Ghosts, a mediator fanfic

As I walk down the cold corridor of Oakdale high, the squeaking of my shoes seemed to magnify ten times. The hallway is an ugly sea green color with a gold stripe. The hall seems empty since it was halfway through 1st period. The school held so many memories, that I would leave behind to move to Florida. Although most kids would love to move to Florida, my twin sister/best friend Aylin and I dread the very idea. Aylin and I had grown up here, had our 1st-14th birthdays here, had our first soccer goals, first basket in basketball, and first school dances here. Now it all seems to be a memory as I walk down to the front office to wait for my mom to pick me up. Aylin would already be there as I had stopped in the bathroom to wipe my face of tears. Aylin is my one and only best friend, but I would still leave so many memories here in Ohio. At least I will have Aylin; I kept trying to tell myself. For looks Aylin was my polar opposite, she is about 5'4" blonde shoulder length hair, green eyes, and delicate features, I am tall, with long brown hair (with bangs), blue eyes, and my features are as bold as can be. Personality wise though, we are just alike, bold, energetic, and well fun. That's why we were such a perfect match. As I thought, she was waiting in the office for me, so was my mother. She was a good woman, working for the EFA, Environmentalists for America. That is why we were moving, she had gotten a job offer in Florida on a save the dolphins plea. There was also someone else there, someone a tad more transparent than the other people in the room. I knew exactly who he was, okay, maybe not WHO he was but WHAT he was. He was a ghost, the kind I had been seeing since I was born. This was something only my sister and I knew and could do. We got a kick out of watching shows like Ghost Whisperer and reading series like the Mediator Series by Meg Cabot, because there ideas on "seeing" were so flawed. Ghosts didn't move on. They, from what I have heard, have to take the test, the test of faith, and if they passed they went to heaven and if they failed they went down to earth to wander as a spirit. After one hundred years of this "wandering" they went back up and based on their deeds wandering, got the either privilege of going to heaven or curse of going to hell, but if they were in the middle they went back to wandering. These "wanderers" were the ones I saw. The only ghost that I knew personally was Chris; he was my sister's boyfriend so to speak. They were made for each other. They were always together. She was always talking about how much it sucked, but I knew she wouldn't trade it for the world.

This ghost in the office looked rather irritated with the way I could see him. He stared at me with questioning eyes. Also unlike Jennifer Love Hewitt, I have no call to help the dead. They want to befriend me, fine, but especially in this situation I was not in the mood. This ghost was different though his questioning glare was in almost scary manor. At any rate, I wasn't in the mood to deal with ghosts. So, I shook my head off as if ridding myself of the thought and walked to my sister and mother.

"How was your last day, J?" my mother said through what I know were hidden sobs.

I hated when my mother called me that, it sounded wrong, my name is Juliana!

"Fine" I said in the most monotone voice I could muster out of my thought.

I saw Aylin give a kind of warning glance toward our mystery guest in the office and I gave a slight nod of my brown hair.

Later that night as me and Aylin packed; I saw her nod toward my red shirt with a questioning glance and then a smirk.

"Can I borrow that to wear on the plane tomorrow, Jules?" Aylin said in a tone I can think only to describe as bubbly. Aylin knew she didn't have to ask, she knew all our clothes belonged to the other as well as the owner.

"Really?" I asked.

"I know I just wanted to get the conversation going, we have been silently packing for an hour now.

"Sorry, but I just don't feel right leaving like this."

"I know" she sighed. "But what are you really going to miss I feel like we never really set any roots down here except for Chris and he is coming with me." When she mentioned Chris, a wide grin was thrown across her face and she leaned toward the window and winked at her ghost boyfriend knowing he was there.

"Yeah" I said while forcing a smile to come across my face.

I could tell that Aylin noticed, but she shirked it off and went along with packing.

Sad is it was I hadn't really formed any friends outside of my sister and the ghost that inhabited our street. My parents had never liked that me and my sister were dependent on one another, but after about ten years they figured that it was what it was and left us alone and stopped trying to set up separate play dates with the neighbors. Aylin and I ate popcorn and watched old movies until our eyes were burning from the TV.

"Why do you think you'll miss it so much?" Aylin randomly asked at the end of Anne of Green Gables.

"I think…………I think it's because of how much we have done here. How much we've learned here. And not just school wise." We both shared a chuckle. "I think that this is where I have had not just most but all the major events in my life happen! What will I do without I that. I think I shall go MAD, MAD I tell you!"

We laughed until our sides hurt, and then conked out on the floor.

The next morning we set our alarm for six in the morning and woke up at seven. We were late and had no time to shower. We grabbed out bags and coats and ran to the door where our dad was waiting, glaring at his watch. When we got to the airport we were sprinting to our gate.

"Our flight leaves in five minutes!" Our dad, Bill, screams.

"Alright so we are a little late, not the end of the world." Poor Aylin, she was always the optimist.

'Two minutes until flight 128 leaves for Clearwater, Florida' a voice over the intercom blared.

"Here!" My dad said with an exasperated sigh of relief.

Aylin and I saw that Chris was ready to board when we got there. Although they needed never to take a plane they had insisted that they would sit in the open seats or stand if necessary. We couldn't stop and talk to them when we got there and could only exchange brief smiles and then look away. Parents don't seem to like it when you stare into the abyss for too long smiling. We were to land in Clearwater and then drive to Matlacha Shores, which had a population of 304 people. I mean how crazy that is!

Aylin and I had a row to ourselves in the back of the coach cabin, and my parents sat about ten rows ahead. We brought cards and iPods to entertain us on the short flight.

"So what time did you guys get here?" I whispered to Anna, who took the empty seat next to me and Aylin, while looking down to avoid staring.

"Around six" she quickly responded.

"Why?" It was all I could manage to think of.

"We have been stuck on this block since God knows when, what could it hurt to switch up the surroundings?"

"I guess you have a point, but I'll miss it."

Aylin and I played cards while Chris rather preferred to stand around a tad more protective then he should be of Aylin. The plane ride went rather quickly. There I decided that here I would have to set down more roots than the last. I would make at least one other friend that my sister. That was my solemn vow. We landed at about 11:30. When we got off the plane, I teeter-tottered off the seat as you do when you have been sitting for way to long. The airport reflected the many colors that inhabited the Florida area. There were murals lining the walls as you enter and people dressed in Hawaiian shirts with flowers and the works. The people there are all dressed in shorts to reflect the warm weather. As Aylin does to tease Chris she eyed the guys with the blonde hair and the sculpted muscles. My parents don't seem too concerned as it is part of Aylin's nature to be ultra flirty. But what they didn't know was that it was all to show off for her ghost boyfriend so to speak. Chris made a snarling face and when my parents weren't looking she blew him a kiss and a wink. I rolled my eyes and laughed. My parents were so clueless to the troubles that my sister and I had in our day to day lives that it was sad. That brought another giggle on. By this time I was at baggage claim. I had my green carry on bag in hand and had two other bags to receive. This was the contents of my wardrobe, I know sad. The rest of my stuff was already at our new house. I watched for my two maroon bags to come around and I spotted another ghost. He seemed to be walking around the airport a tad confused. This is the kind of ghost I would normally try to help with the little I could. I couldn't ruin a bad reputation in my new home though, so I let it slide and grabbed my bags. We got a taxi after we all collected our bags. We rode through suburbia in Florida as my sister stated. She was singing extremely loud to her iPod.

"Aylin?"

"YEAH" She screamed back in return.

"Can you not yell?"

She removed her earplugs.

"Sorry"

"It's okay, but what do you think of our new home?"

"It's alright"

"Okay, I wish that this all wasn't so much of a daze that this felt real, like I were to just wake up at any moment and forget all this."

It took me until this to realize that she was in her own iPod zone drifting out to her music.

"I wish this felt real" I said mostly to myself though.

We arrived at our house about a half hour later. The house was big, and green. There were white shutters and door. As I looked at the house, it looked beautiful and rustic. I loved it immediately.

"Home sweet home" My dad said carrying some bags inside.

"And I forgot to mention the best part; we all get our own rooms!" My mom seemed ecstatic even though this didn't affect her.

I walked to the door and turned my new house key. The inside was desolate with no furniture, flooring, or any sign of life. It could be a pretty home, don't get me wrong, but it could use some furniture. I walked up the creaky, dusty stairs to the bedrooms. I saw the biggest one and figured that was the master and to leave that one to my parents. I saw the room next to that was plenty big and pink walls. It was okay. I kept walking and saw the last bedroom, it was big, but more of an attic than a bedroom. The floors were dusty and the walls were moldy. There was definitely much to be done with this room, but it would be mine. And that is what I needed most in this town. I lay on the floor and breathed in the dusty air. I lay there for a while until Aylin came in.

"This is the room you want?"

"Yeah" I said with a sudden contentment.

"Okay"

"What time is it?"

"Almost six, dad said that we are leaving in like a half hour for the hotel."

"Already"

"Jules, you have been laying there for like an hour"

"Oh" I said, extremely embarrassed.

"Whatever" She said while leaving the room in a daze.

I quickly jumped up and followed her to explore the rest of the house before we had to leave. The stairs led to the kitchen which had the back door. If you took a right from the kitchen there lay our dinning room, to the right of that was our living room. If you took a left from the kitchen you came to the entertainment room and bathroom. We had two bathrooms upstairs, one in my parent's room, and one that Aylin and I share.

"Time to leave" My dad shouted.

The reason we were going to a hotel is that the moving company was bringing our furniture tomorrow and we didn't have anything inside. We left for the hotel on the highway about ten minutes back. It was nice, but a tad too small-townsy for my liking. We had two rooms one with a view and one without. Aylin and I chose the one with the view before my parents had time to complain. I grabbed my bags from the front of the room and lay them out on the bed. Aylin followed quickly in suit. We had our bags spread out on the bed and Aylin plugged in her iPod docking station and blasted music at the highest volume level. I took our shorts, an old navy tank top, and fuzzy blue slippers. I was kind of excited for the new town. Aylin started jumping on the bed dancing with her perfect blond hair strewn around her face. I followed.

"THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN!" She screamed, she was always extremely optimistic.

"I know!"' I yelled, but not quite as loud. That was when I knew that as long as I had my sister, it would all be alright. We stayed up until about ten, because of being up the day before.

I woke up and stretched out to find that I was surrounded with strange wrappers and bottles from soda and candy. I was half on the bad with my head and my left leg off the side. My tank top had chocolate stains on the front. I laughed pretty hard, only to find that I had a sore throat too. But that only made me laugh harder. Aylin was sleeping on the next bed and didn't look like she would even consider getting up for another two hours. I slipped on my slippers which had fallen off the night before and went to clean up the room before we left. I packed my suitcase and headed out. By twelve we were on the road again. Aylin was sleeping against the window, because she claimed they woke her up too early. I had my iPod in. The house seemed slightly different today as it seemed almost inhabitable with the workers uploading furniture to the front. I saw my bed, chairs and couch.

"I am going to go show them where to put my furniture." I told my parents. They nodded and I was off. I led them upstairs.

"The bed goes on a diagonal to the window, the couch goes in that corner with the chair on an angle to it, and the table goes between. The desk goes in the other corner facing away from the window. Lastly, the TV goes on an angle from the couch where you can see it." One thing my dad and mom had always said about me is that I had to have everything precise and that was always the way it ended up. I know I was knit picky, but I needed it to be perfect. When they were done Aylin directed them with her furniture. My parents got last and were perfectly content with that. That night my parents decided to treat me and Aylin to a movie. We went and saw Twilight. It was amazing. After we went to dinner at Applebee's and then went to some local ice cream place. We came home and Aylin and I watched my favorite movie, Gone with the Wind, until midnight. After that I crashed on my bed and fell straight asleep. I woke up the next morning feeling a strange anticipation for the day ahead. I got a shower and did my hair and makeup. I was wearing my denim mini skirt, my blue tank top, with a white headband. I figured this look was good for Florida's like 100 degree weather. I looked in my floor length mirror and my reflection. I was about 5'7" with long dark brown hair; I had bangs which were a little too long, and was pretty thin. I was too excited to eat, so I just took a swig of orange juice and headed out the door. I had to walk to school, but it wasn't that far, less than a mile I think. I would wait for Aylin, but she always took forever in the morning and I just couldn't be slowed down. The walk to school was refreshing. The plant life was vibrant and green and the people were all friendly and waved. It was just the kind of place you see in movies. When I got to the school it was green and big, the exact opposite of what I would expect from such a small town. I saw a sign that said administrative building and figured I had better stop there first. I entered the quaint administrative building I could hear the floors creek under my feet. I entered the office and went straight to the front desk. I felt very skimpily dressed as the secretary gave me a once look over. The secretary looked like she was cold almost, in her beige slacks, white sweater with a cream colored vest, a grandmotherly bun, and big chunky glasses.

"Can I get you something dear?" She said this in such a fashion that it made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

"Yes, Ummmmm….. I was told to come here for my and my sister's schedules."

"What's the name?"

"Aylin and Juliana Harris"

"Oh yes, you're the transfers from Ohio right?"

"Yeah, I guess word travel fast around here?" I said with a very unconvincing smile and giggle.

"I'll have them in just a second."

With that she scurried into the back room. I took this opportunity to scope out the room. There were three red velvet chairs with golden tint to them. They were filled with a boy who must be either a freshman or a very small sophomore who could weigh no more than 90 pounds, a girl with her nose in a book who looked to be either a junior or a senior, a small black haired girl who looked to be a freshman, and a boy……..a boy whom was most defiantly a ghost, but seemed to be sleeping. From what I know, from experience with ghosts, ghosts don't sleep. He was most definitely a ghost though. He looked to be about 17-18 with tousled sandy blonde hair. He was about 6'1" and wore a suit, a suit! Not even one from like this era, a cream suit with black shoes. Yet another reason he was definitely a ghost. She couldn't help staring at the boy and his "sleeping". The black haired freshman came up to me and introduced herself as Elle. She lived down the road from my house and wanted to come visit, but had too much homework. That was all I caught while still staring at the ghost. Just as I was walking away his one eye shot open and gave me a light questioning glance and then laughed. She made the mistake of staring too long and the small boy asked, "What are you staring at?" He leaned his head over to look at the area where I was staring.

"Oh nothing" I said grabbing the papers I had just realized the secretary had received and rushing out the door. I took the small door on the side out instead of the main door for fear of the small boy following. This side door led right out into the hallway. As I walked down the halls of the new school, the walls seemed to be covered with flyers for numerous events and clubs. The walls were a sky blue, not the prettiest color for walls, but it was better than sea foam green none the less. Just then I remembered about the papers, like my schedule, that I had received from the office. My first class was World History in room 208. I had to stop at my locker first and then find Aylin in this chaos. I had her schedule so she wouldn't be going anywhere fast. I had locker number 115 and that was on the West side of the building opposed to where I was on the East. As I was walking down the hallway, I heard someone scream "Hey!" I turned around to look, but no one seemed to notice. I guess that is was just in my head. I turned around to start walking again and I hear it again, "Hey!" This time I turned my head, slightly annoyed, to find the ghost from the office running toward me. Oh great just what I need to start off the school year, and be known as the girl who sees things. I kept walking straight ahead, but his running finally caught up to me.

"You can see me, can't you?" he said.

"So what if I can"

"Well, its cool for me, I haven't held a conversation with someone who's not dead in well, a very long time." He said, "Why won't you look at me?"

He said this not in a mean tone, but almost a caring tone as if something was wrong with me that he could help with.

"I really don't need a reputation for seeing things at my new school my first day" I said this with a little giggle; it was hard to be mad at him when he wasn't being anything to be mad at. Abruptly he stopped and turned to me and stuck his hand out.

"James"

"Ummmmm…………… Juliana………………or Jules" I said the last part in a whisper while returning his gesture.

"Well nice to meet you Juliana, I hope to see you again. Maybe next time you won't have to pretend I am not here."

"Maybe" I said as I walked in the other direction toward the West end of school.

I was stunned by the cunning of my own my own comment. After that I set out to find my sister with my schedules for classes. I found her near an area in the courtyard filled with picnic table. She was surrounded by boys, ghost and human alike. From a glance I spotted Chris at the side of the courtyard shaking his head. They must be fighting. Aylin only pulled this kind of stunt when they were fighting. She always was out to prove that she could have so many other boys that she didn't need him. I decided it wasn't worth the trouble I would just leave it on the table beside her and leave. After I left the paper on the table I quickly headed to my next class. The rest of the day passed uneventfully until lunch. When I reached the cafeteria I was stunned by the vastness of it. It was all white; the walls were covered with posters stating various activities to come. The white on the walls was barely seen through the yellows, pinks, and greens of the posters. I went over to the cafeteria line and picked a salad and soda. Then I looked for my sisters blond bob in the massive crowd. When I located her slight figure, I sped toward her. She seemed mildly pleased with her day, probably because from what I could see Chris was looking awfully jealous. He walked slightly behind her in a protective stance. She went to a small table in the corner; apparently she wasn't planning for anymore admirers at lunch today. I quickly set a beeline for her across the cafeteria. I got there and she had a warm grin awaiting me. Chris, I guess, figured that he had better stray away for the lunch period. She was very eager to tell me something of her day so I scrutinized her face with efforts to try to decipher what it was.

"Guess what I did today!" Her ecstatic tone gave away her excitement if her grin didn't.

"What?" I said in a less enthusiastic tone picking at my salad.

"I joined a club!"

"Which club?"

"The Drama Club"

"Very interesting"

"I know! I was in the hallway and I saw a yellow flyer and I was like I just have to join, so I did!"

At this point I was giggling. "Very cool"

That was basically it for our conversation for our lunch period. I decided to see what I could make of our fellow classmates in the cafeteria. I looked around and laughed when I saw Chris mumbling something under his breath. The other tables were crowded with modern teenagers with clothes all the colors in the spectrum. On the side of the cafeteria, where the vending machines were, there was a kid. I could tell by the luminescence of his skin that he was a ghost, that and that nobody else seemed to notice him. He was almost scary looking, not that he was ugly. He had jet black hair, creamy skin and seemed to be about seventeen. The only thing that scared me about him was the grim expression on his face. He seemed to need to be dealt with, but not today at my first day of school. I shook my head to clear the image and took a second glance around the cafeteria. In contrast, I saw James, standing and watching Elle , a freshman, and her friends babble on about school, boys, and activities. He stood there looking absolutely gorgeous with a wide grin on his face. I couldn't seem to figure out why he was with Elle. He must have seen me, because when he looked over at me his already wide grin nearly tripled in size. I blushed and curled into my seat. Aylin must have noticed, because she was staring at my blushing and shaking your head.

"You're going to be as miserable as me if you fall in love with a ghost you know."

She turned to glance at Chris, sighed, and dropped her eyes to the table. I felt some sympathy for her, but on another level I couldn't help but envy her for what she did have. Just as I was pondering what my emotions on my sister's problematic relationship were, I heard a loud crash. I quickly turned my head to see what the commotion was. The ghost was laughing harder than I have seen most humans laugh at the boy who he had no doubt tripped. The boy, who I recognized from my biology class, was lying on the floor clearly embarrassed to have his food spilled all around him. The boy's name, if I recall correctly, was Trevor. Trevor had a brown buzz cut and was on the thinner side. He wore glasses to read, but contacts everywhere else. He wasn't a jock, but not a nerd. He was more like the kind of guy who goes out for the theater. He stood and tried to shake it off with a smile. The ghost disappeared before I could say a word. The lunch bell rang and I walked swiftly to throw my trash in one of the many green trash cans that cluttered the cafeteria almost as much as the posters. I walked to my next class in a daze; there were so many thoughts in my head that I found it hard to concentrate on what classes I had in the afternoon. My mind was filled and also boggled with this ghost. He seemed to be with Elle always and I had no idea why. He also didn't seem like he was even from the past 100 years. And what was with the black haired kid that was hurting Trevor in the lunchroom? That was extremely odd. This town was maybe too exciting.

After school, I walked home in more of a skip than a walk. I was in a good mood. I had no right to be, but I was. My day could very well lead to me falling for a ghost. That would hurt, it would hurt badly. I just couldn't beat down my cheery mood though. When I got home I picked up an apple and headed to my room. I did my homework at my desk and finished at about 5:00. Then I went down for dinner. Dinner was just Aylin and I, so we made easy Mac and cheese fries. I can't tell you how we stay so thin. Our weights put together didn't even equal 220 and we must eat that, at least, daily. This thought made me giggle.

"Why are you in such a cheery mood?"

"I can't tell you" I said with a string of cheese hanging out of my mouth.

"I can"

"What then?" I said in the most overly sarcastic tone I could muster out of my throat.

"It's that ghost, isn't it?" She sounded a bit happier about it than earlier at lunch.

"Maybe" I couldn't help blushing.

She rolled her eyes, put her dish in the sink, and went up to her room.

My mood had still not decreased; I went to my room and felt a sensation to dance. I went up to my room and blasted the radio. It must have looked extremely odd as I can't dance, but it was just what I was craving. I even got a hairbrush and was using it as a microphone. Just then I heard a knock at the door. I quickly saw the face at the door. It was James! I don't know why this made me so excited, but I was ecstatic. My mood was barely swayed by what terrible dancing he must have experienced. I threw the hairbrush that I realized I was holding on the bed and went to the door. I threw open the door with all the force I could handle.

"Can I come in?"

"Ummmmm…….sure"

He, right in front of my eyes, dematerialized into thin air. I quickly caught my state of mind and turned around to see him sitting comfortably on the red leather sofa that inhabited the far corner of my attic like room. I sat in the chair to the slight left of the sofa. It didn't match, it was green and some type of fur material. He seemed a model of ease. He had his hands placed behind his head, with his feet on the table in the center of the couch and chair.

"So……." I said trying not to lose the topic that was on his mind by bringing up my own.

"I am so sorry to intrude, but I just wanted to talk to you so bad. And when Elle was at the diner just down the street, I couldn't help myself."

"Yeah, why are you so attached to Elle?"

"Ha! You didn't figure it out yet!"

"What?" I asked sounding sort of ashamed.

"I'm attached to her."

"What does that mean?" I said even more ashamed.

"You don't know anything do you?"

"I can only know what ghosts tell me and they don't usually like to share." I said this with a little attitude; I was proud of myself for it.

"Well what do you know?"
"Not too much"

"What?" After he said this he let out a little chuckle.

"Well, when you die, if you balance the scale of either heaven or hell, you get another 100 years on earth as a ghost. When the hundred years is up you get judged again. But some ghosts don't leave. I don't know why really. They can't interact with humans, but they can sometimes mess with the objects around them." I knew all this from Chris and I didn't think he had too much knowledge of this to share. "That's it."

"That's pathetic." He didn't say it in a mean way, but in a sort of joking tone.

"Well I bet you don't know any more than that either"

"Oh, well, Ghosts can either balance the scale or be attached to someone so strongly that they can't leave them. Ghosts CAN interact with humans, but only with brief physical outbursts. Like if I was terribly angry with you, which will hopefully never happen, I could flip this couch on you. Which I would never do, so don't think that I am now some raging lunatic." We both giggled.

"How did you learn all this stuff out?"

"Time"

"Would you mind if I asked you a question? Its kind of personal though so if you don't want to answer it you don't have to."

"What is it?"

"Ummmmm………How did you die?"

"Ah," He said leaning even farther back into the couch. "It was 1888 and I was sixteen. We lived on a plantation in the south and worked there." That would explain the tan color of his skin. "The master loved my mother, but she had too much dignity to be unopposed to that. Although she turned him down many times, he still loved her. She got very sick that summer and passed away. When the master got wind of this he called me and my younger sister to his home. We thought he might make us leave for that I was barely eligible to work and my sister was a mere nine years old. My mother would have thrown a fit if I had let her work." He seemed to add this for my benefit. "When my sister, Lora, and I entered the mansion of a home, the master was waiting for us on a couch in the center of the room. He said, 'Sit down' and then he told us that we could stay with him with our mother gone and our father dead. Our father had died in a fight that had broken out among the plantation workers about five years from that date. He had a son that was a year older than I and we grew to be great friends. His name was Louis. Louis was much more 'spoiled' in a sense than me and never had any desire to run the plantation. We lived happily with the master for a long while. He loved to spoil Lora with dresses and dolls. She was the best dressed girl in town." He rested his chin in his had and giggled. "I mostly ran the plantation and had become rather good at it. After about a year, the master got very sick. I remember he died soon after my seventeenth birthday. In his will he left all his worldly exceptions to Louis except the plantation which went to me. The inscription read 'To my near son James, with my love'" He smiled slightly at this. "And Louis, showing his spoiled side, grew jealous as he didn't inherit everything. One night as I lay down to bed after a long day at work on the plantation, I heard Louis come in. He seemed drunk in his mannerisms. As he walked into my room and the light shone upon him, he was holding a bottle of whisky to confirm my suspicions. 'Hello!' I said in a somewhat scared voice." He seemed to wince at recalling it. "He wobbled over drunkenly over to the bed where I lay and pulled a shotgun from behind his back in the hand opposite the whiskey. It took it all of three seconds and I was dead. He had shot me in the head." I could tell that wasn't the end of the story when he stopped talking, but he needed a break. He was leaning over on his hands with his expression blank. It took him a moment, but then, as it seemed for me only, he looked up and slightly smiled.

"Sorry, that must have been slightly scary"

"Not really" I said trying to keep what slight cool I had left.

"Well my sister and I were very close and I have been attached to her for decades. I always intended to leave, but there was always something about the next generation that stranded me here. Elle's the last in the line. Her parents died in a car crash when she was three and I haven't been able to leave her since."

"Oh" I have to admit I was a little a taken back, but it was nothing I couldn't and wouldn't handle.

He cocked his head to the side and smiled a huge, wide, teeth baring grin. His already massive grin seemed to grow larger and larger until he shook his head and laughed.

"I thought my story was a little scarier than that, you didn't even wince."

"I guess you had to be there" I said in a joking tone shrugging my shoulders.

He seemed to feel some jolt of pain, because he winced.

"Elle's leaving, sorry got to go. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure" I said, but by that time he was already gone.

I sat still for about five minutes that went to sit where he had sat with a blanket and fell asleep. Monday I woke up with a smile on my face. There was no question in my mind that today was going to be magical. I wanted to look extra special, so I spent an extra ten minutes on my hair and makeup. I chose a really cute red tank top and a pleated black mini skirt. My normally straight brown hair was curled with the exception of my bangs was in a black headband. I wore black flats with little red bows. I thought I looked perfect. I walked out of my room with such confidence that it was scary. I went into the kitchen and my dad said, "That's what you're wearing?" That's when I knew I looked good. I walked the entire way to school with an unknown "pep" in my step. Upon arriving at school, I saw James. He seemed to do a double take and I blushed and passed. I had to be extra careful not to attract too much attention to my glances toward something only my sister and I saw. . I had a free period for my 7th period. I had it with Elle. James, instead of taking his usual seat next to his sister in a sort, took the seat next to me.

"Hey"

"Hey" I wrote down on a piece of notebook paper so as not to be caught talking to nothing. He let out a huge sigh and moved next to Elle. That was all he said during that class as Mr. Jennings was the room teacher and he was walking around the room to make sure that everyone was "doing something educational" and James seemed to sense that I could write no more. So when Mr. Jennings said this James let out a small giggle and disappeared next to Elle four rows away. Although I know it shouldn't have, I felt a little peeved with Mr. Jennings. Was it just me or with one of the smallest populations in America do we have the most ghosts? The ghost population had like skyrocketed from the occasional ghost to two in one day. After school, I walked home in more of a skip than a walk. I was in a good mood. I had no right to be, but I was. My day could very well lead to me falling for a ghost. That would hurt, it would hurt badly. I just couldn't beat down my cheery mood though. When I got home I picked up an apple and headed to my room. I did my homework at my desk and finished at about 5:00. Then I went down for dinner. Dinner was just Aylin and I, so we made easy Mac and cheese fries. I can't tell you how we stay so thin. Our weights put together didn't even equal 200 and we must eat that, at least, daily. This thought made me giggle.

"Why are you in such a cheery mood?"

"I can't tell you" I said with a string of cheese hanging out of my mouth.

"I can"

"What then?" I said in the most overly sarcastic tone I could muster out of my throat.

"It's that ghost, isn't it?" She sounded a bit happier about it than earlier at lunch.

"Maybe" I couldn't help blushing.

She rolled her eyes, put her dish in the sink, and went up to her room.

"Can I come in?"

"Ummmmm…….sure"

"So……." I said trying not to lose the topic that was on his mind by bringing up my own.

"I am so sorry to intrude, but I just wanted to talk to you so bad. And when Elle was at the diner just down the street, I couldn't help myself."

"Yeah, why are you so attached to Elle?"

"Ha! You didn't figure it out yet!"

"What?" I asked sounding sort of ashamed.

"I'm attached to her."

"What does that mean?" I said even more ashamed.

"You don't know anything do you?"

"I can only know what ghosts tell me and they don't usually like to share." I said this with a little attitude; I was proud of myself for it.

"Well what do you know?"
"Not too much"

"What?" After he said this he let out a little chuckle.

"Well, when you die, if you balance the scale of either heaven or hell, you get another 100 years on earth as a ghost. When the hundred years is up you get judged again. But some ghosts don't leave. I don't really know why. They can't interact with humans, but they can sometimes mess with the objects around them." I knew all this from Chris and I didn't think he had too much knowledge of this to share. "That's it."

"That's pathetic." He didn't say it in a mean way, but in a sort of joking tone.

"Well I bet you don't know any more than that either"

"Oh, well, Ghosts can either balance the scale or be attached to someone so strongly that they can't leave them. When the person dies, if they aren't attached to another person, they leave to get judged. Ghosts CAN interact with humans, but only with brief physical outbursts. Like if I was terribly angry with you, which will hopefully never happen, I could flip this couch on you. Which I would never do, so don't think that I am now some raging lunatic." We both giggled.

"How did you learn all this stuff out?"

"Time"

"Would you mind if I asked you a question? Its kind of personal though so if you don't want to answer it you don't have to."

"What is it?"

"Ummmmm………How did you die?"

"Sorry, that must have been slightly scary"

"Not really" I said trying to keep what slight cool I had left.

"Oh" I have to admit I was a little a taken back, but it was nothing I couldn't and wouldn't handle.

He cocked his head to the side and smiled a huge, wide, teeth baring grin. His already massive grin seemed to grow larger and larger until he shook his head and laughed.

"I thought my story was a little scarier than that, you didn't even wince."

"I guess you had to be there" I said in a joking tone shrugging my shoulders.

"So what exactly is being attached?" I interrupted.

"Hahahaha, yes, I thought that you would know this already. Well, some ghosts become rather attached to a human and there reason for staying here is that they need to be with them."

"Oh" I said feeling rather embarrassed.

"Well I became attached to Christine and she moved here about ten years ago. Elle is her daughter. When she was born my attachment, well, shifted."

He seemed to feel some jolt of pain, because he winced.

"Elle's leaving, sorry got to go. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure" I said, but by that time he was already gone.

I sat still for about five minutes that went to sit where he had sat with a blanket and fell asleep. I woke up the next morning with a big smile on my face; the whole world seemed perfect around me. Except that it wasn't and that I had some MAJOR issues to deal with. First was that ghost that was haunting that poor kid in my biology class. Second was the fact that I couldn't get the idea of James out of my head. It was like he was haunting me without really haunting me. All I could think about was him wherever I went until I got to school and could see him again, but that seemed to take for ever! I wasn't in the mood to wait for Aylin and have to wait another twenty minutes to see him today. I was almost skipping on the rough path that paved the way to the high school. Then I saw him. Not James, but the boy and his ghost from the Cafeteria the day before. I needed to solve this. They were walking out a colonial house on the road where I traveled to school every day. The boy seemed to look rather shaken, probably due to the fact that he had a ghost following him around. But this seemed to in the end work to my advantage as I could signal the ghost behind him without his noticing. The ghost seemed almost scared to see me be able to see him. It was when he was walking over that I really saw how, well, gorgeous he was. He had a slight Goth ring to him, but he was all in all gorgeous. From my better view of him I saw the full extent of his almost penetrating huge light green eyes with a massive array of black lashes covering them. His hair was the darkest shade of black I had ever seen and it seemed to crop over his face, almost touching his left eye. He was taller than me, probably 6 foot at least. His features still had roundness to them, but his figure was anything but childish as he was extremely muscular and built. While I was almost ogling over his features I had forgotten that he was coming toward me. He stood so close that his nose was about an inch from mine.

I shook my head quickly. "Excuse me?" I said with blatant disrespect for him.

"Can you…….see me?" He waved his hand in front of my face ignoring my question.

""Very well"

"How?"
"I don't really know okay? All I know is that you need to leave that poor boy alone."

"OH HE"S SO INNOCENT IS HE!"

With that he disappeared from my vision.