Neptune's Window: First Glance

Demanding spirits barged their way into Aries’s mind, each voice trying to outdo the other.

 “Please stop,” she said through clenched teeth.

For a moment they went away, allowing her to bask in the silence. But as soon as she took a step toward the school, their clamor started back up.

Aries ran behind a row of palm trees, shielding herself from streams of cars and pedestrians as the high-pitched aggravation attacked her senses.

“Not today…please not today,” she begged no one in particular.

Out of sight, she dropped to her knees and picked at the grass as the noise escalated.

“Dammit. I said stop.”

Giving in, she put her hands in her lap. With her index finger, she wrote the alphabet on her leg. She needed deep concentration to make the connection. She waited for a clear voice to come through, dreading - yet at the same time accepting - communication with the dead.

After tracing a Z on her leg, she started over with A as a faint whisper formed. Unable to make out any words, she slowed her pace and drew the letter B. She kept repeating this action, taking deeper breaths each time, trying to match the frequency of the spirit.

She’d almost given up when a clear voice said, “You need to find out the truth, Aries.”