Taking Risks (8 page)

             
After I clocked out Gray said goodbye to his date and we jumped into the Delray to head home.

             
“So I was thinking of something today. I wonder what’s so bad in Risks past that he’s keeping it some big secret. He doesn’t seem unstable or aggressive.” Gray said. He acted like he was starting to get nervous of Risk, even though he was so sure about him just a few hours before.

             
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, I’m sure his sleaze ball parents are involved.” I had no doubt in my mind that whatever Risk had done, he had to do.

             
Gray and I pulled up to the house and, to our surprise,

Little Dirty Boy was standing in front of my front door. My heart sank at the sight of him. He looked worn down and his face was scrunched up like he was in agony, but the worst part was…his eyes were glowing red. I
would have stayed in the car and let Gray handle it, but Little Dirty Boy had come to be face to face with me, and if he wanted to talk to me there would be no stopping it. Gray and I exited the car slowly.

             
“What’s happened to you?” I whispered quietly. My eyes started to well with tears as I looked at the poor boy. No living or dead soul should ever feel the way that I knew he was feeling.

             
My blood ran cold when he laughed at me. It was maniacal laughter like you would hear in a horror film. “I’ve seen what my actions can do to people. You’re all weak minded and if I have to go down, you’re all coming with me. I hate everyone.
Especially you
. You think that because you can see us and hear us that you can actually relate to us. You have no idea what it feels like to be on our side. Your little lap dog ghost can’t even explain it to you. He doesn’t remember what it’s like to be alive and he hasn’t seen what his death has done to the people that he loves.”

             
“What do you mean by “We’re going down with you?” I was shaking. I had never had a real interaction with one of the angry ghosts, and children can be unpredictable anyway. Gray had always made sure that I ignored them and stayed away from them. He didn’t want any of the angry ones to know that I could see them, but this one
did
know, and he had come to me.

             
“I know about your nightmares, and I know how you’ve been feeling run down lately. I know because I’m the reason those things are happening to you. I’ve figured out how to siphon your energy by using your connection to the two worlds. There’s no way you can stop me. I’m going to use every ounce of your energy until your dead.”

             
Oh man I’m in trouble
. I never told Gray about my nightmares, and he was going to be so pissed about hearing it from the boy and not me. Sure enough, I took one glance at him and he was practically fuming.
Great.

             
“What are you planning to do with the energy you get from me? What good is it to you?”

             
He flashed me a devilish grin and then I saw the terracotta flower pot that I made for my mom in grade school started to scoot off of the concrete step on the porch. It moved until it tipped over the edge and hit the sidewalk where it broke into several pieces. I looked at Gray and he looked at me. He was more frightened than I had ever seen him. Little Dirty Boy spoke again.

             
“That’s only a fraction of what I’m capable of, and I’m not limited to just moving things either. I’m also getting energy from all the others like me. I’m gathering them together and feeding off of their anger, and in a short time I’ll have enough energy to do as I please. I’ll even be able to walk with the living.”

             
“So you’re going to be a
zombie
?” Gray said and he didn’t seem so scared after that. Sarcasm was his comfort zone.

             
Little Dirty Boy let loose a scream in response. His scream was much like the scream from the red eyed spirit that we met in the woods, but his was fiercer. I even thought that I felt an unnatural breeze accompany it. I clamped my eyes shut and held my hands to my ears. When the screaming stopped I opened my eyes and found that he was gone.

             
Gray turned to me with angry eyes. “What the fuck is with the nightmares? You didn’t think to tell me about them?”

             
“It was just one nightmare Gray, I just had it a few times. I thought that I was just worrying about the boy and I didn’t want to freak you out. Had I known that they had any significance, of course, I would’ve told you.”

             
Gray still looked pissed. “You look like shit. Go get some sleep.” Then he vanished and I didn’t see him again for the rest of the night, and for once, I missed the hits of the 80’s.

             
The next morning I called the school and pretended to be Mom to explain that I had gotten sick at school after just arriving and I was going to take another day off just to be sure I was well. They didn’t question it at all since I hardly ever missed a day of school. After I called them I sent Risk a text saying, “
I’m not coming today, but I would still like to hang out tonight. You can come by my place after school if that’s okay.”

             
Risk sent me a text right back and it made me squeal like a little girl.
“I can’t wait. Your house is fine, but don’t be trying to get me into your bedroom. I can only resist so much temptation. ;)”

             
Oh my lord.
He’s going to break me.

             
Just after I was done gushing over Risk, Gray appeared from wherever he had been. I wasn’t used to him being gone when I went to bed and I had tossed and turned all night without him singing me to sleep. I missed him and all I wanted to do was give him a big awkward hug.

             
“Why aren’t you ready for school?” He said a little bitterly.

             
“Well if I’m going to have ghosts sucking energy from me than I suppose I should get some rest, so today I’m sleeping as much as I can.”

             
“That’s probably a good idea.” Gray said and he seemed to relax.

             
The entire morning and afternoon we spent on the couch together. Gray watched cheesy movies while I dozed in and out. At one point in the day I actually slept for a solid three hours, which was a lot considering all the cat naps I had in between. When it was time for the school day to be over I went upstairs to get ready. I showered, brushed my teeth, and dried my hair some. I tried to pull it straight but it was no use. As soon as I had my makeup applied my hair had kinked up to its usual waviness. Gray helped me pick out some clothes. We decided on some black leggings and a pastel blue tunic top. I felt cute and comfortable.

             
About five minutes later I heard Risk knock on the door. When I opened it I saw he had a huge smile on his face. “I’ve been thinking about you all day. School definitely sucks without you.” He hugged me and then walked right passed me to inspect my house. I always kept the house tidy while Mom was gone. Something about clutter made Gray and I both anxious, so I wasn’t worried about cleaning up when Risk confirmed that he would be coming over.

             
He looked into the living room and then walked to the opposite side of the stairs to look into the kitchen. I stood near the front door watching him as he satisfied his curiosity.

             
“Is your room upstairs?” He asked.

             
I blushed as I nodded my head. Without hesitating Risk climbed the stairs two at a time while I struggled to follow him. “What are you doing? Don’t you have boundaries or…
manners
?”

             
Risk turned to wink at me and then walked into the first room that he saw. My bedroom door was open and from the hallway you could clearly see that it was a teenager’s room. My bed was pushed up against the far wall to allow as much floor room as possible. To the right was my desk that housed my laptop and hanging on the wall above it was a dry erase calendar with my school assignments and tests written on it. My closet was open so that you could see the large amount of clothes that I had accumulated, most of which I never wore, and a bookshelf was directly to the right as you walked into the door and it was overflowing with all sorts of books.

             
“Is this it?” Risk asked as he looked me over.

             
I was chewing my lip and looking the place over to make sure nothing embarrassing had been left out. I nodded at him.

             
“It’s nice…and homey.” He smiled and went to plop himself down on my bed. As soon as he was comfortable Gray appeared next to him and snuggled into his side.

             
“Oh my God!” I burst laughing.

             
Risk looked a little self-conscious and looked down to check and see if his zipper was down. That only made me laugh harder. Gray had rolled onto his back on the bed and had started to laugh with me. When we settled ourselves down I realized that I had absolutely no logical explanation for my laughter. I couldn’t tell Risk what I had seen so before he could ask me what was so funny I blurted out, “Are you hungry? If this is a date than I plan on cooking for you.” Risks face went from confusion to cheesy grin at the mention of food.

             
We went back downstairs to the kitchen and I brought chicken out of the refrigerator and began to cut it into small chunks. I gave Risk a cutting board and a knife and had him grab the bell peppers and onion. I loved watching him chop up the vegetables. It seemed domestic and normal. When I was done cutting the chicken I threw the pieces into a pan and began to sauté them. I was caught up in my cooking when I felt Risk come up behind me and slip his arms around my waist. I wasn’t used to real human contact so I jumped, just like I had when he snuck up on me at school.

             
Risk leaned down and whispered in my ear. “You’re safe. I just really like watching you cook.”

             
I was acutely aware of how close his body was to mine and I felt a knot forming in my stomach. He started making circles on my stomach with his finger and I felt my breathing quicken and my nipples harden. I could feel his groin pressed against my ass and it made me ache for him. I laid my head back into his chest and I tried to relax myself. Risk reached around and shut the burner off on the stove. “The chicken’s done.” He said and then spun me around so that we were face to face, stomach to stomach. I gasped and gazed into his darkened stare. He lowered his lips until they were almost touching mine. By that time my body had begun to throb and I thought that I would rather have Risk for dinner than the chicken. I was praying that he would take me right there on the kitchen floor. Just before our lips made contact I heard someone come in the front door.

             
I panicked and pushed Risk away from me. My head felt dizzy and I’m sure my cheeks were flushed. “Um, hi Mom…” She looked like she was about to try and save me from, what she assumed was, an attacker, but then she took one good look at Risk and her jaw dropped. She composed herself quickly and put on a sweet motherly face. “Oh hello honey, who’s your…friend?”

             
“This is Risk. He’s the boy that’s taking me to prom.” Risk seemed completely at ease and stuck his hand out in greeting while still keeping one arm around my waist. “Nice to meet you Mrs. Chase.” He said confidently.

             
Mom blushed a little as she looked Risk over. “Risk, that’s an interesting name.”

             
He quickly replied, “I was named by my birth mother. I’m not sure why she picked it, but my parents always said that she had problems during her pregnancy and she risked her life to have me.” The confidence in his features was betrayed by the crack in his voice.

             
“Oh, well that’s very interesting. It must be comforting to know that she cared enough to give you a chance at life.”

             
He looked up at her and very bluntly said, “Sometimes my parents call me
stupid
Risk, so I guess it’s not such a charming story.” He forcefully brightened his face to lighten the moment. “So I guess it’s a good thing that my mother wasn’t the one to actually give birth to me.” Then he went back to dicing peppers. Mom gave me a look that told me that she was embarrassed, but she was clearly happy that he wasn’t the monster man that she had imagined I would be taking to prom.

             
We all sat down and had dinner together once the food was done. It was such a pleasant time that I forgot all about being tired and my impending doom. Risk had let it slip at one point in the conversation that I had missed school that day, but after a quick explanation to Mom that I just wasn’t feeling great, but felt better after I rested all morning, she was alright with it. She always knew that she could trust me to make smart decisions for myself. At least that much she could count on from me. Gray sat on the floor in a corner watching us eat with a proud look on his face. I could tell that he liked Risk and he was happy to see me mingling with someone that was living.