Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2)

by Joy Elbel

  The article I was looking for was staring out at me from the front page of that day’s paper.

  Local Student Found Dead in School The body of a female student was found in the Charlotte’s Grove High School last night during the annual Halloween dance. School officials report that the body was discovered in the girl’s locker room around seven o’clock by a friend of the deceased. Witnesses say she was last seen in the cafeteria around 6:30 but no one saw her leave the dance. Preliminary reports suggest that her death was the result of suicide. The victim, fifteen year old Garnet Hartley, was a sophomore at CGHS and a member of the class of 1993. Funeral arrangements are postponed pending the county coroner’s findings.

  The locker room! Of course, it made sense—the locker room was where my most intense encounters with her took place. But how exactly did she die? If she slit her wrists, it would explain the blood I saw in my visions. But then again, I saw nothing but blood in my dreams about Scarlet and blood had nothing do to with what happened to her or Levi. This whole thing was so confusing—would I ever get used to it? And more importantly, did I really want to? My hat was off to Rita for not only dealing with it for most of her life but to actually turning it into a hobby of sorts. There was no way that would ever be me.

  I flipped ahead a few days until I found her obituary. Garnet Nicole Hartley, 15, died suddenly Wednesday night. She was the daughter of Jonathan Hartley of Charlotte’s Grove. Garnet was a sophomore at Charlotte’s Grove High School and scheduled to graduate with the class of 1993. She was a member of the English department’s Black Raven Society and an avid runner. She was preceded in death by her mother Charlene Maxwell Hartley. Funeral services will be held at the Grimes and Loeffler Funeral Home Monday, November 5th at noon. Interment will follow at the Heaven’s Gate Cemetery.

  Not much to go on. I had her father’s name, but what good would it do me? Suicide was a touchy subject—even twenty years later, I could imagine. Jotting down his name anyway, I moved on to the next item of interest. The Black Ravens Society sounded ominous to say the least but it was probably just an extracurricular group for budding authors. Why didn’t they still have something like that now? If anyone belonged in a group like that it was me. I took down the name of the funeral home and cemetery and closed up shop. I found everything there was to find for today anyway. Now the big question—what could I even do with it?

  Spying Mrs. Tuttle sneaking into the restroom, I made a hurried break for the door. The last thing I needed was for her to remind me about Zach again. Not that I needed anyone’s help with that one. He was never far from my mind. I imagined him lying in his bed, injured and groggy from the pain meds. Uggh! Would going to see him just once be too much? Could I go to him and say that I was sorry but that our relationship was still over? I wanted to think that I had the inner strength to accomplish that feat but I knew I didn’t. Far from it. Seeing him like that would only make me cave and tell him that I still loved him, that I would give my soul to take away his pain. No. One moment with him would destroy my resolve and I couldn’t take that chance. If I wanted him to be safe, I had to stay as far away from him as I could reasonably get.

  Even after all of my tests at the hospital came back negative, Shelly insisted that there still had to be something wrong with me. Unfortunately, she noticed just how much weight I’d really lost and she gave me the third degree about my dieting. Dieting? Who needed to diet when life was so stressful that eating was the last thing on your mind? She stopped at my favorite fast food restaurant and picked up chicken and fries for supper as some sort of bribe to get me to eat. I wasn’t starving myself on purpose—why couldn’t she see that? So I put myself through the motions of eating knowing that eventually I would throw it all back up anyway.

  After supper, I went up to my room to do the only thing I had the urge to do—write. Well, make that my second urge because within a half hour of eating, I was on my knees in front of the toilet yet again. Once I was seated in front of my computer, I was in the one place where I felt like being. At least in my little world, I could control how things went, could ensure a happy ending. If nothing else, I learned one thing out of this whole messy situation—happy endings were hard to come by in real life. I clicked away at the keyboard for hours as the story unfolded from my mind and onto the screen. It was more cathartic than any therapy session could possibly be. I wrote well into the night until sleep actually seemed possible.

  My dream came with an air of lucidity, feeling more real to me than what was going on in my waking hours. Once again, I was at the school dance. This time though, the cafeteria was decorated for Halloween. Crepe paper bats hung festively from the ceiling and candlelit jack-o’-lanterns grinned in shadowy luminosity from every table. Everyone was in costume and I looked down at my clothes to see that I, too, was dressed for the occasion.

  It felt so weird. It was like I stepped into someone else’s body, someone else’s life—like I was me and someone else both at the same time. I had blond hair and I was wearing an ice blue dress. Even though my costume could have represented any number of historical or literary figures, I knew instantly that I was Juliet. And somewhere out in the crowd was where I would find my Romeo.

  I spotted him from across the room, encircled by friends who seemed to be hanging on his every word. Picking my way through the costumed throng, I made my way toward him. Never tearing my eyes away from him, I dodged into the circle and threw my arms around him from behind. When Romeo turned around, though, he wasn’t who I thought he was going to be. My eyes deceived me. Not only was he not Zach, he didn’t look even the slightest bit like him.

  The boy who stood before me looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite figure out how I knew him. He had brown hair and dark, brooding eyes that scanned my face now for recognition. I had no idea who he was but he seemed to know me. In a rush of panic, I knew I didn’t belong there in his elite group. I was way out of my league.

  Backing away slowly, I tried to utter an apology but no words came. He held out his hand to stop me, but my wrist slipped through his fingers as I took another step back. The room became deafeningly loud and claustrophobia crept into me. I had to get away—I had to slip away before everyone knew what a fool I was to think that this boy was my Romeo. My shoes became inexplicably rooted to the spot. I watched in terror as his face began to morph and shift into something grotesquely misshapen. What kind of monster was he? Once the transformation was complete, I was even more frightened. Staring back at me were the crystal blue eyes of Zach Mason.

  Slipping out of my heels, I ran barefoot down the hallway as the sound of my feet slapping against the tiles echoed back to me. There was only one place to go where I could be alone—one place where no one would ever find me. The girl’s locker room.

  My sheets were drenched with sweat when I finally woke up. The nightmare was so real that I actually checked to see if I was wearing the blue dress. Finding nothing but my usual pj’s, I started to relax. Until I caught sight of something yellow out of the corner of my eye. Untangling myself quickly from the covers, I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. There it was—the lock of hair that I painstakingly kept a startling shade of ruby was now dirty blond in color.

  21. I’ve Always Hated Pea Soup

  I dropped down onto the floor in shock. How was this possible? Was I truly going insane this time or could it be something worse? Was I being possessed? Possession never seemed real to me. Sure, the movies I’d watched about exorcisms were frightening to say the least, but could it actually be possible? Could another entity take over my body—my soul—until there was nothing left of me? My mind raced through all of the physical changes I’d gone through recently until it seemed more than possible and downright definite.

  First, there was the weight loss. Garnet was pathetically thin and I was well on my way to being there, too. My new hair color was striking similar to hers as well. I’d been throwing up on a daily basis since the first day of school—was she the ca
use? Maybe she had a terminal illness and chose to end her own life instead of suffer endlessly. If that was the case, was I now dying, too? All of the tests I went through at the hospital showed I was perfectly fine but none of them would have been testing for possession. I had to talk to Rita as soon as possible. And make myself an appointment at the hair salon, too.

  Something Wick-ed didn’t open for business until ten, but I was showered and dressed by nine and left the house while Shelly was on the phone with Principal Lascher. I only heard her side of the conversation, of course, but it didn’t sound good. From what I gathered, all attempts to trace the video back to its origin had led to a dead end. Translation— Jack Wolfe was on the school board so he probably pulled some strings to get Misty off the hook. Was it upsetting to hear that? Sure. But possible possession took precedence—I would deal with Misty later. Karma would come back to bite her in the end. All I wanted to do was be there to sharpen its incisors before they sank into her.

  There was time to spare before meeting Rita so I drove out to Heaven’s Gate Cemetery to see if I could find Garnet’s grave. How could that possibly help me now? I didn’t know but at least I would be doing something other than sitting around thinking about what horrible illness she might have had. The weeds were so overgrown that I had to beat them back with my foot to even get a look at the names.

  Morganti. Burgan. Cornell. Roseman. With each name I uncovered, I grew increasingly impatient. I picked up a rock and threw it in frustration. When it hit the ground in front of me, I anticipated the dull thud of stone on grass. What I got was the sound of stone on stone. The rock landed about twenty feet away from me at the base of an odd looking tree. As I walked toward it, I saw that it was an old oak whose trunk had split about a foot from the roots leaving a gaping cavity between the two moss coated sections that were left. The hole was filled in with cement bricks that led upward in a stair-case like fashion. Covered by weeds at the base of the tree, there lay a broken headstone. The top half of the marker lay face up and I could clearly read the name. Hartley.

  Squatting down beside it, I swiped away at the thistle that concealed the bottom half of it. Garnet Hartley. I’d found her. I traced the letters of her name delicately with my fingers.

  “What’s your secret?” I said aloud even though I knew I wouldn’t get an answer. I was wrong.

  “I don’t have any secrets,” said a male voice from behind me. “I think you’re the one with secrets.” Busted talking to a grave. Again. I snapped my head around to see who was about to get a hasty excuse for what I just got caught doing. When I came face to face with the blond boy who saw me doing the very same thing a month ago, I was speechless.

  “So you’re not even going to try to deny it,” he said with a grin. “I guess that means I was right. You do have secrets.”

  I didn’t know who he was but he definitely made me uncomfortable. He always seemed to be in the right place at the wrong time. Screw pleasantries, I was going to let him have it. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school or something?”

  “So should you,” he replied instantly, clearly enjoying my discomfort. “And besides, I told you before that I don’t go to school anymore. Remember?”

  “Whatever,” I mumbled as I stood up and started walking toward the front gate. I wasn’t staying as long as he was there. Now that I found Garnet’s grave, I could come back anytime I wanted.

  “Don’t leave on my account,” he called after me. “I didn’t scare you, did I?” I should have just kept my mouth shut and continued to walk. But I didn’t. He infuriated me so much that I turned to face him and shouted back, “You wish.”

  Loud laughter followed me out of the gates and all the way to my car. Rita was unlocking the door as I stepped onto the sidewalk in front of Something Wick-ed. Good. That meant that I would have at least a few minutes alone with her before customers interrupted us. The atmosphere inside the store was tranquil as usual. I was starting to think it was the only ghost-free, drama-free place in the entire town of Charlotte’s Grove.

  “Hello, Ruby!” Rita greeted me enthusiastically when I entered.

  “Hey,” I muttered half-heartedly, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Rita gave me a sympathetic smile. “One of these days you’re going to come in here because you want to shop—not because you’re troubled.”

  “I wouldn’t hold my breath for that if I were you.” I stopped at a table filled with Halloween themed candles and picked up one shaped like a ghost. “I attract these things like a magnet, you know,” I said shaking the lump of white wax in the air.

  “I know exactly how you feel—trust me,” she said laughing as she led me back to her all too familiar office. “Come on back. If anyone comes in, we’ll hear the bell.”

  I tried hard to make a long story short but it was nearly impossible. Rita listened quietly until I was finished and then she calmly uttered one word.

  “Phantom.”

  “What?” And how could she be calm at a time like this? “You have yourself a phantom. They can be nasty and really hard to get rid of.” She offered me bottled water and when I declined, she took a drink herself. “They’re rare but I did have one myself once.”

  I always thought ghosts were pretty much all the same. Who knew there was a whole hierarchy of entities out there waiting to destroy me? Since she didn’t readily explain herself, I asked the obvious question.

  “Okay…what exactly is a phantom?” “Phantoms are ghosts that have the power to change you.” She pointed to the recently blond lock of hair. “The power to make you feel the way they felt before they died.”

  My body, my mind were no longer my own and it was a frightening thought. What kinds of things could she do to me? If I couldn’t give her what she wanted, would there be anything left of me when she was done? Your thoughts and choices were supposed to be sacred—I felt emotionally violated.

  “I know how horrible that must sound but give me a chance to explain.” Just then the doorbell rang leaving me in a suspended state of thought while Rita tended to her customer. How could I trust any decisions I’d made since Garnet wormed her way into my brain? Zach. Would I have still broken up with him if it weren’t for her influence? The list of what ifs was endless.

  Five minutes later, Rita returned. “Sorry about that. Fall is one of my biggest seasons and we probably won’t have much chance to talk once the people start rolling in. Now where was I…?”

  I reminded her that she was just about to tell me the gory details of my possession. Rita threw her head back in a hearty laugh. “Oh, honey, you’re not possessed. You won’t start contorting against the laws of physics or shoot pea soup out of your mouth. She simply has the power to make you feel things the way she felt them.”

  I explained my recent illness and sudden weight loss. “Do you think it was because she was sick? Could she have killed herself because she wanted to end her physical suffering?”

  “Well, that’s possible I guess. But the fact that she did it in the school makes me think that it wasn’t something premeditated. Something happened at that dance to make her do it.” The bell rang twice in rapid succession ending our conversation prematurely.

  “Stop in any time, Ruby,” Rita said as she helped a customer retrieve a pumpkin candle from the top shelf. “I’m always glad to talk with you.”

  As I was about to open the door to leave, I glanced at the window where the help wanted sign still hung in the same spot where she placed it a month ago. I snatched it in my hand and marched up to Rita.

  “I want to apply for the job.” Now that Zach and I were through, I was going to have a lot of free time on my hands. Plus, something told me that I might need more help from Rita with this ghost than I did with the last.

  “No need—you’re hired! Stop by tomorrow and we’ll make it official.” Rita gave me a smile and a wink and I walked out of the shop feeling slightly better than when I walked in.

  Since things were starting to look up, I sh
ould have known that they would soon come crashing down at my feet again. The weather was supposed to turn colder by the weekend so I went for a walk to absorb the warmth of the sun while I still could. I wandered into the woods and down the path to the mausoleum. The foliage was breathtaking. Or at least it would have been if there was any joy left inside me at all. But as it were, each falling leaf seemed to be waving goodbye to summer and goodbye to better memories. If I only I could share this with Zach…. I had to stop thinking about him—dwelling on the past would do me no good. It was over and I had to deal with it.

  Normally, I would have stayed in the woods for hours daydreaming about him. When that option was taken away, there was nothing for me to do there. I reached the mausoleum, paused to grieve for my lost love in the place where he saved my life not long ago, then followed the path back to Rosewood.

  As I crossed the tree line into the backyard, my heart nearly stopped. There were two red Neons parked in front of the mansion. Zach was here. Did he come to fix things with me and if he did, what would I say to him? As much as I loved him, I had to stay strong. He got hurt because of me. I couldn’t lose him the same way I lost Lee and the closer I was to him, the more likely that was to happen. No, I could not even consider getting back together with him.

  If I snuck in through the back, he would never see me. I made a beeline for the door only to get caught at the very second my hand hit the knob.

  “Ruby, wait!” If I was smart, I wouldn’t have stopped. I would have opened that door and pretended like he didn’t exist. But love is very rarely smart so instead, I froze in place waiting for him to make the next move.

  Don’t look at him. Don’t look his direction. Maybe if I repeated the words enough times in my head I would actually listen to them. When he got close enough that I could smell his cologne though, it was all over for me. I turned to face him and instantly wished I hadn’t.

  There he stood in a neck brace and with his left arm in a cast. His hair was flat instead of the trademark perfect spikes making him look younger than usual. Young and vulnerable. Young, vulnerable and broken. I compared the Zach I saw before me to the Norse god I first saw in the diner less than five months ago. It was hard to believe they were the same person and even harder to swallow the fact that I was responsible for that change.