A Phantom Awaits You by Flashbeagle
Chapter Seven: Kim and Some Interesting Stuff
"So…where should we start?" Lotte asked.
"I wish I knew." I muttered.
"Well, what we could do is…um, no, never mind." Nate started.
"Never mind what?" Lawrence asked.
"Well, I was just gonna say let's walk around and try to see if we see anything, but that's kind of obvious…" Nate scratched the side of his head.
"We could look for stuff." I said. "I mean, I know it's nothing, but it's a start."
Lawrence nodded. "Yeah."
"So, um, where do we start?" Lotte asked.
"Good question." I said.
"And what would we be looking for?" Lotte continued.
"I have no idea." I responded.
"Well," Lawrence spoke up. "Yesterday, Miss Kim and I saw Melanie in the ballroom. Maybe we could look there."
"It's a start." Lotte reasoned. She caught my gaze and we both shared a laugh about overusing the word "start".
Looking around the ballroom proved pretty pointless. Why is it that when you want to find a ghost you can't? But when you want them to stay far away, they're everywhere?
We left the ballroom and searched through the library, Melanie's room, and the portrait gallery. As we looked at the paintings, Lotte said something.
"How sure are you that Melanie's father is the Phantom?"
"Well, Miss Lotte, we're not. Sure, I mean." Lawrence shrugged. "But it makes sense! It really makes sense!"
"Do you have any other suspects?" Lotte asked.
Whoa. I feel like a character in a Mary Higgins Clark mystery novel or something, like Lotte's a policewoman and I'm a witness to a brutal murder.
"Well, um…I don't know. Larry? You got any suspects?" I asked.
"Well…" Lawrence said.
"Think Larry!" I encouraged. "Who would want to dangle her in front of you like that?"
"Well, I don't know." Lawrence shook his head.
"Come on!" Lotte said. "There's got to be someone."
"A lot of other men wanted to marry Melanie. Do you think it's one of them?" I asked.
"Could be. It's just that none of them seemed to care about who she was inside. All they cared about was that she was pretty and rich. I didn't- I don't –think any of them were THAT concerned with her."
"Did any of them dislike you?" Lotte questioned.
"I don't think any of them liked me at all. I know it's hard for you to believe, and it's hard for me to believe too, but the only person I can see doing this is Mr. Ravenswood. It makes perfect sense. This was his house, he had an insane fear of dying, and he thought I was going to take Melanie away forever." He shrugged. "I don't know what else to think."
There was a period of silence. Been a lot of those lately.
"Okay, I know this will sound weird, but I really hope that the Phantom is Mr. Ravenswood." I spoke up.
Lotte looked at me strangely. "Why?"
"Because it'll mean I'm finally right about something."
Lotte shook her head. "I just don't know, Kim. I just don't know."
"Well, there's that theory Larry and I had about the Phantomette."
"Phantomette?" Nate repeated.
"Well, see if both Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood haunted the house, we figured they could be the Phantom and Phantomette. Or Phantoma."
Lotte snickered. "You're crazy, Kim!"
"Crazy like a fox." I smiled.
Lotte laughed.
Nate looked confused. "What?"
"Ugh." She groaned. "Crazy like a fox. Her last name is Fox!"
"Oh, yeah!" Nate laughed, slightly sheepishly. "I get it now!"
"Idiot." Lotte muttered under her breath.
"So, um, what're we gonna do now?" I asked, trying to avoid another Nate-Lotte argument.
"Let's split up." Nate suggested. "And look!"
"For what?" Lawrence asked.
"Um, I don't know." Nate said. "Clues?"
"One of the Hardy Boys you ain't." Lotte muttered.
"Who?" Nate asked.
"Oh-kay. I'll go to Boot Hill, the cemetery. Nate, you take the ballroom and look through it again. Kim, you take the parlor and Lotte, go upstairs." Lawrence said diplomatically.
"Why do I have to go upstairs by myself?" Lotte asked.
"Because nobody wants you around." Nate said.
"Whoa, that was cold, Nate." I said.
"Jackass." Lotte cursed.
"Hey, hey!" Lawrence said. "Come on you two! Just TRY to get along!"
"Lotte, I'll go upstairs with you." I volunteered.
"Thank you!" She said.
Lotte and I dashed upstairs, and started searching rooms for anything suspicious-looking. We weren't very successful.
"Stupid Nate." She scoffed. "I don't know, look for clues?" She mocked.
"He likes you, you know."
"What?" Lotte looked shocked.
"Nate likes you."
"Kim, are you crazy? Nate hates me!"
"Oh no, he doesn't. Well, it possibly could be one of those love-hate relationships."
Lotte seemed confused. "How, how'd you know?"
"You didn't notice how he looked at you when you were making goo-goo eyes at Larry when you two first met him. He was totally jealous! That's why he made fun of you when you said that thing about Larry being an ex-railroad worker is fascinating."
"Kim, you don't understand. Nate's always teasing me. I never even talked to him once, but when we both joined the school newspaper, suddenly I was wisecrack of the week fodder for him. If anything that comes out of Nate's mouth can be considered wise."
"Duh."
"What?"
"Lotte, as little as I know or understand about the male gender, some guys are just way too obvious in matters of love and stuff."
"If he was so obvious, why didn't I notice?"
"Sometimes it takes an outsider to see those things."
Lotte shook her head. "Now this I REALLY don't believe."
"Think of the bright side. I mean, Nate's not hideously deformed or anything. I mean, he's pretty cute if you like the under-18 type. I know he's not going to be attending Harvard or Yale any time in the future, but he's pretty decent. Even if he's not the brightest star in the constellation."
Lotte laughed lightly. "I don't know. I feel like I have to re-evaluate the way I think about Nate.
"Guys are a confusing thing." I agreed.
Lotte opened a drawer, and took out an envelope. "Hmm…this is addressed to someone named Miss Hawthorne."
"Hawthorne. That name rings a bell." I nodded. "Open it."
Lotte tore the envelope open, and read through the letter once.
"Hey, this is interesting."
"Well, what's it say?" I asked.
"June 14, 1860." She started. "Dear Roberta,"
I was all ears.
"Roberta, my dearest friend, please do not be angry with me! Please do not take my rejection of your brother's marriage proposal as any disrespect towards you and your family. It was very kind of him to offer, but my heart is Lawrence's. He is the only man I will ever love. I know that your brother cares for me, but I can never see him as anything other than a friend. I lost my heart to Lawrence the moment I laid eyes on him. Roberta, my wedding will take place on June 21, the first day of summer. It would mean the world to me if you would be my maid of honor. I love you as the sister I never had. I cannot bear to have you angry at me! Please forgive me if I have in any way hurt you or your family. Sincerely, Melanie."
"She wrote this on the 14th and her wedding was the 21st? She was kind of cutting it close. But I guess she never sent it out because of the earthquake. I wonder if Roberta was one of the people who died." I said.
Lotte had a big smile on her face.
"What are you smiling about?" I asked her.
"I think we have a new candidate for the Phantom" She smiled.
"You say that as if you're casting the movie version of the Lloyd Webber musical."
Lotte dashed out of the room.
"Hey, where are you going?" I called.
"To tell Larry and Nate about it!" She called from far off.
I shrugged and walked along after her. She had been so far ahead of me, I lost track of her. By the time I caught up to her, she was already in the ballroom talking to- no, wait, make that arguing- with Nate.
"You dumbass!" Lotte yelled.
"Bee-yatch!" Nate countered.
"Jerkass!"
"Stupid!"
"Immature!"
"Too mature!"
"What kind of insult is that?" Lotte asked. I slunk into the ballroom, and watched them argue from the doorway. It was actually pretty damn funny. They carried on like that for awhile until Nate said something totally unexpected.
"I love you!" Except he shouted it like an insult.
"I love you too!" Lotte shouted it back the exact same way. Then, her expression totally changed. Hmm…seems Lotte didn't tell me something earlier…
"You love me?"
"You love me too?" Nate asked.
Then, they did something else unexpected. They totally kissed.
I saw Melanie Ravenswood materialize over the staircase. There was a look of tormented sadness in her eyes. I didn't know why she was so sad about Lotte and Nate kissing, but then I remembered the picture of Melanie and Lawrence that was in the parlor. Nate was holding Lotte in almost the exact same way. Except they were playing an intense match of tonsil hockey, which Melanie and Lawrence were not doing in the photograph. Melanie looked deep into my eyes, with her really, really sad ones. A chill ran down my spine, and she disappeared.
After they finally broke the embrace, Lotte and Nate looked up. Then they both got pale.
"Kim?" They both said hoarsely.
"Don't worry about it. I thought it was cute." I said, smiling. But I was still haunted by that look in Melanie's eyes.
"Christine and Raoul- oh, I'm sorry- Nate and Lotte?"
Lotte laughed. Nate looked confused.
"What is it, Kim?" She asked.
"Guys, I saw something really weird."
"What?" Nate asked.
"While the two of you were…locked in a passionate embrace, Melanie appeared. And she saw the two of you, and noticed you. She looked all sad, and I couldn't figure out why, but then I remembered that there was this picture of Melanie and Lawrence where he was holding her in the same way you were holding Lotte, Nate. Except they weren't making out."
"Nate and I were not making out." Lotte protested.
"Okay, okay. They weren't kissing. But you should have seen how weird she looked. She was all anguished."
"Whoa. Creepy."
"But you know what gets me? Melanie, according to Lawrence, never notices anything. She just walks around singing all the time."
"That IS weird." Lotte said.
"Yeah…weird." Nate agreed.
Notes: Sorry this is late! Aah, my life I tell you…but anyway, in the next chapter, Kim and the gang head out to Boot Hill, the graveyard!