Broken Spirits

by S. A. Hunter

  “If you need to go, it’s okay,” she told him.

  “Uh, is Rachel here today?”

  Yeah, she knew she looked pathetic eating lunch alone. But that was her life lately. “She’s here, but I don’t know where she is.” That was a lie. She knew, but the gym wing was not her hang out. It was Taryn’s.

  Kyle finally sat down across from her.

  “You really don’t need to eat with me,” Mary said, hating the idea that he was staying only out of pity.

  His forehead creased. “Where else would I go?”

  “Where do you usually eat?” she asked.

  “In the cafeteria, but this is a lot nicer. Not as loud.”

  She should tell him. Rachel was obviously not showing up. She picked at the grass unhappily. “Gran figured out something after you left.”

  “What?”

  She pulled more grass. “The Shadowman is attached to me. It’s what’s letting the ghosts take possession of me.”

  “So was that what was possessing you last night?”

  “Yeah. It’s in my shadow. We figure it jumped to me when Mr. White died.”

  “Do you know how to get rid of it?”

  “No, but Gran’s looking into it.”

  “How are you holding up?”

  She shrugged. “Doesn’t seem real, but I saw it with my own eyes.” She yawned. Her mouth opened so wide her jaw cracked.

  “Did you go back to sleep last night?”

  She shook her head. “Didn’t want to.”

  “Well, try getting some sleep now. I’ll wake you when it’s time to go back in.”

  It was a good idea. She was really tired. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded.

  She lay back, using her book bag as a pillow. Kyle lounged beside her. It was safe to close her eyes. She wished Rachel were there.

  She drifted off and soon began to dream. She was in the shadowy confines of her house, but everything looked sinister and alien. Every shadow waved and moved while the object for it stayed still. She climbed the steps to the second floor and turned right, going into Gran’s bedroom. There wasn’t any light in the room. She could just make out Gran asleep in the bed. She was lying flat on her back with her hands folded over her stomach like Mr. White in his coffin. Mary went to her bedside and stared down at her. She held her hand over Gran’s face and silvery wisps of smoke began rising from her skin.

  Mary wanted to pull her hand away to stop stealing life force from Gran but couldn’t control her arm. When the silvery wisps stopped rising, Mary’s arm dropped back to her side. She tried not to see how gray Gran’s skin had become. She picked up the wooden box on the nightstand and carried it into the bathroom. She set it on the counter and lifted the lid without any trouble. Inside was the athame. She picked it up, and even in the dim light, the obsidian blade flashed. When she raised her eyes to her reflection, she saw that her eyes were glowing red.

  “Mary, wake up. Everything’s okay. It’s just a dream.”

  Kyle was shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes with a gasp and shot up.

  “Hey, it’s okay. It’s only a bad dream,” he said.

  She combed her hair back. “Thanks for waking me.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  The bell rang.

  “It was just a bad dream. Thanks for sitting with me. I think the nap really helped.”

  Kyle shook his head. “You don’t need to thank me.”

  “But I was asleep the whole time. Couldn’t have been any fun for you.”

  He shrugged. “I got some homework done. Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Better even. I really needed a nap.”

  They went back into school. Mary still wanted to see Rachel, but without any classes with her, it would be tricky to catch her. She could go to Rachel’s class and maybe wave her out, but she’d gotten in trouble for that before. As if her contemplating doing something even vaguely wrong had summoned him, Mr. Landa stepped out into the hall and beckoned her over.

  “Well, my day had been getting better.”

  Kyle looked over at Mr. Landa. “How often do you see him?”

  “About once a week. Do you even know who your guidance counselor is?”

  Kyle looked a little unsure. “Ms. Crockett?”

  “Cropkitt. I’ve never really spoken to her. Landa handles all the trouble cases.”

  “Huh. Well, see ya,” he said.

  She nodded and watched him walk away. She probably shouldn’t have told him about Landa.

  “Mary, come on in. I was about to send a pass for you.”

  She turned to Mr. Landa, standing at the entrance to the guidance offices. Her shoulders slumped. He led her back to his office. She dropped her book bag on the floor and took a seat. “Do we really need to keep doing this every week? I haven’t been in trouble once this year.”

  “And that is very good. One could think these sessions are working then.”

  Mary rolled her eyes and slid down further into her chair.

  “How are things? How’s volunteering at the hospital?”

  “I stopped doing that. Thanks for the recommendation and everything, but with Gran hurting her ankle and then her friend dying, I couldn’t keep up with it.”

  Mr. Landa’s eyes became concerned. “Yes, I heard you were out Monday for a funeral. Was he someone close to your grandmother?”

  “Sort of. They hadn’t seen each other for years. His name was Ezekiel White. Gran arranged the funeral and everything. I met him through the hospital and they reconnected. She was visiting him when she hurt herself.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad. Are you helping her?”

  She thought about the Shadowman and the ghost possessions. She was not helping Gran at all. “I’m doing what I can.”

  Mr. Landa looked at her for a moment. The truth must have bled through her reply. “Is everything all right, Mary?”

  She tried to avoid lying outright to Mr. Landa unless it was something outrageous, like playing Uno with little green men over the weekend or she went feather-boa shopping with Elvis last week.

  “Everything’s fine.” With the way things were going, the lie was pretty outrageous.

  And like with the other outrageous lies, Mr. Landa didn’t believe her. “You seem down. Is there anything you want to talk about?”

  No, she didn’t want to talk about the thing that was piggybacking on her shadow. She didn’t want to talk about her fear of being possessed and not even knowing it. But would it be better to be awake when possessed? She wasn’t sure. She’d at least know when she came out of it and be able to tell others. But her dream came back to her. It had been pretty awful. An uncontrollable shudder passed through her.

  Mr. Landa saw. “Mary?” He appeared concerned. But that was his job. He was supposed to worry about the misfits and try to fix them. But there may be no way to fix her. That was her fear. What if Gran couldn’t figure out how to get rid of the Shadowman? And if she did, what if ghosts kept possessing her?

  “How do you know if you like a guy and not just the fact that the guy likes you?” Where the hell had that come from? The question appeared to have thrown Mr. Landa as well.

  He coughed and glanced down at his desk. “Um, well, that’s a very good question.”

  Mary was torn between extreme embarrassment at even mentioning the matter to Landa and a sick desire to pursue it further to see how much she could make him squirm. The sickness won.

  “I think I like this boy, but I used to like another boy a lot and sort of still like him even though he doesn’t like me and some people have wondered if I’m only going out with this other boy because he’s so much like the first boy.”

  “We’re talking about Cyrus and Kyle Asher, right?” Mr. Landa asked dryly.

  “You have to keep this completely confidential, right? You can’t talk about this to anyone?”

  He gave her a wry look. “I’m not a psychologist, Mary, but I promise
not to tell anyone about what we discuss unless you say something that makes me worry about your safety or someone else’s well-being.”

  “Would this qualify?”

  “No, I don’t think so. So, let me see if I have this straight: You liked Cyrus Asher, and he used to like you. He doesn’t like you anymore, but his brother has started liking you, and you’re not sure if you like him back?”

  “I like him, I mean he’s a good guy, but I don’t know if I like like him.”

  “Yes, the like-like conundrum. It has plagued many a high school student.”

  Mr. Landa was no longer squirming. In fact, he looked amused. She definitely didn’t like that.

  “So, got any advice?” she asked.

  “Just keep it honest between you. Don’t move too fast. Keep getting to know each other.”

  “Oh.”

  “Oh?” Mr. Landa asked.

  Mary was the one squirming now. “I may have done a little bit too much getting to know him.”

  “Are you upset about it? Did he pressure you into it?”

  She shook her head. “I mean, I’m not proud of it, but he totally put a stop to it because he could tell something was wrong with me. Like I said, he’s a really good guy.”

  “Yes, he does sound like an excellent young man. Mary, from the sound of it, you’re going through normal teenage angst.”

  “Normal, huh?” she repeated dryly.

  Mr. Landa gave her a look. “Yes, unless there’s something more that you’re not telling me?”

  “Nope, just don’t hear the word normal often when people are referring to me.”

  Mr. Landa shook his head. “You are very normal, Mary. It’s normal for teenagers to feel like they aren’t.”

  She wasn’t so sure about the whole ‘her being normal’ thing. She did hear ghosts, and her shadow was currently playing host to a malevolent entity, but she did appreciate Mr. Landa’s reassurances.

  “Well, I guess you’re right. Thanks.”

  “What’s that I hear? Are you agreeing with me? I must make note of the date and time in your file. This is real progress.”

  “I wouldn’t get too excited. It could be of the ‘two steps forward three back’ variety,” Mary said dryly.

  “I’ll take what I can get. And on that note, let me write you a pass.”

  Mary put on her backpack. “Thanks, see you.”

  She left the guidance office and walked slowly down the hall. Her class wasn’t even half over yet. She was in no rush to get to it. Instead, she took a detour to go by Rachel’s class. Thankfully, the classroom door was open. She made a point of walking slowly in front of it, hoping Rachel would spot her and come out. She stopped down the hall and waited.

  Rachel stepped into the hall. Mary nodded her head to the nearby ladies’ restroom and went in. Rachel followed.

  Mary braced herself against a sink. Rachel entered a second later. “Hey, sorry about lunch. I got caught up doing something with Taryn,” she said.

  “You and Taryn have gotten really close,” she said.

  “She’s cool and fun to hang out with. The three of us should do something.”

  “Yeah, sounds like fun.”

  Mary felt weird. Jealous, maybe.

  “So, what’s up?” Rachel asked.

  “The Shadowman is piggybacking on my shadow.”

  Rachel’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “Figured it out last night. Kyle had to play knight in shining armor and rescue me.”

  “You know you have to tell me more than that.”

  “Someone called him in the middle of the night and told him he had to get over to my house or something really bad would happen to me.”

  “Who called him?”

  Mary shrugged. “Don’t know. But if he hadn’t, things would be really bad right now. Thing is, Kyle isn’t the first person he called.”

  Rachel’s back stiffened. “Oh?”

  “Have fun at the club?”

  Rachel’s eyes dropped to the floor. “Don’t, Mary.”

  “You keep saying you want to be a part of this. Well, I’ve been trying to include you, but you seem more interested in going to clubs and hanging out with Taryn.”

  “So I’m not supposed to have fun? Is that it? If you’re not having fun, then no one else can?”

  “I’m saying my life was in danger last night, and you couldn’t pick up your damn cell phone.”

  “No, don’t even try that. I looked at my cell. It wasn’t you calling. Or even Kyle. It was some unknown number from freaking Alabama. How was I supposed to know it was some mysterious person calling for you?”

  Mary turned her eyes to the wall and stared at the paper towel dispenser. “Fine, but you haven’t shown much interest in any of this lately. I basically told you that I heard from the Shadowman yesterday at school and you blew me off.”

  “I’m here now, aren’t I? Jesus, Mary. I can’t just drop everything for you. I have my own life.”

  “Fine. But you can’t get upset if I do stuff without consulting you first. The thing with Mr. White wasn’t easy for me, and I did not need you guilt-tripping me about not telling you everything that went down.”

  “You don’t need to consult me, but you could’ve told me.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to talk about every last thing with you.”

  Rachel’s frown deepened. “So why’d you even come by my classroom just now? Why are you here talking to me?”

  “Because I thought you wanted to know. You said not to shut you out. Well, I’m standing here like a dumbass, holding the door for you, while you go on by with freaking Taryn and don’t even look at me.”

  “Stop blaming Taryn. She’s got nothing to do with you and me.”

  “Oh really? How’s that? Because she seems to be between us to me.”

  “Because I don’t hold Kyle against you! I’m not getting jealous when you two go out on dates. I don’t mind that he’s with you more than I am.”

  “Of course, not. I’m dating Kyle. You and Taryn—” Mary stopped. Rachel had folded her arms and wasn’t looking at her anymore. Her shoulders were hunched. “Are you and Taryn—”

  Rachel raised her eyes and locked them with Mary. “What?”

  Mary swallowed. “Are you and Taryn dating?”

  Rachel looked away. “Sort of.”

  “But you’ve always liked boys. I mean since when have you—”

  Rachel cut her off, “I still like boys, but I like Taryn, too.”

  “Oh.”

  They both stood there awkwardly. Mary was processing the news. She couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t thrown by this revelation. She thought she’d known Rachel better than anyone. How could she not have known this? “How do you know you like like her?” Mary asked.

  Rachel looked insulted by the question. “I know the same way you know you like Kyle.”

  “But I don’t know. I so don’t know that I just talked about this with Mr. Landa, for Pete’s sake.”

  Rachel’s eyes softened at this admission. “Mary, come on. You do like Kyle. That’s obvious. You would have no problem ignoring him if you didn’t like him. Instead you go out with him, you talk and hang out with him, you let him in on the craziness that’s your life. You wouldn’t do that if you didn’t like him.”

  “Yeah, I like him, but do I like like him?” And she needed to figure out a better way to express her problem.

  Rachel sighed. “You’ll just have to see. I knew when Taryn kissed me.”

  Mary’s eyes widened a millimeter at Rachel’s admission. She was still processing the fact that Rachel liked a girl. Knowing they’d kissed meant this was real. She also thought about the make-out session with Kyle. It had been intense. If he hadn’t put the brakes on…

  “Why are you afraid to admit to being into him?”

  Rachel’s question brought her out of her head. “Because I’m afraid he’ll stop liking me.”

  Her friend cocked an eyebrow at her. “And has
he done anything to indicate that might happen?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I know it’s not him. It’s me. I’m the one who’s going to do something.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Take your pick. There’s the whole hearing-ghosts thing. The possessed-shadow thing. The antisocial thing. And who knows what in the future. What guy is going to put up with that?”

  “One who really likes you.”

  Mary looked away, unwilling to accept the statement.

  Rachel sighed. “I’ve gotta get back to class. Okay?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, thanks for coming out to meet me and for coming out?” she really wasn’t sure if she was saying that right.

  Rachel rolled her eyes and grinned. “Yeah. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “I am glad you told me about you and Taryn. We’ll have to do something together.”

  “Like a double date?”

  Mary wasn’t sure about that. She still wasn’t used to the idea of going on regular dates with Kyle, but she didn’t want to upset Rachel with the idea that she didn’t support her and Taryn. “Yeah, we can try that.”

  Rachel took the two steps between them and pulled her into a hug. “Thanks, Mary. This means a lot to me.”

  Mary returned the hug. “I’m glad you told me.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Getting Sleepy

  On her way home from school, Mary paused on the sidewalk in the late afternoon sun and faced her shadow. She looked at it closely. It appeared normal but for a flicker at the edges. It hurt her eyes to look at it. She raised her hand and watched her shadow do the same. She jumped and her shadow lengthened and contracted with her. Did the Shadowman overlay her shadow completely or did it huddle in the center? If she got down on her hands and knees, could she run her hands over her shadow and feel it? She stayed standing. She scuffed her feet and stared at the spot where her shadow met her toes. Could a knife really cut that seam? She looked at her shadow again and watched the edges jitter. It made goosebumps rise on her arms. She was scared of her own shadow.

  She walked up the sidewalk to her house with her shadow trailing behind her. As she stepped in, she saw Gran was waiting in the living room for her. And she wasn't alone. Mary looked at the man that was with her. He was an older, African-American man with graying hair at his temples and round silver glasses. He was dressed in a tailored, pin-striped, brown suit. He looked very dapper. Refined. They usually didn’t interact with those sorts of people. Tie-die was more common in their house than pin-striped.