We're Not Alone

I got to chemistry and sat on a stool, toward the back at a desk that was big enough for two. I sat there waiting for class to start as I was flipping my pen back and forth and leaning on my elbows. I can feel a really strong emotion...it's not Katrina though...and I'm sure it's no one in the class. I can feel confusion and I feel lost...but then I stopped feeling that and I felt fine again. I looked up and saw Nick walking toward me.

"Can I sit there?" he asked and gestured to the seat next to me.

"I don't know...can you?" I countered and he smirked as he sat down on the stool beside me.

"I missed you at the end of lunch," he mentioned and I looked at him. "Well not like missed you, missed you but like..." I cut him off with my laughter.

"Nick I get it. Don't hurt yourself," I joked. "By the time I came back in I saw Stacy talking to you...and I didn't wan to be rude," I said with a smirk.

"Please, you would’ve been doing me a favor"

"Hmm sounds like mister perfect isn't so sweet after all"

He was about to counter my comment but the teacher walked in. "Alright class, grab your lab coats and get to work," was all he said.

Nick went up to the teacher and came back with two worksheets. We got lab coats and goggles. I put my hair up in a high pony tail as Nick got the colored liquids and test tubes. I looked over the assignment and it was definitely simple enough. We started working on it together and I was fascinated by the fact that he knew what he was doing.

"Surprised about how I can mix chemicals and not explode anything?" he asked.

I guess I was looking too long. I almost blushed...but I played it off. "Not really. I always figured you were the smart one" I joked and he laughed.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Didn’t give me much of an option now did ya," I joked lightly as I poured some liquid into the beaker. I looked at him though and saw him smiling but knew he was serious. "Of course you can," I smiled back.

He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He turned back toward the chemicals and began to analyze them as I continued to just stare at him.

"Never mind...it's not important," he said quickly.

"No come on, what is it?" I urged with a smile as I nudged him. He just laughed.

"Don’t let him mix those," a voice said and I turned my head to see Katrina standing there, smiling.

I looked back at Nicks hand and she was right...he wasn't holding that before though... "I wouldn't mix those..." I said aloud as I grabbed his hand to stop him. When I did, I felt chills and electricity. I starred into his eyes. "Umm it won't end well," I added and he looked at the tube he was holding.

"How did I pick that one?" he asked himself and picked up the right one.

I looked back at Katrina but she was gone. Eventually we got it right and we got a good grade on the assignment. Once the bell rang, Nick and I walked to our next class that we were both in together. I also noticed Stacy was in both of those classes with as well and she tried getting Nicks attention but he told me to keep talking to him so he had a reason to not respond. That made me laugh and he smiled at me. We got to our last class; bio. We sat side by side and class began. I tried paying attention and taking some notes but Nick was nudging me and passing notes. It was a good thing we were in the back of the class so the teacher didn't notice our fidgeting. After a class filled with giggles, quiet laughs and many eye rolls, the last bell finally rung. Everyone stood up and walked out. I continued walking when I saw Jonathan and a few over guys came over to Nick. He went to protest but I continued down the hallway.

I met up with Julianne and we walked out of the school together. She was telling me how Bridget and Hailey weren't too happy bout her ditching them at lunch...I was listening until I saw a little boy in the middle of the street. A truck was speeding his way. My eyes widened.

“We have to help him,” I said in a panic. “Melissa…there’s no one there,” Julianne whispered.

Then I saw the truck drive through him and then both the boy and truck vanished into the air as I felt chills. “Lets just get home,” I whispered and we continued to walk home. It was kind of silent…then Hailey and Bridget caught up with us and I felt their vibes.

Bridget’s vibe was bigger. She was pretty much thinking ‘why is Julianne hanging with this freak’. I just sighed and got over it. I’ve heard worse. As we were all walking, I got a few chills again and I looked around. I saw the little boy again sitting on the bench.

“Umm I’ll catch up, I think I’m going to just enjoy the park,” I said and didn’t wait for a reply. I just started walking toward the boy. I got in front of him as he was looking down at his lap.

“Can I sit down?” I asked nicely.

He looked up at me and nodded slowly. So I sat beside him. “You can see me?” he finally asked. “Yes, I can,” I answered.

“I heard about you…I was told that I shouldn’t talk to you,” he said, avoiding my eyes.

“Who told you that sweetie?” I asked. I felt his confusion and scared-ness. “You can tell me…I can help,” I urged.

“They told me that you will get me in trouble, that you’ll hurt me,” he said and I felt slight sadness and anger.

“I could never hurt you…” I started to say but was cut off by a slight wind.

The boys started to shake viciously and his body followed this motion, like he was having a seizure. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. I’ve seen ghosts shake before, from a lot of anger and whatnot but never this way. He was shaking so violently that it was almost the speed of light so I wouldn’t be able to see it. Then…he stopped…his whole body froze as his eyes starred at the sky. Then slowly he directed his gaze to me…and it was different. His eyes was filled with fury and anger but I still felt the emotion of being scared and confused.

“Stop doing what you’re doing and leave us all alone,” his voice changed into a creepy tone and then disappeared…so I was alone. I sighed as I just slouched. I just got threatened by a ghost…that’s a first.

“Melissa!” I heard a voice yell.

So when I looked, I saw Frankie running toward me. “Hey there Frankie,” I smiled and hugged him.

I could feel his excitement but it wasn’t a strong feeling…almost like it was translucent. I’ve never been with one of the Jonas’ without Nick but now that I am it’s weird. I cant sense any kind of emotion coming from Nick, whatsoever but with a different Jonas, I can feel an emotion…but it’s just faded.

“How are you dude…are you aloud to be here alone?” I asked skeptically.

“Well…Nick was going to take me to the park…but then I felt like you needed help…with a friend maybe?” he asked and I looked at him with a questioning look.

“I was in Nick’s room and when he walked out, some wind blew into the room and I saw his lyric book sitting on his bed so some pages flipped and it flipped to a page that said ‘go to park, help Melissa, P.J.’” he explained.

I tried to keep myself calm.

“Well I’m in no need of help my young knight,” I joked and he smiled brightly. “But it might not have been a good idea to run away from Nick,” I said. “But you’re with me, that’s all that matters,” I smiled and patted a spot next to me so he sat down as I texted Nick, telling him Frankie was at the park with me.

Frankie started to tell me about some of his friends…he also told me about sometimes he gets weird feelings in his stomach…but he seemed uncomfortable talking about it. I don’t think it was because he was talking about it to me necessarily…I just think he was uncomfortable about the topic itself…so I changed it and we both laughed and joked around.

Soon enough we both saw Nick running down the sidewalk to us. “Frankie you know better, you cant just run out like that” he scolded. “Sorry…I just thought Melissa needed my help with P.J.,” he said. “Who’s P.J.?”

“The ghost,” he answered and Nick let out a light laugh. “Sorry, Frankie keeps getting this weird idea that you see ghosts, it’s so strange…right?” he said but it didn’t sound much like a question…it almost sounded like he was assuming something.

“Umm right…I better go home though, it’ll get dark soon,” I noted as I stood up. “Well we were going to get some ice cream if you wanted to join us,” he said and Frankie’s face lit up.

“Go with them…it isn’t safe to go home yet,” Katrina whispered as she appeared at my side and then vanished again before I could even ask why.

“I’d love to,” I accepted and Nick smiled brightly so I smiled back. We all started walking.

We got to the ice cream place and Nick ordered for Frankie and then he looked at me. "Hmm can I have mint chocolate chip?" I smiled. "And one cotton candy please," Nick added and the guy behind he counter smiled.

"You got it," then he got our orders and I went to get my money out but Nick paid before I had the chance.

"Umm why did you do that? I'm perfectly capable of buying my own thank u very much"

"I'm sure you are, but what I just did is called being nice," he chuckled and I rolled my eyes at him.

Nick and Frankie both walked me home and I hugged them good bye before walking in and going up to my room. Mom was probably still at work. She got a job at the hospital near by. I set my books down. "Okay Katrina, it's time to come out and tell me exactly what's going on" I demanded.

"Where do you want me to start? I can only tell you so much though," her voice said and when I turned I saw him standing at my door.

"First I want you to tell me why you’re still here when I know you can go into the light without my help"

"I’m a watcher. Like a guardian angle almost...I'm an observer, I observe the living an the ghosts amongst them...I'm here to help you...I'm your guardian, it's almost the same thin as being your conscience...I've been around ever since I died, I just chose to not show myself until now

"So how does this work now?"

"I won't be around all the time...I'm not even supposes to be telling you this right now, but I felt I had to...there are boundaries that I can't cross..."

"So when will I see you? Whenever I need help?"

"Not necessarily...it really depends on a lot of things..."

"Okay fine...let's drop that topic now...where's that little boy? And what happened to him, I've never seen anything like that before and why was it not safe to come home" She sighed.

"He was possessed

"Possessed? But by what? You‘re avoiding all of my questions Katrina" I said in a frustrated tone as I felt her stalling.

"Look I'm sorry but I've already said too much, they won't be happy with me...just remember I'm closer than you think..." was the last thing she said before she disappeared. I still had questions though!

I sighed and when I turned around I screamed at the sight of Frankie in my room. He screamed back. "Frankie! What are you doing? You almost gave me a heart attack! How did you even get in here?"

"I used the door...so you could really see her?" he asked with excitement. "See who?" I asked calmly as I took a deep breath.

"The woman who was talking, I could hear her whispering to you and it wasn't so clear but I know she was here, that was the voice I heard when the notebook said your name in it...who was she?" This was all too much in one day. I couldn't have Frankie knowing.

"Frankie...I...come on, you have to get home," I said and pulled him outside to the balcony.  There was no way I was jumping over there because with my luck, I'd hurt myself and especially since I'm afraid of heights.

So I saw a few pebbles on the side and threw a few at the doors that led to his room. He opened them and smiled at me so I smiled back but then his smile fell when he saw Frankie at my side.

"Frankie what are you doing?"

"Oh it's alright. He just had a question for me. I couldn't answer it though because my head had been hurting all day and I was really hoping to take a small nap" I explained calmly.

"That’s understandable," he said with a stiff tone. I lifted Frankie up and over the banister as Nick got him and set him down on his side.

“See ya later Melissa,” Frankie sighed and walked inside.

“I’m really sorry, he never acted this way before,” Nick apologized. “It’s really alright, I love Frankie, he’s a good kid, try not to be too hard on him,” I joked lightly and he smirked.

“I’ll see you tomorrow in class Nicholas,” I smiled and then turned around and walked back into my room. I glanced at him and saw that it looked like he wanted to say more…but didn’t. For once I’d give anything to just know what he was thinking.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was standing in black nothingness. A translucent figure appeared a few feet in front of me. I couldn’t see a face because it was hidden by the darkness but I could see the fading body. I felt confusion. “I need help…you need to help me…” a voice said.

“Who are you?”

“They said you can help me…you have to help me”

“I don’t know if I can…what do you see right now…?"

But before he could respond, I felt more emotions…confusion…anger…guilt…sadness…it was all too over whelming. I noticed more translucent figures approaching me but they stopped a few feat away so I was in the center of a big circle of ghosts. I’ve never been around so many ghosts at once before. This wasn’t normal…this wasn’t good. I felt dizzy, uncomfortable, invaded and a little nauseous. They were all talking at once and their voices echoed inside my head.

“Please…I need you all to just…” but I couldn’t even finish my sentence because it was all too much for me. I couldn’t take it. I groaned in frustration as I shut my eyes tight. I couldn’t move my body.

“Enough,” a voice boomed. It sounded familiar…almost sounded like…Nick? I shot my eyes opened and saw no more ghosts were around me…I had my own emotions back…and I was alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, I got to English right away and Julianne walked in, giving me a concerned look and I could feel her asking why I didn’t walk to school with her and come to class with her but then the feeling disappeared and I saw Nick walk in. He smiled lightly at me and I forced a smile to my face as he sat down. He opened his mouth to speak but Mr. Lewis came in right away and began the lesson. He seemed kind of out of it almost…and I think everyone could tell. I put my fist up to my cheek so I could hold my head up. Nick sent me over a note and I let out an airy laugh.

You alright?

I wrote down a response.

Yea. I just didn’t get much sleep last night. Really weird dream.

I sent it back.

You wanna talk about it?

I hesitated this time…but lucky for me, I didn’t realize class went by quickly and when the bell rang, everyone stood up and Nick was waiting patiently for me. "Miss Heart can you come here for a second," Mr. Lewis said. "I'll catch up with you later" I told Nick and he nodded as he walked out.

I walked over to Mr. Lewis. “Everything okay Mr. Lewis?” I asked.

He waited until the last student walked out. “I needed to ask you why you were asking questions about Katrina yesterday,” he said with a tone that told me he was concerned, nervous, worried…

“I…” I started to say but stopped.

“You have to tell him,” Katrina said as she appeared at my side. “Ask him to take you outside to the garden,” she said and I sighed.

“Will you take me outside to Katrina’s garden? I’ll explain everything there” I said and he was confused, but he still did what I asked.

He led me outside to one of the school’s courtyards and there beautiful roses planted around. He starred at a group of them in awe. “Mr. Lewis,” I said and he looked at me. “I have a gift…I can see spirits that haven’t crossed over into the light…Katrina is still here with us,” I got to the point as fast as I could. I felt him feeling disbelief…yet there was still a hint of belief.

“Are you serious?” he asked as he gave me a skeptical look. I gestured toward an empty dirt spot in the ground and all of a sudden a beautiful rose grew at a graceful pace until it reached the highest point.

“She’s here with us right now”

“What? But why? Why didn’t she cross over?”

“I’m not too sure about that part…she has no reason to be here still…no feeling of regret, revenge, anger…I don’t think I can really say much…I don’t even know much…”

“Tell him…I’m so proud of him…because of the way hes been grieving…I know what he’s really feeling inside and I’m happy hes not taking it out on the kids or our friends,” she said.

“She wants me to tell you that she’s really proud of the way you’ve been grieving…she knows what you’re really feeling and she’s happy you aren’t taking it out on the other students or any of your friends,” I explained.

“I miss you Katrina,” he murmured.

“I know…me too…but we’ll see each other someday”

“She misses you too…but you’ll both be with each other again someday”

“So what do we do now?” he asked.

“We go about our day the way we normally would do…you don’t tell anyone about what I can do…and you continue to teach class the way you always do,” I explained and he chuckled lightly.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting all of this from a sixteen year old girl when I found out I’d be getting a new student,” he said.

“Well I didn’t expect to be telling my English teacher my secret after only my first day of school…so we’re even” He laughed lightly.

“And tell him he has to make sure you stay on track with school, life, ghosts…be there for you…”

“He isn’t my parent or friend Katrina, he‘s my teacher,” I said. She was in her twenties, and I just met her yet she acted like a nagging older sister. “What is she saying?” Mr. Lewis pleaded.

“She’s just saying how you have to keep me on track with life and school and everything when she’s not around”

“Well I’m already like a friend to all my students, they come to me with school related problems and life related problems…I can possibly add in some ghost related problems” he said.

“They might get kind of crazy,” I joked. “I can do the best I can,” he said. “I’ll remember that,” I said.

I felt a weird connection with Mr. Lewis…like the one I have with Nick. Of course with Nick, it’s stronger…but the connection is still there. Katrina smiled and appeared at Mr. Lewis’ side as she placed a hand gently on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. Both touches were so light so she wouldn’t fade through him.

“Where are you going now?” I asked.

“I’ll be around” was all she said before she disappeared and a light wind blew.

“She’s gone, isn’t she” he assumed.

“For now…yes”

“Alright…let me give you a pass so you can get to class,” he smiled as we started walking back to the room. “I think you owe me a big explanation though…I have a lot of questions,” I sighed.

“Well I cant tell you much…but I can tell you what I know…just not yet…there’s way too much going on at the moment to explain everything all at once,” I said and he didn’t respond. I listened carefully as I heard multiple whispers…no students were in the hallway though.

There she is.

She can help us

She needs to help us

She’s the one

Then they started to involve someone else…

They have to save us

When is she going to tell him

They need to do something and they have to do it soon

Through out these whispers…I couldn’t help but think they were talking about Nick.