Spiritus, a Paranormal Romance (Spiritus Series, Book #1) (10 page)

“
Did he kill her?” I whispered.

Jonah shook his head, “Nope. She killed him. Shot him with his own gun. His ghost has roamed Capitol Avenue ever since.”

“
What happened to the wife?” I asked, worried that another ghost would be appearing in the very near future.

He seemed pleased with the effect his story was having on me. “Nobody knows for sure what happened to the wife. A few days later she was found dead near Indian Creek. Some say she committed suicide, others say the soldier’s ghost killed her by scaring her to death.”

I couldn’t say anything at first. I could only stare into the fire and wonder if this Capitol Avenue ghost was my ghost.

“
Crazy story, isn’t it?” Jonah said with a laugh.

“
I’ve never heard anything like it.” I said while watching the flames.

Jonah shrugged, “I think every kid in Corydon hears about twelve versions of that story by the time they reach elementary school.”

“
What story are you talking about?” Ashley Richardson asked as she stepped into the light of the fire. She looked beautiful, richly tanned and her hair had that perfectly mussed look that cover models worked hours for.

I couldn’t help but notice that Jonah shifted away from me a little as he answered her.

“
I was telling her about the old Capitol Avenue soldier,” he said with a smirk.

“
Is that why she looks so scared?” Ashley asked with a laugh. “How pathetic.”

I told myself not to cry, but I could feel the hot tears burning somewhere behind my eyes. It was just too much, Ashley hating me for no reason, ghosts haunting the house, what was next?

Who was I kidding? Guys as perfect as Jonah belonged with a girl just as equally perfect. Someone like Ashley.

I let out a huff and stood up as Ashley sat down on the other side of Jonah. I couldn’t sit there with them. I was the unwanted third wheel.

Just stepping away from them didn’t help. I could still hear Ashley flirting shamelessly with Jonah.

“
Your hair has gotten so light,’ she said. “And you know I just have a thing for blond guys.”

As ridiculous as her statement was, I wished I had said something like that to him. Instead, I was collecting silly ghost stories. How could I be so stupid?

I didn’t wait around to witness what would happen next between them. Even someone as out of touch as me could see the obvious outcome. I stormed away from the fire and out into the darkness.

I walked until the grass disappeared and the bare dirt fanned out in wide patches, ending at the edge overlooking the water. I stopped, afraid to look down, and wondered what exactly it was I thought I was doing.

Afraid. That was my problem. I was always afraid. If I wasn’t always so scared and unsure, it would be me talking to Jonah right now. Ashley was right. I was pathetic.

I forced myself to open my eyes and look down. I knew the water was down there, but I couldn’t see it. The darkness rose up to my feet, looking thick enough to walk across.

The wind whipped around me, carrying the faint scents of late summer like drying leaves and dying grass.

I stepped closer to the edge, hearing small pebbles fall, but keeping my eyes forward. I took a deep breath and tried to feel the air pushing around me.

I was tired of being afraid.

Taking another deep breath, I shifted my weight up to my toes. I told myself it was just like a diving board at a pool and there was nothing to be afraid of.

It’s just like a pool…It’s just like a pool….

I hesitated a moment more, feeling the edge of the rock with my toes, then I closed my eyes…

And jumped into the darkness.

There was no time to scream. I was falling toward the smooth surface of the water so quickly there was no time to think. I was staring at my own reflection getting bigger and bigger, closer and closer.

I didn’t have time to think about how to land. All of a sudden I was colliding with the water and going deeper and deeper. I knew that I should be swimming to the surface, but my body was still stinging from the impact and wouldn’t cooperate.

My chest ached, bursting with my held breath. My shoulder hit the rocky bottom first with such force there was no time to keep my head from hitting the hard surface also.

The world was made up of blackness, the dark night above, the inky water trapping me, and the darkness behind my eyes that was trying to claim me.

He came to me then. Through all of the darkness I saw him, the ghost from my bedroom, hanging in space next to me. In that moment I knew him. I knew his handsome face and dazzling eyes. It was exactly the face that I wanted to see as I prepared for death.

Was that it? Was I really dying?

I looked to this spirit beside me, searching his perfect face for the answer. Was I dying? Is that why he looked so sad?

His hand was pale, almost silvery, as it reached toward me. He took my hand in his and suddenly he was above me, pulling me toward him.

I was in his arms then and I wasn’t thinking about dying anymore because he was lifting me toward the surface. I didn’t have to do anything; I just had to trust him.

The rocky cliff came into focus above the surface. I was almost there, just a little further and I’d be able to breathe again. My lungs ached with the memory of air, suddenly craving it again.

A splash beside me rocked my body and the spirit was gone. I was sinking down again, the last of my air escaping in shinning bubbles. I watched helpless as the image of the spirit swirled and dissolved like ink in the water. I didn’t want him to go, but my mouth was full of water and I couldn’t speak.

The intruder grabbed me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and pulled me to the surface. I felt the darkness behind my eyes was pulling me back, refusing to let me go.

I let this person lift me, and then I was spinning away. The next thing I remembered was the coarse, needle-like grass poking into my back. I tried to open my eyes, but the lids were heavy like concrete.

There was buzzing everywhere, like an electrical charge or a hive of bees. As I lay there, trying to remember how to breathe, words broke through the buzzing, but then faded before I could make out what was said.

One voice rose above the den, close and hot in my face.

“
Becca?” Jonah asked. “Can you hear me?”

I struggled and lifted the heavy veil of my eyelids to see him leaning over me, his wet hair dripping water down onto my face.

“
Jonah?” I chocked out through the rawness of my throat. It felt and sounded as though I was speaking through gravel.

He ordered me not to move, but even without turning my head I knew that a crowd had gathered and everyone was staring at me. That’s what the buzzing was, all of them talking about how stupid I was. I closed my eyes and wished I could just disappear.

“
Stay with me.” Jonah pleaded as if he thought I was slipping back into unconsciousness. “The ambulance is on the way.”

Oh God.

Sure enough, the high pitched wail of a siren was getting closer and closer. I would never be able to face anyone again. How could I have been so stupid?

I didn’t hear Jonah leave my side; he was close and silent until the paramedics ordered him to move. Only then could I open my eyes and answer their questions.

“
What happened?” One asked as he shone a light in my eyes.

“
I jumped in and hit my head.”

To add insult to injury, they strapped a hard plastic neck brace around me and placed me on a hard wooden board. I was mortified. I was relieved when I was lifted onto a stretched and then placed in the ambulance where no one could see me.

I was whisked away to an emergency room somewhere. It could have been in Corydon, the next city, or the next state. How different can hospitals look when strapped to a stretcher and your only view is the ceiling as you’re wheeled down the hall?

Once in the emergency room, I was placed in a forgotten corner room. A nurse checked on me a few times, but other than that I was left alone to wonder what all had happened.

Did that spirit really come to me as I was dying?

It took hours for the doctors to run all of their tests and scans. At last I was released with a diagnosis of only a concussion to my very nervous father.

“
Oh thank God!” He said, pulling me to him as soon as I walked out into the waiting room.

“
I’m fine.” I assured him, wanting him to stop looking so worried. “Let’s just go home.”

He nodded and walked me toward the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jonah sitting on the far side of the waiting room; he stood when I looked his way.

Oh God! I couldn’t face him. I gave him an embarrassed wave and followed Dad out the automatic glass doors.

“
You don’t know how scared I was.” Dad said as we got into his Suburban.

“
I’m okay, really, it’s just a bump on the head.”

“
When I got the call to come to the hospital, my first thought—“

“
I know.” I interrupted, definitely not in the mood to talk about my mother. “But I’m fine.”

He anxiously watched my every move when we got home, making me feel so guilty. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I gave up and went to bed. I loved the peace and quiet as I slipped under the covers.

As I lay there with my eyelids growing heavier and heavier, he came to me again.

I had just closed my eyes when I felt a tingling sensation over my cheek. I opened my eyes and there was the ghost, standing over me and touching my face with his nothing hand.

Just as I gasped, he shimmered and faded away, leaving me alone again in the darkness.

Chapter 6

I made up my mind early the next day I needed to get out of the house and away from my Dad as soon as possible. He watched me anxiously and asked me a dozen times if I was feeling okay.

Of course I woke up with a splitting headache to go with the deep purple bruise on the right side of my head, but I didn’t tell him about the headache because I knew he would drag me back to the emergency room. So, to save us both the trouble, I lied and sneaked some Tylenol when my Dad wasn’t looking.

Despite my attempts to hide my discomfort, Dad still kept me home all day Sunday and then decided to keep me home from school Monday. My protests fell on deaf ears. He didn’t care about the talk my absence would cause. Finally I just gave in.

I spent the morning in my room at my laptop. I searched the internet for anything related to ghosts and hauntings. I found page after page of useless stories about headless ghosts in graveyards and old houses that just seemed creepy. At last I came across the actual definitions regarding hauntings and ghosts.

It seemed there were different types of hauntings and ghosts. There was the residual spirits that were just acting out part of their life or even their death over and over. These spirits will continue regardless if someone is there to witness the activity.

The more interesting idea was the intelligent haunting. That was a spirit that wanted to interact with the living for some reason. These spirits usually wanted something, even if it was nothing more than attention.

I settled on the idea the thing in my room was an intelligent ghost, but who was he? I needed some answers.

It was just before noon Monday before I was able to escape. I told Dad I had a History paper to research and that I needed to go to the library. He looked up from the newspaper, worry puckering his brow again.

“
Why is it so urgent?” He asked. “After all, you’re supposed to be sick.”

“
I know.” I replied. “That’s why I needed to go to school today so that I could use the school library. I have to turn in an outline tomorrow.”

Dad folded his newspaper and set it aside, “Okay, well let me drive you.”