Ghost Betweens (9 page)

As they waited for a reply, they got started on their homework. They both had Algebra 2 with Mr. Harris, and though they had it at different times, their classes were on the same lesson. They were able to check each others work, and give each other help on the tougher problems. Zach and Kendra were both a year behind him in math, so this was a treat to be able to share homework with someone. Plus, damn, she looked cute when she concentrated.

Before they finished the entire assignment, and before any email reply from their friends, the doorbell rang. Whisper leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Figured we were safe enough for that. Can you stay after dinner to finish this? It's nice to have help and support."

Though Whisper wasn't wearing any lipstick that he could tell, maybe clear lip gloss, he felt like she'd left a big lip print on his cheek. He managed to keep his voice under control when he said, "Yeah, we can finish. We should make this a daily thing. I liked the support, too."

She smiled and ran her hand along his cheek. A knock on her doorframe brought out a gasp from both of them.

"And that's why we want the door open, you two balls of hormones," her dad said. "Dinner's ready."

"We weren't doing anything, Daddy. Just homework."

"Yeah, looked like it," he called over his shoulder.

"Good thing he didn't see you kiss me," Josh said in a low voice, bringing out a giggle in her.

They shut their math books and headed out to the dining room.

*****

"Good recommendation, Josh," Mrs. Douglas said. "Funny name, but excellent pizza."

"Yeah, it's better than those chain stores. Though I usually eat frozen pizza, so any delivery is great."

"Frozen pizza isn't bad," Mr. Douglas said. "Anymore, anyway. You should have tried it when I was younger. You know that cardboard that comes underneath the crust to keep it in shape?"

Josh had just taken a huge bite, so he could only nod. Whisper tried to hide a smile next to him. Had he looked stupid taking such a big bite, or was she just laughing at her dad's timing with the question?

"That's what the pizza itself used to taste like. Cardboard. Smothered with toppings that did little to hide the wooden taste."

Whisper turned to Josh. "Ask him about going to school. He used to have to walk uphill both ways. In the freezing snow one way, and desert heat the other."

With a deadpan straight face, her father nodded. "Growing up was hell back then. Plus, our video games were 2D. None of those lifelike 3D graphics for us. You kids today would have died. Curled up in little balls and died."

Josh laughed, while Whisper and her mom rolled their eyes. "Yeah, nowadays we play those big boxy video games you had right on our tiny phones. And we don't have to pay 25 cents a play."

Mr. Douglas nodded and turned to Whisper. "I like him. You can keep him."

"Daddy, would you knock it off."

Mrs. Douglas jumped in. "Eat your pizza, Sean." Josh could tell she was fighting hard not to lose herself to laughter.

Mr. Douglas finished his last bite of pizza, and then put on a serious face. "Okay, Josh. Fun's over. I have to ask the tough dad questions. You understand, right? Since you're dating my daughter and all." Josh's stomach tightened a bit, but he relaxed when Mr. Douglas gave him a wink.

"Daddy, we haven't even gone out on a date yet. Would you stop embarrassing me?"

"It's okay, Whisper," Josh said. "Do your worst, sir."

That earned him a quick smile, which quickly faded back to the no-nonsense face. "Good. How long have you lived here?"

"My whole life. Same house since I was an infant."

"Mom? Dad? Both?"

"Just a mom. My dad died when I was seven."

The eating stopped. Whisper gasped and gripped his forearm. "I just thought your parents were divorced."

"We're so sorry, sweetheart," Mrs. Douglas said while her husband nodded.

Josh shrugged and smiled, hoping to keep them from feeling bad. "It was almost ten years ago. You guys didn't do anything wrong in bringing it up."

"What happened?" Mr. Douglas said. "I mean, if you don't mind talking about it."

"No, of course I don't mind." He didn't go out of his way to discuss it, but that didn't mean he couldn't. Though, heck, most of what he knew came from his mother, not his memories. "He died of a brain tumor."

"Brain tumor?" Mrs. Douglas said. "But he had to have been so young."

"29," Josh said. "A couple of months away from 30."

More gasps all around, and Whisper's grip tightened on his wrist.

"He had headaches since he was my age, but never had it checked out. Or, if he did, the doctors didn't find anything. As he got older, the headaches grew worse. About six months before he died, my mom convinced him to see a specialist. It was almost at the inoperable stage, and the surgery they could perform would be a tricky one."

"And he didn't make it through the surgery?" Mrs. Douglas asked.

Josh shook his head. "Didn't even get to it. The night before he was supposed to check into the hospital, he passed in his sleep. When Mom woke up the next morning, he didn't. The paramedics assured us he went peacefully. I don't really remember much of that morning or the days after. Mom says it's a coping mechanism, and I guess I'm sort of glad for it."

"Of course, sweetie," Mrs. Douglas said. She had tears in her eyes, and when he looked at Whisper, who's hand still gripped his arm, she did, too.

He stared down at his plate. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bum everyone out."

"No, don't feel bad, Josh," Mrs. Douglas said. "Thank you for being comfortable enough to share the story with us."

Whisper laid her head onto his shoulder, and he leaned his head against hers. He gave a quick glance at her parents and saw they didn't seem to mind. The moment lasted for an eternity and the blink of an eye, all at once.

Once dinner started again, Mr. Douglas gave a mock frown. "I feel like my serious dad talk backfired. Sorry about that, Josh."

"Don't worry about it. Life happens, right?"

That earned him another smile. "You got that right. Anyway, if Whisper says you're good enough for her, then you're good enough for us."

Instead of more mortification, Whisper beamed at her father. "Thanks, Daddy."

"So you like taking pictures, Josh?" Mrs. Douglas asked.

"Yeah, it's alright."

"Just alright? But you're in a digital photography club."

Oh yeah, he'd forgotten that was the cover for their ghost hunting. "My friend, Zach, likes taking pictures, so when he formed the club, I decided to help. It's better than going straight home after school. Mom's usually working late, so the house is empty anyway."

"That's very nice of you to help your friend. Whisper loves taking pictures, as I'm sure you've seen. When she was younger, she used to have a ton of imaginary friends. She wanted to take pictures so everyone could see what her friends looked like."

He looked at Whisper, and he must've had a strange expression on his face because she blushed and said, "Stupid, yeah, I know."

"No, it's just that I'd totally forgotten about that." They all gave him a funny look, so he continued. "When I was younger, I saw imaginary people all the time. I never thought about taking their pictures. That's brilliant."

She bit her bottom lip and looked down at her plate, but he saw her smile. God, he wanted to make her smile like that all the time. It was cute, gorgeous, and, well, sexy. But he really shouldn't have thoughts like that at the table with her parents.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Mrs. Douglas said. "Two very imaginative people finding each other. I can't wait to see all the great pictures you two take. I'm sure they'll be beautiful."

Josh looked over at Whisper. Was she thinking what he was? Those weren't imaginary people they saw as kids. They'd seen ghosts. The big question he had, though, was why had it started up again after all these years?

*****

"They weren't imaginary people at all, were they?" Whisper asked in a low voice as soon as they were in her room.

Josh shrugged. "I'd pretty much forgotten about seeing them. They were never scary or anything. Not like those on the farm."

"Do you think this is something Mr. Baxter will tell us tomorrow?"

"I don't know." Josh paused for a second. "He said something about you fitting in just fine with us, meaning our little ghost hunting group. He said he saw it in your file."

"My file?"

"Yeah. I kind of doubt anything like that is in your school file. Who is he really? I always just thought he was a history teacher who liked talking about the supernatural in class. But now?"

Whisper nodded. "Yeah. Something really weird is going on. We need to make sure we grill him until he tells us everything." She paused. "He's so secretive, we shouldn't trust him. But . . ."

"Yeah. He's one of the good guys. I can feel it in my bones or soul or whatever."

"Uh-huh. Me, too." Whisper turned to her computer and checked the email. "One from Kendra."

Josh looked over her shoulder. It read: "Zach and I got in-school suspension for the rest of the week. We will be back on our regular schedules next Monday. Both our parents and the school informed us that we are to head directly home after school, so we probably will not see you until next Monday."

"It doesn't sound like Kendra," Josh said. "Too formal."

"Yeah, I don't know her all that well, but I was sort of thinking the same thing." She stood up. "Check to see if Zach sent you one."

Josh clicked over to his account and saw he had a message waiting. They read it, and it was exactly the same as Kendra's. Whisper looked at him, and he nodded.

"Do you think we should forward these to Mr. Baxter? Maybe he'll know what's going on."

"No, but we'll tell him about it tomorrow, and we can show him then if he wants."

"What's going on?" she said. He could tell it was a rhetorical question. He got up and let her have the seat back.

"It's been a strange day, that's for sure." He flashed her a smile. "Can you believe we were invisible to ghosts? Ghosts that wanted to hurt us?"

She gave him his favorite bottom lip-biting smile. "We were kind of like super heroes, right?"

He laughed. "Yeah. I wonder what else we can do."

She gave him a playful nudge. "I don't know, but it probably better involve math."

When they finished their homework, Josh packed his bag. He said a quick goodnight and thanks to her parents, and they walked to his car.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

"Yeah, you're my new lunch buddy since my old one seems to be incarcerated."

They shared a laugh, and then she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Her face exploded in scarlet, and she ran back up to her house, but not before turning around, yelling, "Good night," and waving. Then she was gone.

Josh shook his head, smiled, and drove home. Wow. He had a girlfriend.

The next day felt weird without Zach. They usually only saw each other in Mr. Baxter's class, at break and lunch, and in football, but just knowing he wasn't going to show for those was strange. Having Whisper all to himself at lunch helped ease the pain. After they finished eating, she even snuggled up against him a bit as they talked. It would have taken a lot to wipe the smile off of his face at that moment. What made it better was that he could swear he saw envious glances from some of the guys passing by.

When they got to Mr. Baxter's class after school, they found him waiting by his computer. He motioned them over to the nearest desks.

"We have a lot to go over, and I don't want to keep you too late, so let's get started." He glanced at the computer screen, where the word processing program had notes on it.

"Should we be writing stuff down?" Josh asked.

"No, Mr. Hart, I think you two will be able to keep up. These are for me. I don't want to leave anything out." He turned back to them. "I'm guessing you already figured out your two friends are possessed."

Josh was about to protest, but held his tongue. That made a lot of sense. Neither Zach nor Kendra had been acting like themselves, that was for sure. He should have guessed they'd been possessed by something. But what? One of the ghosts?

"The thing that keeps that farm living, or unliving we might say, is that girl you saw last week, the one that Mr. Riley and Ms. Phelps found so interesting."

Whisper's eyes went wide. "What's her deal? She didn't feel right. She made me, both of us, nervous."

"She's a demon," Mr. Baxter said. "A minor demon, but a demon nonetheless. She's been there for a long, long time. Even before the farm was abandoned."

"A demon?" Whisper asked. "What do you mean?"

"An entity of pure evil."

Josh drew on the horror and fantasy books he'd read, and the movies and TV shows he'd seen that featured demons. "From Hell, right? A minion of the devil?"

"We can discuss the elements of Heaven, Hell, and the Christian afterlife until we're blue in the face. Maybe they're from Hell, maybe Hell doesn't even exist. I don't know, and it's not important right now. Just imagine a demon as a being, flesh and bone, but not human. Her goal is to destroy all that is good, all that decent human beings enjoy."

"But if she's so powerful, why is she stuck on the farm?" Josh asked. "Why hasn't she wandered around town, blowing everything up or whatever?"

"She's chained there. She doesn't have full reign over the entire farmland, just the area right around that farmhouse. But with the ghosts gaining power, showing their presence again, maybe she's getting a bit of her swagger back."

"What does that mean?" Whisper asked. "That she could break out and decimate the town? Or beyond?"

Mr. Baxter shook his head. "She'd have to go through some sort of ceremony to break her shackles. That's why it's so important to get you two up to speed."

"Why us?" Josh said. "That's the part I don't understand. You know, I mean, apart from everything else I don't understand."

Whisper giggled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm at about the same spot."