demeanor changed. I didn’t feel comfortable pressing her for an explanation, and she quickly changed the subject, her tone upbeat again. “I heard you stood up to Dan at lunch yesterday, when he was being mean to Jess.”

  I was glad she’d brought that situation up instead of my soda-throwing meltdown.

  I gave a nod, then leaned in toward her. “What’s the deal with that guy?”

  She had no problem making eye contact with me. “I know he’s popular and all, but there’s something dark about him. Sad, really.”

  If she only knew. She took a deep breath, then dropped her chin. “He made my brother’s freshman year miserable. Picked on him . . .” She took a sudden interest in her menu.

  “So you have a brother?”

  She swallowed hard. Formed a polite smile as her eyes welled. “Had . . . He passed away.”

  Way to go, slick. I wanted to kick myself under the table. “Oh. I’m so sorry.”

  I wondered how he’d died, but it felt rude to ask.

  “It’s okay. Really.” She smiled at me like we’d known each other forever. “I’m just glad you’re willing to stand up for people. We need that at our school.”

  I’m not sure how she did it, but she made me feel like the most important guy in the room. I liked her already.

  We scanned the menu and chatted about what foods we did and didn’t like until our conversation was interrupted. I looked over my shoulder and saw a tall, well-dressed lady shouting at a man. Her husband? And there was that filthy Creeper I’d been smelling. Attached to her.

  I turned back around. Ray Anne was engrossed in their heated conversation, mouth open.

  “I don’t know why I put up with you!” the lady said.

  “What’s wrong with you?” The man stood, and his chair fell over. More heads turned.

  I looked back again, at the Creeper. You just love destroying lives, don’t you?

  The couple stormed away from their table, and the waitress chased them down.

  “That’s one way to get out of paying the check,” Ray Anne said.

  We both laughed, then went back to minding our own business. I was stabbing ice cubes with my straw when Ray Anne said, “I can’t imagine being attacked by one of those vicious things.”

  I nearly spilled my drink. “You see them too?”

  She pointed to the aquarium. “The sharks?”

  My excitement deflated. “Oh, yeah.” I worked to regain my composure.

  She inched her chair forward. “Are you all right?”

  “Absolutely.” I changed the subject. “So, everyone has theories about what’s causing the suicides. How about you?”

  She’d stuffed a fried shrimp in her mouth, but as soon as she was able, she said, “Honestly? I think it’s the devil.”

  I gave her a blank, awkward stare. “That’s a joke. Right?”

  “No. I mean, I’m not like the protesters or anything.”

  “Good to know,” I said, consuming a shrimp myself.

  “Yeah.” She giggled, but only for a second. “I do think it’s a satanic attack, though.” She dabbed her lips with her napkin. “Why our school? I have no idea.”

  “Let me get this straight. You believe in a literal Satan?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t?”

  I sat up tall. “I do agree that our school is under attack—actually, I’m sure of it—but I can’t say for sure what they are. Where they come from.”

  Now it was her turn to look at me with a confused, awkward stare. “What do you mean?”

  You know that feeling when you’re strapped into a megacoaster and it’s about to change from clanking uphill to free-falling? That’s how I felt. I’d promised myself I’d take it slow, but then again, I had no way of knowing our conversation would go in this direction, much less this quickly.

  I let go of my fork, put both palms flat on the table, and lowered my voice. “Ray Anne, if I tell you something unbelievable, something frightening and absurd and—just totally bizarre, will you try to believe me?”

  She thought a moment, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and smearing what was left of her lip gloss in the process. “I will.” She said it like she really meant it.

  I was probably setting myself up for a major letdown, but I was actually tempted to believe her.

  Our waitress came and dropped off the check.

  I looked around. “Can we get out of here first?”

  We spied a bench in a grassy area in the distance, away from the crowd and bright lights. Everything looked navy blue in the moonlight, except the sidewalk below Ray Anne’s feet.

  I gazed at the sky, but there wasn’t a single star to fix my eyes on. Ray Anne stared at me like a kid at story time, anxious for me to get on with it. I was back at the top of the coaster. I took a deep breath, then went for it.

  I started at the beginning, and by the time I’d told her how sick I’d gotten after drinking from the well, she’d slid to the edge of the bench and was hardly breathing. “Keep going,” she said.

  I explained how I’d seen the shackled jogger lady with chains and cords, and soon, I saw them on everyone.

  She seemed to be tracking with me, making me believe it was safe to share more. So I told her everything—about the names on the chains and how they turned out to be real people, and the first Creeper I’d ever witnessed and how it had attached itself to Ashlyn. I eventually got to the note and how I wasn’t the only one who saw it.

  “I showed Lance and Jess, but they didn’t believe my explanation.”

  By the time I described the amazing star-looking thing kids have, I felt lighter. It was liberating to get the entire horror story off my chest, out in the open air.

  She asked why I’d gone berserk in the cafeteria yesterday, so I explained the whole thing. Then, as if I hadn’t dumped enough on her . . .

  “The reason I asked you out is because you’re different. There are some people who don’t have chains or anything. Instead there’s this awesome glow-like deal around their feet. You have that, Ray Anne. Your parents, too. You’re not a slave to the tormentors. And I want to know why.”

  I turned sideways to face her and moved closer. “I don’t have a shackle, but I don’t glow either. It’s confusing. But I want to make sense of it all. I have to. People are hurting—hurting themselves and each other, and they don’t even know why.”

  I eased back, expecting that any second, she’d dig her phone out of her purse and beg her dad to come get her. Or squirt pepper spray in my eyes.

  “Show me the picture of the note.”

  Was she actually taking me seriously? I enlarged the image, then handed her my phone. She studied it, pulling the image close to her face, then holding it at arm’s length, inspecting it like some expert detective. Finally, she handed it back.

  “Owen?”

  Here comes the hammer.

  “It’s really difficult to absorb everything you just said, and I honestly don’t know what to think. But I don’t think you’re crazy, and I’m sorry no one has been willing to try and believe you.”

  It was like a cozy, warm blanket had just been wrapped around my insides.

  “I’m willing to try, Owen. I’ll try to believe you. And I want to be a good friend to you so you don’t feel alone through all of this.”

  I wanted to give everyone on the river walk a high-five. Did I mention I really liked this
girl?

  “I’m sure once I think about things more,” she said, “I’ll have lots of questions, but if you’ll be completely honest with me, I’ll walk through this with you.”

  Finally, an ally.

  We lingered in the silence a minute. I took a deep breath and managed a smile. “So . . . what’s going on in your world?”

  She laughed.

  Wow.

  Ray Anne wasn’t kidding when she said she’d have lots of questions. On the drive back, she asked about everything from the water-test results, to the look and feel of the chains, to the size of the Creepers’ hands. “Do they know you can see them?” On and on she went, all the way back to Masonville.

  I loved every minute of it.

  We were almost to her house when she mentioned she was thirsty, so I pulled into a convenience store. It was the least I could do. We were picking out drinks from the refrigerator at the back of the store when two Creepers passed through a wall, both named Terror. It fit them well.

  By the time I noticed Ray Anne walking toward them, it was too late to grab her. I bit down hard on my bottom lip as she crossed smack-dab in front of them.

  I couldn’t believe it. They went out of their way to avoid her, leaning back, hands raised, careful not to cross into her aura or let her out of their sight. It was as if the light surrounding her was toxic to them.

  “You coming?” She looked at me.

  I tossed a few bucks on the counter, then walked off without my change.

  “Did something just happen?” She studied my face.

  “Yeah. I’ll explain in the car.”

  I opened the passenger door for her. That’s when a different kind of terror showed up.

  SIXTEEN

  “LOOKS LIKE YOU HAD a change of plans tonight, huh?” Jess stood by her car, yelling loud enough for everyone in a one-mile radius to hear.

  “Hey, I um . . .” Busted. Plain and simple.

  “So I guess your mommy let you out of the house after all?”

  Ray Anne frowned. Jess looked ready to pounce.

  I tried to calm things down. “I’ll give you a call later, okay?”

  “No, it’s not okay. You think you can just lie to me?” She shifted her glare to Ray Anne. “What are you looking at?”