Ghost Boy of Mackenzie House

Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House © 2012 by Patti Larsen.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.

P.O. Box 22024
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
C1A 9J2

acornpresscanada.com

Edited by Marianne Ward
eBook design by Joseph Muise

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Larsen, Patti, 1971-
Ghost boy of MacKenzie House / Patti Larsen.

ISBN 978-1-894838-89-4
I. Title.

PS8623.A7725G46 2012 jC813'.6 C2012-901105-3

The publisher acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts Block Grant Program and the support of the Province of Prince Edward Island.

To all young writers who ever dreamed.

Yes, you can.

Chloe watched the men in the blue coveralls put the
last of her bags in the back of the car, slamming the trunk with an echoed complaint of finality. She refused to look back over her shoulder at the neat two-storey that had, up until that moment, been her home her entire ten years of life. She didn't want to look because she knew if she did she would cry the whole way to Prince Edward Island.

Aunt Larry (short for Laverne, a name that always made Chloe's dad laugh) descended the steps behind Chloe, the solid clomp of her comfortable shoes sounding like approaching doom. Chloe knew what came next. Part of her wanted it, if only to escape the grief and disaster that her life had turned into. The other wanted to run back inside her old house, slam the door, and never come out.

“Ready?” Aunt Larry looked so much like Chloe's dad it made her heart hurt. Aunt Larry was tall, almost as tall as Patrick had been. Her hair was the same brown as his and Chloe's, her eyes an identical sea green. She even had their dusting of freckles across the nose. Chloe's skin was naturally darker because of her mom, Sophie, but otherwise she could have been Larry's daughter.

Chloe found she couldn't speak. Instead, she followed her aunt the last few steps to her hatchback and climbed in the back seat. The door thudded shut next to her—the soft breeze and hum of traffic on the highway a few houses over hushed to a muffled sigh. Chloe kept her eyes on her lap, locked on the slim silver bracelet that her parents had given her for her birthday, the last gift they would ever give her. She ignored the brief interruption as Aunt Larry climbed in the driver's seat, the silence returning with the closing of her door.

“Are you okay back there, honey?” Aunt Larry's eyes were the only thing Chloe could see when she glanced up at the rear-view mirror.

“Yes,” she whispered.

The engine hummed to life. As they pulled away from her old life, Chloe had a moment of absolute panic. What if they weren't really gone? What if they were waiting for her in the house and she didn't see them because she wouldn't look?

Chloe pressed her forehead against the cool glass and stared at the empty silence of her living room picture window and felt the tears she struggled to keep inside pour out over her face. They weren't there. She was alone.

Chloe sobbed to herself for a long time while Aunt Larry passed her tissues over the seat.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Chloe had the perfect life. Her mom, Sophie, stayed at home with her while her dad, Patrick, worked for one of the government ministers on Parliament Hill. Chloe never paid attention to which one. It didn't matter to her. Besides, her father didn't talk about work anyway, saying it was top secret and winking at her like he was a secret agent or something.

She had lots of friends, some of them from far-off countries, kids of diplomats who were in Canada while their parents worked at embassies in Ottawa. Chloe loved the activity of her street, the many kids who lived there, and the busy park at the end of her block where she spent a lot of her free time.

Life was wonderful and they were very happy.

Chloe snuffled back the last of her tears and blew her nose into a fresh tissue. She wadded up the soggy mess and stuffed it into the plastic bag Aunt Larry handed her.

“Feel better?” Aunt Larry asked.

Chloe shrugged. Her eyes were burning, her chest tight. She felt like she had run a dozen races in track and field without stopping, but worse because it was more like she was running from something rather than to something.

They stopped that night at a small hotel just inside the border of New Brunswick. She climbed into the queen-sized bed in the ordinary hotel room and tried to sleep over the sound of the air conditioner and Aunt Larry's snoring.

Chloe slid out of bed and went to her bag. She fished out a small photo of her parents and snuck into the bathroom. She sat down on the toilet, knees to her chest, hugging her legs while she studied the picture. She felt the now familiar burn of tears rising and the heaviness in her chest. She bit her lower lip and scrunched up her face to hold it in without success. The sadness passed, as did the tears, but it took quite a while.

Chloe went back to bed, holding her mom and dad in her hand under her pillow to keep them close, at last falling into a deep, exhausted sleep.

Chloe was feeling very alone that night when
Sophie bent to kiss her forehead.

“Dad and I just need a night out to ourselves every once in a while,” Sophie told her. Patrick kissed her, too, and they smiled at her as they swept out the door, Sophie's mocha skin glowing in the red dress she wore, Patrick handsome as ever in a suit and tie.

Chloe hated being left out. So when her babysitter Amanda asked her if she wanted to watch a movie, Chloe sulked and went to her room instead. She knew it wasn't right, but she wanted them to come home so much, she got herself worked up to tears. By the time Amanda found her, Chloe was crying so much she had made herself throw up.

“Baby, are you okay?” Sophie's voice was sweet on the phone. Chloe begged her to come home. She could hear the babysitter telling her parents that she was sick and hoped they listened.

“They're on their way,” Amanda told her.

It took so long for them to get back, Chloe was dozing on the couch when Amanda got up and went to the door. Chloe could hear the heavy patter of rain on the side of the house as she dragged herself to her feet and went to follow, surprised to find Amanda with tears on her face and a grim police officer looking at her with regret.

Aunt Larry tried to stir up some excitement on the drive.

“Here's the bridge,” she said, pointing in the distance. Chloe looked, feeling obligated. A thin grey line stretched out above the water as the Confederation Bridge that linked Prince Edward Island to the mainland rose up from the edge of the world.

“Cool,” Chloe whispered, going back to her misery.

Still, as they drove across the huge expanse, Chloe felt herself perking up. She had never seen the ocean before. It was a deep blue, almost grey, with some greenish and white parts. Sea birds hovered over it while a sailboat bobbed and swayed in the distance. Chloe found herself straining to see over the edge of the railing, too high to catch more than glimpses now and then.

Aunt Larry must have noticed. “We're coming to the middle,” she said. “The view is better. Look.”

Chloe did. Stretched ahead of her was the rest of the grey ribbon they rode. The water went to the horizon on both sides. And in their path was the red shore of Prince Edward Island. Chloe watched the Island get closer and closer and felt Ontario get farther and farther away. As the car cleared the last of the bridge and drove back onto land, Chloe sat back and felt the sobs rise again.

Chloe was so confused. The officer was wrong. But Cliff and Laura Connell, Sophie and Patrick's best friends, arrived so Amanda could go home. Laura made Chloe pack a bag so she could go with them, but Chloe didn't want to go. She had to wait for her mom and dad. They would be home from dinner and Sophie would worry if she wasn't there.

It took Aunt Larry's arrival for Chloe to admit her parents were gone. That the car accident was real, that they were never coming back, and it was all her fault. She was sure her body would run out of water to make tears, but Aunt Larry told her as she crouched in front of her to hug her that she needed those tears to make herself better.

Chloe didn't think she would ever be better.

Aunt Larry worked fast. The funeral was small and private, for which Chloe was glad. She wasn't sure how she ended up holding Aunt Larry's hand but she was grateful to have her there. Especially when the minister talked about how Sophie and Patrick were in a better place. That made Chloe sob so hard she thought she would die, too.

The only time she yelled at Aunt Larry was when she found out the house had been sold two days later. Aunt Larry listened to her with great calm and patience, then told Chloe she couldn't stay there by herself. Aunt Larry took her to the computer and showed her pictures of Prince Edward Island.