Taking Risks (17 page)

             
“I have to do something about this. I’ve let this shit get way too out of hand. It’s literally in my back yard and I’ve been so wrapped up in Risk that I wouldn’t acknowledge it or what it’s doing to me.”

             
Gray huffed and puffed the entire walk to the square until we crouched behind some nearby bushes to check the place out. There had to have been over a hundred red eyes and they were all wailing or crying or stomping around pissed off. They didn’t speak to one another and didn’t act as if they knew that there was anyone around but themselves. I looked at Gray with my eyes wide as they would go and he mouthed the words “I told you so” before turning his head back to the commotion.

             
I sat in the bushes and searched for our little dirty boy, Joey. After a while of crouching and searching through the crowd, my legs started to cramp and we concluded that he wasn’t there. He had to be the one assembling all of the Lost Ones, and he was more than likely the reason why there were so many in town too, but I couldn’t figure out why. I needed to talk to Joey to figure out what the hell had gotten his panties in a bunch. After taking a last look at the poor angry souls, we left the bushes and made the short walk back home.

             
Rather than going inside and wallowing in my sorrow I decided that we needed to go back to the old folks home and see if we could try and talk to Dale Harper again. I would hate to upset him again, but he was our only chance to find where Joey may be hanging around so that we could find him and try and figure out what his master plan was.

             
Even though I was avoiding the house and trying to stay busy I realized during the car ride that it wasn’t going to be possible to keep my mind away from Risk. It didn’t take long for my mind to drift to memories of us and how happy he made me just a few short days ago. My first clue to his doubt should’ve been when I had last seen him. I passed out and was obviously more than just tired, but he left me alone, hoping that Gray was watching over me without so much as a text to let me know what was going on. He knew that Joey had been zapping my energy, and he knew what could be the end result, but he didn’t stick around to see if I would be okay. That thought made me want to curl up in a ball and cry. He left me a note at school to break things off with me, not even knowing that I was ever going to be able to make it there and read it.

             
After getting lost in my thoughts I started sobbing pretty heavily and Gray insisted that I pull the car over and take a breather. He stroked my hair and said calming things to me until I could finally see the road out of my red puffy eyes again. I couldn’t wait to get to the institution and get lost in something else for a while, even if it was just a temporary fix.

             
As soon as we got through the front doors of the institution, the nurse that had kicked me out the last time I visited had spotted me. I tried to hide my face when I saw her, but it was too late. She had a look of determination and she was stalking towards me, so I stood my ground and prepared myself to be a smartass. I needed to see Dale and I couldn’t let anyone stand in my way.

             
“You need to leave. Dale has a bad heart and he doesn’t need anyone coming around here and stirring up bad memories for him. He’s a good man and he deserves better…”

             
The bitchy nurse was cut off by a man’s voice coming from behind her.

             
“Excuse me, I know that young woman. Please see that she makes it to my room, and I will be there momentarily.” Dale flashed her a coy smile and slowly angled his walker to go in the opposite direction. After taking a step or two he looked back over his shoulder and told the nurse, “And she absolutely
does not
bring up bad memories. She’s the only person in this whole miserable world that will allow me to talk about my family. That makes her special to me and she will be allowed to see me anytime she wants, no matter what the circumstances. She’s family.”

             
He commanded so much authority, even in his frail condition, that I wished I could have seen him in his prime. He had the nurse stuttering over herself with only the few sentences that he spoke. She nodded and said, “Yes sir.” And then sheepishly saw me to his room where I was to wait for him. I was only in there a few minutes before Dale came in. His smile was broad and he looked to have more fire behind his eyes than he had the last time I visited. He took a seat next to me on the bed and we started to make small talk.

             
After about ten minutes Dale seemed to get bored with discussing sports (which I knew nothing about) and spoke his mind.

             
“I’m guessing that you didn’t come here in the middle of a school day to chit chat with an old man, so why don’t you spill the beans dear.”

             
I cocked my eyebrows at him and said, “I’m not sure if you’re prepared for what I’m going to tell you.”

             
Dale laughed hard, which surprised me, and said, “One thing you can be sure about when you come across an old fart, like me, is that we’re survivors. How do you think we’ve made it through this awful world for so long? I’ve survived the worst tragedies a person can have in life, Miss Chase. I can handle whatever it is that you have to say to me.”

             
He then smiled curiously at me and I took a deep breath.
Here goes nothing.

             
“Mr. Harper, I’m a person who has a certain special gift. I can see and talk to souls that have passed from this world, but haven’t gone on to the next. I’ve been coming here to get information from you about your son, Joey. My…friend and I came across Joey’s spirit a few weeks ago and we’ve been trying to help him since. We took him back to your old house, which has since been burnt down, to try and reconnect him to memories that he had lost but something happened. He got close to the pond and had a flashback of his life. He also remembered how he died and he remembered that he stuck around only to see what would become of you and your wife. He’s stuck here because he blames himself for his mother’s death and your…situation. He’s become a furious soul that wants vengeance on the world because his life seemed so unfair. He’s up to something, but I can’t find him to talk to him about it, and every time I
do
find him he disappears before I can ask him much and I have to go find him all over again. I would like you to tell me where you think he might be hiding.”

             
When I was done with my confession I looked up at Dale, and to my surprise, he looked completely at ease, as if he believed me. His brow was furrowed with worry, but he didn’t look as though he wanted to argue with me about my gift, which was the usual reaction that I got when I was forced into telling people.

             
After a few minutes of thought, Dale cleared his throat and said, “He’ll be where his mother’s body was buried, I suppose. Joey died a child, and children don’t yet understand that a person’s body and their soul are two completely different things.” And that was all he had to say. I waited for a few minutes to see if he would like to talk about things further, but he had looked away from me and was staying silent so I got up to leave. When I stood Dale took my hand.

             
“I thought that he’d been hanging around. A parent always know their child’s scent, and at times I could smell him. My chair would also rock a little on its own from time to time. I don’t think you’re crazy dear, but I’m going to have to ask you to help my boy. He would have been older than you if he’d lived… Do what you can do and you come and see me anytime you need any help. You know where to find me.”

             
I nodded at Dale while giving him a reassuring smile and left the room praying that I could help him and his son find peace.

             
Gray and I were quiet on the way home, but I could tell that something was itching at him. I’ve never been good at keeping my mouth shut so I asked him what was going on in his head. He waited a moment before telling me that he just had a few errands to run, but he didn’t want to leave me alone. I swore to him that I would be fine and that he could go. After all, people got their hearts broken every day. He kissed me on the forehead and then vanished, and I was all alone again.

             
It was strange to me that Gray had been disappearing so much lately, mostly because we’ve spent almost every moment together since…forever, but I figured that he was doing something about Joey the he didn’t want me to get mixed up in so I didn’t question him. I’m sure that, even as a ghost, you would probably want some alone time every once in a while anyway.

             
I drove the rest of the way home alone and trying to find songs that were angry or harsh and didn’t have anything to do with love. I would’ve loved to have come across some Drowning Pool and jammed out for hours, but all I had was an FM radio and the stations were only offering up music for love birds, so I switched the damn thing off and concentrated on the wind blowing through my hair. It was nearing the end of September and the air was cooler which helped to take my mind off of things. It was crisp and refreshing and I was feeling a bit free.

             
When I got home I set to work on my computer to find the burial place of Roletta Harper, Joey’s mom. It didn’t take long to pull up an obituary and find the funeral home that held services for her. After a quick call to them, and a little more lying from me, they told me everything that I needed to know. I hopped back into the Delray and headed towards the cemetery where Roletta’s body had been buried. It was only about three miles away from my house on the other side of town.

             
I rounded the corner to take the main street straight through town and was startled to find someone standing right in the middle of the road. I slammed on my breaks, but I was already too close and my car went straight through the person. They hadn’t even noticed what had happened and just kept standing there, staring at the ground. I realized then that it wasn’t a person, it was a spirit and they had nearly gave me a heart attack.

             
I took a deep breath to try and calm myself before I took a good look around and saw that the amount of Lost Ones had nearly tripled in number around the small town. They were jam packed in all corners of the main stretch and it was hard to tell which of the people were alive and which weren’t. There were spirits from every decade and it looked as if they may be from all over the world. It was like some kind of crazy ComicCon gathering. They were obviously not all natives to Georgia, which meant that they were actually traveling to my shit hole town, and it made me nervous to ponder the reasons why that might be.

             
I took another long deep breath and slammed my foot down on the gas pedal. I made record time to the cemetery and I wasn’t disappointed when I got there. I didn’t even have to go searching for Roletta’s grave stone because Joey was already there hovering over his dead mothers burial place, just as his dad said he would be. I got out of my car and tried to blend in with the back ground of the other mourners as much as possible so that he wouldn’t notice me. I zigzagged around some headstones and kept my eyes downcast. When I made it up behind Joey I whispered his name and he turned around.

             
For just a second, his eyes weren’t the terrifying crimson color that I had come to despise, but they were the pretty chocolate brown color that touched a tender place in my heart. He looked as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders and he looked down at his feet and said, “I thought…I thought you were…” Then his voice trailed off and he snapped his eyes back up to mine. When he looked back up at me they were full of anger and terror, the deepest red I had ever seen.

             
“
You…”
He hissed.

             
I’d been thinking on my walk over about what I could say to him to grab his attention and keep him there, so I quickly blurted out what I had come up with before he could vanish again.

             
“Joey, your dad wants me to help you. He knows about you and he knows you’re in trouble. He loves you and wants you to be at peace. Please…”

             
Joey wavered a bit, but his angry red eyes still remained locked onto mine. “What can you do for me? You’re the reason I’m like this. Without you and that lap dog ghost of yours I would’ve never remembered all the awful things that I’d done. This is all because of
you
.”

             
He glared at me, but I kept my composure as I pushed him for answers. “What’s going on with all of the spirits around here? I’ve seen the angry ones behind my house where I found you and I’ve seen all of the Lost Ones around town. What’s bringing them here?”

             
He smiled at me and my blood ran cold. “It’s you Marlee. Lost souls from all over the world are coming here because they’re drawn to the energy that’s escaping you. You’re more powerful than you know, and I’m in control of that power. I’m using it to block people from moving on and trapping them in purgatory. The longer they’re trapped here, the angrier they get, and the angrier they get the more energy I have to tap in to.”

             
The more of his plan that I listened to the more pissed off I got. He was keeping everyone in the world from finding peace after death and condemning them to an eternity of loneliness, and he was using me to do it. Joey had
no
right to decide the fate people’s souls.

             
Before I blew up on him and called him a brat and a few other choice words I remembered that I still had more questions for him so I gathered myself and contemplated the right question to ask to try and put the whole thing into perspective for me. “It seems to me that you’re looking for someone. Who is it?” I glanced down at the grave stone that he had been looming over when I arrived. I knew the answer to the question, but I wanted to hear him say the words. I thought that if he could admit that his plan wasn’t all evil and realize that he was just acting out, just as a child would, than I would more easily be able to make him understand that what he was doing was wrong. It didn’t seem to have that effect though. His face scrunched up and he let go a scream that left me on my knees and holding my ears. When I opened my eyes he was gone again, but at least I knew what I had to do in order to stop him, and hopefully I could get it done before it was too late for me.

              When I got back home it was already time for me to get ready for work, so I put on my tiny uniform and tried to cover up the evidence that I had been crying. I couldn’t help but think that it was all my fault for getting attached to a boy so fast and giving him my virtue. I had completely expected mine and Risks relationship to last more than a few weeks though. Things with him felt special, and I felt that it was meant to be, especially because of our unique abilities. Gray still wasn’t around so I took my time getting ready and paying a little extra attention to my hair and makeup so that I wouldn’t look like I was ready to nose dive onto my bed at work all night.

             
I seriously made it about two steps into Rocktop before Remi was on my heels asking me questions.

             
“What’s wrong with you? Is it Risk? Is it his crazy bitch mom? Do I need to kick some ass?”

             
I was annoyed at first, but when I saw the concern in her eyes I laughed at her and I couldn’t help but think that maybe she wasn’t just a colleague after all. I gave her as many details of what had happened between Risk and I as I could handle without crying or giving away our secrets. Remi’s face went beat red, which looked worse than it actually was because of her platinum hair, and she started to curse up a storm before she threw her arms around me.