The Ghost Files
Authors: Apryl Baker
The Ghost Files
Volume I
By Apryl Baker
The Ghost Files
Copyright © 2013 by Apryl Baker. All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: August 2013
Limitless Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
Formatting: Limitless Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1492156369
ISBN-10: 1492156361
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Dedications
For Granny –
You are missed every single day.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Part I: Secrets
Chapter One
Cherry blossom lipstick applied to full, pouty lips to perfection, check. Smoky eyes, check. The hazel color does throw off the smoke effect, but they still look pretty darn good. Black curls flowing down white fleece in a flirty style, check. Kid with the hole in her head, check. Skinny jeans… hole in her head?!!
My head snaps around and I stare at the kid. She can’t be more than eight or nine. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a ponytail. The sundress is adorable, little daisies everywhere with blue slippers to match. She’s as cute as a button if you can ignore the pasty skin and the hole, which looks like a bullet hole. Not that I’ve ever seen one up close and personal in my sixteen years, but I do watch SVU. Stabler is hot for an old guy.
“Mattie, you done in there yet?”
I roll my eyes at the whine in Sally’s voice. She’s
so
jealous about not getting invited to Megan Johnson’s party. Not that she’d go, mind you, but that’s not the point. It’s the invite that matters.
“Can you help me?”
It’s the kid. My eyes flick back to her. No. I’ll ignore her and she’ll go away, just like always. Yep, that’s been my rule since I was five. It’s one thing that I actually see ghosts, but I don’t want
them
to know that.
“Mattttiiieee!!!!”
“Alright already!” I yell. Sheeze, can’t she chill for five more minutes?
“Please.”
“Yeoww!” The dead kid touched me and it hurt. It felt like a knife had sliced through me and I shudder. It’s never pleasant if they touch you. It’s not
my
pain I feel, but hers, mostly pain and confusion. And I hear… things. “
Mommy, Mommy, where’s Mr. Bear?”
The kid doesn’t know she’s dead?
“Mattie, you see a roach or something?”
I can hear the worry in Sally’s voice. She has a thing about roaches. The dump she and her mom used to live in was infested. She’d told me once she’d woken up with one in her mouth. So gross.
“Please, please, can you help me?”
Don’t look at her, Mattie. Don’t say a word. She wants to touch me again, but I scoot backwards and run for the door. I can feel her behind me. She’s confused because I won’t talk to her. Too bad. Then I open the door. “Bathroom’s all yours, Sally.”
“Is there a roach in there?” she asks, eyeballing the room with fear.
“Just a mouse,” I say and slide down the hall, stopping to grab my coat. That was mean, even for me. Sally’s scared of mice too, but if the ghost stays in there… can’t chance it. Sally can’t see her, but who knows what the dead kid might do?
That
is my screwed-up life in a nutshell. Yup, Mattie Louise Hathaway — the foster kid who sees dead people. Not something I’ll ever talk about in casual conversation, mind you. No way will I end up in the loony bin. Nobody – and I mean nobody – knows my secret. And that’s exactly how I plan on keeping it – very, very secret.
I’m outside, and there are no ghosts. Excellent.
When my ride shows up a few minutes later, I’m all smiles. Oh, yeah. Jake Owens is a major hottie – the absolute cutest guy I ever drooled over. Every girl in school goes all gooey around him. Who can blame them? He’s the tall, broad-shouldered football captain with baby-blue eyes, and a smile that could defrost even Mrs. Wynn, the stuck-up English teacher trapped in the seventies. And he’s all mine.
“Mattie, you’re looking great tonight,” he says in his deep voice that makes me warm all over.
I wink and settle into the car. It’s cold outside and I’m frozen, but I won’t act cold. This girl didn’t dress for warmth, but to flirt. Why we girls torture ourselves to look good, I’m not sure any of us can really answer. Guys don’t go through half as much trouble as we do to impress. All they do is throw on just anything and look good. It’s so unfair.
Meg’s party is at an abandoned mill – not at her house, like last time, when the cops got called and her parents grounded Meg for a month. She had to do community service, too, which had to suck. They said it’d help her build character and learn responsibility. Yeah. Whatever. When that day comes for me, I’ll sprout wings and fly.
All Megan cares about is spending Daddy’s money and keeping her boyfriend, Tommy James, happy. Megan is hands-down the most popular girl in our school – head cheerleader, with perfect hair and skin. I can only wish to look half so good. Anyways, back to Tommy. He has roving eyes that often land where they shouldn’t. Megan can do much better, but she’s hooked on the guy. Stupid, but not my business.
The party is in full swing by the time we get there. Everyone is milling around, laughing, talking and drinking. Jake lays an arm around my shoulders and I snuggle close. It’s freezing! Why Meg decided to have a party outside in the dead of winter is beyond me. We make a beeline for the bonfire raging out back. Jake grabs a beer, but I decline.
I never,
ever
drink at parties. The only thing I’ll drink is water I run from the tap myself. I’m not stupid enough to set myself up to get drugged and raped. Jake is a pretty decent guy, but I’ve only known him a couple of weeks, and have no idea what he’s like when drunk. I’m a smart cookie. I never take chances like that.
“Mattie!” Meg waves her beer bottle at me. She’s already buzzed; her eyes are a bit glassy. See? Not a smart cookie. She’d be an SVU nightmare. Don’t get me wrong. I really, really like Meg. She’s one of the first people who accepted me when I got here last month. That girl’s got a closet full of clothes I’d sell an organ for, but her personal choices are not always the best ones. She’s the town’s sweetheart, the golden girl expected to do great things. I guess she doesn’t think anything bad could ever happen to her.
“Hey.” I smile and shake my head when Tommy offers me a beer.
“Aw, come on Mattie, have a drink, loosen up a bit,” Tommy wheedles. His eyes are on my chest. Such a jerk. Meg hasn’t noticed and I’m grateful. I’d hate for her to get mad at me because of her idiot boyfriend.
“Leave off, Tommy,” Jake glares. He
has
noticed where Tommy’s eyes are. “You know Mattie doesn’t drink.”
“Chill, man. I’m only trying…”
I roll my eyes at the rising testosterone. Change the subject. “Meg, didn’t I see Ava over there wearing knock-offs?”
“I know! Can’t believe she thought she could pass those boots off as designer. I mean, really.” Meg nods. “And that handbag… O-M-G!” Nothing upsets her more than a knock-off. She is a fashionista in the worst sense of the word. She plans on going to a New York design school after graduation.
“The stitching is all wrong on the bag, too.” I am
not
a fashionista, but I’ve heard that stitching can prove if something is original or not.
“It’s atrocious!” Meg laughs. “I can’t believe she thinks anybody will buy that nonsense.”
“Maybe her folks aren’t rich and it’s all she can afford?” Jake asks, voice dripping with sarcasm. Jake’s parents are pretty close to poor. His dad is often out of work and his mom’s a housekeeper for the local hotel. Jake will work part time this summer to pay the bills. It’s one of the reasons I liked him to begin with. He’s not like the usual high school boy. He understands that life is hard, and you do what you have to do.
Meg’s catty remark did sound a little snarky, I must admit. Not everyone’s father is the mayor and can afford to dress in high fashion. Look at me. I wear Wal-Mart clothes. I don’t pretend to be anything I’m not. That’s probably why Meg and I get along so well.
Meg sighs. “That sounded really bitchy, huh?” She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever known, but when she’s drunk, the girl can get a little mean.
“Just a little,” I tell her, “but I started it.” I’d
tried
to stop a potential fight between Tommy and Jake, but ended up dissing someone else. I felt bad. It’s a new feeling for me. I typically don’t let myself get attached enough to people to feel anything for them, but being around Jake and his family made me start rethinking my whole me-myself-and-I mentality. Not that I don’t have reason to keep people at arm’s length, but Jake is thawing me just a bit. I don’t know if I like it or not.
“Know what you’re gonna do for your public speech on Friday, Mattie?” someone asks behind me. I turn around. Oh, joy. Sam Jenson. She and I are competing for the only junior spot on the debate team. I need it for scholarship purposes; she wants it only because
I
do.