A Ghostly Romance

I awoke from my bed, eyes puffy and red from my crying the night before. I wanted Michael to be with me. I missed him. I wanted to apologize. I needed him in my life. Everything just seems so...lifeless without him. Dead and dull.

I sat up in my bed, sighing. The thing is, I didn't even know why he left. The real reason why I haven't seen him in a while. He loves me and that was clear to see in his pained expression last night. If he loved me, how could he leave me? 

I stood up and walked to my door, feeling a little confused. It was open when I fell asleep yesterday. Now it was closed and locked. I shrugged it off and went down the hall. 

Richard's door was halfway open. Everything was thrown onto the floor. It looked like someone trashed the place. Letting curiosity take it's hold, I tiptoed to his door, peeking inside the door. 

All of the objects on his desk was thrown on the floor. The bookcase on the far side of his room was face down on the floor of his bedroom. What on earth happened in here? I thought stepping towards the middle of his room. The small sun rays that escaped from the curtains illuminated the shards of glass on the floor just in time for me to step back. Looking at the floor, I noticed a picture frame with it's back facing upward. There was no doubt in my mind that the glass had come from the frame. I carefully leaned over and removed the picture from the frame. 

The picture was two years old. A couple of teenagers, probably fifteen, were at some park that wasn't familiar to me. The guy had his arm wrapped around the petite black-haired girl with the largest smile on his face. The girl seemed a little embarrassed to get her picture taken which was obviously shown in her slightly pink cheeks. Why would Richard have this in his room? As I continued looking at the picture, I noticed a notebook open on the floor. I reached for it and began flipping through it. 

"What the hell...?" I mumbled, a tad confused. Each page had the words 'that bitch is going to pay' written in dark black ink over and over and over. Whoever wrote it pressed the pen so hard into the paper that there were holes on almost every sheet.

I stared at the picture and notebook for a couple of seconds, trying to understand why any of this was even here. It didnt make any sense. A small breeze came into the room, distracting me from my jumbled thoughts. I looked up and saw that the window was locked. Listening carefully I heard the front door close.

Shit, I thought. I shoved the picture back in the frame and scurried back to my room, locking the door behind me. What the  hell is going on here?

I leaned against my door for a couple seconds when I felt my cell phone vibrate in my right pocket and answered it without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" I answered groggily and monotonously. 

"Dani!" a high pitched voice squealed. "I haven't talked to you in forever!"

I groaned. Elizabeth finally "found" me after I tried so hard to avoid her. 

"I'm outside your house right now. Get dressed. I want you to meet a friend of mine."

"I'm kind of busy..."

As usual, she began whining. "I haven't talked to you in a long time and I really want to do something with you because..."

"Fine!" I agreed, not wanting to hear her whine for a second longer."

"Where are we going?" I asked, looking outside my window to see her red mini Cooper parked outside. 

"You'll just have to wait and see," she said in a sing song voice, hanging up the phone. 

Oh, great. Now what is she going to make me do? 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I stepped out of Elizabeth's car into the bright sunlight. I shielded my eyes from the sun with my right hand as I read the sign above the store door in front of me: Madam Baskov's Fortunes. 

"You've got to be kidding me..." I mumbled. 

"Come on!" Elizabeth said, dragging me inside the store. "You're going to love her."