Dead, Sweet Boy (Book One - Dead, Sweet Series)

by Susan MacQuoid

“It’s good to be alone with you, because I need to talk to you,” I said, completely killing his mood.

  “Talk is fine, but I was hoping, well I missed you Sunny.”

  I nodded my head and gave him a nervous smile.

  “That’s where you’re supposed to tell me you missed me too.”

  “Did I tell you I heard your voice in the coma?”

  “That was sweet,” he said, leaning himself closer to me.

  This was the guy who I was sure about before everything happened. I wanted his kisses before, and now I was confused. Too many emotions had passed through me since I saw him last. He was by my bed the whole time I was in the hospital. Mom and Claudia had told me how devoted he was. Guilt allowed his lips to reach mine and warmly seek for a response. At first I felt a strange flash of betrayal as his mouth triggered a response. When I kissed him back, his breathing increased, triggering all kinds of rushes through my body.

  Music started to play in my head. I never thought that I was so blind, All American Rejects started to sing.

  “I missed you so much,” he whispered softly, as his mouth moved down my neck.

  I can finally see the truth, it’s me for you

  As he slid closer to my side of the truck, he pulled me closer and squeezed me just enough to release a moan from deep in my spirit. His body responded, pressing into mine with such a gentle strength I lost myself. My hands moved under his shirt to feel the strength in his back, and then to his chest where I grabbed and squeezed to the rhythm of his breathing. I was the one who was unsure, but I was the one getting out of control. His hands carefully touched me everywhere except the places he could have at that moment, because I would have let him.

  Tonight you can’t imagine that I’m by your side

  ‘Cause it’s never gonna be the truth too far for you

  Maybe it was because I felt safe, the tunes in my head or maybe it felt great to feel normal. I’m not sure, but I pushed, by climbing onto his lap and pressing my body into his. A sharp pain shot from my pelvis and down through my legs.

  But can you hear me say? Don’t throw me away

  And there’s no way out, I gotta hold you somehow

  “Oh Frick,” I let out, carefully withdrawing from his lap and onto the seat next to him.

  “Shit, are you…?”

  Before he could get the words out, my mouth covered his again, trying to get back where he had me earlier.

  I wanna, I wanna, I wanna touch you

  I was singing softly to the words in my head as I could, between kisses and sighs.

  “Sunny stop,” he whispered.

  You wanna touch me too

  “Don’t stop,” I whispered back.

  Everyday but all I have is time

  “We can’t do this,” he struggled. “Your injury.”

  “Don’t stop Rick.” I put his hand on my chest, urging him to take another step.

  Our love’s the perfect crime…

  “I don’t want to stop, but…” he gently pushed me away, just enough to look into my eyes. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to hold you and kiss you like this.”

  “Mmmm, then don’t stop,” I moaned to try and bring him back, and to try and get the music back in my head.

  “I’m probably an idiot for saying this, but it’s not just your injury Sunny. There are plenty of things we could do around that.”

  My hand released his from my chest as I came back to my senses. It was a little embarrassing to say the least. I’d practically offered myself up for whatever his pleasure might be. So not like me at all. So embarrassing. I didn’t know exactly where to put my hands or my body once I came back down to earth, so I scooted closer to the passenger door and put my hands in my lap. He took one of my hands and kissed it.

  “I am an idiot. Crap Sunny. Not like this, here in this truck, and not without talking about it first. It’s too big a deal for it to happen like this, and you are healing.”

  “I know,” I whispered. “I don’t know what got into me. I feel so alive and you feel so…”

  “I’m just hard to resist, right?” he joked a little, trying to lighten things up.

  “Yeah, that’s it,” I smiled, slumping down on the bench seat. Too embarrassed to look at him. I expected him to start the truck and take me home for a cold shower in my new shower seat, but he leaned over and kissed me so sweetly. We went back to our passions at a more controlled level of getting lost in each other’s embrace and kisses. He didn’t have any super powers or super good looks, but that was something to be grateful for. It was a relief to feel like I was more beautiful than he was, and that he was just right for me.

  This was all new to me. In the past, Mack always made it clear he didn’t like whoever I went out with. It made me wonder if I never let anyone in because of what he thought. And then I thought about what he would think about me and Rick hooking up.

  “We better get back before your mom flips with worry,” he suggested.

  “I guess so,” I whined. “We could watch a movie.”

  “I have to work early tomorrow. I better get home.”

  When we got back to my house, we spent another twenty minutes or so saying our good – byes with our lips. He made me wish that whatever I was supposed to do about Bobby was already done and over. Somehow it didn’t seem right to talk about my plans, probably because I couldn’t keep my lips off of him. It was a selfish thing and it felt so good. It felt so absolutely wonderful not to want him to go.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Someone’s Final Song

  And I don’t know what the time is

  Or what the next line is

  Or how you’re going to take the news

  But if I had my life again

  I wouldn’t change a thing

  I’d let nobody, I’d let nobody

  Stand inside my shoes

  (Elton John’s, Blue Moves)

  “LaKisha?” Dr. Warren’s eyes widened, when I mentioned the name. “That’s an unusual name.”

  “Is it? I mean I’ve never heard it before, but …”

  “Is LaKisha black?”

  “Yes. She’s the kind of girl who is so beautiful, she could be a model.” Dr. Warren looked uncomfortable as he adjusted himself in his seat several times. I watched as he put effort into looking at ease. “Is something wrong?”

  “No, it’s just, well I knew a girl named that. It struck a nerve. Go on.” There didn’t need to be colors around the man for the bells to go off for me. The emotional instincts the colors helped me build were screaming at me not to drop this. I got up and walked over to his desk, where quite a few pictures told the story.

  “She was a twin,” I said. “I had no idea.” The doctor heard me, but he didn’t know what to say. “This is LaKisha, isn’t it?” I turned the framed photo around for him to see. “That’s what was familiar about you. That’s why I opened up to you.”

  He nodded his head, but his face looked stern, even angry.

  “How did she die?” As soon as the question left my mouth I regretted it. “I’m sorry. That was insensitive. You’re her father aren’t you?”

  Dr. Warren took a deep breath before he spoke. I assumed it was to clear his anger at what he must have seen as a stunt from a crazy girl. “You expect me to believe that your LaKisha is my daughter?”

  After replacing the picture that was causing his discomfort, I went back to my seat on the couch. I didn’t want to stop looking at her face, because she was so important to me and my story, but I knew he wasn’t going to buy it. “She was good to me. Actually, she saved me from the biggest mistake I could have made.”

  “My daughter has been gone for several years,” he strained to say. “You could have looked us up to get her name and know about my loss.”

  “Would I be able to tell which twin was her? They’re identical, aren’t they?”

  “You might have guessed. It would have been a fifty-fifty chance. Not bad odds.”

  “
I’m really sorry. If that other realm hadn’t been my realm for so long, all of this would freak me out too. You might say I see things differently now. Death means something different.” It was so frustrating. How do you tell a man that his daughter needs my help and that I didn’t know what to do? “Maybe I shouldn’t say anything else.”

  Dr. Warren cleared his throat. “I lost my daughter several years ago, in a car accident.”

  That bit of information made things worse. How was I supposed to tell him that his daughter had spent those years trapped, and unable to cross over? Who knew what horrors she had been a victim of, under the control of Clay? “I’m sorry,” I whispered again.

  “Go on with the story Sunny. I doubt we’re talking about the same young woman.”

  My story didn’t pick up where I left off. There was no way that I could tell him about that night in the barn when Clay attacked LaKisha. My story had less detail, and it was hard to tell.

  “So you came back from the coma knowing that you had to help the angel and the girls who helped you?”

  “Yes, I came back with a piece of the angel in me.”

  “You’ll have to excuse me, but I know nothing about angels. How does that happen exactly? Was it the kiss?”

  “You’re mocking me, I can tell. If I hadn’t mentioned your daughter you might have listened. But now you won’t believe me. I know it,” I snapped, standing to my feet.

  “Sit down Sunny, that’s not true. I’m listening and asking legitimate questions.”

  “No! If you believed me, you would understand the urgency of all of this. They need my help. LaKisha needs my help. I never should have told you anything. Don’t you get it? Your daughter needs my help.”

  Now he stood to his feet to talk. “How are you supposed to help? Can you tell me that?”

  “I came back with a gift. I’m not sure how it will help, or exactly what I’m supposed to do, but I can see ghosts now. I’m supposed to use that gift to help the angel and the others. They said I was their only hope. The soldiers I sang for told me not to leave them there. Don’t you see? They need my help,” I broke down and cried. He was the first person I told about the ghosts since that first day I woke from the coma.

  Dr. Warren came over to the couch and sat next to me. Nervously he put one of his arms around me and tried to comfort me. “I see colors around the ghosts. The colors tell me all about them.”

  “Do you talk to them?”

  “I avoid them. I’m not sure what to do.”

  “Do you see any ghosts here?”

  “No, not yet. I don’t see them all the time. The first one I saw was standing next to the doctor who attended me when I woke up from the coma. I had to tell him to go away, because once he knew I could see him he wouldn’t leave me alone. I was still adjusting to just breathing. That was enough to deal with.”

  “What about the dog? Do you see the dog anymore?”

  “Not yet. I miss her. Sometimes I expect her to be next to me and then she’s not.”

  “Tell me about the first ghost. What were his colors telling you about him?”

  I thought about the patient and his colors. He was so persistent about getting my attention, until I told him to leave me alone. “It’s so sad. He was rushing to pick up his little boy at daycare, and got creamed by a big truck. He’s worried about his son because he’s the only adult in the picture.”

  “Do you know when this happened to him? Did you try and find out?”

  “Look, I am here talking to you because I tried to tell everyone about him and my gift. That got me to shut up. Who was I supposed to ask? I got the feeling it was a recent death. It probably happened while I was in the hospital.”

  Dr. Warren raised an eyebrow. “I’ll check into it.”

  “Great, now you really think I’m crazy.”

  “Not crazy. This changes things a little, so just let me do a little investigating to see what I can find out about your ghost. Just relax Sunny, we’ll get to the bottom of all of this. I promise. This is a good thing. It’s something we can find out for sure.”

  “It might be easier if you’d just believe me. Go ahead and check if you want. You probably won’t believe me after proof,” I pouted. “There isn’t time for this crap.”

  “There’s always time for facts. Don’t you want proof?” he asked, probably thinking I was panicking because he wanted to check out my ghost story. If he only got it, and understood what his daughter was going through. I mean if he really understood, he would probably put himself in a coma to help her.

  “You’re wasting precious time Doc. I’ll let you explain it.”

  Dr. Warren looked up from where he was taking notes, and wrinkled up his bushy eyebrows. “Who would you like me to explain it to?” he challenged.

  “Gee I don’t know Doc, who do you think? The dog? You know who I mean,” I pointed to the picture. “She’s gonna want to know what took me so long.”

  “Calm down! Now settle down.” It was a little surprising to hear the man raise his voice. A big guy like him could do damage if he lost his temper. He didn’t have to ask me twice. “You’re talking about my little girl, the one I lost Sunny. How do you expect a person to react? You’re talking about a whole other world as if I should believe it right away. And then put on top of it – ghosts. I’m not saying that I don’t believe you, I wouldn’t do that. I always check things out, for myself and my patients.”

  I shook my head and crossed my arms across my chest. “You’ve been around too many crazy people.”

  The doctor laughed. When he looked at my serious face, he cracked up even harder. “You’re pretty funny Sunny. I hang around too many crazy people.”

  A smile cracked over my face, eventually letting a chuckle out when I thought about what I said. “I’m serious Doc,” I said with a smile. “Stop. Do you really think it’s an accident that I ended up in your office?”

  “You’ve already been through all the other doctors connected to the hospital. I’m all that’s left. So no, it wasn’t an accident.” He looked tired. Without colors to guide me I couldn’t be sure, but I got the feeling that Doc was still suffering over his loss. Well of course he was. They say the pain never goes away, and that you adjust to it. I’m learning that myself, but LaKisha was his little girl.

  “Doc, I think I’m here to help you too.”

  Claudia and I had to wait quite awhile for Mason to show up at the Pizza shop. Our veggie pizza came out and we were already digging in when he walked through the door. Even though I had only seen him for a matter of moments before my coma, I could pick him out anywhere. A guy had to really stand out from the crowd to be Claudia’s soul mate. He didn’t make any excuses for being late, and we didn’t ask for any. Claudia had come up with enough excuses while we waited.

  The good news was that he wanted to help us, the bad news was, the rest of his gang wasn’t as serious as he was about ghost hunting. It had something to do with the not getting paid part of the job that made turnover a big problem for Mason.

  “No big deal,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, “I can show you guys how to work the equipment.”

  “I can’t wait,” Claudia squealed.

  Great. If I wanted to perform the hunt by myself, I would have done it already. What I expected, was some real help. Some safety. “So Mason, what do we do with the ghosts if we find them? And what about that thing that attacked Rick?”

  “We get it all on video so we have proof.”

  Really? He was there and saw what came of not having the tools we needed. “I need more than proof Mason. I need to help some real ghosts I know, and battle an evil spirit. Do you have any experience with that kind of stuff?”

  “No, but how do you expect to get any help like that without proof.”

  “He’s right Sunny. Nobody’s going to believe your dream unless we have proof.” Claudia started telling Mason more about my time in the coma, when I noticed both of them look up and past me.

  “Hey
Rick,” Claudia said a little nervously.

  You might think that I would have talked to the person I was the most intimate with in all my life, well, in that sort of way. But I hadn’t yet. His hand touched my shoulder to confirm that he was really there.

  “Planning another adventure?”

  “Yeah dude,” Mason started, “the girls want to go back and give it another try.”

  When his hand left my shoulder, I knew I was in trouble. How was I supposed to know he frequented that place for lunch? Rick walked out of the Pizza shop and headed for his truck. I went after him.

  “Rick wait,” I called after him.

  “When were you gonna tell me?” he shouted back at me. We were attracting attention. When he got to his truck he stopped the chase and confronted me right there in front of people who either knew us, or knew about us. My hip really hurt from the short run and my cane was back with my pizza, so I got in his truck. When he continued to yell, I rolled up the window. Rick got in the truck.

  “Drive somewhere,” I ordered.

  “It’s my damn truck, I’ll do what I want.”

  “People are watching us Rick. Please drive somewhere. What the hell are they all looking at anyway?”

  “You care more about what they think than what I think. Do you know how I feel right now Sunny? Man, screw me.”

  “That’s not true. I was going to tell you last night. Remember? I wanted to talk to you about something?”

  “Well why didn’t you?”

  “Because, you know. You were there.”

  “Stop! Don’t even try and blame anything on last night. You’ve had this in your head for awhile haven’t you? You’re going back to the graveyard and you’re nuts. You saw what happened to me, and look what happened to you. Some things you just don’t mess with Sunny and whatever is in that graveyard is one of them.”

  Nothing I had to say was going to help his temper, so I stopped talking. Eventually he calmed down enough to start the truck and drive away from the little crowd that was forming. Rick and I were officially part of the ‘legend’ crowd. Something exciting was bound to happen around us, and people wanted to be there to witness whatever they might. It was sick.