#dezba

        Cross Hollow rose on the horizon like a mirage, cradled between two lines of mountains. It had tripled in size since the last time Dezba graced its sandy roads and it seemed foreign against her childhood nostalgia. There were still some things that sprung up familiar to meet her on her way, like the tabernacle that crowned the foothills and Burger Alley still visible from the freeway; they lead her to the apartment complex on the edge of town. Once there, she tilted her head out the window and got a better look at the area. It was miserable, in a word. The peeling, grey paint only served to make the four buildings look washed out against the red landscape behind them. The lack of cars made the place seem abandoned and it wasn’t until Dezba saw a college kid sitting on the steps of the fourth structure that she knew she was in the right place at all.

        The young woman looked surprised when Dezba hopped out of the truck after parking, and Dezba ignored her expression. She knew she wasn’t what most people expected—they expected someone who fought ghosts and ghoulies to be like what they’d  seen on spooky paranormal television shows; to be tall and handsome, to look like they just finished running a five-mile lap. She, on the other hand, was short and dark and thought she probably had the air of someone who just rolled out of bed. She had mixed feelings about this.  

        “D…Dezba?”

        Dezba flicked her toothpick into the trash bin that sat at the end of the stairs and then held out her hand for Josie to shake, “Guilty. Josie, I’m guessing? Any change on the apartment?”

        “I… haven’t been in it since I called you,” Josie admitted, taking the offered hand.

         Dezba looked at Josie’s door, quiet and listening. She didn’t hear any of the movements or murmurings Josie had mentioned, just the desert wind. She pushed past Josie and tried to peer into the neighboring apartment’s curtained windows, “Can’t see much. The sounds were coming from here?”

          Josie got up to unlock her door, “Yeah, I think so. I mean I thought so, before things started getting weird. But I only heard it while inside my apartment—like coming from the wall that connects us. I don’t think I ever heard it from outside? And not really from anywhere else—”

          Josie cut off mid-sentence as the door opened. Dezba stepped behind and peered into the dark apartment.

          It had been ransacked.

          Papers lay on every inch of the floor, a couch was upturned, and in the kitchen beyond the young women could see flung open cabinets and scattered food.

          “It… wasn’t like this when I left,” Josie’s tone was resigned.

           Dezba walked into the apartment and peered at the layout. Though everything looked misplaced, there was still a television sitting lopsided in the living room and some kind of gaming console below that. Those would probably be the first to go missing if this were a robbery. She could also think of at least a dozen better places to hit than a college student’s apartment.

          “Josie, when the blood spelled out things, what did it say?”

          “It said… Actually, come on, I’ll just show you,” Josie went up the stairs to her bedroom.

          Dezba stood in Josie’s pillaged room staring at a blank wall.

          “It was here when I left,” Josie said quietly, “It… I swear to god, it was here. Even when it was just a spot, it was here for a week—a week!”

           Dezba didn’t say anything. She walked up to the wall and put her hand on it. Then she leaned in and pressed her face alongside it. Nothing seemed out of place. After a moment she stood up straight again, “What did it say, when you saw it?”

           Josie looked from the wall, “Uh, it said the Red Rover rhyme, like that kids play? But like, with my name.”

           “It said your name?” Dezba asked, and when Josie nodded she continued, “Josie, does anyone else have keys to your house?”

           “No,” Josie deflated from the question, which Dezba regretted. She hadn’t meant to imply she didn’t believe Josie was experiencing something strange, “I mean. Management might, but I don’t think they keep full hours in the summer, if any.”

           “Do you know if anyone would want to hurt you or scare you?”

           “Not… specifically? I don’t really talk to a lot of people. But, like. Well, you saw the town—I am American. And my parents are American, but sometimes I don’t look American. Not enough at least, you know?”

           Dezba knew exactly what Josie meant.

           Josie shrugged, “There’s a lot of kids here during the school year who also don’t... look American, or aren’t American at all; it’s a pretty good college for that. I don’t know. The locals aren’t always great? But even with that, even with the bad stuff, it’s never been something like this.”

          Dezba nodded, but Josie seemed like she was embarrassed from saying that out loud. Dezba looked back towards the wall, “It might take a few days to find some answers. Do you have somewhere you can stay for a few nights?”

          Josie hesitated before saying, “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

          “What about family?” Dezba asked.

          “Oh, uh, my only family are my parents and they’re back in Hong Kong. And I don’t really have any friends—or any extra money to waste on somewhere else. I have to stay here, even if it’s…. even if it’s awful, I have to.”

        Dezba was quiet and Josie looked away.

        “I’m going to rent a room while I’m here. I’m sure there’d be enough room for two.”

        “What do you mean?” Josie asked.

        “I mean that this sucks—” Dezba put her hands on her hips, making up her mind as she continued, “Being stuck in a situation with no options sucks. I know you don’t know me and I don’t know you and that’s its own issue, but staying in a hotel with a stranger is still an option, and one that I’m offering.”

        “Oh,” Josie said, “I think I have to think about that.”

        Neither had said much since they left the apartment. The sun was setting and Dezba had given up on finding a radio station that wasn’t Country or Christian Rock; she settled on something that was composed of faint banjo and low static. The crickets outside her rolled-down windows served as a chorus to the white noise. Dezba glanced at Josie from the corner of her eye—the girl was cute, though obviously stressed. Josie was clutching her bag so close to her chest that Dezba thought her knuckles must be going white and she refused to look away from the passenger window.

        “How will you do it?” Josie broke the silence.

        “Hm?”

        “How will you, like, find out… who’s doing it? Or what’s happening?”

        Dezba took a turn that led them farther into town and wondered if she should admit to Josie that she had no clue which direction to take next--they passed the now out-of-business hotel from Dezba’s youth that she had planned to check into. She considered briefly just going to her parents’ house instead, still twenty miles out of town last she heard, but dismissed the thought, “Research first—I’ve got books on these sorts of things. If something’s similar I’ll go from there. And I’ll stake out your apartment. Make sure it’s not some asshole doing this.”

        Josie clutched her bag tighter (if that were possible) and Dezba wondered if she could have worded that better. The way she saw it there were two likely scenarios—either it was something unexplainable or it was someone driven by malice. The first was terrifying because it wasn’t human, and the second was terrifying because it was. Josie probably already knew that and Dezba wasn’t helping. She opened her mouth and meant to say something consoling, something like it’ll be okay, but that was an uncertainty she couldn’t promise. Instead she asked, “Would you like to come with me?”

        “To… stake out?” Josie responded, “I can’t—I work all week.”

        “You could call in sick,” Dezba turned towards a motel that she wasn’t sure if she had seen before or not. Its stucco walls were cracked and in front of the entrance was a bronze elk that was too nice and too new to fit the rest of the décor, “You probably should call in sick regardless, with all that’s going on.”

        “No I can’t. I can’t afford to miss a day.”

        Dezba didn’t reply, just parked in the first open spot and decided that she was going to fix this. This girl had too much stress and if Dezba could ease any of it, she would. One way or another.

Prologue