Part 7

I feel his hot breath on my skin. My eyes flutter open and I can't believe who I see. It's White Mike.

I remember White Mike. Last year he was in the school band. I remember hearing all the rumors about his drug problem. I never believed them because I didn't know him personally. When rumors spread they change as each period goes by. He seemed to vanish and no one really took notice. I asked Ms. Topolsky about it when she was still here, but she said he transferred. I never really believed her, it's hard to trust a woman who claimed to be a guidance counselor but was an FBI agent in actuality.

Mike's face...is indescribable. It's hurts to think about it. There are so many scars. So many wounds that didn't heal properly. I gingerly touch his face, but he pulls away. He looks embarrassed, like I caught him doing something bad.

"Mike, what happened to you?" I ask.

He puts his head in his hands and mumbles, "Things last year got too heavy for me, I went to the pier to have a drink, but I guess I fell, and I never woke up."

To be honest with you, I'm really shocked. I already saw the dead couple this morning and Joey Martinez, but Mike's face is so destroyed.

"Mike, what are you doing here?" I ask.

He looks up with tears in his eyes. "I heard what happened to you, that you're one of us, but Liz you have a chance, you get to live."

"What do you mean?" I ask. What could he know about this?

"Liz, news travels fast. I for one should know. We shouldn't stay in the Eraser Room, you know how people like to come in here and make out."

I smile thinking of the times Max and I were in here. "Where should we go? Behind the bleachers?"

"My favorite spot," he says with a sly grin.

We sneak out of the main building. Well, I sneak out. Mike is invisible. Only those that are dead can see him, which unfortunately is the category I fall into.

I thought no one saw me leave, but boy was I wrong.

You know, with the things that happen to me, you would think I lived in a drama show. Probably be on UPN or WB, then get canceled.

Never fails.

"Since when does Liz speak to herself?" Alex asked himself. He was on the bleachers sunbathing, since it was his free period. "And since when does she cut class?" He ducked as he saw her approaching the bleachers. He was about to stand up and ask what was going on, but something told him not too, so he didn't. He expected her to walk up to him, but instead she went around back and began talking to someone, like she was meeting someone there. He had been there most of the period so if anyone was there he would have already seen the person. He crept towards the end of the bleachers, to get a good view of his friend, but without her knowing it. He hated spying, but something was up with his friend and it was about time he found out first and not be the last to know.

I become used to Mike's disfigured look, the scars go beyond his face. There are scars on his neck that from the looks of it go beyond the neckline of his shirt. The many black and blues make Mike's face have a blue and almost greenish tint.

I can't help but stare. I look down. I don't want to make him feel weird.

"Liz, it's ok, you can look...it's just that no one has really seen me," he says.

I guess I was a bit too obvious.

The silence is deafening.

"Mike, before you said you needed my help...what kind of help?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Right, about that. Everyone here knew me because of the rumors, so yeah they were right, but I was always picked on because of them. I was White Mike to everyone, not Mike. No one understood what was going on. I wrote this song and I was wondering if you could have it printed in the school newspaper. I've been stuck in the school since the accident. I think that if this is printed I'll be able to move on," he says. He takes out a bunch of paper from his pocket in his jacke. "This is all of it."

I unfold the papers and start to read some of it.

The emotions are so raw. Never did I realize how cruel people were to him.

"I'm probably no help, but the rumor is that you're different. You have a chance to break free from whatever is holding you. Be that death or being alive. And to break from it you need to find the source and destroy the bond. Does that make sense?"

"How do I destroy bond?" I ask.

"I don't know, I knew I couldn't help" he says. He stands up and kicks the dirt.

"Mike, don't kill, uh, worry about it, you've helped a lot," I say. I stand up and grab his arm. I feel skin move under his sleeve. "Mike you have no idea."

"Really?"

"Yes, really, thanks Mike."

"No thank you. I should be going now," he says. "Say 'hey' to Joey for me. He was the only jock I could stomach."

"Sure, later Mike."

He runs off into the opposite direction. I look back at his lyrics, ready to run to the newspaper office.

I never thought there were so many lost spirits at school. I thought this would be the last place they would be.

I check my watch and get ready for last 7th period. I walk from under the bleachers and realize someone is watching me. I turn around preparing myself to see another dead person. But instead I see Alex.

Oh God. He knows.

"Liz, what the hell just went on underneath there? Who were you talking to? Because from my point of view you were talking to the air, which we both know you wouldn't do because you're sane. And who were you touching? The invisible person? Liz I've been in the dark about many things, but I'm worried, so what's going on?" he asks, determined to learn the truth.

I don't blame him, he's right, he has always been in the dark.

"Alex, we should find Maria, I want to tell her too," I say.

"No, you tell me now!" he says.

"Fine, Alex, I was talking to Mike. Do you remember him?" I ask.

Not as I would have liked to have told him, but he's fixed on learning what's been going on.

He nods yes. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I was talking to him."

"Ok, you lost me," he says. "Should I be sitting down for this? This doesn't sound good."

"He was here last year. He was in the school band...."

"Noooo, doesn't sound familiar. Wait, White Mike?" he says pointing at me.

"Yes, him."

"Ok, so, I'm still not seeing the picture."

"He died and I was talking to him because since he's dead only dead people can see him, so what I'm trying to say is that the time lapses and the flashes is because I'm dead."

"Done," I say underneath my breath.

"Oooook, let's find Maria" he says in disbelief. He walks in front of me and I don't want to say anything. I don't know how he took it. But from the look of it I think it went in through one ear and out the other.

I jog to catch up to Alex. "Alex wait!"

"Liz, you don't expect me to believe you're a walking zombie or ghost or whatever you want to call yourself," Alex says. He looked around. He is trying to find Maria, probably to see if I am playing a joke on him.

"Alex, but doesn't that explain a lot of things? This guy came to me...."

"What? A guy came to you? Did he hurt you or do something?" Alex asked, immediately getting protective.

"He told me why I was feeling weird and that Max is involved," I said. I tried to read his face, but it was unreadable.

"Say something Alex," I pleaded.

"I don't know what to say. Let's find Maria, I don't understand this."

"That makes two of us," I mutter to myself.