Just to Hold You Close and Tight

“Will you help me in school again today?” I asked as we walked down the sidewalk.

“As long as I don’t consider it cheating,” he replied with a hint of a smile.

This made me roll my eyes. “What’s the point of having a ghost as a…” I stopped. I didn’t know what to call him. A best friend, or a boyfriend? I looked at him uneasily, as if to ask him.

He knew my look. He just shrugged. “Call me what you want. It’s totally up to you.”

Taking a deep breath, I continues, “…boyfriend, if he can’t help me cheat a little?” Unfortunately, due to the seriousness of my boyfriend question, my joke was taken more seriously than it should have been.

“I don’t know. What is the point?” he asked, almost sounding mournful.

“You are the point,” I replied. We turned around the corner of a high fence, and – before I could say more – something swiftly pulled me behind the fence.

“Amber!” I heard Ray exclaim, and I was immediately aware of everything around me because adrenalin was rushing through me.

Someone’s hand was over my mouth, dragging me farther behind the fence. I also felt something cold and sharp touch my neck. This kept me from struggling.

Too many things were happening at once for me to follow them all clearly, even with the adrenalin’s help.

A gruff voice said, “Don’t scream, or I’ll slit your throat.”

I nodded carefully. At the same time, Ray was in front of me, his expression both concerned and… crazy.

The man let go of my mouth, but the knife dug into my neck a little. I felt a trickle of blood. I knew this was a warning that he would use the knife if he had to. “Just tell me where your money it,” he said into my ear from behind me.

Crap. “I don’t have any,” I whispered. I tried to move my throat as little as possible. The knife was too close. It was true that I didn’t have any money, but I wished it wasn’t. Ray felt the same.

“What?” Ray exclaimed. “You have no money at all? He won’t believe you!” He was pacing, eyes intent on me. His face was still wild.

“Sure you don’t,” the man holding me captive hissed sarcastically. The knife bit deeper.

“I don’t! I don’t!” I wailed weakly. The small trickle of blood running from my neck started streaming.

“No!” Ray yelled. He stomped in the dirt, he kicked a tree. Despite my situation, he reminded me of a child throwing a temper tantrum. “I can’t do anything!”

Meanwhile, the unknown man was saying, “Oh, really?” The knife cut a little deeper.

“Check!” I whimpered.

After rummaging through my pockets, he threw me onto the ground. I hit with a thud, and Ray screamed in anger. Instinctively, I curled into a protective ball, just in time before he kicked me.

“Useless!” he exclaimed.

“Amber!” Ray kept yelling. “Amber! I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I can’t do anything! I can’t!” His words were fading into insane screaming.

The man kicked me again, and I whimpered. His hard-toed shoe hit my hand, and I felt the bones crunch. I squeezed my eyes shut, but tears still made their way through from the smarting in my hand.

Then a searing kick square in my back. I screamed, and the blow forced me out of my protective ball. This left my stomach vulnerable, and he kicked my chest. It knocked the breath out of me, and I knew a rib or two cracked.

Ray’s screaming apologies were getting wilder and wilder.

“Goodbye, then,” the evil man said from very close to my face. I almost sighed in relief. Would he leave?

No. I wasn’t so lucky. He punched my right cheek with so much force I went rolling.

Ray growled, and I heard him fling himself towards the man, but I heard him land on the other side of me. He had gone right through the man, as was to be expected.

His footsteps faded. The man had finally left. My whole body throbbed, the different points of agony tearing me apart. I tried to open my eyes, but all I saw was red. “Ray,” I said, my voice coming out as a gurgling whisper. There was blood in my mouth.

His screaming stopped, and I heard him kneel down next to me. “Amber!” he wailed helplessly. “You’re broken and it’s my fault!”

“No,” I said softly, spitting blood.

He ignored me. “Your phone. Where is it? They can’t hear me, but I can call for you!”