Young Writers Society

Pratik kept watching the ghost but slowly walked backward towards the three of them. "Or we could compromise and cut her out and then gently work the thorns out. That way she doesn't get re-tangled up in them as we're pulling her out.

With that, he began slicing the vines nearest himself, though he kept sending anxious glances every few seconds towards the ghost to make sure it wasn't approaching. But it kept pacing at the top of the hill.

That was an option, too.

Quinn grabbed a pair of knives from her backpack. Gabriel took one of them and started cutting the branches on Ky's other side. He caught a glimpse of Pratik nervously checking on the ghost out of the corner of his eye.

"The ghost isn't going to follow us," he confidently said.

Quinn gave a tiny nod. She had learned enough about the different kinds of ghosts to know that this one was just a partial. Partials didn't have the same freedom as regular ghosts, even though they tended to be more deadly than most.

Pratik nodded, and changed his behavior none whatsoever. Sure. Okay, buddy. Be overly confident and die. See if Pratik cared.

That wasn’t true.

Pratik was going to stay between all of them and the ghost. It was his job. He was the protector of innocents. And Ky looked like she was fragile. And yet used to being hurt. He’d protect her. And Quinn. And Gabriel, as long as he didn’t do something stupid.

He finished freeing this side of Ky, and carefully detangled one of the briars off Ky’s shoulder, being careful not to scratch either of them.

A few moments later, Gabriel finished freeing Ky's other side. Quinn awkwardly lingered behind the entire time. She had the knife in her hand still, but didn't use it. She didn't move in and start to help until Ky was free—even then, she just carefully removed the briars with her hands.

"Ouch," Quinn suddenly said, drawing her hand back. When Gabriel gave her a concerned look, he saw she was bleeding from getting one of the briars in her thumb.

He marched over to her bag and pulled out a band-aid from the front pack.

"Here," he said, handing the unwrapped band-aid to her.

"Thanks," Quinn said. She put the band-aid back on and went back to removing the briars. Gabriel joined her.

Ky was blushing profusely, absolutely mortified that she was basically an overgrown toddler with not one but three strangers having to help her wimpy, incompetent self.

“Thanks,” she murmured sheepishly, not quite looking at anyone, as Pratik pulled the last briar on his side off.

Quinn gave a small smile. "You're welcome."

Now that Ky was free, Gabriel glanced back at the ghost. Unsurprisingly, the ghost—who was still too far away for Gabriel to make out most details of—was still pacing around. They hadn't moved closer to the four of them.

Ky nodded, looking up at the ghost fearfully. “Right… well…. I’ll try not to fall face-first in a thicket of briars this time. But I still vote we run away.”

Gabriel turned back to Ky.

"We don't need to run," he said, "but I agree that we should keep moving. We won't be able to climb back up the way we came."

“Of course we’re not going the way we came,” Ky scoffed. Was he stupid? There was a ghost!

Pratik laughed at her inflection, still warily watching the ghost, but more comfortable that it was — probably — going to stay put. “Well, let’s go, then.”

Keeping his back to the ghost, Gabriel started walking. Quinn quickly fell into step beside him. There wasn't really a path here; it was clear that this part of the forest wasn't meant to be walked through.

Thankfully, the larger plants—bushes and trees—weren't too closely packed together. It would have been a very nice walk if it wasn't raining. Gabriel suddenly realized that Quinn and him had dropped their umbrellas up by the ghost.

He moved over to Quinn. Slipping off his leather jacket, he held it up over the two of them. He would have just draped it over her shoulders, but he was worried it wouldn't stay.

Ky had also dropped her — Pratik’s — umbrella. And Pratik’s poncho was shredded from both yanking away from Gabriel and then the rumble down the hill. He shoved it into the pocket of his backpack so he wouldn’t litter, then started after them.

Ky looked at them, then up at the ghost, then sprinted past Pratik so that he would be at the back of the pack rather than her. He smirked.

Gabriel watched the whole exchange with an amused look on his face.

"You don't need to run," he said. "The ghost isn't going to be coming down here. They probably died up on that hill."

Quinn gave a small nod in agreement. That was her analysis, too. She didn't have nearly as much experience with ghosts as Gabriel did, but ghosts like that one were usually predictable. They had routines that they regularly repeated. If the ghost hadn't come down that hill yet, it was because they physically couldn't.

Ky furrowed her brow at him. "Wonderful... and the people who died down here, then?"

"Good point," Gabriel admitted. He hadn't read anything about any deaths down here, but that didn't mean there weren't any. He hadn't known about that hiker up on the hill, either. "As far as I can tell, there aren't any ghosts in this area besides that one. The rest of the trail might be a different story."

Ky stared at him for a long moment. There were too many things to break down in that comment, and yet she wanted to dismiss him entirely as the psychopath he clearly was. "You... it..." She sighed, rubbing her face like she was trying to hold in her frustration as she explained something to a small child. "You don't know any of that. It is a ghost, apparently. It doesn't have to follow your rules."