Page 64 of Ghosted in Arkadia
Soulmate or Soulmistake
The handle of my door jiggles. I should be sleeping but the walls have been too loud.
I am Kira Blackwell.
I stare at the faint outline of the door in the dark. The handle continues to jiggle. Strange. It rarely jiggles. The door opens. It’s dark in the hallway.
A large body stands in the doorway. The shape is clunky.
A monster. A demon come to swallow me up.
Hammering. Inside my chest. Something is trying to escape. Something inside wants out.
The figure transforms as the door closes, throwing part of itself to the ground.
I am Kira Blackwell.
A step toward me. Familiar body.
“Ghost is real,” I breathe.
My body escapes, leaping from the bed and into the arms of my monster. I can smell him. It is him. In the faint light, I make out familiar features.
Killian.
I smile. “I knew it was you.”
My arms wrap around his neck and my lips crash into his. I move, uncoordinated, but my body is given a jolt of energizing life as his hot tongue sweeps into my mouth.
The taste is off.
I pull back. “No,” I breathe, my eyes searching Killian’s familiar features.
His face is pained, but he holds me too tightly to him as if he’s afraid I will shatter into a million pieces if he lets me down.
“I’m not your Ghost, princess,” he sighs. “But tonight, I am your knight in shining armor.”
He sets me down on shaky legs. Beside me is a large lump. I take a better look. “Is that a dead body?”
“That is Kira Blackwell. She tragically passed away during in a fire inside the Arkadia Asylum.” Killian winks.
He grabs the body from the floor, hauling it over his shoulder as he makes his way to the bed. With a fluid motion, he flings the body onto my bed then takes the time to position it.
“If you want to take anything with you, I suggest you grab it now.” Killian says, before producing a box of matches from his pocket.
“I’m good.” I smile, until a thought slips through my mind. “Won’t DNA give it away?”
“We have contacts in the forensics department. We’re covered.” Killian drops the match onto the body and the clothing lights up in an unnaturally hot fire. “Plus, by the time they getthatfire out, they’ll be lucky to find anything left to test.”
I watch in abject fascination as the fire turns into a blaze, devouring the body and spilling onto the sheets as it searches for more to consume.
“Time to go, princess.” Killian grabs me by the arm and then picks me up in one smooth motion as he heads to the door. Heopens it with ease, and I look up to see the camera light off. There’s won’t be any record of my escape.
Unless, of course, all of this is a hallucination.
Killian hurries through the hallways, carrying me, until the fire alarm sounds. Confused shouts start in every direction, and I see movement just as Killian opens a door and slips inside. It’s dark.
With familiarity, Killian turns on a light, illuminating the closet. I can hear shouts from third shift workers outside the door. Scrambling. Panicking. Killian cracks the door open and I can see patients wandering into the hallways, their doors unlocking during the crisis while orderlies try to herd them.
