< /a> Billy MacIntyre screamed, as the crystal ball he was gazing through shattered into pieces. His hands went up to his eyes to shield them, and as he removed his hands, he saw blood. At least he could see, but the stinging above his eyebrows told him that the glass from the ball had cut into his forehead.
“Hello, Billy.”
Billy spun around, with a look of complete horror on his face. Standing behind him was Sarah, the little girl from his maths class, the one whom he hated so much. His jaw dropped open as he lifted his hand and pointed a shaky finger at her.
“Sarah? How on earth? What did you do? Where is my wonderful creature?”
Sarah held up her hand to stop him from talking, then replied in a calm, motherly voice that seemed far beyond her years. “I know what you've been up to, Billy: tinkering with necromancy, defiling poor old Mr Mallardy, and killing that wonderful old couple, the Kretchers. I couldn't let it go on any longer.”
“That 'wonderful couple' hated me!” spat Billy, momentarily forgetting his confusion about how Sarah could be there. “Just like everybody else in this stupid town. Just like you. And Mr Mallardy was no different. It's only fitting that he should be my instrument of revenge!”
“Nobody hates you, Billy,” replied Sarah softly as she slowly stepped forward to place a cupped hand on Billy's cheek. “You're just... misunderstood. People fear what they don't understand. Maybe if you were a little more forthcoming about yourself to people, or if you took the time to talk to them. Tell them about your mother-”
“You know nothing about my mother!” Billy fumed as he backed away from Sarah. “My mother has been dead two years, and nobody has ever bothered to ask how I'm doing. My father wants nothing to do with me. He hates me, just like the rest of you. Don't you ever talk about my parents again!”
Sarah gasped, and just then Billy remembered where he was. And where Sarah was. Seizing the opportunity, he added, “And where the hell did you come from, anyway? What happened to my ball, and what was that being of light down there?”
“Oh, Billy. I told you I could not allow you to continue on this path of destruction. I was there, watching you, when you took a copy of Contemporary Necromancy out of the library. You didn't see me, but I was there. My spirit followed you to the cemetery, and I saw you use the book to raise poor Mr Mallardy's corpse from the grave.”
“But... how?” interrupted Billy.
“I am a Spirit Walker, Billy.” continued Sarah. “I can go anywhere I want, and I can be invisible, or I can manifest as either myself, or the being of light that you witnessed at the Kretchers'. Yes, that was me, too.”
“But you rewound time?”
“Yes, in situations of grave importance, I can do that too, Billy. I just couldn't allow those two innocent people to die so cruelly. And now, Billy, I need to stop you.”
Billy saw a red haze as the anger boiled up inside him. Stop him? Nobody would stop him from enacting his vengeance against the world. Least of all this puny girl.
He screamed as he lunged towards Sarah. He grabbed her arms, pinning them against her sides, and he began to shake her. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she became limp.
All at once, Billy felt a searing pain in his hands. He screamed in agony and stepped back. Sarah fell to the ground like a sack, as Billy glanced down at his hands. They were on fire. Flames were dancing off his fingers and his palms, consuming the flesh as the pain he was feeling became unbearable. He screamed once more, as the flames grew bigger and multiplied, first onto his arms, and then onto his shoulders, and then onto his chest. He tried to scream again, but inhaled the intense heat radiating from the flames in his chest. They seared his oesophagus and burnt through his lungs.
And then the flames disappeared. The heat subsided. Sarah slowly began to move. She carefully pushed herself up onto her knees and finally stood up on her feet.
Looking down at the wretched, charred remains of Billy MacIntyre, she said to herself, “Oh, dear Billy. Why did it have to be this way? I could have saved you. We could've done so much together. What a waste of your precious life!”