The Price of a Gift (The Price of Secrets Series)

by Ashley Drake

  "Can we please go home? I am tired and we have been here forever."

  "Well aren't you whiney, not a very attractive quality." Dad said while writing down the measurements mom was calling out to him.

  "You don't understand...Samantha!" She was standing about six feet behind my dad.

  "Don't understand Samantha? What are you talking about?"

  "No, Dad, Samantha is here. She's right behind you." He turned around even though he knew he wasn't going to see her.

  "Do you want me to give you some privacy?" Dad asked.

  "If you don't mind. I'll come find you when she leaves." He left the kitchen, but I could tell it was with reluctance.

  I turned back to Samantha thinking she might have already disappeared, but she was still in the same spot wearing a blue dress and her hair in braids. "What's wrong Samantha?"

  "Find me." Was all she said. Then she just disappeared. I almost wondered if she was gonna hide in the house and I was supposed to count to ten or something. I went to find my parents. I was ready for this day to be over.

  After two hours of looking at houses we were finally home. It doesn't look like I will be calling it that for much longer. After grabbing myself a soda, I snuck it into my room. No food or drinks were allowed in the bedrooms, mom's rule. I washed my makeup off and brushed my teeth. So now I'm sitting on my bed with my laptop trying to find something about a death that includes a 16 year old Samantha and, judging by the dress, it happened sometime in the late 1800's to early 1900's. This is going to be the proverbial needle in a haystack. I'm limiting my search to Caldwell County because it just feels like she was from here. That or I'm just wanting to catch a break and hoping to be right. Either way I'm not finding anything. I'm gonna have to tell Samantha I need some more information. How does she expect me to figure this out with what little she has given me? Why does the living impaired have to be so mysterious and talk in riddles? Why can't they just say- hey here's my problem and I need you to do this to help me? This is gonna take forever and I'm never gonna have a life. Dad was right, I am whiney.

  Chapter 3

  I woke up the next morning to mom yelling and to the smell of bacon, eggs and biscuits. So, of course, I'm up and heading for the kitchen with my eyes half open.

  "Good morning. You're up early." Mom said with her usual morning perkiness. It kind of ticks me off. No one should be that happy before 10 A.M.

  "Cause you yelled up the stairs if I don't get up and eat it while it's hot I'll have to fend for myself." I said while laying my head on the breakfast bar. I managed to slip off the stool and grab myself a plate. After adding a big spoonful of scrambled eggs two pieces of bacon and a biscuit to my plate, I laid it down on a placemat and went back for a fork and a big gulp size of coffee. Mom's not crazy over me drinking it but she knows I always get a venti cappuccino every time I go to the mall, so she usually doesn't say anything. She actually handed me two packs of sweetener while I added creamer.

  The first sip of coffee is just yum. Especially with the night I had. I don't remember having any dreams. It was just like I would sleep for an hour and then be wide awake, stare at the ceiling for two hours, then fall asleep for an hour, then repeat the whole process over again.

  "I'm working from home again today, but I do have several contracts to write up, so I will be using your dad's office for most of the day."

  "Ok" I said while taking a bite of my bacon. "I'm gonna see if Phoebe and Kayla want to do something."

  It's been Kayla, Phoebe, Jaycee and me since starting middle school in the 6th grade. Jaycee and I were at lunch one day and they just happened to sit in front of us on one of those long cafeteria tables. We hit it off and have been inseparable ever since. Jaycee and I are opposite in many ways but not as much as Phoebe and Kayla. Phoebe is boy crazy, loud, funny and will talk to any and every one. Kayla is funny to, but you would never know it until you got to know her. She is extremely shy and very smart, and she is ferociously protective over her friends. Last year the four of us decided it would be awesome to fix Mike's locker so that when he opened it 10 pounds of peanuts fell out on top of him. We had cardboard covering the locker and the peanuts poured inside. Then we attached a string from the cardboard to the inside of the locker door. Opening the door would pull the cardboard away to let the peanuts loose. It was Mike's birthday and his nickname was peanut because when he got his hair cut off his head looked like a peanut. So it was a perfect plan, and he thought it was funny. The principal, however, did not see the humor. He started in about students having peanut allergies and to be truthful we didn't really think that through. But when it came down to passing out punishment, Kayla stood up and took the blame. She said she did it alone. She got off with a warning. I think principal Bolick cut her some slack because she had the highest GPA in the 9th grade and had never got in trouble. I also think he was secretly proud to see her come out of her shell. Haha, shell-peanuts, no pun intended.

  Kayla and her mom picked me up and we went to the mall in Hickory. Phoebe didn't come with us because she is grounded for missing curfew last night. Note to self: get all the details later. It's only about a twenty minute drive but every second was filled with Mrs. Chapman asking me questions about selling the house and if we have found a new one yet. I didn't really mind. She was asking because she cares, not for gossip.

  Once there, the first place we went to was to get an awesome French vanilla cappuccino.

  "What did you get?" I asked Kayla, cause it looked really good.

  "Coco amour and it's heavenly. Do you want to taste?"

  Without answering I grabbed her cup and took a sip. "Mmmm, I'm getting that next time." I always say I'm gonna try something new but never do. We sat down at a table out in the middle of the mall and I caught her up on my summer. It didn't take me long since I haven't really done anything. "So, what have you been doing?"

  She pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes before she answered. To an outsider it would look like she paid good money for that bleach blonde look but it was all natural. "I have been volunteering at the hospital. I really enjoy it plus it will look good on my college application. I want to do something in the medical field. I have also just finished helping out with vacation bible school last week." I had forgotten about that. I had all good intentions of going with her to give her a hand with it. "And while I'm stuck at home, babysitting my brother and sister, I have already started reading Wuthering Heights. I thought I would get a head start on it because I know we are going to have to read it in English class this year. Why are you laughing at me?"

  "Because I'm sitting here listening to you and feeling so inferior. Don't get me wrong, cause I think that is great and I'm a little jealous you stay so focused on your goals, but you need to have some fun. When Jaycee gets back the four of us needs to go to Carowinds amusement park or something together before school starts."

  She drank the last little bit of her coffee and threw it in the trash before saying, "As long as I don't have to babysit, I'm all for it." Her dad (he's not her biological father but when Kayla was three he adopted her when he married her mom) is a truck driver and her mom works at a furniture store. So she is stuck babysitting when her grandmother can't, but I don't think I have ever heard her complain. In fact I don't think I have ever felt anything negative coming from her and her aura is always green. Not the thick dark green that Megan has, that’s jealousy and selfishness. Kayla's is bright green, earthy and nurturing. So it doesn't surprise me she wants to make a career out of helping people. I'm very lucky we are friends.

  "So, has Phoebe been trying to fix you up with anyone?"

  Kayla's cheeks flushed and her soft hazel eyes arched up for emphasis. "Oh my gosh yes! I keep telling her I am perfectly happy without a boyfriend but it falls on deaf ears with her." I can hear her affection for Phoebe while she's talking. "She calls me the other day and was telling me about this guy she met while she was here shopping. I told her she needs to pace herself or she will have gon
e through every guy in the whole tri-county area before she graduates!"

  We were still laughing when we walked into a clothing store that had a big clearance banner above the door. I wasn't about to mention that I know she likes Jacob. It's not fair to her that I know because I took a 'peek' while she was talking. I feel guilty now for doing it. So when and if she's ready to tell me, she will, and I will act surprised. But in the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to see how Jacob feels about her. Next time I see him I will bring up Kayla and see what he thinks, literally. It wouldn't be a huge invasion of privacy. It's not like I read their minds or anything. It's just like seeing pictures of what they are thinking. Like with Kayla it was easy to tell, because the picture of Jacob she had in her head was a taller and better looking version of the real him, cause she likes him. Also, the picture of him that popped in her head made her feel little flutters just thinking about him, so I picked up on that too. The picture in people's head can go the other way. Like with Jaycee, the image she has of Megan is horrible, and I can feel her blood pressure rise when she thinks of her. Now that I have better control over it, I try not to do it. It makes me feel dishonest. Every once in a while though, I sneak a little peek here and there.

  Kayla and her mom dropped me off at home. When I walked in, it looked like a packaging store had exploded. Cardboard boxes, rolls of duct tape and scissors littered the living room floor. It was a mess and my mom was sitting in the middle of it tapping the bottom of a box together.

  "Ok who are you and what have you done with my O.C.D. clean freak of a mother?"

  "Hello. I thought we could get a head start on packing and labeling the boxes for each room they come out off."

  "There she is. You just got the offer yesterday. What if it falls through?"

  "Your father says it won't, so I got started."

  "And here all this time I worried about getting Dad's genes when I should have been worrying about getting yours."

  She flipped the box over she was working on. "Very funny, but you won't be laughing when we move and you're trying to find your stuff."

  I had to give it one more shot. "Or we could just stay here and not have to worry about any of this."

  Mom put the scissors and tape down and came over and sat beside me on the couch. "You're not a little girl anymore so I'm going to tell you something. You have three more years with us before you go to college. After college you will be starting your own life. Then it will just be me and your dad. We want to be able to pay for your college and have a nest egg saved up so we can retire early and enjoy life without worrying about bills. This house is too big for the two of us, heck it's too big for the three of us. I want a smaller house on one level so when I'm in my fifties or sixties I won't have to walk up stairs to kiss my grandbabies when they spend the night."

  "Wow, you're planning for way, way, way into the future."

  "Maybe so, but it is reality."

  I was acting stupid and childish. "You're right, Mom. I never really thought ahead. The new house should be your decision because I won't be living in it very long. I will try to get on board with this and keep my doubts to myself."

  "Thank you but of course we want your opinion on the next house. We want you to be happy with it too. If your Dad and I had our way about it, you would live with us forever."

  "You had me until the last sentence. What do you want me to help you do?"

  "We can start in the kitchen and pack the things that I rarely use, like the good china, the Christmas settings, the blender and the mixer. I don't think I will be making any big meals before we move. And I will label it 'kitchen-rarely used' so then I can unpack it in the hard to reach cabinets." She was giddy with her O.C.D. self.

  I got up off the couch to follow her into the kitchen where she was already heading. "You went out and bought a label maker just for this didn't you?" Her silence was a yes. "There should be a support group for people like you." I ducked before a wadded up ball of tape hit me in the head.

  It was a gorgeous sunny day at the beach. The wind was blowing through my hair and there wasn't another person in sight. Well almost. I was walking on the beach hand in hand with a guy whose face I couldn't see. In fact I couldn't see anything about him. I did, however, feel how happy I was to be with him. I actually felt the heat from his hand and I could smell the salt water as it lapped up over my feet. He pulled me closer to the water, trying to splash me and get me wet. He was gonna try to push me in. I yelled and bent down to grab my ankle. Thinking I was hurt, he stopped to help me. Catching him off guard with my fake out, I splashed water all over the front of his khaki pants. Although I was already winded from laughing, I took off running. Of course I was hoping he would chase me. I could see over my shoulder that I had my wish and I didn't have a chance of escaping him. He is way too fast for me, but I was so okay with being caught. Finally, I felt his arm grab me around my waist and pulled me back. I lost my balance and we both hit the sand, landing on our sides. I could feel his grip, still around my waist, tighten and pulled me closer to him. The butterflies (I wanted butterflies!) in my stomach were going crazy from nerves to anticipation. I could feel his breath on my neck as I turned trying to see his face. That's when I noticed all these animals just sitting there watching us. I'm talking dogs, cats, deer even raccoons! It didn't scare me, but what a mood killer. My mystery guy saw them too and we both started laughing.

  "Hannah, wake up!" It was Samantha, she was floating above the animals, trying to get my attention.

  "Oh good Lord Samantha, it's just a dream and a really, really good one. Let me enjoy it."

  "Hannah you have to wake up right now!" It was then that I felt the danger. The evil.

  "Samantha what is it?" Before she could answer she was jerked out of my dream. I all but saw something grab her from behind, pulling her up into nothingness. "Crap, wake up!" I yelled at myself.

  Just like, that I was in my own bed. I sat straight up and took stock of my room. It was then that I saw it, him, the black shadow. It had almost completely disappeared through the double windows to the right of my bed. Funny thing was, my windows are shut. The shadow was going straight through the glass. I pulled the covers up to my throat. Oh yeah, that’s gonna protect me. I waited until my heart stopped it's threat to beat out of my chest before I finally decided to get up and turn on my light. I made it as far as getting my feet on the floor when I saw Samantha standing at my dresser watching me. The fear in her eyes is something I have come to expect but it still sent a chill down my spine. It looked as if she would disappear at any second. So I tried to keep my voice calm.

  "Samantha who or what is that and what does it want from me?"

  She glanced back at the window before responding. "I don't think he wants you, Hannah. I think he's after me. He wants me to follow him."

  I knew it was a he. "How do you know, has he spoken to you?"

  "No, I can just feel it. I told you I don't have much time." She was gone before her last words stopped echoing through the silence.

  Well crap, I won't be sleeping tonight. Besides, what's the likelihood I could get that dream back anyway? It looks like it’s gonna be another night on the couch. I grabbed my diary and my pillow and headed for the door. I paused and went back to my nightstand and picked up my Bible to take with me. You can't be too careful. I remember seeing the sun rise through the curtains in the living room before exhaustion took over.

  Dad woke me up two hours later wanting to know why I was on the couch. I told him about last night, leaving out what my dream was about. "I hate to say it, but I'm a little relieved that thing is not after you. However that doesn't mean it won't try to hurt you. When you get more information on Samantha and want my help, you know where to find me."

  "I will, thanks. Why are you up so early? I thought you took the day off."

  "I did. Your mother and I are going to start packing up the garage today and then the extra bedrooms if we can get to it. Why don't you go back to sleep in your own bed for
a few more hours?"

  "Are you sure you guys don't need my help?"

  He grabbed my shoulders and did his best action hero voice. "Go, hurry. Leave me behind, it's too late for me, my location has been compromised, there’s no help for me. Save yourself!"

  I put my hands over my mouth and drew my knees up to my chest to hold in my laughter, because of the look in my dad’s eyes when we heard the applause coming from behind him.

  It was Mom. "And the award for best smart butt in a dramatic film goes to.....Avery Price."

  "I would so love to stay and hear your acceptance speech", I said, "but I have a bed calling my name. And good luck, she has scissors."

  After a few dreamless hours of sleep, I decided to get up and get dressed. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to enjoy it. Mom and Dad were still packing. So I decided to walk down to the creek that borders our property. Since we're moving I won't get to do this much longer, and it's my favorite spot. In the winter I would come down here and sit on the bank to watch the snowflakes melt when they hit the water. Then in the summer time, like now, I like to put my feet into it. I just have to watch out for spiders and snakes. I sat down on a rock and took my sandals off. It was so peaceful listening to the water flowing downstream, and to the occasional bird or squirrel. It is very relaxing. I always pretend like I'm in the mountains without a soul around for miles.

  "Hello." I had to stifle a scream. I turned around and there stood a living impaired. At first glance I thought he was alive because he looked solid. After the initial shock, I could see a little bit of transparency.

  "Hi." I said, trying to calm down. Cause in reality, I'm more afraid of what living people are capable of more than dead people.

  "I can't believe you can see me. It's been awhile since I've found someone who could. My name is Tommy." He had blonde, slicked back, shiny hair and was wearing a white t-shirt with blue jeans and black shoes. By the looks of him I would guess he died sometime in the 1950's.