Ghost Betweens (4 page)

"No, of course not." He put his arm around her shoulders. Oh wow, did he really do that? They both stiffened, and then she melted into him. He couldn't breathe, but he didn't pull away, even when Kendra glanced back at them. She must really have been spooked because she gave a half smile, but instead of making a typical Kendra quip, she turned back around and clung tighter to Zach.

"I don't think we should stay much longer," Whisper said. "We have plenty to bring to Mr. Baxter tomorrow."

Josh nodded, but before he could say anything, something in the tree next to the main farmhouse caught his eye. He dropped his arm from Whisper's shoulder and pointed. He almost didn't hear her say she saw it.

A figure appeared in the tree, sitting on one of the branches. A shimmering rope encircled his neck. It was a ghost hanging. This was how this guy died. He dropped, the rope snapped tight, and he struggled. After a few seconds, he hung still. The scene repeated itself. This time Josh could see more detail. The ghost looked to be in his late teens, maybe early twenties, though his face showed evidence of a hard-lived life. As the rope hit its tight point, the ghost bounced, and his eyes bugged out. He mouthed something, disappeared, and then reappeared on the branch, where he fell again. It happened over and over.

"What are you guys looking at?" Zach said, breaking first Josh, then Whisper, out of their trance.

"You . . . you don't see it?" he asked.

Both Zach and Kendra looked up at the tree, frowned, and shook their heads.

Tears forming in Whisper's eyes. "He's dying. We . . . we're watching how he died."

"Why can't I see it?" Zach asked. He snapped a few pictures at the tree. Those had to catch it. Josh could still see it. He wanted to turn away, but couldn't. He brought his own camera up and aimed. Though he could see the hanging man clearly with his eyes, the ghost didn't appear on the view screen. He snapped a few pictures to make sure. It didn't show up.

Josh's voice felt gravely, and he couldn't begin to imagine how it sounded to the others. "I can't be going crazy. Whisper sees it, too."

She nodded, and he put his arm around her shoulder again, and this time led her back towards the cars.

"Where are you going?" Zach called.

"Come on, Zach. We promised Mr. Baxter a half hour, and it's been longer than that."

"No. We're staying. It feels strange here, but I haven't seen anything like you guys."

Josh looked at Kendra. "I'll drive you home."

She took a step forward, and then looked back to Zach. "No, that's okay. I'll stay. It's not as scary as you guys are making it out to be." The shaking in her voice betrayed her, but Josh didn't push it.

"Alright. We'll see you two tomorrow."

"Don't stay too long," Whisper said. "Please."

Josh could sense Kendra wanted to make some comment about Josh's arm being around Whisper, but she bit it back. He couldn't remember her ever showing restraint like that, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

Zach waved, but his attention was already on the house. "Yeah, sure. Don't worry, we'll be fine."

Josh and Whisper looked at each other, shrugged, and headed back to his car. He could have sworn he saw people--ghosts--milling around in the field. By the way Whisper shuddered, she saw it, too. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when they made it to his car without incident.

As they drove away from the farm, a weight lifted from Josh's shoulders. He glanced over at Whisper and found her a lot less tense, too. A quick look in the rearview mirror, however, brought back a bit of a chill; the sign said something different. He couldn't read the backwards writing as they sped away, but the amount of letters wasn't the same as when they drove up.

"Sign's different."

Whisper turned to look. "Was it? What did it say?"

"I couldn't tell. And I'm not so sure I want to go back and find out. We can ask Zach and Kendra tomorrow."

"Good. That works."

"So you saw it, right? The guy sitting in the tree, falling down, and hanging in a noose. Over and over. I'm not crazy?"

"No, you're not crazy. Or, if you are, I'm right there with you." She paused for a second. "But why couldn't they see it?"

"I don't know. If they could, Kendra would probably still be screaming. Zach would be happy, though. He loves ghosts. Where should I take you? Home, or do you have a car at school?"

"No, home is good. I don't have my license yet. Do you know where Craig Street is?"

"Yeah."

"It's at the end, almost to Street Avenue. Isn't that the coolest name for a street ever? I still laugh every time I see it."

"In junior high, Zach and I used to plot how we were going to steal that sign. We still crack each other up just by saying the name."

She gave him a sly smile. "So you're a little hoodlum. Is that what I'm hearing?"

"I said we used to, not anymore. Kids stuff, you know." He puffed his chest out. "We're totally grown up now."

They both laughed.

"You said you don't have your license yet. Is that your choice or your parents?"

"A little of both. We knew we'd be moving here this year, so they promised I could start practicing and all that once we got settled. Maybe I'll be ready to get it when I turn 17 this summer. I'm not in a big hurry, so that's fine with me."

"I was chomping to get mine. I got it the day of my sixteenth birthday. This car was my present. Not much, but it runs. No problems yet, anyway." He rapped his knuckles against his head. "Knock on wood."

She giggled. "That should keep you safe." She put her hand on his arm. He tensed, and she took it away. He glanced over and saw her looking in her lap, face burning bright.

He cleared his throat and prayed his voice sounded normal. "So where are you from, anyway?"

"Originally from Las Vegas. I loved it there. Still miss it and my friends, but life goes on, I guess."

"Vegas, huh? I heard it's a lot of fun, even if you aren't old enough to gamble and stuff. A lot of theme parks and things."

"It's just a normal town when you live there. I mean, we're close to Disneyland and other places like that here, right? And the beach. Vegas didn't have that. A ton of my old friends would be jealous."

"That's true," he said with a chuckle." I never thought of it like that. But you said originally. Did you live somewhere after Vegas?"

"Yes. My dad got a new job a couple of years ago that moved us to a little town in Colorado. I didn't like it there."

"Too cold for you?"

"Miserably cold for a girl who grew up in the desert. Vegas got cold in the winter, but not like that. And I never made any real friends. It was a cliquey little town, but most of it was my fault. I didn't take the move well. I didn't see it at the time, but looking back I could see that I was Queen Bitch number one. It's amazing any of the kids could tolerate me at all."

He laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing. I mean, I know we just met, but you seem the furthest thing from a bitch as could be." He gave her a playful nudge. "Or are you just playing nice?"

"I guess you'll just have to get to know me better to find out."

His breath caught in his throat, but he did his best to act natural. "I guess I will. So why did you leave Colorado?"

"Another job for my dad. The economy would have eaten his old one if he didn't agree to a transfer."

"What do you think of it here so far?"

"Too soon to tell, really, but I think I'll be okay. Can't beat the year-round Southern California weather, that's for sure. And everyone's been really nice so far, especially Kendra."

He turned down her street. "So down near the end?"

She nodded.

"Anyone else you think seems nice? Or interesting? Or anything?"

"I don't know yet," she said with a giggle. "There is this one guy who was nice enough to drive me home after we saw a bunch of ghosts."

Josh let out a deep breath. "Yeah, that all really happened. I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around it."

"I know. Thank you for talking about normal things. I didn't really want to think of the farm."

"Mr. Baxter will grill us enough about it tomorrow. I wonder if Zach and Kendra finally got to see anything."

"I don't know. There's my house." She pointed at a beige one-story on the left. It looked as nondescript as the others in the neighborhood. As nondescript as the houses in his neighborhood. A theme, really, for the town of Citrus Valley.

He pulled into the driveway and watched her get out. She walked over to his window. "Thanks for the ride, Josh. I really appreciate it." She gave him a shy smile. "It's nice to make friends so easily here."

"I'm glad to be you're friend." He hoped that didn't sound too lame. It did, though, didn't it?

She raised her hand towards his face, but stopped before getting to close. She blushed again, said she'd see him tomorrow, and ran to her front door. She waved, then disappeared into the house.

Wow, had that all really just happened? Both the weirdness at the farm and the heavy flirting in the car? He always clammed up or said stupid stuff when he was with a pretty girl. Looking back on the conversation, he had to admit he did a good job. And she really seemed to like him. Would she go out with him, or was she just looking for a friend?

Why did girls and dating have to be so complicated?

As Josh walked up to the front door, he saw right away his mom was home. He pushed the door open and yelled, "Hi, Mom, I'm home."

She stuck her head out of the kitchen. "About time. I wanted you to do the damn grocery shopping today, but you're nowhere to be found. I've got too much going on to do it myself."

"Sorry. I joined a . . ."

"I don't care what you did. If you have time for foolishness, you have time to get a job and help out around here. I do too much as it is."

"I can't get a job. I have a ton of homework, and come summer and fall, I have football practice."

"Tough, Mister. It's time you start pulling your weight. Starting tomorrow after school, I want you out looking for a job."

"Pulling my weight? How often do I ask you for any money? How often do I clean the house, top to bottom, without you even prompting me?"

"And I have two jobs, so boo-hoo for you. Tomorrow. You hear me?"

Josh started to say something, but kept his mouth shut. No need to make this worse. She just had a bad day. By tomorrow this'll all have blown over and she wouldn't even mention it. He stalked up the stairs.

Halfway up, she yelled, "Do you hear me?"

"Yes, fine, I hear you," he called over his shoulder and continued up. At the top of the landing, something shot past him and down the hall. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. What the heck was that? He looked down to see if Mom saw it, too, but she'd already headed into the kitchen. It reminded him of the ghosts at the farm, the ones that he only saw out of the corner of his eye. This one had been right in front of him, though. It had gone towards his room, but he was pretty sure it moved past the door, so he should be safe.

He shook his head. He hadn't really seen it anyway, right? It was just his nerves from the argument with Mom and the frights at the farm. Yeah, that's all it had been. He headed into his room and threw himself down on his bed. Homework could wait a few minutes.

*****

Josh popped the last of his peanut butter sandwich into his mouth and shook his head. "Why can't she listen to me? I don't have time to get a job. When football season is over next year, I'll be happy to, but not now."

"We'll find something that'll work around football, dude. Weekends will be shot, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?"

"What do you mean we?"

Zach punched him lightly in the arm. "Like I'm going to let you go get all the money. When Kendra sees how you're spoiling Whisper, she's going to insist I get a job, too."

Josh choked on his soda, and had to spit some out. People around them laughed and asked him if he had a drinking problem. He ignored them and said, "What do you mean by spoiling Whisper? Did she say something to you and Kendra?"

"No wonder you don't have a girlfriend. Dude, she was practically asking you out yesterday. You didn't pick up on any of that?"

Josh frowned. "I guess. I don't know. We talked pretty easily in the car. Usually I get all flustered with pretty girls."

"See? Perfect girlfriend. Believe it or not, when you go out with a girl, you need stuff in common so you can talk. You can't just make out all the time." He paused, a wistful look on his face. "Though that'd be pretty cool."

"Yeah, but what do you and Kendra talk about? You guys don't have anything in common."

"That's not true."

Josh raised his eyebrows. "What do you talk about?"

"Uh, we talk about stuff we did with you. And we both like talking about Kendra."

"Yeah, Kendra can talk about herself all day if you let her."

"So see? You don't need much in common with your girlfriend, but you need something."

"And why are you saying I'll spoil Whisper if I have a job? Seems to me I'll hardly be able to see her, at least during football season."

"Yeah, but if you have a job, you have money. I doubt your mom is going to take any. She's just tired of having to fork over cash when you need it for fun stuff. And if you're working and playing football, what use are you going to have of it other than buying Whisper gifts and dinners and stuff? You're going to make her a happy girlfriend. And Kendra's going to be all jealous and want me to get her things, too. So if you get a job, I need one, too."

Josh laughed. "Yeah, I imagine she'll be pretty high-maintenance when she sees she can. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. I'm not sure Whisper wasn't just being friendly since she's the new girl at school."

Zach shook his head and said, "Clueless," under his breath. Josh let it go.

"Anyway," Zach said. "Since we're just sixteen, places can't make us work too many hours. You'll have plenty of time for your new lady."