Coma (Paranormal Romance) (4 page)

“I'm not a ghost!” He snarled. I heard Helen
and Maya's voices nearing, so my eyes bulged in fear, but he must
have already picked up on that, because he said, “To be continued—”
and vanished. I grabbed the clothes, closed the booth door, and
then heard Helen say:

“Everything okay in there?”

“Sure. It's too tight, so I had trouble
getting out of it,” I lied, and then exited my booth.

“We thought you bailed on us,” Maya giggled,
“Knowing how much you're enjoying this—” she winked.

“I'd never,” I chuckled, and I meant it.
Running away from problems wasn't my modus operandi.

“Let's grab something to eat. I'm starving,”
Helen rubbed her belly.

“Mario’s?” I suggested. Looking over Helen's
shoulder, I could see
him
watching us. Was it gonna be like
that forever, I wondered.
Is there any difference between me and
schizophrenia patients? If it's real like this for them, then it
must be hard to come to terms with it.

~*~

Wherever we went the rest of that afternoon,
he would soon after appear. Lurking from a safe distance until we
moved elsewhere, always perfectly still, he reminded me of a
cheetah watching its prey.
Is that what I am to him?
That
thought froze the very essence of my being. Cold sweat broke
through my skin. If he had a plan to harm me, I had no way of
defending myself. I rubbed my clammy palms against each other. But
if that was the case, why wait? He could have done it by now. It's
not like a psycho would need my permission. I decided to keep an
open mind, and see what would happen next. But with an elevated
level of caution.

As the day was coming to an end, I became
more used to his presence. Not that his appearance was something a
girl couldn't get used to. Quite the contrary. He was like one of
those gorgeous poster guys you put on your bedroom wall, and
shamelessly stare at him for hours, imagining him coming to life
and...Well, except this one kind of did come off the wall, but
wasn't playing by my rules.

The fear of him didn’t subside, but my
glances in his direction became less fearful and more
self-indulging. Our last destination for the day was the beach. We
found a perfect spot to watch the sunset. After fifteen minutes,
sitting down on sand, propped up on elbows, and with my ankles
crossed, I tried to look relaxed, but my eyes feverishly scanned
the area for my stalker. He didn’t show up this time. Anxiety
gripped my thoughts. I couldn’t stop thinking about what he might
be up to. If I were true to myself, I would have admitted that I
was kind of disappointed.

Maya and Helen had dates later that evening,
so they dropped me off in front of my house. Mom was still at work,
but knowing her, she must have left me something to eat in a crock
pot. My stomach churned in response to my thoughts. Several quick
glances behind my back to make sure there were no paranormal
stalkers around, and I went in.

A familiar scent of home-sweet-home filled my
nostrils as I entered. Empty house never bothered me before, but
after today, I really needed someone to be there. It was a false
sense of security, I knew, but nevertheless, a soothing one. Mom's
voice could have helped a little, so I dialed her work number.

“Mom?”

“Honey. Everything okay?” Mom's voice sounded
worried; I never called her out of the bloom. Nurses were too busy
as it was without needy daughters dragging them away from work.

“Sure. I just wanted to see when you're
coming home. We could watch a movie,” I said to ease her worry.

“I'll be home soon. That sounds great! Maya
and Helen are busy?” Insightful as ever, Mom was fishing for the
real cause of my call.

“Yeah. They have dates—”

“I'll pick up some ice-cream on my way home,”
that was Mom's way of saying she knew I needed some comforting. She
made two kissing sounds, and hung up.

Listening to silence on the other side of the
line made me painfully aware of my surroundings and solitude all
over again. Talking to Mom made me forget my situation for a
moment. Now every sound seemed enhanced. Fridge humming, TV making
some cracking noises here and there, a distant bird chirping, and a
feeling I
wasn't
that alone as I previously thought.
Suddenly, I felt queasy. I looked around the house, but nothing
seemed to imply someone was indeed there. Lastly, checking out my
bedroom, and seeing it was empty, I smiled at my own paranoia, and
sighed out loud, saying: “When did I become so paranoid?” to a
teddy bear on my bed. As expected, teddy had no comment.

“Since I appeared,” a steady, deep male voice
said behind my back.

I jumped violently, screamed, and slammed my
back against the wall. My heart fought to pop out through my mouth.
As soon as my brain managed to decode what was in front of me,
anger took over.

“What's wrong with you?!” I yelled at my
ghost stalker. “Do you get a kick out of scaring the crap out of
me?”

“No,” he said calmly, and I examined his face
for any trace of a sly grin. None was present.

“Dead or not, I seriously doubt that you
don't know what happens when you creep up on someone,” I wanted to
smack him. Anger consumed me. “Couldn't you knock, or
something?”

“I would have, if I had planned this to
happen,” just like before, his face revealed zero emotion. Was he
human at all? Before he died, I mean. That self control was
out-of-worldly.

“Oh, please! Don't even try to sell me some
crap about it being a matter of life or death, no-time-to-knock
kind of emergency—”

“—I'd never,” he cut me off, his eyes
flaring, “And it's not like that. I was snapped back here,” he
snapped his fingers, “
That
—I have no control over,” he
turned his back on me, and hovered toward the window. “It's not all
about you, you know...” His voice lowered.

Oh, crap! His remark made me feel embarrassed
for a moment, but then I thought about it, and said, “Sorry, but
sudden popping ghost stalker in my room does make it
all about
me
.”

“You'll have to deal with it,” he turned back
around, and fixed his gaze on me. “And make it quick, so we can
start figuring this mess out. I waited long enough.”

“What?! That's plain rude! What if I don't
want to play your sick little game? I didn't ask for this, and I
don't want you here,” I hissed, grinding my teeth.

“You think I chose this?!” Finally, some
emotion on that face. I hit a nerve! “I have a body to find. My
body! Not play games with a brat!”

Oh no, he didn't just call me a brat!? “You
misjudged yourself there.
I
don't need
you
, I have a
body, and I don't want you here. So get the hell out, the same way
you came in!” Out of all paranormal stalkers, I got the arrogant
one. Apparently, fate had given him Adonis looks, but a crappy ego
to go along.

“As you wish,” he bowed sarcastically with a
smirk, and hovered out through my bedroom door.

“That's not the way you came in!” I yelled,
and slammed the door behind him.

I was pissed beyond reason.
That arrogant
prick! Who does he think he is, calling me a brat? As if paranormal
stalkers are girl’s everyday thing...nothing to be scared of. Oh,
no, normal routine Lyra. How dare you question his motives?!
Pfff... Haunt me forever; see if I care!
I marched up and down
my room fueled by anger. No-one ever called me a brat—that was
Queen Bee’s description. He couldn’t have offended me more.

Mom arrived a bit later than I expected. She
got tied up at work; some accident—she explained. I needed time to
cool off anyway. Mom and I talked about everything, and if I wanted
to hide something from her, especially as big as this, I had to
keep my emotions on a tight leash, or she’d read me like a
magazine. We dug in an xxl sized ice-cream and talked a bit about
what was bothering me, but I led her down a fake trail of teenage
friends and dating issues, so after she was satisfied with
comforting me, we enjoyed a movie. At least I think she had—my mind
was boiling over paranormal offenses.
How dare he call me a
brat!

~*~

For so long, I had kept my quirks to myself.
Telling Mom and Dad wasn’t an option. Their concern over my
well-being would have surely made them consider hiring a
professional help. Both of them worked in a hospital, they would
have pursued that path before believing my side of story. Who could
blame them? If I had laid all the facts on the table, it would have
resembled textbook schizophrenia. But I needed to tell someone, so
I decided to unload my burden on Maya and Helen. We agreed to meet
down by the beach.

Bombastic intro over the phone, made Maya and
Helen anxious, and they couldn't wait for me to sit and start
talking.

Squirming in her chair, Helen squealed, “Come
on, spill it out already!”

“Okay, but please, keep an open mind,” I
looked at them seriously, already doubting my decision to tell. It
was too late to change my mind, now. Both girls nodded, so I begun,
“Ever since I was a child, I could see ghosts.”

Maya’s jaw dropped, and Helen said, “Cool.
Can you get my dead grandma? I need to ask her where she hid my
remote.”

I punched Helen in the shoulder, “You don’t
even have a dead grandma!” Maya’s jaw was still down, so I gently
pushed it up with a finger.

“No, but I always wanted to say that,” a wide
grin broke on Helen’s face.

I dismissed her remark and continued,
“Anyway, ghosts could never see me. We never interacted. They were
just something I noticed from time to time.”

“Is that why you get weird sometimes?” Maya
hopped in her chair as if she had just had an epiphany.

“Yeah. But,” I exhaled long, “something has
changed lately.”

“What?” Helen wasn’t hiding her impatience,
tapping her foot under the table.

“One
can
see me,” their cheerful mood
suddenly changed, and both of them curled their lips downward. “And
has been stalking me since post grad party,” their eyes rounded,
and they exchanged looks.

“Is it hostile?” Maya asked, and gulped.

“It’s a
he
. I don’t know. Not sure
what he—” I didn’t finish my sentence, because Helen jumped in
with:

“Oh my god, is he here now?” Hearing Helen
ask that, Maya turned pale white, and started glancing around.

“No,” their faces relaxed, “But he might be
soon,” I added, and they stiffened up again, so I decided to tell
them every bit of info I knew. Knowledge brings understanding and
peace to situations like that. After step-by-step walkthrough since
I first saw him up until our last encounter, they listened without
comment, occasionally nodding. As I finished my story, a couple of
minutes passed in silence, and then Helen pushed her glass of water
toward me with her index finger, staring above me, somewhere in the
distance. I took a sip.

“But he is cute?” Maya spouted, twirling a
strand of hair around a finger.

“Incredibly! But that doesn’t change the fact
that he’s obnoxious and rude. Possibly a psycho!” I wondered,
were they missing the point? Danger, help?

“What are you gonna do now?” Helen took the
matter more seriously.

“Don’t know. Educate his ass about manners?”
We chuckled, but the truth was, I was a lot less in control than I
led them to believe. And a lot more scared. Even though it wouldn’t
help the overall situation, sharing my secret made me feel less
alone. “If things get weird—”

“—and they’re not already?” Helen
interjected, and we burst out laughing. Yeah, I was a whack job,
and they knew that.

“Well, weirder than before! Will you’ll cover
for me?” I glanced at both of them, expectantly.

“Of course we will,” Maya assured me, and
then put an arm around my neck. “You should have told us years
ago!”

“There was nothing to tell till now,” I
chuckled. “That brings me to the next thing...”

Maya and Helen's eyes widened, then Helen
said, “There's more?”

I chuckled, “No, not more. About Brad's
party.”

“Shit,” Maya grimaced.

“Yeah, a big pile,” I added. “If he stalks me
there, and keeps to himself, no worries. But if he decides to talk
to me again, I might need assistance.”

“Damn, girl,” Maya pulled her fingers through
her hair. “You know how important that is to us.”

“I do, and I'll understand if you don't want
me to go,” I lowered my gaze, “Actually, that's the reason why I'm
telling you all of this.”

“Not an option,” Helen spat out, “You're not
getting out that easily,” she snickered. “If I didn't know you
better, I'd think you made this all up just to get out,” she
narrowed her eyes on me.

“Unfortunately, it's all true,” I snorted.
“Then we have a deal?”

“You didn't say what you want us to do,” Maya
said.

“Oh,” I chuckled, “Crap! If you see me
talking to a tree or an empty chair, come to the rescue.”

“That's freaking me out, Lyra,” Maya's
forehead creased.

“You and me both,” I chuckled.

“We'll let miss scaredy pants out of this
one,” Helen glared at Maya. “I'll keep an eye on you, and come if
you need me.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Let's hope it doesn't come
to that.”

~*~

Party was only half an hour away, and I still
hadn’t decided on what to wear. My wardrobe was pathetic. Jeans and
tops in multiple versions. I wondered why was I even thinking about
it. No matter which combination I chose, it would still be jeans
and something.
Maya and Helen will kill me
—I thought.
Well, what the hell, I’ll go with this one
—I pulled out the
tightest skinny jeans I had, and a black top that was tight around
the hips, baggy on top, and open-shouldered on one side. I borrowed
Mom’s strappy stilettos, did my nails and makeup, and the only
thing left to do was my hair. I went with a French braid hanging
down my left shoulder.