Spirits of Spring (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 4) (53 page)

Rachel mobbed me next, crying and laughing at the
same time. “This doesn’t sound anything like the Holocaust!”
she shouted, making me laugh too. “You look so pretty! The
two of you deserve this after everything you’ve been through!”

Mr. Raspatello approached with bouquets of roses for
both Misty and me. “This couldn’t have happened to a more
deserving couple,” he said as he handed me mine. He handed
Misty
hers
and
walked
away
without
even
telling
her
congratulations.

One by one, people I knew, people I didn’t know, and
people I
thought
I knew but was apparently wrong about came
up to congratulate me. It was like Halloween for me—I kept
waiting for the tricks but only found the treats. Zach needed to
wake up tonight—I wanted to share this with him even if he
only got to hear about it from his hospital bed.

I was
overwhelmed.
I
was
still stunned.
When
a
photographer for the school newspaper snapped a shot, I saw
something in the afterglow of the flash that intrigued me. What
I saw was a woman glide gracefully behind one of the trees and
out of sight. She had long black hair and was wearing a green
dress. I couldn’t see her face but I knew who she was. She was
my mother.

I bolted out of my throne to go look for her but ran
straight into Rachel instead. She had tears streaming down her
face but they weren’t the happy ones I’d seen only moments
earlier. Something was wrong.

“Ruby, I just got a call from Mom! We have to get to the
hospital fast! Zach’s taken a turn for the worse!”

The energy drained from my body as though someone
had pulled a plug. I’d been trying to prepare for this moment
but in the hopes that it would never actually come. Now, here I
was floating around in my own version of heaven only to come
crashing down to earth with shattered wings. I took one last
glance toward the tree I watched my mom duck behind then
nodded to Rachel. “Let’s go!”

Boone drove that sports car as fast as he possibly could
across
town
to the hospital. The dirty trick I’d been
anticipating arrived after all—hand delivered by Fate itself.
Zach needed to hold on long enough for me to say one last
goodbye.

I pulled a tissue out of my bag to wipe away the first
round of tears and something else came out with it. In my lap,
lay what I’d taken to referring to as the ghost stone. Was it
trying to tempt me into using it? Nonsense, it wasn’t real. It
was like every other stone I’d ever seen—powerless. But just
in case, I needed to get rid of it now.
If Zach was dying, I
needed to accept it and not try to foolishly intervene.

As we rushed past the water fountain in the hospital
lobby, I pressed the stone to my lips then tossed it in.
We
crammed into an already
packed elevator and
endured a
painfully slow ride up to the third floor.

We couldn’t even get into his room. Through the open
door, I could see Dad barking out orders to two nurses as he
worked feverishly to get Zach stabilized. Every machine Zach
was hooked to was buzzing loudly, red lights flashing on them
all.

Above the chaos, there rang a voice—Zach’s voice. “I
have to go before I don’t go!” he shouted, then the line on the
machine monitoring his heart went perfectly flat.

40. Deconstructing Gods
“How bad did you suffer the night you died? How much
pain did I put you in?”

I was afraid to hear the answer but I needed to know
the truth. I needed to know how much pain he was in as he lay
dying
in
the blizzard because I let hormones
and
poor
judgment get in the way.
Ever since that night, every time I
pictured him in my mind I saw things I didn’t want to see. Even
the best memories I had of him would eventually turn into a
grotesque image of him freezing to death in the snow. I tried so
hard to stop those thoughts but nothing seemed to work.
All I
could imagine was this frail, old man with a horrified look
frozen onto his face, icicles trailing from his eyes where icy
tears had fallen. It sickened me in indescribable ways.

“Suffer? My death wasn’t as gruesome as you think it
was.
I fell and broke my hip and it hurt like the dickens!
I
couldn’t walk back to the house—hell, I couldn’t even
see
the
house. But there’s a more important point here that you’re
missing. I didn’t die because of you, Squirt. I died because it
was my time to go.”

“But how do you
know
that? Don’t just tell me what you
think I want to hear—tell me the truth.”

“The truth is that I knew I was dying when I woke up
that morning.
My heart was giving out and I could feel it.
I
don’t know how to explain it, but when it’s your time to die—
you simply know. I wanted to get that heater in from the barn
so that your grandma would have one less thing to worry about
when my time came. Even if I hadn’t fallen—even if I
had
found
my way back to the house—I still would have died that night. I
didn’t really need your help to bring in that heater—our
neighbor offered earlier that day and I declined. I just wanted
to see you one last time before I died.”

“So maybe I didn’t cause your death but my selfishness
denied you your final wish. That’s just as bad.” This
conversation was even more depressing than I expected it to
be.

“There’s one other thing here that you fail to see.” He
paused for a moment
as
he carefully
unwrapped another
peppermint and placed it on his tongue. “Did my death change
you?”

“Change me? What kind of question is that? Hell yeah,
it changed me!”

 

“But did it change you for the better?”

His comment struck me out of the blue. It was true—
his death did cause me to take a good look at myself.
It forced
me to decide what was truly important to me and what wasn’t.
But it also caused serious upheaval between me and my dad.
But it led me away from a future that I didn’t really want. But it
kept me from making any more stupid mistakes.
But it made
me feel terrible and kept me from getting close to anyone else
for a long time. But it led me to Ruby, someone who always at
least
tried
to understand me. No more “buts”. I found my
answer.

“Yes, it did. Now that I’ve had a chance to talk to you
about it, it has. But if I leave you, you’ll be stuck here alone
again. Where’s Grandma? Why isn’t she here with you?”

“Just like my little Squirt—always more worried about
other people than he is about himself.
This isn’t where I’ll be.
This isn’t where I’ve
been
. This is only the place you chose to
meet me in. If you decide to leave, I’ll go back where I came
from to be with Grandma and everyone else. If you decide to
stay with me, we’ll go back there together. You have to make
your decision now or it will be made
for
you. What’s it gonna
be?”

I thought for a moment even though I knew my mind
was already made up. I gave him one last hug and told him that
I loved him. “I’ll see you again someday, Grandpa. But I think I
still belong back there with Ruby. I have to go before I don’t
go!”

“Good luck, Zach!
And tell your dad that his greatest
sorrow will soon turn into laughter.” I heard him call as the
interior of the barn began to fade into blurry blackness. That
was the first time he’d ever called me by my first name and not
by my nickname. Going back wasn’t an easy decision for me to
make but I knew that it was the right one.

My ears were being assaulted by chaotic beeping noises
which made me half afraid to open my eyes.
A split second
later, the chaos vanished and the sounds became rhythmic and
almost soothing. I opened my eyes slowly then pressed them
tightly shut again after what I saw in front of me. Or rather
who
I saw. I’d waited too long to decide. I was dead.

Why couldn’t I have figured things out sooner? Why
didn’t I let go of the past while there was still time for a happy
ending for me and Ruby?
Then I heard a voice that made me
want to open my eyes again.

There they both stood, gazing down at me with smiles
on their faces. She looked truly angelic in her green dress with
a halo of silver around her head.
Now I knew what heaven
looked like. It looked like Ruby. She took my hand and pressed
it to her cheek.

“You died, too?” I whispered to her. “I thought I saved
your life?”

 

“You
did
save my life, Zach! I’m not dead and neither
are you!”

“What?” That couldn’t be possible. We were both dead.
All three of us were. There wasn’t any other possible
explanation. Was there? “Then what’s Clay doing here?” I
asked with confusion.

“You can see me! Zach can see me now, too, Ruby!” Clay
blurted out happily.

Ruby clapped her hand to her mouth. “You’re alive,
Zach. You’re very much alive. But I think you’re also very
much more like me now. You can see ghosts.”

Once she said that, I began to look around the room.
The room itself looked like a typical hospital room but its
occupants were atypical. I could see shadows and faint outlines
of people everywhere. People who most definitely weren’t
alive.

“I can see the dark side of the moon,” I whispered
quietly. When she asked me to repeat what I’d said, I chose to
say something different. “Kiss me. I want to feel you smile
again.”

It was the sweetest kiss I’d ever tasted. I knew my life
was never going to be the same again. I was going to have to
live every day never knowing when the unknown would make
itself known to me. But there was one other thing that made
that okay. I would always have Ruby by my side to help me get
through it.

41. Exit Stage Left

Two weeks later, Zach was out of the hospital and
strong enough to go to graduation. I’d filled him in on
everything that happened while he was unconscious and he
told me about meeting his grandpa. His ability to see ghosts
everywhere he looked faded fast but he clearly still had the
ability. Clay decided to hang around for a while now that he
could have a real conversation with Zach. I didn’t mind sharing
Zach with Clay one bit.

While I assumed that leaving him in Ohio was the end
for us, I was wrong. Our bond was physically broken but not
emotionally.
The minute I heard them announce that I was
prom queen, Clay felt my inner turmoil and came to see what
was going on. I was simply in too much shock to notice that he
was there.

Graduation was on May 31
^st
, my last day as a seventeen
year old.
I always knew that I would graduate because school
itself was never an issue for me. What I
did
doubt was whether
or not I would see my eighteenth birthday. As long as nothing
terrible happened in the next few hours, I was going to make it
there just fine. The ceremony was boring and lasted way too
long.
The goodbyes were tearful and could have gone on
forever.

The only close friendship I had formed in Charlotte’s
Grove was with Rachel. I’d expected her to stick around for
most of the summer but when Boone’s school demanded that
he arrive in June instead of August, she chose to go with him.
She was already packed and leaving in two days. We would see
each other for my birthday bash but tonight felt like our true
goodbye.

When the last student
crossed the
stage for
her
diploma, the rest of the class cheered and tossed their caps in
the air. Rachel reached across Zach and gave me a hug.

“I wish we had more time to spend together. I’m going
to miss both of you so much!” She paused awkwardly then
announced, “Oh, by the way, there’s a ghost in the attic
window.”

“What?” I said in a panic. “What attic are you talking
about? And since when are
you
able to see them?” Maybe I
was
contagious after all.

“No silly,” she said, handing me a tissue. That’s just my
polite way of telling you need to wipe your nose.
You have a
snotty little friend peeking out to say hello!”

“Oh,” I said with a laugh as I wiped at my nostrils.
“Those are the kind of conversations I’m going to miss most
once you’re gone. Every day is going to sound like the
Holocaust for a while.”

“I know but it will be okay. You have to promise to take
good care of my little brother especially now that he’s
paranormal like you.
I want to know everything
that
happens—just because I’ll be in Florida is no excuse for leaving
me out of your loop of weirdness, you know.”

“Um, well, considering that you’re the only one
in
our
loop of weirdness, I don’t think that will be too hard for me to
manage.” I tried to remain stoic so that she wouldn’t break
down on me but it didn’t happen. We both cried like babies
while Zach sat between
us
laughing
at the term “loop of
weirdness”.

I took time to say goodbye to the two teachers I would
really miss—Coach Hunter and Mr. Raspatello—but Principal
Lascher was the one to seek
me
out.
He gave me a quick
apology for all of the torture I’d endured over the past year and
I accepted it. There was one question in my mind that I figured
he may have the answer to so I took the opportunity to ask it. I
wanted to know where Lucas disappeared to.