Fear

Prologue                                                                                                    

Payment. That was the word he used. Payment for his little trick.
If he ever wanted his life back, he would need to haunt 4,000 human dwellings. And drink the fear of the survivors.
         It was 1924, and from that moment on Jacob McCarthy was a mystery. MIA. And never seen again. At least not for certain.
         Left on the side of the road, unable to be seen or felt, minus his hand. His hand was perfectly visible and real, ending in vapor at the wrist. He willed it to disappear. It did.
         Suddenly, he heard a car driving by, loud and filled with at least 4 teenagers.
         His mouth and teeth, now sharper than before, formed. Hovering eerily in the air.
         Longing. Hunger. Like he'd never felt before.
         He grinned.

         















Chapter 1                                                                                                    


I remember that week very well. Better than I would like. Though life has moved on for me, more than I can say for others, I won't ever completely forget that. I mean, heck, it was about a month ago. So I haven't had as much time to forget.
But if you really want to know, it most likely started with Katelyn.


Katelyn screamed. Loud. Now, Katelyn wasn't known for screaming.
Being thickheaded, sassy, and logical in an incredibly annoying way she was known for.
         Screaming. No.
         After the stunned silence in the van lasted for about 13 seconds, she started giggling. We all started nervously laughing as well. Finally, the mood lightened again and we all started to get back to what we were doing, texting our friends or parents or reading our books and whatnot.
         She looked shaken, though it didn't show in an obvious way, her eyes were unfocused and she looked lost in thought and she kept biting her lip.
         She only did that when she was stressed.
         I officially turned my attention to her. "What was that?"
         "Hmm?"
         I stared at her for a bit.
         "Oh," She laughed nervously, "It's silly"
         I didn't know whether to keep pressing her or just let it go. She stared out the window lost in thought.
         "I just thought I saw something"
         "So you screamed?"
         "It was--weird, unnatural," She seemed at a loss for words, "It looked like someone grinning, but there wasn't a face with it. Just a grin"
         I could see why she screamed now. I probably would have, too.
I don't say this out loud though.
         "I know, silly," She said, lightly.
         I smiled. "Are you okay?"
         She smiled back. "Yeah, I'm fine". She turned back to her snapchat.
And then I went back to my book.
         And that was it.


         We had won. Actually, Darren had won a sweepstakes for a cruise ship vacation along the eastern coast down to Florida. He'd been allowed 5 friends of his choice. So obviously, he chose Adam and me. We'd been friends since kindergarten. We met Adam in 5th grade. Darren had a crush on Candy Dawson, so obviously, he invited her. Candy wanted Katelyn Anderson to come, so now she was coming. And of course, Katelyn wanted to bring a friend, so now Jessica Smith was coming. So that night, we had been on our way to the June 20th, 2015 Paradise Cruise.
         After we got to the cruise and claimed our tickets, we got on the cruise, were shown our rooms and had a great time for the first week of the two week cruise. Everything was awesome and we all had loads of fun. And to be honest, I may have even developed a crush on Katelyn.
         Besides that, no one could have foretold the following events. The events from Wednesday the 28th and the week after.


         I didn't know Katelyn as well as others had, but I didn't remember her being this distant. When I first met her, she seemed determined to be friends with everyone, yet still have her way. A combination that actually seemed to work for her. And now she was indifferent to everything and seemed to want to avoid people whenever possible. After skipping dinner for the second time, I finally went up to her room to talk to her.
         I approached her door. Second deck. Number 20047. I hesitated. She seemed to be listening to something. I couldn't make out the words. It sounded like a voice recording. Either that or she was talking to herself, which wasn't out of the question.
         I knocked gently on the door.
         The recording stopped. Or she stopped talking. "Yes?"
         "Umm, A-are you okay?" I stuttered. "We haven't seen you for more than maybe 5 minutes at a time for maybe 2 days."
         I stopped, realizing how dumb this might sound to her.
         "Oh, um, yeah, I'm okay, I just sometimes, you know, need some time to myself."
"Oh, right," I felt like an idiot. For two days.
"Thanks, at least someone noticed," That made me feel a little better.
I grasped for something to say next, "D-do you want to come up, you know, for dinner? We really miss you."
"Aw, thanks, th-that's very sweet." She said, causing me to blush slightly. "But I'm not really hungry".
"Oh, okay," I tried not to sound too disappointed. "Well, see you"
"See you"
And then I turned and walked away, down the hall to the corner and was about to go up the steps when I heard a gunshot and a scream. I'd heard a scream like that before. About a week ago.
I turned and ran back toward room 20047, hearing another gunshot. I stopped at it and was about to knock when it swung inward to reveal a messed up room inside. Belongings were scattered everywhere and a salty breeze was coming from the broken window. There was blood all over the window sill and some on the floor. There was a bullet hole in the wall next to the window and a revolver lay on the floor, next to 2 bullet shells, blood dripping from the barrel.
Katelyn was gone.