When They Fade

by Jeyn Roberts

  Mary is searching her pockets. “I know I have some coppers in here. A few shillings at least. They’ve got to be valuable now, right?” She pulls out a few coins and holds them up to show Tatum. “Any idea where I can sell them? I want some new clothes.” She tugs on the front of her corset, nearly exposing her breasts for everyone to see. “Can you imagine being stuck in this getup for all eternity? Driving me mad, it is.”

  “Molly.” Parker says my name quietly.

  I glare at him. What exactly does he want me to do? Freak out? Fall down at his feet and beg him to protect me from something I’ve yet to see? Head back to the hell that is my life and ignore the past few weeks? Let Tatum die because that’s better than being afraid of my shadow? This isn’t fair. At this rate, I’m never going to be able to help her. I can’t run off every time Parker tells me to; otherwise I’ll end up too late. And I’m not going to come back to earth only to find myself at Tatum’s funeral. I’ll never forgive myself.

  How am I supposed to figure things out if Parker gets jumpy over every single gust of air? Every single time I go back, I lose time. Days pass. I realize that I’m going to have to start sneaking off to the cave without him. I’ll have to find ways to leave him behind. And Mary, too. She’s just going to have to go on her own if she wants to spend the day cruising the malls.

  Already this is beginning to feel like a disaster.

  Scott, meanwhile, is beginning to recover his dignity. He’s watching me intently. His fingers keep going up as if he wants to touch my arm, but he pulls his hand back at the last second. I fight an insane urge to yell out boo and start laughing maniacally.

  The wind blows again, pressing against my face. It’s growing colder with each gust. The temperature is dropping steadily, and the sun doesn’t appear to be going down anytime soon. Parker grabs my arm. Even I can see the goose bumps rising across my skin.

  “Is your automobile close by?” Parker asks. “It’s best we go someplace else.”

  “Somewhere I can get me a bitter?” Mary asks. “A drink is what I need to warm me bones.”

  “Will you stop talking about yourself for a single second?” Parker snaps.

  “I can ask, can’t I?” Mary growls back.

  “Okay,” Tatum says. “We’re parked by the side of the road. But I’m not sure we can take all of you. It’ll be a tight fit. And it’s Scott’s car. You’ll have to ask him.”

  If she’s feeling the cold, she’s not saying anything. Actually, when I look closely, I can see beads of sweat on her forehead. She’s warm. Her jacket is undone, and I can practically see the heat coming off her shoulders.

  We all turn to look at Scott. “Um…sure,” he says. He’s still got a bit of that deer-in-the-headlights sort of look about him. I can tell he’s dying to ask questions, but he’s still not sure who or what to ask. Either way, I’m assuming they were here on a date and we’ve completely crashed their party. I feel bad for him; obviously he was hoping for something nice and normal, like a kiss. I try and conjure up the images I had the first time I touched Tatum. Faces flash across my memory: the girl with the curly hair, the boys I met the other night. A few others, people I haven’t yet met. Scott’s image isn’t in my brain. I don’t think he intends to hurt her. I hope not. Tatum’s going to need him on her side.

  “Molly.” Parker is growing increasingly impatient. He’s right. This cold isn’t going away, and since I’m too stubborn to return to my prison, we’d better get out of here. At least someplace where it’ll take a while to be rediscovered by whatever’s lurking in Parker’s imagination.

  The wind stops. Cuts off in midblast. An eerie silence covers the area. Something moves through the bushes. Branches break and snap from the weight of bodies. Parker reaches out and grabs my hand. Fingers tighten, and he pulls me close. His eyes are wide and terrified.

  “Oi! What’s that sound?” Mary asks. She’s paused halfway up the trail, but now she’s turned around to face us. All those happy thoughts about drinking and buying new clothes have been pushed aside. Her nose wrinkles in concentration as she scans the area.

  “What noise?” Tatum asks.

  A groan adds to the air. From behind the bushes I start to see figures emerge. Shadows in human form. They’re coming out from behind the trees. They’re emerging from the water. Bubbles rise to the surface. I whip around, and I can see blurry shapes in front of us, rambling down the path that leads to the road.

  Wailing. The voices of a thousand dark souls fill my ears.

  We’re surrounded.

  Parker’s hand squeezes so tightly, it’s as if he’s trying to go right through my skin. “Don’t let them near you,” he says. “Whatever you do, don’t get too close.”

  “Who is that?” Mary asks. She steps closer to us, finally understanding that something’s wrong.

  “Remnants,” Parker says.

  “What is it?” Tatum asks. She’s squinting into the distance, trying to see what we’re seeing. She’s staring right at them; whatever these ghosts are, they’re not visible to the living. They’re here for us.

  A Remnant steps into view. My blood runs instantly cold. I want to say it’s male, but I’m not fully sure. It has no face, just bumps and shadows where the eyes, mouth, and nose should be. It wears clothing, faded and dirty, but I can’t make out any distinct features at all. When I look straight at it, everything blurs, as if energy is pouring off its body in waves. It moves toward us, neither slow nor fast. The pale skin where its mouth should be pulses, and a gurgling wail fills the air.

  “Oh, Jesus,” Mary says. “Blessed Mother, protect us all.”

  “What is it?” Tatum asks again. I can hear the urgency in her voice. Her eyes dart around, scanning the area, seeing nothing. There’s nothing for her to focus on. She moves closer to Scott, who puts his arm around her, protectively pulling her close.

  One of them appears from behind a tree, reaching out for Mary with blurred fingers. Parker recovers fast. He grabs Mary by the hem of her shawl and pulls her back. The Remnant’s hands close around air. Parker lifts up his leg and kicks it squarely in the chest. The creature stumbles and falls, landing flat on its back, where it starts to sink beneath the surface.

  “Don’t let it near you,” Parker says again. “We have to go. Your rocks. Get them out.”

  My hands tremble as my fingers close around my precious stone. I don’t want to be the first to drop it. Not until everyone else is safe. I can’t leave them behind. But Mary freezes. She stands perfectly still, unable to do anything as another creature closes in.

  “Mary! Move it!” I scream.

  She reaches her fingers down into the folds of her skirt pockets. “It’s gone,” she says. “I can’t find it.”

  “It’s got to be there,” Parker says. “You can’t have dropped it. Otherwise you’d be gone.” He pushes his way in front of us both, spreading his arms out to try and protect us from the oncoming herd of Remnants. Two of them touch, their energy mixing together, making them look like creepy conjoined twins. The one on the right moans, a large lump forming where its mouth should be, tasting the air, tasting us.

  “It’s not here,” Mary insists. She turns to me, desperation on her face.

  “Check all your pockets,” I say.

  “What’s going on?” Tatum asks. Her voice is a million miles away. When I look up, I can see one of the Remnants is almost at her. Will it walk right through her? Or will something happen? Just because Tatum can’t see the creature, does that mean it can’t hurt her? I find I don’t want to take the chance.

  There are too many of them. They’re steadily closing in. Parker picks up a heavy branch and shoves the closest one back. Mary seems to have suddenly grown a dozen pockets in which to hide a pebble. We need more space. More time.

  “Come on,” I say to Parker. “We have to get everyone up to the road.”

  “What?” He looks at me incredulously.

  “What if they hurt them?” I ask.

  “They
’re human.”

  “That doesn’t mean they can’t be hurt, does it?”

  Parker pauses, and I can tell he doesn’t know the answer.

  “We need to make sure everyone is safe,” I say.

  “If they catch you, you’re going to die.”

  “I’m already—”

  Parker grabs both my arms. “No, Molly. Not dead like what you are now. Simply put: no more you. There’s no coming back from that.”

  I nod.

  Parker turns and grabs Mary. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s get to higher ground. No, don’t stop looking. Find that damn rock.”

  “What’s going on?” Tatum asks.

  “You don’t want to know,” I say. “But trust me, it’s bad. You’ve got to get out of here. We don’t know if they can hurt you or not.”

  “More ghosts like you?”

  “Nothing like me.”

  Tatum seems to finally get it. Scott, meanwhile, has his hand on the small of her back and is already pushing Tatum up the path.

  “No!” I scream. “Not that way. We have to go around.”

  Scott stops; a Remnant reaches out and misses him by inches. Scott pulls back and flinches. That’s the first time I’ve noticed that Scott is shivering. He’s looking right at the Remnant, and it’s obvious he’s not seeing it. But unlike Tatum, he seems almost aware of them. He gives me a questioning look, and I motion in the other direction. Nodding, Scott seems to have come back to his senses. Even though he’s terrified, he’s thinking clearly.

  The Remnants come back toward me, where Parker is pulling Mary to the left, trying to find a way through the tumble of bushes. Mother Nature seems to be doing whatever she can to complicate things. The undergrowth is thick, and the only free areas are filled with the creatures. More and more appear out of thin air. There are about a dozen of them now, and they’ve almost got us surrounded.

  Parker finally finds a small path. He ushers everyone through, and I scramble up the muddy slope, ignoring the wetness of the earth as it soaks into my skirt. Mary slips in front of me, cutting her hand on a sharp piece of stone. She cries out. Blood drips from her fingers.

  I think it’s the exact moment I see the blood that I realize I’m exhaling heavily as if all the wind’s been knocked from my lungs.

  Blood. Breathing.

  In this state, we’re humanlike. We can be hurt. And I’ve been so self-absorbed, I haven’t even noticed.

  I glance to the side and see the closest Remnant reaching out from behind a thin birch tree. Energy pulsates from its upper body, its skin rippling as if insects are just underneath. Its hair is long and reddish orange, a stark contrast against its white-blue skin. If it touches us, will we become like it?

  Panic shoots across my chest. For the first time since Walter brought the knife across my skin, I remember what absolute terror feels like.

  It’s slow going, but we finally reach the top of the slope. Everyone is covered in mud and dirt. Mary’s fingers tremble as she tries to stop the bleeding. Her chest rises up and down in quick short gasps, her corset making it difficult to breathe in all that fear. I want to try and loosen it for her, but that will take too much time. Instead I reach into her closest pocket; if she can stand still long enough, I might be able to find her pebble for her. But I’m rewarded with only a wooden box full of matches and a couple of coins.

  The thought is ridiculous. A stupid stone. How can something so meaningless suddenly become the most important essential for survival? I shove the matches and coins in my own pocket and continue the search.

  “Come on,” Tatum says. She’s panting too. The scramble up the steep banks has set us all back. “The car’s just over there.”

  “We don’t need the car,” I say. “But you and Scott need to get out of here.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” Tatum says.

  “Don’t worry, we’ve got our own exit strategy.” I’ve gone through both the skirt pockets. Now I’m reaching into Mary’s blouse, sorting through a few more coins and whatever else she’s managed to salvage from the past century. Parker joins me. Mary’s become completely useless. She stands still, letting us search her, holding her fingers up and crying as the blood continues to seep away. For someone who was sliced apart by one of the world’s worst killers of all time, she sure is having a hard time dealing with a little blood.

  “Watch out!” Parker screams at me. I turn, and a Remnant stumbles straight into me. I fall, bringing Mary and all her petticoats with me, and we collapse into a heap on the road. Parker brings his branch up like a baseball bat and sends the Remnant reeling back into the woods.

  I see Tatum rushing toward me with Scott trying to pull her back.

  “Get out of here!” I yell at them. “Go. I’ll find you.”

  “But—”

  “Go! Scott. Get her out of here. Now!”

  Scott holds on to Tatum’s arm, forcing her toward the car. He opens the door and ushers her inside. Tatum presses her face up against the window, screaming words I can’t hear. I don’t care. As long as she’s safe, that’s all that matters.

  “I found it,” Mary says. With trembling fingers she holds up the tiny pebble, which she finally managed to yank from God knows where. “Now what do I do—”

  Blurred fingers reach around her neck, squeezing tightly.

  I think I scream. I’m not fully sure.

  The Remnant’s hand loops around Mary, grabbing a fistful of hair. Energy slithers along its arm, taking on a life of its own, pulsating away from the creature’s body and wrapping tightly around Mary’s. She opens her mouth to call out for me as currents squeeze her throat, cutting off the air. More energy encircles her chest, her legs and arms. It tightens, covering her, binding her to the Remnant.

  I try to grab her fingers, which reach out toward me for help. Then hands go around my own waist, Parker holding me back as I scream and struggle. Parker is stronger than me; he pulls me across the road, away from Mary, as she writhes under her invisible bondage.

  “Let go of me,” I gasp.

  “You can’t help her. She’s gone.”

  But she’s not. Mary is still there. She opens her outstretched hand, and I see her pebble drop to the ground.

  She doesn’t disappear. She doesn’t Fade.

  In the distance, I hear a car engine roar to life. Scott’s finally listened to us. He’s managed to find a way to keep Tatum inside the vehicle, and they’re peeling out. Brake lights fade and tires squeal.

  Parker’s hand reaches into my pocket, and he’s suddenly pressing something into my palm. A tiny rock.

  “Drop it,” he says. His voice is weirdly calm.

  I look up at what used to be Mary. She’s struggling to stay standing, her leather boots the only thing that identifies her for who she used to be. She’s faceless now, swaying slightly, taking her first step toward us. Her beautiful eyes have disappeared. The mouth that always had such colorful things to say.

  Parker’s right. She’s gone.

  I open my hand and let the pebble drop to the ground. I Fade away and back into the cave, where Parker finds me. My legs tremble, and I collapse into the dirt, sobbing uncontrollably. Parker kneels down and wraps his arms around me, holding me until the shaking stops.

  “You’re safe,” he says over and over.

  He holds me until the end of time.

  TATUM

  Scott doesn’t stop. His foot is embedded in the floor, and the tires squeal, filling the car with the smell of burned rubber.

  The girl, Mary, just disappeared into thin air. But not in a good way. Tatum is sure of that. There’s no escaping the look of horror etched across her face or the way she gasped as if something was starting to suck the last bit of air from her body. The way Molly screamed and tried to help her, Parker holding her back as if their lives depended on it. Something horrible happened. But what? Helplessly, she watched Molly and Parker fade away into the distance.

  Scott turns a corner, sending Tatum violently
against the passenger-side door. Her head knocks against the window.

  Seat belt.

  “Go back,” she says.

  “No way.”

  “GO BACK!”

  Scott ignores her, so Tatum grabs the emergency brake and pulls it. The car jerks, and the tires slip out from beneath them. Scott tries to keep control of the wheel while they spin around a hundred and eighty degrees. They don’t end up in the ditch, but they come close. The engine sputters and dies, jerking to a halt. Scott slams his fist down on the dashboard.

  “Are you nuts?”

  “Yes. Now go back!”

  “Molly told me to get you out of there.”

  “And you did. Now we go back. I need to make sure they made it. I have to be sure she’s safe.”

  “How exactly will you know for sure?”

  “Just do it.”

  Scott swears, but he starts the car again and turns around. Moving more slowly this time, they head back down Frog Road and toward the train bridge. The path is empty. Wherever Parker and Molly are, they’re no longer there.

  Scott doesn’t stop, but he slows to a crawl as they drive by. Tatum looks out into nothing, searching for a clue, something, that can explain the craziness that just happened.

  What did Molly see? What scared them so bad that they freaked out like that?

  “They’re gone. Are you satisfied?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Tatum lets out a steady stream of curse words herself, frustrated that she was just part of something horrifying and she couldn’t see a damn thing.

  Where is Molly? Did she get free? How long is it going to take before Tatum finds out for sure? How many days is she going to have to spend waiting before she can decide something terrible happened? A week? Two? Oh God, is this her fault?

  “Come on,” Scott says. “I’m taking you home.”

  * * *

  Scott pulls up in front of her house. Tatum wants nothing more than to jump out of the car before it stops moving and run inside. But Scott wants an explanation; she can tell by the way he keeps opening and closing his mouth. When he stops, he turns off the car and waits.