Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ My Ghost ❯ Chapter Twenty-One ( Chapter 21 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

My Ghost

Chapter Twenty-One

Callie awoke the next morning, looking around her room. It was her room, all right. There was her desk, sitting against the wall adjacent to the door. Her dresser was to her left, and her closet was to her right. Everything was the same.

“Figures,” she said, sitting up. “I would have a night without visionary dreams on the night when I actually want them.”

There was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Callie said, pushing her blankets aside. She yawned, stretching as her mother walked in the room.

“Good. You're awake. You have a doctor's appointment in an hour. Get up and get dressed, and meet me downstairs for breakfast.”

Callie groaned. “Mom, I really don't need to go to the doctor. I'm fine, really.” She jumped out of bed, waving her arms around. “See? Fine.”

Her mother shook her head. “You've passed out twice in as many days. Something is wrong. Don't be difficult about this, Callie. You're missing school, anyway.”

Callie glanced at her clock; her mother was right. It was 10:21. School had been in session for almost two hours. She sighed. “Alright, fine. I'll get ready,” she said dejectedly. She waited until her mother closed the door and walked to her dresser, searching for clothes to wear that day.

“Not even time for a shower,” she mumbled, rummaging through her drawers. Within ten minutes, she was dressed. Remembering that she'd sent Ashley a text message the night before, she grabbed her phone off her nightstand. Ashley had not responded yet. Callie shoved the phone in her pocket and left the room.

“Any response yet?” Will asked as soon as Callie stepped outside. She shook her head, and Will smiled slightly. “That's okay. It takes time. There's not even any guarantee that the police will take it seriously if she does say something, anyway.”

“Sorry,” Callie said, although she was secretly relieved that she had more time with Will. They would at least have until school ended. She just needed to make sure that her doctor's appointment was over quickly.

He shrugged. Something about the expression on his face told Callie that he felt the same relief she did. “You should get to breakfast. Your mom is probably getting impatient.”

Callie nodded and ran down the stairs, into the dining room. Her mother had already set the plates on the table. Carrie sat in her high chair, smearing her breakfast all over her mouth. Callie grinned at her, and her sister responded by spitting out a mouthful of food.

“You look gorgeous, Carrie,” Callie said, sliding into her chair. Her mother sat across from her. They ate in silence. Callie had always been less comfortable around her mother than around her father. She was not sure why. Her mother was nice enough; she always took care of her and she was a very good cook. It might have been the fact that she was very hard-working and logical. While her mother was family-oriented, she was not very imaginative. She and Callie always had conflicts, usually resulting from Callie's overactive imagination, particularly in regard to her fascination with ghosts. Her mother hated that kind of foolishness, while her father seemed to accept it more easily.

Callie was so focused on those thoughts, that she did not immediately realize her mother had said anything. “Sorry, what?” Callie asked.

“I asked how school was going,” she said. “I know it's hard, starting a new school and making new friends. Are you doing well?”

Callie nodded. “I'm fine. I'm making friends and my classes aren't too hard. I'm doing okay.”

“That's good.” There was another long silence. Callie finished her breakfast and carried her plate to the dishwasher.

“Want me to grab Carrie's?” she asked her mother. The baby had finally finished clearing off the plate; most of it was on her, but at least it was all gone.

“f you don't mind. I'm going to change her quickly, and then we can go.” Her mother dropped her own plate off in the dishwasher and picked Carrie up, carrying her upstairs.

Callie loaded the dishwasher and sat back down at the table, waiting. “This is ridiculous,” she mumbled. “I don't need to go to the doctor.”

“Well, there's nothing wrong, so you should be back soon, right?” Callie looked up to see Will standing in front of her.

She had to smile. “That's true. I guess it's kind of good. I'll be back home before school would end, anyway. Which is cool, because then I can spend some time with you before…” She trailed off, not knowing how to end that sentence.

“Before I have to leave,” he finished. “I know. If it happens.”

Callie was unable to reply, because her mother came down the stairs, carrying her sister. “Ready?”

Callie nodded, sighing. “Let's get this over with.”

They walked out to the car. Her mother put Carrie in the baby seat. “Don't act so mopey. Going to the doctor isn't that bad. And you got out of school.”

Callie rolled her eyes. Fortunately, her mother was too preoccupied to notice. She buckled her seatbelt, waiting for her mother to start the car. As she did, Callie said, “I just hate going for no reason. I know I'm fine.”

“And how, precisely, do you know?” The car was on the road now, headed to the doctor's office.

“I can't say. I just know.” Callie frowned. The passed the field of flowers where she had seen Will's brother and best friend bury him. It looked so different, and yet, it was exactly the same. It was a shame that many, if not all, of those flowers would possibly be dug up soon, in order to find his remains. She hoped that Ashley would be able to do something about it. She still had not received a reply.

The appointment was uneventful, although it seemed to Callie to last much longer than necessary. The examination was quick and painless. Of course, the bloodwork revealed nothing, and the doctor had no idea what was wrong. He suggested that Callie try to take it easy for a while, but other than that, had no advice. If she got worse, she was to come back in. Otherwise, she seemed to be healthy.

Her mother was not exactly satisfied with that response, but she accepted it, anyway. Callie was thrilled to be going home. It was almost 12:30 when they pulled in the driveway. That was also the exact moment that Callie's phone finally vibrated.

She flipped it open. Ashley had responded to last night's message.

From: Ashley

Okay so I talked to my dad. I guess it's my fault for not telling you before but he's actually the police chief here so yeah. That was a little easier than you probably thought. Thing is, I had to kind of think of a reason to give him because, well, it's my dad. So I told him we did some digging and something about the daisy field really stood out and his grandma really liked them and yeah. He's not exactly sold on the idea since my reasons were kind of flimsy but Aaron backed me up, strangely enough, and he actually got permission to dig it up, which I thought was weird, but apparently there was something in the police files from 1927 that mentioned the daisy field. I guess they didn't have enough reason to search back then or something, or maybe it's just that there's too much to search, but yeah. I told him where to look and they're going to dig this afternoon. Sorry I couldn't say anything earlier but I wanted to be sure before I told you plus, you know, school. Had to wait til lunch. I'm kinda out of room so I'll text you later.

Callie stared at the phone in shock. The whole message seemed so strange. Could it really happen that quickly? She closed the phone, realizing that she had stopped walking to read it, and that her mother was staring at her strangely.

“You okay, honey?” her mother asked gently.

“Yeah, sorry, I just got a message.” She walked past her mother, not really noticing or caring that her mother was still watching her. She entered the house. Will stood by the stairs. Before he could say anything, Callie pointed upstairs. “My room,” she said. He nodded, following her.

After they were both in the room, Callie closed the door and sat on her bed. “So…they're digging up the field.”

“What? Really?” Will stared at her in shock. “This soon?”

“That's exactly what I thought. But apparently Ashley and Aaron's dad is the police chief. Who knew? Anyway, yeah, this afternoon.”

“So…when they find my remains…”

Callie cringed. She didn't like thinking about that. She knew he was dead. She just didn't like thinking about the physical aspect of death. “You'll have to go away.”

He nodded. “After eighty-one years.”

There was so much Callie wanted to say, but none of it seemed appropriate at that moment. Finally, she said simply, “I'll miss you.”

He smiled sadly. “I'll miss you, too.” He paused. “I think. Depends on where I end up going, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, is it just a sort of…peace, and nothingness, or am I going to an actual place where I'll see my family? That's what I mean.”

Callie was quiet for a moment. “I hope it's the latter. I don't want there to be nothing.”

He smiled again. “Yeah, me neither. I've grown used to feeling things. Emotions, I mean. I don't want to think of it as an eternity of nothing.”

They were both silent again. “What do we do now?” Callie asked.

Will shrugged. “What do you do when you know you'll die in less than six hours? Well, not that I'm dying, so much as finally going to where I belong, but you know.”

“I don't know what I'd do,” Callie said quietly. “I guess I'd want to spend it with the people I love, just talking about nothing.”

Will smiled. “Then let's talk about nothing. It sounds like a good plan to me.”