off and cleans them with his t-shirt and puts them back on.
"Alice?" He says at last.
"Hi Uncle Patrick." I jump off the sofa and stand in front of him. He looks down at me and I can see tears in his eyes.
"But aren't you..." he pauses and makes a gesture with his hand, "...dead?"
"I don't know, I think I'm a ghost, like Casper. See?" I stick my hand through his desk chair and Uncle backs away along the wall.
"I don't think you should be here." He says as he continues sliding along the wall.
"Where should I be?"
"You should be in Heaven." He reaches the door and unlocks it. "Can you be a good little girl and wait here? I need to do something real quick."
I nod and smile. Uncle Patrick leaves quickly and I can hear him lock the door behind him. I hug Lucy and my smile gets bigger. "Uncle can hear me and see me! Now I'm just like Casper!"
I was bored waiting for Uncle Patrick to return so I decided to explore some more. The apartment next to Uncle's on the left was unoccupied so I went in. It looked a bit bigger and had no furniture. "Let's pretend we're at the circus Lucy." I tried some cartwheels. I'm not very good at cartwheels, so I fall a lot. I don't get hurt so I try a few more times. I even try some handstands and imagine a crowd cheering for me.
"It's your turn Lucy." I hold Lucy up and she does everything perfect. The make-believe crowd cheers and so do I. I giggle and clap. "Hurray for Lucy." I stand up and look out the window. It's bigger than the one in Uncle's room. I can see the entire parking lot and across the street. I think I see Uncle Patrick's car enter the parking lot. I keep watch and Uncle gets out of his car and walks toward the building.
I go back to Uncle Patrick's to wait for him. I hop up on the sofa and hold Lucy close as I wait. I can hear the door unlock and Uncle Patrick comes in. He's looking at his feet as he closes the door and goes over to his computer. He doesn't say hi. "Are you ok Uncle?"
He jumps and turns to look at me. "Hi Alice, you're still here." I nod. He pushes a hand through his messy dark blonde hair. "You do know you died, right? Shouldn't you be somewhere else?"
I don't quite understand what Uncle is saying so I reply "I don't remember dying."
Uncle looks at me strangely, he tilts his head to the right. "You don't remember playing outside before church?"
I wrinkle my nose and think back. "Me and Lucy were playing ball."
Uncle nodded. "Do you remember what happened after that?"
I think some more but I can't remember. "No."
"You don't remember running into the street after your ball?" I shake my head. "Or the car that came around the corner too fast?" I shake my head again and Uncle sighs and rubs his nose. "Ok, so why didn't go home with your Mom and Dad?"
"I couldn't find them." I shift on the sofa, I don't want to think about Mommy and Daddy.
"Well, I don't know how to say this Alice, but your Mom and Dad have moved." I look up at Uncle.
"Moved? They went away? Why?" I don't feel sad, but I miss them.
"They don't want to live in the house without you." Uncle stops talking and watches me.
"Just you and me now?"
"It looks that way." He folds his arms across his chest and leans back in his chair.
Uncle Patrick and I are used to each other. He no longer jumps when I talk to him. It's kind of fun being dead. I don't get hurt and I don't have to sleep. I get to play all day and night. Uncle sleeps during the night so I go out into the building so I don't wake him up. The apartment on the left is now occupied, so I go up a flight of stairs to the next floor.
Three doors down I find an empty apartment to play in. It's huge. There are separate rooms for the bedroom, living room, and kitchen. I somersault into the living room. I lay on he floor looking at the ceiling and giggling at Lucy. I hear a noise in the bedroom. I jump up and run down the hall to look. I see a young man looking out the window.
He's blonde, like Uncle, and wearing faded blue jeans with a red t-shirt. His sneakers are dirty. I walk up beside him and look out the window. It over looks a small park, on the other side of the park are more buildings. I push Lucy to the glass. "Look Lucy, a park! Maybe we can play there sometime!" The man looks over at me and smiles. I smile back.
"I didn't think they were any other ghosts here. My name is Troy, what's yours?" Troy held out his hand to me. I shake it.
"My name is Alice. You're a ghost too? Like Casper?"
He chuckles softly. "Yeah, like Casper."
"My Uncle says we should be in Heaven." I look out the window again. "I like it here."
"Is your Uncle a ghost too?"
"No, he lives downstairs." We both look out the window some more. Troy sighes and runs a hand through his hair.
"Is something wrong?" I ask. Troy shifts on his feet and looks over.
"Yeah, there is. See there's something I need to do before I can leave."
"Leave? You want to go to Heaven?" I hold Lucy tighter against my side.
"Yeah, but because I'm a ghost I can't do it." Troy goes quiet again and I wrinkle my nose in thought.
I have a thought. A smile comes to my lips. It's a really good thought. I reach up and grab Troy's hand and pull on it. I start walking through the apartment. "Where are you taking me?" He follows reluctantly. I still hold his hand. I look back and smile.
"I'm taking you to see Uncle." Then I giggle and race down the stairs, pulling Troy with me.
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About the Author
Sarah lives thirty-five miles northeast of Mitchell, South Dakota, in a place nobody's heard of except close friends and family. She lives on a farm with her family and animal friends. In her free time Sarah works at her day job, knits, reads, and sometimes finishes writing whatever she is currently working on..
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Haunted City Page 2