The Perfect Clone
Page 23
Sarah glanced at the man sitting on her aisle. He didn’t seem to notice that she was talking to herself, thank goodness. Sarah turned and looked behind her again to see if there were people in the back. Carrying her tub of popcorn and soda, she moved to a seat as far away as possible from the ‘real’ people in the theater. Maybe if she moved, Josh wouldn’t follow her.
The movie started as she settled into the new location.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding me.” Josh sounded frustrated.
Sarah lowered her chin to her chest before she answered in a hushed whisper, “I am avoiding you, because you are a figment of my delusional imagination. Now scat before someone sees me talking to you. The last thing I need is to be tossed into a padded room.”
Josh’s image faded in and out. “You’re not crazy, sis. I hate to break it to you, but I think you’re stuck with me for a while. There’s a reason I’m here and until I can figure it out, it doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere.”
“I don’t believe in ghosts, so you’re out of luck.”
“I didn’t believe in ghosts either, but here I am. Wacky stuff, huh?”
Sarah eyed the audience to make sure no one was paying attention to her. “Can you please stop talking? I’d like to watch this movie.”
“That’s fine by me. Can you take me out to eat after you’re done? It’s been a while since I’ve looked at a good steak, although I must say that the popcorn looks great.”
“Shut up. I’m not talking to you anymore.” Sarah fingered her popcorn as Josh faded away. It was time to come to terms with things and figure this out. Josh was dead. He’d been buried. Just recently she’d started hearing his voice. She’d rationalized that as being her subconscious way of thinking things through since he’d been gone. But how in the hell could she explain this latest development to herself? She was seeing ghosts. Well, not ghosts, but ghost. Crap, what was the difference?
One ghost.
Two ghosts.
Three ghosts.
Four.
It was completely and irrevocably insane. Maybe she should discuss this with Julia? No; not a good idea. If she did that, they might kick her out of the program.
Maybe she could find a priest in the Community to help her. Then what she wondered, have him pray over her lost sanity? Maybe he could tie her to a bed and throw holy water at her while burning her skin with a cross. She giggled at the image. Crap. She really needed to get herself together.