We're Not Alone

Ch. 7: In On The Secret

“If the three of us had the same dream…what if he did too…and then he would know about my secret…which would mean he’s mad at me…how could this happen. I don’t get it,” I started to babble as I paced around.

“Oh my god, he knows my secret! What am I going to do!” I exclaimed as I gripped onto Joe’s shoulders and started shaking him.

“Snap out of it girl” he shouted as he grabbed a pillow and hit me with it.

I starred blankly at him. “I needed that,” Then Kevin gripped my shoulders securely.

“Listen Melissa, I'm going to tell you what you’re going to do…” he started and I nodded. “You’re going to go find Nick and tell him the truth…you’re already in a deep hole, here’s shovel…start digging yourself out,” he said and Joe nodded in agreement with him.

I sighed. “Fine,” I turned around to see Katrina standing there.

“It’s not time yet Melissa, you cant tell him yet,” she said.

“What are you talking about? It’s not time yet?” I asked her.

“You cant do it yet”

“Well too bad, because I’m telling him,” I stated and Kevin and Joe were giving me concerned looks.

“Oh umm it’s just Mr. Lewis’ dead wife…who’s really bothering me right now”

“Melissa you have to listen to me…”

“I don’t have to do anything…I’m going to tell Nick…and then you’re going to give me some answers” I stated and then walked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found him at the park on a tire swing. I walked over to him. “Hey…I wanted to see if you were okay,” I said shyly. “You left in a hurry,” I added.

“It was just this stupid dream…”

“Maybe it wasn’t so stupid,” I admitted.

He chuckled without humor. “I didn’t want to say anything…maybe I was hoping it wouldn’t be true…have you been lying to me this whole time?”

“I havent been lying…”

“No. You just havent been telling me the whole truth either…that’s the reason why you’re always disappearing…you can see ghosts…who else knows?”

“Julianne, Johnathan…your brothers…”

“My brothers and my best friend know and I didn’t…” he said, incredulous as he stood to face me.

“I couldn’t tell you. You don’t understand…”

“You havn’t been here long Melissa…and I let my guard down with you…I told you my secrets…about my past…my family…and you’ve been holding out on me…I trusted you…I trusted you in a way I never trusted anyone else before…I cant believe I felt a weird connection with you…”

He began to walk away. “Nick! Please!” I begged as it began to pour. He continued to walk.

Katrina appeared next to me and I felt her sympathy. “I told you it wasn’t time,” she said gently.

“He knew anyway…he was just waiting for me to confirm it,” I told her.

I felt an empty space. I never felt so attached to someone before…and now I feel…I cant even describe it. He might think he’s done with me…I know he does…I’ve seen that look before…but I think me being around him…and my feelings for him…are inevitable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday was a drag. Julianne came over and I told her what happened. She showed some sympathy so I was trying to shrug it off and just ignore it all. The whole week, we walked to school together and and Nick would always ignore me or I’d catch him looking at me, trying to figure something out…it was Thursday now and Julianne and I saw Nick on the school grounds talking to Jonathan. He looked really angry…but then suddenly he looked upset and Jonathan was trying to cheer him up. He looked up and saw us and he gave me a sympathetic look and then Nick looked up, turned around and starred at me. I couldn’t read his expression though. The bell rang and we all just went to class. Nick sat with Jonathan as I sat with Julianne. Mr. Lewis began to teach and I tried to pay attention…but I really couldn’t. I hated having Nick feel the way he was feeling, toward me…no matter how much I tried to detach myself…I just couldn’t. He was different…and I was curious as to why. My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a sudden pain in my head. Then I reached my hands up to hold it and try to make the pain go away but when I pulled my hands down, I saw they were drenched in blood. Then I saw deep black and blue bruises on my arms and legs. My breath became irregular.

“Melissa, are you alright?” Julianne asked me. I looked up at her, then back down at my hands…the blood was gone.

Then the windows flew open and wind was blowing everything around. Mr. Lewis went to shut the windows and the wind got stronger. Once he finally got the windows shut, he turned to walk back to the front of the room…and we all looked at the chalk board. It had the words No One Is Safe written on them. Whispers erupted as Mr. Lewis looked at me. I also saw Nick and Jonathan were looking at me as well.

“Melissa…” Julianne started.

“I know Jules” I muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After school, Jules and I were walking down the hallway, to leave school. “So what’s the plan? What are we going to do about the ghost?”

“Well I am going to…” I started to say but was interrupted by a crash coming from Mr. Lewis’ room.

We both ran in and saw a few pictures were thrown in different directions and there was a drawing on the chalk board. “Mr. Lewis! Are you alright?” I asked him as I rushed over to him and Samantha shut the door. He was hiding under his desk.

“Oh umm yea, I’m fine…” he told me as I helped him up.

“Why is this ghost targeting me?” he asked.

“I’m not sure…but I’ll find out,” I told him as I starred at the picture. It was of the woods.

I rushed out of the building as Julianne tried to keep up. I saw Joe and Kevin coming toward me. “What are you guys doing here?” I asked them.

“I had…this feeling…and it isn’t a good one…don’t tell me you were planning on going into the woods alone,” Joe said.

“How would you…”

“That isn’t important right now…” Kevin started but then Joe called Nick’s name. He looked over at us and kept walking but then Joe chased after him and brought him over (forcefully). “We’re all going with you,” he told me.

“What? Yea right. No, you’re not,” I told them.

“Well you’re not going alone,” Kevin told me. I folded my arms.

“Fine…you can come…4:30...but right now, I have to go help my mom at home,” I told them and began to jog away. There was no way they were going to come with me.

Nick’s POV

All week, I haven’t been just ignoring Melissa because she told me her secret but I had to have time to think. Deep down I knew there was something different…something special…about Melissa…but I didn’t think it would something like this. Okay, so maybe I would’ve thought she would be a little crazy if she told me but that wouldn’t change what I feel for her. It’s weird, I feel this really strange connection with her…and maybe I over reacted a little. It cant be easy for her…I’m a real jerk! She told me personal things like about her dad and about her ex-boyfriend and I freak out on her after she doesn’t tell me something. I don’t know why I did though. We were just getting to know each other, she didn’t have to tell me about her “gift”…then why did I feel like she did have to tell me? And why did Joe, Kevin, Frankie and Jonathan find out before me? We had to talk.

It was almost 4:30 but I had to talk top her alone. I walked over to her house and knocked on the door. Her mom answered. She was off from work…I remembered Erin explained her work schedule to me.

“Hi Ms. Heart, can I talk to Melissa?” I asked politely.

“She’s over at Julianne's,” she told me with a warm smile.

“Oh. Thank you,” I said and walked off the porch.

I called Julianne. “Hello?”

“Jules, I need to talk to Melissa, please tell me she’s with you. That’s what her mom said”

“Nick, she told me that she was going to go see you”

“When?”

“As soon as I got home from school”

“That was two hours ago!” I exclaimed. “I’m going to go find her,” I told her and hung up quickly. I started to run. It would be getting dark soon…I had to find her before then.

My POV

“Okay ghost! You’ve been leading me in circles forever! Can you at least show yourself?!” I asked.

I started to hear some rustling. I spun around and I could just hear the scary music begin to play. But then I heard a grunt and Nick came flying through the bushes and into me. We both fell to the ground.

“Nick? What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“Looking for you! You’ve been gone for almost three hours now!” he exclaimed.

“Well this stupid ghost is being difficult,” I told him and he helped me up.

“It wasn’t very smart of you to come out here alone”

“Well I couldn’t ask you guys come with me…”

“Why not? I would’ve come”

“I thought you were mad at me” I told him as I continued to walk and he kept up with me.

“I’m not…mad at you,” I gave him a look. “Well I was…but I realized I over reacted last Sunday…the rest of the week I just…had to think”

“Because you thought I was a freak,” I assumed.

“No…I just had to let it sink…I feel…weird around you…and I need answers…I was hoping we could start over,” he got in front of me to stop me from walking. “And no more secrets…because obviously something’s going on and it involves you and my family”

“How do you figure?” I asked him, crossing my arms.

“I’ll tell you what you want to know if you tell me,” he said. I eyed him. “I talk to ghosts…what more do you want to know?” I asked him as I kept walking and so did he.

“How does it work? When did you start to see ghosts? What happens when you do see one? I want to know everything…we’re getting to know each other right? So I want to know everything about you that I don’t already know”

I sighed. “You really want to know?”

"Melissa…I really like you…and I want this to work…but I need to know these things”

“Alright,” I nodded. “I started seeing ghosts when I was eight. My grandmother was able to do the same thing and she taught me her ways…she helped me cross over my first few ghosts…she was always there for me…” I told him.

“Your mom cant do what you do? She cant help?” he asked me.

“No…it skipped her generation…and it’s not that she cant, she probably could if she really want to…but she doesn’t want to…she likes to act like I cant see ghosts…and she hates it when I bring it up to her…so I’ve had to do this by myself for the last couple years”

“That must have sucked not having anyone to talk about this with,” he commented.

“It did…” We were silent.

“Well now you have me,” he told me. I looked at him.

“Really?” I asked him in shock.

“Really…” he confirmed. We were silent again.

“When a ghost comes to me, it’s because it has unfinished business…you know Ghost Whisperer? Well it’s almost like that…and it used to be really easy to cross over a ghost because it was simple things that the ghosts wanted to be done…but it seems like the ghosts that come to see me are more…advanced…they can do things I never thought was possible…they can make me feel what they were feeling when they were dying…or about to die…but today…during class this morning, I saw I had blood on my hands after I touched my head and I had bruises all over me…and then, it was all gone…it was weird…whenever a ghost is nearby, I can usually feel their presence…and I get chills…but lately, it’s been harder to see when a ghost is around or not…” I started to explain and I guess there was some hinting in my tone.

“Because of me,” he assumed.

“I’m not sure…whenever I’m around you and your family, that’s when I feel like it’s most difficult…when its your brothers, it’s a little easier…but when it’s you…it’s impossible…” I paused and looked at him to see if he was actually listening…he was.

He was deep in thought as well. “…I can feel other peoples’ emotions…that aren’t my own…so when I’m around Julianne…I feel really excited and peppy…especially when she’s around you guys…” I joked lightly and he smiled.

“And I’ve learned to control it, to not show what I’m really feeling because it will turn out to be the feelings of someone else…and I can feel the feelings of a nearby ghost, that would be another way of how I knew one was coming…but…when I met you…I didn’t know how to feel…for the first time in a really long time…I was feeling my own emotions…I never know what you’re thinking or feeling…with your brothers I can get a preview of what their feeling or thinking but it’s really faded…with you….there’s nothing…you’re just being you…and that makes me…me…if that makes sense” I laughed lightly and blushed a little.

He smiled. “It does…”

“I think that’s one of the reasons why I like it when you’re around me…I can just be myself and not have these weird, freaky ghost feelings…” I admitted.

“What other reasons are there?” he questioned with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re cute,” I told him.

“That’s it?” he made a face and I couldn’t help but giggle.

“That’s all you’re getting out of me” He smiled.

“So…like right now you cant know what I’m thinking or feeling?” he asked me.

“No…I cant”

“Good”

“Why’s that good?” I smirked lightly.

“No reason…and you don’t know why that is though?”

“No clue…”

“You think there will be something in that book of yours?”

“…I actually didn’t even think of that…”

We were silent but then I started to laugh and he joined in. “I’m not sure if it will tell me much but I definitely have a lot of questions…”

“Well I want you to know…that you’re not alone…” he said, almost shyly.

"Yea i know," i joked, lightly, obviously talking about ghosts.

"You know what i mean," Nick said, rolling his eyes.

I was about to respond when I heard more rustling. “Is it the ghost?” he asked. “I don’t know…hello?” I asked and the rustling stopped.

But then Joe jumped out from behind a tree. “Hello Joe,” I smirked. “Why do you keep trying? You know I don’t get scared easily,” I crossed my arms.

“Hey I scared you…”

“Like when we first met…and it was cause I wasn’t used to seeing your face,” I dissed and Nick started laughing as Joe’s jaw dropped.

Then we heard another laugh and Kevin came walking out to us. “Oh she got you good Joe,” he commented as Nick started to try and cover his laugh with a cough.

“Oh you know I’m just kidding,” I smiled and went to turn away to begin walking again but a face appeared in front of me.

I stopped short and felt my heart stop as the ghost starred me down, centimeters away from my face. I froze. They all seemed to notice my behavior and became really serious.

“She’s here,” Joe assumed…but it sounded way more like a statement.

I couldn’t ask him how he knew that right now…for the moment I had to let the question stay on the back burner. “Why are you haunting our teacher?” I asked her.

“They all act like they’re just going to teach you…tutor you…but they’re lying…”

“I’m not sure I understand…what’s your name? I can help you”

“No one can help me now…” she disappeared…but a business card appeared in front of me at my feet.

“What did the ghost say?” Joe asked.

I stayed silent as I analyzed the item. “She didn’t say much…” I muttered.

“What’s that?” Nick asked as he got to my side.

“A realtor’s card…Nancy and Robert Bauldwin…” I read out loud.

“Hey I saw a few houses in the area being shown by them, I heard they’re pretty good at selling houses,” Kevin mentioned.

“So if we make an appointment with one of them, maybe we could find out more information about this ghost” Joe said.

“Well it’s not like we can just go act like we’re looking for houses…” I started to say.

“Why do we have to do that? Cant you just tell them you see this girl and somehow she’s related to them or something,” Joe said, without thinking as he took the car from me and began to read it himself.

Nick’s head snapped in his direction with a glare on his face as my face showed the same expression, starring at Joe, incredulous. “Is he serious?” I asked Nick.

“Sadly, I think so…Kevin please…”

Then Kevin smacked Joe upside the head. “As I was saying…we cant just do that” I concluded.

“Maybe you cant…but I can,” Kevin smiled proudly.