Ghost in the Mirror

Ricky's P.O.V

The last couple of hours have been hectic to say the least.

Angelo and I have been cleaning the living room for these hours. We've managed to cut our fingers on the little pieces of glass stuck in the carpet, and we're still not done. The larger glass has been thrown in the trash, hidden under newspaper so hopefully mum won't find it, and the smaller glass thrown in a plastic bag which Chris is gunna throw away on his way home.

Speaking of Chris, he'd calmed down considerably well over the never-ending hours. Angelo made him think up excuses why basically everything is broken while searching online for replacement glasses and vases. At the moment he's come up with, 'bullies from school' but if my mother does believe that poor excuse, then the school will definitely be hearing about it. Hell, maybe even the police.

Balz called up half an hour ago, telling us that Ryan needed stitches and will be fucked up on painkillers for the next few hours, so he's taking him home before driving back. Maybe he'll help us think of excuses, we honestly need all the help we can get.

The house has been mostly silent during the time we've been cleaning, but the lights flickered once or twice, along with some loud sudden bangs from upstairs, making us all pause and share worrying glances. It's stopped now though, and I'm concerned about Devin. I probably shouldn't be as he nearly killed us, but I just can't help it.

Mum is supposed to be finishing work at 3pm, only an hour from now. She has another date with the mystery Internet man again tonight, apparently some new seafood restaurant in town has opened up and he's offered to take her. Two nights in a row, she must really like this dude.

"Burgled?" Chris calls from the kitchen, me and Angelo shake our heads.

"Involves the police." I answer, hissing as another piece of glass slices my fingertip.

"Then what? I've been thinking about this for hours, everything either involves the school or police." He sighs while wandering from the kitchen into the living room.

"We'll try again when Balz gets back, but how's finding replacements going?" I ask before grabbing a hammer, some wood and a big plastic bag and walking over to the broken window.

"It's actually going good, seeing as your mum has kept most of the receipts I was able to order some new ones for free." He answers while flopping down on the couch, making me sigh in relief. One less thing to worry about.

The sound of the front door opening makes us all spin around. Balz shuffles through the door with a giggly Ryan attached to his side, we stare wide eyed at them. Just what we need.

"Help me, he keeps playing with my hair." Josh whines as Ryan swirls a strand of his hair around his fingers. Me and Chris laugh while Angelo steps forward and takes Ryan from Balz and places him next to Chris on the sofa.

"Why the fuck is he here?" I demand while running my battered hands through my hair. As much as a fucked up Ryan amuses me, we still have a lot of work to do, and with him wandering around like that we'll definitely not complete it.

"No one was home and Ryan's key seemed to of disappeared, I really didn't have any other choice." Balz clarifies, making me shake my head a little.

"Fine, we don't have time to deal with this at the moment! Balz, try and help Chris think of excuses while me and Angelo finish cleaning up." I order him before starting on the window. The chatter of Chris and Balz is drowned out when Angelo starts up the Hoover, sick and tired of picking up the small parts probably.

Once I've secured the big plastic sheet over the window I walk into the kitchen to Balz and Chris, they look pleased with themselves, which causes me to raise an eyebrow.

"Come up with anything?" I ask hopefully.

"We blame Ryan." Balz grins, I look at the two sceptically for a moment, are they really considering that?

"Guys what the fuck? That's hardly fair on Ryan." I complain, they both just shrug.

"Well it's either we blame Ryan or you tell your mum that a ghost has had a temper tantrum." Chris huffs as he crosses his hand. I sigh, I suppose Ryan would understand right? My mum would eventually forgive him.

"Fine, give me the rest."

"Okay, basically we say he fell off his bike this afternoon, he landed on some glass and he needed some drugs to stop the pain, they fucked him up bad, we brought him here and he accidentally trashes the place." Balz explains simply, I nod and breathe out through my nose before giving the two a small smile.

"I think we might just get away with this." I grin, they return the gesture before their eyes flicker over my shoulder. I spin around to find Angelo giving us all a small smile.

"The living room is clean, I can't see anymore glass in the carpet." He informs us before leaning on the counter, I nod and smile in gratitude.

"Thanks guys, I couldn't have done all this on my own." I thank while sighing happily. They roll their eyes but grin.

"Of course we're not going to leave this all to you." Balz chuckles while giving me a pat on the back.

We all wander back into the living room, just in time to see Devin stood over Ryan.

Oh fuck.