Four more ghost stories were told next to the dying fire, and Jasmine’s eyes slowly began to droop. She swayed gently back and forth, staying awake becoming a harder task by the moment. The fact that she now had four beers in her system probably didn’t help matters. She didn’t want to be rude, but she couldn’t help yawning.
“Tired?” Tom asked her quietly. Jasmine nodded. The stories soon died out and everyone was left in silence.
“Well, I think it’s time to catch some sleep.” Caly said casually. Everyone nodded in agreement. Tom rested his palm on his knee, dragging himself to a standing position.
“I’ll get the water.”
“And I’ll get the sleeping bags.” Caly offered, heading over to Jim’s pickup. Tom soon reappeared with a gas can, and Jasmine nearly jumped.
“What are you doing?” She asked quickly.
“It’s just water, so I can put out the fire.” Jasmine sighed with relief.
“Oh, I thought . .” She trailed off, realizing how dumb she must have sounded. Tom chuckled at her, dousing the dying fire with the water. Jasmine watched as it sizzled in protest, but was forced to die. He threw the gas can aside, and Caly appeared with a ton of sleeping bags.
“Here ya go!” He said, tossing one at Jasmine. She caught it, and gently laid it on the grass. Tom spread his out next to hers, and gave her a thoughtful look. Jasmine sighed inwardly and looked up at the sky, surprised to see so many stars out. Back in the twin cities, she rarely ever saw a sky so clear.
“Wow!” She exclaimed out loud to no one in particular. “That’s so beautiful!” Tom gently wrapped his arms around her.
“Yeah, they are.”
“That’s Cassiopeia.” Said a voice from behind them. Jasmine turned her head to see Caly standing behind them.
“You know about astrology?” She asked, a bit surprised.
“Yeah, a little. Sarah’s rubbed off on us.” Jasmine looked back up at the stars, noticing one giant cluster that looked like a dipping spoon.
“Is that the Big Dipper?” She asked him, pointing. He nodded. Jasmine peeked to her right, noticing Beth giving her a strange look. She squirmed, slightly uncomfortable. “Um, I think Beth wants to see you.” She said to Caly, keeping her eyes down. Caly nearly jumped, as if coming out of a fevered daydream.
“Yeah, I guess so. ‘Night, you two!”
“’Night.”
“’Night.” Tom and Jasmine responded in unison as he walked off towards Beth. Jasmine stole another glance around the grass, and noticed Sarah trying to snuggle up close to Jim. He seemed to be ignoring her. Poor Sarah, she thought. She was trying so hard to win just a moment of Jim’s attention, and he didn’t even notice. Sighing, she laid back into Tom’s arms. She felt safe there, like as long as he was protecting her, no harm would ever come to her. The world was always going to be a place that was beyond her capacity of understanding, but Tom’s love was something real, something tangible. It was something she felt she could count on. With that comfort in her mind, she drifted off to sleep.
Deep inside of he subconscious mind, Jasmine was dreaming. She was in the forest, but it was dark. Not even the moon or a single star shined in the sky to light the way. This wasn’t just the darkness of night; this was a darkness that was much deeper. This was a darkness that no light could ever rescue.
Suddenly, there was a noise behind Jasmine. Frightened, she jumped and whirled around. There was a girl behind her. In the darkness, Jasmine could barely make out her features. She was wearing some sort of nightgown, and her angelic hair flowed nearly down to her buttocks. Her head was tilted at an odd angle.
“Who are you?” Jasmine asked, too afraid to run. The girl took a tentative step towards her and she backed up.
“Please don’t run.” The girl said. Her voice wasn’t really a voice, but more like a passing wind that just happened to sound like words. It was hollow, like there was no body to sustain it.
“Are- are you dead?”
“I am.” The girl said. “My name was Bethany.” Jasmine’s eyes widened. Bethany, that had been the girl who wrote that scroll she found. “Yes.” She said, as if she anticipated what Jasmine knew and was going to ask. “I had to come to you, Jasmine, because I have to warn you.” Jasmine was confused.
“Warn me? Warn me about what?”
“About the danger you and your friends are about to unleash.” She still had no idea what this dead girl was talking about. “What you read, was a lie. I didn’t want to write that, but I had no choice. She made me.”
“Who?”
“Shiniqua. You must listen to me. She is not what I wrote her to be. She is not a goddess that will give you powers.”
“Then what is she?” Jasmine asked. Bethany hesitated.
“She is, evil. She will lure you in with promises of power and a glimpse of what she is capable of doing to you, but don’t believe her. It is a lie.” Jasmine was still very frightened in this dark, but for some reason, she trusted this spirit.
“What does she want?” She asked.
“She wants to manifest, to become flesh and blood. To be tangible.”
“Why, and how?”
“If she can have human form, there will be no limitations of what she can do. She could start wars with a flick of her finger, end the world with a wave of her hand.” She paused. “Every generation, there is a human born to be her vessel, to be the human she can manifest inside of. But there is also another born who has the power to bring her forth. The vessel must seek this person out.”
“I’m lost. What does this have to do with me?” Bethany lowered her head.
“I cannot tell you any more, I have already spoken too much.” She laid a ghostly hand upon Jasmine’s forehead. Jasmine jerked away frightened by the cold touch of something not quite real. “I have warned you the best I could.” Right before Jasmine’s eyes, Bethany dissolved into nothingness. Jasmine pivoted around on her feet, desperately seeking to make out some kind of path in the darkness.
“No!” She screamed in frustration. “You can’t do this to me! You can’t leave me here! No-“ Suddenly, the darkness faded away and there were stars in the sky again. Strong, living hands were gently shaking her shoulders.
“Oh my god, Tom!” Jasmine cried out in happiness, throwing herself into his arms.
“Hey, hey.” He said in an apparent attempt to calm her. “What’s going on? Are you okay?” Jasmine opened her mouth, trying to breathe in deep and tell her horror story at the same time.
“It was horrible. There was this place, and it was all dark, and there was this girl there, she was dead, and saying the scariest things,” Tom gently rubbed his hands over her back.
“Hey, it was just a dream. You’re safe now.”
“I know. It was just a dream.” She responded in an attempt to comfort herself.
“What was the dead girl saying?” Jasmine opened her mouth to tell him, but suddenly her mind drew a blank. She blinked her eyes trying to remember, but nothing came to her.
“I- I don’t remember.” All the images from the dream dissolved through the holes in her memory, and she was left with nothing to grasp. “I don’t remember anything.” Jasmine slowly withdrew from the comforting hug, and looked over at the rest of the gang. Everyone was awake and sitting up in their sleeping bags, staring at her. Self-consciously, she slumped back down.
“Well, you were screaming your head off.” Tom informed her. Squeezing her eyes shut, Jasmine willed everyone to just disappear but when she opened them again, they were still there.
Jasmine was so embarrassed about waking everyone up that she didn’t speak to anyone the rest of the night. They all assured her that it was no big deal, but to her it was. Not just the waking up screaming part, but the dream itself. There was something about the dream, something important. She wished desperately that she could remember what the dream had been about.
For some reason, when Jasmine saw the scroll next to her in the morning it unsettled her. She had no desire to pick it up, and when they were packing up to leave, she purposely tried to ignore it. “Hey.” Tom said to her as she was heading for the car. “Don’t forget the scroll.” Jasmine inwardly groaned.
“What do we need that thing for?”
“I don’t know, I just think we should take it with us.” Jasmine frowned.
“I think maybe I should put it back in the barn.” She said. Tom raised a brow her, confused.
“Why would you want to do that?” Caly strode up to them, adding in his thoughtful two cents.
“Whatever that is, Jasmine was the one who found it. I do think you should take it home, in case there might be some significance to it, or in case it’s worth something. Just, hold onto it, you know?” Annoyed and outnumbered, Jasmine snatched up the scroll.
“Okay, fine.” She said, grumbling. Tom and Caly exchanged a glance. Tom probably thought she was cute when she was angry. She hoped Caly didn’t have any of those thoughts, for Beth’s sake.
Jasmine hopped in the car and uninterestingly threw the scroll in the back. Tom eyed her suspiciously.
“Okay, last night you were interested in that thing, now you act like it’s going to bite you. What gives?”
“I don’t know. Something about it just, bugs me. That’s all.”
“Well what, do you believe in what it said?” He asked. Jasmine couldn’t quite tell by his tone of voice if he wanted her to answer yes or no.
“I don’t know. It just gives me a creepy feeling. I can’t explain it.” Tom kept his gaze on the road, as if avoiding her eyes. “What, do you think I’m nuts or something?” She asked, already on the defense.
“Whoa, calm down. No, I don’t think you’re nuts. I just thought it was weird how you suddenly didn’t even want to touch it. Can we talk about something else now, please?” Jasmine frowned.
“Yeah.” Everyone sat in silence the rest of the way home.