Into the Grey

I heard his voice clear as day, yet he hadnt uttered a word. Finnaly finding my voice, i turn to Mr. O'Hare, "I-I dont feel well, may I go," I ask soflty, still starring in horror at Mr. O'Hare's desk.
Mr. O'Hare nods, looking at Gage and I oddly. "Very well," he says, clearing his throat. I get up and grab my things, walking toward the door. Before I close the door, I look back at Gage and was surprised to see him starring at me with that same intense stare on his face.
"What's the problem, honey?" That was the first question I got as i walked into the nurses office. It was a closet of a room with almost every square inch of wall covered by health and anatomy posters. Her desk was just as cluttered as the walls, lined with a plethora of paper and files. "Sit," she pats her hand on the medical table that was shoved into the corner of her tiny office. I hop awkwardly on top, dropping my bags and coat on the floor below me.
"I have a really bad migrane and stomach cramps," I say, trying to pass of my condition as some sort of pre mentral sickness.
"Ahh," the nurse says, running a hand through her brown hair and looking at me through the bottom of her half moon glasses, "Do you need to call home sweetie?" she asked, a knowing smile on her face, "I'm not authorized to give you medicine without a parent's premission, but if your gaurdian takes you home, I'm sure you can take something and get some rest," she says. I nod, a fake smile on my face, knowing advil nor tylenol could solve any of my problems.
The nurse let me call Ophelia at her job, she sounded tired and stressed when i called, but it seemed she put an extra amount of peppieness in her voice when she found out it was me calling.
"Of course I'll come get you, dear," she says, sympathizing with me as I tell her of my ailment. I almost feel guilty for taking her away from her job, but i know that I cant take another 'gray' moment during class. "My mom's coming to get me," I turn to the nurse after i hang up. It feels strange calling Ophelia mom, but I figure I owe her that much. Plus i didnt want the entire faculty knowing that I was a foster child.
When I got home, Ophelia apologized for having to leave me but said she'd be upstairs in her office if i needed anything. Before dissapering into her office, she sat a bottle of advil and a glass of water on my nightstand. I sigh, sprawling across my bed. This cant keep happening. People are going to start thinking i'm insane....at least i'm sure Gage does. But that didnt explain how I heard his voice in my head. Who knows, maybe I am going insane. I think about the creature laying on Mr. O'Hare's desk and a shiver goes down my spine. What was that? A demon? Some condemned creature from the astral plane? Why was it in Mr. O' Hare's classroom? It couldve been the spirit of a deceased person, I mean, it isnt unheard of for school grounds to be built ontop of other things, maybe Community High had been built ontop of a cemetary...but then what spirit would look like that? And usually all I see in the gray is spirits, but that thing....it looked....solid, like it was real! The other weird thing was that usually, the vision came in gray but this tme it had been in full color....what was up with that? This couldnt keep happening to me, I have to find a way to get this to stop.....maybe if i could control it......
As the thought occured to me I sat up on the bed. The thought of exploring my little 'issue' frightens me to death, but if it can be controlled, or reigned somehow, then I could eventually get it to stop, right? I take a death breath and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to get back to the same state that I was in earlier, but nothing happened. Trying once more, I squeeze my eyes tight, hoping that I could get myself in the gray again.
'Open your eyes'
The voice comes to me as a thought just like Gage's voice did in class. Slowley, I open my eyes to see a man sitting less that two feet in front of me. Instinctivley, I give a high pitched squeal out of shock. The man laughs, but I cant hear his laugh with my ears, somehow, I was hearing with my thoughts.
'Dont be alarmed, I am not here to harm you.'
For a second, I stand shell-shocked by what I'm seeing. Sitting on my bed was an older man, he looked to be in his forties with black hair, peppered with gray and tired brown eyes that held years of tribulation. He was dresses pretty nice fore a ghost/spirit person, a white collared shirt with brown dress pants. He looked more like a businessman than a ghost. 'Who are you?' I whisper, then just as a precaution I reach my hand out to grab him, but instead, grab nothing but air.
The man laughs again, straighting the collar on his shirt, 'My name is Walter Wyatt the third, and I think, I'm the one who should be asking you why you are here.' he answers in a snooty voice. Well, for a ghost, this guy's pretty high of himself. "I live here," I reply in a now annoyed voice. 'Careful, princess, that woman you live with might hear you,' he says in a flippant voice, 'It would be easier if you chose to communicate with me the way I communicate with you, through thoughts,' he says. I nod, not sure if I was liking the idea of him being in my thoughts. 'Don't worry,' he assures, 'I can only hear what you will me to hear or whats on your mind, currently.' He stands, putting his hands in his pocket in a thoughtful gesture, 'I do believe its like a microphone, what you say into it can be broadcasted loud and clear, but if you chose to say it away from or outside of the micophone, it cant be heard.'
I nod, trying to grasp the concept, 'Okay then,' I think, trying to communicate the way he does.
'Very good,' Walter looks satisfied, 'You just passed your first lesson in ghost 101.'
'How am I able to see you?' I ask, hoping to God that no one walks into my room and sees me, well starring into space, at least thats what it would look like to everyone else.
'You for some reason have been gifted with astral sight....that means that you are able to see into the astral plane while simoltaneously existing on earth.' he says crossing his arms and leaning aaginst my dresser. 'What is the astral plane?' I ask with my thoughts, hoping he can tell me more about whats happening to me. He looks at me as if I'm stupid, 'This is the astral plane, you know like the place where spiritual beings can exist.' he says, in an annoyed tone. 'But what I saw earlier---
'What you saw earlier was not a spirit. It wasnt human either.' he interjects.
I stare at him with my mouth open, 'How do you know what I saw?'
'I told you, moon-fish, I can hear anything that you're thinking about currently as long as you're not gaurding it.' he says, waving his hand. 'How do I gaurd my thoughts?' I question.
'That, dear, is up to you, everyone has their own methods.' he says blankly.
Deciding that there are more important things to focus on, I continue, 'Okay, well what do you know about the creature?' I ask. 'That thing you saw was a demon. Angels and demons arent the same as spirits and ghosts. While ghosts lose their physical compostion upon entering the astral plane, angels and demons can travel through many planes and maintain their physical compostion.' he sums up, in an intelligent voice. However, my brain has proven too dense for his knowledge, so I stare at him blankly. He rolls his eyes, 'They can be solid. Hence why the thing you saw looked like it was really there.' he says.
'Oh, so theoretically, they could hurt me?'
The ghost sighs, 'Yes and no. You see, dealing with you while you have full astral sight could give them the opportunity to hurt you, but while you're on the earth plane, thats another story,' the ghost pauses as if in thought, 'It would take a higher level for a being to hurt you while you're fully on the earth plane, it would mean that they would have to exist between two planes, which is difficult and exhausts a lot of energy, thats the reason you always feel drain once you return to earth.' he says.
'Okay, but what about when I was seeing everything in gray? Now its full color.' I say, trying to link all the peices together. 'Do you know anything, earthling?' he asks shaking his head, 'You were only seeing in gray because half of you conciousness wasnt able to exist between the planes at the time. It was almost like looking through a window, you could see whats happening on the other side but you werent quite able to interact with it like you can now,' he explains. Before I could ask another question the door flies open, revealing Regan. The ghost steps to the side as the door swings open, and makes a face at Regan. "What happened to you?!" she shouts, walking straight through Walter and sitting on the bed. I shrug, slightly annoyed by her timing, "I dont know, I just wasnt feeling well," I say. Walter walks over to stand in the corner and points at the door, tapping his foot impatiently as if to tell me to get her to leave. "Go away," I hiss at Walter. Regan gives me a look, "Excuse me?" she snaps. I feel my face flush and Walter bursts out into laughter, "I said, what gave me away?" I ask, trying to cover myself. 'You cant get rid of me love, I am a spirit, as for making it so I cant see you, only you can do that.' "Oh I dont know, perhaps the fact that you ran out of the classroom like you were on fire," Regan says, looking at me as if I were crazy. I close my eyes, to try and focus so I could get Walter to dissapear. When I reopen my eyes, Walter is gone and Regan is starring into my face, waiting for my reply. "Sorry, I told you, I felt sick." I shrug. Regan shakes her head, standing. "Whatever dude, I hope you feel better, Oh btw, mom says dinner'll be ready in ten." she says picking up her bookbag off the floor. "Cool," I reply. She turns back to face me before she walks out the door, "Oh and congratualations on making yourself look like an idiot in front of Gage. I'm sure he thinks you're completley phsyco now," she jokes, closing the door as she walks out.
Gage. I'd forgotten all about him. Surely he thought I was completley insane after my little episode in Biology. Not that it really matters anyway what he thinks, but I'm sure the whole Biology class shares his same opionion. 'Ugh, I dont need this,' I think, and decide to push the problems out of my head for the rest of the night.

The next day of course, everyone has questions about me. For the first two blocks of the day were filled with questions like 'What a weirdo, who runs outta class like that?' and of course, this whole scenario wouldnt be complete without someone making some bizzare rumor about how I have a rare form of tapeworm that caused my spontaneous sickness. "I'm sure it could be worse," Regan says nonchalauntly as we walk to biology. "Yeah, because there are definatley more socially comprimising things than someone making up a rumor about me having a tapeworm," I grumble sarcastically. She shakes her head as we skip past Mr. O'Hare, "Actually, love, there are, so forget about it," she smiles, taking her seat at the front of the class. Swallowing the uneasyness in my stomach, I look in the direction of my lab table, willing my feet to move with my gaze. "Hey," I say awkwardly, pulling out a lab stool to sit on. "Hello."
His response was unreadable, but his face was an entirely different senario. I could see what appears to be the smallest symblance of question and curiousit in his eys. Pretending like there was nothing else to say, I proceeded to take out my lab materials and notebooks, but I could feel his questioning gaze on me.
"Are you feeling better?" He clears his throat giving me the slight impression of his discomfort at broaching the subject. "Yea, Yea, I'm good, you know, just had a stomach ache," I reply nonchalauntly. He doesn't respond to my answer and I begin to fidgit under the intense feel of his stare. Mr. O'Hare takes his place at the board and beginnings rambling on about the effects of symbiosis.
"What did you see Breeana."
His voice cut through my facade clear and clean like a stainless steel blade. "Excuse me?" My response came out more defensive and irratated than I would've like it to. "Yesterday. You spaced out. You were seeing something. I want to know what it was," He stated blankly as if what he'd asked was something perfectly normal. "I didnt see anything." I grumble stubbornly, trying to fix my eyes on Mr. O'Hare, which is coincidentially not the easiest task to do when your lab partner is staring at you like theres a tumor growing out the side of your face. "Stop lying, its annoying," his voice comes out cross, and his response wasnt exactly what I was expecting, "And you're a horrible liar, by the way," he whispers, trying to ensure that our conversation was inaudible as far as Mr. O'Hare was concerned. The look on my face must have been pretty hysterical because with a chuckle he adds, "It's okay, I dont think you're a freak, I know what you're going through." I suck in a big breath of air and let it out, blowing through my teeth. How am I supposed to tell anyone that I can see ghosts, spirits, demons and all the other little things that go 'bump' in the night that technically arent supposed to exist---let alone a complete stranger?! "Well?" his voice cuts into my inner rant.
I narrow my eyes at him, becomming slightly annoyed with his persual of this topic, "Well what?" I hiss back in a voice just above a whisper. "I pretty much know just as much about what I saw as you do---which is zip, just so you know."
He sighs, looking slightly defeated and yes, i'll admit it, he looked completley cute too. "Look, I cant help you if you wont tell my what you saw."
I roll my eyes, "What are you my therapist now?" I retort sarcastically as I scribble notes in my biology notebook. Gage doesnt even as much as flinch by my remark, he just sits there a determined look on his face. Its my turn to sigh this time, obviously this guy wasnt giving in, "I--I dont really know what I saw....it just looked...well...horrible." I mumble. He keeps his eyes glued to the board as if he's paying attention to note but somehow I can tell he's still listening. "It was like this giant, writhing, dark mass that looked like a cross between a snake and bull...the thing had wings too--giant ones, like a bat---and it was just sitting on Mr. O'Hare's desk, but no one could see it except for me." I say feeling a tad bit crazed and out of my mind. I look at Gage, trying to find any hint of reaction, but he was just silent. I wanted to ask him why he wasnt responding to me now and what he thought my issue was, but it just didnt seem like the right time to ask. That and the fact that Mr. O'Hare kept walking by my desk to check to see if I was taking my notes. Thirty more painstakingly-silent minutes passed and finally the bell sounds. Before I can dash out of my seat to catch up with Regan, Gage grabs my hand. "It's called astral sight."
I give him a questioning glance as he walks to the door with me. "It basically allows you to see onto the Astral plane, which is----
"---Which is the place where un-crossed over spirits and ghosts and all the other creatures that go bump in the night hang out, right?" I ask, cutting him off. He gives me an amused glance, "Yeah, right."
"Well, why is this happening to me, why can I see these things," I blurt out, really wanting this whole 'i-can-see-spirits-and-whatnot' senario to be over. He shakes his head apologetically, "I dont know really, everyone's reasons for getting their abilities tend to very just as the people who are tapped with them," he says, feeling just as defeated as I felt. "Wait, so you can see into the astral plane too?" I ask, becomming a little excited that I wasnt the only one with the issue. As we step into the hall I felt oddly concious of all the students watching me with Gage, hell, I felt oddly concious of myself. From what I understood about Gage and his friends, they werent exactly the most socially accepting people in the entire school, and becomming apart of their circle, was like alligning yourself with gods---a darn near impossible thing to do! "Well, no I cant exaclty 'see' into the astral plane, well I can see into it at all actually, my abilities are different than your's," he explains as we approach my Pysical Education class. "Well what are your abilities then?"
"Gage?"
Before he could answer a serene and melodic voice floated(more like tore, in my opinion) through our conversation. I turn to see Solaara standing a few paces behind Gage in eye. I felt a small twang of annoyance at her prescence. It wasnt that I was jelous of her-----okay, so I was slightly envious. I mean, who wouldnt be? This girl was the poster child and very embodiment of what it is to be gorgeous. Her skin was the perfect shade of brown, with long curly hair that fell midback, deep, haunting brown eyes and to top it all off she had Gage. (I dont believe I even need to go into him right now) Meanwhile, I didnt even notice that during my inner gawking at Solaara, Gage left my side to go talk to her. I stood back a few paces, just enough to give them them privacy, but just enought to be within earshot as well. I know, eavesdropping is bad, but they'd never know, right? "Sorry, Solaara, I was just walking Breanna to class, she's like us--its okay." Solaara shakes her head, sparks of anger glinting in her cherry brown eyes. "I don't trust her."
Her voice was loud, and she was looking at Gage when she said it, but something in her tone let me know she was talking to me and knew I was listening. "Oh c'mon----
"----I get it Gage, and despite my feelings about her, I do trust your judgement, but if this turns into a mistake, you clean up the peices on your own." Her voice was edgy, like a cold blade and there was a sense of finality to it. Despite her icy tone Gage laughs, "And when was the last time I made a mistake when it came to things like this?" Gage pauses, "And if I recall correctly the last judgment call I made like this was about you---best mistake I ever made," he adds ruefully. I feel a slight afterburn of jelousy rumble in the pit of my stomach as I watch the way the looked at each other. As if they knew I was watching, Gage clears his throat, "See you around Solaara," he says as he turns back to me. All I can say about what happens next is that she gives me a 'look' before disappearing into the crowded hallway.