by Shelly Brown
There was a moment where I was totally clueless as to what we were talking about at all. He had something to tell me but then he was leaving? Like a vacation? But he said he wouldn’t bother me. Had I told him he was bothering me? Of course I had—millions of times over the course of our lives—but had I done something recently?
Then it hit me. This was all about him confessing about his parents. “Do you think that I think you’re crazy or something? Because that would be super hypocritical.” I learned that word in the last sermon I was able to listen to—weeks ago.
He started to talk to the ground, but when I couldn’t hear anything I hit his knee a few times and he lifted his head, though he still wouldn’t look at me. “. . . Not like I would want to hang out with murderer either. I just thought—”
Before he could finish I pushed him with both of my hands, rocking the swing sideways. “Shut up! I don’t believe for a minute that you’re a murderer. Look, I’m really sorry about your parents and stuff, I can’t even imagine what all of that would be like, but you didn’t kill them.” I studied his expression as I spoke. His heavy brows dipped and he scrunched up his lips. He was listening really hard to what I was saying, so I wanted to help him somehow. “I don’t want you to go anywhere.”
He immediately broke eye contact and stared glassy eyed at the houses across the street. Beneath his dark skin I could have sworn there was pink in his cheeks. Did I say something embarrassing?
“So what did you learn?”
Once again, I thought he was talking but because the chase game started going around the playground equipment and the swing in particular, I couldn’t hear anything. I took the sides of his face and swiveled his head towards me. “I can’t hear you.”
“I was wrong about Lisette,” he said while I held his face towards me. I watched his lips carefully so that I would understand better. “I don’t think she killed them.”
“Then why is she not letting us bury them properly?” I was confused.
“I have a guess, but we might want to talk about this when we don’t have to shout. Besides, I have a plan to get these kids back with their parents.”
“A plan? Like what?”
“Later,” he said. Our faces were really close and I could tell that it was making him uncomfortable.
“Sorry about all that stuff about your parents,” I said.
He looked conflicted but in the end he smiled, slowly pulled my hands from his cheeks, and said, “Don’t worry about it.”
Justin’s head snapped forward and he leapt off of the swing. The momentum nearly threw me onto the ground. I was a little slower at figuring out what was going on because of the screaming kids but I followed Justin’s gaze and saw my parents in our car waiting at the curb.
“They honked,” he said facing me so I could read his lips. His eyes got huge. “Your dad just yelled, ‘Stay away from my daughter.’”
My cheeks burned as I ran to the car.
Chapter 36
The Plan: The Embarrassing Part
Tiffany
My stomach ached at the idea of even asking two people for help, but asking a dozen felt like flushing all chances at a normal social life down the toilet. Except we needed helpers, at least ten of them, and since Justin didn’t have ten friends, that left me to recruit them. Lunch being the best time to talk to people, we made our way into the cafeteria, Justin, me, and thirty invisible children.
Justin tapped Mario on the shoulder, while I approached Jessica.
“Hey!” Brett Lovell grabbed my arm as I passed, stopping me before I could reach Jessica. “So I was wondering what you were doing after the football game on Friday . . .” Man, his smile. Supermodel charming. And his blond hair bobbed into his eyes at just the right moments. “. . . but Jessica told me that you might be dating Casper. You’re not, are you?”
I felt so many emotions. Brett Lovell cared who I dated? He was actually going to ask me to do something with him? The cornerback wanted to see me after the game on Friday? But what was all of that about Jessica and Justin? I really gave it a good pause before I could process everything that he had just said.
“What?” I looked at Jessica who was dipping a tortilla chip like a hundred times into crappy school nacho cheese. “Umm. I’m . . . no. I’m . . .” I closed my eyes to concentrate. Words weren’t coming easily.
“Ooooo,” Mario said, elbowing Justin. “I wasn’t sure Jess was right, but seeing your reaction . . .” He gave a loud laugh and others laughed with him.
“What?” My breath was coming way too fast. If I wasn’t careful, I could have an asthma attack . . . in the cafeteria . . . at the cool table. I closed my eyes again to help me focus. “Jessica, why would you tell people that?” I peeked at her.
She stopped dipping her chip and folded her arms. Her Mexican accent came out strong. “See. She doesn’t deny it. Es verdad. You kissed Justin Henderson.”
I wanted to slap her, but truthfully, I had never slapped anyone in my life and really the idea of slapping someone sounded icky.
Jessica watched me for a reaction. Really, the whole table plus a bunch of kids at other tables were watching me for a reaction. Brett brushed his hair out of his eyes and flashed me another smile. That was my breaking point.
“Yes, I deny it. Justin? Casper? Come on. Justin is so not my type. Super nerdy and . . . fluffy. Really into creepy things. He’s annoying and he’s not even cute.” I looked right at him on that last bit as if to accentuate my point. Everything about his posture and expression said calm and collected but his eyes. His eyes were hurt.
I looked away. What had I done? My cheeks burned hot for shame.
Jessica sat up straight and waved a finger at me. “Your mom told me that you did.”
The ooo’s were unbearable. What was once just the cool table and a few random kids was now over half of the cafeteria. I looked at Justin but he looked even more confused than me.
Brett laughed and turned on the bench so that he was fully facing me. “You kissed Jumpy Justin? Seriously?” His beautiful eyebrows were arched unnaturally high. “Now I’m glad I voted for Sendheim. You have terrible taste.”
That comment got a roar of laughter. I wasn’t sure how it was funny at all. I was a joke to my friends. If they even were my friends. I was doomed to live out the rest of my life as much of a misfit as Justin.
Wait, what? Brett Lovell didn’t vote for me. How much did I lose by? I made the mistake of looking at Kevin Sendheim’s table and making eye contact with him. He was listening to what was going on, but at least he wasn’t laughing.
I shouted, “I would never kiss Justin Henderson! We’re not even friends!”
That was it. That was the lie that knocked me to my senses.
Yes, we were!
I was being just as bad as Jessica. Worse. At least she wasn’t saying mean things about me. Why was I embarrassing him like that in front of all of these people? Besides, he was cute, in his own way. I didn’t need to say such mean things. I was bigger than that. I had hurt my friend. The only friend who knew how truly crazy I was. My friend who knew me better than my own parents. I acted selfishly and I hated myself for it.
“No.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. There was something about looking at all of them that made telling the truth hard. Particularly that hot Brett Lovell. “That’s not true. Justin has been my friend forever and he’s a nice guy.” I let out the breath I had been holding and searched for my bravery as I opened my eyes. “He’s smart, not nerdy, and sure he’s annoying sometimes, but that’s because most people don’t really let him be himself.”
I thought of all people Jessica would understand—we all played together for years—but she looked shocked. “You really did kiss him,” she blurted out then covered her gaping mouth.
This was not working out at all.
“What? No. That’s n
ot true.”
Then the traitor, Jessica, stood up from her spot at the table and moseyed over to me. “I like Justin fine, but really, Tiffany? The kid tells people he sees ghosts.”
More laughter and chatting. I felt betrayed but I couldn’t imagine how betrayed Justin must have felt. How did he even get involved in all of this? Everyone would be leaving him alone to eat his lunch on the stage or by the tree if it wasn’t for me. I was ashamed of myself and the company I had been keeping. No, I was mad. It was time I stood up for myself and for Justin.
“But he does see ghosts,” I shouted. I could feel my jaw was set for a fight, daring anyone to argue with me.
That shut them up.
“You believe him?” Jessica asked. The bite that I had heard in her words was gone. She really wanted to know.
“Yes.” I responded without even pausing. After all, there was a set of ghost kids jumping on the floor tiles between us.
“Why?”
Oh my gosh, could I tell her? Could I tell all of them? I looked at Justin. He stood so strong that I nabbed a little courage from him. I had to do it for him. I started this and I needed to end it. Even if that meant confessing my secret to nearly everyone in my grade.
Everyone. In. My. Grade.
I could feel my chest heaving as I started. “Do you remember that day I almost died at the slaughterhouse?” Jessica nodded. “Well after that day, I . . .” My breathing felt like sharp icy stabs. It was the first sign I got of an asthma attack. I held my fist to my chest to try to stave off the lungs closing. “After that day, I . . .” My throat was getting tight. “. . . I started seeing them . . .” It was getting worse and I was afraid I was about to black out when I felt a hand on my arm and saw Justin come up beside me. He handed me my inhaler from my backpack and started talking.
“Look, Tiffany makes fun of me pretty much every day, so the idea that she’d kiss me is absurd.”
As I took puffs of my inhaler I wondered if that was true, about me making fun of him.
He looked at Jessica. “I thought better of you. I know what I am.” He turned to all of the listening ears. “Laugh at me if you want, but leave Tiffany out of it. She has a real problem. Not just gossiping, like the rest of you. A real problem that she thought she could take to her friends but you guys didn’t even let her ask you before you started to attack her with rumors.” He then looked just at me. “Tiffy, you deserve better friends than this.”
A familiar voice piped in. “Whoa, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” It was Mario giving a typical sideways grin. “And by baby, I mean babe. And by babe, I mean me.” He came up to me and put an arm across my shoulder. “Tiffany, whatever it is you need, you will always have my help. Always. You know that, right?”
I pulled the inhaler out from between my lips and nodded.
“I bet we could find others who can help as well,” Mario said. “What do you need?”
Mario garnered so much respect that everyone was quiet waiting for me to answer him. With my breathing under control I started. “Justin and I believe we have found the burial location of over thirty children . . .” There was a lot of murmuring. Apparently, dead bodies was an interesting topic. I tried to shout over the noise. “They died in an orphanage here in Antioch, down by the waterfront. We notified the police, but when they went to excavate they were stopped by . . .” Here was the part where I sounded crazy, stupid, and jumpy like Justin. “. . . by an evil spirit.”
There was a burst of laughter but for the most part the crowd was listening and waiting for me to continue.
“For reals?” Mario asked.
Justin nodded. “You can ask Officer Murphy. He was there.”
“And Shannon’s dad, he ran the backhoe.” I pointed to Shannon as if we all didn’t know who she was. I was just trying to keep myself from saying what I didn’t want to say but what I knew I had to say, until it just came out of my mouth. “And I saw it.” That was that. My crazy was hung up for everyone to see. My secret was spilt across the floor. “Well, her. I saw her. She’s real. She’s there. And it’s not going to be easy to get to those graves.”
The kids had stopped laughing, but I didn’t want to address the question they were all thinking so I just kept asking for help.
“The problem is that those children need a proper burial and we came up with a plan to get them one, but we need more people to help us.”
The silence was unnerving then Mario whistled. “Dang, I thought it was going to be some boring school project thing. This sounds like an adventure. I am so in. Jess?”
I turned to see Jessica, with an expression that reminded me of a puppy that knows it just ate your favorite sneaker. “I’ll help.”
She wouldn’t look at me, and I wasn’t sure why she was running so hot and cold, but I nodded anyway. Sometimes when you’re friends with someone your whole life, you find yourself just looking for an excuse to forgive them.
Before too long we had four more friends, but it wasn’t quite enough. “We need four or five more people,” Justin said.
Some decided that was a good time to turn around and pretend like they hadn’t been listening. Others flat out shook their heads and rolled their eyes.
I didn’t think I could get any more embarrassed but after the whole speech fiasco and a bombed election all I could muster were six friends. And to make it worse it was in the cafeteria for everyone to see.
It was worse than choosing teams in P.E.
“Come on, guys,” I begged.
Kevin Sendheim stood up and said, “I can help.”
Of all people.
Why was he such a good guy? I wanted to hate him something desperate, but he made it so hard. I motioned for him to join us and a few of his friends came along. Even Matt. Before we knew it we had all ten and two extras. It looked like we were going to be able to pull the plan off.
It was the most interesting way I could imagine to find out who my real friends were. It wasn’t as big of a group as I would have hoped, and I would probably be known as a little strange for the rest of my years at school, but it felt good to know who was there for me when I needed them.
Sad, but no surprise, Brett Lovell stayed seated.
Chapter 37
The Plan: The Wet Part
Tiffany
Thirty tiny faces were watching me.
Thirteen of my friends were depending on me.
I was totally going to do this even though I was about to fear-vomit at any moment.
I made my way behind the Hacienda armed with nothing more than a shovel and a few photocopies. The children watched from across the street. I didn’t blame them. None of us could see Lisette but the wind blew warm.
She was nearby.
Justin had kept reassuring me that Lisette wasn’t out to kill me, just to scare me a little, but I wasn’t as confident as he was. I was just going to have to trust that he was right.
My nerves or something paranormal made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I looked back across the street at the scared faces of the orphans. Even translucent and making those weird distorted movements they were the faces of innocent children.
I could do this.
Maybe.
My hands were shaking a little as I folded up the photocopies and shoved them into my pants pocket.
I lifted my shovel and the street lights came on, sounding like bug zappers as they flickered into beams. The shock of the sound scared me so bad I had to lower my shovel, take a deep breath, and start again. Placing the shovel tip in the ground, I stomped on it. I got a few inches of dirt when the handle pulled forward then bounced back, hitting me square in the face. I could feel warm liquid trickle over my lips. Blood. My burning nose was most likely the culprit. I hadn’t had a lot of experience in shoveling. But I was pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to happen.
/> I didn’t care. I was finishing this today. I wiped my face with the back of my sleeve. It was my favorite shirt too.
Yanking out my shovel and I drove it deep into the dirt. Success! I tried to tilt it so that I could pull out the dirt when I felt hot breath on my neck. So hot and so close that I swiveled around immediately.
Lisette’s face was close. Her dark eyes were probably pretty once, but her skin was pockmarked and her mouth was turned up like a snarling dog’s. I stumbled back in shock, tripping over my shovel that was still stuck in the ground. It pulled itself free and was thrown into the wall of the Hacienda. A piece of the plaster flaked off the building and I couldn’t help but wonder how I was going to pay for that. Then the screaming started, a little late if you were to ask me.
I reminded myself to pretend like she was scaring me. I raised my hands to protect myself and pinched my eyes shut, trying to make my act as convincing as possible. The problem was I wasn’t faking at all. My heart was melting faster than my nose was running.
It was hard but I couldn’t forget the plan. Peeking over at the ghost kids across the street I could see that they were under a lot of stress watching me cower. I needed to act fast.
I bolted for the shovel and brought it back. I got just a tiny bit more dirt out when the shovel handle broke in half. I tossed the broken part away and on my hands and knees I took the shovel blade to the dirt. The screaming got more intense but I didn’t quit until got what I needed.
A tiny bone.
I really had no idea who’s bone. To be honest I had no idea where that bone would even go on a body, but it made Lisette furious so it was the bone that I wanted.
I felt invisible hands grasp my shoulders and throw me back against the restaurant wall. The impact knocked my breath out but wasn’t going to keep me down. I leapt to my feet and started sprinting away. By the time I got across the empty parking lot I found I had a bunch of young running partners. Fortunately they could keep up with me just fine.
I was grateful for the little time I had spent in cross country because ghosts moved fast and Lisette was furious.