The New Beginning

The New Beginning
Lisa Chen's POV (Alive)

I'm hiding behind the big oak tree in Tidewaters Memorial Park, watching something impossible happen in the town square.
Detective Rivera is standing alone next to a big hole in the ground, talking on her radio about shadow walkers spreading to cities around the world. She looks tired and defeated, like she just won a battle but lost a war.
But that's not the hard part.
The impossible part is that I can see the ghost children.
All of them. Marcus Thorne, Sarah Kellerman, Carmen Mendoza, and dozens of others floating around the detective like glowing angels. They're saying goodbye to her before disappearing into points of light that rise up toward the sky.
Six months ago, when my family moved to Tidewaters, I couldn't see ghosts.
Six months ago, I was just an average sixteen-year-old worried about making friends at a new school.
Now I can see the magical world, and I understand why the adults in this town were watching me so strangely. I was supposed to be Eleanor's next sacrifice. The next teenager to die in a "accident" during a town party.
But Eleanor is dead. The ghost walkers are gone. The old creature is destroyed.
So why do I still feel like I'm in danger?
I step out from behind the tree and walk toward Detective Rivera. She's so focused on her radio conversation that she doesn't notice me coming.
"Detective Rivera?"
She spins around, shocked. "Lisa Chen? What are you doing here? It's not safe."
"I wanted to thank you. For saving me. For saving all of us."
Rivera looks confused. "How do you know what happened here?"
"I can see them." I point at the ghost children, who are still floating nearby. "I can see Marcus and Sarah and all the others. They told me everything."
"That's impossible. Only people who've experienced extreme guilt or trauma can see ghosts."
"I know. That's what scares me."
Rivera studies my face carefully. "Lisa, what kind of dreams have you been having?"
"Dreams about children crying for help. Dreams about running through dark hallways while something chases me. Dreams about a woman with white eyes who keeps calling my name."
"Those aren't dreams, are they?"
I shake my head. "They're memories. But I don't understand whose memories they are."
That's when Marcus's ghost floats over to us. He looks worried.
"Detective Rivera, there's something wrong with Lisa. She's not like the other potential victims."
"What do you mean?"
"Look at her aura. It's not the clean light of a living person. There's something else mixed in."
I can see Rivera studying me more closely. "Lisa, how long have you been having these strange dreams?"
"Since the day we moved to Tidewaters. My parents said it was just stress from changing schools, but..."
"But what?"
"But the dreams started before we unpacked our boxes. Before we even saw the house we were supposed to live in."
Rivera's face goes pale. "Lisa, what's the last thing you remember from before moving to Tidewaters?"
I try to think back, but my memories feel fuzzy and partial. "We were driving here from Sacramento. Dad had gotten a new job offer. We stopped at a rest area for lunch..."
I stop talking because I can't remember anything after that.
"Lisa, what happened at the rest area?"
"I... I don't know. Everything goes blank after that."
Marcus's ghost looks scared. "Detective Rivera, I think Lisa and her family died at that rest area six months ago."
"What?" I stare at him. "That's impossible. I'm alive. I'm standing right here."
"Are you?" Rivera asks softly. "Lisa, when was the last time you ate something?"
I think about it and realize I can't remember eating anything in weeks.
"When was the last time you felt hungry or thirsty?"
I can't remember that either.
"When was the last time you saw your reflection in a mirror?"
The truth hits me like a punch to the stomach. I haven't seen my image in months. I just figured the mirrors in our house were dirty or broken.
"I'm dead," I whisper.
Rivera nods sadly. "I think you and your family were killed on the way to Tidewaters. But something brought your spirits here and gave you the illusion of being alive."
"What kind of something?"
Marcus answers. "Something that needed you to believe you were alive so you'd be the perfect sacrifice. Dead spirits pretending to be living teenagers would have much more spiritual energy than regular human victims."
"So Eleanor was planning to sacrifice a ghost?"
"Not just any ghost. A ghost who didn't know she was dead. A spirit who still had all the hopes and dreams and life force of a living person."
I look around the empty town square. "Then where are my parents? If we all died together, where are their ghosts?"
Rivera and Marcus trade worried looks.
"Lisa," Rivera says slowly, "what do your parents look like when you see them at home?"
I try to picture my mom and dad, but something's wrong with the image in my head. Their faces are hazy. Their voices sound faraway and echoing.
"I can't see them clearly anymore."
"That's because they were never really here," Marcus says. "Someone created fake parent spirits to make you feel safe and normal. To keep you from realizing you were dead."
"Who would do that?"
"Someone who needed you to stay in Tidewaters until it was time for the sacrifice."
A horrible thought comes to me. "But Eleanor is dead. The shadow walkers are gone. Who's controlling my fake parents now?"
Before anyone can answer, I hear my mother's voice calling from across the town square.
"Lisa! Lisa, come home right now!"
I turn and see my parents walking toward us. But now that I know they're not real, I can see the truth. They're not walking - they're floating. Their feet don't touch the ground.
And their eyes are fully black.
"Lisa Chen," my fake father says in a voice that doesn't sound like him anymore. "You've been talking to strangers. That's very dangerous."
"We need to get you home," adds my fake mother. "Where you'll be safe."
"Safe from what?" I ask.
"Safe from the truth."
Detective Rivera steps between me and my fake parents. "Lisa, run. Get away from them."
"But they're my parents!"
"No, they're not. They're something else wearing your parents' faces. Something that's been keeping you here for six months, waiting for the right time to use you."
My fake parents start changing. Their human shapes melt away, showing two shadow walkers underneath.
But these aren't like the shadow walkers that just escaped to other towns. These are different. Older. More strong.
"Hello, Detective Rivera," they say in unison. "We've been waiting to meet you."
"What do you want?"
"We want to thank you for destroying our competition. Eleanor's creature was getting too powerful, too greedy. It was interfering with our own plans."
"Your plans?"
"We've been collecting special spirits like Lisa for decades. Children who die on their way to new towns, then get convinced they're still alive. We use them to start fresh colonies of shadow walkers in places where the old infestations have been destroyed."
Rivera pulls out her gun. "You're not taking Lisa."
"We don't need to take her, Detective. She's going to come with us willingly."
"Never."
The shadow walkers smile. "Lisa, would you like to see your real parents? Your actual mother and father, who died with you at that rest area six months ago?"
"What?"
"They're trapped in our realm, suffering eternally. But if you come with us now, we'll set them free."
I look at Detective Rivera, then at the shadow walkers, then at Marcus's ghost.
"Is it true? Are my real parents being tortured somewhere?"
Marcus looks crushed. "I don't know, Lisa. But even if it's true, going with them won't save your parents. It'll just trap you too."
"But what if there's a chance?"
The shadow walkers reach their dark hands toward me. "Come with us, Lisa. Save your family. Start fresh in a new town where you can help us build something beautiful."
Detective Rivera raises her gun. "Lisa, don't listen to them."
But I'm already walking toward the shadow walkers.
Because even if there's only a tiny chance of saving my real parents, I have to try.
That's what family means.
As I reach out to take their hands, I hear Detective Rivera shout: "Lisa, wait! There's something else you need to know!"
"What?"
"You're not the only dead teenager they've been collecting. There are dozens of others like you in towns all across the country. All of them thinking they're alive, all of them being prepared for sacrifice."
I stop walking. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying this isn't just about you or your parents. This is about saving every dead teenager these things have been manipulating."
The shadow walkers' grins turn into snarls. "Enough talking."
They grab my hands, and suddenly I'm being pulled into darkness.
But as we disappear from Tidewaters, I hear Detective Rivera make a promise that gives me hope:
"I'll find you, Lisa! I'll find all of you!"
The last thing I see before the darkness takes me is Marcus's ghost, glowing brighter than ever.
"Detective Rivera," he calls out. "I'm not ready to move on yet. I think I need to help you save Lisa and the others."
"But I thought all the ghost children were finally at peace?"
"We were. But it turns out some of us aren't ready to rest while there are still children who need saving."
As the shadow walkers drag me away from Tidewaters, I understand this isn't the end of the story.
It's just the beginning of something much bigger.