Regrets:
Chapter Nine:
April stared at me as if I'd lost my head or something. Perhaps I had, though not in the literal sense, of course. Maybe telling her wasn't the best idea. She looked at me as if she thought I was crazy.
"Paul," she said slowly, talking the way you would to a five year old. I glowered at her, but she didn't seem to notice. "Eva is dead."
I shot her an annoyed look. "I know." Really, I just wanted to shout, 'of course I know! Your brother murdered her!' but then April wouldn't trust me and it would be an all-round bad idea because my plan would fail, and I don't want that to happen.
She lowered her voice and leaned forwards, even though no one else was there. "We are talking about the one who's dead, aren't we?"
"Yes."
She suddenly seemed to lose her temper and leaned over, close to my face and screamed, "How could you, Paul? I thought you cared! But now you're lying to me, and I'd sooner not know than have you lying!"
Whoa! I nearly crashed into the car in front of me, swerving to the sidewalk and slamming my foot on the brake. I gave her a glare that I usually reserved to make somebody shut up, usually only used for De Silva, Suze and other ghosts. It worked.
Shame I couldn't kill De Silva for getting me into this mess. Not only is he already dead, but also he's probably in his next life right now. I hope he enjoys the Suze-free zone and remembers that he's left her all for me.
She flung the door open and stormed out of the car in a huff. As she stepped out, I sighed, got out, locked the door, walked after her and grabbed her arm. "I wasn't lying to you."
"She's dead, Paul! Get it? Dead! It's bad enough without you saying that she's alive and people are still being punished for her murder!"
I let go of her and held up my hands defensively. "Did you hear me say Eva was alive?" I spoke to her slowly, like she had done to me before. "I am perfectly aware that Eva is dead."
"Oh?" April's usually steady voice raised an octave. "She foresaw her death then, did she, and just sat back waiting for it to happen, after running off to tell Suze who killed her?" She paused, and then added, "How did they even know each other, anyway?"
"They didn't."
"Oh, so she went running to the nearest person screaming that my brother was going to kill them? Honestly Paul, you are so horrible! I thought you understood, I thought-" She broke off and sniffed. "Never mind." She started to walk away, and I grabbed her by the arm again and spun her around to face me. Her eyes widened and she looked terrified, as if I was the murderer who was planning to plunge a knife straight into her chest or something. Why would anyone want to kill April, anyway? It's not worth it and there's nothing to gain.
Returning to the matter at hand, I gave a large sigh. This had to be complicated, didn't it? Why couldn't she get it into her thick head? Suze talked to Eva after she was dead. It's not that hard a concept to understand is it? "Eva is dead. She knows how she died because she was the one murdered," she opened her mouth to speak and so I raised a hand to stop her interrupting. Her mouth closed abruptly. She wanted to listen to this. "She told Suze about it the other day."
"She was dead the other day."
Oh, for crying out loud! How simple did she want this? I lost my temper. "Look, April! It's like this: Suze sees dead people."
There was a silence that almost seemed deafening. It was lucky that nobody else was around. Well, I guess I could have worded it more delicately, but she just wasn't getting the picture. Geez, what did she want, anyway? A sign? A diagram?
April looked enraged again. Well, maybe quoting the movie wasn't such a good idea. "That isn't funny, Paul!"
"I know," I supplied dryly, "I'm not laughing."
She changed tactics. "And how do you know that Suze sees dead people? She told you? Oh, is that why you loved her all of a sudden? You knew she was so unique? Honestly, Paul, you're really-"
"Really what?" I enquired, an eyebrow raised. "And I liked Suze before I knew that she saw dead people. And as for how I know," I was slightly taller than her so bent down slowly, putting my face level with hers, and smirked, "I know because I see them too."
April took a step backwards, her voice wobbling as she spoke. "I – You're lying."
I smiled at her. "Oh, but I'm not." I grabbed her arm again and dragged her onwards, otherwise we'd end up being stuck there all night. "You want to know what happened to Jesse? I'll tell you."
"Don't lie to me about it, Paul," she said softly.
"Oh, I won't, but whether or not you choose to believe the truth doesn't lie with me," I told her, and she gave a slight nod, looking as if she'd sooner be Eva than having this conversation with me right now.
"Jesse is – was – a ghost." I told her. April stared at me.
"Suze loved a ghost?" she asked, incredulously. "I don't think that would ever happen, Paul."
I scowled, and ignored her. "To make a long story short, I exorcised him."
She laughed nervously. "Funny joke. You can drop it now."
I looked at her levelly and said, "you told me that you never thought I'd lie concerning why Suze hates me. Are you really going back on that?"
She stared at me. At first I thought she didn't believe me, but then she stopped, pulling me to a halt, too. "No," she said miserably, then came the explosion. "Wait a minute… She loved him and you exorcised him?"
"Yes," I said, as if I did it every day. Which is true enough, I guess. It's not my fault when Suze's charity cases decide to come to me instead of her, is it? "Besides, it was for her own good."
"Yeah, I'm sure it was," sniffed April. "Listen, forget about the ride home. I'll walk from here."
"What? Why?" Come on April; don't turn against me now.
"I just really need to go and think, that's all… Bye."
I watched as she walked off. This whole thing about De Silva better not make her stop going to the Winter Formal with me. I it did my plan would be ruined. I did not need that to happen. Suze and De Silva are – or were - always wrecking my plans. I can't hate Suze for it, though – besides, I'm willing to bet on the cause of it being de Silva's 'angelic' influence.
Angel my arse.
I sighed, and walked back to my car. I decided that I had better go home and formulate some plans about the best way to torture ghosts that had already moved on.
A/N: How quick was that? You can thank Chloe for this quick update. She got dead keen and wrote the whole thing. I just edited it. Anyway, thanks for the reviews. Here are the replies:
SwEeT-sHoRtEy: You know – a cliffy. I don't really know how to describe it. I'm missing Eastenders for Pete's sake! I can't be expected to explain what a cliff hanger is now!
Nikki007: Will Paul get Suze? I guess you're going to have to wait and find out.
Lollilicious: I think we did mention it briefly. I'll try and add a proper description next chapter. I was trying to draw a picture of her today but it turned out weird. She looked like an evil thirty-year-old rather than a nice seventeen-year-old. Whatever. I'll shut up now. Eastenders will be over by the time I've finished this.