"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she snapped.
I looked towards the alley. The phantom was gone, but I still felt the chill down my spine. I jumped onto the nearly-empty bus and took a seat in the back. My window faced the sidewalk, and I peered into the side street. I swear a pair of red eyes glared back at me, but the bus pulled out before I could, or wanted to, confirm it.
I slid down in my seat and sighed. I was safe, at least for now, but I wanted my underwear back from Osman. His destruction of that phantom had lasted less time than a politician's promise. I pulled my purse onto my lap and opened it too look for his card, but the bus gave a sudden jerk as the driver made a quick brake.
"What the hell?" she growled. She swung open the door and scowled at someone at the bottom of the steps. My heart quickened as I wondered if that person wore a cloak. "What the hell do you want?" she snapped at the invisible person.
A tall, familiar figure appeared over the front seats and stepped into the walkway between the seats. It was the pale, unsmiling man from earlier that morning. He didn't reply to the bus driver's angry question, but placed a few coins in the box beside her and took a seat in the middle of the bus.
I sank down in my seat and peeked around the side of the one in front of me. The man stared straight ahead, but at my peeking he turned his head just a smidge in my direction. It was enough for one of his bright blue eyes to stare at me. The color drained from my face and I pulled back out of sight.
I bit my lower lip and tried to think of a plan. Calling the police wouldn't have worked. I didn't have any concrete evidence against my pale stalker. Getting off at a different stop was a no-go because he'd follow me, and if he caught me I'd be farther from my home.
That left only one, regrettable, choice. I rummaged through my purse and found Osman's number. I dialed the digits and pressed the receiver against my ear. The line on the other end rang.
"Come on. Answer it," I hissed after the second ring.
After the fifth ring Osman's voice came over the speaker.
"Good day, you've reached my phone. I can't come to the phone right now, but if you'd leave your name and number after the beep then I'll try to get back to you. Maybe."
Beep.
"Osman?" I hissed. "This is Enid Runa. I met the phantom again, and now this pale guy's been following me all day and he's on the bus. If you could get your butt to the Bellamy Grocery store two blocks from my house I'd really appreciate it."
I hung up and peeked around the seat in front of me. The man stared straight ahead, but I couldn't ditch the feeling that he was staring at me. It felt kind of like the third eye on a mom. I pulled back and glanced out the window. I had a long thirty minutes left before my stop, and I hoped Osman was waiting for me there.
My heart beat a loud, quick tune the entire time, but somehow I got to my stop without having a heart attack. The bus slowed down and I jumped to my feet. The pale man was already on his feet and halfway down the aisle. He stepped off the bus, and for a second I pondered staying on the bus until the next stop.
"You getting off or what?" the bus driver growled.
'Or what' was an option, but the bright lights of Bellamy's Grocery signaled to me a safe-haven, and definitely some help. I hurried down the aisle and onto the dark sidewalk. The pale man was nowhere in sight. The bus pulled away, leaving me with little choice but to hurry to the sliding door of the grocery store.
I grasped my purse and rushed down the sidewalk. The area was completely deserted, and several of the street lights flickered overhead. Others were completely dead, and the long shadows of night leaned out from around the corners of the block and behind every garbage can and stack of broken crates. My eyes flitted to and fro in search of danger, but the pale man had completely vanished. I hoped I'd find Osman out front, but he was also a no-show. Still, my heart beat a little slower when I stepped into the warm glow of the store.
Mr. Bellamy stood at his cash register and smiled at me. "I told you not to eat all those eggs," he scolded me.
I hurried up to him and glanced over my shoulder. "I think I might have a bigger problem than a stomach ache," I told him.
He frowned. "Why? What's wrong?" He looked past me at the door. "Is someone following you?" he guessed.
"I don't know, but-" I froze when the pale man strode through the door. He looked around and his gaze fell on me. My eyes widened when he turned and walked towards us. I slipped behind Bellamy and peeked around him. "That guy's following me," I whispered to him.
Bellamy frowned. "Why?"
I shook my head. "I don't know."
The man reached us and looked at me with his cold eyes. "Come with me," he commanded me.
Bellamy crossed his arms over his chest. "I think you need to leave, sir," he ordered the newcomer.
"Please don't interfere. I don't want to hurt you," the stranger warned him.
"I think that's enough. You get out-" Bellamy drew out his bat and took a step towards the stranger.
The stranger ducked and sprang forward. He grabbed onto Bellamy's arm in two places and tossed the grocery store owner over his shoulder. Bellamy flew a few yards and skidded that many until he crashed into a display of oranges near the door. My old friend groaned, but didn't get up. The man turned to me and reached out for me.
"Come with me now or-" 'Or' came sooner than he expected as I noticed a black shadow fly through the crack in the closed sliding door.
The shadow turned to the stranger and me, and its thin body bloated until it resumed its wide cloaked form. The phantom. Its burning red eyes glared at me. It flew over Bellamy and reached out with both its clawed, pale hands.
The stranger spun around and pushed me behind him. He pulled two familiar scraps of paper from his jeans pocket and clasped them between his fingers. The man threw one at the creature and it sliced through the air like a dagger. The phantom dodged the dagger-like paper and crashed into the stranger. The stranger pushed me aside and they tumbled past me, a mess of dark blue and midnight black. The stranger ended up on the bottom with the phantom's cold claws wrapped around his neck.
I didn't know the guy but I knew the phantom, and I knew I definitely didn't like him. I looked around for something to use against the dark creature, and my eyes spotted the other scrap of paper with the writing. I snatched the paper from the floor and raced over to the pair. The phantom's cloaked back was turned towards me, but it paused in its murder attempt and glanced over its shoulder at me.
"Get off him," I growled as I slammed the paper into his forehead.
The paper seared a nice hole between his eyes and smoke rose from beneath the paper. My eyes widened and I stumbled back as the creature screamed in agony and clawed at the paper. Bits of the ink rubbed off on its fingers, and more smoke appeared from that contact.
The phantom stood and swayed back and forth as its body was consumed by the paper. This wasn't the clean disappearing act of yesterday. This time the phantom melted out of existence. Its body oozed to the floor and it let out a last, long wail before its head dropped onto the puddle that was all that remained of its body.
The man sat up and rubbed his neck. There were nice bruises on his skin. He studied the pile of ooze, and then his cold eyes turned to me. They narrowed and he set his lips in a firm line.
"You must come with me," he hoarsely ordered me.
"Heck no," was my response.
I turned and got the hell out of there.
CHAPTER 7
I raced past the unconscious Mr. Bellamy and through the doors, but stumbled to a stop outside. The cold night air greeted me, and so did a familiar figure from the shadows.
"Where's the fire?" Osman spoke up as he walked up to the door. He wore the same overcoat as last night, and I swear he had the same cigarette between his lips.
I jumped back and stumbled into a trash can. I would've fallen, but Osman leapt forward and caught my hand. He righted me and chuckled.
"I always seem to be saving the day for you," he commented.
I glared at him and pushed him away. "Well, you're a little late tonight. I saved myself from the phantom that you were supposed to have killed-"
"Destroy," he corrected me.
"That you were supposed to take care of last night, and there's still this pale guy following me!" I snapped.
He smiled and folded his arms across the front of his overcoat. "I know. I told him to follow you."
My mouth dropped open. "You WHAT?"
"The pale man you mentioned in your phone message is my-well, you can call him my assistant," Osman admitted. "I told him to keep an eye on you during the day."
I narrowed my eyes and took a step backwards and away from him. "What the hell for?" I growled.
"To see if you were really a Phantom Whisperer," he told me.
My face twisted into disbelief. "A what?"
"A person who's capable of controlling phantoms," he explained.
"But I was attacked by one last night, and tonight," I reminded him.
He shrugged. "I thought perhaps our friend from last night was one of your toys who'd gotten out of hand. It's been known to happen."
Our conversation was interrupted when the door to the store swung open and the pale man stumbled out. He rubbed his neck one last time and dropped his arm when he sidled up to Osman.
"We have a problem," I heard him whisper to Osman. His voice was deep and tense.