Infernal Flame — Roleplayer Guild

  Location: New York subway car/ Flashback to Community Center
Interacting with: the parents of the children/ neighbor's kid Tommy Price 

	Her pencil glided smoothly over the rough paper of the sketchpad as the world condensed to the lead tip and the song threading through her ears. Her foot lightly tapped to the beat, narrowly avoiding the wad of gum conveniently placed on the floor of the New Year subway car she was currently on. Kashi was attempting to drown out the panic and shock of earlier today with enough sensory inputs but she felt like she was probably failing. Her day had started normal enough, or as normal as life had become after the virus. She’d been at the community center, Manhattan Youth, with the kids. All the children who had lost a mother, a father or a sibling. And there she was, her family still intact, trying to offer comfort. She always felt guilty, walking into the center. Seeing the kids, desolate, while she lived. While her family was whole. And that’s why she thought maybe… Maybe that’s why she saw them. The… ghosts. Her pencil paused, the tip trembling in mid-air as she thought back to the first ghost she had seen. 

	It had started just as she’d gone to get the juice boxes for the kids. They were drawing, art therapy the child psychologist had called it. So she headed for the small kitchenette off the side of the main room to grab some refreshments and snacks. But then a light press of a hand stopped her in her tracks. No sounds had preceded it, simply the presence of a hand.  “Thank you for looking after my baby,”  a voice had whispered, paper thin. Kashi had darted a glance behind her and held back a gasp. The woman behind her appeared real, and if it was night, Kashi was certain she would have thought her normal. But with the sunlight glancing off the mirror in the corridor and piercing through the woman, Kashi could clearly see that the lady was not human. The colors were almost faded, and shimmered in the air. 

	And with a thin, almost shaky smile, the woman had disappeared. Not, dashed-around-the-corner or be-back-in-a-minute gone but blink-your-eye gone. She had simply melted back into the air! Heart racing, Kashi had backed against the wall in wonder. Glancing a both ends of the hallway Kashi had found nothing. It had been quiet, save for the bright clatter and soft mummering echoing from the main room. Calming her pounding heart, Kashi had bit her bottom lip, the taste of chemical strawberry seeping into her mouth. As the minutes ticked by with nothing of note happening, Kashi had detached herself from the wall she had been molded against and had taken cautious steps towards the kitchenette. And just as the Dementors had descended on Harry, a myriad of figures blinked into being. Soundlessly, the watched her as she had frozen once again. All around her were these wispy, life-like… ghosts. There was no other word for what she was seeing.  I am going insane. It’s probably a delayed reaction to the virus. And I’m hallucinating.  Inching her way to the kitchenette, she had watched the specters watch her. 

	Just as the doors of the kitchenette had come into view, Kashi had dashed straight in; slamming the doors behind her. Panting with the sheer terror of the moment, she had dug her hand into her silvery-blue hair and just lain limp against the door. She had lifted herself off the door, quickly turning the lock, before she had gathered all the necessary snacks the kids would need.   It would do no good to freak the kids out. I mean, what would I say? ‘Hey kids! Remember your dead parents? Yeah I just saw them. Don’t worry though, they’re just ghosts.’  Hysterical laughter had bubbled in her chest as she had clutched the tray of snacks. Finally, she had turned back to the door, taken a deep breath and flicked the lock. She had creaked the door open, ducking her head past the door frame to glance into the corridor. Once again, nothing.   “*Çfarë dreqin?”  She had decided not to press her luck and she had dashed across the corridor and burst into the common room. As the day had gone on, Kashi had believed she had dreamed it all. Another one of her “flights of fancy” as Mrs. Peterson liked to say. 

	And now here she was. On the subway, with panic gripping her throat as she tried to rationalize the bizarre situation away. But just after she got off the subway and turned towards her brownstone house did once more stop dead in her tracks. Tommy was waving and shouting a greeting at her as she opened the gate to her house.    “Tommy!” She stared at the little eight-year-old in wonder.    “Oh Tommy,”  was all she could think to say as her eyes brimmed with tears.  “Hey! Why you crying Kash? Stop being weird and let’s play! Ma got me a new truck set and said that if I asked you reeeeeeeeal nice and ate my dinner then you’d play with me. I told her that she doesn’t know you and then I hid my broccoli because blech. Gross! But come on! Let’s go before she finds out. ” And with that he was off like a bullet fired from a gun. His curly brown hair bouncing as he dashed for the small garden the Krashniqis’ shared with the Prices’. 

As she stared at him, as he turned back. His brow furrowed and his pout in full effect.  “Why aren’t you coming? You’re weird today.”  And just like that, he was gone. He blipped out of the sunlight and left Kashi with an ache in her heart. Tommy was the Price’s second-youngest. With so many of them spilling over, a lot of the Price children were found lounging in the Krashniqi’s house. And Kashi had gotten to know and love them all. But Tommy had been special. He was rambunctious and mischievous but was still very kind. And when he’d… when he had died it had broken everyone’s hearts. Most of all Kashi’s. Kashi hadn’t been able to say goodbye to the boy that had stuck to her tighter than velcro. And while the previous specters had left her a sense of bewilderment, seeing Tommy only left a bitter taste in her mouth.

* What the f*ck?
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