A soft absentminded tune rang out from Jasmine’s vocal cords as her slender digits pulled pieces of clothing out of a tightly packed suitcase. There wasn’t much space in the small apartment, but she didn’t bring many possessions with her anyway and as she opened the dresser drawers, she became certain she had more than enough space. She brought with her as little as possible because she wanted to avoid all reminders of her past, a past she was all too eager to forget.
The day Jasmine had been waiting for had finally arrived. Rolling her eyes slightly with impatience, voices droned on and on around her, talking about pride, honor, and how they had finally made it, and were ready to venture out into the world. Seniors surrounding her were crying and hugging each other tightly after the ceremony, and although it was expected, Jasmine couldn’t quite understand why. Why would they be sad to be leaving a place that held them prisoner for seven hours a day, five days a week?
Unlike the rest, Jasmine’s face was twisted in a permanent grin, and for the first time in weeks, that smile was truly genuine. She joined the crowd for only a moment when graduation caps were tossed in the air, cheering for her freedom, for her triumph. She felt powerful at that moment, she had survived nuclear winter against all odds and now she could do anything. She never felt so free.
Feeling a new but now familiar set of eyes gazing upon her, Jasmine looked up and blinked, dragging herself back to the present. “What?” She asked politely. The blond boy shrugged softly.
“I was just wondering if you were planning on joining a band.”
“Hey!” Jasmine half-heartedly pushed his shoulder. “Are you making fun of me?”
“No, of coarse not. I was just admiring your voice.” He smiled devilishly.
“What time are we meeting your friends tonight?”
“They’re your friends now too, you know.” He said softly, as if Jasmine had hurt his feelings. She lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I only met you yesterday, and I only met them today. It takes some getting used to.”
“You’re one of us.” Tom said plaintively, which she thought was rather odd. It’s not like she had joined a church, or cult or anything. They were just, a group of people, far away from her home, living their lives the way she always dreamed she would.
“Um, okay.” She mumbled, for lack of a better response. She carefully folded one of her shirts, keeping her eyes focused on anything but him. Oh well, she supposed that these weird moments were only natural at first. It all would take some getting used to, especially in the odd circumstances of her arrival.
After her high-school graduation, Jasmine made arrangements to move from her cold, desolate boring hometown of Saint Paul, Minnesota to Washington State. She had met her dream guy on the Internet a few months beforehand, and she fell madly in love with him. She was sure she would be with him forever. His name was Tom Kramer. From the moment she heard that she would imagine herself with him, writing her revised name in her notebooks at school over and over again, different ways until she found a signature she finally liked.
Judging from the pictures he’d sent her and the talks they’d had, she’d pretty much figured out he had the exterior of a bad boy, but in truth he possessed a kind, sensitive, romantic soul. She liked that. She had always firmly believed that a person should never conform to society. Every time she walked past a prep store, she gave it the finger. As far as she was concerned, conformists were the most cowardly people alive.
The morning after Jasmine’s graduation, she packed up two oversized duffels with the few items she actually cared about, and had her best friend, her only friend, Kara drop her off at the greyhound station. She gave Kara one last hug, and eagerly hopped on the bus. She knew at that moment she would never see her best friend again, but Kara was much more broken up about it than Jasmine was. She just wanted to forget her life until now, and even though she had nothing against Kara, she was part of that past that Jasmine was so eager to leave behind.
“Jasmine!” Kara called out desperately when she was almost to her seat. She stuck her head out the window to see what she wanted. Kara ran up to the bus and stood on her tiptoes with something in her hand. “I don’t know why, but I have a feeling you are going to need this.” Jasmine reached out and snatched the book from Kara’s protective grasp. Without looking at the title, Jasmine stuffed it in her bag. Kara looked up at her sadly, as if knowing way before Jasmine that something bad was going to happen to her. Unfortunately, Jasmine didn’t see.
The phone rang, and Jasmine secretly thanked it for breaking the silence. Tom picked it up. “Hello? Oh, hey. Yeah.” He paused. “Sure, that’s a good idea. You’ll pick it up? Good. See you in a few hours.” He hung up the phone and turned to Jasmine. “That was Jim. He wants to head out at five.”
The corners of Jasmine’s crimson lips curled upwards for a moment in a soft smile. She was fairly fond of Jim. A grungy blonde, yet the first thing she noticed about his was his calm, cool manner. He reminded her of Tom in a way, talking and sitting with a form of self-confidence that wasn’t arrogance.
“Okay.” Tom walked over to Jasmine and grabbed her hand gently, running his digits lightly over hers.
“Hey, there’s something I want to show you.” He led her into the bedroom and pointed on his dresser. There wasn’t much on it except for a few pieces of paper, a pen, and a small crystal horse. Her eyes caught onto that. She couldn’t help but wonder why a guy like Tom would have a crystal horse. “Go on, pick it up. Be careful, though.”
Jasmine’s hand reached forward and slowly grasped around the horse, drawing it nearer to her. It was very beautiful, and definitely not a fake. She could tell by the way it shone, clear through. “It’s beautiful.” She whispered, still admiring the small thing in awe.
“It belonged to my mother’s mother, then my mother, and she gave it to me when I was little, before she died.” Jasmine raised her eyebrows. He never told her before that his mother had died, and she never thought to ask. She had never been close with her parents, and she sometimes forgot that some people were.
“I’m sorry. How did she-“
“Cancer.” He said, bitterness raking over his peaceful mood. Jasmine closed her eyes briefly, trying to understand his pain but knowing that she never truly could.
“And your dad?” The hate in his eyes boiled when she said that. She mentally smacked herself. Here she was, about to start a whole new wonderful life, and she’s hurting the one person she viewed as her savior.
“Yeah, I have a dad. Used to wake me up in the morning by introducing my face to his fist. Ran off with a waitress when my mom got sick.” Jasmine lowered her head. She couldn’t even imagine the way he felt. His parents were gone, and at one time he had loved them. It was different for her; she never had the chance to love her parents. To love and to loose was different from never knowing what she was missing.
Carefully, Jasmine put the crystal horse back on Tom’s dresser. Maybe someday, they’d have a child whom they could pass it on to. The future could hold so many things. She was really trying to believe that.
Tom was silent for a few hours after that, and Jasmine promised herself she would try to never bring up his parents again. It was obviously a very painful subject for him, and the last thing she wanted to do to the first person who ever loved her was cause him pain.
In solitude, Tom sat on the couch and turned on the TV. Jasmine figured he might want some time alone, so she didn’t join him. She removed her shoes and carefully curled up on his bed. She thought she’d rest for a minute, just a quick minute.
A sharp ringing sound jerked Jasmine out of her sleep hours later, and by reflex her hand jutted out and snatched the receiver. “Hello?” She said, trying not to sound drowsy.
“Jasmine?” Said a fairly familiar voice on the other end. Her eyebrows raised.
“Yeah?”
“This is Caly.” Fairly skinny with dark hair, the first thing Jasmine had noticed about him was something sparkling in his ocean-blue eyes, like he knew the secrets of the universe but was content to let others figure them out for themselves. His smile was warm, almost sympathetic. It made her wonder why he felt sympathy for her. Perhaps it was because she was new here, or maybe it was another reason.
“Oh, hi.” She finally responded, after realizing her mind zoned for a moment.
“You guys haven’t left yet?” Confused, she glanced at the clock. Oops, it was twenty after five! Her face automatically reddened with embarrassment.
“Oh, I-we, fell asleep by accident.” She tried to explain, but was interrupted by Caly’s light laughter.
“No big. We’ll just meet you guys at the barn, okay? We’ll probably have the fire ready by time you get there.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“You should be! You two are on probation!” He paused. “I’m just kidding. It’s totally cool. See you guys there.” And with that, he hung up. Jasmine sighed, aggravated with herself for screwing up.
“Tom?” She called as she ambled into the living room. Shoe-clad feet kicked up casually on the coffee table, Tom was fast asleep. She hated to wake him while he looked so peaceful and sweet, but she had to. “Tom.” She said again, a bit louder. He groaned softly. “Tom!” She yelled. He slowly rubbed his eyes, stumbling into a sitting position.
“Hey.” He said to her lazily, blinking his droned out eyes. “What’s going on?”
“We’re late, it’s five-twenty.”
“Whoa! I had no idea, I totally passed out.”
“Yeah, me too.” He jumped off the couch in a hurry.
“Well, let’s pack a bag and get going. Where are we meeting them?”
“They said to meet them at the barn.” She fiddled with her bracelet. She felt dumb, but she honestly had no idea what to bring. She hadn’t been camping since before she could remember. “Um, what do I need?” She finally asked.
“They got the sleeping bags, we just need to grab some bug spray and a change of clothes.” Jasmine hurried to her unpacked duffel to fish those things out. She grabbed a pair of flannel pants and a sweatshirt to bring with. It definitely wasn’t cold outside, but the thought of getting eaten alive by bugs was ranking very low on her ‘things to do’ list. She scurried back over to Tom.
“Okay. I’m ready.” Jasmine briefly closed her eyes, and mentally commanded her heart to retreat its speedy pace. She had nothing to worry about. This was going to be fun.
Tom smiled. “Then let’s go.” Following him and crawling into his car, Jasmine bit her lower lip with a thoughtful silence. She wasn’t upset, but the land out here was so different from back where she came from, and every time she saw all of the freshness and color of the land and sky, it took her breath away.
Watching the scenery pass by her, Jasmine began to notice that they were heading off of the main roads and into a more desolate area. She turned to Tom. “Whose farmhouse is this?”
“No one’s. It’s abandoned.”
“Do a lot of people party there?”
“Surprisingly, no. Only us.” Jasmine rested her head against the back of her seat. For some reason, that unsettled her a bit. Why would no one else ever go there? She decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
“Why?”
“All sorts of rumors about what went on at that place float around town. When I was a kid, people claimed that it was haunted. I once heard a story about a girl who went crazy and hung herself there. It’s all bull, though.”
“Are you sure?” Tom narrowed his eyebrows at Jasmine, as if trying to figure out weather or not she was the crazy one.
“Um, yeah. I’m sure.” He said to her, without sounding very convincing. She shrugged. What did it matter, anyway? Even if it was true, that was a long time ago. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
Finally, Tom’s car pulled onto a narrow path that wasn’t even quite a road. Up ahead, Jasmine’s eyes rested upon an old, neglected house and behind it a barn. The blaring light from a blazing fire caught her attention as well. She was about to jump up and yell at Tom that something was on fire, but then she realized it was a bonfire that Tom’s friends had lit. She laughed inwardly, feeling foolish and paranoid. Everything was just fine. She had to relax, and enjoy the new life she had chosen for herself.
Tom stopped the car at a random spot on the grass, and turned it off. Sighing, Jasmine opened her door and stepped out. The sun was just beginning to hide itself behind the clouds and make the first hints of the beautiful colors of sunset. She could tell it was going to be a beautiful night.
“Hey you guys!” Called a friendly voice. Jasmine whipped herself out of her thoughts and back into reality.
“Hi, Caly. What’s up?”
“Not much. Got the fire going pretty good though. You guys want a beer?” At that, had had Jasmine’s full attention. An ice-cold beer flowing down her throat sounded beyond good.
“Yeah!” She responded enthusiastically.
“Sure.” Tom said, obviously not as surprised or thrilled by the offer as Jasmine was. He was 20, he’d been out of high school for two years now and a beer probably wasn’t as rebellious to him as it was to her. She loved all the rebellious things; they were the vices that kept her alive through her hard times.
“Alright.” Caly said, hurrying over to the cooler. Jasmine casually walked over to the fire and joined the others.
“Hey.” She said shyly, carefully sitting on a log. The gang smiled at her.
“Here ya go.” Caly said, holding a beer plaintively in from her. Jasmine eagerly opened it and took a nice, long swig. She closed her eyes briefly as the cool, refreshing liquid made its way down her throat. This was just what the doctor ordered.
Tom soon joined them all by the fire, and when he did, everyone quieted down. He glanced up at the sky. “Okay. Who’s first tonight?”
“I’ve got one.” Jim said in a loud yet gentle tone. Jasmine straightened her back in attentiveness. She remembered a camp her parents used to send her to for years, and how they’d tell ghost stories by the fire. She looked forward to camp every summer, because camp was away. Years later, she was once again away, by a fire and about to listen to ghost stories. The more things change, the more they stay the same. But in this case, she didn’t mind. Jim cleared his throat and began.
“One night, this girl was supposed to go on a date. Unfortunately her boyfriend ditched her by saying he was sick, although he probably had a date with some freshman cheerleader or something. Anyway, when her neighbors called her to baby-sit, she had no excuse to say no.
“The girl didn’t live in a very safe neighborhood, but she wasn’t worried about babysitting because the family had a huge rottweiler that always liked to sleep under the basement couch. It was wary of strangers though, so the girl felt protected.
“She played with the kids for a few hours and eventually put them to bed so she could lay on the couch and watch a movie. She hadn’t seen the dog all night, so she gently stuck her hand under the couch. The dog licked her hand and she sighed with relief. The family never would have forgiven her if she had let their dog run off.
“A little bit later, she hears this strange dripping noise. Drip, drip . .drip .. . “ Annoyed, the girl gets up and goes into the downstairs bathroom to tighten the sink handle. She didn’t hear the dripping noise, so she figured she had found the problem.
“Another few minutes later, the dripping noise comes back again. The girl had been watching a scary movie about some cereal killer, so this freaked her out a little bit. Drip, drip, drip . .. she stuck her hand under the couch again, knowing she’d feel safe as long as the dog was awake. He licked her hand. Feeling better, she got up and once again, headed into the downstairs bathroom. This time, she tightened the shower handle. The dripping noise seemed to stop.
“She settled back under her blanket to finish the movie, and about ten minutes later, the dripping noise was back again, and louder. Drip, drip, drip . .drip . .” Jim paused. “By now, the girl was angry. She throws back her blanket, marches upstairs and flings open the shower curtain. There, hanging from a noose was the rottweiler, completely dismembered. The dripping noise was blood from it’s severed neck. The girl screamed and backed up, hitting the wall. That’s when she saw it, the killer’s message written in the dog’s blood.
“Humans can lick hands, too.” Jim leaned forward, putting his face in direct contact with the light from the fire and smiled maliciously. The story itself was an urban legend that Jasmine had heard probably ten times, but for some reason, the way Jim told it managed to spook her out a little bit. It was the look in his eyes. They looked, exited. The spark emulated in them as he was talking about the gruesome murder of the dog. She shuddered and stood up, looking for an excuse to get some fresh air.
“I’ll be right back. I want to explore the barn.” She said, trying to scurry away. Tom gave her a confused and concerned look.
“You okay?” She nodded quickly.
“Yeah, I just want some fresh air. I’ll be right back.” She hurried off towards the barn.
Right away, Jasmine grimaced as her eyes took notice of the old spider-webs that covered the barn door. The gang really wasn’t kidding when they said that the place had been abandoned for years. Squeezing her eyes shut and protecting her face with one hand, she carefully navigated through the door.
Jasmine breathed in a sigh of relief when she was finally in the clear, but immediately wrinkled her nose in disgust as the smell of horse manure emulated her senses. She was tempted to run right on out of there, but something beige caught her eye. It looked like a rolled up canvas, sitting in the front corner of one of the old cow-stalls. It seemed out of place, definitely not something you would expect to see in a barn like this. She turned around ignoring it, but her curiosity got the better of her and she finally bent down to pick it up. Positioning her hands, she attempted to unroll it. The material was stubborn and wanted to stay curled up tightly, but Jasmine was more stubborn and managed to force it open.
Tiny letters written in calligraphy covered the scroll. Because there was no light in the barn, she had trouble trying to make out the words but she did notice the date on top of the scroll, June 12, 1901, exactly one hundred years ago from today. A fresh shudder rippled throughout Jasmine’s body, and suddenly being alone didn’t seem like such a fun idea after all. She tucked the scroll under her arm, and briskly made her way back to the fire.
“-And there, on the charred, ruined kitchen table, was the envelope the couple had left there that morning.” Sarah said, finishing her tale of terror with her timid voice. The petit blonde smiled, quietly acknowledging Jasmine’s return yet refusing to meet her eyes. Like Jasmine herself, Sarah appeared slightly on the shy side. There was something about her though, something Jasmine couldn’t quite put her finger on. Something hidden, something almost, dark.
“Hey you guys, look what I found.” Jasmine told them, extracting her mind from curious thoughts. Instead, she pulled out the scroll. Curious eyes turned to her.
“Was that in the barn?” Tom asked casually.
“Well, that’s where I was, and now I’m here and I have it with me, so one could only assume-“ Tom playfully nudged her arm.
“Smartie.” Jasmine smiled shyly, but suddenly had that feeling that several pairs of eyes were on her at once. Slightly paranoid, she looked around to see who the culprit of the uncomfortable stare was. Sarah was biting her lower lip, seemingly uncomfortable as well; Caly was regarding her thoughtfully and calmly. The other girl Beth seemed overly interested in the length of her thumbnail seeing as how she kept on chewing it at a specific area.
A beautiful Indian girl, Beth was the only one so far that Jasmine had been unable to decipher. The only person she ever seemed interested in was Caly, flocking towards him like a little girl to her father's leg. Then again maybe she was similar to Jasmine herself, and she just didn’t want to admit it. Maybe like Jasmine, she just wanted to feel loved.
“Let’s see it.” Jim said with lack of enthusiasm, referring to the scroll. Jasmine slightly frowned, for some reason protective of it, mostly out of apprehension. She wasn’t sure she wanted Jim to get his hands on it.
Jasmine sighed. “Okay. Who has the best eyes? The text is fairly small.”
“I’ll read it.” Sarah offered. That probably wasn’t a bad idea, Jasmine figured. This sort of thing was more in Sarah’s area anyway, seeing as how Sarah wore a pentacle and proclaimed to be Wiccan. Jasmine handed it over.
Sarah carefully slid her hands down the canvass, unfolding it and molding it with her hands so it would be more likely to stay open. She cleared her throat and read aloud.
“Listen closely people of the future, for you are about to hear a tale. This is a tale of mystery and wonder, a tale that will tell you how to unfold all the power in the universe.
“You are more than what you are made out to be. You are capable of powers beyond your imagination, a world that is yours for the taking. I speak of a Goddess, one so powerful as to cross over from the world where there are no rules and boundaries and into ours, and can leave a piece of her world for us to use. She is referred to as Shiniqua.
“If you have found this scroll, you are meant to unfold her powers and she will come to you. Be open and observant to what is around you, and you shall be rewarded.
“Yours for the taking: Bethany of Belleview.”
The sun had crept away, leaving the sky completely void of it’s light. The fire was losing its vigor, dying slowly and emulating the darkness. No one spoke out loud at first; everyone’s eyes silently pleading with each other to break the silence.
“Okay, I get it. A joke, right?” Jim said, chuckling to himself. “That wasn’t bad. Which one of you thought this up?” No one spoke. “Oh, come on. We’ve never played secret games before and actually lived up to not telling each other.” Still, no one spoke. Jim threw a rock on the ground, obviously upset. “Okay fine, play your secrets. I’m gonna go over by the woods and grab a smoke.” In a flash, Jim stormed off. Sarah quickly turned around to watch him go, sadness stretching across her face. Jasmine quirked a brow in confusion.
“Okay, what was that about?” She asked out loud to no one in particular.
“Jim is a good guy, but very, sensitive. He takes everything to heart, so when no one spoke up about the scroll, he thought someone was leaving him out of the loop and that hurt his feelings.” Jasmine raised her eyebrows. Sarah obviously knew him well, too well. To Jasmine’s knowledge, they weren’t dating but it was very obvious Sarah wanted to date him. Sarah talked about Jim taking everything to heart, but Jasmine observed that Sarah should take that advice for herself. She definitely took Jim’s hasty departure very personally. Jasmine could see it in her face, burning desire mixed right in with passionate frustration. It was only a matter of time before it would come out for good.
“So who really did leave the scroll?” Beth asked innocently, looking to Tom. Caly casually put his arm around Beth’s shoulder and sighed.
“I didn’t.” Tom responded under Beth’s stare.
“It was dated one hundred years ago, to the day.” Jasmine told them all since Sarah never mentioned it to the group. Beth shuddered.
“That’s kind of creepy.” Caly frowned, obviously concerned.
“I don’t think that this was a prank, especially not from one of us but I don’t even think it was a prank when it was constructed. I think what we have in our hands is a real, ancient artifact.” All eyes were now on him. “Well, not ancient, but a genuine recollection of a young girl’s thoughts.”
“Wait, you can’t seriously be suggesting that there really is some sort of power out there-“ Beth said with a tinge of fear in her voice.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. All I am saying is that whoever wrote it seems to truly have thought that what she was writing was real.”
“Maybe we could sell it to a museum, get some money, split the prophets-“
“No!” Tom suddenly yelled out. Jasmine turned to him, confused. Tom calmed down instantly. “I mean, I think we should find out more details about it before we do anything else. That way if we do decide to sell it, we’ll have a better idea of what it’s worth.”
“Hey, are you forgetting one thing? I’m the one who found it!” Jasmine exclaimed, a bit irritated that everyone was talking about her discovery like they had immediate rights to it.
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to try and steal it from you.” Tom told her plaintively. Guilt suddenly appeared inside of Jasmine.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, we should take things slow, is all.” She lowered her eyes.
Jim ambled back over to the fire, still frazzled but visibly calmer. “Good cigarette?” Sarah asked him with concern.
“Oh yeah. The best I’ve ever had. I should call Camel tomorrow and ask them what their secret is.” Sarah looked away, obviously hurt by Jim’s sarcasm. Jasmine frowned. Boy, for someone who is supposed to be extra-sensitive, he sure had a sharp tongue. He didn’t seem to notice or care that he hurt Sarah’s feelings. “So, what did I miss?” He said, purposely trying to smooth over the tension.
“We were talking about what to do with the scroll.” Caly remarked calmly. Jim’s eyes narrowed, obviously angry that it was brought up again. He sat up straight, but made no comment.
“I think we should take it more seriously.” Sarah whispered quietly, keeping her eyes down.
“What do you mean?” Beth asked.
“Just that, we don’t know what we’re dealing with and, we should keep our eyes open. That’s all.”
“Wait a minute, you don’t actually believe that stuff written on that, do you?” Jim asked. Sarah didn’t comment. Jasmine looked desperately around from person to person, helplessly watching the tension growing higher and higher. She wasn’t sure what the boiling point was, and she never wanted to know.
“You guys, you said we came here to have a good time. Arguing is not what I call having a good time.” Everyone quieted down.
“Sorry, Jasmine.” Caly said. “Why don’t we put the scroll aside for the night, and finish telling ghost stories?” He reached into the cooler for another beer. Everyone gladly agreed to that suggestion. Jasmine sighed with inner-relief, but another part of her was anything but relieved. Why were they always at each other’s throats? There was so much about them that Jasmine still didn’t know, and things she suspected they didn’t even know about each other. Was the supposed closeness of this group all an illusion? She hoped not, for their sake as well as her own.