Cemetery Tours

by Smith, Jacqueline

  “Yeah, lots. I think I was just dehydrated.”

  “Well, that’ll do it.”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you with the couch.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Kate assured him. Their conversation had carried them up the stairs and to Michael’s front door, where they stopped.

  “Still, I wish I could have helped,” he said.

  “You did help. You have no idea how much you helped.” She could tell her praise embarrassed him, so she changed the subject. “Hey listen, Gavin’s birthday is this weekend, and we were going to have a few people over on Saturday evening to celebrate and to show off the new apartment. Would you like to come?”

  She could have sworn she saw a moment of hesitation flicker across his eyes before he answered, “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

  “Great. We’ll actually probably be spending most of our time down at the pool, so uh, dress accordingly,” Kate tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It had been a while since she’d asked a guy out. Well, technically she wasn’t really asking him out. She was asking her new neighbor to come to a party. As a friend. A cute friend who looked really good in the jeans he was wearing. But still, just a friend. “Party starts around seven. But I’m sure I’ll see you before then, you know, because we’re neighbors...”

  Okay, time to shut up and leave before you awkward him to death.

  “I’ll be there,” he smiled.

  “Right. Well, I guess I’ll see you around, then. And I’m really glad you’re feeling better.”

  “Thanks, Kate. I’ll see you later.”

  “Bye.” And with a small wave, she walked across the landing and into her apartment.

  ~*~

  Michael spent the rest of the week trying to think of a reason not to attend Kate and Gavin’s party. It shouldn’t have been that hard, really. Neither Kate nor Gavin knew very much about him. He could easily tell them that his cousin was in town, or that his mother had hoped to have dinner with him that evening. He could say that he had a friend who needed a favor. The more he thought about it, however, the feebler the excuses seemed. He could have always told them that he was sick. Then again, he wasn’t sure how credible that would be given his “dehydration” the weekend prior. He could just not show up, claim that he’d forgotten or that he’d had a family emergency. Still, that seemed like a pretty weak cop out.

  The real problem with all of those excuses, Michael realized, was that deep down, he actually wanted to go to the party. It was the perfect opportunity to mingle, to see what else he could find out about Kate and Gavin’s strange and rather unfortunate past. Maybe one of their friends could tell him something that would clue him into the identity of their spectral stalker.

  He’d spent all Sunday browsing the Internet, trying to find anything he could on Gavin Avery. Aside from a few high school and college cross country records however, there wasn’t much. Michael had also managed to track down both Kate and Gavin on Facebook (Kate added him as a friend later that evening), but even after scrolling through all of their photographs, he couldn’t find a trace of the dark young man. He remembered Kate mentioning that Gavin had fallen ill around two months after her accident. That meant that whatever had happened occurred around late February, early March. Neither of their histories, however, revealed anything more than Kate had already told him.

  Of all the questions Kate had left him with, she had been right about one thing; the break-in, the attack on their old apartment, had been personal, and it would likely happen again. Or maybe something worse. And although Michael was about ninety-eight percent confident that the spirit’s anger wasn’t directed at Kate, he couldn’t help but worry that she might still get caught in the crossfire between the ghost and his intended target.

  Truth be told, Michael could count on one hand the number of people he’d met, or even heard of, who’d been critically injured by a spirit, so there really was no reason to worry about Kate.

  Yet he did. He hadn’t been in the room with the ghost for two minutes and already, he was turning out to be one of the most powerful spirits Michael had ever encountered. Only a handful could acquire and retain the amount of energy it took to trash an apartment, and he’d never met one that could drain energy so quickly and efficiently. Then of course, there was the rage; the intense hatred that had resulted in the destruction of a living space and that Michael had seen reflected all too clearly in the man’s dark eyes. He’d met angry spirits before, but never of that caliber.

  As much as he tried to convince himself the only reason he wanted to go to the party was to find out more about the ghost, he realized that wasn’t quite true. Although he’d been hoping to avoid Kate, he couldn’t deny the part of him that had been wanting to see her again. He knew that he would end up going to the party just because she’d invited him, and it was for that very reason he knew he should stay away.

  He’d dated a few girls in the past and had even had one almost-serious girlfriend, Natalie, but he’d ended up hurting all of them. Not because he was some smooth heartbreaker. That would have been less insulting, at least according to Natalie. As she’d put it, Michael didn’t trust her enough to open up to her. It was obvious that he was keeping something from her, remaining distant and aloof instead of being honest with her. That was a lot more offensive than a guy who simply couldn’t commit. He didn’t want to hurt Kate the way he’d hurt Natalie. Unfortunately, if he wanted to spend more time with her, the only alternative to eventually hurting her was telling her the truth.

  He wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready for that.

  ~*~

  Kate woke with a start.

  It was back. That horrible sense of unease. Those hairs standing straight up on the back of her neck. The feeling that someone was standing right outside her bedroom door, listening. Waiting.

  Kate had prayed that with her new apartment would come a sense of security. She hadn’t slept soundly in her old apartment since the break-in. There had been several nights that she’d crept into Gavin’s room and spent the night curled up in his old sleeping bag. It wasn’t the most comfortable accommodation, but it was better than being alone.

  Now, as she sat upright, dizzy and disoriented, in the darkness of her new bedroom, she fought the urge to sprint across the hall into the sanctuary of her brother’s room. She couldn’t say for sure what had stirred her from a dreamless sleep, but she recognized the feeling almost immediately.

  Someone, or something, was in her apartment.

  Her therapist had told her that it was perfectly natural for victims of break-ins to experience insomnia, nightmares, even panic attacks. Kate knew she should trust her therapist, but she couldn’t help but feel that her diagnosis wasn’t entirely accurate. She had no trouble falling asleep and she usually had pleasant dreams. Her problem was what woke her up in the middle of the night; the sensation that she was being watched.

  And now, it had followed her here.

  Gavin had told her that it was all in her head, and that if she just kept reminding herself that, then the feeling would go away. “Mind over matter,” he’d always say. Kate was no stranger to the concept. Over the years, she’d mastered the art of willing away premenstrual nausea.

  She couldn’t will this away. She tried as hard as she could to rationalize with herself. The apartment was locked. They were on the second floor. Gavin had been there all day. There was no one in her apartment.

  So why couldn’t she shake the dreadful feeling that she wasn’t alone?

  A quick glance at her cell phone told her that it was almost two in the morning. She had to wake up at six-thirty. Thank God it was a Friday.

  With a sigh of resignation, she lay back down and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes. She had to at least try to get some rest. Desperate, she tried to think of something, anything, that could keep her mind off of the unnerving presence. She thought of the movie she’d watched on Netflix earlier t
hat day. She thought of the party that she and Gavin would be hosting on Saturday. She thought of all the friends they’d invited, and how they’d react to the new apartment. She thought of Michael.

  As she conjured up an image of his face, a surprising wave of serenity washed over her. Again, she felt a sense of familiarity as she thought of him. The day he’d helped them move, she’d felt so comfortable around him that she’d shared things that she hadn’t even been able to share with some of her closest friends. What was it about him that made her trust him so completely? She barely even knew him.

  Whatever strange influence he held over her must have been powerful, because the next thing she knew, her alarm was ringing in her ear, and she was looking around her very empty sunlit room, wondering why she’d been so afraid a few short hours earlier.

  Chapter 4

  By the time Michael got to the party on Saturday evening, it seemed that most of the guests had already arrived. There weren’t too many people, maybe a dozen or so, and most of them seemed too preoccupied with what Kate and Gavin had done with the apartment to notice the newcomer. The apartment really did look good, he suspected all thanks to Kate and her flair for decorating.

  Gavin came to greet him first. Michael shook his hand and wished him a happy birthday, and Gavin thanked him for coming and again for all his help the week prior. Although he still wasn’t a shining sample of perfect health, there seemed to be a little more life in Gavin’s eyes.

  Before he could think too much on it, Kate appeared, looking bright and lovely in a lime green summer dress and blue sandals.

  “Michael,” she smiled. “I’m so glad you came.”

  “Thanks for inviting me. The apartment looks great.”

  “Thank you. Can I get you anything to drink? We have more than water and Gatorade now.”

  “I’m okay,” Michael replied. “But thanks.”

  “Well, help yourself to anything. We have a bunch of snacks and a couple of our friends are already down by the pool. In fact, the rest of us will probably head down there in a few minutes. I really only wanted people to meet up here so they could see the new apartment, but now that everyone’s seen it, I’m ready to swim.” Michael was relieved. He was beginning to feel kind of dorky in his tropical-themed swim trunks and orange polo shirt.

  “Well, well, who is this?” A woman decked out in a bright magenta sundress covered with tiny sequined flowers and magenta heels to match appeared next to Kate. She brought with her a cloud of perfume so thick that Michael had to hold his breath to keep from coughing.

  “Val, this is our new neighbor, Michael. Michael, this is my boss and very good friend, Valerie.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Michael shook her hand and tried his best not to inhale.

  “Very nice indeed,” she grinned. To Kate, she muttered very indiscreetly, “You were right, Sweetie. He is cute.”

  Michael was sure his cheeks were blushing as vividly as Kate’s as she chuckled nervously, “Okay Val, thank you.” Valerie winked and flounced off to flirt with Gavin and his friends. “So that’s Val...” Kate announced, still rather pink in the cheeks.

  “She seems nice,” Michael replied with a sheepish smile.

  “Well, she’s definitely not shy,” Kate responded. “And on that note, I think I’m going to start herding everyone down to the pool.”

  “Before we go, would you mind if I used your bathroom?” Michael asked.

  “Not at all. Just pretend that it’s not messy. Gavin seems to think that shoving stuff to one side of the counter is the same thing as cleaning.”

  Knowing that the only bathroom in the apartment connected to Gavin’s bedroom, Michael slipped inside and waited until the noise and chatter died down. Once he was certain the apartment was empty, he opened the door to Gavin’s room and looked around. The room was dark, but the light from the bathroom spilled through the open door just enough to illuminate every corner.

  No ghost.

  “Looking for something?” The voice made Michael jump. He whirled around and found himself face to face with Gavin.

  “Sorry I - ” Michael wracked his brain for an excuse that would explain why he’d just been caught snooping around his neighbor’s bedroom. “I thought I heard something in here.”

  Gavin shook his head. “You and Kate.”

  “What about her?”

  “She’s always hearing strange noises. Back in our old apartment, she was convinced she’d hear someone walking around late at night.”

  “But you never heard anything?”

  “No,” Gavin replied simply. “To be honest, I think the break-in traumatized her a lot more than she likes to let on. She’s always had a crazy imagination. As a kid, she would actually make imaginary friends for herself out of poster board. She’d give them names, hometowns, back stories, birthdays, you name it, she thought of it. I think now, because she imagines things so vividly, she thinks too hard about the break-in and scares herself into believing she hears someone walking around our apartment. But what do I know? I’m not a shrink.”

  “It sounds plausible,” Michael agreed, reeling from the information that Kate knew, or at least suspected, that someone other than Gavin was living with her in the apartment. The real challenge was going to be working that into a conversation without sounding, well, creepy.

  “I don’t know. I just hope she’s okay. She’s been through a lot more than I have this year.”

  “She seems happy,” Michael told him.

  “Yeah,” Gavin replied listlessly. “Anyway, we should probably head on down to the pool before she sends a search and rescue squad to check on us.”

  ~*~

  Down by the pool, Michael and Gavin were greeted by the tantalizing aroma of cheese, pepperoni, and sausage pizza. The sun had almost set and the sky glowed a deep shade of violet. The lights inside the pool illuminated the entire area, and someone had brought an old 1990s boom box that filled the night air with a popular country song that Michael recognized but couldn’t name.

  “Ugh, this song is awful,” Gavin complained loudly. “Someone change it to something good.”

  “Hey, I love this song,” Kate, who was already shoulder-deep in the clear blue water, called. “Besides, it’s summer. Summer time is country music time.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s my birthday and I say it goes.” Kate’s face fell into a playful pout.

  “You’re lame,” she quipped before she slipped beneath the restless surface of the pool.

  About thirty minutes later, everyone was lounging around, eating, drinking, talking, and laughing. By that point, Michael had all but forgotten that he was supposed to be on a mission to find out all he could about the ghost. But, he reasoned with himself, he wasn’t there this time. Maybe Michael had been wrong all along and the ghost hadn’t been waging some crazy vendetta against Gavin. Maybe it was just a random haunting and he had left them for good. Unfortunately, the rational voice in the back of his mind told him that probably wasn’t the case.

  As they all gathered around to eat, Michael found himself in a small group that consisted of a very chlorinated Kate (he tried to pretend he hadn’t choked on his soda when she’d first climbed out of the pool in her dark blue bikini), a girl Gavin used to work with named Toni, her girlfriend Leah, and Gavin’s friend Alex, who’d annoyed Michael from the moment he decided to grace them with his presence.

  “Guys, watch this,” he’d announced, grinning stupidly as he took a seat on the pavement next to Michael. “Hey, Kate, what color is the pool?”

  “Hilarious, Alex,” Kate remarked.

  “I hope you don’t wonder why you go home alone,” Toni told Alex, who stared at her like a deer in the headlights. Michael decided that he liked Toni.

  “So Michael, how about you? Do you have a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend?” Leah asked.

  “Um, no. I’m single.” He glanced over at Kate, but only for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he could swear he saw her smile.

&
nbsp; Later on that evening, everyone gathered around a platter full of cupcakes, throughout which were placed twenty-six candles, and sang “Happy Birthday” to Gavin.

  “Did you make the cupcakes?” Michael asked Kate as Gavin blew out his candles.

  “Actually Toni and Leah made them. The last time I tried to bake something, half of my senior class ended up with food poisoning.”

  “Yikes.”

  “Yeah. It wasn’t pretty. Fortunately for me, I didn’t eat any of it,” Kate grinned. She snatched up two cupcakes and handed one to Michael. He followed her to an isolated corner of the pool, where she sat down and dangled her feet in the water. He followed suit. “Well, I don’t want to jinx anything, but I’d say the party’s going well. Wouldn’t you?”

  “Yeah, it’s been great,” Michael agreed. “Though I’m not sure how I feel about your friend Alex.”

  “Yeah, he’s um... out there,” Kate remarked, glancing over at Alex, who looked like he was trying to balance a beer bottle on his head. “He’s one of Gavin’s old college buddies, so I kind of had to invite him.”

  “You know, Gavin’s looking a lot better than he did last week,” Michael offered.

  “You think so?” Kate asked, taking a large bite out of her cupcake.

  “Yeah. Yeah, he really does.”

  “I hope he’s getting better. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to him.”

  “You know, I was talking to him up in the apartment. I think he worries about you just as much as you worry about him,” Michael said.

  “I know. I wish he wouldn’t. He doesn’t need to worry about me. It’s just ever since the accident, my entire family has treated me like a china doll, like the slightest thing might break me. Then of course, with Gavin being sick and the break-in, I feel like they’re just waiting for me to keel over,” Kate explained. “I must sound like such a hypocrite to you after the way I fussed over Gavin.”

  “You’ve both had a hard couple of months.”

  “Yeah. To be honest, they had it a lot worse than I did. I don’t even remember the accident.”