Miraculous: Tales of the Unknown

by Krystal McLaughlin

  I turn my gaze from him to Victoria. She smiles at me. “Do it,” she mouths to me.

  I look back at him again. “I would love to.”

  “Great! Looking forward to it!” He hands me a slip of paper. “Here’s my cell phone number, text me sometime and we can figure out the details.” He waves at us both as he walks away.

  I end up going as Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. Victoria insists I look cute. I don’t think so. “Oh, but I know Quinn will think so. I had no idea he even had a crush on you! I usually know these things. How is it that you ended up with a date and I didn’t?” she says with a laugh.

  I shrug. “Maybe it’s your attitude?” I say, and stick my tongue out at her.

  She just laughs and continues to get ready for the dance.

  We meet Quinn and his friends at school, just outside the gymnasium doors. “You look beautiful,” he says to me when he sees me.

  “Thank you,” is all I can manage in response.

  He smiles at me. “You’re welcome. Let’s head inside. It’s getting kind of chilly out here.” He holds open the door for Victoria and me.

  Inside, the gym is set up much like a scene out of a horror movie. I can’t believe how much time and effort was put into it. Victoria was right, I do love it.

  It ends up being so much better than I was hoping it would be. Quinn and I dance to almost every slow song they play, which isn’t a lot. Thank goodness for that, because it is also so strange to me and the last thing I want is to seem even more awkward than I already feel.

  Time seems to be flying by. The DJ announces that the next song will be the last slow dance of the night. Quinn takes me by the hand and leads me to the middle of the dance floor. It is perfect and magical. At this moment, everything feels right. I can feel his eyes on me and I know that he is going to try and kiss me. I am okay with this. In fact, I want him to kiss me.

  He brushes the hair out of my face and looks deeply into my eyes. At this moment it is like the rest of the room doesn’t exist. Our lips meet and sparks shoot through my body. When he pulls back from our kiss, it leaves me utterly speechless and breathless.

  My senses come rushing back to me in an instant. The temperature in the gym suddenly drops drastically. While it is less than romantic, the first words out of my mouth are, “Why is it so cold in here?” My eyes flit around the room. No one is moving. The music has stopped. Okay, what is going on? “Um, Quinn, what’s happening? Is this part of the Halloween festivities?” I don’t understand.

  He just shakes his head and looks around the room too. Panic fills his eyes.

  “I need to find Victoria. Maybe she’ll know what is going on. You can come with me if you want. Or maybe you should try to find your friends. Someone has to know what is going on here,” I whisper, hoping I am right.

  Quinn nods and walks towards where we had left his friends. I head out into the hallway to see if I can find Victoria. I call her name out, but get no response. Maybe she’s in the bathroom? I head down the hallway and push the door open. No one is inside. I hurry back towards the gym.

  I’m mere feet away from the door when I hear a loud crash and then people screaming. I full-out run the rest of the way back into the gym. There is a large crowd standing in the center of the gym. I push my way through and see Quinn laying there. One of the lights has fallen and crushed him.

  “Has someone called 911?” I exclaim. “We need an ambulance right away!” No one is moving. As the tears stream down my face, I pull out my cell phone and make the call myself. Once the paramedics are on their way, I find somewhere to sit down and I cry. How could this have happened? Everything was going so perfectly.

  I don’t know how long I have been sitting here, but eventually Victoria finds me. She doesn’t say anything, just puts her arm around me and holds me.

  Once the gym starts clearing out, she tells me, “We should probably go. There’s no need for you to sit here and relive the moment, over and over again.”

  I nod and get up. There is nothing else to say. As we are heading out the door, one of Quinn’s friends, Xavier Hackett, comes sprinting after us. “Do you guys need a ride home? It’s been a long night and it’s getting cold outside. I wouldn’t mind driving you home, if you want.”

  I force myself to speak. “Yes, please. I don’t think I can make it home on my own.”

  The word is all over the school by Monday morning. Quinn died in the hospital soon after he was admitted. I try to pretend that it isn’t real. None of this is real. It is just a nightmare, a horrible nightmare. Soon I am going to wake up and everything will go back to normal.

  Over the course of the next few weeks, Xavier is really kind to me. It is weird for me, but it really helps. He is having a much harder time than I am. He was Quinn’s best friend. He has no one else to turn to, though; no one that will understand what he is going through. While I didn’t really know Quinn all that well, I still feel the pain.

  For a while, I completely forget about the Koah dreams, but as normalcy has begun to set in again, they have started haunting me again. This time they have become more vivid, more intense. They scare me. He is very possessive of me in my dreams. I belong to him. That’s what he says almost every night. Those words are permanently etched into my mind. I try to reassure myself that they mean nothing. They are just silly dreams. They can’t mean anything. They just can’t.

  Every day, Xavier and I seem to grow closer and closer. Victoria, Xavier, and I spend every lunch hour together and hang out every day after school. I don’t think that Xavier wants to be alone. I don’t blame him for that. It does startle me a bit that he has latched onto me so tightly, but I don’t let it get to me too much. He is a sweet guy and an extremely talented artist.

  One day at lunch, he asks me if I will pose for a portrait for his art class. He is going to have it displayed at the art festival before Christmas break. Who am I to turn him down? It could be fun.

  After school that day, he drags me to the art room so we can get started. He explains everything to me as he is setting up. Once he is done, he has me sit down and he puts me into the pose that he wants. It ends up being really awkward and boring having to sit still for such a long period of time. I am anxious though, to see how the painting turns out. I know it will be magnificent.

  It takes days before the painting is completed, but once he shows it to me, I know it has been worth it. It is the most breathtaking painting I have ever seen. I have to admit, I am slightly jealous of Xavier’s skills. He tells me he can’t wait to show it to his art teacher after the weekend. With that, we head back to my house to hang out and watch movies. That is the typical thing we do on a Friday night.

  The weekend seems to go by extremely fast, but they always do. The school days, those don’t seem to go by nearly as fast, especially now that Christmas break is drawing nearer.

  Xavier wants to go show his painting to his art teacher, Miss Wyrick right away. He says he’ll be back before homeroom. I think nothing of it. I know how excited and proud he is of his painting. I would have been too.

  He comes back a few minutes later, tears streaming down his face.

  “What’s wrong Xavier?” I ask, full of concern. “Did she not like your painting?”

  He shakes his head. “No, that’s not it. My painting… It’s destroyed. Someone wrecked it,” he chokes out between the tears.

  “What!? How did that happen? I don’t understand. We locked up when we left on Friday. There’s no way anyone could have gotten in there.” I am completely flabbergasted by what he is telling me. I put my arms around him. “It’ll be okay. We can just do another one. I don’t mind posing again,” I assure him, still holding him close.

  “Thank you,” he whispers. “You’re so good to me,” as he hugs me tightly.

  That afternoon we walk back towards the art room. I grab his hand and give it a squeeze. He is still upset about what happened. I am too. I still can’t understand how his painting had been destroyed.


  He shows it to me once we get to the art room. There is paint splattered all over it and it looks as if it has been slashed with an x-acto knife. After he shows it to me, he slides it into the trash can with a sigh.

  “Let’s just get this over with,” he says flatly.

  “Hey now, don’t talk like that! This painting will be just as amazing as the first one. Maybe even better!” I exclaim. I have more faith in him than he does. I walk towards him and gave him a hug. “Don’t give up. You have so much talent. Don’t let what happened get you down.”

  “Thank you for believing in me. And thank you for being here for me. Everything has just been so hard lately. I don’t think I would have made it through it without you and Victoria. You two are the best, but especially you. You are so sweet and so compassionate,” he whispers to me, then plants a kiss on my cheek.

  I must admit I am blushing a bit. I grin though, and say, “Knock ‘em dead tiger!”

  He laughs at me and rolls his eyes. But that is the effect I was going for.

  It is like déjà vu. Every day after school we spend a few hours in the art room working on his new painting. It is turning out to be just as perfect as his first one. It goes by just as the week before. This time, he insists that I don’t have to wait around for him while he cleans everything up. “You’ve spent far too many of your afternoons here, helping me out. Go to Victoria’s. I’ll meet you there in a little while,” he tells me.

  I don’t want to, but there is no use in arguing with him. With a sigh, I pack up my stuff and head out the door. Calling after me, I say, “Try not to take too long.”

  I plop down on Victoria’s bed and tell her about what happened with the painting. She really doesn’t care, but I do, so she has to suck it up and listen. I don’t think she is really listening to me though. After I am done rambling, she insists that we go to the kitchen for snacks. I can’t disagree with that idea. I am getting pretty hungry.

  We wrangle up food and head back to Victoria’s room. I glance at the clock. A lot of time has passed since I left Xavier at the school. “He should be here by now. It was almost an hour ago that I left him to finish cleaning up. I think something’s happened to him,” I state.

  Victoria rolls her eyes at me. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe he just started another painting or something. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”

  I don’t like it, though. Something just feels wrong, but Victoria isn’t having it. I pick up my cell phone and send him a text. He never responds to it. He never shows up that night, even for our usual movie and pizza night. I try calling him, but it goes straight to voicemail. That really isn’t like him.

  I decide that if I haven’t heard from him by morning that I will stop over at his house. His parents are bound to know something.

  Early Saturday morning, I find myself on his front porch talking to his mother. “No, he isn’t here. He never came home last night. I’m extremely worried about him. He isn’t answering his cell phone. I don’t know where he could be. It’s been so hard for him lately, after what happened to Quinn. If you hear from him, please let me know.” She jots down her number for me.

  I start walking home, plagued with fear. What could have happened to him? Where could he be? Maybe he just needed some space. He could be at a friend’s house. Though, he hasn’t really hung out with anyone other than Victoria and me since the Halloween dance.

  Instead of going home, I go to Victoria’s instead. Once there, I insist that we go looking for him. She makes a face at me, clearly not liking the idea of spending her Saturday on what she calls a ‘wild goose chase.’ I won’t take no for an answer. Eventually she gives in.

  Victoria knows of a few people that Xavier used to hang out with, so we start there. None of them have heard from him since Quinn’s funeral.

  “I think we should go to the school,” I suggest.

  “Why? I don’t want to go to school on a Saturday,” Victoria grumbles.

  “Because that’s the last place he was. Maybe there’s a clue as to where he went or what happened to him.” I put my foot down. “If you won’t go with me, I’ll go alone.”

  “Oh, fine. Let’s get this over with. If he isn’t there, can we do something fun?” she pleads.

  “Yes, yes, we can go to the mall or something after this, I promise.” That is good enough for her.

  When we get there, the door to the art room is still open and the lights are on. That is weird. He would have locked up after he was done. A part of me doesn’t even want to walk into the room. Victoria has to shove me in.

  I stand horrified at the scene that is laid out before me. Scrawled on the wall in red paint are the words: ‘SHE BELONGS TO ME.’ That alone is enough to startle me, but lying crumpled on the floor below the words, is the body of Xavier. He is covered in blood and impaled by every single paint brush in the art room.

  That’s when I realize that it isn’t paint that the words are written in… It is his blood.

  I can’t handle it. I break down, fall to the floor next to Xavier’s body and cry and cry. Victoria has to call the police. I just can’t bring myself to admit that he is gone. It terrifies me.

  I know the words on the wall are about me. In the pit of my stomach, I know it. But who could have done this? Who can possibly want me that much that they will kill to get their hands on me? It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t belong to anyone. I’ve only been here a few months. Nothing makes sense anymore.

  I do my best to explain everything that has happened lately to the police. That isn’t an easy task for me. I have had enough of the police after what happened to Quinn. I never want to have to go through all that again. Once is enough for one lifetime, and here I am, having to do it twice within a few months.

  Victoria drives me home afterwards. I can’t stop the tears from falling. When she drops me off at my house, I insist that I need to be alone. She is reluctant to leave me by myself, but eventually gives up and leaves me here. I am grateful for that.

  I run straight to my room, curl up in bed, and cry myself to sleep.

  “You belong to me,” a voice calls out to me over and over again.

  I can’t find where the voice is coming from. It feels like the voice is coming from right next to me, but when I turn to the side, no one is there. It feels like I am being watched though. I do everything I can to will myself awake. That’s when I realize I am not asleep. That terrifies me.

  “Who’s there?” I whisper, not sure that I really want to know the answer to that question.

  “You know who I am,” the voice replies. It is deep and raspy, like the voice of someone who has been smoking for many, many years.

  “Go away! Leave me alone! You shouldn’t be here,” I stammer, hoping whoever it is will leave.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” it hisses at me. “This is my room, my home. Everything here is mine. Even you.”

  “Who are you? I don’t understand. This is my room! This is my house now!” I whimper.

  “That isn’t true and you know it,” the voice insists. “You know who I am. I’ve been with you since the moment you stepped into this house.”

  “No… You can’t be. This can’t be happening. This isn’t real,” I sob.

  “Yes, Emaline, it is.” The voice starts to become softer. “You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. In life and in death. There is no one more perfect than you. If I can’t have you, then no one can.”

  What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to say to that? I must be crazy. This isn’t happening. It can’t be real.

  “Would you feel better if I showed myself to you? Would you like to see me Emaline?” the voice says, even more gentle than before.

  I can’t bring myself to answer, so I just nod.

  A figure slowly steps into the moonlight filtering through my bedroom window. I gasp. It is Koah… A transparent version of Koah, but it is him, nonetheless. He is gorgeous, even if he is a ghost. And even if he is a kille
r.

  “What do you want from me?” I ask, significantly less afraid now than I was before. I already know what the answer will be. In my heart, I know.

  “You… I want you. Spend eternity with me. I cannot bare to move on to the afterlife until you’re here with me, by my side,” Koah whispers. “Come be with me Emaline. All of this can end here. No more killing, no more sadness. Just you and I, together forever.”

  I shake with fear. Can I do this? Can I do what he is asking of me? It would save so many lives, but at the cost of my own.

  “I… I don’t know if I can do this,” I tremble.

  “You have no other choice Emaline. It’s either them or you. What’s more important to you, your friends or yourself? Make a decision and make it soon. I cannot control my urges. If you take too long, I cannot be held responsible for who might be harmed,” he replies. “I’ll leave you now. Don’t take too long, my love. I’ll be waiting for you with open arms.” With that, Koah fades away.