In the large open room, there were only the sounds of light breathing
and distant footsteps. It was calm, soothing, and simply perfect.
Without warning, the room became alive with sounds of slapping, smacking, skin against skin and boots against boots. Various shouts and cries pulsed within the array of movements, and from a distance, the two figures fighting looked like they were practicing a wonderful piece of choreography. One stood bare-chested with loose fitting pants and heavy shoes. His partner was dressed in a figure forming black outfit, sleeveless, and with knee high black boots. Her ponytail fell down her sculpted back in a tight, thick braid.
For moments neither gained nor retreated, but soon the female took the upper hand with a vertical double flip in which she brought the heel of her right foot down into the lower back of her opponent. He pitched forward, rolled, and suddenly found himself pinned beneath four limbs, her face inches from his.
"Give up?"
Liu smirked. "Maybe…" With that, he thrust his weight up from his hips, making Kitana tumble over his head. He rolled back onto his hands, performed a back walkover that brought his weight on top of hers, and seized her wrists before she could move. "Maybe not."
Kitana laughed in that way that made his body temperature rise within the space of a breath. "I guess you win again, champion."
"Good. Now where's my prize?" He grinned playfully and leaned his head down for a kiss when he sensed someone behind him. He turned and rose to his feet as a red clothed man entered the room.
"Liu? A letter," the young monk said with a bow. He handed it to Liu and left.
"Who's it from?" Kitana questioned as she stood.
"California, America." Liu shook his head. "Well, I wonder who it could be from." There was a tear of paper and Liu pulled the short typed message from inside.
Liu:
Sonya is in trouble. Get in touch with Rayden. Come over
to California.
Johnny
"Sonya is in trouble?" Kitana asked with much doubt. "I thought Sonya was dead."
"Yeah. It's been three years now." Liu frowned. "I wonder what this really means?"
"Only one way to find out."
Liu took her hand. "Let's go talk to Rayden."
As soon as one stepped into the room, the first thought to cross the mind would not be, 'Hey, nice room.' It would be more of, 'Shit, where IS the room?' Littering the floor and covering the furniture were books upon books upon newspapers upon magazines about ghosts. In the center of the room, leaning against the headboard of the bed with a nightlight tilted down in his direction, sat the man taking notes from the books. And beside him sat a little Japanese girl, also engrossed in the written articles before her.
To some, the picture may have looked touching or humorous, but to Aunt Susan, it looked quite different. Concerned was an understatement for the emotions she felt as she watched the two throw their lives away on a worthless ghost hunt. Of course, as soon as Kaoru heard of the spirits really inhabiting the dock, from Johnny's wild account of that one night, she had been persistent in helping Johnny help Sonya. Susan was less than thrilled when he agreed, but was slightly reassured when he made the child promise not to go near the docks no matter what. If he caught her slipping out, she would be sent back to their house in LA and would be cared for by the housekeeper and Johnny's close friend Nicole Kidman. And Kaoru kept her promise, staying at home to read more books while Johnny slipped out at night to go and sit at the docks, waiting for something from his girlfriend. Each night he reported no new happenings.
Susan sighed as she leaned against the doorframe and silently observed her relatives. How she wished they would go back home. This quest to save Sonya's 'misplaced' spirit was putting a terrible strain on her, and she knew that when the two seekers realized that all of this was nothing more than a trick of mirrors and tales, she couldn't bear to think of how much it would hurt them both. Especially the little one. The girl had lost Sonya once; it wasn't fair to make her lose the Lieutenant again.
After a week of trying to talk the two out of their foolish pursuit, Susan finally gave up and called in the only person she could think of to help. Perhaps-
The cell phone rang. Without removing his eyes from the text in front of him, Johnny reached over and picked up the beeping box. Susan, who stood in the doorway, heard only about five words escape her nephew's mouth before she heard a knock down below. Quickly turning she headed down the stairs to greet the new arrival, a quick prayer passing her lips that things may get better from here on in.
Kaoru sat and listened for over an hour as Johnny went into a lengthy discussion with their old friend Jax. She smiled as she thought about him, and all the help he had given to keep her safe during the crisis with the Devil's Destiny. From what she heard from Johnny, he had taken on a new partner after Sonya's death, some guy named Kurtis Stryker who was the leader of a riot prevention group and was promoted into the Special Forces after unintentionally capturing some other guy named Jarek, a member of the Black Dragon group Sonya had hated so much.
Now Johnny was trying to convince him that his dead partner was alive… to a point. By the conversation on her side, Kaoru could tell Jax wasn't taking this with an open heart.
"No, Jax, seriously-yes I saw her… Exactly how she looked that night… I'm not crazy… I want you to come and see for yourself! No, this is not a joke… what do you mean, what am I going to do about it? I'm gonna help her! No, I don't know how- I'm getting help from Rayden and- oh, don't start that again. You saw the boat, didn't you?" Johnny sighed in exasperation. "All right," he allowed as he rubbed his eyes. "Yes, I understand. I really just felt you should know, ya know? Ok, yeah. I'll tell her. See ya later, man. Bye." He pressed end and looked at Kaoru. "Jax says hi."
"Hi."
"He didn't believe me."
Kaoru took his hand. "It's ok. Jax is a tough guy, but he took Sonya's death pretty hard. I can understand why he wouldn't want to believe this. It's just too painful without proof."
Johnny nodded. "Ok. All right, I need something to eat. You want anything?"
"No, I'm good."
"Ok, then." Johnny got to his feet.
"Oh, Johnny?"
He turned with an inquisitive glance.
"What boat were you talking about?"
Johnny smiled lightly as a picture of Sonya with a gun in his jaw came back to him. "Remind me to tell you about it sometime. It'll make a good bedtime story."
Kaoru rolled her eyes. "I don't do bedtime stories anymore, Johnny!"
He shrugged. "Then I guess you'll just have to use your imagination." He turned and walked out.
"Johnny! You suck!"
He burst out laughing as he walked down the steps, but his heart became slightly heavy. If not for the tournament…
"-And I told him that all of this was a crazy idea, but he wouldn't listen to me! So now I don't know what to do."
Johnny looked to the sky and shook his head a bit as he walked around the hall into the kitchen.
"Talking to yourself again, Sus-" Johnny stopped, frozen in place. "What are you doing here?"
Rising with the grace of a cat, the tall brunette stood and turned to face him, a shy smile on her lips and sparks of concern flickering in her emerald green eyes. Her attire was beige, all professional, with a touch of the sultry character she was well known for. Her skirt rose to just the right height above her knees as to give a tantalizing glimpse of her firm legs, and her v-neck left enough to the imagination to drive any man out of his mind. All of this contrasted her perfect posture and accented features, leaving any onlooker dizzy between her royal attitude and seductive appearance.
"Hello, John. You're looking wonderful, as ever."
It took the actor a moment to get his voice back. "Cindy. I-" Johnny stopped and shifted his attention to his aunt. "I wasn't expecting this."
Susan cleared her throat. "I know. I called her last night."
"Sue was very upset," she supplied softly. "I came here as quickly as I could."
Johnny looked at her again, but said nothing. His eyes seemed hot with anger, but his face remained expressionless.
"John?" Susan asked softly.
"Will you leave us alone for a minute?"
She nodded mutely and left the room, her feet padding dully on the stairs as she went to see to Kaoru.
"What are you doing here, Cindy?"
She sighed and sat. "Like I said, Sue called me. She's worried about you. She hoped that we could talk about this."
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Oh, no, of course not. I mean it really is the latest rage to go out and try to save the soul of your dead girlfriend. Everyone in Hollywood is doing it," Cindy snapped sarcastically.
"At least she has a soul," Johnny replied flatly.
Cindy leaned back in her chair, a flinch crossing her face. "All right. Maybe what I said was uncalled for-"
"Quite."
"-But can't we talk about it?" she asked quietly as she looked up at him. "Johnny, this is something very serious and I really feel-"
"That it's none of your business, " Johnny cut her off. "It's great if Susan wanted to invite you over for a week, hey, it's her house. But it doesn't mean you have to get involved in my personal life."
"Personal? Personal! John, are you at all aware of the world going on outside your little universe? It's called reality, sweetheart, and you better get a good grip on it. You've already been labeled a fake, and I'm sure you remember how long it took you to get over that."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, nothing much," she replied flip. "The tabloids have just been going ape shit over the newest story: Johnny Cage Dating Dead Girlfriend. Pictures Inside."
His eyebrow rose. "Pictures?"
"Badly edited cut and pasted remakes. But that's not the point. People are beginning to think your crazy."
"Good for them. I don't care."
Cindy looked taken aback. "What?" she asked in disbelief.
"I. Don't. Care," he annunciated. "It doesn't matter to me. People will think what they want. I'm not going to let my life stop because of it."
"But, your career…"
"I've made enough money off of previous movies to live perfectly well for the rest of my life. If I lose my acting job, fine, whatever."
Cindy sat in stunned silence.
Johnny smirked. "Surprised?"
"Yes. And impressed. You've changed a lot Johnny."
"Yeah, no thanks to you, Super Model. You up and left before you had a chance to see me change."
Cindy bristled. "I'm here now," she stated.
"Because my aunt asked you to come."
"Because I care about you."
Johnny laughed bitterly. "I'll bet! It was quite clear to me when you filed for and signed the divorce papers just how much you care!"
Cindy suddenly stood, anger flashing in her eyes. "Those were difficult times for me, Johnny. There were circumstances involved and I had to make a choice. I never intended-"
"Oh, for God's sake," Johnny spat. "You never intended, ha! I think you meant you never loved. Not surprising, a money hungry anorexic bitch like yourself isn't capable of such a thing!"
"I don't see you having done any better during that time! Mr. Movie Star with an ego bigger than Britney Spear's latest breast implants! You were always more concerned with how great your fighting skills were to how well my day went!"
"Your day consisted of sitting on a beach in a bikini and teasing the eighteen year old equipment boys with your cleavage! Excuse me if I didn't find anything strenuous in that 10 hour activity!"
"You paranoid narcissistic sexist pig!"
"Better than being a two-timing blue light special slut!"
Cindy took a breath. "And you wonder why I left you," she said quietly.
Johnny held her gaze with a hint of hurt, but quickly covered it. "I don't wonder. I just tell God 'Thank you' every morning," he replied evenly.
The beautiful woman nodded. "I'm glad we still have something in common."
"Ha! I knew it! You just admitted you don't care!" Johnny exclaimed, but his tone wasn't harsh. It teetered on annoying and playful, the type of combination that used to make Cindy melt to her feet.
And to his surprise, it worked. Cindy laughed quietly. "I guess you knew it would only take a bit of time to get through, huh?" She shook her head. "I-I'm sorry, about what I said. I didn't mean it. It's just the jet lag and the long hours of seducing the camera boys," she said with a smile.
But the smile Johnny had quickly faded and he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Um, the thing about the divorce-"
"Forget it. What's done is done. We need to worry about now."
His head rolled back and his look went up to the ceiling. "Cindy, I appreciate your concern, but this really doesn't pertain to you. I think it's best if you just stay out of it. Ok?" he asked softly, trying to keep from being cold or bitter.
"Did you see the paper today?"
"Huh?" Johnny was momentarily confused by the change in topic. "Uh, no, Susan stopped getting the weekly paper a while ago."
Cindy sighed. "There was an article in the paper. It was about the docks, the murders, and your ghosts."
"What?" he asked quickly.
"Three more people died yesterday."
"What?!"
"And one of them was the man who's been performing the killings." Cindy reached into her purse and pulled out a small piece of newsprint. "Robert A. Cullingham, age 54. Declared mentally ill and was fired from his job as a special effects specialist for Universal Pictures." She stepped closer to Johnny and put a tentative hand on his upper arm. "He had robbed the studio one night and took out a lot of expensive film equipment, as well as a new technology for making holographic projections so actors could get a sense of where they were looking when dealing with non-existing objects. He's been using that equipment to bring unsuspecting victims to the dock to see if the ghost stories were real, scare them, and kill them off." Her voice dropped slightly. "The cops have been hunting him for quite sometime, and they got a tip about a man of his description working at the docks. Apparently, while he was setting up for a spook, the cops found him and took him down, but not before he took out two others, high school students from the area." She paused.
"They have proof, John. These ghosts were created by new state of the art technological enhancements. Even the cops were fooled when they turned them on."
"No…"
"I'm sorry, but it was a trick, like Susan said. It was all fake. With what you saw, I'm just glad you're still alive."
Johnny pushed away her hand. "No, wait. I really saw her. I swear I did."
"You saw a hologram, Johnny. Nothing more. And you were so tired that night-"
But Johnny didn't listen. He turned away from her and stared out the kitchen window. He didn't want to believe her… but was it possible that Sonya really was gone?
"Johnny?"
"I can't. Not yet. I'm going to bed." He turned away from her and left the kitchen. He shut the door in his room and locked it before walking out onto the balcony and falling into one of the chairs. Doubts began to form in his mind, but he had been shot, he saw it, how could a hologram make that? With these different questions, and no concern for what his ex-wife was doing below, he fell asleep.
Without warning, the room became alive with sounds of slapping, smacking, skin against skin and boots against boots. Various shouts and cries pulsed within the array of movements, and from a distance, the two figures fighting looked like they were practicing a wonderful piece of choreography. One stood bare-chested with loose fitting pants and heavy shoes. His partner was dressed in a figure forming black outfit, sleeveless, and with knee high black boots. Her ponytail fell down her sculpted back in a tight, thick braid.
For moments neither gained nor retreated, but soon the female took the upper hand with a vertical double flip in which she brought the heel of her right foot down into the lower back of her opponent. He pitched forward, rolled, and suddenly found himself pinned beneath four limbs, her face inches from his.
"Give up?"
Liu smirked. "Maybe…" With that, he thrust his weight up from his hips, making Kitana tumble over his head. He rolled back onto his hands, performed a back walkover that brought his weight on top of hers, and seized her wrists before she could move. "Maybe not."
Kitana laughed in that way that made his body temperature rise within the space of a breath. "I guess you win again, champion."
"Good. Now where's my prize?" He grinned playfully and leaned his head down for a kiss when he sensed someone behind him. He turned and rose to his feet as a red clothed man entered the room.
"Liu? A letter," the young monk said with a bow. He handed it to Liu and left.
"Who's it from?" Kitana questioned as she stood.
"California, America." Liu shook his head. "Well, I wonder who it could be from." There was a tear of paper and Liu pulled the short typed message from inside.
Liu:
Sonya is in trouble. Get in touch with Rayden. Come over
to California.
Johnny
"Sonya is in trouble?" Kitana asked with much doubt. "I thought Sonya was dead."
"Yeah. It's been three years now." Liu frowned. "I wonder what this really means?"
"Only one way to find out."
Liu took her hand. "Let's go talk to Rayden."
As soon as one stepped into the room, the first thought to cross the mind would not be, 'Hey, nice room.' It would be more of, 'Shit, where IS the room?' Littering the floor and covering the furniture were books upon books upon newspapers upon magazines about ghosts. In the center of the room, leaning against the headboard of the bed with a nightlight tilted down in his direction, sat the man taking notes from the books. And beside him sat a little Japanese girl, also engrossed in the written articles before her.
To some, the picture may have looked touching or humorous, but to Aunt Susan, it looked quite different. Concerned was an understatement for the emotions she felt as she watched the two throw their lives away on a worthless ghost hunt. Of course, as soon as Kaoru heard of the spirits really inhabiting the dock, from Johnny's wild account of that one night, she had been persistent in helping Johnny help Sonya. Susan was less than thrilled when he agreed, but was slightly reassured when he made the child promise not to go near the docks no matter what. If he caught her slipping out, she would be sent back to their house in LA and would be cared for by the housekeeper and Johnny's close friend Nicole Kidman. And Kaoru kept her promise, staying at home to read more books while Johnny slipped out at night to go and sit at the docks, waiting for something from his girlfriend. Each night he reported no new happenings.
Susan sighed as she leaned against the doorframe and silently observed her relatives. How she wished they would go back home. This quest to save Sonya's 'misplaced' spirit was putting a terrible strain on her, and she knew that when the two seekers realized that all of this was nothing more than a trick of mirrors and tales, she couldn't bear to think of how much it would hurt them both. Especially the little one. The girl had lost Sonya once; it wasn't fair to make her lose the Lieutenant again.
After a week of trying to talk the two out of their foolish pursuit, Susan finally gave up and called in the only person she could think of to help. Perhaps-
The cell phone rang. Without removing his eyes from the text in front of him, Johnny reached over and picked up the beeping box. Susan, who stood in the doorway, heard only about five words escape her nephew's mouth before she heard a knock down below. Quickly turning she headed down the stairs to greet the new arrival, a quick prayer passing her lips that things may get better from here on in.
Kaoru sat and listened for over an hour as Johnny went into a lengthy discussion with their old friend Jax. She smiled as she thought about him, and all the help he had given to keep her safe during the crisis with the Devil's Destiny. From what she heard from Johnny, he had taken on a new partner after Sonya's death, some guy named Kurtis Stryker who was the leader of a riot prevention group and was promoted into the Special Forces after unintentionally capturing some other guy named Jarek, a member of the Black Dragon group Sonya had hated so much.
Now Johnny was trying to convince him that his dead partner was alive… to a point. By the conversation on her side, Kaoru could tell Jax wasn't taking this with an open heart.
"No, Jax, seriously-yes I saw her… Exactly how she looked that night… I'm not crazy… I want you to come and see for yourself! No, this is not a joke… what do you mean, what am I going to do about it? I'm gonna help her! No, I don't know how- I'm getting help from Rayden and- oh, don't start that again. You saw the boat, didn't you?" Johnny sighed in exasperation. "All right," he allowed as he rubbed his eyes. "Yes, I understand. I really just felt you should know, ya know? Ok, yeah. I'll tell her. See ya later, man. Bye." He pressed end and looked at Kaoru. "Jax says hi."
"Hi."
"He didn't believe me."
Kaoru took his hand. "It's ok. Jax is a tough guy, but he took Sonya's death pretty hard. I can understand why he wouldn't want to believe this. It's just too painful without proof."
Johnny nodded. "Ok. All right, I need something to eat. You want anything?"
"No, I'm good."
"Ok, then." Johnny got to his feet.
"Oh, Johnny?"
He turned with an inquisitive glance.
"What boat were you talking about?"
Johnny smiled lightly as a picture of Sonya with a gun in his jaw came back to him. "Remind me to tell you about it sometime. It'll make a good bedtime story."
Kaoru rolled her eyes. "I don't do bedtime stories anymore, Johnny!"
He shrugged. "Then I guess you'll just have to use your imagination." He turned and walked out.
"Johnny! You suck!"
He burst out laughing as he walked down the steps, but his heart became slightly heavy. If not for the tournament…
"-And I told him that all of this was a crazy idea, but he wouldn't listen to me! So now I don't know what to do."
Johnny looked to the sky and shook his head a bit as he walked around the hall into the kitchen.
"Talking to yourself again, Sus-" Johnny stopped, frozen in place. "What are you doing here?"
Rising with the grace of a cat, the tall brunette stood and turned to face him, a shy smile on her lips and sparks of concern flickering in her emerald green eyes. Her attire was beige, all professional, with a touch of the sultry character she was well known for. Her skirt rose to just the right height above her knees as to give a tantalizing glimpse of her firm legs, and her v-neck left enough to the imagination to drive any man out of his mind. All of this contrasted her perfect posture and accented features, leaving any onlooker dizzy between her royal attitude and seductive appearance.
"Hello, John. You're looking wonderful, as ever."
It took the actor a moment to get his voice back. "Cindy. I-" Johnny stopped and shifted his attention to his aunt. "I wasn't expecting this."
Susan cleared her throat. "I know. I called her last night."
"Sue was very upset," she supplied softly. "I came here as quickly as I could."
Johnny looked at her again, but said nothing. His eyes seemed hot with anger, but his face remained expressionless.
"John?" Susan asked softly.
"Will you leave us alone for a minute?"
She nodded mutely and left the room, her feet padding dully on the stairs as she went to see to Kaoru.
"What are you doing here, Cindy?"
She sighed and sat. "Like I said, Sue called me. She's worried about you. She hoped that we could talk about this."
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Oh, no, of course not. I mean it really is the latest rage to go out and try to save the soul of your dead girlfriend. Everyone in Hollywood is doing it," Cindy snapped sarcastically.
"At least she has a soul," Johnny replied flatly.
Cindy leaned back in her chair, a flinch crossing her face. "All right. Maybe what I said was uncalled for-"
"Quite."
"-But can't we talk about it?" she asked quietly as she looked up at him. "Johnny, this is something very serious and I really feel-"
"That it's none of your business, " Johnny cut her off. "It's great if Susan wanted to invite you over for a week, hey, it's her house. But it doesn't mean you have to get involved in my personal life."
"Personal? Personal! John, are you at all aware of the world going on outside your little universe? It's called reality, sweetheart, and you better get a good grip on it. You've already been labeled a fake, and I'm sure you remember how long it took you to get over that."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, nothing much," she replied flip. "The tabloids have just been going ape shit over the newest story: Johnny Cage Dating Dead Girlfriend. Pictures Inside."
His eyebrow rose. "Pictures?"
"Badly edited cut and pasted remakes. But that's not the point. People are beginning to think your crazy."
"Good for them. I don't care."
Cindy looked taken aback. "What?" she asked in disbelief.
"I. Don't. Care," he annunciated. "It doesn't matter to me. People will think what they want. I'm not going to let my life stop because of it."
"But, your career…"
"I've made enough money off of previous movies to live perfectly well for the rest of my life. If I lose my acting job, fine, whatever."
Cindy sat in stunned silence.
Johnny smirked. "Surprised?"
"Yes. And impressed. You've changed a lot Johnny."
"Yeah, no thanks to you, Super Model. You up and left before you had a chance to see me change."
Cindy bristled. "I'm here now," she stated.
"Because my aunt asked you to come."
"Because I care about you."
Johnny laughed bitterly. "I'll bet! It was quite clear to me when you filed for and signed the divorce papers just how much you care!"
Cindy suddenly stood, anger flashing in her eyes. "Those were difficult times for me, Johnny. There were circumstances involved and I had to make a choice. I never intended-"
"Oh, for God's sake," Johnny spat. "You never intended, ha! I think you meant you never loved. Not surprising, a money hungry anorexic bitch like yourself isn't capable of such a thing!"
"I don't see you having done any better during that time! Mr. Movie Star with an ego bigger than Britney Spear's latest breast implants! You were always more concerned with how great your fighting skills were to how well my day went!"
"Your day consisted of sitting on a beach in a bikini and teasing the eighteen year old equipment boys with your cleavage! Excuse me if I didn't find anything strenuous in that 10 hour activity!"
"You paranoid narcissistic sexist pig!"
"Better than being a two-timing blue light special slut!"
Cindy took a breath. "And you wonder why I left you," she said quietly.
Johnny held her gaze with a hint of hurt, but quickly covered it. "I don't wonder. I just tell God 'Thank you' every morning," he replied evenly.
The beautiful woman nodded. "I'm glad we still have something in common."
"Ha! I knew it! You just admitted you don't care!" Johnny exclaimed, but his tone wasn't harsh. It teetered on annoying and playful, the type of combination that used to make Cindy melt to her feet.
And to his surprise, it worked. Cindy laughed quietly. "I guess you knew it would only take a bit of time to get through, huh?" She shook her head. "I-I'm sorry, about what I said. I didn't mean it. It's just the jet lag and the long hours of seducing the camera boys," she said with a smile.
But the smile Johnny had quickly faded and he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Um, the thing about the divorce-"
"Forget it. What's done is done. We need to worry about now."
His head rolled back and his look went up to the ceiling. "Cindy, I appreciate your concern, but this really doesn't pertain to you. I think it's best if you just stay out of it. Ok?" he asked softly, trying to keep from being cold or bitter.
"Did you see the paper today?"
"Huh?" Johnny was momentarily confused by the change in topic. "Uh, no, Susan stopped getting the weekly paper a while ago."
Cindy sighed. "There was an article in the paper. It was about the docks, the murders, and your ghosts."
"What?" he asked quickly.
"Three more people died yesterday."
"What?!"
"And one of them was the man who's been performing the killings." Cindy reached into her purse and pulled out a small piece of newsprint. "Robert A. Cullingham, age 54. Declared mentally ill and was fired from his job as a special effects specialist for Universal Pictures." She stepped closer to Johnny and put a tentative hand on his upper arm. "He had robbed the studio one night and took out a lot of expensive film equipment, as well as a new technology for making holographic projections so actors could get a sense of where they were looking when dealing with non-existing objects. He's been using that equipment to bring unsuspecting victims to the dock to see if the ghost stories were real, scare them, and kill them off." Her voice dropped slightly. "The cops have been hunting him for quite sometime, and they got a tip about a man of his description working at the docks. Apparently, while he was setting up for a spook, the cops found him and took him down, but not before he took out two others, high school students from the area." She paused.
"They have proof, John. These ghosts were created by new state of the art technological enhancements. Even the cops were fooled when they turned them on."
"No…"
"I'm sorry, but it was a trick, like Susan said. It was all fake. With what you saw, I'm just glad you're still alive."
Johnny pushed away her hand. "No, wait. I really saw her. I swear I did."
"You saw a hologram, Johnny. Nothing more. And you were so tired that night-"
But Johnny didn't listen. He turned away from her and stared out the kitchen window. He didn't want to believe her… but was it possible that Sonya really was gone?
"Johnny?"
"I can't. Not yet. I'm going to bed." He turned away from her and left the kitchen. He shut the door in his room and locked it before walking out onto the balcony and falling into one of the chairs. Doubts began to form in his mind, but he had been shot, he saw it, how could a hologram make that? With these different questions, and no concern for what his ex-wife was doing below, he fell asleep.