A Ghostly Romance

Chapter 28

I went into the kitchen and looked at the calendar. I smiled. Richard's dad would be coming to pick him up in three days. No more Richard. I squealed and continued making myself breakfast. Counting down the days until Richard's departure was better than counting how long Michael's been away. I sighed and heated up some hot chocolate. 

Michael's been gone for four days. I didn't like it at all. I haven't been able to get into his mind as well as I did the first time. Now it's just fuzzy bits of information. Nothing that clear. I knew he was trying to do something. He's been trying to save his energy. And he was struggling with himself. Should he continue or should he...? I'm not sure what the second option was exactly, but it isn't too hard to figure out. If only I knew what exactly he was doing! It's scaring me because I know that he has something big planned. I think it has to do with Kevin. 

I looked down at the small cuts on my arm. I really hope he doesn't try to do anything just because of his stupid pride. Whatever he was planning, would probably need more energy than he had left. 

"Danielle," I heard from behind me. I turned and saw Richard walk into the kitchen. 

"What do you want, Richard?" I asked turning my back to him. 

I felt his arms snake around my waist. 

"Get off!" I screamed at him, pushing him back. 

"But Danielle," he said, a confused look on his face. "Why would you yell at a guy you love?"

I snorted. "I hope you're not referring to yourself. I don't love you. I don't even like you."

"You do, Dani. Don't lie to me."

"Stop being such a freak and leave me alone." 

"You shouldn't talk to me that way, Dani," he said threateningly. 

"What are you going to do about it?" I asked. He said nothing and stared at me with this weird look on his face, like he was concentrating hard. His face began turning red. 

"Fuck off." I muttered loud enough for him to hear. 

"You don't love me?" he asked. "They were right about you...they all were. You just like messing with me because you're a selfish bitch."

"What did you just say to me?" I asked, feeling anger bubbling within me. 

"They think you're a selfish bitch who liked to mess with guys like me. They were right. I didn't want to believe them but I should have. You're a bitch."

"Who's they?" I asked. 

"It doesn't matter. All that does matter is that they were right." Richard's eyes began to get watery. "Im going to listen to them from now on. They're never wrong. I know that now. They saw right through your charade. I'll do what they say because they're never wrong. I'll get hurt if I don't listen again. I should have. I will."

Richard turned around and walked upstairs. I heard him stomp upstairs and slam his bedroom door. 

"Freak," I muttered. I washed my dishes and ran up to my room. As I passed Richard's room, I heard him talking to himself...as always. That boy really has problems. 

I jumped onto my bed and listened to my iPod for about an hour when I heard the doorbell ring. Feeling lazy, I stayed in bed, but heard the stairs creaking and then the door open. 

"Uh, hey," I heard Kevin say. 

I chuckled to myself. Hearing his voice used to make me weak in the knees. Now there's another boy I've got on my mind. 

"Is Dani home?" I heard him ask. 

"You need to stop coming over here," I heard Richard say. "You're here all the time. Don't think I don't see you waiting in front of the house every day."

"I just really need to talk to Dani," Kevin said, his tone sounding a little angry.

"What? So you can hit her again?"

Kevin paused. "Just tell her I stopped by."

I heard the door slam and Richard's heavy footsteps go up the stairs again. My door opened. 

"I'll protect you always, Dani if anyone ever tries to hurt you."

"The bitch wants you out of her room," I said, reaching for the paperback book beside me. 

"I still love you, Dani," he said. 

I felt nothing but disgust. Here was the guy that tried walking in on me while I was taking a shower. Here's the guy that would sneak into my room at night and watch me sleep. Here's the guy who argues with himself and hits himself. Here's the guy who thinks I love him back. Here's the guy who just called me a bitch. 

"Get the fuck away from me, you perverted freak," I yelled throwing the book at him. 

He slammed the door and the book bounced off the door. He opened it and looked at the book on the floor with hurt in his eyes. Then back at me. The hurt vanished and his eyes turned into thin slits, glaring harshly at me. 

"You're going to be sorry," he said, slamming the door behind him. I ran to the door and locked it. I heard him yell, "you're a fucking bitch!" before he slammed his bedroom door. 

Why does everyone say that? I thought. "You're going to pay" became words that were all too familiar to me.

I threw myself on my bed and felt nervous. A little scared and anxious too. It might've been my emotions since I felt worried, but it couldve been Michael's too. Oh, how I've missed him! My heart ached being away from him. I wanted to be with him so much. The gentle thought floated into my mind: "I miss you, too."

*****MICHAEL'S POV*****

I sighed and closed up my mind. I missed her so much, too. But I needed to do this. This is for her. She'll understand that, won't she? Trying not to waste any energy on these extra emotions, I concentrated only on the guy laying on his bed. He'll be perfect, I thought. Why didn't I think of this before? I'll kill two birds with one stone...metaphorically, of course. Maybe. We'll see. I smiled as I let myself go evenfurther than I was now. This has to work. It just has to. Wait...I thought. How am I supposed to get Kevin over here? I need to conserve my energy at all costs. I watched as Richard got off his bed and opened a notebook from one of his drawers. The page he flipped to had the numbers of sll the people Dani knew or talked to. On the other page was a picture of Dani sleeping in her bedroom. I wanted to hurt this guy too. He ran his finger over the picture lovingly but then ripped it out. 

"I know you're right," he said. "Thats why I'm listening to you now."

He held the picture in his hands and ripped it into small pieces before picking up the phone and dialing a number.

"Hey, Kevin," he said into the phone. "Do you think you can stop by Dani's house? She wants to talk to you." he paused. "No, I haven't told her you stopped by to apologize-I know you're sorry..." he paused for a long time, listening to Kevin talk, obviously getting frustrated. 

"Just get over here now," Richard said. "I don't care if you're busy. Just get your ass down here. It'll probably be the last time you'll get to talk to her.-never mind what I mean. Get your ass here now." He hung up and an evil grin formed across his face. 

I felt a little worried. Last time he'd get to talk to Dani? I brushed off the thought. I'll be in Richard. He can't do anything. Besides, he's leaving soon. I spread myself further apart, ignoring Nowhere which now took up more than a quarter of my vision and continued growing. As long as I get them back, nothing matters. I spread myself out and readied to enter Richard's body. Like I said before, I might as well kill two birds with one stone.