Falling For a Ghost? How Is That Even Possible?

The instant I stepped inside the house, I wished I was dead.

Smack!

I was struck across the face and flew back against the front door.

“Where have you been!?” my father yelled.

“Out,” I mumbled.

“What?!” He grabbed the side of my arms and squeezed. I refused to look him in the eyes. The smell of alcohol was pouring off of him. “Answer me you whore!”

Tears were stinging my eyes. “I was walking a dog for a teacher.”

He let go of my arms then slapped me. “You should have said no! You’re too weak, Amy. It makes me sick to call you my daughter.” He spit the last word like it was poison.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

“I don’t want to look at you anymore. Get away from me.” He turned and went to plop down on the couch.

I quickly pulled myself together and ran up the stairs then slammed my door behind me. I sat on my bed and just let the hot tears flow down my cheeks. This was why Mom left. She couldn’t handle it, she couldn’t handle him. She couldn’t take the abuse any better than I could. If I left, where would I go? I didn’t have any friends or any other known relatives. I’d be out on the streets, alone. See? I had no choice. Only one more year of school then hopefully I’d get a full ride to some college…

I pushed myself up off the bed, grabbed some sweats and a T shirt, and then went into the bathroom. My hair was a bit messy, eyes red and puffy, and a nice bruise was forming on my cheek. Great. Just fucking great.

After I took a steamy hot shower, I went back into my room and laid on my bed. I closed my eyes and…

Amy…

My heart skipped a beat. Did I just hear a voice? I shook my head. I was probably just imagining things. I was always doing that. I closed my eyes again and let myself drift away.

I’ll protect you…

That time I was positive I heard a voice, but I was too close to sleep to care. Absently, I felt a pair of cold arms lightly wrap around me, and I fell asleep feeling safe and protected…

The next day at school went pretty much the same as usual. Before class started, Mrs. Green kindly thanked me for helping her out and told me not to worry at all about my grade in her class. I was a little surprised at this, but happy nonetheless.

Currently, Mrs. Green was reading out of the text book. I wasn’t sure what it was about cause I wasn’t really listening. Instead, my attention was more fixed on the note being passed in front of me.

Hilary was the most popular and pretty girl in school. She had long brown hair and big green eyes with tan skin. And Tori was her little sidekick. Tori had long blond hair, tan skin, and blue eyes. Everyone wanted to be them.

“Hey, Amy,” Hilary whispered. I raised my eyebrows at her. “Pass this to James.”

I sighed and took the note. For a second, I thought about reading it. I mean, what could Hilary or Tori do if I did read it? It wasn’t like they could just grabbed it from me cause that’d make way too much noise and Mrs. Green would hear. After a moment of hesitation, I reached out and started to hand it to James, captain of the football team.

“Miss Chambers?”

I dropped the note to the ground instantly. Maybe Mrs. Green didn’t see the note… Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James trying to reach the note with his foot. What an idiot. At least wait until she’s not paying any attention. God, I swear, just some people…

“You watched the War of Silver, right? I was just wondering what you thought of the ghosts.”

Whew.

“Uh, I thought they were okay…” What else was I supposed to say?

“Do you believe in ghosts?”

A sudden coldness ran down my spine, making me shiver. “I-I don’t really know, Mrs. Green. I think it’d be a little creepy if ghosts could be anywhere without us knowing.”

She nodded then went on talking to the class. “Some people believe ghosts are here because they have some unfinished business. Perhaps their killer is still out there, or maybe they need to make sure that a younger sibling gets taken care of, who knows?”

A kid in the front raised his hand. “So they’re kind of like guardian angels?”

Mrs. Green shrugged. “Perhaps. A man once believe that all ghosts answer to a council of higher ghosts…”

I sighed and laid my head down. Who the hell brought up the subject of ghosts?

Amy… /i]

My head snapped up and my heart rate increased. The voice…It was the same I heard last night…

Listen…

I knew it wasn’t my conscience, because duh! I was a girl. And girls don’t have male voices as their consciences. Maybe I was just hearing the voice because I was sleepy. Yeah, that must be it. But still…

I raised my hand.

“Yes? Amy?”

I stood up from my desk. “May I go to the restroom?”

Mrs. Green nodded. “Take as much time as you need. I understand that when it’s my time of month I could stay on the toilet for hours in pain.” I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I just left. She must have noticed how white my face was.

After rushing to the restroom, I immediately turned on the water and splashed my face. What was going on with me?! I was hearing voices in my head…This wasn’t good.

I quickly dried my face as the bell rang, but stopped as I was fixing to leave. When I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I thought I saw someone else… Tall, lean, and male…

But when I blinked, it was gone.