Ghostly

by Samantha Combs

  I screamed as loud as I could. “Sixx! Look out!” But it was too late. Jett grabbed Sixx by the arm and yanked her so hard she actually came out of the stupid shoes. Creep tried to scramble out of the way, too, but he tripped over one of the shoes and fell down right in the path of the car.

  All I could hear were tires screeching, and before my head realized it, my heart knew they belonged to a car racing toward Creepshow. In that same second of time, I also understood that there was nothing I could do to change what was about to happen. That car was going to hit my boyfriend and there was no way I could stop it. Even if I was close enough, there wasn’t enough time to get to him, to push him out of the way or even dive into his place. I was powerless. My heart raced almost as fast as the car careening toward my love. And then it happened.

  The drunk driver hit Creepshow head-on with the nose of his refurbished Camaro and scooped him up, throwing him at least eighty-five feet onto the other side of the street. I screamed when I heard the sound, solid metal making contact with a soft thud. It was the only noise Creepshow made. He was airborne for what seemed like forever, and then he landed in the fenced garden of a home half a block down the street. It looked like a stop action movie. When I heard him hit the soft grass, like a half-filled bag of trash being tossed out next to the sidewalk, the movie in my head sped up and we scrambled to get to him. I was terrified with what we might find and found it hard to breathe while we ran to his aid.

  Jett and Sixx got to him before I did and both were kneeling next to him when I reached them. Behind us, the out-of-control Camaro kept going straight and crashed into a telephone pole. The driver’s life had probably been saved by his airbag deploying. I kept hearing the sound of someone screaming and realized it was me. How could this be happening? How could we have found each other just to lose each other so quickly? Tears stained my face as I made my way to Creepshow’s side.

  I dropped to my knees next to him and threw my arms around his neck. “No, no, no, no, no!” I wailed into his neck, tears streaming down my neck. “Creep, talk to me. Creep, can you hear me? Can you hear me?” I sobbed and buried my face in his chest. “Jett, he can’t hear me! What’s wrong? Why isn’t he answering me? Is he breathing?” I pulled back and looked at his face. Blood smeared his forehead and black marks streaked down the side of his cheeks and down both arms. His leg twisted in an unusual way. I knew it was broken. There were nasty cuts down his arm, his jeans were torn, and he had lost one of his shoes. Stupidly, I looked back in the street. Where had his other shoe gone?

  Jett tried to pull me off of him. I held fast to Creepshow and screamed at Jett, “Don’t! I can’t feel his breathing if you pull me away from him! I have to feel his breathing!” Jett held on to my arms tighter.

  “Juice, I don’t think he is breathing.” Gently again, he tried to pull me away from Creepshow. I could hear Sixx behind me on her cell phone calling 911. Yes, I thought madly. Call them! Call them to take him to a hospital! He needs a doctor! They’ll make him breathe! He needs to breathe! Then I realized I’d been talking out loud.

  “He needs to breathe, Jett. He needs to breathe. Why isn’t he breathing?” I sat up and put my hands on Creepshow’s shoulders and shook him. “Breathe!” I yelled in his face. “Breathe, Creepshow!” Suddenly, I heard another voice.

  “I can help, Juice.”

  “He needs to breathe!” I told the new voice.

  “I know, Juice. I can help,” the voice said again. And then I recognized the voice. It was Shane’s. I looked up and Shane stood there with a calm look on his face. He repeated himself in the same serene voice.

  “I can help.” And he looked at me with such a tranquil and peaceful expression on his face that I suddenly understood.

  “Oh,” I said. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. But you have to be. Are you?”

  “No. Yes.” I looked at Shane helplessly. “I love him, Shane.”

  “I know. That’s why you have to be sure.”

  I closed my eyes and thought about it. I thought about everything Shane had told me. I thought about the way Creepshow made me feel. I thought about every movie we had ever watched and every time I had gone to the beach and watched him and Jett surf and our friendship, and the four of us together. I thought about graduating and going to college together. I remembered concerts and dinners and summers and mostly I thought about the delicious promise behind that kiss on the beach. Then I opened my eyes.

  “Yes. I’m sure.”

  Shane nodded. “I knew you would be.”

  He stepped forward and knelt next to Creepshow where he lay motionless. I moved back from Creep, and Sixx and Jett followed and we moved away from the two of them. Creepshow’s lips were turning blue and he looked almost white as paper. His beautiful tan had all but disappeared, and when my legs turned to water, Sixx and Jett had to hold me up. We watched while Shane stretched out his body the length of Creepshow’s. Then he looked over to where the three of us were standing.

  “I’ll miss you guys.” That was all he said. Then he sort of scooted over until his form occupied the same space as Creepshow. While he still sat up, he waved goodbye to us, then gently lowered himself over the top of Creepshow. His body seemed to mold onto Creep’s and the last thing I saw of Shane was when his face melded into Creep’s.

  Then Creepshow stirred and I gasped out loud. I almost lost my balance again. Creepshow opened his eyes and for a few seconds they were the brilliant blue of Shane’s. He blinked two more times, the blue color fading with each blink, and by the third one, they were the warm chocolate brown of Creep’s. He moaned and tried to sit up, but it was clear he was in pain. I ran to him and dropped to the ground.

  “Creep? Creep? Can you hear me?” Gingerly, I stroked his hair with a hand that trembled. When I pulled my hand away, it was covered with blood from a head wound. I could hear the approaching sirens and prayed it would be an ambulance. I looked into Creep’s familiar brown eyes and couldn’t see even a trace of Shane. I looked up at Sixx and Jett.

  “He’s gonna be okay.” I broke down again in a convulsion of tears. Sixx immediately fell to her knees next to me.

  “Holy crow, Juice. Did that just happen?” In my life I had never heard that tone in Sixx’s voice. She seemed to be actually impressed by something. I looked at Jett to see how it had affected him. He seemed to have slipped into his Zen surfer mode. Despite all the drama surrounding him, he was cool, calm, and collected. Unbelievable.

  “Looks like Shane finally found himself a body.”

  “Juice?” I felt Creepshow trying to reach for me with his wounded, bloodstained hand.

  “I’m right here, Creep.” I grabbed Creep’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “The ambulance is on its way. It’ll be here any minute. You’re gonna be fine, Creep. Shane made sure of that.”

  “Did he…” Creep left the question open and looked at me with the unspoken question in his eyes. I looked down and met his gaze. For a fleeting moment, I could have sworn his eyes flickered from brown to blue and back to brown again. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but by that time they were back to the same warm cocoa color.

  I leaned over and gently kissed Creepshow’s cheek. Then I straightened up and said, “Yes, he did. He finally found the right host, Creep. You. He saved your life.”

  Creepshow motioned for me to lean down to him. I did and he whispered in my ear. “I know he did. While I was still unconscious, he made me promise him one thing.”

  “What?”

  “He’d only save my life if I swore I’d spend it with you, Juice. I love you.” Then Creepshow tilted his face toward mine and kissed me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I jumped off my bike and walked the rest of the way to the beach, pushing my bike next to me. The day was beautiful and it made me glad I had chosen to walk. It gave me a chance to think about everything that had happened since the night of the party. After Creepshow told me about his promise to Shane, the ambulance had arrived a
bout two seconds later. He had been whisked away on a stretcher, and other paramedics had treated Sixx and Jett on the scene for some cuts and bruises they had received from flying shrapnel. Of course, the whole party heard the commotion and flooded out of the house to check it out. Out of all those partygoers, we never saw Mason again.

  Later, we learned from the police report that the driver of the Camaro had been a partygoer who had left a different gathering on a beer run. He was an older college student from the university up north. He was pre-med. The police had found several twelve-packs of beer in the trunk of the car, and one open can in the cup holder. Another glaring reason I was glad my friends and I weren’t into the drinking thing. It gave me chills to think of how close I had come to losing someone because of it.

  I reached the beach parking lot and sighed when I saw The Gator parked in the usual spot. That meant Creepshow had beaten me here already. My pace quickened as I headed down to the sand. I spotted Sixx near the water’s edge. I walked toward her and parked my bike near the rocks.

  “Hey, Sixx.” I took off my backpack and flopped down beside her.

  “Hey, Juice. Take a load off.” I reached into my backpack and took out a couple waters and handed one to Sixx.

  “Thanks.”

  We leaned back and I scanned the horizon for Creep and Jett. There were about a dozen or more surfers out beyond the breakers but I spotted them easily. I watched as they took the next set and rode it all the way into the beach. They both came out of the water at the same time, shaking the water out of their hair, surfboards tucked under their arms. I heard Sixx suck in her breath.

  “Wow, Juice. How did we hang around that all the time and not realize how hot they were?”

  I had to agree with Sixx. It was a pretty nice sight. Creepshow reached me first and slipped his free arm around my waist. I got wet but I didn’t care.

  “Hey, Juice.”

  “Hey, Creep.” I hugged him, leaning into his side but being careful not to squeeze too hard. He still had bandages on. He shouldn’t even be surfing, but suddenly he couldn’t stay away from the water. It seemed as if he was making up for lost time. We all knew why, we just didn’t talk about it.

  “Hey, the limp is almost gone, Creep.” Sixx pointed out that lately he had been walking without the noticeable gait the leg injury had caused. We had all thought his leg would have been broken by the car accident. Creep had been so happy to learn it was only a sprain. He’d been worried about a summer with no surfing. He’d stopped using the crutches almost a week ago. He couldn’t wait to get back in the water.

  “Give me another week and you won’t see it at all. Then I’m taking this one out dancing.” Creep twirled me in demonstration. “How about it, Jett? You coming?”

  “Yeah. Dancing. Can’t wait.” Jett looked less than thrilled.

  “I’m just so happy that you’re almost back to normal, Creep.” That was an understatement. Considering I almost lost him, I was ecstatic.

  “Okay, normal might be a stretch. Creepshow’s never been normal, Juice.”

  And secretly I thought, thank goodness for that. A normal boy would never fall in love with me and I would certainly never love one back.

  Jett and Sixx got up and said they were going for a walk. I watched them walk away. When they were far enough away that they didn’t think we could see, Jett let his hand slip down and grab Sixx’s. And to her credit, she let him. They made an interesting couple. While I was watching them, Creepshow came up beside me.

  “Funny how they finally got together, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. Almost as funny as us.”

  “Only to you maybe. I knew we’d be together. You were the only stumbling block to my grand plan, Juice.”

  “I was? I think the only stumbling block to your anything was you, Creep.”

  Creepshow moved me around to face him. “You’re probably right. I’m glad I finally found my nerve. So glad.” Creep bent his face to mine and locked lips with me in one of those swoony, to-die-for, soft, sweet kisses he had that made my legs just turn to jelly. I closed my eyes and gave myself over to the kiss.

  When I opened my eyes again I found myself staring into his, expecting his dreamy brown ones. For an instant, they weren’t brown. I found myself gazing instead into the clear denim blue eyes of my sweet ghost, Shane. Instead of being startled, I was pleased. “Thank you,” I whispered. I hoped Shane would know I silently thanked him for so many things. I was grateful for his friendship, for teaching me to appreciate myself, for his bringing me and Creepshow together, but most of all for saving Creep’s life. It was something for which I could never thank him enough.

  “Thank you for what?” Creepshow had heard me.

  I looked up at him again. Into his chocolate brown eyes, the blue ones being replaced once again by the velvety, warm brown ones of my weird and wonderful new boyfriend. “For just being you, Creepshow.”

  “You’re crazy, you know that.” Creepshow gave me a huge bear hug, picking me up and almost hefting me over his shoulder.

  I threw my arms around his neck and as I hugged him back, I realized I could see behind him in the sand. Clear down by the water’s edge, the words ‘Anytime, Juice’ were written in the sand. My heart swelled at Shane’s reply to my thanks. As Creepshow hugged me, the tide came in and the water washed the words away.

  About the Author

  Samantha lives in Southern California with her husband and two beautiful children. When she's not writing, she reads anything she can get her hands on, enjoys the Food Network Channel, and her guilty pleasure is most reality television. She is fascinated by blogs, has recently conquered her fear of both Facebook and Twitter, and if there was a flood, she would grab her laptop first and her slippers second. She loves to write paranormal romance (mostly because there is nothing paranormal about her life at all!) and she has just contracted the sequel to Spellbound. This is her second YA paranormal romance for Astraea Press, and she has many more in the works. She also has a completed horror novella on submission. She is closer than ever to calling herself a full-time writer and the idea is both frightening and amazing.

  Also by Samantha Combs:

  LOGAN

  I woke up with a start and realized I’d overslept. Great. Late again. I got dressed in a flash, grabbing clothes off the floor. I forged a quick note, jumped in my car and sped off. As a senior at White Mountain High in Lancaster, New Hampshire, I had an easy schedule, but I still hated to be late. I stuffed my car into the last spot in the school lot and raced inside. I jammed hard, hauling so fast past the administration office that I almost missed them. Almost.

  Three girls were leaning against the administration counter in the office, chattering back and forth and filling out papers. The prettiest one immediately caught my eye. She was tall and slender with long hair the color of honey and shimmering green eyes. A younger girl with red curls and smiling eyes stood close to her playing with the zipper on her backpack and next to her was an older girl, tallest of them all, with short, dark hair. She busily filled out most of the papers. Glancing up when I approached, she appraised me swiftly, her eyes clearly NOT smiling at me. That one leaned over and whispered something quick and sharp to the blonde one, who waved her off and ambled right over to where I still stood, motionless.

  “Hi,” she said. Her voice was like soft music. “My name is Serena Starr.” She motioned to her dark-haired sister. “This is my sister, Elizabeth.” She indicated her other sister smiling widely at me. “And this is Tabitha. We call her Tabby”.

  “Hi,” I said. “I’m Logan. So, you’re new here?” Great, I thought. I sounded so lame.

  “Yes,” she answered. “Just transferred in. My sister is registering us.” And then she favored me with a smile and I thought of how dazzling and bright the sun had been this morning.

  “Hey, Logan, what’s up!” My best friend Dave waved at me from across the hall. He thought he was better looking than me and secretly I did too. Not that I would e
ver admit it. And Dave’s radar was uncanny. He had probably sensed me talking to the new girls from clear across the parking lot and killed himself to get here before the first bell rang.

  “So, who’s this?” Before I had the chance to answer, the first bell trilled. Dave gave me a pained expression that said I’d have to tell him everything later and trotted off down the hall. I wanted to say something to the girls but they were gone too. I caught just a glimpse of them as they rounded a corner. Their hair made me think of three different flavors of cotton candy.

  Another great read from Samantha Combs:

  Chapter One

  LOGAN

  I shoved my end of the sofa up the porch steps as hard as I could.

  “Hey!” protested Sully. “I’m not at the top yet, Logan.” I peeked out from behind my end of the sofa and started laughing. Now I knew why the sofa had seemed so lopsided. Sully sat on one of the steps, mopping his brow with the end of his T-shirt. My dog Charlie sat nearby.

  “What’s going on up there? You guys are clogging up the stairs!” I heard Skylar complain. He’d come up fast behind me, juggling another load of books and dishes my girlfriend Serena, and my sister, Jade, had spent days packing meticulously with tissue and newspaper. My mom and Serena’s Aunt Elizabeth had bought out half the thrift stores in town helping us outfit our first place. A lot had happened since we had all been together last at Dave and Tamera’s wedding.

  First, Sully, Skylar and I all decided to move out on our own. My mom cried when I told her about it, but in the end she agreed that it was time. I might be barely eighteen, but fighting Christophe and his demon followers from the Council had helped me grow up in a hurry. And Sully and I had always wanted to get a place of our own after we graduated.