by Alicia Rades
She smiled at that and then kissed my forehead. I took it as an agreement, but then she twisted her mouth in amusement and said, “Fat chance of that. I’m your mom. It’s my job to worry about you.”
“It’s just a scratch,” I lied. Luckily, the room was fairly shadowed so she couldn’t see the worry written all over my face.
“I know.” She smoothed down my hair. “But right now, it sounds like you’re more worried about me being worried than I am worried about you.”
I started to nod and then replayed what she’d just said in my mind. “Wait . . . what? That was confusing.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she teased with a smile.
“You just worry about growing me a healthy brother or sister,” I told her before kissing her belly and telling her goodnight.
“I love you, Crystal,” she said before shutting my bedroom door and leaving me in darkness.
While my mother’s company helped take my mind off the accident, I couldn’t help it when I replayed it in my head as soon as she left. I pulled my stuffed owl Luna down from her shelf like I did every night and snuggled her close to me. Tonight, I needed the extra comfort.
I wasn’t even that upset about the accident itself. If everything had happened like it did but I still felt my abilities inside me—if I felt like myself—I’d be fine. But the fact was that something was wrong. I couldn’t explain it. I couldn’t put it into words, but I knew it was happening to me nonetheless.
I should have called my boyfriend, Robin, or my best friend, Emma, right away. I knew one of them would make me feel better, but somehow, I felt like I couldn’t explain this. So instead, I called out to the darkness.
“Daddy?” I said in a whisper. I clung to the stuffed animal he’d given me as a gift before he died. I had no way of knowing if he could hear me from the other side. Even when I had my gift, I’d never made contact with my father or felt him there with me. Still, I’d been talking to him—in a way—for the last few months whenever I felt I couldn’t talk to a living person.
I fell asleep after asking my father for protection.
Chapter 3
“Feel free to take notes and pictures once we reach campus,” Mrs. Blake announced as we neared SMU on Wednesday.
Emma sat next to me on the bus, and I twisted my hands nervously in my lap. I had been excited about visiting SMU earlier this week, but the closer we got, the more anxious I became. It was like the idea of growing up had finally hit me, and I wasn’t ready to think about college yet.
“You’ll have the chance to talk to our tour guides as well as other students about their experiences,” Mrs. Blake continued. “Take advantage of these opportunities, but don’t forget that for most of you, this is your first campus tour. The school will host a couple more field trips throughout the year; however, most of you will also attend other tours with your parents.”
“Crystal,” Emma said in a low voice while Mrs. Blake continued talking toward the front of the bus. “What’s up?”
My eyes flew to hers. “What do you mean?”
“You’re practically strangling your sweatshirt,” she pointed out, gesturing down to the sleeve I’d been twisting around in my hand. “You’ve been acting weird all week, ever since your car accident.”
I relaxed my grip on my shirt and swallowed. I still hadn’t told Emma—or anyone, for that matter—about what really happened to me, about how after I hit my head, my sixth sense had gone hazy. I hadn’t been able to predict the lunch menu all week, something I’d once had a 100 percent success rate with. Every time I subtly tested my skills over the last three days, I hadn’t been able to feel anyone else’s emotions through touch. On one level, it left me feeling empty and alone. I’d become so used to being in tune with the people around me that it was strange to go back to normal—the way I’d been before puberty hit and my abilities manifested. On another level, I felt frightened, as if I would never get my abilities back. I wasn’t quite sure why I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. Maybe I didn’t want to admit it, like that would make the situation more real. A year ago, I may have rejoiced in this news, but now it only left me worried.
Luckily, Emma and I had been so busy with volleyball, homework, and boyfriends that our psychic practice sessions had slowed down. So far this week, I hadn’t had to show my weakness in front of her. I knew she’d find out sooner or later, but I was hoping I’d feel better at the “later” point and my abilities would be back to normal.
Robin had freaked out when I told him about the accident. I could only imagine how scared he was to hear I’d crashed. He’d been in a bad accident a few years ago and lost his left leg from the knee down. I assured him on the phone I was okay. That seemed to calm him down, but even after a few days, I hadn’t called him back to tell him about my gift fading.
“It’s not the accident,” I lied to Emma. I glanced her way quickly before fixing my eyes back on my hands. She didn’t seem to notice my dishonesty, which was a victory for me. “I’ve just been nervous about this campus tour.” Okay, that wasn’t a complete lie.
“I know. Me, too,” she agreed.
I let out an inaudible sigh of relief.
“I was excited at first,” she continued. “I mean, we’re only juniors, and already we’re being all responsible and thinking about college, but now it’s kind of scary. I mean, it’s college. I have no idea what to expect.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. In all honesty, I added, “Me, either.” The resounding truth of that statement sent a shiver down my spine.
Kelli and Justine waved to us from across the dining hall. Our field trip group was halfway through our tour, and we each received a meal voucher at the campus’s buffet. Emma and I made our way over to them after we filled our plates.
“Hi,” I greeted cheerfully.
They both stood, and we all exchanged hugs. After I’d helped rescue Kelli from an abusive relationship a year ago—with Justine’s help—we’d become friends. Thanks to my abilities, I saw their friend Olivia’s ghost, who held the key to saving Kelli. When they graduated, Kelli and Justine both headed off to college at SMU. I sat, wondering if more of our classmates would join us since they all knew Kelli and Justine, too, but no one did.
“What happened to you, Crystal?” Kelli gestured to the stitches on my head.
My hand came up to graze them lightly. “I, uh, had an accident.”
“She blew a tire and flipped her car,” Emma clarified.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kelli told me.
“No, it’s okay. My head hit the window, and that split the skin open. It’s okay, really.”
“Well, it kind of sucks,” Justine said slowly.
I nodded. “So, how’s your freshman year going?” I remembered Mrs. Blake’s instructions to ask students about their experiences.
“It’s great,” Kelli beamed. Her voice was so full of happiness, completely opposite of the Kelli Taylor I’d known just a year ago. And then there was her new look. She’d dyed her hair a dark blond—closer to her natural color—and a small diamond stud now adorned her nose. It suited her well.
“It’s okay,” Justine shrugged.
“Just okay?” Emma asked skeptically. “That’s not encouraging.”
Justine laughed. “No, it’s great, but . . .”
“But what?” I prodded curiously.
Justine glanced around the room. “Honestly? The campus gives me the heebie jeebies.”
Kelli burst into a fit of laughter, and Justine joined in. I suspected there was some sort of inside joke I was missing.
“What do you mean?” Emma asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing, really,” Justine assured us.
Kelli laughed again. “Justine has a stalker.”
I tensed for a moment. “A stalker?”
“No, I don’t,” Justine defended, swatting lightly at Kelli.
“She says she feels like she’s being watched,” Kelli teased. “I think it’s that kid who sits behind us in psy
ch. He’s a creep.”
My nerves subsided when I realized Justine wasn’t in any real danger from a stalker. It really was just an inside joke I was missing out on.
“So,” I said once I swallowed my potatoes, “Mrs. Blake says we’re supposed to ask students about their experience at SMU. Why’d you guys choose this school?”
Justine gave a light eye roll. “Ha! Mrs. Blake. She’s great but so serious. I remember doing campus tours with her. It’s so different in college.”
“How many colleges did you tour before choosing SMU?” Emma asked.
“Honestly,” Justine said, “not many. I always knew I was going to go to SMU. It’s close to home, and the tuition is decent. My mom and my aunt—you know, my aunt Sophie—both went here, so I’ve known my whole life that I’d end up here, too.”
I nodded. It made sense. “And you, Kelli?” I asked before biting into more potatoes.
She shrugged. “Same reason, I guess—location and tuition. And I got lucky that my best friend came with me. We get to be roommates for the next four years!”
I glanced over at Emma, and she was eyeing me with a smile. I didn’t have to be psychic to read my best friend’s mind, which was saying, We could be roommates here, too!
“So, do you think you two will apply here your senior year?” Justine asked.
Emma nodded enthusiastically. She’d been in a state of pure glory all day during the tour.
“Yeah, maybe,” I answered. “I think it’s either going to be this or where Robin goes.”
“That’s right,” Kelli said. “What’s your boyfriend doing now? Still playing music?”
“Not as much as he did in high school. He’s majoring in occupational therapy.”
“And your boyfriend, Emma?” Justine asked. “You two are still dating?”
Emma straightened in her chair. “Me and Derek? We’ve never been better! He bought me flowers and took me to a concert for my birthday last month. It was so sweet!”
“Aww,” Kelli and Justine sang together.
“You two are cute together,” Justine said. “I always saw you watching him at volleyball practice last year when he was catching balls. I’m surprised it took you two so long to get together.”
Emma smiled. “Yeah, well, it was worth it.”
I didn’t say anything as they talked about the cute boys in their classes and student organizations. Eventually, their conversation faded into the background until it felt like I was secluded in my own little bubble and the rest of the cafeteria ceased to exist. My sixth sense tingled, a sensation that spread through to my fingertips. Joy overcame me when I realized what this meant. My abilities hadn’t been destroyed in the accident!
I glanced around the dining hall, searching for the source of my feeling. It was only when I scanned the room for a second time that I noticed him. My eyes locked on a dark figure standing across the cafeteria, causing the sensation in my body to intensify. I knew immediately that no one else could see him because I was the only person I knew who could see ghosts.
Something about him was different, though. I couldn’t make full features of him. Instead of looking like the other people milling about the hall, he appeared as just a shadow, dark with a hazy outline. Even though I couldn’t see definite eyes, I knew he was looking my way.
I remained quiet on the bus ride back to the high school, the whole time contemplating what it meant to see a ghost but not being able to see what he really looked like. After thinking about it for some time, I came to the conclusion that he appeared fuzzy because my accident caused my abilities to work inefficiently. At the very least, seeing a ghost on campus meant my abilities weren’t completely lost to me. I might actually be able to keep this minor hiccup a secret before I had to admit my newfound weakness to anyone.
But why had I seen a ghost in the first place? Did he need my help? How could I help him when my abilities weren’t working well?
I decided I’d try a few psychic exercises at home after volleyball practice in hopes of connecting with the ghost. Then Emma’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“So, what do you think? Still want to go to SMU?” Her tone was full of excitement.
What could I say to that? If I said I still wasn’t sure, it would break her heart, but if I told her I wanted to go there and decided against it later, that’d be even more heart breaking.
“Well, we both still have a lot of schools to look at. Are you sure you want to go to SMU?”
The question was silly. Emma had purchased a butt load of SMU-branded goods from their campus store while we were there—a hoodie, a t-shirt, even a notebook. Though she said she was nervous about the campus tour, I could tell that if she had the choice, she’d graduate early and start classes next semester. She’d already pegged SMU as her school. I’m not sure why, maybe because she already had it figured in her mind that I was going to go there and she didn’t want to leave her life-long best friend.
Emma nodded enthusiastically in response to my question.
“Do you even know what you’ll major in?” I asked.
Her face fell. “I don’t, but I have a lot of time to figure it out. Maybe music? Do you have any idea what you’d major in?”
I took a deep breath. I didn’t know. I didn’t have the slightest clue. For the last year, I’d wanted to do something with my abilities—maybe go into the police force or something, in which case I wouldn’t have to go to SMU, which is why I wasn’t ready to make that decision. Now that it looks like my abilities might be failing me, maybe I should study something else, I thought.
I averted my gaze from Emma’s watchful eye and began to scan the rest of the bus in search of some sort of answer to give her. I was spared the hassle of answering when I looked to my right and came face-to-face with a black shadowy figure. His face didn’t have any features, but it was hovering just inches from my own.
My heart leapt in fright, and I screamed.
Chapter 4
Even if my abilities were in peak condition, I couldn’t have anticipated what happened next. My scream of terror hardly had a chance to fill the bus before I felt my body lurch and I went flying across the center aisle. If the shadowy ghost was still there, I would have fallen straight through him. I flung my hands out to catch myself against the seat across the aisle. I managed to prevent myself from sliding into a senior named Jackie Smith, but I couldn’t keep my right knee from smashing into the seat’s metal frame. Emma’s weight slid into me, and Jackie’s head smacked against the window. An intense pain throbbed in my knee.
A moment later, the initial shock had subsided and everyone was rubbing at their aches and pains. A few people stood to piece together what had just happened. I couldn’t manage to move for a few seconds. All I could do was remain frozen with my hands on Jackie’s seat and my body situated in the center of the aisle.
Did I cause that with my scream? I wondered.
Then, the bus broke out in a buzz of voices.
“What was that?”
“What happened?”
“Is everyone okay?”
“Crystal,” Emma said, resting a hand on my back and leaning in to view my face. “Are you okay?”
I finally shifted to look at her. “I—I’m not hurt.” It wasn’t actually an answer to her question, and it was a complete lie because my knee was burning in pain. For a second, I was scared that I actually shattered my knee cap, but when I shifted to sit back next to Emma in our seat, I knew it wasn’t that bad. “I just hit my knee. Are you okay?”
Emma nodded. She didn’t appear to have hurt anything.
“Jackie?” I asked, looking over at her.
She nodded, too, although she was rubbing her head. “I’m fine.”
Once I was sure everyone around me was okay, I finally looked toward the front of the bus to see if I could understand what had just happened. Gazing out the windows, I could see that the bus had swerved and now sat unmoving across both lanes of traffic. Although we had been
driving along a rural highway, one car coming from the opposite way had already stopped, and another was slowing down behind it. Between the bus and the first car, I saw what had really happened.
My scream hadn’t caused the bus to swerve. A huge tree lay crossways in the road just in front of us. It had pulled the power lines down around it. The top of the dead tree lay sprawled in the field to our left while the rotten stump appeared mangled to our right.
“Is everyone okay?” Mrs. Blake repeated.
By now, everyone appeared to be back in their seats, although some were standing and assessing the damage to the power lines. Our bus driver turned around in her seat and brushed the hair out of her face. Mrs. Blake was already beginning her way down the aisle to make sure everyone was okay. Then our bus driver, Mrs. Peterson, spoke up.
“Who was the one who screamed?” she asked sternly.
My heart dropped in my chest. Could I really be blamed for this? I mean, it’s not like I had super powers where I could tip a tree with my voice. I bit my lip and looked at Emma nervously.
“Who screamed?” she asked again just as Mrs. Blake passed by our seat and headed further to the back of the bus.
I raised my hand nervously. “It—it was me.” My voice came out so quiet that it sounded like a whisper.
“Crystal Frost, right?” she asked, making her way toward me.
I nodded sheepishly.
Then Mrs. Peterson stuck her hand out. I eyed it. What was I supposed to do with her hand?
“Thank you,” she said, completely taking me off guard.
Oh. She wanted me to shake it. But why?
“If you hadn’t seen the tree tipping and screamed, I wouldn’t have noticed.”
My mouth hung open. I shyly took her hand, not daring to admit that wasn’t the reason I had screamed.
The rest of the day passed by in a haze. We sat around for a while to make sure everyone was okay and that the school knew what was going on. I called my mom’s cell, but she didn’t answer since she was at work. I left a message assuring her I was alright.