Abandoned by Abigail Livinghouse (distant reading txt) 📕

doorstep of the school, Tessie’s hand wavered above the doorknob. She was giving Chip a chance to back down, a small part of her wished he would. But to her dismay he shook his head, excitement and expectation glowing in his blue eyes.

“Totally. Let’s go in.”

Tessie opened the door, even though every nerve ending in her body was screaming to get out of there, and refuse to let Chip in. They entered into the foyer, where a table with a vase with a dead rose slumped in it greeted them.

“Wow”, Chip gazed around, at the high ceilings that Tessie’s mother had gotten an artist to stencil in beautiful drawings and illusions, at the long hallways, the paintings on the walls, the wooden floors, and the long, winding staircase that led upstairs, the banister old fashioned oak.

“It’s beautiful here.” Chip breathed. “And you said this place is evil?” He asked.

Tessie took a look around. The place was beautiful in its own way. But she could not decide whether it was evil or not. “I don’t know.”

Chip took a deep breath, still staring around in awe. “Where’s this proof you were talking about?”

“I’ll go get it.”

Tessie headed into her room and looked around, spotting the notebook on her desktop where she left it. She picked it up but before she left she took a second look at the cover. The left corner was bent, like someone had gripped it too hard and had nearly ripped it. Tessie’s eyebrows came together in confusion. Had her parents gone in her room? She didn’t think about it much longer. She went back into the foyer, where Chip was still looking around like he was in a trance.

“Here”, she handed it to him. “It was here before my parents cleaned the place out. It was the only thing that was saved from the school. Everything else they took to the dump.”

Chip held the notebook like it was very delicate, opening the cover gently. His eyes widened when he saw the pages.

He looked at Tessie. “Did you write this?”

She scowled. “Write what?”

She moved next to him and gasped when she saw that the page was filled with elegant handwriting. Cynthia’s story was there like it had never disappeared.

“I didn’t write that. The pages were blank the last time I opened it.”

Tessie’s heart pounded erratically. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Chip read a few sentences and looked at Tessie in surprise.

“Is this girl real?” He asked.

 She sighed, shaking her head. “I wish I knew.”

Chip finished the story and closed the book, handing it back to Tessie. “Did you research her?”

She laughed bitterly. “I didn’t have much to go on. No last name, no true date of birth. But, I did find a little girl named Cynthia Evans who died in the same year and the same month as the one in the story. Also, the biography I had found was fairly similar to this.”

She tapped the cover of the notebook. “Only a few details were missing. However, that doesn’t prove that the girl in the story and the girl who died are the same person. I can’t tell you how much I wish I knew if this was real or not, or who had written it.”

Chip looked at the book in Tessie’s hands, a look of deep concentration on his face. He sighed after a few seconds of calculation.

“I don’t know.”

“I think I’ve hit a dead end.” Tessie said with a bit of resignation.

 She had wanted to know who or what was in this place, but she had done all she could. She set the notebook on the table in the foyer when suddenly a feeling of dread came over her. Tessie’s pupils dilated, the greens of her eyes barely noticeable. She gripped the edge of the table to keep from falling over as her knees buckled.

“Tessie?” Chip gasped, reaching out and grabbing her arms to steady her, but she was already gone, everything began to spin.

The blaring of sirens in the distance pounded Tessie’s eardrums. The feeling of no control over what was happening swept over her. All the while, she was engulfed in blackness. However she knew that this was not herself who was experiencing this, it was someone else’s memories and feelings, not her own.

Cold hands touching her face and her wrist, also her neck, then an ear resting on her chest, searching for a heartbeat. They could find none.

She felt herself slipping away, farther and farther away. She could no longer feel the touch of human hands, what she did feel were the cold tendrils of death reaching out to her, embracing her. She screamed out in fear and protest.

I will not go with you! I refuse! She jerked away from the hands trying to grip her, to take her with them. She lurched backward, away, she didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to get away from the unseen creatures lurking in the suffocating darkness, trying to drag her down with them.

She felt herself falling, plummeting, her clothes and hair whipping in the wind that slapped at her face and body. She screamed again, over and over. She felt that she would never stop falling. 

If felt like hours passed until she made impact on a solid surface with a hard slam. She didn’t feel any pain, which was odd. She would’ve expected some sort of spasm from the fall. But no, no pain.

 She no longer felt the hands, cold or otherwise, probing her anymore, for which she was glad. She realized that her eyes were closed, she opened them and saw people gathered around something or someone on the floor, shouting frantically about what they should do and how to help.

She moved closer to get a look at what was going on. Tessie recognized the one woman, with short brown hair and loving brown eyes, which were bloodshot and damp with tears. For some reason she recognized the woman as her mother. This was not Tessie’s mom, but no matter, she felt that it was her mother.

 She moved behind the woman and barely stifled the scream that threatened to escape her lips at the sight of the sprawled figure on the ground.

The girl on the floor was her. Not Tessie, but the girl whose memories she was experiencing. The body was still, her skin drained of all color. Her eyes were closed, and her blonde hair was laying limp on the floor.

Tessie shook her head, feeling all too horribly that this was her who was dead. The memories were so strong, it was as if they were Tessie’s. She could not be dead. She refused to believe it.

“Wake up!” She shouted at the girl on the ground. “Wake up!” She was sobbing, tears dripping from her face.

“Please! Wake up! Please!” She begged, falling to the ground on her knees.

Suddenly, the room around her dissolved, reality rushed back to her, and her sense of herself, of Tessie Porter came back, and Tessie was herself again.

 She was on the floor of the foyer in the school. She was in somebody’s arms, she could feel the warmth of this person next to her. A hand went to her face.

“Tessie? Are you okay? Tessie?”

Tessie’s eyes snapped open, and she saw that she was in Chip’s arms. He must’ve caught her as she fell. His face was stricken with worry and alarm. He lowered his head when she looked at him.

“Damn, what happened to you?” He asked, looking exhausted like he had just come back from a run that had taken his breath away.

Tessie sat up, her face flushed with embarrassment and because she was tired herself. The energy in the vision had drained the life out of her, no pun intended. That vision had been terribly potent. It had sucked her in, and Tessie had felt that she had actually been there, and that she was the girl herself who had given her that memory. Tessie swallowed and shook her head.

 “Chip”, she whispered, “I have something to tell you.”

Chapter 10

“Okay, but you have to lie down.”

 Chip helped Tessie to her feet, and she let him lead her into the living room where he sat her down on the couch. He took a seat next to her, keeping hold of her hands.

“I’m fine.” She said, but it didn’t help that her voice broke. He rubbed her palms with his thumbs.

“Your hands are freezing, and shaking.” He said. Tessie jerked her hands away.

“Sorry, look. I have to tell you something, important.”

He nodded, his face stony serious. “Okay. I’m listening.”

She took a deep breath, thinking about what to say. She knew that after what she told Chip, how much he knows about the school, and what she just put him through with her vision, he deserved to know. Tessie looked Chip directly in his eyes.

“I’m psychic.”

       For a moment, Chip just stared at Tessie, trying to see if she was joking, but he could find no trace of humor in her features. All the blood drained from Tessie’s face as her palms grew damp with anticipation. Why isn’t he saying something? She wondered. If he’d just say something, it would be better than just sitting here deciding whether or not I’m mentally stable. Chip scowled.

“Are you okay?” He asked her. She uttered out a laugh. She should be the one asking him that.

 “I’m fine. Wondering if I’m insane or not, but otherwise fine.”

Chip laughed which caused Tessie to jump.

“What?” She asked with a hint of irritation. “It’s not funny.” She snapped.

His laughter died away. He was now totally serious. “I know. I’m sorry. I just don’t really know what to say. But you’re not crazy. After what just happened in the foyer, I believe you. But”, he leaned forward. “What did you see?”

Tessie shook her head, rubbing her temples. Her head was pounding, she knew, from the recent vision that had overtaken her. Chip touched her arm. She looked up.

“What did you see?”

Tessie took a deep breath. “It was like I was in the body of a girl who had just died. But, it was like she came back, and was staring at her dead body on the floor. Everyone was gathered around her, wondering what they could do to help, not knowing that she was already dead.”

“When the vision ended I was crying, or, the girl was crying. Anyway, I don’t know what happened exactly. I was fine, until I . . .” Tessie trailed off, suddenly comprehending.

“I’m such an idiot.” She whispered.

Chip scowled and shook his head. “I’m confused. What are you talking about?”

Tessie didn’t answer, she was already on her feet and into the foyer.

“That.” She said, gesturing to the notebook when Chip came in and stood next to her. He couldn’t have looked more lost.

“What is it? Tessie, what the hell were you talking about?” He was getting angry, but Tessie was in the middle of realizing the most important detail.

It had finally dawned on her when she was recalling her most recent and powerful vision. The last time she touched the notebook and it held Cynthia’s story she had a vision. This time, Chip had the notebook, and it had Cynthia’s story written down, like it hadn’t for weeks, and Tessie hadn’t had a vision