Spirit

Chapter 19: Dreams
“Nathan!” I called out. My voice echoed throughout the whiteness.
“Natalia,” someone whispered. I couldn’t make out who the voice belonged to, but it sounded oddly familiar.
“Hello?”
“Help us.” The voice was coarse, dry, and weak. The voice definitely belonged to a girl.
“Where are you?”
“It’s going to be too late,” she squaked. “Help!” She was using a lot of energy to force the words out.
My eyes widened and I shuddered. Could it be possible?
“Alex?” The panic leaked in my voice. I looked around me but there was nothing at all.
“Help me,” Alex cried out and exploded into a frenzy of coughs.
“Get out of here, Alex! Get out!” I shrieked.
“Trapped,” Alex croaked.
My eyes started to sting because of how bright and white the room was.
“Let me go!”
“Alex!”
“Help me, Natalia!” Alex cried. “Help!”
“Alex!” I screamed. My voice echoed through the room.

“Natalia, wake up!” My mother said and shook me.
My eyes flashed open and I bolted upright.
“Why were you screaming Alex’s name?” My mom asked.
“She was in my dream,” I breathed. “No biggie.”
“What was her role?” She asked.
“She needed my help,” I said as I wiped the sweat from my face.
“For what?”
“Mom, it was my dream. They never make sense.” I fell back down on my pillow and closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Haven’t you even wondered if your dreams ever mean anything?”
“Mom,” I said slowly. “They’re insignificant. There is no message in my dream nor do they mean anything. It’s just entailed.”
“Alright, honey,” she sighed and got up. “But just to be sure, I want you to ask Keith about it.” She walked to my door and put her hand above the light switch. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”

I woke up the next morning from the same dream. How was it even possible that Alex could even be in my dream? She was a human! There were only ghosts in my dream… unless Alex was hiding something from me…. That couldn’t be it! She would’ve told me when I told her what I was.
“The dreams don’t mean anything,” I reminded myself as I jumped out of bed, took my clothes from my drawer, and walked to the bathroom.
When I was done, I walked back into my room and threw my pajamas into my hamper.
“Hello.”
I quickly turned around and threw my back against the wall. “Nathan,” I sighed in relief. “What’re you doing here?” He was stretched across my bed, his hands behind his head as he rested on my headboard.
“That’s not very much of a greeting. I haven’t seen you in three days and when you finally see me you say ‘What’re you doing here?’”
I laughed and jumped onto my bed to give him tight hug. “Why haven’t you visted me?” I accused.
“I’m here now, aren’t I?” He chuckled.
“You made me go three whole days without seeing you! It was like rehab!”
He chuckled. “Why so melodramatic?”
I play slapped him on the side of his head.
“How were the dreams?” He asked.
“Urg,” I grumbled. “Horifying.”
“It was like that for me too. They’ll go away someday.”
“You have the dreams, too?”
“Well of course, Natalia. Every ghost has the dreams.”
“What do they mean? The pictures and the voices?”
Nathan turned his head toward me and he looked at me with wide eyes. “The what?”
“The dreams.”
“Not that. What did you say after that?”
“The pictures and voices. Aren’t those the kind of dreams you have?”
Nathan’s face relaxed a bit but I could clearly see he was trying very hard to relax. “Why don’t you come with me to my house?” He asked and stood up and held out his hand for me to take.
I looked at his hand, confused at his odd mood swings. I looked up at his face and he grinned.
I took his hand and he pulled me out of bed.
“It’ll just take a couple of seconds. I had extra practice. That’s why I haven’t been able to visit you,” he explained.
“Go right ahead,” I insisted.
He smiled and closed his eyes to concentrate. He was right. As I watched him transfrom, he barely shook like he did before. This time, the shakes were very subtle, his forehead was wrinkled like it usually was and his hands weren’t clenched into fists but folded over his chest. There was a slight smile on his face.
“Show off,” I muttered.
In just seconds, a ghost was standing before me. Nathan opened his eyes and turned his back toward me to climb up.
I got onto his back and he jumped out of my window.
I was always stunned on how Nathan and Sarah were always able to fit through my window with me on their backs effortlessly. My window wasn’t very big.
I shut my eyes as Nathan ran to Mercer Island.
I opened my eyes when we got to his house and we were already in his home. I got off of Nathan’s back.
“Keith,” Nathan called as he started to walk through the hall.
“Yeah,” Keith replied from the kitchen.
I caught up with Nathan who was already in the kitchen speaking in a low voice to Keith. I sat on a chair watching them speak. I tried to read Nathan’s lips, but I wasn’t very good at it. Keith’s eyes widened at something Nathan said and it made me even more anxious to know what they were talking about.
“Uh… Natalia, why don’t you sit outside for a while. It’s beautiful weather,” Keith said and pointed to the glass door.
I hesitated and sighed and walked to the door. Before I opened it, I looked over at Nathan. He looked very worried. I looked away and walked outside. I sat next to the swimming pool and dipped my legs into the water as I waited for them to finish what they were talking about. I heard the motor boats over the hedge zooming by Lake Washington, enjoying the weather and enjoying their life’s. I was jealous.
Why did they have to keep this from me? Why did they have to keep anything from me? I thought we were all in this together. Sort of like a family.
Could this all possibly be about my dreams? Nathan told me that the dreams were normal, so why go crazy over it unless my dreams weren’t exactly normal? This is just to typical. I can never be normal. Not even with the people who knows what I’m going through. As a matter of fact, they don’t know what I’m going through if I’m not even considered a normal ghost.
“I don’t care! We can’t put so much pressure on her!” Nathan bellowed.
I tried to hear what else they were talking about but it seemed like Keith calmed Nathan down so that it was impossible for me to hear what they were talking about.
After a couple more minutes, Keith opened the glass sliding door. “You can come in now,” he called with a smile.
I grinned and dried off my legs and walked to the door.
“Would you like breakfast?” He asked when I walked in.
I looked around the house for Nathan. I heard him talking to Sarah in the dining room and I walked quickly into the room.
“Hi, Natalia!” Nathan chirped happily. “Take a seat.”
I looked at him, confused. Wasn’t he just infuriated a couple of minutes ago? I examined his face. He looked perfectly happy with the gigantic cheesy smile on his face.
I looked at Sarah. It wasn’t the same for her. She looked… like Sarah.
I took a seat in front of Nathan. Looked at him for a while, then Keith, then Sarah. Everything seemed perfectly normal like Nathan and Keith never had a tiff.
“Dig in!” Nathan said.