Sleep Stalker (Ghosts Beyond the Grove Book 1) (18 page)

     There was no trace of my previous anxiety or fear for the outcome of the situation.  None whatsoever.  I didn’t know exactly what I needed to do but I had a pretty good idea.  I was in such an oddly twisted position but somehow it all made perfect sense to me now.  I needed to move forward yet stay in place at the same time.  It’s a good thing I was comfortable with the weirder aspects of life.  If not, I would have bolted for the door a long time ago.

     About an hour after we arrived at the hospital, a nurse entered the waiting room and approached Addie.

     “They’re done casting your boyfriend’s ankle.  You can see him now but the doctor has a few questions for you first in regards to how the accident happened.”

     “No, I’m Zach’s girlfriend,” I said proudly even though there wasn’t much to be proud of lately.  But I was determined to get back the Zach I loved, the Zach I knew was still there underneath all of the psychological clutter in his brain.  I knew that I would be faced with questions that I couldn’t logically answer.  But I’d formed a plan to get me through the interrogation.  And lying wasn’t even going to be necessary.

     I couldn’t tell them what was
really
wrong with Zach but I could at least relay the effect it was having on him.  It just wasn’t socially acceptable to look strangers in the eye and say, “My boyfriend’s cursed but it’s okay because my dead mother is helping me get to the bottom of it.”  No, they would lock
both
of us up for sure.  However, the symptoms of that curse were simple and easily explained.  I knew now that Zach wasn’t crazy and I had to find a way to keep him out of a strait jacket until I got things under control.

     “He got mono a few months ago.  His sleep patterns have been irregular ever since then.  My dad is a doctor and he prescribed a sleeping pill for him but I don’t think it’s helping much.  When Zach got hit by that car today, he was probably sleep walking.”

     I noticed a hint of hesitation from the doctor before he gave me the clearance to visit Zach.  Did he tell them a radically different story than I did?  Was he capable of telling them anything coherent at all?  He was an infinite amount of crazy lately but now that I knew what was wrong with him, I was more than happy to see his insane little face.  He, however, didn’t seem too excited to see me.

     I wasn’t in the room more than a few minutes before I was asked to leave because he clearly didn’t want me there.  Yesterday, I would have taken offense to that.  But today changed everything.  My thoughts were clearer than ever before.  My focus was finely honed—a blade sharpened and ready for battle.  There was no doubt in my mind what my next step was.  The only question was whether or not to try to convince Zach to take that leap with me.

     I stopped off at the first vending machine I found and popped enough change in for drinks for Addie and me both.  When I returned to the waiting room, she greeted me enthusiastically.

     “Thank goodness you’re back!  I totally forgot that I was sittin’ here talkin’ to a ghost until the receptionist assured me that someone from the psychiatric wing would be down for me shortly.  If I don’t get outta here soon, they’re gonna dress me up in one of those pretty white jackets with all the straps on them!” 

     She stood up and took a large gulp of her soda, peering cautiously around the corner.  “Clay, you are the most alive dead man I’ve ever met!”

     “So I’ve heard,” Clay replied in a monotone voice, smiling all the while.  “But I wasn’t trying to get you in trouble, scout’s honor.”

     “Why don’t we all go outside for a little while?  I could use some fresh air.  That and we can talk freely without having to worry about getting nabbed by wayward psychiatrists.  Plus, I need to tell you my plan.”

     The crisp October wind that met us at the door was a welcome friend.  Why did the air inside hospitals always have to be so heavy and laden with sadness?  Good things happened inside their walls too, right?  Babies were born, people were cured—but only the death and depression seemed to linger.  How my dad was able to work in that environment day after day without going crazy, I will never understand.

     We found a small bench and sat down.  I made Clay sit in the middle so that we could all talk without Addie or me looking like nutcases speaking to an empty audience.  Then I unleashed my strategy for getting the real Zach back.  Or at least the parts I had figured out.

     “So I’ve decided to book a flight to Tucson ASAP.  I need to talk to Roxanne in person—emails or even phone calls simply aren’t going to cut it.  But there
is
one snag in my scheme.  I have to wait and see whether or not they’re going to release Zach from the hospital any time soon.  I can’t go traipsing off and leaving him to fend for himself—mentally
or
physically.”

     “But all he has is a broken ankle.  Don’t you think they’ll let him out in an hour or two?  When we were kids, I accidentally broke Jeremy’s arm while roughhousing and he didn’t have to stay overnight or anything.”

     As always, Clay got a far off look in his eye after mentioning his once-best friend’s name.  Even though Jeremy was the reason Clay was dead, I knew that he still blamed himself for leading him down the wrong path in the first place.  It was a burden that even death itself couldn’t lift from his shoulders.

     “But it isn’t just about his ankle anymore.  Zach’s a hot mess mentally and I don’t know if it’s possible for him to hide such a massive amount of crazy—especially from professionals who are trained to sniff out the looney tunes in the crowd.  He was in lying in that bed telling them that he was paralyzed even though there’s absolutely no medical evidence of it.  He needs to be somewhere safe while I take care of things but I can’t afford for him to be locked up.  I don’t know much about curse removal but I’m pretty sure that it would be ten times harder to do if Zach’s in a padded room.”

     Addie rolled her eyes at me and sighed.  Although I preferred not to be on the receiving end of a good eye roll, I had to give her credit.  She was good at it—as good if not better at it than me.  And I took it as a sign that she was seeing a solution to my problem that was eluding me.

     “You just can’t see the forest for the trees can ya, Ruby?  I swear, girl, I’ve never met anyone who makes easy look as hard as you do.  Like how ya make restockin’ the napkin dispensers at work look like delicate brain surgery.  They’re only napkins!  If you open up the back of the—”

    
Now
I was back on the right side of the eye roll.  “Enough about the napkins, Addie!  What forest am I not seeing?  In case I’ve never told you before, I’ll tell you now—I. HATE. SUSPENSE.”

     Clay snickered so I flashed him an eye roll as well.  Undaunted, he gave Addie a bit of advice that no living man would have had the guts to give considering my current mood.  One of the few perks of being dead, I suppose.

     “The dominatrix is displeased.  You better release your secret knowledge before she releases the punishment.”  He cracked an invisible whip in the air and Addie started to giggle.  Meanwhile, I sat there losing my patience with both of them at an alarming rate.

     “Okay, Ruby—point taken.  You hate suspense.  Here it is.  You’re dad’s a doctor, isn’t he?  All you need to do is call him and have Zach transferred to the hospital back home.  If they release him, great.  He won’t have a car so he’ll
have
to stay with his parents.  If not, oh well.  Easy peasy.  Either way, Zach is safe and you are free to roam about the country.”  

     My phone was in my hand before she finished speaking.  When his cell went straight to voice mail, I called the house.  No answer there either.  My last option was to call the hospital and have him paged.  This was an emergency.  I needed my dad.  Stat.

     I sat on hold for about ten minutes before he finally picked up.  Hurriedly, I explained the situation and asked if he could arrange for Zach to be transferred to Baker Regional Medical Center immediately.  I did
not
, however, tell him that my next move was to book a flight to Tucson.  He would never approve of me flying cross country alone—and mentioning curse removal wasn’t even remotely an option.

     “I can do that.  But insurance won’t pay for an ambulance to transport him since it isn’t an emergency situation.  You’re going to have to drive him here.  Shelly’s making garlic chicken tonight.”

     The little tidbit about what was for dinner made me realize that I hadn’t been home in weeks and chances were, Dad and Shelly noticed it long ago.  I wanted to go home but there was simply too much on my agenda.  They didn’t know that Zach’s illness bore the markings of the supernatural realm.  They also had no clue that I was digging around in my mother’s past.  And I felt that it was best—for now—to leave them in the dark on both counts. 

     “Sorry, Dad.  I can’t make it home this week—heavy work schedule.  But I’ll see if I can get off next weekend instead.  Can you call Zach’s parents and ask them to pick him up?  I would do it myself but….”

     But I have to book a flight to Tucson.  I couldn’t really end my sentence that way so I chose not to really end it at all.  Dad could fill in the blanks any way he saw fit.  I was an adult now and old enough to make my own choices.  And my choice was to do anything it took to free Zach from his invisible chains.

     “Okay,” he replied, sounding more than a little disappointed.  “I’ll take care of Zach so you can go to work.  But do me a favor and try really hard to come home next weekend.  We miss you.”

     He sure knew how to lay a guilt trip even when he wasn’t aware that I was feeling guilty.  I agreed to put Charlotte’s Grove on my to-do list as soon as I could manage it then hurriedly ended the conversation.

     “Now that Zach is out of the way, I need to get myself onto a plane to Arizona.  What’s the soonest I can get a week off—or even just a few days?”

     “If ya can still work your shift tomorrow, I’ll take care of the rest even if I have to pull double shifts myself until ya get back.  The doll, the tea leaf readings, Roxanne’s email—they’re all part of a mystery that ya need to solve.  It’s all so strange—I can’t wait to tell Granny all about it!”

     “I can do it!” I exclaimed.  “I don’t know how much time I’m going to need off, though.  I’m going to wait here until someone comes to pick up Zach.  But as soon as I get home, I’m calling Roxanne to give her a heads up.  Then, I’m buying myself the first flight out of here.”

     Addie giggled like a teenager after her first kiss.  “This is so exciting!  Y’all have no idea how bad I wish I could come with ya!  But, someone has to stay behind to hold down the fort, I suppose.  If you’re okay, I’m goin’ to leave now so that I can take a look at the schedule and try to call in some favors from some ex-employees.  You’ll wait here with her won’t ya, Clay?”

     Little did she know how silly that question was.  As a ghost, Clay existed outside of time as we knew it.  An hour spent here with me was of no more importance to him than a second was to the living.  And I knew from past experience that Clay would have stayed an eternity with me if I’d ask him to. 

     “Scout’s honor,” he said, winking to me as though he had read my mind. 

     Clay and I were once so attached that he had actually been able to enter my dreams.  I sometimes wondered if he was still able to access parts of my brain without me being aware of it.  To be on the safe side, I tried not to think about certain things—embarrassing or private things—when I was in his presence.  Now was no exception.  I forced images of random things into my head just in case.  Ice cream.  Puppies.  New shoes.

     When he flashed me a weird look, I started to panic and blurted out one of my biggest fears.

     “Why are you looking at me like that?  You can read my mind, can’t you?  Tell me the absolute truth.”  And I did want nothing but the truth—as long as he said no and really meant no.

     Clay didn’t laugh and call me Dom like he usually did.  His serious tone scared me.  Puppies, puppies, puppies.  I had to think about cute, fluffy, harmless puppies.

     “Not exactly, Ruby.  I can’t read your thoughts but I can read your emotions.  I can tell when you’re scared even though you’re pretending that you aren’t.  I can tell that you’re more worried about Zach than you let on.  I can tell that you’re nowhere near as confident as you want Addie to think you are.  If you want me to go to Arizona with you, I will.  All you have to do is ask.”

     I was taken aback because he was right on all counts.  The idea of asking Clay to take that trip with me had definitely entered my mind.  I’d never gone that far away by myself.  I was scared to death, that’s for sure.  But there was one other aspect in play that couldn’t be ignored.  I was determined.  I was determined to find a way to land on my own two feet.

     “You’re right about everything, Clay.  But I need to make this journey alone—both literally
and
metaphorically.  This isn’t just about helping Zach.  It’s about discovering pieces of myself that I never thought I would find.  Don’t worry—my mom always has my back, remember?  If I really need you, I’ll let you know.”

     He nodded his head in understanding.  “Well, if you insist.  But joining the mile high club is still on my unfinished bucket list, you know.”

     I would never be able to understand that boy as long as I lived.  Two seconds after speaking heartfelt and profound words, he would always go and sully it by throwing in an inappropriate comment like that.  In return, he received the biggest eye roll of the day.