Your Ghost Is Scratching at My Skin

Kellin sat up with a jolt, trying to remember the dream that had shook him so badly. He pulled on fresh clothes and ran downstairs, hoping Jesse would keep their breakfast date, even though they'd had a fight. "Mom! I'm going out! I'll be back this afternoon." He shrugged off the lack of response and started walking towards the only diner in town. He smiled when he saw Jesse sitting in there usual booth. He slid in, smiling. "Hey. I know you're probably still mad at me, but I wanted to apologize." Jesse looked towards the window with a sigh, only turning when the waitress walked up.
"Are you ready to order?" Kellin smiled.
"I'll have the chocola-" Jesse cut him off.
"Not yet. I'm waiting on someone. I'll give him a few more minutes." She smiled sympathetically and clicked her pen shut.
"Okay sweetie, I'll check in soon." Kellin stared in disbelief at Jesse.
"Jesse, who are you waiting on?" No answer. "Jesse?" Jesse continued scrolling through his phone. "Jesse! Answer me damn it!"
"Kellin? You never showed for breakfast, and your phone is going straight to voice mail. I'm worried about you, so please just call me back." Kellin smacked his hands down on the table.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Jesse waved the waitress over, ordering the pancakes Kellin usually got. Kellin waved his hand in front of Jesse's face. "This isn't funny. Jesse?" He slapped the sugar container of the table. He saw it shatter, but when he went to pick up the salt shaker, the sugar was right beside it. He swiped everything all at once. "JESSE!" Nothing happened. He slid out of the booth, going from table to table knocking the contents to the floor. "Can anybody here me?" He slid to the floor. "Can anybody see me?" With one last desperate sweep at the counter he ran out of the door, and back to his house.
He ran right up the stairs and to his mother's office. She was talking to a police officer. "Officer, I know my son. He never just ran off. He went to his room with his friend Jesse and never came back down. I guess they got into an argument because Jesse stormed out, and I went up later to check and he wasn't there. His balcony doors were open though."
"Well, we can't really do anything, not until it's been 24 hours." She straightened up, leaning until she was eye level with him.
"If you don't have some kind of team out there searching for my son in thirty minutes, I will be calling the Chief of Police myself to tell her how poorly your doing your job." He swallowed and nodded. "Good, you may go."
"Can I start by checking his room?" She waved him off toward the stairs.
"First door on the right." When the man's footsteps could be heard overhead, Kellin walked over to his mother.
"Why do you care now mom?" He prodded her shoulder, but he knew she couldn't feel. "Now that I'm probably fucking dead, why do you care! You didn't care when I cried myself to sleep when Dad left. You didn't care when I got solos in the school choir. You've never cared about anything I have ever done. WHY. CARE. NOW!" His mother jumped as the windows in her office shook.
"You all right there, Mayor?" She spun around, smiling lightly at the officer.
"Yeah, you just startled me a bit. Did you find anything?" He held out the plane ticket Kellin had tucked into his nightstand.
"Have you tried calling him? Maybe he just grabbed an early flight." Her eyes widened.
"Early flight to where, exactly?" The officer sighed.
"It seems that your son was planning on leaving for London tomorrow. Maybe you didn't know him quite as well as you thought you did. If you make a list of friends, I'll start by asking them." She laughed.
"The only friend that has been constant in Kellin's life is Jesse Lawson. If anyone knows where Kellin is, it'd be him."
***
"Kellin, I'm getting really worried. If you're mad at me, will you at least call me long enough to say so? I'm sorry I got so upse-" Jesse cut off what seemed like the millionth message to Kellin, and opened the door.
"Jesse Lawson?"
"Yes sir. Uh, do I need to get my parents or something?" The officer shook his head, and Kellin watched the worry drain from Jesse's eyes. He really hoped they fixed this quickly, because he was already tired of following this cop around.
"No, I just have a few questions for you about your friend Kellin. You were pretty close, right?" Jesse looked down, fingers digging nervously at the doorframe.
"You could say that. We've known each other since third grade." He wrote that down.
"And did Kellin have anyone angry with him? Classmate? Opposing sports team? Girlfriend?"
"No, none of that. Kellin doesn't even date g-" Kellin glared from his perch on the porch railing. Jesse cleared his throat. "Kellin didn't date or play sports, and we had a pretty small class. We were all pretty much friends. All I know is, we had a bit of an argument last night and he didn't come after me, and he didn't meet me for breakfast like we'd planned. His cellphone is off too."
"Uh huh. What did you and Mr. Quinn argue about?"
"Him leaving for London. We'd been discussing colleges and then he just sprung it on me that he was leaving." The pen stopped moving and the officer looked up.
"Are you sure your relationship with Kellin was strictly friendly? Those don't exactly sound like problems that would break up such a long standing friendship." Jesse sighed.
"We've been dating since the eighth grade. We never really told anyone, but I think everyone kind of knew."
"The Mayor didn't."
"Kellin's mom doesn't know anything about him other than his GPA."
"So his home situation wasn't very good?" Jesse bounced on the balls of his feet.
"He tried to stay over here as much as possible. He never said anything, but he had a bruise on his face once that I'm almost sure was from her. She get drunk and start telling him all the ways he reminded her of his father. They weren't always nice either. But I don't think he ran away. If he was feeling ready to escape, he would have just waited. And he would never leave with out telling me goodbye. Even if he was mad."
Kellin nodded from his perch as the officer thanked Jesse and went to continue his search. Kellin stepped forward, ready to slide through the door, when he started spinning. He felt like his stomach jumped into his throat, then he dropped with a thud.
"Hello?" His head snapped up at the voice, staring at the boy in front of him. "Who's there?" His eyes shone with fear, and his shirt was stained red. "Answer me!" Kellin stood up and shoved at his chest, amazed when the boy stumbled back.
"Who are you?" His hands flew up to cover his ears. Both boys jumped as a door was pushed open. A younger boy, closer to Kellin's age, peered in.
"Vic? You better clean up. Mom is almost home and I don't think even I can explain the state your in." Vic? Did he know a Vic? What brought him here? Vic didn't answer, so the other boy slid down beside him. "It'll be okay Vic. No one will ever know." Vic sniffled.
"I can hear him. He's in my head?" Mike shook his head, handing Vic a pile of clothes before slipping back out of the door. What did he mean 'no one will ever know'? Did Vic kill him. Vic stripped off his soiled clothes and Kellin glared in disbelief. They were soaked in blood. He rushed toward Vic, flailing slightly when he went through him. Vic felt it though, Kellin knew he did because he saw his eyes widened. He banged his fist on his chest, and Vic stumbled back. "Leave me alone."
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Vic covered his hands once again, but suddenly, Kellin was gone. He spun and spun and spun, until he dropped into the woods. There, hidden only slightly by the bushes at the bank of the creek, was his body. He let out a sob. "What did you do to me?"