Ghost Walk

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Maria and Ken followed Levi’s voice. It echoed across the forest—strange words that had very few consonants. They left the trail and, after a short walk, they found him at a circle of standing stones, putting rocks covered with sigils into holes.

And crying.

Tears streamed down Levi’s dirty face. His face and hands were scratched and bloody. His eyes were red. His hat had fallen from his head. The brim was bent. Maria handed it to him while Ken helped him up. Levi thanked her, and put the hat back on his head.

Maria glanced around at the burned-out wasteland.

“This was LeHorn’s Hollow, wasn’t it?”

Levi nodded. “Part of it.”

“Where’s Adam?” she asked.

Levi didn’t respond. Instead, he placed the bloody palm of his right hand against each standing stone, leaving red handprints on them. Using his index finger, he drew symbols with the blood.

“There,” he said. “This gate is sealed and can be opened by none, except for the Gatekeeper. The entity has been bound and banished.”

He slowly walked toward the trail. Maria jumped in front of him.

“Hey! Not so fast, Levi. Where is Adam?”

“Gone.”

“What do you mean, gone? Did the darkness kill him?”

“No.” Levi shook his head. “I did.”

Maria stared, stunned. “W-what are you implying, Levi?”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m telling you. To bind and banish an entity as strong as the one we faced, a sacrifice is required. Adam was that sacrifice.”

“You… sacrificed him?”

Levi nodded. Then he brushed past her and continued through the woods, heading toward the trail. After a moment, they followed him. Levi remained silent, refusing to answer their questions.

Eventually, they reached the Ghost Walk. The path seemed normal again. There was no blue glow, no sparks of energy. The lines of lime were just that—lime. But neither were there any dead bodies. Maria and Ken had heard people screaming, heard the slaughter taking place in the woods. But the trail was swept clean. They were gone, just like Adam. Even the bloodstains were missing.

Upon reaching the exit, Levi stepped out into the field, mumbling to himself. His head hung low and his feet dragged wearily. Maria and Ken ran after him.

“Levi…”

He didn’t turn around.

“Levi!” Maria shouted. “Goddamn it, look at me!”

Sighing, he turned. “Please don’t take that name in vain, Maria. I’ve asked you before.”

“You…” She shook with rage. “You killed an innocent man.”

“Adam Senft was far from innocent. You said so yourself.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t it? Look around us. Is the night closing in on us?

Is the darkness breeding? No, it’s not. I’ve rid us of the threat—sealed the gate and saved this planet and everyone on it, including you. Billions of lives versus the life of one damned soul. Are you telling me the sacrifice wasn’t worth it? That one man’s life is more valuable than the lives of everyone on Earth?”

Ken cleared his throat. “Sounds like Wrath of Khan to me. I didn’t know Amish people watched Star Trek.”

Levi regarded him coldly. Then he turned back to Maria.

“I did what I had to do, Maria. I did what the Lord required of me. I’m a soldier. He asked me to do it, so that none of you would have to. I get to live with that. I get to suffer so that you won’t. That’s my ghost. I’ve freed you of yours.”

“What kind of a God would ask you to do such a thing?”

“My God—the same as your God. You still believe, don’t you?”

Maria didn’t answer him.

Levi turned again and strode away. His muscles ached and his bones were sore. He sighed. It was a long walk back to Lancaster and it would be an even longer time before he could rest. First he would need to cleanse himself upon arrival. Then he had to tend to Dee and Crowley.

“Levi,” Maria called. “Come back. We’re not finished yet.”

He paused.

“What, Maria?”

“You asked me what I believe in? I believed in you.”

He nodded his head sadly. “Yes, you did. And before you met me, you believed in nothing. But that’s the thing with belief, Maria. It’s easy to believe in something when it doesn’t require anything from you. It’s much harder, though, when the object of your belief requires something of you or asks for something you don’t want to give. That’s when real belief occurs.”

She stared at him, speechless. In the distance, police sirens wailed. Ken glanced from Levi, to Maria, and then back again.

“What do you believe?” Levi repeated. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

She hesitated, thinking of her parents and how they’d appeared in the darkness.

“No. I think we make our own ghosts.”

Levi asked a third time. “Then what do you believe in? You don’t believe in ghosts. Your belief in me has been shattered. What’s left? Do you believe in God—in Allah? His voice spoke to you, after all. Was that enough to strengthen your belief?”

“I…I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

He smiled, sadly. “Well, look at the bright side, Maria. In a few hours, the sun will rise. You can have faith in that. Believe in it. The sun doesn’t require much. There are no sacrifices to be made in its name. Every morning, the sun rises and reminds you that it exists, so you can believe in it without hardship.”

He turned his back on her and began walking once more.

“Levi?”

He responded without looking back.

“Believe, Maria. The sun will rise and you will never have reason to fear the dark again.”

And then he was gone.

Ken blinked. “Where the hell did he go?”

Fighting back tears, Maria shrugged.

“He disappeared into thin fucking air. I don’t believe it.”

“I do.” Maria wiped her eyes. “That’s not the weirdest thing I’ve seen him do.”

Ken put his arm around her, awkwardly at first, but then with more confidence. Maria leaned against him. Ken glanced around, but Levi was still absent.

“Who the hell is he, really?”

“I don’t know,” Maria whispered. “I thought I did, but I just don’t know.”

The police sirens drew closer.

“Jesus,” Ken muttered. “Jesus fucking Christ…”

Levi walked home in the darkness, with only his ghosts to keep him company. They followed along behind him, hovering in the corners of his vision. He knew from experience that if he turned to look, they’d vanish. The only time he saw them clearly was when he went to sleep.

Like always, his ghosts cried out in anguish and anger. They threatened and cajoled, but Levi kept walking. He’d learned over time to ignore them. But now, a new voice had been added to the cacophony. A new ghost.

“Be still, Adam,” he whispered. “Be still.”

Levi sighed. He still had a long way to go, and it would be a long time before the sunrise. This night seemed endless. Walking the line between the two, he disappeared into the black.