Natural Burial (Asher's Universal Attraction Concept Scene)

 

At this point, Asher was desperate.

Here he was, out in the dark and rainy midnight with some brat at least three years younger and definitely three feet smaller than him. Thankfully the bet only stated he needed to bring someone to a dance, not that it had to be a date. That would make this entire situation creepier than it already was in a different and much more real way.

Asher didn’t believe in ghosts. Obviously, they were just fictional beings that only existed in horror stories and bad paranormal romances. But while Luca may have been smart enough to skip a few grades and use the knowledge he already lost two potential dance partners against him, they were still a child.

“The woods are haunted, I swear!” They said, pacing back and forth in the library. “I’ve seen spirits in those woods. And even more, the bodies of dead animals along the path have been moved. They have graves, but their heads are peaking out of them. They may be buried, but those animals’ poor spirits are still walking the Earth! We have to exorcize them!”

And that’s why Asher was here, desperate enough to be carrying around useless crap the internet said Wiccans believed protected them from spirits. Coral, some ‘cleansing salt’, and a bright rock that cost way too much.

Luca led in front of him, in their yellow rain poncho and crocs, waving their flashlight around for the ‘floating wavy things’ they had described before. The problem was that they’d been out here for a good hour now and the strangest thing they saw was a perfectly good abandoned bicycle.

Even Luca was feeling the urge to turn around and call it a night. At least, before their flashlight caught a group of footprints left in the fresh mud.

“You said they were animals.” Asher said. “And floating,”

“Some of the ghosts could be human and they can use their feet sometimes,” Luca said, hurrying along the trail, “You see it in pictures all the time. Besides, who would be out in the woods on such a rainy night?”

“Idiots hunting ghosts, for one.”

The trail continued for another few minutes, until the two came upon a light.

Out in a clearing was a dim flickering. Asher and Luca hesitantly approached, starving for a better view.

There inside were what Asher could only describe as floaty, wavy things. Different colors floating along the ground, their wavering forms trailing behind them as they held flames in their hands. They walked in circles around a fire, as one stood still before the flame and a deceased rabbit’s head poked through the ground in front of the figure.

“What. The hell.” Asher said.

“This must be what they do,” Luca said. “This must be their burial ceremony.”

“So ghost humans are burying ghost rabbits?”

Before Luca could answer, another voice spoke. 

“Efil gnitsalreve hcaer yam yeht os daed eht yrub ot yloh eht wolla.” It came from the turquoise form at the center of the circle. But it didn’t boom. It didn’t seep under their skin or into their heads. It was shrill and it squeaked. “Sdnammoc htrae ythgimla eht sa wolf htriber dna htaed fo elcyc eht tel.”

The group of figures-- in cloaks, Asher realized; now that he wasn’t freaking out, they were obviously wearing cloaks and holding candles-- all spoke in unison, replying to the girl. “Htrae eht erofeb detneserp eb dna etats lufrednow a hcus hcaer ew yam. Efil retteb a ot nrober eb tsol ylraed eht yam.”

“Well, the good news is that it’s not ghosts,” Asher said, “The bad news is that we’re lost in a forest with a cult.”

As much as Asher wanted to turn and scram, something was keeping his eyes on the cult’s ceremony. Even in such strange and possibly dangerous circumstances, he thirsted for knowledge. It was like he was stuck in a trance that only snapped as the wind picked up and the turquoise figure’s hood was blown up and over her head.

“Oh my,” Asher muttered unconsciously, “She’s--”

“Cute.” Luca said.

“I was going to say ‘a child’, myself.”

Asher’s heart skipped, that beat being replaced by a realization. He turned to Luca to find them mesmerized even more than they had been by the ceremony. He couldn’t tell if the red on their face came from the fires in the clearing or them blushing. Either way, he knew how this would end.

Luca cleared her throat and stepped into the clearing. What exactly happened next, Asher didn’t know and he didn’t care. Whether Luca ended up joining the cult or being some kind of blood sacrifice, it all meant one thing to him: He needed to find someone else to bring to the dance.