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

by Ashley Drake

  "I'm Hannah. Do you need my help?" I asked.

  "No, I was just passing through and I felt a pull to come here. At first I thought it was just the water, but I guess it was you too." Moving water can act as a portal in which spirits can come and go, like a conductor, leading them from one place to another. "Have you met many ghosts?" Tommy asked.

  "Yes, I’ve met more than a few." I answered.

  "Have any of them talked about what's on the other side?"

  "I'm sorry but no. I have asked before, but never got a straight answer."

  He was scared to pass on. "Do you believe in heaven and hell?"

  I didn't even have to think about it. "Absolutely I do."

  “What about forgiveness?" He asked.

  "Yes, of course. I just don't know when would be too late to ask for it." I answered honestly.

  "That's what I'm afraid of." He said sadly, then just disappeared.

  I don't even want to guess what he did while he was alive that would cause that much fear of moving on. So now I'm not so much feeling the whole being out here alone thing. So I put my sandals back on and headed toward the house. On the way back up the hill I started talking to myself. "This is what I get for sneaking out and not helping Mom and Dad with the packing. Other teenagers would just get grounded or fussed at, but no, not me. I get a freakin ghost sicced on me."

  Chapter 4

  Oh for the love of God, who is calling me at 8 o'clock in the morning? My eyes wouldn’t even focus on my phone's screen.

  "Hello!" I used my best threatening voice.

  "Get your lazy ass up! I'm coming home!" Jaycee! Oh it's so good to hear her voice, even if it is early.

  "I see being out to sea has given you a sailor's mouth."

  "Girl, I could've got more from those sailors than just their mouth. Have you forgotten who you're talking to?" That's my girl.

  "Nope, Miss Joanna Carol Mitchell." She hates that.

  "You better check yourself." See.

  "I've missed you Jaycee. What time will you be home?"

  "We just got off the ship. Then the drive from Charleston is about four or five hours. So I guess around one o'clock. Two if we stop and eat. Then you can tell me about everything I've missed while I was gone."

  "Well, it rained a few days ago." I said half joking, half serious.

  "You're such a loser. It couldn't have been that bad. Have you heard from Josh?" Way to be a downer Jaycee.

  "No, and I couldn't care less." Would she believe me?

  "Liar." I guess not.

  "Ok, the truth is I kinda don't care. I think I just want him to call to ease my pride. Just so I can know he is missing me and that he was the one to call first." Once I said it, I realized it was true.

  I was feeling pretty good about my growth and maturity when Jaycee busted my bubble. "Well I'm glad to hear it because I think he is gonna ask you out again."

  "What? How do you know that? You just got off a freakin ship!"

  "Don't get mad, but Phoebe sent me a message yesterday and I just got it right before I called you. And before you say anything, she didn't know how to tell you herself so she wanted me to."

  Jaycee finally took a breath so I could get a question in. "How does she know? Did he say something to her?"

  "Remember Jake, the guy Phoebe was gonna set you up with?" She didn't give me time to answer. "Well when you said you weren't interested or wasn't ready or whatever excuse you gave her, she told him all about me. So, of course he is interested and wants to meet me. Anyways, while she was telling him that you just got out of a relationship and blah blah blah, he was like I know Josh. He was talking to a girl named Megan but told Jake she was a pain in the ass, sorry I meant butt, and he was wanting to get back with his ex-girlfriend. Which would be you."

  I could barely form words but Jaycee was waiting for a response. "He was talking to Megan? Are you freakin kidding me? After he told me she was a total snob for no reason because she doesn't even look half as good as she thinks she does. I knew it! I knew she was going try for him once that huge nose of hers got wind of our break up. You know what I should do? I should take his sorry butt back just so I could rub it in her face then break up with him all over again!" Seems like I was wrong, I formed several words and not very nice ones at that.

  But Jaycee knew I was just running my mouth. I would never really do that to Josh or to anyone for that matter. It just felt good to let off some steam.

  "Well it's good to know you're not bitter." Really, she's laughing? "Calm down. It's only normal for him to subconsciously talk to someone you don't like after the break up, to get back at you. And yes I know you both agreed to break up, but did he really want it or just went along with you to save his pride? Don't be shocked, I read Cosmo. The big question is what are you gonna do?"

  "Well first of all, let me just say I'm impressed with your insight. Maybe my dad could give you a job. But back to me, I have no clue what I'm gonna do. I really don't think I want to get back together with Josh. I don't want to be one of those girls that have to date someone just to have a boyfriend because they're too weak to be alone. I will have to wait and see how I feel when and if he asks me."

  "Smart girl. I love you bunches but Brandon is getting nosey on my conversation and I'm starting to lose you on this stupid phone. But I will call you as soon as I get home." She was right about both, her phone was going out on me and her little brother is nosey.

  "Ok, love ya bye."

  I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep now. This is one of those times Dad said that a diary is good for; getting my feelings, or in this case my frustration, down on paper. I don't have to get up and get it cause I left it in my nightstand. I really need to get back into the habit of keeping it in my hiding spot.

  Dear Diary, I can't believe what just happened! Jaycee just called me. She is on her way home. Yay! She told me that Phoebe sent her message and...............

  It's time for a break. Oh my gosh, it's almost 10 o'clock. I can't believe I have been writing that long. No wonder I was hungry. Heading toward the kitchen I realized how much I love having the house to myself. No one making me get up early cause I'm 'wasting the day away'. And no one is here to watch me eat this cold pizza in my room. I could watch some TV. See if Maury is on so I can hear him say 'you ARE the father'.

  "Where is my remote?" I ask out loud, like it's gonna say 'here I am'. Maybe it's under my...

  "Hannah." I almost peed myself. It was Samantha. She was standing right beside my dresser. Same place she was last time I saw her. This time she was wearing some kind of white dress and she was soaking wet. To the point water was dripping off her dress and long blonde hair onto the hardwood floors. "Hannah I'm running out of time. You have to help me! Find me Hannah, please." Her aqua blue eyes held a deep dreadful fear, nothing like I've seen in her before. It made her look much younger than 16. "I have this feeling, if I don't find out who I am and how I died, I'm going to be trapped here forever as a lost soul. Please you must hurry."

  "Samantha I....." She was gone, just vanished, along with all the water. "Samantha if you can hear me I need more to go on. If you could just send me something. I want to help you. I will help you, the best I can. I promise."

  I have to write this down. This time she was showing me something and she didn't even realize it. I know the water is a key. Now I just have to find out what it means. I will probably have high blood pressure and on Zoloft pills before I'm 20. And stomach ulcers, definitely stomach ulcers. However, I will take a visit from Samantha any day over whatever that shadow thing is.

  I had just finished writing everything down when my phone rang. Crap its Josh. I don't have time for him. Right now my petty guy trouble seems so shallow compared to what Samantha is going through. I didn't even know I was crying until I felt a tear land on my arm. My chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it and it was getting hard to breath. I think I might be having a panic attack. I'm not even sixteen yet. I should be worrying
about clothes and boys and school, not about ghosts and demons and souls. And absolutely shouldn’t be worrying about the fact that Samantha thinks I'm the one who can save her. There goes my phone again, this time it's a text. It was from Josh -Hey sorry I haven't called or text you, but I need to talk to you. Soon.

  Wow, this day just keeps getting better and better. I need to go ahead and face Josh so I can focus on Samantha. I sat down and took very slow, deep breaths while trying to clear my head. It took several minutes to feel myself again. Grabbing my phone I text -Don't worry about it. I've been so busy I haven't noticed. That is not called lying, it’s called surviving ex's. -And sure, on the phone or do you want to meet up?

  He replied back. How bout we meet at our spot in 15 minutes.

  I carefully typed out my response. -Ummm you mean the swings at the park? Ok but give me 20. Our spot? We don't have a spot anymore. We are not a 'we' anymore. Dangit, what if Phoebe and Jaycee are right, what if Josh asks me out? I guess I can figure it out on the way.

  When I got to the park Josh was already on the swings waiting for me. He really is cute with his sandy blonde hair that's just a little too long and falls into his big brown eyes. There are girls at school that would love to be here with him right now. He is genuinely a great guy, and he was really good to me when we were dating. It would be easy to get together again and slide back into pace, like we never missed a step. No, that wouldn't be fair to him. We're just not meant to be.

  "Hey stretch." I tried breaking the awkwardness by using his nickname from basketball season.

  "Hey Hannah. You look really good. I saved you a swing."

  "Thanks, but maybe we can just walk around the track." I didn't want to swing like old times. Because being close to him, I didn't have to wonder what he wanted to talk about, I knew he is gonna ask me out again. His emotions were all but vibrating off his body. As he matched his pace with mine, I saw him put his hands in his pocket. I knew this was so he wouldn't, maybe just out of habit, try to hold my hand. I needed to show him I’m just his friend, to let him know that it doesn't have to be weird between us. I broke the silence first. "So, how's your summer been?"

  "It's ok. I've hung out with Nick and the guys a few times." Nick is Josh's best friend and the guys consist of Mike, Chase, Jacob and Luke. "I haven't got to do a whole lot since I've been working for my dad. That kinda sucks, but I like having my own money." Josh's dad has his own landscaping business, and decided this year to expand that to pool cleaning service, so I'm sure he has been busy. "How's yours been?"

  "It's been ok." I didn't want to elaborate and say I haven't done a darn thing, cause I text him earlier today about how busy I've been.

  Ok, walking while its 92 degrees was not a great idea when you have curly hair. I could all but feel the length drawing up and frizzing out.

  "I know walking was my idea, but can we find some shade. In about three minutes I'm gonna have raccoon eyes from my mascara melting down my face."

  "You don't need that stuff, you're beautiful."

  "Thanks, but you're such a guy, every girl needs mascara." I playfully pushed him. Uh oh, I know that look, that feeling. He thinks we are having a moment and we so are not.

  "And you're such a girl, lucky for me. Hannah let’s sit down, I want to talk to you." He walked ahead of me to a bench under a tree. At least it's shady.

  As I sat down I saw two upcoming freshman girls attempting to play tennis. Mostly they were swinging at air, but by the sounds of their laughter, they were having a blast. Trying to show Josh I was his FRIEND, I hit him on the arm and pointed in the direction of the tennis court. "There’s you two pretty girls."

  He looked, but only briefly. "You beat both of them put together, hands down. Even without mascara."

  Awww he is so sweet. Why can't I just like him back? "You're just saying that cause I can hear you and they can't." Ok I can't stand this anymore. I know he is building up the courage to ask me and I'm gonna have to hurt his feelings. Unless.... "Josh, I know what you want to talk to me about."

  "You do?" Even if I couldn't read his feelings, I could see the shock in his eyes.

  But I ignored it and played it off. "Yes, and let me just say you are so sweet to be thinking of me."

  "What? No Hannah, you...”

  "Please let me finish. You don't have to worry about me Josh. We decided to just be friends and that was a good decision. You don't have to worry about things being weird between us when school starts back. Nothing has to change. We have always hung out with the same crowd, and we still will. We were close friends before we dated, and we will continue to be. And when you start dating someone else I will be happy for you. Really." I put my hand on top of his for emphasis, and to read him.

  "You really are a good person, Han. I know you know I was going to ask you if we could get back together. You're not a good liar."

  "I'm so sorry."

  "It's ok, really. Don't worry about it. I think I was just second guessing our decision, and I was worrying about school starting back and what it was gonna be like without you. But I realize now that I do still have you, as a friend."

  "You are such a good guy, especially for a jock." Now it was his turn to push me. There's that crooked smile that used to melt my heart. I had Josh back and I felt a small weight lift off my shoulders, that is until I sensed him tighten up. The next thing I knew he was talking in a fast whisper to me.

  "Don't look but Megan is walking this way. After we broke up I started talking to her a little bit. But she is so annoying and all I could hear was you in my ear saying 'really, are you stupid?' So I dropped her. I think a part of me did it for spite, cause I knew you didn’t like her. I'm sorry." Well Jaycee called that one.

  Before I could say anything, I heard her voice. "Hello Josh, Hannah." It was worse than nails on a chalkboard. Josh nodded and I was suddenly very interested in studying my split ends. "Are you guys back together? Did you tell Hannah you came running to me after you broke up?"

  That's it, I've had enough of her. Jaycee wasn't here to help me fight my battles, but I got this. "No, Megan, we are not back together, we are hanging out as friends. If you had any you would know what that looks like, and yes he told me about talking to you. But that's ok, everybody shops at second hands stores every once in a while."

  Josh coughed, holding back a laugh while Megan shot daggers at me with her eyes, then turned and left. She has this prissy walk that she thinks makes her look all high and mighty, but in reality it makes her look like she's got something stuck up her butt. "Dang Hannah, Jaycee is rubbing off on you."

  "She would be so proud." We both laughed until I was wiping, mascara filled, tears off my cheeks. That was just what we needed. The worst was over and we were getting back to normal.

  "So you wanna be my wingman and help me pick up girls? You could tell them what a great catch I am."

  "Umm, not even a little bit. But I will buy you a cone of ice cream."

  "Deal." He stood up and held out his hand. When I took it I could feel that Josh was gonna be just fine.

  I had just got out of the shower and was putting my wet hair in a braid when my phone rang. It was Jaycee! "Hello?"

  "Hey, you home? Cause I'm coming over." No invitation needed with her.

  "Yes and come on. I can't wait to see you so I can fuss at you for leaving me."

  "Good, I'll be there in like two minutes. I'm with my Dad. If you were home, he was gonna drop me off with you on his way to see my uncle."

  "What if I wasn't home?" I teased.

  "Well then I would have been stuck with him. Open your door, we are turning on your road."

  "Ok bye." I ran down the stairs and past my Dad.

  "Where's the fire?" He asked.

  "Jaycee's here!" I opened the door and did a little stand in place dance until she got out of the car, then I ran to hug her and waved at her dad over her shoulder.

  She was about two shades darker and her hair had gotten lighter in the sun. "I br
ought you tacky souvenirs."

  "Then I'll only half fuss at you." We went back into the house and headed for the stairs.

  Mom came out of her bedroom. "Hello Jaycee. How was the cruise?"

  "It was awesome. Mom took like a hundred pictures. I will bring them when she gets them developed. She's old school and used the throw away cameras."

  We made it to my room and I shut the door. She handed me a bag with a coffee cup and a t-shirt and both said 'The Bahamas', with a scene of the beach.

  "I love them, thank you."

  "I thought you could use the coffee cup to hold your makeup brushes or something. Now tell me how great I look so I can tell you about my trip and about Jake! We are going out tomorrow night."

  Two hours later we had talked all about her trip. Like how the hot steward winked at her every time her parents wasn't looking, and we went through the pictures she took on her phone. I then told her about Josh and about Megan. Also about the recent visits from Samantha and the black evil shadow. Just bringing that up gave me chills all over again. I didn't realize that I had been bottling all this up just waiting to share it with her. She hadn't said a word while I gave her every little detail.

  When I finished she grabbed my hand and looked me, all seriously, in the eyes and took a deep breath. "Please tell me you took a pic of Megan's face when you told her off." I laughed so hard I started to cry. Then the tears wouldn't stop. In a way it felt good to cry out all the stress I've been holding in. "Aww Han, I'm sorry, don't cry. I was just trying to lighten the mood." She hugged me tight, and then got up to get me a tissue.

  "No, it's ok. It was funny, and it felt good to cry it out."

  "I might not be able to see them, but I can still find a way to help you figure all this out."

  "Why can't I just be normal?"

  She put her arm around my shoulder and said. "I know the answer to this one. I have thick calves and you're a freak of nature. I think that since we are so gorgeous, that is the universe's way of leveling out the playing field for all the other girls in the world. So they can have a fighting chance."