She reached for her digital camera and snapped shots of the tower, both horizontally and vertically.
“They say he could never explain what happened,” Tyler added.
“Hush,” Jennie shushed Tyler. “You’re creeping me out.”
Laughing, Tyler pulled Jennie to him. “I’ll protect you.”
“You can’t protect her from Old Green Eyes,” Kailey announced while munching on potato chips.
“Old Green Eyes?” Mia asked, setting down her camera and rubbing her arms again.
“He’s a ghost,” Kailey whispered, “with glowing green eyes, long hair, and sharp fangs.”
“That sounds like your prom date, Josh,” Tyler joked, eliciting giggles from the group.
“Hey, can I help it if my first choice was unavailable?” Josh shot back.
Mia could feel Josh’s eyes on her. She shifted her position and picked her camera up, not knowing what else to do with her hands.
“Then there’s the story of the lady dressed in white,” Kailey continued.
“What lady?” asked Jennie.
For dramatic effect, Kailey leaned in and whispered, “She was the fiancée of a soldier who died in battle. Now she roams the battlefield, searching for him.”
A howl in the background sent shivers tingling along Mia’s spine. All this talk of ghosts made her increasingly uncomfortable. She suddenly had the overwhelming need to sit in her tiny living room with her mother and talk about mundane things, such as what she had eaten for lunch or whether she wanted to watch TV.
She checked the time on her cell phone—almost ten-thirty.
“Jennie, I need to be getting home. Are you ready?” Mia asked, aware that all eyes were on her.
Jennie checked the time herself and gasped, “I’ve got to go, too. I’ve got to be home by eleven.”
“Can’t you stay a little longer?” Tyler asked. “It’s summer.”
“I can’t,” Jennie murmured, gathering her belongings. “My curfew’s eleven, and my dad will be waiting for me.”
Mia and Jennie hurried toward the car. Jennie stopped and turned back toward the remaining group, “Call me tomorrow, Tyler.”
“Will do,” he responded. “Maybe we can catch a movie.”
“That’d be great!”
Twenty minutes later, Mia slipped through her front door to the safe haven of her living room. Her mom was sleeping in the recliner. Mia paused, waiting to see if her mother would awaken at the sound of the door. When she didn’t, Mia grabbed the light blanket folded over the back of the worn, leather couch and covered her mother. Then, she went to her room.
Her small bedroom held a twin-sized, wrought iron bed, a cherry dresser, and a matching desk with a black, faux leather, rolling office chair. Her bed was adorned in a zebra patterned comforter with hot pink trim, and a matching valance hung over the only window in her room.
She glanced at the photo of her father on her dresser. He had died in a car accident when she was a baby, so she had no memories of him. Since her father’s death, her mother had supported the two of them by waitressing at a local café. It was tiring work, but tips were good, especially on the weekends.
Mia had been searching for a summer job with no luck. Her mother had refused to let Mia work during the school year, insisting that Mia study often and make good grades. Her mother had told her repeatedly that her only chance of going to an excellent college was to obtain scholarships. Mia wanted nothing more than to please her mother, to somehow make her mother’s life a little better, and so she had made good grades, excellent grades, actually. Some day she would graduate from college, get a good paying job, and take care of her mother.
She worried about the toll waitressing would take on her mother as she aged. She was already in her mid-forties, and she was often exhausted, much like tonight.
Mia sat in the office chair in front of her computer and stared at her screen saver—a photo of Matt and her sitting on a wooden bench in front of their high school. She thought about Josh and his kiss in Wilder Tower. She liked Josh. He was nice looking and had a great personality, but after going through the breakup with Matt, she just didn’t know whether she wanted to start another relationship.
On the other hand, it was time to stop pining for Matt. In hindsight, it was obvious that he didn’t have the qualities she wanted in a boyfriend. She searched through her photos and found one of Achilles lying in the backyard with his ears perked up and his pink tongue hanging out of his mouth. His dark fur and eyes contrasted sharply against the bright green, spring grass. She smiled and changed it to her wallpaper. She searched through the photos on her phone, choosing one of Jennie and herself to use as her background. There. Matt was gone.
Mia picked up her camera and thought about downloading the photos on her computer. The red LED’s of her alarm clock warned her that it was getting close to midnight, and her eyelids were heavy as she stared at the camera in her hand.
She yawned. Her eyelids drooped, and she slowly raised them again. Reluctantly, she hooked the cable to her camera and her computer and transferred the images. She enlarged the photos to full screen size and slowly clicked through them.
Tomorrow she would have to email Jennie the photos of Tyler. She was pleased with the photos that she had taken at the top of Wilder Tower. Each photo captured several acres of the park from an aerial view. She clicked to the next photo—the one that she had taken of Wilder Tower from the ground after dark. She was just about to click her mouse to move to the next photo when she caught a glimpse of something near the wrought iron door.
A shiver tingled along her spine. She rubbed her eyes and tried to focus on the photo again. It appeared to be the form of a man, but his image was transparent, ethereal. She blinked. Her eyelids drooped again, and she realized that she was too tired to rely on her eyes. All the talk of ghosts tonight had made her paranoid. She set the camera on her desk, changed into an oversized tee shirt, and slid between the sheets of her bed, willing herself not to dream of Old Green Eyes and the ghostly bride-to-be.
Chapter 2
Mia clenched her eyes closed, annoyed by the bright sunlight that filtered through the blinds. She pulled her pillow from underneath her head and plopped it on her face. Sweet darkness once again. She exhaled deeply, and slowly her thoughts came together as she shook the last remnants of sleep from her brain.
She remembered being at the park with Josh last night. He was a genuinely nice guy. Maybe she should pursue him. Jen would waste no time telling her exactly that, but somehow, she just didn’t think the timing was right. No doubt it had everything to do with her breakup with Matt.
She kicked her feet out from the comforter and the sheet and settled in a new position. Matt was gone, and it was his loss.
Josh was definitely datable.
She pushed the pillow off her face and adjusted her eyes to the bright room. She focused on the swirls that were etched in the frosted glass of her square light fixture in the middle of her ceiling. A soft hum from the central air conditioning filled her ears as it blew a steady stream of cool air into her tiny bedroom. Turning to the window, she watched the zebra patterned valance sway in the air current, and this time, she welcomed the bright light of the sun. Oddly enough, she felt renewed, happy even.
The unexpected tranquility dissipated as her phone vibrated noisily. She snatched it up and answered without even looking to see who was calling.
“Hello.”
“Didn’t I tell you last night was going to be great?” Jen blasted enthusiastically through the speaker.
Mia couldn’t help but smile. “You did.”
“And wasn’t I right?”
“You were.”
“Mia, you won’t believe this. Tyler has already called me this morning.”
“I’m glad,” Mia said, pushing her tangled hair back, away from her face.
“Has Josh called you yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“He will. Tyler said Josh
was on cloud nine all night. Josh has been waiting a really long time to ask you out.”
“Now, Jen, don’t get ahead of yourself. He hasn’t asked me out yet.”
“He’s going to.”
“How do you know?”
“I promised I wouldn’t say anything, so act surprised, okay?”
Mia giggled. “Okay! It sounds like Tyler couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it.”
“He can’t.”
“That’s a bit of info to file away for future reference.”
Mia’s phone buzzed again. “I’ve got another call, Jen. I’ll talk to you later.”
Jennie squealed, “I told you he would be calling. Call me as soon as he hangs up and tell me everything. Promise?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Jen, just get ready and come over here.”
“I’ll be there shortly. Now hurry up and answer before you miss his call,” Jennie ordered. “Bye.”
Mia answered the incoming call, and just as Jennie had predicted, it was Josh. She talked to him for nearly half an hour as she wandered around her room, peeking out the blinds at Achilles as he napped in the warm sun, tracing circles in the dust on her television screen, and stuffing dirty laundry in the hamper.
By the time she had gotten off the phone with him, Jennie had arrived at the front door and was knocking profusely.
Mia headed out of her bedroom, down the short hallway, and through the living room. She swung the heavy, oak door open and gestured for Jennie to come in.
Jennie snatched Mia by the shoulders, jumped up and down, and shouted, “Tyler Carver! Can you believe it? I have a date with Tyler Carver! Tyler Carver!”
Mia laughed as Jennie bounced around, her hair flying in all directions, the huge smile on her face carving deep dimples in her cheeks. “Congratulations, Jen!”
“Oh!” Jennie exclaimed, as she came to a halt and a serious look washed over her face. “Did I tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Mia asked, puzzled.
“Did I tell you that I have a date with Tyler Carver?” Jennie squealed again, a huge grin chasing the seriousness from her face.
Mia knew that Jennie had waited for this day for the last three years. Jennie was one of those eternally happy people, and there hadn’t been a day in the last five years since Mia had known her that Jennie hadn’t flashed her smile to anyone who would stand still long enough to see it. Not one day. But she was so deliriously happy that a tiny part of Mia was afraid for her friend. She desperately hoped that Tyler wanted this relationship as much as Jennie did.
Jennie finally settled down. She smoothed her hair with the palm of her hands as if it were the key to regaining her composure. “Now tell me all about your conversation with Josh.”
“Well,” Mia began, her bare feet pattering across the scarred hardwood floor as she walked back to her room with Jennie on her heels. “There’s not really that much to tell.”
“He didn’t ask you out?” Jennie asked, her brows furrowing as if thoroughly perplexed.
“Kind of. He’s going to be out at Chickamauga Park tonight doing a Civil War reenactment. He wanted to know if I wanted to come and watch.” They entered her bedroom, and Mia closed her door and sat down in her office chair while Jennie sat on the edge of the bed.
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him I would.”
Jennie chattered excitedly, “I knew it. Maybe we could double-date soon. Go to a movie or something? What do you think?”
Jennie’s enthusiasm was infectious. Mia hesitated before answering. “Maybe. We’ll see how tonight goes. It’s really more as friends than a date.”
Jennie frowned. “He said that?”
“No, I did,” Mia answered. “I want to take it slow, you know? Get to know him first. If he does really like me, then I don’t want to get his hopes up for nothing.” She knew the kind of pain that could cause all too well. “I want to see if we have any chemistry. I want to feel sparks. I didn’t really feel that way last night when he kissed me.”
“He kissed you?” Jennie squeaked, her eyes growing large and round. “He kissed you, and you didn’t tell me?”
“It was just a brief kiss right before I fell….” Mia stopped in mid-sentence. She hadn’t really thought about falling in the tower this morning. Or about the mysterious person who had stopped her fall.
“What is it?” Jennie asked.
“Nothing really.” Mia quivered involuntarily. “It’s just that I fell in the tower and someone caught me. The eerie part is that the someone wasn’t Josh, and I don’t think anyone else was in the tower.”
“Maybe you just didn’t see the person,” Jennie reasoned. “It can get dark in the tower sometimes.”
“Maybe,” Mia agreed, despite the fact that no one had answered her when she called out. Maybe Jennie was right and whomever it was had just hurried on down the tower. But wouldn’t she have heard their footsteps? Wouldn’t they have said something to her? Mia tried desperately to remember whether there was any noise other than Josh hurrying toward her. She couldn’t clearly recall hearing anything.
Mia crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her palms over her upper arms. “Anyway, I have some photos of Tyler that I thought you might want me to email to you.” The night’s events flooded back to Mia’s memory. She drew a sharp intake of breath.
“What?” Jennie asked, jumping up from the bed. “What’s the matter with you, Mia?”
“I just remembered something,” Mia responded, spinning around and clicking her mouse until the photos that she had taken last night popped up on the screen.
“I was looking at these photos, and….”
“There’s Tyler!” Jennie shouted. “Isn’t he hot?”
Mia clicked past the photo of Tyler.
“I want to show you something,” Mia said, ignoring her question. “At least, I think I want to show you something. Or was I dreaming? I’m really not sure.”
“Mia, you’re making no sense.”
“Give me a sec.” Mia clicked steadily through the photos until she came to the photo of Wilder Tower. She studied the photo and spotted the ethereal figure near the wrought iron door.
“Look at this.” Mia pointed to the figure. “Do you see what I see?”
Jennie studied the photo. Her jaw dropped open. Mia thought perhaps this was the first time she had ever seen Jennie speechless.
“Do you see it?” Mia asked, folding her arms tightly over her chest, hoping to chase away the shivers that shot down her spine.
“I see something,” Jennie agreed. “Maybe it’s the light from your flash. I mean maybe it’s some kind of strange reflection off of Josh or something.”
“Josh was beside me when I took this photo,” Mia stated matter-of-factly. “No one was standing near the tower door.”
Jennie silently stared at the photo.
Mia pointed to the figure. “It looks like an apparition,” Mia whispered, afraid to say it out loud.
“You’re playing a joke on me, aren’t you?” Jennie asked, looking at Mia expectantly. “You edited the photo to look like there’s a ghost in it. This is just an extension of everyone’s ghost stories last night, right?”
“Jen, you’ve known me for a long time. Am I the practical joke type? I promise you that all I did was download this photo from my camera. I looked at it last night, but I thought I was just tired and spooked out after Kailey was talking about Old Green Eyes, you know? I really hadn’t thought anything else about it until just now.”
“There must be some logical explanation for it,” Jennie announced, staring hard at the photo.
“I guess so,” Mia reluctantly agreed.
“Hey, we’ll worry about those photos of Tyler later. I have to get going. Tyler’s picking me up at noon, and I want to wow him. Do you think I could borrow your silver, heart-shaped hoop earrings?”
Mia tore her gaze away from the photo. “Yeah,” she answered. “Sure. Help yourself. They’
re in my jewelry box.”
Mia looked back at the photo, shivered one more time, and exited the screen.
Jennie picked through Mia’s jewelry box. “Hey, I’m going to borrow your bangle bracelets, too, okay?”
“Take whatever you need.”
“I’ll bring them back next time I come over.” Jennie dropped the jewelry in her shirt pocket and gave Mia a quick hug. “Wish me luck.” She winked at Mia.
“Good luck.”
Jennie walked hurriedly toward Mia’s bedroom door.
“Jen!”
Jennie stopped and whirled around to face Mia. Mia was going to tell her to be careful. She didn’t want her heart to wind up broken, but instead she said, “You’re going to wow him!”
Jennie flashed her dimpled smile. “Thanks, Mia!” Then, she turned and disappeared out of the room.
It was Friday morning. Mia and her mother ate breakfast at a local diner every Friday morning during the summer. Mia quickly showered and dressed. As soon as she opened the bathroom door, she could hear her mother singing off key in the living room. Mia smiled.
Mia walked up behind her and asked, “Ready to go, Mom?”
Her mother spun around smiling, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners. Her shoulder length, brown hair was pulled into a ponytail. “Good morning, honey!” She set a can of furniture polish and a dust cloth down on the end table. “Let me wash my hands, and I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll be outside.”
“Okay,” her mother called as she headed down the hall to the bathroom.
Mia stepped onto the small, front porch and leaned against the wooden railing. It was mid-morning and the summer air was already warm and humid.
Fifteen minutes later, she and her mother were sitting in a cushioned, red booth, placing their orders. They both ordered the same thing they always did, a stack of pancakes and a side order of bacon with orange juice to drink.
When the server scampered away with their order, Mia’s mother took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “So…have you talked to Matt lately?”
Ghostly Encounter (Ghostly #1) (Ghostly Series) Page 2