by Tifani Clark
CHAPTER 15
I lay on top of my bed, staring at the ceiling. It was the middle of the night and I should have been sleeping, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Sophia and the chance that I might never see her again. Since she’d been around, my life suddenly had a purpose. I tried to picture what it would be like when everything went back to normal—whatever normal was—but I couldn’t do it. I predicted that I would find myself pedaling to the library multiple times a week again, but I didn’t think I would find the same joy in books as I used to. Would Peter and I still hang out or would he go back to being the casual acquaintance that he’d been before he got caught up in the insane ghost business with me? Would I find myself constantly looking over my shoulder for someone hiding in the shadows?
After lying in bed for what felt like an eternity, I got up and flipped the switch of the lamp on my bedside table. I pulled out my laptop and looked up flights, wondering if Sophia and Nick had already left. There was a Delta flight going to Port-au-Prince via Washington D. C. and an American Airlines flight going to Port-au-Prince via Miami. Both were leaving around dawn. I tried to imagine Sophia and Nick huddled in the baggage compartment, completely invisible, but who was I kidding—they would totally be riding invisibly in first class.
I must have eventually drifted off to sleep because the next thing I remembered was Dad knocking softly on my bedroom door. In my blurred state of mind, it took me a while to figure out what the tapping noise was and where it was coming from. My lamp was still turned on, but my computer had slid off my lap and rested next to me on the bed.
“Yeah?” I called groggily.
“It’s Dad. Sorry to wake you.”
“It’s fine. Come in.”
I looked at my alarm clock. It wasn’t even six yet. I rubbed my eyes as Dad entered the room fully clothed in a black suit with a red and grey paisley tie.
“I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye. Sorry I have to leave so early.”
I’d completely forgotten that he was leaving for Chicago. “It’s alright. I wasn’t sleeping very well anyway.”
“I made sure there’s plenty of money in your household account and I left a list of things I’d like you to get done in the next couple of days. I hope to be back Friday, but it might be as late as Saturday.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll keep my cell phone on in case you need to reach me. Please make sure you take yours if you go anywhere.”
“I will.” Early morning conversations weren’t really my thing. Dad was used to my short answers.
“I love you. Be good.” He disappeared into the hallway and shut the door behind himself.
I lay back against my pillows and sighed. I wasn’t sure if I should even try to go back to sleep at that point. It seemed useless. Instead, I opened my computer again and made notes of things we could do while Sophia and Nick were gone. There were still a couple of museums that we could visit. They might have something in their collections that would be helpful. I decided that our goal for Tuesday would be to visit the Sippican Historical Society and maybe take a bus up to Salem to visit the Peabody Essex Museum. If I remembered correctly, the museum had some of Captain Briggs’ belongings that had been found on the Mary Celeste. I forced myself to stay in bed until seven and then got up. I blared the radio while I showered and dressed. I could handle quiet when Dad was around—or when he was at work—but there was something about him being out of the state that always made me want to have background noise so that I didn’t feel completely alone. That was the first business trip he’d gone on since I found out about the existence of ghosts and I didn’t feel all that safe.
I decided to look at the list Dad left so that I could get most of it done before I met up with Cam and Peter. Dad always left “chore lists” when he went out of town. They made me laugh because most of what was on them were pointless things I did normally without ever having to be asked. I knew he trusted me, but I figured it was his way of trying to be a parent, rather than a roommate. The list was small:
*Water the plants
*Check the mailbox
*Wash any needed laundry