VooDoo Follies

by Butler, Christine M.

  "You know," he started while grinning at me, "I must be a great friend."

  "Oh yeah?" I was looking at him with one eyebrow cocked up in question.

  "Yeah, because I don't even have to go to school. I can be anywhere in the world and I am going to school with you to make sure you don't sit there and sulk all day like you used to."

  "I did not sulk!" I looked up at him and got ready to punch his shoulder, then remembered that he wasn't really solid like that. "I was just concentrating."

  His laugh was magical. I could listen to that laugh every day for the rest of my life and I would be happy. Stephen's head tipped back as the full on, deep, infectious laughter stole through him. I giggled with him for a minute, because I couldn't help myself. Then I remembered I was outside and no one else could see Stephen. I looked around self-consciously to make sure no one saw me.

  "Maybe I won't make things much better there?" A sudden sadness was there waiting to swallow him up as I watched. It was a stark contrast to the beautiful laughter that rushed through him only moments ago. "I forget sometimes, you know." He hung his head and I watched as that lovely sandy hair fell shimmering back across his eyes to hide everything he didn't want me to see.

  "I know." My feet shuffled in front of me, one after another, not wanting to go anywhere at all and yet stuck on the path to my own personal hell - high school. "Maybe there's a way to get you back."

  "My body's gone, Sera. My parents cremated it." He kicked at a rock that never moved and I choked back a sob that I didn't know was waiting. "Besides, what would you bring me back as? Another zombie? Would you let me eat people, as long as it meant we could be friends? I wouldn't want that."

  "Stephen, I didn't mean like that."

  "I know. I'm going to leave you alone, Seraphine. I think we both need the quiet in our heads today." He looked up from under that hair. I wanted nothing more than to push it out of his eyes, to feel the silkiness I saw before me. I wanted to... "See ya later." A small smile was there for me and then he was gone. I realized what the smile was for a second too late. My hand had betrayed my thoughts. I had actually raised my hand to move that precious hair out of his face, to see those crystalline blue eyes that always hid behind it. I wanted to kick myself. I wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there until the end of time. I was Seraphine LaLande, Voodoo Priestess (almost) and I was apparently stupid enough to be falling for a boy who was dead. Worse yet, I seemed unable to stop myself. What I needed was a distraction.

  ***

  The Distraction

  School wouldn't be much of a distraction, since nothing ever happened there, but I figured it was better than sitting outside in the middle of the street crying my eyes out over my budding affection for a spirit-bound boy. Of course, maybe I was a little too distracted for school, because I turned the corner to get to my locker and walked right into Principal Johns, fell to the floor, dropped my books on his toe, and managed to smack the back of my head on a partially opened locker when I tried standing. I would have been fine with everything ending there, but no, my humiliation had to continue on because not only had Principle Johns been unwittingly involved in this whole drama, but he had a very tall, gorgeous witness to everything standing right beside him trying desperately not to laugh. I gave him points for trying, blew the curls out of my face that had flopped there when I smacked into the locker, and even managed an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, sir. I wasn't..."

  Mr. Johns held his hand up to silence me and I was finally smart enough to take a cue on something today. I shut my mouth and just added a mortified shoulder shrug to the mix. "Ms..." He was struggling to remember my name. I thought about making him ask, but after everything, this just added to my embarrassment.

  "LaLande," I added quietly.

  "Ah, yes, LaLande, from down south in Louisiana right?"

  "Yes sir." I guess the name tends to trigger that memory.

  "You just came to our school recently, didn't you?"

  "Yes, sir. I came in November last year."

  "Ah, good, then you at least know your way around." He handed me a white piece of paper as I was struggling to toss my backpack over my shoulder without knocking anyone out. "See to it that Mr..."

  "Daniels," the tall stranger supplied for our dear, yet forgetful principal.

  "Yes, Mr. Daniels. Make sure he can find his way around to all his classes and maybe introduce him around, please."

  I was about to protest this assignment, but Principle Johns walked off too abruptly. I could have stumbled and rolled down the hall and still not caught up to him. I sighed and looked up again, bringing my hand to my head to feel the knot that was starting to grow there.

  "I was thinking, maybe you should show me where the nurse’s station is first." A quirky little smile played at the corner of Mr. Daniels' mouth as he continued, "you know, in case you bump into anything else."

  "Har, har. Very funny. Tease the special ed girl."

  He had the sense to look awfully sorry for stumbling into that one, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean..."

  "Neither did I! Gotcha!" The humor in the situation as his face turned back to instant fun was lost on me as my head began to throb harder. "Right, so the nurse’s station is this way." I pointed and began to head there first. I figured we could be late to class together since he was in my U.S. History class next period. "I think I could use some ice, before I start looking like some thing's trying to hatch out of my head." His lip twitched again with repressed laughter. "What? Okay, that better not be a hair joke rolling around in that pretty little head of yours." The minute I saw his eyebrow cock I realized what I said. Of course, that was a minute too late to take it back.

  "So, you think my head's pretty do you?" I rolled my eyes at him, but he wasn't deterred now. "Well, for your information, I was admiring your curls before you jammed them so violently into the locker door. Now, I just pity them for having such a careless owner!"

  "Okay, smartass."

  "Seraphine!" Mrs. Jackson, our history teacher, walked out of the office just in time to hear what I said. I asked for a distraction from the crazy world of Stephen, but this was becoming ridiculous.

  "Sorry, Mrs. Jackson." I managed to mumble out as I clutched the goose egg that had now sprung from the top of my head.

  "Ma'am, it's my fault, I was lost and Seraphine?" he questioned, but continued on, "well we bumped into each other and her head hit an open locker, and I just wanted to escort her to the nurse to make sure she was okay. "

  "Let me see," Mrs. Jackson grabbed hold of my head, none to gently, and easily found the growing knot. "Yes, I see. Well, Seraphine you go on to the nurse." She grabbed the white slip of a schedule back out of the new guy's hand and looked it over. "You, Trevor, can come with me. U.S. History awaits us just around the corner."

  I saw the cringe, the shrug, and the “sorry” he mouthed as he walked off with Mrs. Jackson. I was lingering on the fact that I now knew his first name, Trevor. Maybe the bump on the head would turn out to be worth it.

  ***

  Dreaming of More

  It bothered me all day that I left Seraphine this morning. I knew it was for the best, and yet I couldn't stop thinking about her. So, here I was again. There really was nowhere else in the entire world that I wanted to be more than by her side. Sitting here, looking on as she slept, was better than nothing, though I wished I had been with her today in school. I watched her sleep for the longest time, noting the times she smiled and wishing I could get inside her head to see what was going on in there. I sat down on the chair in her room, not because I needed to, only because it put me closer to eye level. I keep telling myself that if anyone could save me from this spirit life I have, if anyone in this world could bring me back, and give me a second chance, it would be this girl. I know that sounds selfish, but there's more to my attraction to Seraphine. She's amazing in every way, and I find myself having to remember that I am a ghost and she is a human. Every day, I tell myself that because if I wer
e to forget for a minute, I could allow myself to fall madly in love with her.

  I heard the hiss of the door running across the carpet before the sound registered in my mind. I managed to jump up and stop Seraphine's mom from launching into some crazy, full blown, screaming fit. I walked with her out into the hall, just beyond the door.

  "You better have a good damn explanation for why you're in my daughter's room in the middle of the night, watching her sleep."

  I had no good reason to give her. I tried to put my hand on Angelique's arm, to reassure her, but it just sank through her living flesh and out the other side. I watched as the realization dawned on her face, about the same time the chill swept through her.

  "So, you're a dead boy then?"

  I nodded. She looked into the bedroom at her sleeping daughter. My eyes followed and watched as Seraphine continued sleeping through this exchange. I never knew what it meant to be in love when I was alive, but standing there in the hallway with Seraphine's mom, looking in on her daughter, all I could think was that Seraphine was perfection.

  "Boy," she started.

  "Stephen," I corrected her, still not taking my eyes off of Seraphine.

  "Stephen, you can't do this. I see the way you watch my daughter. She's of the living, you are of the spirit world. This won't do anything, but hurt one or both of you."

  I thought I saw Seraphine squirm a little bit, but I turned my attention back to Angelique.

  "I know how impossible things seem and I still can't help the way I feel when I’m with her." The look of pity that crossed Angelique's face was not one I cherished, but it softened her. "Your sister is working on something that may help me with my, um, situation." She gave me that look that was more 'don't be stupid' than pity. "I know, I'm dead and my body is gone, but I have to hope for something more than this." I gestured to the body she could see, but was invisible to most other people. She simply nodded to me knowingly.

  "You can stick around, and I hope my sister is able to work things out for you, though I wouldn't put much stock in that voodoo world being much help. You've seen the trouble it gets Seraphine into. That reminds me, Seraphine needs to know when you're going to be here at night. You know, she still needs privacy even if you've forgotten what that's like."

  "I'm a ghost," I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face, "all I have is privacy, unless one of you two sneak up on me."

  Angelique laughed at that and then walked back down the hall. She threw one last comment for me over her shoulder, "I can see why my daughter thinks so highly of you. You're two peas in a pod!"

  ~...~

  Stephen was in the chair next to my bed looking out the window when I woke up. The conversation he had with my mom last night came back to me. I thought it had been a dream, but seeing him here this morning made me confident that it wasn't.

  "Stalk much?" I made sure the laughter was there in my facial expression as I spoke. Stephen turned those intense blue eyes of his on me and a smile lit across his face.

  "Why, yes, it's my favorite past time. Didn't you know? That's what we spirit-bound souls do. We stalk people." He tried for a creepy face and failed miserably as his hair fell back down across his eyes. "Damn hair, I had been meaning to get that cut, but I guess I'm stuck with it now."

  "No, I like it the way it is." I felt the heat spreading to my cheeks in a blush, so I added, "I mean, it adds to your mystique."

  "Just what I needed, to be more mysterious than an oddly spirit-bound teenager."

  "The Unknown." I said absently.

  "The what?"

  "That's what my Auntie Perrine called you. She said people like you were called The Unknown, because you got trapped in the spirit world while your body was still alive. It makes you something different from the spirits of the dead." I shrugged at him and pulled the covers closer around me as I sat up in bed.

  "But, my body is dead." The sadness that swept across him jolted me a bit and sent goose flesh rippling across me.

  "I know, but it wasn't gone when you first got lost." I looked up at the clock, noting the time. "Stephen, I need to get ready for school. Can you go hang out in the living room or something? And try not to scare the step-parent. He can't see you, but I’m pretty sure he can sense when you're around."

  "Oh, yeah, sure." Stephen just disappeared into nothingness. It was the first time I had seen him use his will to just be somewhere else. It was disturbing and fascinating all at once. I lay back down for a moment thinking about what I overheard last night. I'm glad it was Stephen explaining things to my mom and not me. I would have probably found myself on restriction again had I tried.

  I got out of my bed and walked to the closet to grab something to wear for the day. I couldn't get that conversation out of my head though. Little things kept replaying themselves and I found myself wondering what exactly I thought Auntie Perrine would be able to do for Stephen. I thought about laying him down to rest as I had done for Adrianna and the zombies. The selfish part of me couldn't bare for that to be the case. I liked Stephen. I felt as though I had a friend with him around. I also felt as though I could easily fall for him, if only... I cut the thought off by jumping under the still cold water of the shower. The icy chill did enough to kill all thoughts of Stephen and I together. As the water began to warm up I tried to think of anything else. My plans for the day were to go to school, come home, and give Auntie Perrine a call. She had to know something by now.

  As I stepped out of the shower and toweled off I heard my cell phone vibrate on the dresser. in my room. "Speak of the devil," I said as I went to it and picked it up to see a text from my aunt. She wanted me to call her after school today. "Great minds think alike," I typed back and hit send.

  I felt Stephen's eyes on me as I walked into the kitchen. "So, are you coming to school with me today?"

  "What was that?" Roger asked, poking his head around the corner.

  "Oh, um, I didn't know you were still here." Stephen was laughing at me now as he walked into the kitchen too. It suddenly felt very crowded in the little space. I watched Roger shake visibly.

  "Your mom told me about the ghost boy." He shook his head back and forth in that 'I don't believe what I'm saying' motion that people do. "I have to admit, I am struggling with it a bit. I mean, I know you believe in all that voodoo hoodoo, but it's just not my cup of tea. Now, we have a ghost boy in the house too?" His head was shaking again. Stephen stepped a little closer to Roger and I watched as the gooseflesh rose across his arms. "Ok, ok, I get it. You exist." Roger threw his hands up in the air as if he were surrendering and Stephen had an amazing look of triumph spread across his face. I couldn't help but laugh at him as I watched. Roger, on the other hand, had been watching my reaction. "So, he's reveling in my defeat?" I nodded in affirmation.

  "I think there was a semi-modest fist-pump mixed with the world's biggest grin."

  "Oh, no." Roger laughed along, good-naturedly. "Not a fist pump. Tell him he just lost my respect and I no longer surrender."

  "He can hear you and, oh never mind." I was about to tell my step-dad that my ghost friend was flipping him off, but I figured it was best left unsaid.

  "And?" Roger was questioning.

  "And..." I looked at my wrist, the one I forgot to put the watch on this morning after my shower, "and, look at the time. I have to get to school."

  Roger, who never seemed to miss a beat yelled after me, "good call, and maybe later you can teach me how to tell time with my freckles too."

  Stephen's howling laughter followed me out the door. "Yeah, yeah, it's all fun and games to ghosts."

  "I'm not a ghost, I'm an Unknown." He tipped his hair back out of his face, "it adds to my mystique, remember?"

  I rolled my eyes at Stephen as we started walking to school. Despite the fact that it was obvious that the boy I had in my room was only a ghost, my mom hadn't seen fit to give my car keys back.

  "Your step-dad doesn't seem like a bad guy."

  "No, he's not.
" I shrugged at Stephen and the thought. "I just got so tired of caring about these guys who didn't want to hang around for very long, you know? I'm still waiting for Roger to pack a bag and hit the road any day now, but he's growing on me."

  "I don't think he's going anywhere, Seraphine. He seems genuinely in love with your mom. I mean, a guy would have to be wouldn't he?"

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Think about it. If your wife came with a voodoo priestess step-daughter whose ghost-boy friend was always giving you the chills... he must love her to stick around that kind of madness."

  "My ghost boyfriend?" If ghosts could blush, I imagine Stephen would have been beet-red. He immediately made a motion that caused his hair to flop down over his face again.

  "I just meant..."

  "It's okay, I know what you meant. What kind of living-girl friend would I be if I didn't bust your chops about it though?" This is the point I would have bumped into him or popped him on the shoulder to prove I was playing, but the rules were a little different with ghost-boys. I couldn't touch him. "Hey, Stephen, does it hurt you if things go through you?" My question, at least, got his attention.

  "What do you mean?"

  "You know, like if I were to try to touch you, would it hurt you?"

  "No," he shook his head at me. "It feels a little like I am moving through water when things pass through me. You know kind of weighty instead of just breezing through the air or something. It would feel uncomfortable for you though. I mean, Roger shakes like a leaf when I stick near him too long."

  "Have you been stalking Roger too?" I giggled, but now that I said it, I was curious.

  Stephen laughed, "nah, I was trying to read the paper over his shoulder yesterday. He kept shaking and went to get a blanket."

  "Ha! Poor Roger." I was laughing inside about that, but then something occurred to me. "Wait, I never feel cold around you."

  "I noticed. It's why I didn't think twice about leaning in so close to Roger. I didn't think I was affecting people with my nearness, because you didn't act like it bothered you."