Spooky Business

by S. E. Harmon

  “Danny,” I breathed, taking a half step toward him even though every brain cell I had told me to not to. My heart wasn’t hearing it, though.

  I knew it wasn’t him. I knew that, just like I knew he’d probably run out of time in Joseph’s suffocating grasp. But just seeing him in front of me, hale and hearty, had me choking on words that I’d left unsaid. I love you. I need you. Yes, I want to marry you.

  “Baby. You did good.” He smiled and that was off, too. It wasn’t that half smile that he reserved just for me. There was malice in his expression… malice on a face I trusted more than anyone in the world. The dichotomy of an unfamiliar smile on a familiar face was enough to freeze me in place.

  “Don’t do this,” I said to Joey. “Anyone but him.”

  “Baby,” he said pleadingly.

  Joey didn’t know it, but he’d picked precisely the wrong thing to say. Reminding me of what he’d done to the most important person in my life was an excellent way to get fucking vanquished.

  I finally spotted the yellow glow, faint and pulsing, right below his ribcage. I yanked on it, hard. He screamed a shrill scream, and I took yet another step back. Joseph lost control of his little parlor trick and his appearance flickered between Danny and himself as he struggled to hang on to control.

  Danny. Joseph. Danny. At one point, both projections merged into some strange hybrid creature, sending a shiver of revulsion down my spine. His eyes bulged out in stark relief, the whites almost eclipsed by blood.

  A bright beam of light started to open up in the middle of his face. He grew even more ashen than before, as though the very life was draining out of him. He opened his mouth to scream, and golden light poured out of his mouth like he was roaring fire. The last of his golden light flowed through my hands.

  And then he went fucking supernova in my face.

  The pressure on my chest drained almost immediately, like pulling the plug out of a sink. All that was left was the faint remnants of a headache. My hands were warm… so unbelievably warm. I looked down to find a ball of light, levitating a few inches above my open palms. I was momentarily transfixed by the blindingly bright sphere—blue, purple, and white streaks swirled across a clear circle of electricity. It was almost hypnotic as the glowing ball of plasma cast a brilliant light on everything around me.

  I was pretty sure the energy was supposed to be absorbed by my handy dandy pendant, the one that was currently somewhere in Nick’s bushes. The sound of approaching sirens startled me, and I fumbled the ball of plasma.

  “My God,” Nick choked out. I spared him a glance. He looked like an overexposed photo, completely blown out to white, his dark eyes the only spots of color in his entire face.

  Frissons of energy exploded from my fingertips like sparks, and I jerked my gaze from Nick’s face to the rapidly growing ball of electricity between my hands. The center started to grow electric pink, and Nick took a few hasty steps back.

  "Get rid of it," he managed to splutter.

  I swirled my hands around the ball of white-hot energy, working on instinct alone, and then threw it upward. The virulent ball exploded in a blinding flash of light where it cracked and split the sky. Little ribbons of electricity branched out from the source and raced along the clouds like a brain map of neurons.

  Apparently, I was a distant relative to Thor. I looked down at my hands, almost expecting them to be charred.

  Nick’s mouth was agape. “Fuck,” was all he could manage. “Just… fuck.”

  “Well,” a voice said behind me. “That was certainly different.”

  I was almost afraid to turn around. If it was Joseph and I hadn’t managed to vanquish him, I had no idea what I’d do. I was fresh out of ideas and strength. But when I mustered up the courage to turn, the ghost standing there was much worse.

  Danny.

  A soft “no” was about all I could manage.

  Danny blinked at me, then down at his body. He looked back at me with a disbelieving expression. “Holy shit, am I—”

  “No,” I said again, shaking my head like I was in a fog. I could still hear Kevin counting between breaths as he gave Danny CPR. “You can’t be.”

  “And why the hell is St. James kissing me?”

  “He’s giving you… trying to save you,” I managed.

  “Oh,” Danny said faintly as he realized the truth of it, too. Resignation crossed his face before he gave me a half smile. “Let’s face it, we both knew this was a possibility.”

  I reached for him, and my hand passed through his arm. I gasped. It felt like I couldn’t quite get enough air in my lungs.

  “Baby.” He tried to touch my face, but I couldn’t feel a thing. “Stop freaking out. It’s okay.”

  “How can I not freak out?” I practically yelled. “You’re a… a….”

  Kevin looked up grimly in between breaths. “Please tell me you’re not talking to who I think you’re talking to.”

  I didn’t have any words. I don’t think I’d finished a fucking sentence since I’d seen Danny’s ghost.

  Kevin went back to his grim task, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Fix this,” he muttered.

  I spread my fingers helplessly. “I don’t….”

  “Fix it,” he yelled. “He believed in you. Now don’t let him down. Fucking fix this, Christiansen.”

  “You’re not helping,” Danny snapped. “You’re just upsetting him more.”

  I laughed humorlessly. “Oh, you’re going to try and protect me even in death?”

  “I love you,” he said, smiling that little half smile. “I just need you to know that.”

  “Don’t.” I let out a breath that was as close to a sob as I’d allow myself. “Just don’t.”

  “I feel strange.”

  “Well, you’re a fucking ghost.” I ran my hand through my hair, pulling hard enough to hurt. “Goes without saying.”

  It also went without saying that if I couldn’t figure out how to make him not a ghost, I was going to make Kevin finish me off with his service revolver. Because he couldn’t possibly think he was leaving me behind.

  “No, I mean stranger than before, if that’s possible.” He held out his hands, which were getting fainter and wispier.

  “Fuck you, McKenna,” I said with a humorless laugh. “Figures that even in death, you’d be settled enough not to have any unfinished business.”

  “Well, I know you’re safe and I got to tell you I love you.” He smiled faintly. “That’s pretty much everything that matters.”

  Danny’s familiar scent wrapped around me as he got closer, a blend of his usual utilitarian soap and something uniquely him. He leaned in to press his lips against mine. I sighed into his mouth.

  It should’ve been strange kissing a ghost, but it wasn’t. If it had been a first kiss, it would’ve been wonderful. Every brush of his lips against mine would’ve been full of promise and belonging and love. As a last kiss, it was fucking awful—a representation of everything I was going to be missing for the rest of my fucking life.

  I pulled away, staring at him with hot, dry eyes. Yeah, I don’t think so. You’re not going any-fucking-where.

  Without warning, I shoved my arm through his chest. He gasped and reared back, but I wouldn’t let him get far. I wriggled my hand around, my eyes half closed in concentration as I searched for that elusive trail of light.

  “Give me some room,” I said urgently to Kevin as I knelt beside Danny’s prone body.

  He didn’t ask questions, crab walking back a few paces, his color high from his exertions. I opened Danny’s mouth with one hand and started feeding him the golden cord of light with the other. As the last of it went inside him, he gasped, his entire body shuddering violently. Then he lay still.

  “Did it… did it work?” Kevin asked hoarsely.

  “I don’t know.” I could hear voices approaching and glanced up to see Tabitha urgently leading two EMTs up the deck, a stretcher between them. I stroked his hair back from his forehead.
“I just don’t know.”

  Chapter 28

  There were fifty-five tiles on the ceiling of Danny’s hospital room.

  I’d counted them at least a hundred times over nine days, sitting by his bed. The room had been a revolving door of visitors, and I knew he’d be horrified to know they’d seen him in this fragile state. Everyone from his doctor to the food service staff had encouraged me to stay positive.

  “His vitals look good,” his doctor said.

  “Stay hopeful,” the chaplain insisted when he came by on his rounds.

  “His aura is beautiful,” my mother said, dabbing her eyes circumspectly. “He’s going to be fine, Rainstorm, I just know it.”

  “It’ll turn out all right,” the janitor assured me as he mopped the floor to a glossy shine. “You’ll see. My sister had a similar situation.”

  I doubt it, I thought sourly. I sincerely doubt your sister floated out of her body like a goddamned poltergeist and you had to merge them back together.

  I tried to be gracious, but staying positive really wasn’t my jam. Danny’s nurse, a cheerful guy named Stevie, was the worst of them all. His general outlook on life seemed to be seeing the glass half full. Mine was seeing the glass as, “Hey, who drank half my shit?”

  Danny’s mother was also a burr in my ass. She’d been unusually kind and gentle with me, which set my nerves on edge yet again. She was all, “Call me Paula, dear. Ms. McKenna makes me think you’re talking to my mother.”

  So kind of you to finally accept me in your son’s life. Just in time for his death. But again, I tried to be gracious. And again… not really my jam.

  She kept making me go home to do useless things like eat and shower and sleep and… whatever the hell she wanted me to do when she forcibly shooed me out the door each day. I ate… something and slept on the couch for a few hours. Then, I’d shower and put on different clothes. They were starting to hang a little loosely, which made me think I should probably put a bit more effort into eating. I usually snuck back to the hospital after a couple of hours and loitered in the halls until she felt sorry for me and let me back in.

  I made it back just before visitor’s hours were over on Sunday night. The hospital was quiet and dark. I found that if I got back before the end of visitor’s hours, they let me stay. When I entered Danny’s room, I wasn’t surprised to see his mother, reading aloud in a chair by the bed.

  I was momentarily flummoxed by the silent man sitting in the windowsill, arms folded across his chest, eyes closed. It took me a few seconds to realize he was a ghost. The man opened one eye and glanced at me briefly before closing the eye again.

  My fingers curled almost involuntarily. I was tempted to search for his energy trail and vanquish his ass on the spot. I wasn’t too fond of ghosts these days, and word had spread. I sensed a couple of them lurking about and following me, but they usually disappeared when I turned around. I knew they weren’t all like Joseph, but it was hard to forget that the last time I tangled with a ghost, it put Danny in the fucking ICU.

  Paula finally realized I was in the doorway and took in my rumpled appearance. “It’s only been a few hours,” she fretted. “There’s no way you got any real sleep in two hours.”

  I stuck out my chin stubbornly. I tried to think of a nice way to tell her that mules modeled their temperament after me. “I ate and showered, and then I took a short nap. I did everything you asked me to do.”

  She sighed. “He’s not going to thank you for running yourself into the ground. And I’m only going to give you a few more chances to take care of yourself before I start doing it.”

  As long as she got her rump out of my chair and left me alone with Danny, I didn’t give a damn what she did. When we were alone in the dark, I could hold his hand and talk to him, from the nonsensical to the mundane to the deeply personal. It was about the only place I got any peace nowadays.

  As if she could read my mind—or maybe my antsy body language—she put her ereader in her oversized purse and stood. “I’ll be back in the morning with breakfast,” she said. It sounded like a warning.

  She went over to Danny and pressed a kiss on his forehead. She stared down at him for a few moments, her hands tight on her purse. “He reminds me so much of my Jack. It’s hard to believe they weren’t blood-related.”

  The man rose from his perch in the window and drifted closer. His eyes held a sad, faraway look. I knew without asking that he was the dearly departed Jack.

  “I lost him the year after we adopted Daniel,” she went on. “He was hit head-on by a drunk driver.”

  “Danny told me,” I said sympathetically.

  “These were supposed to be our golden years, you know. Jack always wanted to buy a boat and just sail around the world, stopping wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. He never did tell me what he was going to name it, though. No matter how much I guessed.” She chuckled. “He said it would just have to be a surprise.”

  Jack laughed. “I was going to name it the Life is Good,” he said. “Because it certainly was.”

  “Paula,” I said hesitantly.

  “Don’t.” Jack shook his head. “She wouldn’t believe you anyway. It would just make things strained between you again. My Paula only believes what she can see. Taste. Touch. She’s always been that way.” He smiled a little. “I was the dreamer, and she was the pragmatic one. We made a perfect team.”

  Paula’s gaze turned questioning when I didn’t go on. “What is it, dear?”

  “Nothing,” I finally said.

  She sighed, looking back at Danny again. She brushed his hair off his forehead gently. “Jack’s death was the roughest time of my life. I certainly wouldn’t have made it without Daniel. He’s always been my rock.”

  “Well, I guess we have something in common.”

  “More than one thing, I’d imagine.” She smiled a little. “You probably think I hold on a little tight.”

  You think? As a kid, I had a toy with a kung-fu grip—Paula could teach him a thing or two. “I don’t have room to talk,” I said. “My mother and father live a stone’s throw away. Literally.”

  She nodded. “I met them a few times. They seem… nice.”

  “They’re wonderful,” I said, not caring that my tone was a little stern. I wanted to make that it perfectly clear that there would be no bad-mouthing my parents. If that was a problem, I was more than willing to undo all the progress we’d made.

  “Yes, I imagine that they are. I hope to get to know them a little better. And you, of course. I know we got off to a rocky start.” She shouldered her purse and came toward me, fingers gripping the strap. “It’s just that Daniel is my only baby. It’s just been the two of us for so long.”

  “I know.”

  She paused in front of me, her brown eyes earnest. “I just want the best for him.”

  “I know that, too.”

  She leaned up and brushed a kiss on my cheek. “It just took me a while to realize that maybe that’s you.”

  I blinked. “Oh. Well, I… oh.”

  She let out a charming little laugh. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I stood there for a few moments after she left, Jack trailing behind her. I did the things that had become my nightly routine. I turned off the overhead lights and flicked off the TV. Then I opened the curtains, revealing a view of downtown Brickell Bay. Lights twinkled merrily over a darkened city.

  I pulled my chair closer to Danny’s bed and kissed him on the lips. Then both cheeks. Then his forehead. It would probably be appropriate to say something sweet. Hello, my love. Something like that.

  But that just wouldn’t be us. And I knew Danny wouldn’t appreciate me turning our love into something straight out of a Hallmark movie. “If you don’t open your eyes soon, I swear to God, I’m going to kick your ass,” I informed him.

  I linked my fingers with his and rested my head on the side of the bed. For the first time in days, I slept.

  *

  I woke to the
feeling of a hand in my hair, stroking it gently. It felt so good that I didn’t want to completely wake up. The smell of coffee teased my nose. For a brief second, it was like nothing had happened, and I was at home in bed with Danny’s hand tangled in my hair.

  I frowned. No, that was an actual hand in my hair.

  My eyes popped open to find Danny looking up at the TV, which was on Mute, sipping on a Styrofoam cup of what smelled like coffee. I must’ve made a surprised sound because suddenly those beautiful baby blues were trained on me.

  I blinked at him stupidly for a few seconds. “Hi.”

  His mouth curved in a tired grin. “Hi,” he said, his voice a little scratchy from disuse. “There’s that sparkling conversation I came back from the dead for.”

  I still felt like I was dreaming. “How long have you been awake? And why are you drinking coffee?”

  “It’s decaf. And I’m allowed,” Danny said defensively. “They’ve been plying me with liquids. I’ve only been awake a couple of hours.”

  “A couple hours!” Danny hushed me and I lowered my voice a few decibels. “Why didn’t you say anything? I’ve only been waiting ten fucking days for you to wake up.”

  “I like watching you sleep.”

  “When I watched you sleep, you said I was a creeper,” I said indignantly.

  “Well, you were,” he said, sipping his coffee again. “I wasn’t doing it creepily. Besides, if you could sleep through all the hubbub that happened when I first woke up, I figured you needed the rest.”

  His perceptive gaze could laser through me like no one else. “Things have been… difficult.”

  Calling our situation difficult was like calling Godzilla a gecko, but it was better than the alternative. The alternative involved me finally losing my shit, and that was never a good look. I bit down on my lower lip to keep it from wobbling. As usual, he could see through me like a glass dipped in Windex.

  He put down his coffee and held out his arms. “Oh, baby, come here.”

  I’d like to say I didn’t fall in his arms, but I did. I held him tight enough that he made a little noise, and I loosened my grip reluctantly, just a tad. “Sorry,” I said into his chest. “I didn’t even ask you how you’re feeling.”