Spirits (Spirits Series Book 1) (13 page)

“Are they angry at you?”

He shrugs, “Some of them are.”

“And the others?”

“They are confused, lost, and holding onto the one thing they should let go of so that they may be free.”

“Their emotions?”

“Some are here for that reason.”

“And what about me?”

“I can’t answer that for you. You must search inside yourself, find the truth alone.”

I frown, I’ve tried the soul-searching crap and I’m still here.

He squeezes my hand reassuringly and smiles, “I’ll be here for you.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

     “Hi honey, I’m home!” I place my shopping bags on the foyer table and look around.  “Hello?”

“In here,” Mom calls out off to my right.

Hopefully they aren’t doing anything gross on the couch.  I open the living room door to find it completely dark except for the light coming from the T.V.  Mom giggles and whispers as Dad reaches for the light on the side table.  “Well come in, tell us about your day.” Dad says glancing over his shoulder at me smiling.  Smiling back I have to make myself not skip to the loveseat, I’m on cloud nine for the first time in a while.

“Someone looks like they had a good day.” Mom grins.

“Oh I did! An amazingly fantastic day!” I gush like a big dork but I can’t help it and I can’t stop the smiling.

“You met a boy.” Mom says scooting closer, “Tell me all about him.”

“I should have known.” Dad groans.

“Actually it’s two guys and a girl, they’re siblings.  They are very cool and they took me right in even though I was completely myself.”

“There is nothing wrong with who you are.” Dad interjects quickly.

“Yeah, well clumsy and awkward doesn’t usually help me make friends.”

“I’m so excited for you honey. So when do we get to meet them?” Mom asks happily.

“Maybe tomorrow, we’re supposed to go to the beach. Where’s Drew?”

“Still in his room, where he’s been almost all day.” Mom frowns.

“Well he’s coming with tomorrow whether he likes it or not.”

They smile, “Good. It isn’t like him to avoid everyone.” Dad says, his voice spilling concern.

“I’m going to talk to him before I go to bed. Love you guys.”

“Love you too.” They say in unison.

     Tapping on Drew’s door I wait for permission to enter. I learned my lesson last night. I’m not walking in on anything ever again.

“Yeah, come in.” Drew calls out over the music.

“Hey you.” I say as I walk in and glance around for Kadence.

“She isn’t here.” Drew frowns and looks back down at the book, “I hope you don’t mind, I borrowed this.”

“Nah, it’s cool.” I sit on the bed beside him and try to read his expression. Something is bothering him and it’s obvious. “So where is she?”

He shrugs.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know, everything was going great then we started talking about the past and it depressed me. I know she’s still… she’s a ghost but it doesn’t, didn’t feel like it until I got to thinking about it. She wanted to take things farther and I couldn’t. I can’t do that with her, in the past I would have gladly taken her up on her offer but it’s different now. She ruined everything.”

I’m so glad to hear him say that. I thought for certain they’d be… sealing the deal. GROSS!  “I’m sorry, I know it hurts and this has to be hard for you.  Believing you’d never see her again, starting to move on and then this happens.”

“I think she’s mad at me. She hasn’t been back since, I freaked out and left.”

“I think she’ll get over it.”

“I hope so. I still want to talk to her. I don’t want to lose her friendship… Anyway, how was your day?”

“It was good. I met some new people, did some shopping.” I try not to make it sound to exciting considering he had a crappy day.

“You talked to people, living people our age?” he grins.

“Yes,” I elbow him. “We are going to the beach with two of them tomorrow. Daelynn is excited to meet you.”

“
Daelynn?”

“Yeah, she’s Blake and Carson’s little sister, she’ll be sixteen in a couple of weeks.”

“I don’t know Journey, I need to talk to Kay, explain why I freaked out and that it would be best for us to stay strictly friends.”

“If she comes back tonight you can but you are not sitting in this room alone tomorrow waiting on her. I love her to pieces but you know how she can be when she doesn’t get her way. You are coming with me, no if, ands or buts about it!”

He sighs, “Fine but I can’t promise I’ll be the best person to hang around.”

“You’ll be your usual witty, charming self or I’ll hold your head under the water until you snap out of this funk.”

He smiles, “I’ll try, so this Daelynn, what’s she like?”

“She’s funny, girly, blonde, petite, and definitely
your type.” I wink.

“Playing match maker already? I guess I’ll have to find some dude for you then, huh?”

“Um, no, they already found me.” I sigh.

“They?” he asks surprised.

I nod, “Yes, Blake and Carson.”

“Brothers? I smell trouble.”

I groan, “I know and I like them both. What should I do?”

“Are you seriously asking my opinion?”

“I’m desperate.” I grin.

He rolls his eyes, “Well if I were you…”

“What?”

“
Let me put this differently, if I had a thing for two sisters I just met I’d go out with both of them, get to know them better before I made a decision.”

“What about the problems that will cause between them?”

“After hanging out for a while one might decide he’s not that in to you or you might not really like one of them.” He shrugs, “It’s the only way to find out but I’m no expert when it comes to relationships, I’m still in love with a dead girl.”

I put my arm around his shoulders, “She was your first love, you’ll always feel that way and that’s okay, it’s normal. However there comes a time when you have to move on, I’m not saying that you should forget the past but you can’t hold on to it either.  You have to be open to new possibilities.”

“You know some times you sound like an old person.” He chuckles.

“Well then I won’t give you anymore advice.” I huff.

“I wasn’t being mean, it’s just most people our age don’t talk or think like you. Sometimes it’s hard to believe you are only seventeen. You are wise beyond your years Journey.”

“Since you put it like that I’ll take it as a compliment.” I smile. It’s still strange not calling each other names and arguing about stupid crap but I like this better. I hope
nothing changes between us, I don’t want us to go back to the way we were.  “Reading up on being a medium?” I ask noticing which one of my books he took.

“Yeah it’s pretty crazy. Do you think the guy that wrote this knows what he’s talking about or do you think he’s full of it?”

“Seeing as I don’t know him personally I can’t say but the majority of it is spot on.”

“Have you seen any of them yet?”

“No they are not comfortable with me. One of them left me a letter though.”

“You’re screwing with me.”

“No, his name is Noah and apparently he’s been keeping a close eye on us.”

“It’s creepy when you think about it. They are always around watching and we are none the wiser.”

“Usually you can sense them, well I can, but there’s something different about this place.” And I plan on getting to the bottom of it… I hope I don’t regret it.

“What do you think it is?”

“Not sure, but I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

“Do you think Kadence knows?”

“Not yet, I don’t think they trust her, she’s to comfortable communicating with us.”

“I thought that’s why they stuck around, to tell someone their story, help
them to move on or some crap like that.”

“Maybe, but not all of them. Every spirit is different as are their desires and some are masquerading as ghosts. You have to be wary of what you open yourself up to.”

“You’ve said that before, what happened?”

     I feel shaky thinking back to it and shutter. It’s one experience I’d like to forget, then again I don’t, it changed me.

“Sometimes it helps to talk about it.” He says squeezing my hand.

“A couple of years ago
I went to a sleep over with Kadence at Emma’s house, which by the way I wasn’t invited to by Emma, Kadence invited me so I wouldn’t feel left out, anyway her house freaked me out. I wanted to leave almost but Kay talked me into staying.  I kept seeing glimpses of something dark walking around, I thought maybe it was just a shadow person or something but it was putting off this horrible vibe like every bad feeling all wrapped up in one terrible package and magnified.  The girls thought it would be fun to call Bloody Mary, everyone had to take a turn alone in the bathroom.  I refused when it was my turn, they started picking on me and calling me names.  I got tired of it and decided to do it just so they’d shut up, after all she wouldn’t be the first ghost I’d seen.  I said her name twice and was thinking I was in the clear, called her name for the last time, the candle flickered like it was about to go out then it felt like the air was sucked from the room, I got this smothering oppressive feeling and I saw her in the mirror standing behind me.  I know it sounds cliché but I was frozen in place with fear as her red eyes bore into me. I finally got it together and turned to leave, I came face to face with her.  A cruel grin parted her cracked lips, “Journey,” she hissed my name, her putrid breath made me gag.  I threw my hands up, stepped back and told her to leave me alone.  She grabbed my wrists, dug her claws into my skin as she slowly dragged them down slicing me open, she laughed as I tried to scream and fight her off.  “God help me,” I reached for my crucifix.  She got this disgusted look on her face and began speaking gutturally in some foreign language as she clawed at my arms and hands.  I’m not sure what came over me, I found the strength to face her, “Leave this place, the power of Christ compels you.”  She shrieked and covered her ears like I had assaulted her so I kept repeating it as I clung to my necklace until she vanished.”

“That was the night Mom and Dad took you to the hospital.” He glances at me, “Th
ey thought you had cut yourself, tried to commit,” he stops, shakes his head, “I’m sorry Journey, I had no idea.”

“It’s okay, no one believed
me they all thought I was crazy. The doctor told them I had suffered a psychotic break brought on by the stress of being a teenager that didn’t fit in and blah, blah, blah medical crap excuses.  I finally gave up on getting my point across, a couple of days in the psychiatric ward will drive a sane person crazy, I was willing to agree to whatever to get the heck out of there.”

“Have you seen anymore of them?”

“No but I’ve felt their presence and ran in the opposite direction as fast as possible.”  Praying I don’t trip over my own darn feet all the way.

“So you don’t know what it was saying to you?”

“I looked it up later, I couldn’t get its words out of my head. It was Latin mostly.”

“And?”

“It said, all sorts of stuff,” I glance around uneasy, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore, okay?”

“Alright, are you okay now?”

“Yeah, it just brings back a time I’d rather forget.”

“Understood.”

“Well, I’m going to shower then go to bed.”

“When are we leaving tomorrow?”

“Carson is supposed to call or text in the morning.”

He nods, “Goodnight sis.”

“Night.” I’m not sure how good its going to be…

     I’m not afraid of the dark, it’s been my experience
that just as much crap goes on in the day light, however it’s more settling when you can see it.  The not knowing is what bothers me.  Not that it really matters here.  Sneaky spooks, hiding like I’m the one to be frightened of.  I know dad would have a fit if I leave the light on all night so I decide my bedside lamp will suffice.  “Kadence?” I whisper.  I really wish she were here right now so I could talk to her about Blake and Carson, get her opinion although I’m sure I know what she’d say, ‘date them both.’.  This is going to drive me crazy.  Maybe I shouldn’t see either of them… Not a chance.  I’ll just take Drew’s advice, eventually I’ll decide or they’ll decide that they aren’t interested.  I can’t think like that, I have to be optimistic.  Speaking of optimistic, I hope Drew and Daelynn hit it off.  She seems like a sweet girl, Drew needs that, someone who’s not going to lead him on.  Like Kay did.  My phone vibrates across the nightstand and scares the heck out of me.

I had a great time today. Maybe we can do something Tuesday, if you want, alone preferably. Blake

A smile spreads across my face. 

I was just thinking about you. How’d you get my number? Journey