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Chapter 9: All's Well That Ends Well

"Oh. My. Gosh." K.C. murmured as she stared at Edie in amazement. The group had come together in the courtyard after Sam had mentioned that their new friend was actually the spirit who died in the courtyard.

Riley walked around her and studied her before asking her a huge question.

"Your hand went through Sam's face just now," he began, "But when we all shook hands with you, we touched a solid hand. How is that possible?"

"It's kind of difficult to explain but if I concentrate my energy hard enough, I can maintain a solid appearance for up to 6 hours," she slowly replied, "That's how I was able to sit on the rides and touch your hands."

"Do you get weak if the 6 hours approaches?" Zach asked her, "You hung with us for about 4 hours and you took off after that."

"You are correct," Edie confirmed, "I left because I was losing energy and was starting to lose grip on staying solid."

Riley ran a hand through his hair. He had never seen anything like this, ever, in his life.

"So uh," Zach nervously began, "About those ghosts who haunt the locker room?"

"One of them was my year," Edie quickly replied, "He died in sophomore year when some football players targeted him for supposedly being homosexual. He died from a loss of blood when everyone beat him up. That's why he's a bit violent-it hurts him that he's still tied to the school where people taunted him and killed him off."

Jackie shuddered at the thought of the poor boy dying at the hands of a full football team.

K.C., who had been silent up to this point, spoke up, "You mentioned your unfinished painting. What happened to it?"

Edie shrugged sorrowfully and told K.C. that the killer had run off with the painting.

"Which way did he go?" Sam suddenly asked her, "Do you happen to remember which path he took?" Edie thought about it carefully and pointed straight ahead of her.

"He or She, I couldn't tell because they wore a hood, took my painting and went straight, then went right. Everything after that is unknown since I was starting to lose sight after being shot," Edie recalled as she used her arm to gesture the killer's path.

Jackie swallowed hard and clenched her fingers into a tight fist. She felt sorry for Edie. Here was a perfectly normal girl who had worked hard on something then had her life brutally taken away from her and her work stolen before her dying eyes.

"Let's try to find it," she firmly told the group. She pointed to a row of classrooms and began directing everyone to take a room to search in. Riley wasted no time sprinting over to the first room to begin the search. Zach followed with Sam as they entered the second room. K.C. walked briskly over to the third room and Jackie armed herself with a flashlight to search the fourth room.

"I am touched by your act Jackie," murmured Edie as she followed Jackie inside the fourth classroom, "But why the change of heart?"

Jackie turned to face Edie. Edie was right, she was very suspicious of her from the very beginning. Everything she did screamed something was wrong with her. But after hearing what had happened to Edie and bursting Sam's love-struck bubble, she needed to set things straight. Finding the painting was the very least thing she could do for Edie.

"Because...because what happened to you was unfair," Jackie thoughtfully replied, "You had a normal life until it was robbed from you. And you haven't done anything but be nice to us. We owe you a hand in looking for your lost painting." Edie beamed at her and warmly thanked Jackie.

Jackie began searching through cupboards and under tables but found nothing.

"Anything guys?" she radioed to the rest of the group. A chorus of no's answered back immediately.

Edie who had been watching Jackie search spoke up all of a sudden.

"Wait a second," she slowly announced as she pointed to the white board, "Something is off about that board." Jackie's head jerked upward as she followed Edie's pointing finger to the left white board. Edie was right, the board seemed crooked and loose. Even though the school was falling apart, there was something off about the white board. Jackie could feel her heart pounding wildly as she stood up slowly and walked to the white board. She quickly radioed Riley for help since it was going to be heavy. Riley dashed in, seconds after her call with Sam, Zach, and K.C. following behind.

Riley and Sam grabbed one side of the board and K.C. helped Jackie with the other. The board groaned and cracked in half before falling onto the floor, revealing what looked like a hidden door in the wall.

Sam shakily reached for the handle of the door and pulled with all his might to open it. The door slowly dragged open and blew out a cloud of dust. Riley turned his flashlight on and shone it on the inside of the hidden door. His light caught a slight shine of acrylic

paint and he reached into the hidden space for the item. Sam caught the tail end of the rectangular canvas and threw off a dust cover on top of the work.

"Oh man," gasped Edie, "This is it! After all this time and I never thought to check this room." Sam smiled as he blew the excess dust off the work and handed it to her. Edie's ghostly hands accepted the painting carefully and she beamed at the group.

"I cannot thank you enough Othersiders," she whispered happily, "All I can say is, I will miss you."

...

2 months later...

"Back to work again," sighed K.C. as she settled into her desk chair and began studying the new batch of locations on her computer. Jackie joined her and plopped a newspaper article down in front of her.

"I guess our investigation helped someone else out too," she remarked brightly, "The police reopened Edie's case and were able to use the improved DNA technology to gather up blood and bullet samples to figure out an end to her case. They might have a suspect too."

"Really?" Sam joined in as he read the bi-line, "That's awesome news. Good for Edie, justice will be served."

Riley and Zach entered the room carrying a large package at that moment and placed it carefully on the table.

"What's in that Riley?" K.C. asked him as she peered at the well package container.

Riley shrugged as he pulled a pair of scissors out of the pencil cup and began slicing away the tape on the edges of the box.

"We will find out in a few minutes," he answered her smartly. He folded back the flaps and removed packing paper that covered the item within the box.

"Is that...us?" Jackie questioned as she peered at the unframed painting in the box. Riley lifted it from the container and held it out for everyone to see. It was a group painting of The Othersiders. Jackie and K.C. were side by side smiling. Zach had a gadget in his hands that he was fiddling with. Sam was smiling brightly at the viewer and Riley looked authoritative in a good way.

"This is amazing," breathed K.C. as she studied the work, "Was there an address on the box?"

Riley shook his head no. "I found it on my porch this morning before coming here."

Sam smiled as he studied the painted version of himself. "I think I know who did this," he said with a smile, "Thank you."