by Joy Elbel
“Yeah, I’m still here. I’m just a little tired, I guess.” And I was tired—tired of having what I once took as the gospel truth suddenly feel like the world’s greatest lie, tired of lying myself. And to Zach, of course.
“Well, in that case, I’ll let you go then. I was going to wait until tomorrow night to ask you to play the CD I made for you but I changed my mind. The second we hang up, I want you to play it, okay?”
He already sounded so far away that a lump formed in my throat and I wanted to cry. I knew if I did, it would make leaving even harder for him so I pushed that urge away from the surface. There was plenty of time for tears later. Two weeks to be exact. Fourteen long freaking days.
“I will. Have fun while you’re gone, okay. And I’ll try to, too.” But the truth was I never wanted to have fun without him ever again.
“Okay.” He sounded as sad as I felt. “Goodnight, Ruby.”
“Goodnight, Zach.” I hung up, put the CD in and hit play. As I crawled under the covers, my phone began to vibrate. It was a single word text from Zach. “Mwah.” I replied with the same and placed my phone back on the nightstand. Then I rolled over, hugged the bear tight and cried myself to sleep.
I awoke in the morning to Coco licking my eyelids, her rough little tongue tickling my delicate skin. With bright rays of sunlight pouring around the edges of my curtains, I rolled over happily thinking that the day already felt perfect. That feeling lasted no longer than a millisecond until I remembered that Zach was gone. With a groan, I buried my head under the pillow. Would it be possible to just stay hidden here for the whole two weeks? If ostriches could do it, why couldn’t I? Shelly could bring me food when I needed it and I could sleep away the lonely hours until Zach returned. It was a very tempting thought but there was work to be done. I needed to find a way to get rid of Lee once and for all.
The first thing I did was check my phone. Nothing, not a single text from Zach. I thought he would have let me know when he got to Erie safely. What if he didn’t get there? What if something bad happened on the drive? No, I couldn’t obsess about it, at least not yet. Everything was fine. He probably just thought I was still sleeping, right? Yes, he wouldn’t want to wake me. At least a couple of hours would have to go by before I went into panic mode. Just because Lee died tragically didn’t mean Zach would, too.
With one deep breath to drive away the worry, I dragged myself out of bed and into a cool shower. It was only eight o’clock but the air was already heavy with humidity. The water washed away the last vestiges of sleep and helped me to gain some much needed focus as I began to form a plan. Today was going to be a big day. I would get dressed and then hop onto the internet to research methods of ghost removal. But first things first. Even ghosts of dead boyfriends and the lack of communication from Zach were not the primary things on my mind at the moment—hunger was. Until I had some breakfast, my brain would be absolutely useless. With my phone in my pocket where I would feel the vibration the second I received a text, I went downstairs to forage for anything edible.
When I entered the kitchen, I was happy to see Shelly busily making a pot of coffee. Without coffee, Shelly was useless. And cranky. That was the last thing I needed today.
“Morning, Ruby. How did you sleep?”
“Good, I was super tired,” I replied as I poked around in the refrigerator for something to eat. All I found were the remains of Dad and Shelly’s leftover takeout from the night before. As much as I liked Moo Goo Gai Pan and egg rolls, they definitely weren’t morning food. Neither was fried rice. Twenty four hours ago I was eating an amazing breakfast at the Mason house—crisp bacon, fluffy scrambled eggs, and perfectly browned toast. This morning, I was stuck with a bowl of slightly stale cereal and not quite enough milk to cover it. Maybe I could sign Shelly up for some cooking classes with Zach’s mom when they got back.
“Did you have fun with your friends yesterday?” Shelly took a seat at the table with me while she waited for the coffee to perk.
“I did,” I said between unsatisfying bites of cereal.
“What do you guys have planned for today?” Shelly asked as she absentmindedly stirred the sugar around in the sugar bowl.
I was about to answer her when something caught my eye. I let my spoon plop from my fingers and into the bowl. Milk and stale marshmallows splattered up and hit me in the face as I watched the silverware drawer pull out of the cabinet of its own accord. I jumped up from the table to push it back in, catching it just before it would have crashed to the floor. When I returned to the table, Shelly was staring at me oddly. Did she see what just happened? Probably not. I just wasn’t lucky enough for that. But I really wished that she had. There was no way I could tell her what was going on here but if she saw it for herself she would have to believe me. Then, I wouldn’t have to feel crazy all by myself.
“Are you okay?” Shelly asked. The coffee pot gave its final gurgles, distracting her at just the right time. She reached for her cup and handed me a paper towel to wipe the mess from my face.
She didn’t see it. “Fine. I just forgot to close the drawer,” I mumbled forcing a spoonful into my mouth. Suddenly, I wasn’t so hungry.
“So do you have any plans for today?” Shelly asked again.
I kept one eye on the drawer as I answered her. “No, the Masons left for vacation this morning. They’ll be gone for two weeks.”
The despair I felt over being alone for that time was compounded by the horror of what just happened. I was used to weird things happening in the attic. Well, sort of—as used to something like that as a sane person ever could be. But in the kitchen, in broad daylight, and in Shelly’s presence—that I found disturbing. Even if I’d had a gourmet breakfast platter in front of me, my appetite was gone and I couldn’t eat another bite. I drained the milk from my bowl into the sink and dumped the cereal into the trash.
“Oh, honey! I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” She seemed truly sympathetic which only made me feel worse.
I didn’t know what to say so I just said, “Yeah.” I rinsed my dish and slid it into the dishwasher.
I was about to go back upstairs when Shelly said, “Hey, I have a great idea!” Normally, that phrase coming from her mouth would have caused me to run the other direction. Her great ideas usually meant I was headed for some sort of torturous activity with her. But today, I paused and waited to hear what her idea was. Spending time with her would at least help me waste away the moments until Zach returned. Wow. So this was what rock bottom felt like.
“Do you want to go shopping with me today? I have a few things I need to do this morning but my afternoon is wide open. What do you say?” she asked hopefully.
If she had asked me that same question a month ago, I would have merely shook my head no—if even that—and stomped off. But it was just what I needed now. “Sure. I need to look for birthday presents for Zach and Rachel. Let me know when you want to go.” I put on my best fake smile but inside I was dying. The phone in my pocket lay eerily still, growing heavier with each passing moment. Why wasn’t he texting me?
Not realizing that I agreed only out of desperation nor noticing my distractedness, Shelly gave me a warm and genuine smile. “I will. We’re going to have so much fun!”
Nodding my head despite the fact that an afternoon spent with my stepmother would be anything but fun, I went upstairs, turned on the computer and set about finding a solution to my problem. It couldn’t be that hard, could it? There wasn’t anything you couldn’t find on the internet. For some odd reason, I was feeling something I wasn’t all that familiar with—positivity. And with my phone now in front of me, screen black from inactivity, I would know the instant Zach contacted me.
I didn’t know exactly where to start so I just entered ‘how do you get rid of ghosts’ into the search engine. There were about a million hits so I started at the top of the page and worked my way down. The first five sites I checked out recommended religious intervention. Call in a priest, douse your house in
holy water, and then bless it until you turned blue in the face. But I didn’t feel that religion was an option for me. We hadn’t been to church since my mom died and I couldn’t even remember what it was like. I weeded my way through site after site until I found one that listed folk remedies for ghost removal. Some of the suggestions were nothing short of weird but I was desperate and willing to try nearly anything. I read down through the list of ideas one by one.
“Talk to the ghost and ask it to leave.” Sound advice but I’d tried that already and it sure didn’t work for me. If anything, it seemed to make things worse. Next.
“Paint your doors red.” Dad and Shelly would simply kill me if I did that. And if art class was any indication, I would be completely ineffective with a paint brush anyway. My middle school art teacher took one look at my first painting and treated me like a five year old for the rest of the year. Next.
“Leave a pair of shoes at the foot of your bed, one shoe facing forward and the other facing backward.” This tactic was supposed to confuse the ghost. It sounded stupid but it was the easiest suggestion so far, so why not? Shoes were something I had in abundance so I immediately ravaged my closet. Lee was a particularly persistent ghost so I quickly placed the five most stylish pairs of shoes I owned in a row along the bottom of my bed and returned to my desk. I was only gone a minute but I checked my phone before I even sat down. Still nothing.
“Hang cloves of garlic around the haunted area to drive the spirits away.” Garlic? Didn’t that only work on vampires? But again, it was something I could easily accomplish so I plucked an index card out of the desk drawer and started a list of things I would need to buy while Shelly and I were out.
“Hang a mirror on your door facing toward the door. Ghosts will see their reflections and scare themselves away.” Hmm. It sounded logical and I had a full length mirror that I hadn’t hung yet so that was another check in my to-do list. Catching a brief flicker of light from the corner of my eye, I got excited thinking it was from my phone. My heart sank even further into the pit of my stomach when I realized it was only Mimi batting at the curtains and allowing a glimpse of sunlight to get my hopes up. Why hadn’t I heard from him yet?
“Sprinkle salt around the haunted area. Ghosts will not cross a line of salt.” I could put a circle around the entire house with just a few packages of salt. Salt went next on my list.
“Clear your space by ringing a bell or clapping your hands in every corner of the house. This will release any entities hiding in small areas of your home.” That was going to take a while considering how many corners there were in the mansion. Luckily, I had two whole weeks to get it done. Assuming he actually returned in two weeks. Where was he?
“Cleanse the house with incense or a smudging stick. You can use a traditional sage smudge or something calming like vanilla incense.” Vanilla! I liked vanilla so incense went next on the list. It would drive away ghosts and maybe counteract the scent of the garlic in the process.
The rest of the suggestions involved more blessings and holy water but I felt confident that I had enough ideas to get started right away. I checked my shopping list to make sure it was complete and added ‘birthday presents for Zach and Rachel’ at the bottom. They would be celebrating their birthdays soon after returning and I didn’t know when I would have an opportunity to shop again. After checking my phone one last time, I tucked it and the list into my back pocket and headed downstairs to find Shelly.
We met about halfway up the grand staircase. “I was just coming to find you. Are you ready to head to The Village?” she asked.
“Let’s go.” On my way to the car, my pocket began to vibrate. I dropped my purse onto the ground in my haste to read my new text. But it wasn’t a text—it was a call. Not from Zach, but from Rachel.
All of my earlier positivity melted away. Something was wrong, something bad happened to Zach—I could just feel it. My hands shook as I hit the answer button. Not even bothering to say hello, I quickly blurted out, “Is Zach okay?”
“No. He’s in terrible shape! I don’t think he’s going to make it!” Despite the dire words, I was instantly relieved. While the call came from Rachel’s phone, the voice on the other end belonged to my beloved.
“Really?” I said with relief, “And why is that?”
“Because he misses you terribly, that’s why!” he replied with a laugh. “But why did you assume something was wrong with me?”
Because bad things tend to happen to people I love, that’s why. That’s what I wanted to say. But I didn’t want him to think I was some sort of curse or something even though most days I felt like one. Instead, I went with the logical answer.
“Well, when I saw the call was from Rachel, I guess I jumped to conclusions. Why aren’t you using your own phone?”
“Stupid me forgot to plug it in last night. Didn’t realize until we were already on the road this morning that the battery was completely dead. I would’ve called you earlier but Rachel wouldn’t let me use her phone. I got in the shower before her this morning and used up what was left of the hot water. And let me tell you, when that girl’s having a bad hair day—look out. My charger is still packed somewhere and it’ll take me hours to find it. So I stole her phone out of her purse when she wasn’t looking and snuck outside to call you. She’s gonna kill me when she finds out!”
So there was a good, logical reason for why he didn’t call me sooner. He wasn’t dead along the side of the road somewhere. He wasn’t taking his last breath alone on a hospital gurney. Zach was safe. This wasn’t a repeat of what happened with Lee. Unless he really wasn’t kidding about what Rachel was going to do to him, that is.
“Are you having fun?”
“I will be soon. We’re heading to the water park for the day. What about you?”
Anxiety crept in the second he mentioned water. “Shopping with Shelly. Be careful at the park,” I replied quickly, trying hard not to sound too much like a worried old lady. But that’s exactly how I felt. Like death stole more than just Lee from me—it stole my youth, as well.
“Don’t worry, I will. And you be careful shopping,” he said with a hearty chuckle. “I know how brutal you women can be when there’s a big sale! But all joking aside, I really do miss you already.”
“I miss you, too.” More than he could even imagine. It was funny to think that we’d only met a month ago but I already felt like I couldn’t live without him.
“Hey, I gotta go. I’m about to face Rachel’s wrath and it’s not going to be pretty. I’ll call you tonight around ten, okay?”
“Okay. When she’s done hurting you, tell Rachel I said hello. Have fun.” I tossed my phone in my purse and sighed heavily. Knowing he got to Erie safely was a relief but he gave me a whole new reason to worry about him. I joined Shelly in the car and tried to push the bad thoughts out of my head.
“So I take it that was Zach?” Shelly asked.
“Yeah.” I couldn’t keep the gloomy tone out of my voice and I knew instantly that she would notice.
“Two weeks is a long time when you’re in love,” she replied matter of factly.
I was tired of denying how I felt about him so I answered her honestly, “Yes it is.”
“But that’s not the only thing troubling you, is it? You’re worried for his safety, aren’t you? What happened to Lee was a freak accident and….”
She knew better than to mention his name, to stir up memories of that awful day. “I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT LEE!” I shouted. I felt bad the instant I exploded on her and followed my outburst with a hushed, “Please!”
“I’m sorry, honey. I won’t mention it again. But when you feel like talking about it….” she let her sentence trail off into nowhere before changing the subject. “Well, we’ll find ways to keep you occupied. Maybe we can plan something fun for the two of you to do when he gets back.”
Now that was a great idea and I let her know that. For the next two weeks, she was basically the only person I had to ha
ng out with. If I fought with her, it would only make me more miserable than I already was. I told her that Zach’s birthday was coming up and I needed to find the perfect gift for him. She agreed to help me and I felt a small weight lift off of my shoulders. I had absolutely no clue of what to get him and Shelly was the kind of person who never seemed to struggle when it came to things like that.
We spent several hours searching the stores for things we needed and finding many things we didn’t know we needed. When she suggested we have a Fourth of July cookout when they got back, I resisted the idea at first. But the more she talked about it, the better it sounded. There was plenty of room for it at Rosewood and we could invite his whole family and Boone, too. A family get together wasn’t my normal idea of fun but I really liked his parents. They went to high school with my dad and that meant they would rehash old memories giving us a perfect opportunity to slip away unnoticed. When I finally agreed to the idea, Shelly promised to call Diane and invite them as soon as they returned.
I already knew what to get Rachel for her birthday but I struggled with what to get Zach. The only thing I definitely knew I wanted to give him was my heart and I couldn’t very well wrap that up and hand it to him. Visions of a bloody lump barely beating under a thin wrapping of tissue paper made me giggle to myself. Why was I so morbid? I may have been acting more normal on the surface lately, but my thoughts were still just as dark as ever. Sunny Rachel would never have mental pictures of something so macabre. But I would never be like Rachel—of that I was sure. The most I could ever hope for was to perfect a façade of normalcy. Keeping my true weirdness buried was my only hope.
My search for a gift was starting to feel hopeless until Shelly came up with the perfect idea. I could buy us a pair of tickets to the shelter’s upcoming fundraiser, a formal dinner they held at the country club every year. Andy tried to convince my dad and Shelly to go but they didn’t think they could make it. It promised to be a night of gourmet food and dancing under the stars all for a good cause. And for a hundred dollars a ticket, it better be. Zach wasn’t materialistic and I knew he would be happier to support the shelter than to have me buy him a bottle of cologne and call it a day. And I have to admit, I was dying to see that boy in a tux.
