Trying To Live With The Dead

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “Nope.” I gestured towards the boys then towards the ghost. “Everyone meet Bitch Ghost, Bitch Ghost meet everyone.” I announced in my sweetest voices. Bless the guys, they all waved to her, even Zeke from his sleeping bag. A couple actually said hi. I heard her sputter with indignation.

  Yeah, I had been polite before when there was a chance of helping her move on. Mary Summers was dead set on taking my life from me and she hurt Miles. I wasn’t going to be polite now.

  “Why’s her face half rotted?” Asher asked yawning. I turned back to the ghost who was getting pissed off now.

  “I think it’s a reaction from having so much juice.” I hazarded a guess. “I don’t think the spirit is meant to hold that much.” I leaned in a little being sure not to cross the salt line. “Or at least yours isn’t.” I turned my back on her and walked over to where the boys were sitting at the heads of their sleeping bags. I turned, sat down at the head of my sleeping bag and watched the ghost get even more furious. “If she’s using this much energy for you guys to see her, then she’ll be out soon and we can go back to sleep.” The temperature in the room was still dropping, I was starting to shiver. I heard someone moving behind me.

  “Ally, come over here, it's freezing.” I took a quick look at Asher. He was sitting in the very middle of the circle now, his legs crossed under him, his arms open. I looked back at the ghost who was pacing along the line, thinking of her next move. I kept my eyes on her as I scooted on my butt towards him. When I was close, enough he wrapped an arm around my waist and slid me to him then lifted me in his lap. With my back to his chest, his body heat made me realize how cold I really was. His hands moved to my arms and started rubbing. Isaac snagged the comforter under my sleeping bag and dragged it over. I opened it up more so the others could use it too. Everyone slid closer. Well except Zeke, he was still in his sleeping bag. Asher’s arms were around my waist, Miles' shoulder was against mine, and Ethan’s side was against my left thigh, his hand wrapped around my left ankle. His thumb making circles on my anklebone. Isaac was against my right thigh, his left hand wrapped around my calf. Touching me seemed to keep the twins calm.

  “Asher, you are right next to my head man. I swear if you fart, I’ll beat you.” Zeke growled from behind us. We burst into giggles. Bitch Ghost met my eyes and smiled in a really creepy way.

  “Where did she go?” Ethan's hand on my ankle tightened a bit.

  “Oh, she’s still here.” I answered watching her as she walked toward the bookcases. “She’s going to try to scare one of you into breaking the circle or out of the circle.” I kept my voice matter-of-fact for the guys; I wanted to make this easier on them. Bitch Ghost reached up for the books. “Cue scary book movement.” She shoved an entire row of books to the floor. The boys jumped. Bitch Ghost was glaring at me as she walked around us to an end table with an ashtray. She reached for it. “Duck!” Everyone ducked and covered their heads as the ashtray flew over us and shattered against the fireplace.

  “I thought we hid all the breakable stuff.” Ethan grumbled looking behind us at the shattered glass. Bitch Ghost scowled at us.

  “No, just the expensive stuff.” Miles admitted. I watched as she walked over to the photos on the wall and began reaching for them.

  “Cue frame smashing.” I warned them sarcastically. When the photos dropped to the floor, no one jumped.

  “She’s not going to stop is she?” Zeke groaned sleepily.

  “Not until she’s out of energy.” I reached around Asher to stroke Zeke’s hair in apology. “We could piss her off more, that should drain her faster.” I offered in a whisper.

  “Oh. That sounds fun.” Isaac said with his usual mischievous glee.” Hey, ghost chick! What’s it like being dead? I mean was there a white light?”

  “A tunnel?” Ethan chimed in.

  “All evidence says that those things are caused by the body shutting down.” Miles explained patiently.

  “We have an actual ghost here Miles, doesn’t that prove that people have souls? And that maybe the whole tunnel with a light at the end of it might not be just the body shutting down.” Asher gestured around me towards where he thought the ghost was. The ghost went over to the painting on the wall

  “Painting.” I warned. When it fell, the boys didn’t notice and continued their debate on whether or not an actual ghost proved there was a heaven or hell. Even Zeke joined in from his sleeping bag from time to time. I continued to narrate what the ghost was doing. They continued to throw questions at her even though they knew she wouldn’t answer. We snuggled under the blanket while she tried to scare us. When nothing she was doing was working, she screamed at me.

  “I will tear this house apart!” She warned, though her color was already getting paler. She was getting weaker. I relayed what she said to the others. Miles flicked his hand dismissively.

  “Feel free, I hate this house.” The others chuckled. She walked to the open French doors to the foyer, the glass French doors.

  “Doors!” I warned, first one of the French doors slammed closed, the glass shattering. The next one followed. The room was so big that the glass never even reached the salt line. Bitch Ghost screamed in frustration. Then her eyes met mine, something sparkled there. She came to the line and began walking around it, around us.

  “It was ridiculously easy to get a hold of your friend there.” Bitch Ghost began. “He was dead asleep; I had knocked over a few things in his room. But he’s a sound sleeper.” I went still, keeping my eyes ahead of me. I knew what she was doing; she was trying to piss me off. “You should have seen his face when I dug my fingers into his throat.” She came back around the circle and stopped directly in front of me. That spark in me started to grow, every word she said was feeding it. I took deep breaths and clenched my jaw as she kept describing how she strangled Miles in detail. I kept focused on breathing as I got angrier. Eventually the boys realized something was wrong. Hands were on my shoulders, the hands on my legs started rubbing.

  “You know what the funny part is?” She tilted her head. “I could have kept going. I still had enough power to strangle him to death.” She looked at Miles and licked her bottom lip. “I chose to let him live.” Her dead eyes met mine. “Next time I won’t.” I slowly, calmly removed their hands, got out of Asher’s lap and walked to the line. She was right it was easy to get to Miles, and we needed to know if the charms worked. She was weak enough now that I doubt she could do more than give me a nosebleed. Bitch Ghost stood up expecting me to break it the line. I stepped over the line. The guys cursed. The ghost grinned as if it was Christmas morning and she got exactly what she asked for. She reached out to touch me. Her hand stopped an inch away from me. Her eyes grew wider.

  “Things have changed bitch, and you’re almost out of juice.” I leaned forward toward getting into her face this time. She stepped back, eyes wide. I put everything in me behind my next words

  “Now get out.” She let out a piercing shriek. Glass shattered as every light bulb in the living room broke. Then as if a wind ran through the house, Bitch Ghost was shoved right out through the front window. I felt my lips curl into a satisfied half grin. “She’s gone.”

  “Why the fuck did you leave the circle?” Isaac shot at me.

  “She was bothering me, besides we needed to see if the charms worked before tomorrow.” I answered. “And they do.” I walked back into the circle and picked up the comforter.

  “Stupid fucking risk.” Zeke growled from where he was sitting up. I shrugged.

  “Maybe, but if she kept talking about strangling Miles, I was going to blow a gasket.” I folded the big comfort back up and put it back in my sleeping spot.

  “Lexie you can’t take-” Zeke began clearly getting ready to lecture.

  “What’s done is done.” I stopped him before he could gather steam. “Now do you want to lecture me or do you want to sleep?” Zeke grumbled and lay back down. Isaac and Ethan share a grin before climbing into their bags. I was half-asleep w
hen I remembered all the damage in the living room.

  “Sorry about the mess Miles.”

  “I’m rich, I have a maid.” He called back half-asleep. I smiled sleepily, and then I was out.

  CHapter 13

  I woke up to an alarm going off, comfortable, warm and snuggled. I vaguely noticed that Isaac had slid over to me and snuggled into me sometime in the night. My back was pressed against the front of his body. His arm was around my waist holding me against him. His face buried against the back of my neck. In my half-awake state, I barely noticed it.

  “Someone turn that thing off.” Asher groaned. There was a rustle, and the alarm stopped.

  “We still have to get up.” Miles' voice was rough this morning. Through the fog of half sleep, I wondered if that happened every morning.

  “No.” Isaac grumbled into my hair and shifted into me some more. My eyes were still closed when I felt something hard press along my butt and up towards my hip. I vaguely realized what it was.

  “Isaac.” I called.

  “Hmm?”

  “Think about baseball for me.” I mumbled into my pillow. Isaac shifted, his lower body pulled away.

  “Sorry, it’s morning.” His voice was muffled against my skin. I heard the zipper of sleeping bags being opened as the others started to move.

  “I know.” I didn’t care; I’d been around enough guys to know they often got morning wood. He couldn’t control it.

  “When the hell did that happen?” Asher’s question had me opening my eyes and lifting my head to look at him half asleep.

  “Huh?” I blinked at him.

  “What?” Zeke’s voice was more gravely than usual, he coughed. I saw him start to sit up. Asher gestured towards Isaac and me. Oh, I put my head back down and closed my eyes again wanting to go back to sleep.

  “She was making weird noises in her sleep, like, whimpering and shit.” Isaac explained his face still muffled against my skin. “I touched her shoulder, she stopped. I pulled away she started again. So I snuggled.” I didn’t remember any of that; I must have been out cold. I smiled into my pillow as my twisted side came out to play.

  “That’s his story but I don’t buy it.” I told the boys sounding doubtful.” I think he just wanted to lay on my blanket. Get him Zeke.” I hid my smile into my pillow as I heard footsteps over the wood floor. Isaac’s arm was pulled off me.

  “That’s cold Red, real cold.” Isaac told me as Zeke pulled him away from me, dragging him along the floor. I giggled as I rolled over onto my back and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

  “So what’s the bathroom situation here?” I asked dropping my arms and looking at the ceiling. I forced myself to sit up and look around. The living still looked like it did last night. Destroyed.

  “There are 5 full bathrooms upstairs, a master bath down here and plenty of hot water.” Miles answered. I forced myself to start rolling up my sleeping bag. “Lexie, you should probably use the master bathroom. It’s the only one that has girl stuff in it, I think.” I tied off the sleeping bag and got to my feet.

  “Sounds good to me.” I took my sleeping bag, pillow and blanket over to drop on the couch. I’d get it later. “Where am I going?” I asked pushing my hair out of my face. Miles tossed his sleeping bag on the couch. The others were already tiptoeing around the glass to head upstairs.

  “Follow me.” I grabbed my overnight bag and followed Miles down the long hall. The Master bedroom was directly across from the bathroom at the end of the house. He opened the door and gestured inside. “Bathrooms to the right.”

  “Thanks.” Miles nodded sleepily andwalked down the hall. I stepped into the master bedroom and froze. The room was beautiful, the cream walls were classic. Several landscape paintings hung from the walls. The bed was a huge king sized bed, the comforter looked soft and rich in a tan and white damask pattern. There were several pillows against the dark wooden headboard. I walked across the wood floor and into the bathroom. It was beautiful and serene. The walls were a soft teal with white tile halfway up the walls. The floor was covered in gray tile. I passed a big Jacuzzi tub and promised myself a soak before this was over. I quickly showered and got ready. I wore a pair of black boot cut jeans and my favorite long sleeved scoop neck indigo shirt. It was my favorite because it was comfy and still looked good when it covered half my hips. My hair was still wet in it’s ponytail as I brought my bag back into the living room, I dropped it by the stairs and looked around. Everyone was still upstairs. Did guys usually need longer than 20 minutes? Huh. I walked into the kitchen and found several cereal boxes. I put those on the counter and pulled the milk out. I noticed the coffee maker had automatically made coffee. Searching the cabinets I found the dishes and grabbed a mug and a bowel. I got coffee first, it was more important to me. I was almost done eating when Miles and Ethan came into the kitchen. Ethan wore black, and Miles was wearing a Zelda t-shirt, jeans and his green hoodie. They both grabbed bowls and mugs of coffee.

  “Is it really only Wednesday?” Ethan asked rubbing his hands over his face.

  “Yes, it’s Wednesday.” Miles answered sounding as tired as Ethan did.

  “Sleeping on that floor all week is going to be a bitch.” Ethan groaned, rubbing his lower back.

  “Well, since we know the charms work we don’t have to sleep in a salt circle tonight.” I offered.

  “Red! Don’t tell them that.” Isaac groaned as he came into the kitchen. “How am I supposed to sneak in cuddles if you're in a different room?” I chuckled as he sulked.

  “Sorry, Cookie Monster. I can’t make the guys sleep on the floor just for snuggles.” I told him honestly before taking another drink of coffee. Isaac pointed at me.

  “If Bitch Ghost shows up tonight, I’m sleeping with you.” He warned his eyes sparkling with mischief.

  “Fine, if Bitch Ghost shows up you can sleep in my room.” I agreed smiling at him. I didn’t mind a good cuddle from a friend. Truthfully, I hadn’t had a boyfriend in a long time. I missed the cuddling. Besides, Isaac would behave himself. Unless there was a pen around. I made a mental note to hide my book bag tonight.

  “So, we’re sleeping in Lexie’s room tonight?” Zeke asked as he came into the kitchen wearing his usual all black. Asher closely following behind wearing jeans, a white shirt and a blue unbuttoned plaid.

  “I told these guys that since the charms work we don’t have to sleep in a salt circle tonight.” I explained. “Isaac warned me that if Bitch Ghost shows up tonight, he’s sleeping with me.” I shrugged.

  “Well, you are the only one who can see her.” Ethan said thoughtfully, he gestured at me with his coffee mug. “If shit starts flying around, I’m running to your room too.” I burst out laughing at how serious he sounded.

  “Huh, that’s a good point.” Asher admitted. I looked up at him, seeing where this was going. “If I smell even a hint of patchouli, I’m hiding behind you.” Oh my god, this was getting ridiculous. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one who saw it.

  “We can’t all sleep in Lexie’s bed.” Zeke reminded them. Isaac looked him up and down.

  “Yeah, you can’t. You’d wake up smacking her.” Isaac countered. Zeke thought about it for a second and nodded in agreement.

  “There’s always the floor.” Asher offered grinning. I rolled my eyes.

  “I’m going to end up sleeping on the floor if you guys keep claiming my bed.” I told them honestly. There was only so much room and they were big guys. Asher seemed to think about this.

  “We can stash the sleeping bags in Lexie’s room, just in case.” Asher suggested to the group. Everyone nodded. I really hoped they were joking.

  “Why do you guys keep saying my room? What room? Where am I sleeping tonight?” I asked, looking over at Miles. He shrugged.

  “You can stay in the master bedroom.” I cringed a bit. Sleeping in his mom’s bed didn’t really sit well with me.

  “I’ll just sleep on couch; I don’t like the idea of using your mom’s bed. It�
�s a little creepy.” I admitted. I didn't know his Mom, and so, yeah, no.

  “My Mother’s never slept in that bed Lexie, everything in there is brand new.” Miles said before drinking his coffee. That seemed a little weird to me.

  “What?” Miles' eyes met mine as he explained.

  “My Mother had that furniture moved in, finished decorating, packed a bag and left for that spa yesterday.” He shrugged before getting up to put his bowl in the sink. That seemed a little weird to me. You finish decorating your own bedroom and you don’t sleep in it?

  “So, no couch surfing for you.” Isaac declared, meeting my eyes. He gave me a slight shake of the head, telling me not to ask. I didn’t

  “Damn it, I’m just going to have to sleep in that big comfy bed then.” I said in my 'doesn’t it suck' voice. I got some chuckles out of them. But I was still wondering why Mile’s mother would leave him here alone like that.

  Soon it was time to go, we all made sure everyone had their charms on. I even used the rosemary oil again. I grabbed a book I wanted from the pile and we were heading out the door. I was buckling in when the passenger door opened. Isaac climbed in and over the seat to climb to the bench seat behind me. Ethan climbed in and closed the door.

  “We’re all coming back here anyway.” Ethan explained. I didn’t mind, the twins were fun. I queued up my morning ‘get moving’ play list before I drove off. They were arguing about something ridiculous when I pulled up near the school.

  “Why don’t you ever park in the student lot?” Isaac asked ignoring his brother.

  “They’re assigned.” I answered looking over at Ethan. He shook his head. I instantly wanted to smack Tara.

  “Who told you that?” Isaac called from the back seat.

  “Tara.” I said my jaw clenched. I had been walking across campus every day for no damn reason. I looked over to Ethan. “Do you know what spot Tara usually takes?” Ethan nodded smiling.

  “Show me.” We were somewhat early to school so when we pulled into the student lot there weren’t that many cars. Ethan directed me toward a nice spot in the front. I shut off the engine and got out, feeling much better about the day.