Well okay here's chapter 2. Another Disclaimer: Still, the characters from the book series (not yet mentioned) are not mine. Everyone else is and I can torture them how I please. But thanks for the reviews. Pleas people I got only a few hits. tear thats sad. If I'm gonna continue I need more encouragement to know people will read it. Anyway, read on and review!
JeSs
Last Time on "Kiss of Light":
While the man shook my hand, he said modestly, "My name is George Edward, CEO of Edward and Manson Enterprises." So, he was a business man. Wow.
"Well it is nice to meet you." I said smiling. George leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, falling asleep once again. Some CEO he was.
I turned my attention back to Lestat. I was deeply involved in the book, it was right at the part when Lestat is about to take his first victim when…
"Hello there." I practically jumped out of my seat, I was so startled.
My heart beat quickened as I turned my head to see who was beside me. It was a boy, a guess he was about 3 years younger then me, occupying the seat next to me. He looked pretty normal.
Well that is except for the fact that he was glowing.
Chapter two
I looked around quickly, to make sure no one else could see him besides me. A stewardess with a cart of drinks came by. "What would you like, sweetie?" I waited for a moment to see if she were talking to the boy or to me. "Hello, did you hear me? Maybe if you turned your iPod down," yup, she was talking to me, and only me alright.
"I'll take a diet coke, thanks." She handed me the can with a cup and napkin on top and left without even asking the boy if he wanted anything.
So that cleared things up pretty nicely. Great, for two hours I'd be sitting next to ghost boy.
"You're pretty," he hummed as he stared at me. Oh please, give me a break. The boy was like thirteen and his hormones were soaring. This was going be a joy ride! Not.
He was blonde, like bleach blonde and he had pale skin to match. If I didn't know any better I would have thought he was an albino.
"Listen kid, Could you maybe just leave…" It was a little harsh I know, but I didn't feel like talking to dead people while I had to worry about getting sick on the plane. I hated heights.
"Leave? But I came all this way to talk to you…" He whined as he leaned closer to me. "You came just to see me? While that is truly flattering, I really don't know who you are…"
The boy gave a huge grin. "The name's Michael. What's your name?" he asked. I had to laugh, this kid just didn't seem to get the fact the a) he was thirteen and I was sixteen and b) he was dead! But I had to be polite.
"I'm Anna. Now, back to the fact that you're dead…" The boy's eyes widened. "I'm not dead," he said in a panicked voice.
I gave out a sigh. I'd never met a ghost who didn't know he was, well… dead yet. "But you must know. How else could I see you and no one else?" The boy's eyes filled with tears and his bottom lip quivered. "I'm not dead, I'm not!" My can of soda shook slightly and my chair jiggled.
"Calm down Michael, everything will be fine. You just have to figure out how you died." I reassured him. But he didn't seem to calm down. "I had everything, I wasn't supposed to die!" he screamed. My can fell over in George lap, spilling soda all over his new business suit.
"What the hell?" George shouted, awakened by the soda, now staining his outfit. "I'm so sorry Mr. Edward, I must have knocked my can over." I handed him my napkin as he tried to desperately clean the mess on his lap.
He mumbled some complaints but none that I could clearly make out.
I turned back to my little ghost friend, but found the seat next to me unoccupied. Poor kid, he was in for a rude awakening.
I pushed back my seat and took out my book once again that was now slightly damp with diet coke. I opened the book but found the pages were too wet to read. So, I placed it on the seat where Michael sat and decided to take a nap instead.
Luckily, I had brought a pillow with me so; I gently placed it behind my head and closed my eyes.
"My darling," I leaned closer to my lover and sighed in his embrace. His arms were wrapped around my waist protectively and my own were around his neck. "Kiss me," I cooed. My lover looked down at me, smiling. "Not yet my love." He said simply.
"But why not?" I said annoyance in my voice. "Because it isn't the right time, not yet." I frowned and pushed him away like a child. "Do you not love me?" I questioned.
"I love you more then anything my darling." He said, taking my hand. A pleasant shiver ran up my spin and a blush rose up my cheeks.
"Then why don't you kiss me?"
"Passengers, we have reached our destination of Carmel, California, you are now allowed to remove your seat beats and move about. Thank you for choosing Delta airlines…" My eyes opened slowly. What a dream I'd had?
I looked to my left to see if ghost boy had returned but I guess he decided to figure out his afterlife, since he was still no where in sight. George too had left; maybe he really wanted to get off the plane or something.
I took my book and placed it in my backpack before zipping it up and swinging it over my shoulder. Everyone already seemed to be off the plane. Man I must have slept longer then I thought.
I walked past the front of the plane and waved goodbye to the stewardesses and the captain. "Thanks for flying," they all said simultaneously.
I walked out into an opening, looking up at the flashing signs. "Flight B16 from Fort McCone, Oklahoma, baggage pickup left" An arrow pointed to an escalator that lead down to the suitcase carousel. I spotted my military green suitcase at once and picked it up by the handle.
I hadn't seen my Uncle Mark since I was 8 when I was receiving my first holy communion. I wasn't sure how I'd recognize him. My mother said he stood out like a sore thumb but I didn't really know what she meant.
I found a nice bench and sat down, placing my suitcase beside me. Somewhere in my backpack I'd placed a photo of him but I couldn't remember where I could have put it.
"Miss Johnson?" I looked up suddenly and saw a young man in a black suit and a chauffeur's hat looking down at me through dark sunglasses. "Yes, that's me." I said standing up. The guy was good foot taller then I was.
"Well your Uncle Mark instructed me to come to the airport and pick up his lovely niece to bring her to his home. I'm assuming that would be you?" He lifted his sun glasses to get a better look at me.
"That's me alright, well except for the being lovely part." I grabbed my suitcase but the man quickly took it from me. "I highly doubt that miss." He smiled at me and lowered his sun glasses.
I felt my cheeks go red as we walked along, out of the air port. This air port was huge, not like the one back home. There had to be about a hundred terminals and about a million people boarding planes. "We're not in Kansas anymore Toto." I said looked up at the limousine that was, I predicted, my form of transportation.
"We are riding, in this?" I said, gaping. My driver nodded as he open my door.
I looked inside. It was huge! I'd never really ridden in a limo before and this one was… so cool! There was a DVD player, a refrigerator (which I later discover to contain champagne and some coke), nice leather seats and the piece of résistance, chocolate covered cherries.
I dove into the car like I little girl and popped a chocolate cherry into my mouth, letting the sweet liquid pour down my throat. My chauffeur chuckled at my actions and then closed the door. He walked slowly to the other side of the car, putting the keys in the ignition.
There was a small window separating us that, with a remote control could have been opened or closed. I decided to have some fun, so I took the remote and pressed the red button, making the window go up and down several times. I heard my driver sigh before he looked back at me and shook his head.
"What? Can't a girl have a little fun? It's my first time in a limo." The man laughed and went back to his driving.
I leaned forward and rested my arm against the window. "Say, what's your name anyway?" I had met a lot of people already during this trip and I found it better that I ask their name first.
"Eric." He answered, still facing traffic. Which might I mention was horrible!
"Oh like the prince from the Little Mermaid, cool." I fell back in my seat and looked up at the skylight window above me. A plane flew past me, reminding me of back home.
Finally after a long drive, the car stopped. Eric came around to my side of the car and opened my door once again. "Welcome to your new home."
Slowly I stepped out of the car, gazing up at the mansion I was going to spend the rest of my life in. I'm not kidding about the mansion thing, this place was huge. I was defiantly in for a culture shock. I mean, after living sixteen years on a farm. It looked like something I'd seen on Celebrity Homes on VH1.
"Shut up!" I said my jaw just about to fall of my face. Eric chuckled, closing the car door as he led me to the house.
As we neared the front door, it opened quickly. A man, in his mid forty's came toward us. He was wearing a Hawaiian T shirt and beige shorts. His hair was wild and was just as red as my hair. He too wore sun glasses like Eric.
"Anna! How good it is to see you! How was your flight?" I was a little shocked this man was speaking to me. I didn't recognize him at all. That was when I reached into my pocket and found the photo of Uncle Mark. This was him alright.
I smiled up at him as he came forward to hug me. "It was fine Uncle Mark." I said, a little nervously. "Please just call me Mark; uncle makes me sound too old." He said with a wide grin, showing off his pearly whites. He took my suitcase from Eric and placed his hand on my back. "Let us come inside. You must be exhausted." I didn't feel like telling my uncle that I wasn't tired. Besides, I did want to check out my new mansion of a home.
We stepped inside and I was in awe of everything. There were marble floors that I could practically see my reflection in. There were chandeliers everywhere you turned. And oh, did I mention that there weren't roofs, but windows that looked up at the beautiful sky above.
"Your house is amazing Un… I mean Mark." My uncle smiled at me as he looked proudly upon his house. "Yeah, it's pretty cool. I guess its better then my home in Japan but…" My jaw dropped. "You have another home… in Japan? What do you do?" I asked, referring to his job.
He only laughed. "I'm a big business man but the best thing about my job is I can work anywhere I want. Isn't that cool?" I looked up at my uncle. He was really more like a kid then an adult.
Mark moved his sun glasses to the top of his head and I saw his brown eyes for the first time. He was more like me then I thought.
"Well, let me show you your room," He said finally after a dead silence. I followed him up the stairs that, no doubt, led to my room. We reached the top of the stairs and I saw a hallway full of doors that lead to tons of rooms. This guy was completely and utterly rich!
"Here's your room Anna, I hope you like it. I had some of my maids design it for you." He slowly opened the door to the room that was closest to the stairs.
I stepped inside the room. The bed had to be like king sized and was draped with a beautiful blue canopy. The room itself was huge but the closet was about the size of my old bedroom in Oklahoma. It was all just amazing. The walls were painted to look like clouds in the sky and like the rest of the house; the ceiling was a window, looking up at the sky.
"Oh Mark, I don't know what to say… it's beautiful." I said as I placed my backpack down and fall back onto my bed. It was so soft and I just melted into it.
"I'm glad you like it. Dinner should be ready in an hour or so. I'll send one of my maid's up to wake you." I smiled up at him. "Thanks Mark!" I called as he closed the door.
I just laid there, motionless, smiling up at the clouds above me. "Nothing can get better then this." I said closing my eyes.
Then, I heard a knock at my door. Assuming it was Mark or one of his maids I said, "Come in!" The door opened and when I didn't hear my uncle voice I opened my eyes.
"Mark if this is something about my…" I looked up and saw a boy, tall, dark, handsome standing in my doorway.
"Hello Miss Johnson. Your uncle sent me up here to tell you dinner was ready." I felt my cheeks go red. This guy was… hot. He looked like a surfer I'd seen once on the cover of a magazine.
He was tan and had brown hair with beautiful hazel eyes. I shook my head, trying to return to normalcy. "Oh, thank you. Do you… work for my uncle?" I asked. The guy laughed, he laughed at me! As if I was some comedian.
"Well, you could say that. I'm some what of an apprentice of his." Apprentice, what exactly did my uncle do that would call for an apprentice? Maybe he was some what like Donald Trump.
"Oh I see. Tell him I'll be right down." I turned my back to him, taking off Jack's jean jacket and placing it on my new bed. I felt his eyes on me, my uncle's apprentice that is. I felt my blush return as I spun around.
"Shall we go?" he said, very gentlemanly. I smiled and walked out the door with him. He was wearing a silk t-shirt with black pants, both showing off his body very nicely. I looked down at his chest and swallowed hard.
"You alright Miss Johnson?" he asked, catching me looking at him.
"Anna." I said. He gave me a questionable look.
"I'd rather you call me Anna then Miss Johnson." I said imitating him.
He chuckled and placed his hand to my shoulder. I took in a quick in take of breathe and forced my eyes to meet his. "Alright, Anna then, you can call me Nicholas, or Nick for short." I liked the name. "Nick." I said, already enjoying his name roll off my tongue. Oh Anna, snap out of it! I just moved here and already you've got the hots for a guy you barely even know.
"Let us go then." he said. We glided down the stairs, well; Nick did, while I stumbled. He led me to a huge dinning room where my uncle was sitting, still dressed in Hawaiian attire. "Anna, sleep well?" He asked as I approached him.
"I did, thanks Mark." Nick pulled out a chair for me and modestly I sat down.
Maids started walking into the room with trays and trays of food. The first course was a soup that I assumed was a kind of chowder. It wasn't really my style but Mark and Nick seemed to be enjoying it. Next was salad which I ate up quickly. I'm bit of a vegetarian. You know, living all your life by animals, makes you kind of sour for meats.
Then the main course came, which was pasta. Thank god it wasn't turkey or something like that. It had some kind of tangy sauce which I really liked. It was sweet but spicy at the same time.
Once we had all eaten and I felt like I couldn't eat another bit, we moved into the living room, where I learned we'd be watching a movie. This was, as Mark explained later, a big tradition in his house hold. Ever Sunday night we would have to come here after dinner a watch a movie of his choice. It seemed fun enough.
I moved over to his leather couch and fell into the fabric. I wanted to just sit somewhere. Maybe I ate too much pasta.
Nick came into the room and sat close beside me. I felt like blushing but I forced my embarrassment back.
"Mark, what movie are we watching?" I asked curiously.
Mark was standing by the big screen TV trying to figure out the DVD player. "Oh, I chose 'the Sixth Sense' if that's alright with you." I laughed in spite of myself. The Sixth Sense was the story of my life.
After what seemed like an hour, Mark figured out the DVD player and "The Sixth Sense" began to play on the screen. I watched it, kind of amused at how M. Night Shyamalan interrupted seeing ghosts. He made several mistakes. One mistake was that usually the ghosts do not look the way they did when they died. Normally, they look well; they look the way they did when they were in the prime of their lives. Or that's what it seemed like to me.
And two was that most of the ghosts knew they were dead, with the exception of poor Michael.
I felt pretty tired toward the end of the movie. My head was leaned up against Nick's shoulder. I hadn't realized it but Nick hadn't protested. He seemed to like it.
I looked down at my watch and realized it was close to midnight. I sat up and asked if I could be excused. Mark, who was deeply involved in the movie nodded and wished me good night.
"I'll take you back to your room." Nick said politely, as he took my hand to lead me out of the dark room. Ok, so I blushed, I blushed because a guy was holding my hand. But thank god it was dark and Nick couldn't see my face. I mean, I could barely even see the outline of his figure.
He guided me out of the room and up the stairs, which also had no light to show the way.
I fell forward and stumbled against Nick's back. "I'm so sorry Nick. I guess I don't have too great of night vision." Nick chuckled. He had let go of my hand earlier and now I could see him groping for mine again. "I can't find your hand, can you find mine?" I reached forward and at once I felt the warmth radiating off his hand. I grabbed it tightly and we continued up the stairs.
"Here we are." Nick announced as he opened my door for me.
"Thank you, Nick." I said, reluctantly letting go of his hand. "The pleasure was all mine." He said and then he left. In my mind, he would have leaned forward and kissed me. I mean, what guy would turn this down, a girl alone in a dark room. Well I guess I was lucky anyway. Nick was hot and he seemed to like me. California wasn't so bad after all.
I closed my eyes, Smiling as I laid back down on my bed. I had gotten dressed into my Nightmare before Christmas's Jack Skeleton pajama shorts and a tank top. I had decided that I was going to make the best of this and I knew things could only get better.
Boy was I wrong.
I pulled my sheets over my body. The sheets were silky and they felt good against my cold body. I was surprised that the nights here were cold. It was defiantly not what I expected.
I closed my eyes again and lead on my back, thinking about what may lay ahead of me tomorrow.
That was when I felt it, a breath against my cheek. It wasn't really a breath, more of a chill. Something I'd felt right before I'd seen a… ghost.
I was afraid to open my eyes, to see what lay before me, but I had to. I opened one eye and then the other. At first I didn't see anything and then in the blink of an eye, he materialized in front of me, the ghost.
"Boo."