Seventeen-year-old Mia Randall longed for someone to take her mind off her heartrending breakup with her first real boyfriend.
Benjamin Alexander Richards did exactly that.
There was only one problem.
He was a ghost.
__________________________
He continued to walk along the path. She noticed that his Rebel uniform seemed much more tattered than Josh’s. “Have you been reenacting for a long time?”
He stopped then and turned to look at her. A slow, sad smile spread across his handsome face. He studied her with those beautiful eyes. “Far too long.”
She watched as he pursed his lips, and she wondered what it would be like to be kissed by him. “You sound as if you don’t enjoy it. Why do you do it?”
He clenched his jaw and looked away.
“I’m sorry if I said something to upset you.” She went to touch his arm reassuringly and then she stared in frozen horror, her body locked in position as she gaped at him. Her hand had gone right through him as if there was nothing before her but the very air she breathed.
“Don’t be frightened,” he whispered.
She backed away.
“Please don’t go,” he pleaded, begging her with those brilliant, azure eyes. “I beseech you to stay with me, if only for a while.”
To my daughter, Brittani—
For encouraging me to write the one about the ghost.
I love you dearly.
Ghostly Encounter
(Ghostly Series-Book One)
Suzannah Daniels
Copyright © 2012 by Suzannah Daniels
Cover Art by Dreamscape Covers
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
First Electronic Edition: July 2012
Ghostly Encounter: (Ghostly Series-Book One) / by Suzannah Daniels
Prologue
September 20, 1863
The Civil War
Chickamauga Battlefield, Georgia
A heavy curtain of smoke hangs over the battlefield, its acridity assaulting my nostrils. My dry, aching throat beckons for a sip of water, but I know not when I will have the chance to drink. Visibility is limited, and the deafening noises all around me are unsettling: the firing of guns, the blasts of the cannons, the agonizing screams of the injured soldiers.
Even surrounded by chaos, I know the moment that the enemy’s bullet effortlessly punctures my flesh. I stare disbelievingly at the wound in my chest as my crimson blood blossoms on my dust-covered uniform. I try to lift my rifle, but my body refuses to cooperate. Searing pain shoots through my chest, and I collapse to the ground.
They say that when a man dies, his life flashes before his eyes. I suppose there’s a certain amount of truth to that. I can clearly picture the faces of my loved ones and snippets of memories with them. But the resounding thoughts in my head are not what I have done, but what I have not. I wish not to die, but I am so very tired that I am sure the pain is the only thing keeping me awake. I did not sleep well last night. A cold front moved in, and we were forbidden to start a fire because the enemy was near.
Relief flows through my body for the pain is gone, and I can now close my eyes and rest.
Chapter 1
Present Day
The sweltering heat confirmed that summer had finally arrived. Seated at the patio table in her backyard, Mia Randall leaned forward in her chair and dabbed at the tiny beads of sweat on her forehead as she checked her cell phone one more time. No texts. No calls.
She stared at the blank page of the diary her mother had given her for her thirteenth birthday. Her mother seemed sure that Mia’s teenage years would bring an endless barrage of exciting events worthy of being memorialized for eternity on the crisp, white pages of the leather bound book.
She was wrong.
Mia was now seventeen. In the past four years, Mia had written as many entries, and all of them had been in the last eight months when Matt Anderson, one of the hottest guys at her high school, had completely knocked her world off its axis by asking her, the reserved, studious, nothing-exciting-ever-happens-to-me junior, to be his girlfriend.
Her excitement had fizzled out. School was out for the summer, and Matt unceremoniously dumped her, using the hollow excuse that he wanted to keep his options open. Her heart still ached as she gazed at his photo on her cell phone. Her mother thought that expressing her sorrow in words would help her deal with the unexpected blow. Mia snapped the diary shut. Writing it down, so that she could remind herself of every painful emotion that coursed through her veins would not be helpful.
She gingerly laid her cell phone on the glass tabletop and glanced around her backyard. Achilles, her black Lab mix, chased a squirrel across the recently mowed lawn. Once the squirrel scampered up a hickory tree, he trotted to her side and dropped to his haunches at her feet. “You wouldn’t leave me, would you, Achilles?” she asked, scratching behind his ear. Right on cue, he licked her leg, reassuring her.
Mia pressed her fingertips against her perspiring temples, trying to force images of Matt from her mind.
Although other boys had shown her attention, Matt was her first real boyfriend, and she had fallen hard for him. Little things had warned her that perhaps the relationship was a bit one-sided. Like how he didn’t want to hold her hand in the hallway at school. And how they would have plans to go to a movie until one of his friends would call and he would cancel on her. She had tried to convince herself that he just needed some space, but it was evident now that it had been more than that. She had been his girlfriend when it was convenient for him. The depths of her emotions had exceeded his.
She fanned her shirt in an attempt to get some relief from the suffocating heat. She supposed that it wasn’t Matt’s fault if he hadn’t felt the same connection that she had felt. It would have been nice to have known sooner, though. Maybe the breakup wouldn’t have been so painful.
Mia pushed herself out of the chair. She turned on the water and picked up the hose. Using her thumb, she sprayed the water across the lawn until the warm water that had been simmering in the hose all day was replaced with fresh, cold water. Then, she filled Achilles’ bowl and watered her mother’s purple petunias. After twisting the squeaky faucet into the off position, she grabbed her phone and diary and headed indoors to shower.
She had promised her best friend, Jennie Landers, that she would accompany her to Chickamauga Park tonight. A group of their friends were meeting at Wilder Tower, a local tourist attraction, at eight o’clock for a picnic.
An hour and a half later, Mia sat in a black, wrought iron bistro chair on her front porch, waiting for her best friend. Jennie was always late, and while it used to irritate Mia, she had since learned to convert Jennie time into real time, which was why she had only been waiting for five minutes versus thirty when her friend pulled into her driveway.
Mia snatched up her purse and hurried toward the blue Ford. She climbed in and had barely gotten the door shut when Jennie started backing out. Mia snapped her seat belt into place. “So what are we eating?”
“I brought us some ham sandwiches, and I picked up your favorite.”
“Doughnuts?” Mia asked with a spark of interest.
“Crème filled with chocolate on the top.” Jennie smiled, revealing a set of braces and dimpling each cheek. “I brought us some bottled water, too.
“This picnic is going to be so much fun.” Jennie pushed her auburn bangs out of her eyes. “Guess who’
s going to be there?”
Mia’s thoughts immediately went to Matt.
“Tyler Carver,” Jennie supplied, not giving her time to answer.
Mia couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of disappointment.
Jennie had been infatuated with Tyler since the first day of high school when he asked her for directions to the gymnasium.
Jennie squealed with delight, and Mia couldn’t stifle the smile playing on her lips. “This could be your chance,” Mia encouraged.
“Yeah, right,” Jennie scoffed. “Like he’d even notice me standing next to you. All guys dream of beautiful, blue-eyed girls with hair down to their waist.”
“Don’t be silly, Jen. If long hair and blue eyes were all it took, then why did Matt break up with me?”
“Because he’s an idiot.”
Mia’s hand tightened around her cell phone as she resisted the urge to look at his photo.
“Besides,” Jennie added, “Josh Keaton is going to be there, too, and you can’t deny that he is absolutely gorgeous. And Kailey Gaston just informed me a little while ago that Josh has his sights set on you.”
“Me?” Mia asked in surprise.
“Yes, you,” Jennie confirmed as she stopped at a red light. “It seems that he heard about you and Matt breaking up, and I guess he figures you’re fair game now.”
Jennie and Mia drove through their small hometown of East Ridge, Tennessee and crossed over the state line to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Ten minutes later, they were winding through the tree-lined roads of Chickamauga National Battlefield Park on their way to Wilder Tower.
“I see the tower.” Mia pointed excitedly. “Wow! I haven’t been here since I was a kid.”
“Me, either,” Jennie said, pulling into a parking spot and craning her neck over the steering wheel to get a better look at the tower.
“There’s Tyler!” Mia pointed to a tall, dark-haired guy with an athletic build, who was leaning against a Civil War monument talking to a group of people.
“And Josh,” Jennie added, pointing to another guy in the group.
“This would be a fabulous place to take some photos,” Mia said, opening her purse and rummaging for her camera. Mia had always loved taking photos, even before the onset of the social media explosion.
“You’ll have plenty of time to take photos,” Jennie said. “Let’s go talk to everyone and eat first. I’m starving.”
“I have to admit a chocolate-covered, crème-filled doughnut does sound pretty good right now,” Mia confessed.
Mia and Jennie grabbed the food and ambled toward the group of teenagers that had already arrived.
“Hey, everybody!” Jennie greeted as she approached the soft, yellow blanket that carpeted a square of lawn. She dropped to her knees on the blanket and unpacked the sandwiches and water.
The group exchanged pleasantries as Mia sat beside Jennie on the edge of the blanket and added the boxes of doughnuts to the collection of food in the center. Kailey and Josh approached the blanket and soon the whole group was eating sandwiches and passing around bags of potato chips.
After finishing off a doughnut and licking the last bit of chocolate from her fingertips, Mia pulled out her camera and started snapping photos. She took pictures of her friends huddled around the blanket. She talked and laughed and for the first time since Matt had broken up with her, she found herself having fun.
“Want to climb the tower?”
Mia jumped at the sound of Josh’s voice. She hadn’t noticed that he had moved and was now sitting on the grass directly behind her, close enough that if she leaned back, she would be touching him.
She was inexplicably frozen.
“Mia?” He lightly touched her shoulder, and she noted that she could smell his cologne.
She shook her head, clearing her mind. “Yeah, Josh, sure.”
He stood up and took her by the elbow, helping her to her feet. They walked past the ornate, wrought iron door and into the base of the tower. It was cooler than the stifling, summer air outside. Narrow steps spiraled up into the tower. Mia started up the stairs first, followed by Josh. The cold, stone walls blocked out much of the sunlight. Occasionally, a small, rectangular window cast a bit of brightness into the dark cylinder.
Finally, they emerged from the staircase to the top of the tower, bathed in waning sunlight. Mia grasped a merlon on either side of her and carefully leaned over the embrasure, glancing down at the ground until she spotted Jennie. The height of the tower made her toes tingle, but the view was spectacular. She took a small step back from the parapet and instinctively started taking photos of the vast park.
“It’s beautiful up here,” Josh murmured in her ear.
Mia lowered the camera and turned to look at him. “Yes, it is.”
“You’re beautiful.” Josh leaned in.
“Thank you.” Mia lowered her eyes.
Jennie was right about Josh. He was beautiful in a California surfer sort of way. His tanned skin contrasted with his dark blond hair, and his eyes were the color of the sea, a combination of blue and green. His good looks combined with his easy going disposition rendered him a high-ranking boyfriend candidate for most girls.
Feeling awkward, she started taking photos again. The sun was setting behind the tree line, and Mia didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get some unbelievable photographs. “Maybe we should get back to the group,” she suggested when she had finished.
“Maybe so,” Josh agreed. “I think we’re going to explore some trails and maybe even tell some ghost stories when it gets dark.”
“That sounds like fun,” Mia said enthusiastically.
As the sun began sinking below the horizon, they started back down the winding steps. There was even less light than before in the tower, and some areas were pitch black.
Mia carefully followed the rough, stone wall with the palm of her hand. The steps were difficult to see, and she was actually relieved when Josh placed a steadying hand on her shoulder.
“Let’s stop for a minute,” he said.
Mia realized that her own calf muscles were beginning to ache. She could barely make out Josh’s outline in the dim light as he leaned his back against the outer wall of the tower. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her closer. “I don’t know how Matt could ever let you go.”
Josh was so close that Mia could feel his breath against her cheek. The mention of Matt made her heart sink. “I guess it just wasn’t meant to be,” she whispered.
Josh caressed her arm. “Would it be horrible of me to say that I’m glad?” he asked.
Mia smiled. “Yes, it would be.”
“Then I won’t say it.”
Josh leaned down and touched his lips to Mia’s. Her pulse raced, and she felt incredibly awkward once again. With her breakup with Matt still fresh on her mind, she instinctively took a step back.
Her sandaled feet lost their footing as she stepped on the narrowest portion of the step, and Mia’s arms flailed wildly as she tried desperately to grab Josh and steady herself. Barely grazing his arm with her fingertips, she screamed as her body plunged backward down the darkened stairway.
“Mia!” Josh’s voice, laced with panic, echoed off the cold stone.
Mia had no time to brace herself, no time to twist her body around, so that she might stop her fall with her arms. She had only begun contemplating the incredible pain that she knew would be inevitable, when a pair of strong hands snatched her mid-fall, steadied her, and then quickly released her.
“Josh?” Mia called meekly.
“I’m coming, Mia,” Josh bellowed from somewhere above her, his feet pounding against the steps as he rushed toward her.
Mia’s mind raced wildly. If Josh wasn’t near her, then who was?
“Who’s there?” Mia asked, one hand braced against the stone wall, the other groping in the darkness.
Josh flicked a lighter, illuminating the passage. “Mia, are you all right?”
Mia stared in aston
ishment at the empty staircase, shadows dancing wildly as Josh rushed to her side.
“Who’s there?” Mia shouted, looking down the spiraling steps, expecting someone to call out to her.
“Mia, are you all right? Did you hit your head?”
Josh clutched her by the arm, frantically looking her over from head to toe. He gently shook her. “Mia?”
Mia inhaled deeply, willing her heart to slow its pace. “I’m fine.” She stared down the staircase, still half expecting someone to emerge. Had she hit her head? Was she in some state of delusion at the moment? She reached up to touch her head and gently rubbed her palm across her scalp. No lumps. No blood. No pain.
Other than the pounding in her chest, she seemed to be fine.
“You’re lucky you weren’t seriously injured. Was kissing me so bad that you’d rather plunge to your death down an unlit staircase?”
“Oh, Josh, no,” Mia stammered. Had she hurt his feelings? She looped her arm through his. “Would you mind if I held on to your arm down the rest of the steps?”
He squeezed her forearm with his free hand. “Not at all.”
By the time they reached the bottom of the steps, darkness had engulfed the park and her heart rate had slowed somewhat. She could hear the tinkling of Jennie’s laughter and thought perhaps things were going well with Tyler.
Most of the group was still seated around the blanket, and Mia and Josh joined them.
“Did you know the battlefield is haunted?” Tyler asked in the darkness. “My dad told me that some guy jumped out of a window in the tower years ago. He was being chased by ghosts or something.”
“Did he die?” Jennie asked.
“No, he lived to tell about it,” Tyler answered.
Mia, relieved that she was no longer in the tower, shivered at the thought of being chased by ghosts. She turned back to look at the tower, outlined by the glow of a full moon as it stretched into the night sky. It loomed overhead like a sentinel charged with protecting the secrets of the park. She rubbed her arms in an effort to appease the goose bumps that had risen despite the fact that the still, night air was warm.
Ghostly Encounter (Ghostly #1) (Ghostly Series) Page 1
