Page 2 of Ghouls and Girth
Bryce leans forward and pats my mama’s shoulder.
“Don’t take Daisy’s attitude to heart, Ma.She’ll perk up once we’re out of the car,” he placates.
I want to slap him in the face again, but Bob gives me a warning glance through the rearview mirror, so I turn my attention out my window.
Los Angeles is beautiful.It’s nothing like my hometown.Even the tiny, obscure fine arts college I got a full scholarship to has better living conditions than the trailer park I grew up in.I’ll never go back.
The car in front of us turns the corner.My stepfather follows.His stupid souped-up truck struggles to make the corner, and his dually jumps the curb and nearly takes out the electrical box.I grit my teeth as Bianca, my roommate, leads us between the two giant palm trees with ease while my stepfather’s truck spits out an ugly plume of black smoke.
“Is that a peacock?”my mama exclaims.
I sit up and lean forward to see around her and, sure enough, a pair of peacocks struts along the lawn.
Regular peacocks.They have no extra eyes, psychedelic coloring, or signs of otherworldly occupants in them.They’re just normal peacocks.
An orange cat leaps up the trunk of a tree and stretches out on the bottom branch as though it doesn’t have a care in the world.Another grey and black kitten curls up on a tombstone for an afternoon nap.Neither show signs of paranormal activity either.
To the left, a white mausoleum casts a shadow over the truck, but not an ounce of creepiness flows through me.No decaying hands rise from the ground.No spirits drift in the darkness.
A beautiful marble fountain sparkles in the sunlight.Even through the rumbling of my stepfather’s ridiculous truck, the view is so perfect my mind supplies the sound of tinkling water.Excitement bubbles up in me.
I found somewhere safe to hide during the most terrifying time of year.
When Gabby, my bunkmate, also admitted she hated most Halloween festivities because they were too scary, Bianca and Trista declared we’d go on a trip to the least haunted place in California, no matter how long it took to get there.My research led us here.
Off in the distance, the infamous Hollywood sign sits nestled against the hillside.
Mama gasps again.
“Are they doing yoga?In a cemetery?”
I smile at the group of people on their colorful yoga mats wearing tight workout clothes and twisted up like pretzels around the reflecting pool.
“What kind of hoity-toity shit is this?Pa, this ain’t safe.These people are fucked up in the head.Don’t even park the truck.Let’s—”
I unbuckle, slap the unlock button, yank the door handle, and shove my way out of the truck before he finishes his sentence.My boots hit the pavement in a half-run, half-skip as I exit the still moving vehicle.I swing my purse over my shoulder without missing a beat as I stride away from the rolling eye sore.
My stepbrother will not ruin this for me.
With his yell echoing in my ears, I cross the road and speed walk toward my roommates as they tumble out of their car.The crisp autumn air cools my legs and brushes over my face.As I step onto the cobbled path, a gust of wind lifts my hair from my shoulders and fills my nostrils with a deep, intriguing scent.Unlike anything I’ve ever smelled before, the aroma reaches into my soul and unlocks a part of me I never knew existed.Hunger grips my womb and need pulses through my clit.
I turn and stumble in shock.
Two men—one in a decadent three-piece suit and the other in a black compression shirt and grey sweatpants—stride through the mausoleum doors.Their features bear a striking resemblance to each other, and both are ridiculously tall with muscles that put my linebacker stepbrother to shame, but the energy wafting off the man on the left couldn’t be more different than the man on the right.
They aren’t human.
The ghastly figures hidden behind their human personas are so tall they duck through the ten-foot doorway to avoid hitting their foreheads on the frame.Everything about them except for their pupils is as white as freshly fallen snow, even their lips, hair, and tattered robes.
But their aura is far from pure.
They are ancient.Powerful.Terrifying.
Their eerie white eyes with inky black pupils snap to mine.Dark brown human orbs follow.
The ground drops out from under me.
They know I can see through their disguises.
