Shadow of a Life

by Tifani Clark

  *****

  Just as I expected, the library was a treasure trove of information about the Mary Celeste, the Briggs family, and their tragic ending. After spending a couple of hours searching through material, we checked out a bag full of books at the circulation desk and headed back to my house. I opened the garage door and saw that my dad’s car was back in its place. Great. What would I tell him?

  “Dad,” I called as we entered through the kitchen.

  We found him in the living room watching a Sunday afternoon political news program. He actually had his tie loosened.

  Dad stood and reached his hand out to Sophia immediately. “Hello. I’m Jamie’s father. And you are . . .?”

  Sophia responded just as easily as she had with Camille earlier in the day. I guess situations like those make decades of practicing to be ‘normal’ come in handy. I felt like everyone was looking at Sophia and I wherever we went, wondering what was wrong with her, but in reality she was as ‘normal’ as any other teenage girl in town.

  “My name is Sophia. I’m visiting Marion with my parents for the summer. They’re thinking of buying a second home here. Jamie and I met at the library yesterday and she graciously offered to introduce me to the town.” Sophia beamed.

  “Did she? Well, my daughter has lived here her entire life and I don’t think you could find a better tour guide.”

  “I’m sure we’ll have fun together, Mr. Peters.”

  Dad turned to me. “Are you still interested in going to dinner tonight? I made sure I left the office early enough to go for Chinese if you wanted.”

  “Mmm. That sounds perfect. Sophia needs to be getting back home anyway. Right, Sophia?” I hinted.

  Sophia nodded and headed for the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow after you get out of school, okay?”

  “Sounds great. Have a good evening.”

  It dawned on me that I didn’t know where Sophia went at night. Did she have an actual home? I had a feeling that she was probably still lurking somewhere in the shadows and I hoped she wouldn’t follow my dad and me wherever we went that night. The thought gave me the heebie jeebies and I shivered as cold tendrils crawled up my spine.

  There was a quaint little Chinese restaurant called Dragon Star near the waterfront that Dad and I frequented. The food was authentic because the owners were actually from China. Sometimes we had a hard time understanding them when they spoke to us since English wasn’t their first language. I ordered my favorite sesame chicken with sides of steamed rice and an egg roll, and Dad opted for a couple of the spicier options on the menu. We lingered over our dinner that night and Dad made a sincere effort to talk to me. He’d probably clued-in to the mood I’d been stuck in, but I didn’t want him to worry about me. Things were definitely changing in my life and the summer was starting to look up. My mind continuously wandered during our meal and I think that made Dad worry more. I wondered how open he was to the idea of spirits floating around our town.

  “Dad,” I finally asked. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

  It’s hard to surprise my calm and proper father, but I could tell he was taken aback by my comment. He set his chopsticks down and cleared his throat. He stretched out his hands and looked at them before refolding them in his lap and answering my question.

  “Well, I don’t know that I believe in ghosts of the sort you see in movies and such, but I think there’s a good chance that a type of spirit can linger when people pass on. I don’t think the spirits can actually do anything that would affect the living, but I believe they are sometimes there.” He creased his brow and looked at me. “Why the sudden interest in the occult?”

  “No special reason. I just read a book about ghosts recently and it made me wonder what I believed.”

  We sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before I cleared my throat and changed the subject. “It sure is gorgeous weather today. I think I’m finally ready to put my winter clothes in storage for a few months.”

  “The forecast says it will be sunny all week. I think we’re done with the cold weather for the season.” Dad played along. “Sophia seemed nice. Do you have any plans of getting together with her again?”

  “I think so. We did hit it off. Her parents plan on staying here for the entire summer before they decide to buy or not.”

  “Maybe we can invite her family over for a summer barbecue sometime to welcome them to town. Does she have any siblings?”

  I was starting to get nervous with the subject and before I could think I blurted out, “She had an older brother, but he’s dead now.”

  “Oh. That’s really unfortunate. Was it recent?”

  “No. I think it was a long time ago. She doesn’t really remember him much. I don’t know if her parents would want to come over, though. She says they’re pretty private people.” The lies continued to march out of my mouth.

  “Huh . . . well, we’ll have to see as the summer progresses.”

  Dad knew I was hiding something, but he let the subject drop. He left a tip on the table and we went for a walk near the water, looking out at Buzzards Bay, before returning to our car. It was nice to spend time with Dad. The older I got, the fewer opportunities I had to do it.

  By the time we got home the sun had set and I was safely able to excuse myself to my room without causing any suspicion. I really wanted to get started on my research. As I reached the top of the stairs, I could see a faint glow coming from under my door. I didn’t remember leaving my lights on. I slowly opened the door and peered inside.

  “Hey. You’re back,” Sophia sang out.

  I jumped. For the umpteenth time in the last two days it felt like my heart would stop.

  “I thought you said you’d knock the next time you came over,” I whispered while looking behind me down the hallway. The last thing I needed was for Dad to find out that Sophia was in my room.

  “I told you I’d knock the next time I came over, but technically I never left.”

  “I saw you go out the door.”

  “Noooo. You saw me disappear at the door. I’ve been up here sorting through all this stuff we got at the library.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and entered the room, shutting and locking the door behind me.

  “Where do you want to start?” Sophia asked. “I’ve been marking pages that I thought were fairly accurate.”

  “Let’s start with those pages then, I guess.” I sat down next to her on my bed and we began to quietly read. Sometimes we would comment on something or jot down a note. Other times we would burst out laughing when we came across particularly funny explanations for the disappearance of the Mary Celeste’s crew. We read until my neck was so stiff and my shoulders so hunched that I could barely move. I looked at the clock and was shocked to see that it was almost 1:00 a.m. I’d been so engrossed in my reading that I hadn’t even heard Dad come up for bed. If I knew my dad, he’d walked up the stairs promptly at 10:00 p.m.

  I sighed and tossed the book in my hand to the foot of my bed. “I think I’m going to call it quits for tonight. I can barely see straight anymore and it might not mean much to you, but I’ve still got another week of school left. I don’t want to be a zombie all day tomorrow.”

  “I really do appreciate your help,” Sophia said. “I’ll leave. And I promise I won’t sneak in while you’re sleeping.”

  Somehow her words weren’t all that reassuring. We quickly organized the books so that we could return to them later and I fell deeply into a much needed sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.