Wide Awake - Academy of the Fallen Series (4 page)

She thanked me but she didn’t leave, which I was glad because I wanted to know more.  At the same time, I was afraid that the wrong questions would send her away.

“Can I ask you a question?”  I asked, assuming that she would feel in control if she had given me her permission.

She looked around, nervously.  “Sure.”

“Why are you here?  I mean, aren’t you supposed to be in heaven or something like that?”

She laughed.  “I have no idea.  I’ve been trapped since I died.  It’s been a couple of years and I lost track of time.”

“And you can’t just leave?”

“I can, but the farthest I can go is into the
Otherworld
, but I don’t like it there.  Here is better.”

“Why don’t you like it there?”

Her expression was overtaken by sadness.  “There are just too many lost and sad souls.”  She looked away and her tone was now tense.  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Umm, okay.”  I agreed being that I got more answers than I expected.

“So, that guy in my class; the one that you warned me about.  Who is he?”

“I don’t know.  What I do know is that he is no good.  You need to stay away.”

“What do you mean?”

Before she could answer, I heard Kelly’s voice coming from the hallway.  She had left work early.  That was when I realized that I forgot to call Kelly when I got home, and I never took my phone off silent, so even if Kelly had called, I wouldn’t have known.

“Kayla, honey?  Are you feeling better?”

“Umm Yeah!”  I yelled out.

“I need to go.  I will be back,” said Carolyn without giving me a chance to say anything, and then she was gone.

“Carolyn?”  I called, just seconds before I heard Kelly open my door.

SIX

I did end up going to dinner with Kelly and it was dreadful.  Don’t get me wrong, the place was great and Kelly was always good company.  She always kept herself in check with stuff that teenagers are into, movies, music… just so we had stuff to talk about.  But at dinner, she was still worried about my reaction to her being pregnant, even though I assured her that I was happy.  And I was just too distracted, unable to keep my mind off Carolyn and that creepy guy from class, who I assumed was also a ghost, and then there was Hunter.

I wondered if Hunter could really see them.  After contemplating it for a while, I convinced myself that he could.  How else could he have known? 

“Kayla?  Are you okay?  You seem distracted.”

“Yeah, I’m good.  Just tired, you know…didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Right.”

“And are you sure you are fine with the baby?  I’m truly sorry that we didn’t tell you right away…”

I knew she would keep bringing that up, so I had to put an end to it.

“I’m fine ‘
mom’
.  In fact, can I go with you whenever you go shopping for baby stuff?  I want to help you picking stuff out… if you don’t mind.”  I smiled.

That was finally enough to convince her.  Kelly smiled, and went back to her usual cheerful mood.  She started talking about stores that she was planning on going to, and how much help it would be to have my opinion on everything.

After a while I got distracted again.  It was only for a split second, but long enough for Kelly to notice.

“Enough with the baby talk, let’s talk about you… anything new going on?  How is the Justin problem?”

“There is no Justin problem.  We are not together.”

Kelly said she was sorry to hear that, even though she didn’t mean a word.  She really couldn’t stand Justin.

We spent the rest of dinner talking about movies that were about to come out.  Kelly wanted to go to the mall when we finished dinner, but I used that same tired excuse to talk her out of it, and we went home right away.

***

I walked into my room and immediately looked for signs of Carolyn being there, only she wasn’t.

My room was cold, colder than the rest of the house.  In movies that was sometimes associated with ghosts being around, and I was just convincing myself that I was getting paranoid when I went to get something out of my closet and saw him standing there… the creepy guy from class.  I was really starting to hate that closet.

I started to open my mouth to scream, but was able to stop before I made a fool of myself.  I knew no one would be able to see him and I definitely didn’t want to repeat the situation with Carolyn and the cops.

I whispered so Kelly and Andrew wouldn’t hear me.  “What are you doing here?  Who are you?”

He smiled, a creepy smile.  “Just checking out my new home…. And you know very well who I am.”

I snapped.  “First of all, this is NOT your home and secondly, I know what you are and not who you are.”

He laughed.  “Huh.  I’m surprised and disappointed that you don’t remember me.  You want a name?  Benjamin.”

I didn’t even care what he meant by that.  “I want you out!”

He laughed again.  “Sorry.  I’m not going anywhere.”  He stood there, arms crossed.

I needed help.

I closed my eyes and summoned Carolyn.

She showed up right away.  Benjamin looked at her, then back at me and actually seemed surprised. 

“Well, well, aren’t we talented?”  He said in a sarcastic tone.

I ignored him and met Carolyn’s gaze.  “I want him gone!”

Carolyn said, “Only you can do that.”

“How?”  My voice started to rise.

Benjamin, in a more serious tone, looked at me.  “Don’t listen to her.  I’ve been a part of the
Otherworld
for much longer than she has and I assure you, there is no getting rid of me.”

I was shaking.  Carolyn focused on me.  “He is right, I don’t know much, but try to do the same thing you did to summon me, but reverse it.”

It took me a second to understand what she meant.  It actually made sense.  I closed my eyes and focused on Benjamin and after I pushed everything else out of my mind, including the sound of his voice telling me it wouldn’t work, I was able to mentally order him out of my room…. out of the house.

“He is gone,” Carolyn said.  “You can stop now.”

When I did open my eyes, I realized how much I was sweating.  That wasn’t as easy as summoning Carolyn.  I was exhausted, drained of any speck of energy.  I was even too tired to ask her any questions.

I lay down on my bed.  My head really hurt.

“I know you need to rest, but this might not keep him away for long,” she warned me.

That got me to sit back up.

“What do you mean?  He can just pop in here whenever he wants?”  I knew I wouldn’t be able to just keep kicking him out over and over. 

She looked away, avoiding my gaze.

“He is right.  I don’t know much about this stuff.  I didn’t spend too much time in the Otherworld; I mostly stayed trapped in that house, until my family moved a while back.  You should talk to your friend.   He should know what to do.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Your friend…from school.”

“Hunter?”  I asked in an alarmed tone.

“If he was the one standing outside today when you left, then yes, Hunter.  He can see us and I can sense that he knows what to do.  You need to talk to him.”

I laughed.  “That is not going to happen.”

Carolyn looked disappointed, sad.

“What is wrong?”  I asked her.

“I can’t talk to him like I talk to you.  He can see me, but I can’t fully communicate with anyone but you.”  She sighed.  “I just hoped that he could help.”

“Help with what?”

“Help me find out why I got trapped… why I can’t get through any farther than the Otherworld… I just… I just want to find my family again.  I don’t know why this happened to me.” 

Carolyn started crying, she looked terrified, and I had no choice other than to agree to talk to Hunter.

SEVEN

Morning came and I had it all figured out.  Clearly I wasn’t some kind of
necromancer
; otherwise, I would have seen ghosts all my life.  So this had to just be related to Carolyn and Benjamin.  Unless something else had triggered this… me seeing them…  I needed to find out how to help Carolyn so that she could leave and everything would go back to normal. 

My plan was to go to school and act normal, and after school I would try to find a way of talking to Hunter without anyone seeing me. After the Justin and Ashley fiasco more rumors was the last thing I needed.

I went downstairs and was surprised to see that Kelly was home.  Most days she was gone by the time I got up.

She sat at the dining room table, looking as if something was bothering her.

“Morning sickness?”  I asked her as I attempted a smile.  

“No, Kayla.  Why don’t you sit down?  I want to talk to you.”

“I will be late for school,” I said, trying to get out of whatever was coming my way.

“It is important, and this won’t take long.”

I sat down.

Kelly put her hand over mine, and meeting her gaze I noticed how concerned she looked.

“Kayla, I’m worried about you.”

I rolled my eyes. 
Here we go!

“Why?  There is nothing to be worried about…”

“Kayla, I heard voices coming from your room last night…your voice.  Sounded almost as if you were having a conversation with yourself, and this is not the first time.  What is bothering you, Kayla?  It is the baby, isn’t it?”

I took my hand away from underneath hers.  “What is it with the paranoia about the baby?  I’m totally fine with the baby coming, last night I was…umm… I was on the phone.” 
Okay, terrible lying job!

“Kayla, I know something is bothering you.  If you won’t talk to me, can I at least arrange for you to talk to someone?  It will make me feel better.”

“You mean, like a therapist?”

She nodded.  “Yes.”

“Sure, if you want to waste your money, whatever.  Just know that I don’t need one.”

“At least try it out.  One session.”

“Fine!”

Knowing Kelly, she already had everything lined up.  She likely told
whoever
that was to find out what was bothering me in that one single session.  Kelly was very persuasive and intuitive, which never worked out to my advantage.

“I will set everything up.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Alright.  Gotta go or I will be late” …
again
.

***

I got to school and Hunter was standing out in the parking lot, away from everyone else.  As soon as I parked my car he came in my direction, and so did Justin. 
This is going to be one of those days…

Justin got to me first.

“What do you want?”  I asked Justin.

“Come on Kay, don’t be like that.  I just want to talk.”

“Well, we got nothing to talk about.”

“Is everything okay?”  Hunter asked as he approached.

Justin snapped.  “This is none of your business, dude.  Just turn around and go back to do whatever it is you do.”

Hunter didn’t move.  He stood there staring at Justin and without looking away for a second, he asked me, “Do you want me to go?”

Justin was already smiling, and I knew that in his mind, he was so sure that I was going to tell Hunter to get lost.  That same smile made me say something that surprised even myself.

“No, Hunter.  I want you to stay.  Justin, we have nothing to talk about!”

Justin was clearly pissed off.  We noticed that quite a few people were watching us, some laughing at Justin, until he said,  “Sure, I will go.  I just wanted to make sure to tell you that not for a minute do I regret cheating on you with Ashley.” 
So much for staying away from rumors…

I didn’t know how to react to that and I was glad I didn’t have to.  All I saw was Hunter moving in front of me and punching Justin right in his face. 

Justin threw himself at Hunter, but Hunter got him again.  This time, punching his stomach so hard that Justin seemed to have trouble catching his breath.  Then I saw quite a few people moving around and I knew that someone was coming. 

Great!

Mr. Clarkson was having one of his bad days, which wasn’t uncommon, and he ended up sending all three of us to the principal’s office.

Hunter and I were sitting in the guidance counselor’s office.  Justin was sent to the nurse to get some ice.  For some unknown reason, our principal had this thing with listening to everyone’s side of the story without being interrupted, so she wanted to see us each separately.  Hunter was the first to go talk to the principal.

When Justin got back I was still waiting for my turn

He held the ice pack up to his eye.  “So, are you with that guy?”  He asked in an annoyed tone.

“Not that it is any of your business, but no, I’m not.”

“It sure doesn’t seem that way.”

I ignored him.  Truthfully, I wanted to lie and tell him that I was and that I had cheated on him just like he had cheated on me with Ashley, but it wasn’t fair to get Hunter mixed up in my personal drama.

Hunter came out of the principal’s office, Carolyn walked by his side, and she actually seemed to be in a good mood. 

Carolyn looked right at me and said,  “Just go with it.”  I almost responded but I was able to act as if she was not there, which was really hard to do. 

Right before Hunter told Justin that it was his turn to go in, he came to stand by my side, he grabbed my hand, fingers entwined with mine.  He looked at Justin who was staring right at our hands, and said,  “You know, I’m sure Kayla also doesn’t regret cheating on you with me.”

Justin looked as if he was going to throw a punch again when the principal came out.  Hunter quickly let go of my hand, which I hadn’t even realized that he was still holding.  Not that it was something meaningless.  Him holding my hand just felt…normal.

“Is there a problem?”  Mrs. Jones, the principal, asked.

“No, Mrs. Jones,” I said.

“Well, good.  Kayla, Hunter explained what happened and you may go back to class… Justin, in my office.”

I walked out in the hall, side-by-side with Hunter.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said.

He shrugged.  “No, but it was the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

I did have to admit that watching Justin’s reaction was priceless.

“You didn’t get in any trouble for what happened outside, did you?”

“One day suspension.  I will be fine.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be.”  He glanced at Carolyn.  “She said you needed to talk to me.” 

I hesitated.

“I thought she—she couldn’t really talk to you.”

She responded.  “Sometimes it is easier than others.  Most times he can’t understand me, or it just takes too long to communicate what I need.”

“So, do you need to talk to me?”  He asked.

I avoided his gaze.

“Well, when you decide you want to, here is where you can find me.”  He handed me a piece of paper and walked away.

Inside there was his number along with a message.  ‘You can trust me.’

I took a deep breath, folded the piece of paper, put it in my pocket and went to class to face what I knew would be a gossip-fest.