by Joy Elbel
Footsteps in the hallway broke up our little tear fest and I looked up to find that not only was Zach still in one piece, he was actually smiling. He held out his hand to help me up and I gladly took it. What in the world did he say to my dad that left him so happy?
“Come on, Ruby. You’ve had a long night and I’m going to tuck you into bed now.” Okay, now I was worried. He sustained head trauma in the accident tonight if he thought my dad was going to allow him anywhere near my bedroom. Quickly, I scanned his pupils for any sign of a concussion. Not that I actually knew what I was looking for or anything, but I figured that serious cerebral damage would leave some sort of obvious sign. Nope, nothing. His eyes were still the same wonderful shade of ice blue that they were on any other day. But after his suggestion to go upstairs with me, I was certain they were about to be black and blue.
“Goodnight, Ruby. We’ll all talk in the morning, okay?” my dad said as he patted Zach on the shoulder. What? So was my dad in a car accident tonight, too, that I was unaware of because brain damage wasn’t contagious the last time I checked. Seriously, I was starting to wonder if maybe I was the one with some kind of injury because none of this was normal. It’s like I was living in Bizarro Rosewood now or something. Not that that was a bad thing, of course. Whatever the case may be, I decided not to question something good when it was handed to me and I escaped up the steps to the attic with Zach at my side.
My overdose of adrenaline wore off almost instantly the very second I laid eyes on my bed. Sleep was the only thing that could take away the sting left by my long and tumultuous day. I escaped into the bathroom long enough to change into my pj’s then hopped into bed. Zach placed my desk chair beside my bed, sat down, and took my hand. I was hoping to fall asleep fast but in the meantime, there were many things to discuss—starting with how he managed to get my dad to calmly allow him to be sitting next to me at this very moment.
“Well, I explained a lot of things to your dad tonight. I didn’t really go into detail but I gave him a rough idea of what Lucas did and why he did it. And then I told him about our conversation in the car—the one about us deciding to wait. I figured that it was time to face your dad man to man and I think I caught him off guard. Looks like my strategy worked. He said I could stay until you fall asleep and then he’s going to give me a ride home.” There—another reason why I loved Zach. He was brave enough to do battle with the scariest creature of all in order to be with me—my dad. And determined enough to find a way to win that battle.
While I knew that we both had things we wanted to say to each other, I asked Zach if I could go first just in case I fell asleep before we were finished talking. I explained what happened during the play—that I only took my ring off at Lucas’s urging and only for the sake of costume consistency. Of course I felt like a fool for listening to him now, but at the time I trusted him and never dreamed that it was all a part of some evil plan to break up my relationship with Zach. The kiss obviously wasn’t something I saw coming, either. But the true nature of Lucas’s scheme didn’t become clear to me until Zach revealed the missing piece—Misty.
“I ran out of there before Stacy could finish her story but I think I put the rest of it together myself. I think Lucas having car trouble that day we met him was definitely the truth and I don’t think he ever dreamed that you actually knew his brother. He didn’t grow up with his twin so your reaction caught him off guard. I don’t think Misty knew anything about Lee or Lucas, either, until after Lucas moved to town. His dad is working for Jack Wolfe and I think that’s how he met Misty. If he made even the slightest mention of being at Rosewood, she would have pumped him for information. One thing led to another—he was desperate for cash and she was more than willing to provide it in exchange for Lucas turning your life upside down. If it makes you feel any better, he was using the money to help his dying mother.”
No, that didn’t make me feel even the slightest bit better. The whole thing was too much for my tired mind to grasp. There were only two things that could bring any solace right now. First was sleep which was naturally about to overtake me. The second thing was safely tucked in the pocket of my jeans.
“I can barely keep my eyes open. Will you do one last thing for me tonight?” I asked Zach, knowing full well that I could ask for the moon and he would somehow find a way to pull it down for me.
“Of course I will, what do you need?” “There’s something in the pocket of my jeans that I need. I left them lying on the bathroom sink. Can you bring them to me?”
Zach sprang up like a man on a mission and returned with my jeans in hand. I dug inside and found what I was looking for. My ring. The ring that never should have left my finger in the first place and definitely never would again—even if I did decide to make meatloaf. I held it up for Zach to see and made my request.
“Will you put this back on my finger for me? I could have done it myself but I wanted you to do it. I thought it would be a nice way for us to mark a turning point in our relationship—kind of like a commitment to starting over the right way. Another reinvention if you will.”
“That sounds perfect,” he said as took the ring from my right hand and placed it back onto my left. “There—now everything is back to normal. No, scratch that—everything is better than normal. You are now officially ghost-free and we can start focusing on other things again.”
“Ghost-free,” I repeated as my eyelids fluttered shut. The last thing I felt before I drifted into sleep was the warmth of his hand in mine and the wonderful feeling of normalcy that I was so poorly acquainted with.
6. Fifty Shades of Clay
The first thought that came to mind when I awoke was the fact that my ring was back on my finger where it belonged. I could feel the metal pressing against my skin the same way it always did except for two differences. One, I knew for certain that it was there to stay. Two, it was cold—ice cold. My room was as warm as it usually was but for some reason that one finger alone was freezing cold. It reminded me of the icy chill that invaded me at the time of Zach’s accident. Could something else bad have happened to him in the middle of the night? My eyes flew open and flashed quickly to my left hand.
“AHHH!” I screamed and pulled the blankets tightly around myself when I realized that I wasn’t alone. “Clay! Get out of my bed this instant!”
“Chill, Ruby,” he replied with a chuckle, “I wasn’t up to no good—Scout’s Honor. But you may have been. You were dreaming about me again, weren’t you?”
“I most certainly wasn’t!” I countered. Was I? Who knows. I was just thankful to have not had any nightmares after all of the epic wretchedness of the night before. “And what exactly do you mean by ‘again’? I don’t recall ever having any dreams about you.”
“It’s okay—I understand. You’re in love with Zach and all. It wouldn’t do you any good to admit that you have secret fantasies about me. But if you died, you know you’d want me.” My stony, un-amused expression brought about an apology. “Oh, and I’m sorry if I woke you up—I was just admiring your ring. It’s nice to see that you and Zach were able to work things out. Love stories don’t always have a happy ending, you know.”
Random encounters with Clay were becoming more and more frequent and I had a nagging suspicion that this wasn’t a good sign. He hadn’t popped in at an awkward moment in my life—yet—but waking up to find him in my bed was getting too damn close to inappropriate for my liking.
“Thanks, I know,” I replied, “but you still need to get out of my bed. Being dead is no excuse for bad behavior. Don’t forget—you don’t really seem dead to me. Waking up next to you is like waking up next to any living boy who shouldn’t be in my bedroom. So get up already!”
“Fine.” Clay made an exaggerated display as he hauled himself out of my bed as though he were a ninety year old man with arthritis. “But I wouldn’t be half as tempted to get into bed with you if you would stop flirting with me every time I see you.”
Flirting? He c
ouldn’t be serious! “In what way have I ever flirted with you?” I asked as I sat up in bed to get a better look at the clock. Great. Clay woke me up a full hour before my alarm was set to go off. Well, I certainly couldn’t get any more sleep with a ghost in my room.
“Well,” he said as he walked around my bedroom inspecting random things, “you keep telling me that you forget that I’m dead and that’s the closest thing I’ve come to a compliment in a long time. And a compliment is like a kiss through a veil, you know.”
Why did he frustrate me so bad? Why did he always have to go and make me feel sorry for him as soon as he’d whipped me into an angry frenzy? Why did he whip out poetic phrases as easily as he handed out pathetic pickup lines? Why? Because dead or not, he was still a boy. Boys simply loved to play dumb little games like that. Thank goodness Zach wasn’t like that. Okay, at least Zach wasn’t like that all of the time.
“Okay, well this concludes our little get together. I have to get up and get ready for work now. So….” I waved my hand in the air to shoo him along.
“Fine, I can take a hint. I’ll see you later, Ruby,” he said as he walked through my bedroom door. “Much later,” I called out behind him. I waited for the faint sounds of his laughter to die away before crawling out of bed. So much for my ghost-free existence. What in the world was I going to do about Clay?
Ask Rita, that’s what I was going to do. While I didn’t mind talking to him once in a while, waking up with his dirty jeans-wearing ass in my bed was the last straw. There had to be some way to keep him from popping in and out of my life unexpectedly. I defeated a wraith, for cryin’ out loud—I wasn’t going to let a friendly ghost like Clay get the best of me! I unlocked the door to Something Wick-ed with determination. Ruby Matthews, Wraith Slayer. That would make an awesome TV show! Hmm, but who would they cast to play me? Wait a second. After my performance at the Bantam, I wouldn’t need an actress to play me—I was an actress now and could play myself! I wonder if they would consider customizing my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? A red star would be nice. Really. Nice.
Rita interrupted my private walk down the Walk of Fame and nearly scared the pants off of me. “Ruby, I really need to talk to you about that wraith.”
“And a pleasant good morning to you, too, Rita” I responded with sweet sarcasm. “What are you still doing here? I thought you would be off ghost hunting by now.”
“Nope, I’m taking the weekend off. Andy and I have plans. I’m only here long enough to talk to you about Allison and then he and I are heading to Niagara Falls for the weekend.”
“Ooh, Niagara Falls, huh? Sounds pretty romantic! I mean, if you’re willing to miss out on a good ghost hunt to spend time with him, it must be true love!”
Despite firm denials that their relationship wasn’t all that serious yet, Rita couldn’t stop smiling—or blushing. If there was one thing I knew and knew well when I saw it, it was love. I could still remember looking in the mirror to check my hair before some of my earlier dates with Zach and noticing that no matter what I did, I couldn’t get rid of that smile. Not just any smile, the smile. The one that was an obvious sign to the world that you simply adored the person you were with. Come to think of it, I had that same smile on my face right now just thinking about Zach. Nine months later, he was still able to make me giggle like a twelve year old girl. I was so glad that our dark times were behind us now. All I needed to do was find a way to fix my little problem with Clay. It should be easy. I didn’t even need to get rid of him completely—I actually enjoyed hanging out with him on occasion. I just needed to find a way to make hanging out with him a choice not an obligation.
“Okay, I’m done teasing you now. I have a problem that I need your help with.” “Well that makes two of us. How about we make a little deal? If I agree to help you, you agree to help me—fair enough?” Rita glanced at her watch and flipped the sign to “open”. “Oh and don’t worry, I was here early enough to do half of your job for you—the cash drawer is already ready to go.”
Whoops. I wasn’t always the best employee but she certainly was the best boss ever. “Sorry! I just love my boss so much that talking to her made forget that I was at work. I promise you that it will never happen again—Scout’s Honor.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth I knew I shouldn’t have said them. I felt like a magician. Abracadabra and a rabbit pops out of my hat—a big, dirty blond rabbit wearing red flannel and ripped jeans.
“Clay! You have to stop doing that,” I shouted out of sheer frustration even though I knew that his appearance was totally my fault this time. “For real!”
He gave me the sad puppy dog eyes that he’d gotten so good at lately and walked away. I didn’t mean to make him feel bad but his random appearances were starting to annoy me. I managed to squeeze in a quick “Sorry, Clay,” before he disappeared.
Rita gave me a weird look. “You have another ghost problem, don’t you? Or is that a stupid question?” “Yes, I have another ghost,” I said as I took a seat behind the counter. Quickly, I filled her in on the details, being careful with my words in case he returned in the middle of our discussion. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings any more than I’d already done. “So all I need to know is how to stop these random visits. Other than that, he’s no trouble whatsoever.”
“The only way to stop him from visiting you is to set his soul to rest. He’s carrying around some sort of sorrow that he can’t let go of. Once you get rid of the sorrow, you’ll be rid of him for good.”
“For good? You mean I’ll never see him again? Ever?” That wasn’t exactly what I was after here. Weird or not, he was my friend. He helped me during my kidnapping in ways that no living person ever could have. I was kind of attached to him— sort of. Grr! Why couldn’t I spend a single day of my life without some sort of frustration involved?
“Never. I know you’ve gotten kind of attached to him but you can’t let your friendship interfere with his eternal rest. He shouldn’t still be here, Ruby. He needs to move on and you need to help him do that. You guys bonded during a moment of crisis and that bond is only going to get stronger as time goes on. When he finds peace, you will find peace.”
I knew she was right—the time had come for me to find out what kept Clay earthbound. It wouldn’t be dangerous like my other missions but it would be sad to see him go. But before I embarked on another ghost adventure, I would have to talk to Zach about it. My days of lying and hiding things from him were over.
I nodded my head in agreement. The first customers, Mrs. Tuttle and Mandy, entered the shop so our talk of ghosts was effectively over anyway. “You said you needed my help, too, Rita. What do you need from me?”
Carefully speaking in code now that we were in the company of a very nosey librarian, Rita told me what she wanted from me. It’s a good thing we weren’t alone. If we had been, I probably would have responded using some four letter words not typically found in any dictionary Mrs. Tuttle would approve of.
“I’m going to a convention in Ohio in May and I would really like it if you joined me. The entire community is buzzing over the news of your achievements at the theater. In fact, there’s an open slot on the lecture schedule that has your name on it. What do you say?”
Ah, yet another resident of Charlotte’s Grove with undiagnosed brain hemorrhaging. She couldn’t be freakin’ serious, could she? There’s no way in hell that I was ever going to expose my dirty little secret to the world. Far too many people knew already. I’d gotten used to the idea of being a freak but that didn’t mean I was—or ever would be—proud of it. I couldn’t even form a verbal response. I simply looked at her like she was crazy—because she obviously was—and shook my head no.
“Okay but if you change your mind, let me know,” Rita said as she as she scooped up her bags and headed for the door. “And by the way, you have spirit, Ruby. A whole lot of spirit,” she said with a wink before disappearing onto the sidewalk.
After about ten seconds of believing that
her strange comment was nothing more than confirmation that she was in need of an MRI, I finally figured out what she meant. She was talking about Clay. No more shades, phantoms, or wraiths for me—there wasn’t anything even remotely frightening about dealing with a spirit. But before I even attempted to send Clay into the hereafter, I wanted to talk to Zach about it first. I sent him a quick text to let him know that I needed to talk to him and got a disapproving glance from Mrs. Tuttle. Apparently, she thought the world was her library.
“Zach,” I said, pointing to my phone and she instantly softened. I’d given up on ever being able to charm the old bat myself but as long as I had Zach around, I wouldn’t need to. A few minutes later he replied.
“Stop at shelter on way home. Someone I want u 2 meet!” He knew how badly I hated suspense but refused to tell me who I was meeting even after multiple texts requesting more information. I even begged a little. Okay, so in reality, I begged a lot. With no clue of who this mystery person was, I took a few minutes to fix my hair and makeup before leaving Something Wick-ed. I needed to be prepared just in case. In case of what, I have no idea. In fact, I was actually a bit nervous when I walked through the shelter door. Not that I thought that Zach would introduce me to someone dangerous or anything but after what happened at the theater, I was a bit leery of meeting new people.
“Zach,” I called as I walked in the door, “where are you?” “We’re back here,” he replied from the far end of the building. As I walked past the kennels, I stopped to give Luck a few pats on the head. He reminded me so much of Zach and our early days together before everything got so complicated. Now that the dust was starting to settle, maybe there would be more carefree days like those ones in our near future.
I followed the sound of his voice and found him in the room Andy reserved for surgeries. Zach was alone in the room and seated in Andy’s desk chair with a small blanket stretched across his chest. It wasn’t until I took a closer look that I realized there was a small lump lying under the blanket and directly over Zach’s heart. My fear of meeting someone new instantly dissipated.
