CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
The silence seemed deathly after all the drama—which made sense, I guess, since we were all going to die very shortly.
Carly, unaware that Chris had left the room, was still frozen in silent terror, watching, terrified, as droplets of blood splashed from Shane's stooped face to the floor. Shane's swollen eyes were open just enough for me to see his pupils moving. He was conscious.
'Carly,' I whispered. I don't know why I was whispering. I mean, Chris had clearly already discovered that we were in the house. I cleared my throat and spoke at a normal volume. 'He's gone. We have to get out of here before he comes back. He is seriously going to kill us!' My voice went a little shrill with panic. Carly let out a hysterical, gasping sob.
'Fiona! Shane … out of thin air … attacked! So … scared!' she hiccupped.
'Carly, he's gone now, but we have to do something. We have only a few minutes. We have to stay calm.' I tried to reassure her, but it came out in anything but a reassuring tone.
Shane groaned and swore softly. 'It's useless, Fiona, we're stuck here. I already checked to see how we might get out. We're locked in solid.' He groaned again and buried his face in his hands. 'There's nothing we can do. We'll just have to get him back in the after-life.'
I felt annoyed. There was no way I was going to become an annoying ghost. I was too young to die. I'd wasted my life thus far looking after ghosts; I was not going to let myself die at the hands of one. What was wrong with Shane? He'd almost seemed more hopeful when Chris was around to taunt. I guess that last beating had really knocked the wind out of him.
'Stop it Shane!' I hadn't meant to shout, but I guess having a death sentence just gets to you. I gritted my teeth, and lowered my voice. 'We can't give up. There has to be some way out of here.'
Suddenly I realised something was different. Carly's relentless sobbing had stopped. I looked at her. Her face was contorted with … something I didn't recognize. Could it be deep thought? Carly gasped and jumped up, her face alight with a glowing smile.
'I've got it!' she cried. 'I know how we can get out of here!'
'How?' Shane and I responded simultaneously.
'We can perform an exorcism and get rid of Chris!'
Shane jumped up from the ground. Suddenly he seemed oblivious to the pain in his head.
'Genius!' he burst. He grabbed Carly by the arms and shook her in joy. 'You're a genius!' Carly's face lit up. Obviously that was a compliment she wasn't used to. I mean, I bet she gets told she's hot all the time, but genius—that's pretty special.
Much as I was enjoying watching their little admiration session, it was time to burst their bubble. I'd been plagued by troublesome ghosts my whole life. Believe me, exorcism is the first thing you think of when they wake you up early on a Sunday morning. I'd tried it. It doesn't work. I hadn't just tried it once, I'd tried it a thousand times. I'd tried methods from every religion and culture in the world. None of them worked. I'd even tried to exorcise Ella in year seven when she'd messed up my hair right before school photos. I could say with certainty: Exorcisms do not work. They are like most Hollywood ideas about ghosts—completely wrong. The only person who can make a ghost move on is the ghost itself.
There was no way to do this gently. 'Guys, exorcisms don't work. I've tried them a million times,' I bluntly interrupted Carly's excited panting.
To say that Carly and Shane's faces fell would be an understatement. Their eyes instantly narrowed in anger, and their mouths leered at me in disbelief. I know I'd just crushed their dreams of staying alive, but hey, I was just the messenger!
Then it hit me. It was my turn to jump up in excitement.
Carly was onto something.
If we wanted to get out of here alive, we had to somehow convince Chris to move on.
'But you're right, Carly!' I said. 'We have to get rid of Chris. We have to think of a way to make him want to move on.'
Carly grimaced. 'Well how do you normally get them to do that? He doesn't sound like he's being very agreeable.' The state of Shane's mutilated face attested to that.
'They seem to just do it themselves after you've fulfilled their last earthly desire,' Shane said, slumping back onto the ground in despair. Carly glanced at me to see whether I had anything to add; but I didn't. Shane had only been seeing ghosts for a few weeks, but he seemed to have grasped the gist of it.
'Well, what's Chris' last earthly desire?' Carly asked. Her voice dropped as she realised the answer to her own question. There was little hope for us after all.
'To get revenge and kill us all,' Shane moaned.
Brooding silence filled the garage as we all contemplated this hopeless paradox. We wanted Chris to move on so that he couldn't kill us. Yet, he would only do that if we were dead.
Life was so unfair. Death was so unjust. As if I didn't already know that. I didn't need to die brutally at the hands of a psychotic ghost to learn that lesson. It wasn't like I hadn't already lived through the suffering of almost every person who'd ever died unfairly in Canberra. Still, it didn't stop me from cursing the injustice of this situation.
Okay, I'm not saying I was that good. I mean, I could be a lot nicer to my parents, and I didn't really apply myself at school like I should, but I wasn't the worst person ever. I'd been a supernatural charity worker for years. Considering how annoying the average ghost is, I'd actually been pretty nice to ghostkind over the years. So I definitely didn't deserve to die like this.
Neither did Shane or Carly for that matter. Sure, Carly and her cronies caused high school to be a living hell for any girl who glanced their way, but that didn't mean she should burn to death. Having her formal dress rip open on the dance floor would probably suffice. And Shane, well he had made some bad decisions … like sleeping with his twin brother's stepmum for money. Oh, yeah, and purposefully seducing his twin brother's crush wasn't exactly his finest hour. But really, does that mean he should be roasted at the tender age of eighteen? No one is perfect. Although the way he'd used that ghost girl to try to drown me really wasn't cool. She'd turned to him at her very darkest hour, and he'd taken advantage of her need. Just so he could see that I could summon Ella. He'd almost killed me!
My racing mind suddenly ground to a halt.
Back up one thought.
Ella. Somehow I'd managed to will her to me when I was drowning. Shane had proven that. If I could get her here again, she could let us out. She'd never made a particularly timely arrival when I'd tried to summon her before, but it was worth another try. This time, I at least knew it was possible. I guess I could thank Shane for that.
I closed my eyes. The foggy nausea was threatening to overtake me again. I had to concentrate.
'Ella … Ella … Ella…' I whispered as I tried to focus on her face in my mind. It wasn't easy to concentrate as I fought the urge to gag.
'Fiona, what are you doing?' Shane's demanding voice interrupted me. Sighing in annoyance, I opened my eyes.
'I'm trying to summon Ella to help us,' I replied testily. 'If you would mind not interrupting me. I've only ever managed to call her once before, and I was kind of drowning at the time, so I can't exactly remember how I did it.' I hoped that Shane would feel guilty about his little staged attack on me and, well, shut up.
Shane raised his bloodied eyebrows in amusement. How he still managed to look arrogant with a mutilated face was beyond me. 'So let me get this straight. The only time you've ever drawn Ella to you when you needed her was when you were drowning, yet you're trying to repeat the experience by calmly chanting her name,' he said scornfully. He was really irritating me now. At least I was trying to do something. I wasn't just giving up like him.
'Well what do you suggest?' I snapped back.
Shane snickered at my temper through his swollen lips. Again, his condescending mannerisms were not subdued by his mangled face—a face that I seriously felt like messing up a bit further right now.
'If there's one thing I've learnt about ghosts, it's that they don't d
o what they're told. Even if they wanted to, they can't because they're not listening. They're too self-absorbed with their own problems. That's why they're still here. On the other hand, they are incredibly tuned into people's instincts. I guess spying on people's most emotional moments is like television for them. If you want Ella to come, you need to exude raw fear for your life. Pure, primitive, fear.'
I shut my eyes. Instinctively I knew Shane was right. My life flashed before my eyes. The countless times that I'd tried to call on Ella's help: my first high school maths exam when I'd desperately wanted a peek at the answer sheet, the ten times last year when I locked myself out of the house, in year five when Ian Spiller had stolen my pencil case and I'd needed Ella to get it back. Not once had Ella showed up.
It was strange. I'd been paralysed by fear for the last hour, yet now that I knew I had to project that same emotion to Ella, I felt strangely calm. I was the worst actress in the world.
I groaned. 'Great. Now suddenly I don't feel scared anymore. How am I supposed to imagine that Chris is in the room when all I feel is relief that he's gone?'
'You don't have to imagine anymore, Fiona. Hurry! Chris is right behind you!' Shane yelled frantically.
Instantly my stomach dropped. This was it. I was going to die. My eyes jerked open as I felt two hands shove me from behind.
'Ella!' I screamed. My voice was wretched with terror. I wouldn't be surprised if I'd summoned every ghost in Australia. I pitched forward into a roll. My already bruised ribs objected bitterly as I landed. Luckily, Chris hadn't managed to put his usual amount of force into the attack. I guess Shane's yelling had distracted him. I landed relatively lightly and swung around to face my ghostly enemy.
It wasn't Chris.
And it wasn't shimmering.
Carly waved smugly back at me.
I stared back at her, flabbergasted. Then I realised… Carly and Shane had tricked me to harness my terror. While my eyes had been shut, Carly had snuck around behind me ready to play 'Chris'. My heart was still beating rapidly with adrenaline. I had to hand it to them: those two really knew how to manipulate people.
Suddenly a familiar chattering voice behind me interrupted my thoughts.
'He is sooooo hot. Did you see him last week—' The voice abruptly stopped mid-sentence.
I spun around.
Ella was staring at me, with her mouth gaping open. She was sitting on the car, wearing pyjamas, and holding an empty teacup that was suspended halfway to her mouth, mid-sip. Or mid-fake-sip, I should say, since ghosts don't eat or drink and there was no tea in the cup. But that wasn't the weirdest thing. Ella wasn't alone. Sitting next to her, also fake-sipping a cup of not-tea, was Nicole, the ghost who'd tried to drown me. Clearly, neither of them expected to appear suddenly in a strange garage. I'd interrupted a gossipy tea party when I'd summoned Ella.
Ella looked around incredulously. She eyed Shane's mangled face warily. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Carly. The smug grin had disappeared from Carly's face, and she was now quietly backing into the corner in fear. Carly had sensed a ghostly presence in the room, but didn't know if it was friend or foe.
'Yes? Can I help you, Fiona? We're kind of in the middle of something here, if you didn't notice.' Ella said haughtily.
Her tone of voice instantly riled me, and I forgot about the imminent danger that we were all in.
'What are you doing with her?' I demanded, indicating Nicole. 'She tried to drown me, remember?'
Nicole shrugged apologetically at me.
Ella looked annoyed. 'I can be friends with whomever I like,' she snapped. 'Nicole's cool. Anyway, he tried to kill you too, and obviously you're still hanging out.' Ella gestured towards Shane.
'That's right,' she said to Shane, 'Nicole told me all about your little deal.'
I rolled my eyes. 'We're not hanging out. Your boyfriend has trapped us in here, and is trying to kill us!'
Ella looked taken aback.
I continued. 'Yeah, you forgot to mention that your boyfriend was a psychotic killer when you asked me to help him!'
Nicole gave a high-pitched, excited squeal. 'Oh my god, Ella! You didn't tell me you have a boyfriend!'
Ella glared at me. 'That's because someone interrupted our tea session!' she said accusingly.
Shane groaned. Simultaneously I felt a wave a nausea overtake me. I slumped back onto the ground. We had to focus.
'Can you guys stop squabbling and get us out of here before we all die?' Shane complained. 'Chris will finish killing Alan soon. He'll be back here to torch this place any second!'
Nicole gasped.
'No way!' she exclaimed.
At that moment, the air behind Nicole seemed to shimmer ominously. Nicole continued to speak, oblivious to the translucent form that had materialised behind her.
'Chris Reynolds is your boyfriend?' she asked.
No one answered. We were all too busy staring fearfully at the menacing ghost leering at us over Nicole's shoulder. Chris grinned maliciously. He leant forward so that his lips were millimetres from Nicole's ear.
'Yes way!' he suddenly yelled.
Nicole screamed and spun around.
'You … j-j-j-erk!' she stammered. 'How dare you?' she shrieked as she built up momentum. 'I can't believe you would do this to us!'
Wow, I was touched at how quickly Nicole had got on board with our 'we hate Chris' bandwagon. I mean, we hadn't even told her the backstory. I could tell Ella wasn't even convinced that the outrageous claims we'd made about her boyfriend were true, yet Nicole was already fighting for our cause.
Nicole ran at Chris with inhuman, lightning speed, and shoved him in the chest. I was glad I wasn't on the receiving end of Nicole's wrath this time. Chris fell backwards, but in a flash, Ella appeared behind him, to break his fall.
'Keep your hands off my boyfriend, Nicole!' she exploded, as she caught him.
Oh, boy, this was bad. Ella really liked Chris! I needed to convince her that her boyfriend was the spawn of the devil before we all took a trip to the underworld. However, before I had a chance to explain the complexities of the situation to my stubborn twin sister, Nicole did something remarkable. She burst into tears.
'Ella!' she cried. 'Chris is my boyfriend too! He's been two-timing us!'
At that moment, Ella dropped Chris to the ground, immediately abandoning any intention of protecting him. Chris didn't stay on the ground for long. In a flash, he reappeared several metres away from Nicole and Ella.
He laughed coldly. 'Well, what can I say? I needed things from both of you.'
The boy was clearly stupid to invoke the wrath of two of the most fiery women I knew … at the same time. He was asking for trouble, and that's what he got.
Ella and Nicole exchanged looks. The next few moments were a blur. From where I was standing, this is what I could make out:
Ella and Nicole ran at Chris with supernatural speed. Ella got there first. I guess she'd had fourteen years to work on her ghost-powered locomotion. She yelled incoherently as she slapped him in the face. She had so many nasty names to call him that they crash landed into one incomprehensible mess. Chris got the picture, though. I guess the slapping helped get the message across. He barely flinched as Ella's hand connected with his cheekbone. He shoved her roughly away. A split second later, Nicole launched her attack. She tried the old faithful technique of hair pulling.
It worked.
Chris roared in pain. Grabbing Nicole's wrists, he wrenched her hands away. He continued twisting her arms until she writhed in agony. Mercilessly, he transferred her slim wrists to one of his large hands and used the other hand to palm her in the nose. He let go of her arms as she collapsed backwards on the floor. It was brutal. Nicole sprawled awkwardly on the ground, unconscious from the pain of the blow. Her appearance, however, was unchanged. Her smooth baby face was free from ghostly blood, and her button nose remained unbroken.
Ghosts are an ethereal form without blood and bones, so their bodies can't be dama
ged the way ours can. However, the memory of pain is still intrinsically connected to ghosts' souls, so it is possible to slow them down by physically assaulting them. Assuming, of course, that you have the ability to touch ghosts and could somehow match their supernatural strength.
Having successfully eliminated Nicole from the fight, Chris turned his attention towards Ella. 'Do you want to have another go then?' he roared.
Fear flickered across Ella's face. She obviously wasn't keen on having her face pummelled too. At least now there should be no doubt in her mind that Chris wasn't the type of guy she'd thought she'd fallen in love with.
Ella's face hardened, banishing the terror that had consumed her in the previous second.
'You think you're so tough to bash up a girl,' she seethed, 'but you're just a coward! You might be stronger than us, but I bet your powers could use some work.'
In a flash Ella disappeared. A moment later, she reappeared in front of Chris. Before he had a chance to respond, she kicked him hard between the legs. Without waiting to see his reaction, Ella disappeared again and rematerialised out of his reach.
'No kiddies for you!' she snickered as Chris hunched over in agony at his pounded family jewels.
Shane gave a sympathy groan and clutched his own package. It's so weird how boys do that. Chris had practically beaten the life out of Shane, yet still Shane had empathy for his injury.
Ella rewarded Shane with a disgusted look as her shimmering form faded away. A few seconds later she reappeared looking mighty pleased with herself. In her hands was a cricket bat.
'This might slow Chris down,' she boasted. She swung the bat menacingly.
Chris was breathing heavily. He slowly lifted his head from his hunch and glared at Ella.
'Nothing is going to stop me, you fool. You've only succeeded in making me more determined,' he panted aggressively.
Then something unsettling happened.
Chris disappeared.
Ella's face flashed with terror. Her mind moved quickly, though. Instinctively, she disappeared and rematerialised on the other side of the garage. At the same moment, Chris took form in the place where Ella had been standing moments before. He swung his fist out at head height. Had Ella been there, he would have delivered a crushing blow to her head. Chris' arm flopped in the empty space. He yelled angrily in frustration. With electric speed, he surveyed Ella's new position and disappeared.
Ella, realising Chris was planning a repeat attack, disappeared instantaneously. This time it was close. The air around Ella had barely stopped glistening when the sparkle of Chris' ghostly body arrived. Again he swung brutally at the air. His blow lost speed as he realised that, again, Ella had thwarted him. Breathing heavily in irritation, his eyes searched the room for Ella. She didn't appear.
Suddenly Chris' eyes fixed on me. He grinned with evil satisfaction. The next thing I knew, an icy cold hand was around my neck. Chris was choking me!
As the pressure from Chris' hands crushed my windpipe, the all too familiar sensation of oxygen deprivation took over. I rasped helplessly. I tried pulling on his hands, but his grip was too strong. My eyes swam as pinpricks of light blocked my vision. I was going to black out. He was squeezing so tight that, if I ever survived this, it was going to leave massive bruises. This was it for me. Any second now I'd be dead.
Yet still, Ella did not arrive. Why wasn't she lured by my deadly peril?
As my vision failed, the figures around the room darkened. A hulking shadow raced towards me. It was Shane.
'Get off her!' he yelled. By now my eyes were closed. I could just make out his voice through the wave of unconsciousness that was washing over me.
Suddenly, the pressure around my neck loosened. I fell, coughing to the floor. For the second time that week, I greedily sucked in air, and I swore I would never take oxygen for granted again.
'Aaaaah!' I looked up. Shane's face was freshly bloodied, and Chris now had his hands around Shane's neck. Shane, weakened from Chris' previous attacks, struggled futilely against Chris' iron-strong grip. Still, gasping from my own strangulation, I struggled to my knees. I had to help him. Carly, meanwhile, whimpered uselessly in the corner. Nicole lay blacked out on the floor.
Where was Ella?
'Get off him!' I rasped croakily at Chris. I staggered over and pulled on Chris' hair. He barely flinched. Kicking backwards, he pounded me clumsily in my stomach. In my weakened state, this was enough to send me sprawling to the floor again. Shane's eyes widened in terror as he watched my useless attack. He began to make panicked choking noises. I had to act soon, but I was barely conscious myself! I was hardly an effective weapon against a rage-fuelled member of the undead. In a battle of physical strength, even if I had been in my top form, Chris was always going to win. I needed to use a different tactic.
I crawled over to Chris' legs, reached up to his hips, and grabbed hard on a handful of clothes. Then I pulled as if my life depended on it.
Thank goodness Chris wasn't a tight-jeaned emo. His baggy jeans and underpants obediently slid down his legs, revealing his package, answering my long-held question: Do ghosts have private parts?
They do. And ghosts are every bit as bashful in death as they were in life.
Instinctively, Chris yelped in panic. He released his grip on Shane and reached down to pull up his pants. Shane, taking advantage of Chris' distracted attention, punched Chris in the nose. Chris flew backwards, pants down by his ankles. However, he wasn't that easily beaten. He roared as he struggled to pull his pants up. Shane raced over and sat on Chris, using his knees to pin Chris' arms to the ground. He drew back his fist, ready to deliver an almighty final punch to Chris' face. Chris' eyes widened in panic.
A split second later, he disappeared, underpants and all.
The Ghostly Grammar Boy Page 28