The Mysterious Life Of Lorelei Jones

XX

Connor was first to reach the car. The passenger door was wide open, and Joel’s phone was still in the seat. Connor fell to his knees. “Joel! Why him?!”

“Thomas! Where are you?!” Lori said, looking around.

“He’s gone,” The little red spirit said. “He tried to help your friend, but the monster made him disappear too. The monster let me go so I could tell you something.”

“What did it want to tell me?” Lori asked. She was trying to keep her anger in check. It wasn’t the spirit’s fault. He tried.

“It said it couldn’t wait to see you at the station. It said it wanted to show your friend something there. I tried to stop it. I really did. Please don’t be mad.” The red spirit said. It was shaking. Lorelei guesses it could feel her anger. She could feel the emotions of spirits, so it wasn’t that far off to assume it worked both ways.

“It’s alright. Thanks for trying. We won’t let that monster hurt anyone else. You did a great job,” Connor thought. He smiled at the spirit, and it disappeared. “Lori.”

“I know. We need to go now.” They got in the car and sped off towards the station. They rode in silence all the way there. Arriving at the station, Connor parked the car near the entrance and was about to run into the station, but Lorelei grabbed his arm.

“Hold on; we can’t just go charging in there. We need to think about this. Mortdecai went through a lot to get me here. Us just running in isn’t smart. Look, the station seems empty, but it might be packed inside. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

“Right, sorry. Joel would probably say the same thing. I’ll follow your lead.”

“Okay,” Lorelei said as they walked into the station. Lori was right the station was packed. Several people were crowding the ticket booths yelling about how the train was delayed. Others were packed on the benches doing their own things. Lori looked at the large clock over the ticket booth. “10:45 AM,” It said. “Good, we still have time,” Lori said, walking over to the train schedule. “All the trains are delayed. That’s not too abnormal. I’ve waited three hours after the train was due once. I was like these people.”

“Are you kidding me?” Someone said next to Lori. “Just my luck. What am I going to do? I need to get to Charlotte by two.” The man said. When he noticed Lorelei looking at him, he smiled. “Sorry, I normally don’t complain this much. Excuse me.” He said, walking away.

“People never change. One small thing goes wrong, and they act as if the world ended.” Connor thought.

“First world problems. I miss them sometimes. Where do we start?” Lori asked. They went over to a corner of the station. “The station isn’t that big. They don’t use most of it anyway. When I used to take the train, I remember going down a long hallway. Most of the boarding docks were closed off. Waste of space if you ask me. Maybe he’s hiding in one of those?”

Connor nudged her. They saw the same guy from the train schedule board walking towards them. “Hey, I’m sorry, I feel like I know you from somewhere. Do you go to UNCG? I think I’ve seen you around campus.”

“I go there. I don’t think I’ve seen you around. A lot of people go there, so you could be mistaken,” Lorelei said. “Something doesn’t feel right.” She thought.

He snapped his fingers. “I got it. You talked to me yesterday when that girl died near the student union. Remember? That was crazy.”

Lorelei narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, crazy. Listen, you probably mean well, but we want to be left alone, please.”

“Oh, I get it. You and your boyfriend want to be left alone. Sorry, man.”

Connor nodded.

The man lowered his voice to a whisper, but it was still loud enough that both of them could hear it. “What’s wrong, Connor? Monster ate your tongue?” Mortdecai smiled.