I Text Dead People

by Rose Cooper

  Not likely.

  “I want you to feel okay with this,” her mom said. “It’s just such a great opportunity, and I didn’t want to turn them down….”

  Anna shook her head. “No, Mom, it’s fine. Really. You don’t get many chances like this. I think you’ll have fun.”

  Her mom grinned. “I’ll call you every day.” She gave Anna’s shoulder a little squeeze and put her plate in the sink before padding down the hallway toward the stairs.

  The phone buzzed in Anna’s pocket. Thankfully, her mom had already left the room and was out of earshot.

  Anna shoved a potato chip in her mouth as she walked to the library, reading the messages on the phone. She slammed the door behind her and turned the light on. Dust swirled around, dancing in the beam of light from the lamp. She flopped into an old leather chair, propping her feet up on the gigantic antique desk that sat in the middle of the room.

  The library reminded Anna of a big dusty book. Every time she walked in, she was overwhelmed by the aroma of leather and of cigar smoke from years past. The dark wooden decor and boat decorations were a dead giveaway that this room had belonged to Maxwell Maddsen. The floor-to-ceiling shelves that lined the room were filled with antique books, broken bindings as far as the eye could see. For some reason, Anna felt more at home in this room than any other place in the mansion.

  She ran a finger over some of the leather spines. She needed to get lost in a good story…and forget about the horrible one she was living.

  Millie was back at school the next day and was totally relieved to know Anna had her phone. She had no idea where she had lost it. Anna had decided not to mention how she’d tried to find Millie’s house and bring it to her, since, when she mentioned the whole thing to her mom, her mom suggested that Millie might feel self-conscious about where she lived. Anna could appreciate that.

  By the time she got home after school, storm clouds had rolled in and the house was already dark. She shivered before making her way down the hallway to her room, turning on the lights as she went. Every creak seemed overly loud. She made sure not to look at her mom’s empty room as she passed, not wanting to remind herself she was away. Anna felt strange being the only living thing in the house.

  She changed her clothes and went back downstairs. She felt kind of uneasy…Could her stomach even handle food? The phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her out of her thoughts.

  Have you decided to help me? Because I won’t leave till you do.

  Anna texted back.

  Who is this?

  She held her breath, hoping that somehow the reply would be different this time.

  This is Lucy! Lucy Edwards!

  Anna’s hand shook as she typed.

  That’s impossible.

  She was still stumped at who could be cruel enough to use Lucy’s phone and send these messages. And now that her mom was gone, everything seemed even creepier.

  Anna looked down at the phone and gasped.

  Then I’ll come to you.

  Anna felt a sudden chill. This person had said the same thing before and nothing had happened. But it still freaked her out. This must be how those characters in horror movies felt when they got a phone call from a stalker saying “I can see you.” If she were in a movie right now, what would she do?

  The thought of hiding under her bed came to mind.

  It was a hoax. A prank. That was all. Someone trying to scare her.

  But just in case…

  Anna crept over to the large living room window and peered through the blinds.

  She blinked once. Twice. Her eyes had to be playing tricks on her, she thought. A girl was in her yard. Actually, at the end of the driveway. And she seemed to either be singing or talking to herself. She was too far away and the porch lights didn’t help enough to see clearly, but she seemed harmless enough.

  Anna felt as if she were watching a movie play out in front of her—this time a comedy—when the girl started making strange hand movements. Like she was signaling a plane. Then she bent down, stood up, yelled something, and started walking backward.

  It looked as if this girl couldn’t make up her mind. She walked forward two steps, back three. And for some reason, she was awfully interested in one of the bushes down there. Anna shook her head in wonder. And just like that, in the blink of an eye, the girl was gone.

  Anna pressed her face to the glass. Had she imagined the girl? She’d seemed so real.

  The doorbell rang, the tinkling of chimes echoing throughout the halls. Anna slammed her forehead against the window as she nearly jumped out of her skin. She was definitely on edge. Maybe she ought to cut out the caffeine.

  She tiptoed to the door, afraid whoever it was would hear her inside, and looked through the peephole.

  Nobody was there.

  Until a sudden blue blob clouded her vision from the other side. A blue blob that almost looked like…an eyeball?

  Anna screamed, jumping away from the door as if it were on fire. She ran back to the living room, looking for pieces of furniture that were big enough to hide under. When she failed, she grabbed the next best thing—a blanket folded over the back of the couch. She jumped in the rocker and threw the blanket over her body in one swoop.

  The blood rushed to her head, and she could hear the swooshing of her heartbeat in her ears. Maybe she should call the cops. But what exactly would she say? Someone pretending to be a dead girl was texting her and someone knocked on her door but all she saw was an eyeball? Yeah, right. They would for sure think she was taking after Maxwell Maddsen.

  It’s this house, she thought. It is haunted!

  She dug the phone out of her pocket, and giving in, she dialed her mom, who picked up on the first ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hey, sweets. I didn’t recognize the number. Where are you calling from?”

  “It’s a phone I found. On the way to school.” Wow. It felt as if a thousand-pound weight had just been released from her shoulders.

  “You found it?” Her mom sounded suspicious.

  “No, I knocked over a cell phone store and this is what I have to show for it. Yes, Mom. I found it.”

  “Well, did you try—”

  “I’ve already tried looking for the owner, yes. I’ll give you every single deet later. That’s not why I called.” She heard her mom shushing someone before replying.

  “Is everything okay? Are you hurt? Sick?”

  Anna swallowed. “I’m fine.” She didn’t want to scare her mom—it wasn’t like she could help her now anyway. But Anna felt better just hearing her voice.

  There was a pause on the other end, and what sounded like a TV in the background. Anna picked at the wooden table with her fingernail, waiting for her mom to say something. The silence was making her nervous.

  “I’m just doing hair and getting ready. You know how crazy it gets! Are you sure you’re feeling all right, Annabel?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine, really.” Anna peered out from under the knit blanket, feeling pretty foolish. “I just called to, you know, see how it was going.” She would sound crazy if she told her mom what was going on.

  “Okay. Call me if you need anything. Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  “All right, I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow. Love you, Annabel.”

  “Love you too, Mom.”

  The call disconnected. Feeling stuffy, Anna pulled the blanket off her head, the static making her hair stick up. Replaying what had just happened, she was disappointed in herself. What had she been thinking? She feared for her life and chose to hide under a blanket? She could imagine the scene playing out in a horror movie. She, of course, played the main foolish character: “Oh, yes, a blanket will protect me from any crazy killers in the room!”

  Still, she pulled the blanket around her shoulders.

  And shivered.

  Lucy had meant it when she’d said she would go to Anna if she refused to help her. And
that was how she found herself standing in the long gravel road that led to Anna’s house.

  She only knew where Anna lived because she’d followed her home one day after school. Not like stalking-following—just following as in she happened to coincidentally go in the very same direction at the very same time, even though she couldn’t remember where she was heading.

  A sign at the head of the drive, now weathered and missing letters, said MAD MANOR. The driveway was lined with huge, crooked oak trees. They resembled twisted, gnarled fingers reaching out of the ground. Spanish moss cascaded from the branches like water and swayed in the breeze.

  Although the house looked like it had been abandoned forever, Lucy knew it wasn’t. She caught glimpses of an old man rocking back and forth in a chair through the front window. She saw the shadow of a girl dancing in one of the rooms on the second floor, next to the window overlooking the front yard. Lucy could also feel an unexplainable connection to others inside who were hidden from sight.

  Most of the property was overgrown, with vines covering the walls and even some of the first-floor windows. Wisteria dangled from a rusted iron gate. The dilapidated front porch held an old, broken swing and empty, cracked planters. She let her mind envision the swing fixed and new, and her sitting there, sipping a Red Bull and listening to the crickets at night. Maybe this place had potential. She’d have to make the best of a bad situation, since she planned to stick around for as long as it took to convince Anna to help her.

  Lucy wished she could just go back home and pretend everything was fine. But her parents blamed each other for her accident, for not being around enough. Lucy tried to tell them it wasn’t their fault, but they couldn’t hear her. They didn’t even try. And when she wanted to comfort her mom, her arms went right through her.

  And even though she heard her parents say the “D” word several times, Lucy refused to believe she was…well, she couldn’t even say it. She couldn’t accept something so crazy.

  Also, she had unfinished business with John, and that would totally mess up her plans.

  Lucy had watched her parents select their clothes for the funeral. It was too sad to think about. She’d whispered goodbye to them, but no one had heard her.

  And then she was alone.

  She’d walked down the long driveway to Mad Manor, the gravel crunching beneath her shoes, listening to the birds singing and the rustling of trees in the wind. From the corner of her eye, a shadow caught her attention, and she turned her head.

  Nothing.

  And then a noise from one of the bushes on her right.

  She squinted against the sun, straining to see, and caught movement by the broken concrete next to an empty cherub fountain. Lucy crouched down, clutching her book bag to her chest like a shield, waiting for something to come blasting straight toward her.

  Under the bush she saw a massive gray paw.

  If she had still had functioning organs, her breath would’ve caught in her lungs at the exact moment she also tried to swallow the lump rising in her throat. This wasn’t the paw of any animal she’d ever seen before. Probably not even an animal at all. This was an enormous creature.

  Lucy was determined to stay strong and not be overcome by this monstrous…thing. She’d read enough in her fourteen years and considered herself very knowledgeable about vampires and werewolves. Nothing could shock her.

  She took a deep breath and stood up straight, but the gray paw disappeared from her sight. A low hum sounded, and suddenly water began spurting and coughing from the fountain, the same fountain that looked as if it hadn’t worked properly for hundreds of years. The water spit over the sides and into the bushes, flattening the leaves.

  Two dark eyes were staring at her.

  She could run like an awkward coward—since her legs seemed to be frozen in place—or stay and face a horrifying, tragic death. She shivered at the thought.

  Mustering up every ounce of bravery she possessed, she took small steps forward.

  The bush rumbled a little. Or was that her shaking?

  “Come out now!” Lucy demanded, her fists balled up tightly at her sides.

  Nothing.

  Lucy’s heart skipped several beats. Or it would’ve, if she’d had a heartbeat.

  I’m not scared. Not scared at all. Lucy was certain that if she repeated the thought enough, she could convince herself it was true.

  After she made a few coaxing sounds, she began to lose patience. “Fine, then!” she cried. “I’m coming in after you.”

  She marched straight over to the bush to show that beast who was boss and…peered down at a tattered mass of matted fur. It was just a cat, and it wasn’t the least bit powerful or muscular. It was scrawny and bedraggled and not at all cute.

  It was the poor, flat body of a kitty who had spent all of his nine lives.

  Her fingertips itched to pet him. Fate must have brought their two lonesome souls together. Taking small steps, she got close enough to touch him. Up close, he was hideous. No animal should have had to suffer with such ugliness. She gradually lifted her hand and held it out to his fur.

  With sweet, encouraging words, she let him know how lucky he was that she’d found him. Then she cautiously picked up the little beast. His body seemed stiff, a bit tense. And if she was completely honest, she’d have to say his fur felt like sandpaper.

  “You, Mr. Roadkill Kitty, were meant to be found. From this day on, I will be yours and you will be mine. And I shall name you Pancake.”

  Cradling her new pet under one arm, Lucy walked up the creaky porch steps of the mansion and punched the doorbell.

  She could feel Anna on the other side, lingering. Listening.

  But the door never opened.

  The following morning, Anna pushed open the large wooden door to the library, the faint scent of tobacco tickling her nose. She’d decided to grab a book to bring to school and read at lunch.

  Although the room looked empty, it didn’t feel that way. She threw herself into an oversized leather chair, scanning the hundreds of books lining the walls.

  A book from the nearest shelf lingered on the edge before falling out, landing with a plop on the ground. Anna watched in amazement as another book flew off the shelf. It shot across the room and hit the wall with such force she almost expected to see an indentation.

  And then it happened again. Book after book, each at a different speed, with different force. Anna closed her eyes, shaking her head. She hadn’t slept well last night. This had to be a hallucination. She had to be imagining this.

  There was no other explanation.

  Anna’s eyes snapped open just in time to see a book hurling straight at her head. She jumped to the floor just as the book hit the back of her chair, landing in her seat with a soft thud.

  “Stop!” Anna had no idea why she yelled it, or who she thought she was yelling at, but it was as if she thought the one word would have enough power to suddenly stop the chaos.

  And it did.

  Anna’s phone chimed with an incoming message.

  I’ll stop if you help me. Agreed?

  Goose bumps prickled up her arms. Anna had a sudden urge to run from the house and never look back.

  Thump.

  Another book fell off the shelf, this time landing by her feet, the cover staring at her.

  The Haunting of Hill House.

  Another text message flashed on her phone.

  I’m not going away.

  As if to punctuate that last message, two more books flew at Anna, hitting her below the knees. She sucked in a sharp breath, sending a reply.

  What do you want?

  I want to know what happened.

  How am I supposed to help you with that?

  Talk to my boyfriend. He might know.

  Why can’t you talk to him?

  Because he’s ignoring me!

  Who’s your boyfriend?

  John Butler. You have to talk to him! Let him know I’m OK! Well, not really OK, but I’m her
e and I miss him and…I need to know what happened!

  I don’t even know who this is.

  I’ve told you! This is Lucy Edwards!

  Anna squeezed the phone hard as she punched in the message.

  Lucy is dead.

  The texts stopped. Her phone remained silent.

  The temperature in the room suddenly dropped. Anna rubbed her hands along her arms, teeth chattering.

  Anna could see her breath in front of her.

  The lights overhead flickered twice. Three times. She crinkled her nose as she suddenly caught a whiff of fresh lemon.

  The books rose from the ground, slowly at first, hovering in place. Then they began to spin in a small circle around the room, a tornado of books. The air seemed to shimmer. Like magic, a transparent figure formed in front of her.

  Two round blue eyes, framed by a familiar heart-shaped face, stared into hers.

  It was the girl from the cafeteria. The girl from the yearbook picture.

  It was Lucy.

  Well, part of her. Other than her head, the rest of her was nearly transparent. Anna could see the entire room right through her. She jumped back as a scream tore through her throat.

  Lucy’s floating head bobbed up and down as she opened her mouth as if to scream as well, but no sound came out.

  And then she was gone.

  The temperature became warm. The lights stopped flickering. The books fell to the floor.

  Anna crumpled into the chair, feeling limp and weak, as if every ounce of energy had been sucked straight out of her. She buried her head in her hands.