“You can see auras?” he asked. I nodded in answer. “May I?” he held a hand out and I gulped, but nodded once again. He came within a foot of me and tilted my head to peer closer at my eye. His scrutiny was clinical, but I was increasingly uncomfortable. Besides my eye doctors, I’d never let anyone this close to me to look at my eye. I cleared my throat.
“We might want to do this elsewhere. Don’t want any of your admirers getting the wrong impression.” I smiled, but Professor Young was staring at me, weighing what I had told him. I pushed my glasses back into place and glanced over at the door. The next class would be coming in soon. I made a tsk-tsk sound. “Your aura is molesting me again.” He looked taken aback and I grinned.
“I’m sorry. I have no idea how to control my aura,” he said. I laughed and headed to the door.
“It’s okay. Better your aura than a wraith,” I shot over my shoulder. He picked up his bag and hurried over to me.
“Come back on Wednesday for another one of my boring classes and I’ll try to have some info for you,” he said quickly. I became the sceptic. “No, really. I have some documents and studies that very few people have ever seen that you might find helpful,” he continued on. I crossed my arms over my chest. Nothing worth anything was free. My momma had always said that.
“And what do you get out of this?” I asked. He pulled out his most charming smile, summoning his inner Flynn Rider and it almost worked on me.
“Just a few nights of your time,” he answered flippantly. I set my jaw and waited. He ran a hand through his hair in agitation. I smiled. “I just want to study you a bit. Ask you some questions, do some minor experiments…” I opened my mouth to protest. “Nothing invasive or dangerous, I swear,” he interjected. I thought about the years I’d been searching for info and I wavered. I needed to know how to control my extra sense, how to really use it to my advantage. Maybe, just maybe, Professor Young would have something of use to me. I sighed and held out my hand.
“Okay, but I can’t promise anything,” I agreed. He took my hand and shook it with his grin back in place.
“I’ll see you in class on Wednesday,” he said as he walked away, his aura crackling excitedly about him. I turned with a sigh and began my own walk back to my car. Looked like I was going to have to find a place to stay after all.
I should have known that the day couldn’t go as well as I believed it would. I was actually excited to get back to Professor Young’s class today and my head was spinning with excitement. Maybe I would actually make progress, maybe I’d find something out I didn’t know, some way to really use my abilities. If I could, I’d be one step closer to making sense of my mother’s death. After four years I’d only grown increasingly more frustrated. This had to work out. It had to.
As I approached the door to the classroom, I felt a familiar prickle at the back of my skull. I froze with my hand on the door knob and kept my eyes focused on the ground in front of me. The wisps of gray aura that accompanied one of the recently deceased was floating about an image in my peripheral vision. I took a deep breath as I closed my eyes. Not now. I reverted back to the days when I was still pretending to be normal. I ignored the wraith, opened the door, and walked quickly to take my seat. I sat with my head down, my hair blocking my view of everything but my hands that were folded tightly in my lap. Please go away. Please go away. Please go away. I chanted the mantra beneath my breath, willing it to work for once.
Professor Young began the class, but it seemed to me to drag forever. The wraith hadn’t moved on; In fact, it had followed me right to my seat and was standing over me like a looming cloud, the harbinger of death’s unscrupulous favoritism. I pressed a button to illuminate my cell phone’s screen. Only ten more minutes until the class ended. I could handle ten more minutes. Or so I thought. This wraith wasn’t like most of the wraiths I’d dealt with before though, the ones who just linger near their body or place of death until they dissolve into whatever their next state happened to be. This wraith was hounding me.
I thought that maybe the wraith just wanted to be acknowledged, to know that one last person had seen them before they moved on. Some of them were like that. Man, I’d never been more wrong. I raised my head for the first time since class started and glanced up, hoping to appease the ghost, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The sight of the wraith tore a scream from my throat as I jumped from my desk, knocking all of my stuff onto the floor with a loud thud. Several people nearby jumped from their seats and stared at me, wondering what had happened. Professor Young stood at the front of the classroom in the shocked silence that fell upon the room. I mumbled something about a spider and stumbled back toward my seat, trying to block out the wraith who now circled about me, ‘round and ‘round, faster and faster, its mouth opened in an impossibly wide scream of terror, its face a mask of anguish.
I sat as still as possible and tried to pretend I could see the front of the room, but the wraith circled me, its gray wisps of energy floating about me, making me dizzy. I was afraid I was going to pass out when the room began emptying out, everyone giving me a wide berth as they exited the room. I stood on unsteady legs and fumbled for my backpack. Oh please, God, let the wraith go away. Why was it tormenting me?
“Anna?” I stumbled down a step. Professor Young put a hand on my shoulder to steady me. “What is it, Anna? What’s going on?”
I whimpered when the wraith came even closer, its dark, empty eyes and mouth stretched out close to my face. I grabbed onto Professor Young’s arm, clutching his coat sleeve.
“Wr…wraith,” I muttered. The room was spinning. His arms held me up and kept me grounded.
“A wraith? What does it want?” he asked. The wraith slowed its movements, its mouth closed back to a more normal shape. I shook my head. I was on overload. Everything felt gray. Grayness with the inky stain of death and evil. The same stain that had coated my mother’s body. “Breathe deeply,” the professor murmured beneath his breath, coaxing me to calm down. I tried several times before my heart began to beat at a more normal pace. I peeked up from the spot on his chest that I’d fixated on and into the face of the wraith. I was surprised when I realized I knew her face. The wraith was the young woman with tendrils of hair that fell down to her waist. Those tendrils were no longer light brown, but instead a shade of ash gray. She was the girl who was sitting by me in this class two days before. I flinched. The one I couldn’t even bother myself to speak to after she’d spoken to me.
“She’s dead,” I said softly.
“Who? Who’s dead?” I removed my grip from Professor Young’s jacket and glanced up wearily into his face. His eyes were wide and concerned. But still…skeptical.
“The girl who sat next to me on the first day of this class. She’s dead.” I met the dark stare of the dead girl and felt that same overpowering feeling of absolute helplessness as I had so many times in the past. Death followed me and yet I was still just an utterly useless observer. I couldn’t make a difference.
“I’m sorry,” I said to her. I hadn’t even known her name. I hadn’t even spoken to her. Professor Young glanced uneasily at the space that I was staring at. I felt the anger building. I was so fed up with never being able to do anything with my abilities. The hell with this crap. I was going to make a difference, even if I had to put up with people pointing and calling me crazy. I was going to help this girl. I wasn’t going to let her disappear without some sort of closure.
“Who was here on Monday, but was absent today?” I asked in grim determination. The professor walked back down to the front of the class and opened up his attendance record.
“There were five absent students today. One male, four female,” he said as he ran a finger along the names. “Amy Powers.” He glanced up at me and I looked at the wraith. I shook my head. That wasn’t it. “Nicole Stanten.” Nope. I shook my head again. “Renee Fisk.” Wrong. “Julie Reese,” he said. The wraith grew agitated, circling me once again. I closed my eyes and held out a hand.
“You have to stop circling me if you want my help,” I said through gritted teeth. I opened my eyes and found Professor Young staring at me in open fascination. The wraith was hovering nearby, its mouth once again open twice as wide as it should have been able to, with nothing but a yawning blackness issuing forth. People began slowly filtering in the classroom for the next class.
“We should go,” I said after a moment. He snatched his stuff up and followed me out of the room.
“What are we going to do now?” he asked with his brow furrowed in thought. I sighed deeply and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket.
“We’re going to call the police,” I said. I could barely believe the words had come from my lips. The professor’s mouth popped open and I could tell his mind was working through the facts like I already had. And tell them what? A ghost had visited me and told me it had been killed?
This was going to be hell.
I decided at the last moment to go in and make a report instead of calling the police. By the time I actually got to the station, I was ready to turn around and make a run for it. I might have even done that except for the wraith hovering nearby, ready to swirl around me until I was driven insane. I’d never been around such a determined and annoying spirit. I met Professor Young at the top of the steps of the police station.
“Just for the record, I think this is a very bad idea,” he stated for the tenth time. I held up a hand.
“I know. But this isn’t going away any time soon. I’ll go crazy if she continues to stalk me like this,” I said softly. “And…I don’t want to run from this anymore. I’m tired of looking away.” His eyes held mine and even though his jaw was locked and I could tell he really wanted to talk me out of going through the door, he nodded his head. He would help me as much as he could. I released a breath, unaware I’d been holding it, hoping he’d stay with me.
“Okay then, let’s do this and hope they don’t admit you,” he said, only half kidding. I flinched. Too close to my fears for comfort. I squared my shoulders and entered the station with Professor Young and the wraith of Julie Reese.
“Excuse me, I’d like to make a report.” The thin officer behind the glass looked up from the newspaper, his small, black eyes flitting over me and then briefly over Professor Young. He pulled out a notebook and picked up a pen.
“What kind of report?” He rasped out, his voice rough as if he smoked a pack or two a day, his eyes not meeting mine. His aura was a muddy green…sickly and barely flickering. It wouldn’t be long before his aura would disappear altogether. Then he would be a wraith just like the one that hovered at my elbow.
“I’d like to speak with a detective to make a report, preferably in a room. I’m not going to do this standing here with all these people out here.” I motioned to the busy station. People were being booked, people were making statements. The place was a zoo. The officer behind the glass raised an eyebrow.
“Listen, we don’t have the time or space to accommodate special requests,” he said. He was testing me to see if I’d back down, to let me know my place. I opened my mouth, to say what, I don’t know, but I was going to make sure he understood the importance of my report.
“We’d like to talk with Detective Williams,” Professor Young interjected. I turned to look at him. “Tell him that Dr. Christopher Young would like to speak with him. He’ll want to see me, I’m sure,” he added. I raised a brow, but kept my mouth closed. The officer behind the glass stared us down a minute longer before huffing and placing a call.
“Detective Williams will see you,” he grumbled. Just then a door swung open and a tall, severe looking female officer asked us to follow her. We didn’t say a word as we were led to the back of the police station and past several offices. The female officer, whose name tag read Sgt. Pallens, stopped outside of a door and jerked her head for us to enter.
“Dr. Young, what brings you here to see me today? It’s been a while.” The detective, probably in his early forties, sat behind a small desk covered in files and papers. I had no idea how he was able to find anything. I watched him through my sun glasses. His face remained aloof, but his light brown eyes were sharp as he talked to the professor. He was taking in every single detail he could about me without even appearing to have noticed anyone else in the room. His attention to detail was disconcerting. I squelched the inexplicable need to hide behind Professor Young. I was being ridiculous of course, but I always felt uneasy when I was being scrutinized so intensely.
“Yes it has.” He motioned toward me, drawing the detective’s direct gaze to me. His eyes studied my face, the contrast of his honey colored eyes to his espresso-colored skin was stark. His aura was glowing brightly, but I could tell it had once been more. There were several black stains upon his aura, as he’d been touched by darkness or death a few times. I imagined both were true. “I’ve brought a new student of mine to talk to you.” The detective raised a brow and asked us to take a seat.
“What can I do for you…I didn’t catch your name.”
“Anna. Anna Morgan,” I said softly.
“Anna, what brings you here?” he asked, his eyes never leaving my face. I glanced over at Professor Young and then over at the wraith, who was still following close beside me. I’m sure the motion was not lost on the detective. I took a deep breath.
“There was a girl in class on Monday. Her name was Julie Reese. She wasn’t in class today,” I began.
“You said was,” the detective interrupted. I snapped my mouth closed and nodded.
“Yes I did.” I looked up into the grayness, into the emptiness that once was a young woman, full of life and dreams and smiled sadly. “Julie Reese is dead.” The detective didn’t say anything at first as he weighed my words and my actions.
“And how do you know this?” he asked, his voice low, but not giving away his own thoughts on the situation. I unclutched my hand from my lap and put a shaking hand up to my face. I slid my glasses down and met the detective’s stare without flinching. Except for the slight pupil dilation and a soft breath of air he sucked in, I wouldn’t have guessed the detective even noticed my eye.
“I’m not crazy,” I stated as a precursor. He blinked in surprise. That was not what he expected me to say. Somehow I felt like that was a point in my favor. “I’ve never told anyone about my ability. Never. I only recently told Professor Young,” I stated. Detective Williams glanced over at the professor. The professor looked slightly ill. I knew how he felt.
“Go on,” he encouraged in a very discouraging voice.
“I died when I was three. I came back after seven minutes. Now I can see more things than a normal person. Unexplainable things.” He hadn’t said anything and his face gave nothing away. “Julie is dead. I know that because I saw her after she died. I saw her wraith…her ghost.” I pushed my glasses back into place and bowed my head. This is the part where he called me crazy and placed a call to the local psych ward. This is where he had me committed. This was going to suck so badly. After a few moments, the detective still hadn’t said anything. I sighed deeply and stood.
“You know what? We’ll just go. I shouldn’t have bothered you,” I started.
“Sit down,” Detective Williams snapped. I immediately sat. The Detective looked peeved, his normal, stone-face demeanor had changed and he looked ready to throttle someone. Luckily, his ire was quite pointedly aimed at Professor Young. I wondered what had happened between them.
“I’m sorry,” Professor Young said softly. “You’re the only person I could think to bring her to,” he added. The detective’s jaw was grinding shut and a muscle ticked in his cheek. He was not happy at all.
“My past doesn’t mean I believe this young woman. It doesn’t affect my detective work or my professional deductions.” His voice was serious, his eyes piercing Professor Young. The professor nodded in understanding. “If I look into this and I do find out that this young woman, Julie Reese, is dead or even missing, I will be knocking on your door to tal
k to you two. You will both be my prime suspects and I will put this entire conversation into my reports,” he snapped. I gulped. Oh crap, I hadn’t meant to drag the professor into this.
“I understand,” Professor Young said, his own voice more serious now.
“Where can I find you if I need to, Miss Morgan?” Detective Williams took out a pen. I opened my mouth only to slam it closed. I’d actually slept in my car the last three nights. I still hadn’t found a place to stay. I spread my hands out on my jeans and gave a little shrug. Crap.
“She’s staying at my place,” Professor Young offered. Detective Williams and I both raised a brow. News to both of us. “You remember the address?” he asked in the silence. Detective Williams clenched his jaw and nodded.
“Your student, huh?” he asked with a skeptical crease between his brows. They stared at each other. They definitely had a history there somewhere.
“Actually, I’m only auditing the class,” I piped in, breaking through the tense atmosphere.
“Indeed,” the detective answered without taking his eyes off of Professor Young. “I’m going to look into this with my partner.” His eyes finally swung back around to me. “I suggest you stay in town where I can find you if I need to.” I nodded and stood back up.
“Thank you, Detective,” I said softly. His nod of acknowledgement was almost imperceptible. We left the office quickly and didn’t breathe easily until we stepped back out of the front doors.
“Well, that was interesting,” I said, glancing up at the professor as he stared out at nothing in particular. “Let’s get going…roomie,” I added sardonically. He grimaced and looked over at me with an apologetic smile.
Unnatural Occurrence (An Anna Morgan Novella (Part 1)) Page 2
