Sleep Stalker (Ghosts Beyond the Grove Book 1) (24 page)

     I wound my way through the twisted juniper trees looking for what I didn’t already know.  I’d barely made it a hundred yards across the rocky terrain when I heard a clanking noise behind me.  I turned around to find that my cell had fallen out of the back pocket of my shorts and landed roughly on the stones below. 

     In checking to make sure that it still worked, I suddenly realized that I had never taken it out of airplane mode days earlier.  I’d grown accustomed to not receiving daily texts from Zach anymore.  And aside from him, my phone could go silent for days without me noticing.  Not wanting anyone to worry needlessly about me, I chose to halt my journey for a few minutes so that I could reply to any messages I may have had before moving on.  But in the end, that was as far as my journey was going to take me.

     The ground beneath my feet started to vibrate, perfectly synchronized with the buzzing of my phone as multiple message alerts poured in.  There were thirty new texts and twelve missed calls—more than my phone would normally garner in a whole month.  With most of those calls originating from Rachel, I knew something had to be wrong with Zach.

     As I nervously dialed through to my voicemail, the vibrations got increasingly stronger, pulsating through my entire body from the ground up.  The first message was the only one I listened to.  It was garbled and undecipherable all except for two words.  Two words I never thought I would hear.

     Rachel’s panicked voice rang through my ears as I listened.  “Zach.  Suicide.”

     The earth shook yet again and so did I.

39.  Secrets and Syzygy

     While flight 604 to Pittsburgh was still boarding, I walked away quickly from the gate.  I could hear Zach calling my name, wondering why I wasn’t joining him in line.  At the time, I didn’t feel bad about leaving him at that gate.  I was too busy feeling good for the first time in weeks to care about anything else.  My appetite was back to normal and suddenly sleeping was the last thing I wanted to do. 

     I didn’t know the real reason my sister sent me to the airport until later.  Clarity about what I’d done and what had happened came back to me sporadically over the next few months.  Along with guilt.  Massive amounts of it. 

     Once I realized what I’d passed on to that kid Zach, I felt terrible.  But my older sister Claire assured me that it had to be done and I trusted her with my life.  The only way to release my soul was to entrap someone else’s.  But there was always that fear in the back of my mind.  What will I do if it finds me again?