eventually is today. I wrote this when I was kinda sleepy. I must admit...I was not totally in my right mind. I apologize. And I didn't proof it. Soze ere ya goze
...oops. I forgot to post it. My bad.... They prepared for hours. Lifting objects, playing catch, and projecting their voices. They practiced...practiced...practiced...and when they were done, they reviewed their plans as they walked to Christi's house. And then it was time. "Alright," Zephy said. I'll go up and show you which window it is." "Okay, Z," Jake said, bubbling with anticipation. This was going to be great! "Z? ...I guess I can deal with that...." she answered with a shake of her head. I was nice. ...Well, it was better than nice but nice would work. Zephy was kinda long anyway. "Yeah. Good luck!" he wished her, then moseyed around to the back of the house. She watched him until he turned the corner, out of sight, then mentally prepared herself. This is just like a gig, she told herself. Take a deep breath and relax. And when she wad relaxed, she looked up, smiled, and walked through the door. She knew that Christi's room was on the second floor. She knew that it was in the back, she mentally reviewed as she walked up the steps. But which room was her bedro--bingo. The one with the light on. Of course. Zephy tiptoed to the door frame and peeped into the room. She saw a girl, about her age and matching Jake's description to a T, brushing her hair in front of the mirror with her eyes closed. Perfect. She took a deep, calming breath, and walked confidently into the room, silently closing the door behind her. First, she motioned out the window to Jake that this was the room. Thank God the window was open. And now...showtime. "Sweetheart, here, I'll take that," Zephy said in a falsetto, doing her best to project her voice and sound like someone older, someone that would help Christi. It just had to work.... And it did. She walked up behind her and reached for the brush. Gripping the handle, she gently extracted it from the girl's--Christi's--hand and began brushing her hair. She concentrated on holding the brush and not letting it fall out of her hand. It took her a while (It really wasn't that easy....) to make sure she wouldn't drop it, especially since that would be a mistake fatal to this plan, but she finally got it, then focused her energy on her voice projection again. "It's escaped my memory, dear.... Whatever happened to that lovely Jake boy?" "Mmmmm...he died," Christi said in a breathy voice, relaxed almost to the point of sleep. "Oh my!" Zephy tried to put the right amount of surprise in her voice. It was working! "Why happened to him?" "He was hit by a car. Suicide. Why does it matter?" Christi grumbled. Obviously she wasn't okay with her hair brushing time being interrupted with words but oh well. She'd live. If all went well.... "Oh deary!" Zephy exclaimed, ignoring her question. She'f find out soon enough. "What a tragedy! He was such a great boy!" she went on in the falsetto. "I bet you miss him!" "Not really," Christi responded, annoyed. It was surprising she hadn't opened her eyes yet. "He was an annoying dweeb. And he asked me out! Eww! That totally wouldn't've ever happened!" "That poor child! Do you know why he killed himself?" Zephy unconsciously kept brushing Christi's hair, never once slowing, but not really paying attention to it either. This was going to be the hard part. Christi answered with a small shake of her head, trying to recapture the silence, Zephy guessed. Well, she could get over that. She probably wouldn't sleep for a while tonight. "You don't know. Of course you don't. But I do. I know." As she spoke, Zephy's voice slowly lost it's falsetto. She began speaking in a harder voice. "That's right. I know. Do you want to know how?" She paused, and waited on the inevitable. Christi's eyes jerked open and she looked in the mirror. She looked, expecting to see her mother brushing her hair, just trying to play a trick on her. But all she saw was her hairbrush, rhythmically going through her hair, and felt a soothing hand rub her hair down after every brush stroke. She froze. She couldn't believe it. What the hell?! With a screech, she jumped up...just Ginger pulled back down by a restraining hand in her hair. "Now, now," Zehpy said sweetly, releasing the tight hold she had in the girl's hair and going back to gently brushing her hair. This was almost too easy. Even the voice projection part was taking less concentration. She really did love acting. "There's no reason to be in such a hurry. I wasn't done talking to you. Now. Do you want to know how I know how he killed himself?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "You do. I know it. He told me. He constantly talks to me, you know. He's a ghost now. He's hell-bent on getting revenge on you. You're the reason why he killed himself. Youre the reason he threw himself in front of that car. He knew it was speeding. He stood on the edge of the curb and just...jumped. He was so tired. Tired of all the bullshit, the lying. He just wanted to end it all. You were the final straw." With every word Zephy said, Christi's got paler and paler until her face was drained of blood. She just sat there, not saying anything, moving nothing but her eyes, watching her brush go through her hair with no support. This was going good. Great, actually. Much better than she had anticipated. "You were. And he does talk to me. He told me he hates you. Just you. He tells me about what a horrible person you are. 'She's so self centered,' he'll say," she pretended to mock Jake, knowing that he'd never said that and never would he. But it was what they had agreed on. She had to say it. No matter how terrible she felt saying it, knowing it wasn't true. "'She thinks of no one but herself. I hate her. I loathe her. I wish she would die.' But today...today was different. He told me he wasn't mad at you anymore. He was relaxed. Calm, really. Yet...he looked different. He had a fire raging in his eyes that he had never had before. He looked...violent. Dangerous. I had to come warn you. He wants to kill you." She finished her monologue in a whisper, faking compassion. "Wha...Wha...what?" ...Zephy wasn't sure Christi could get past the ghost part to understand much of what she had just said. She looked stunned. Maybe...play up the ghost part? She guessed she could work with improvisation.... "He's a ghost?" ...Okay. Improv away. "Yes he's a ghost. A scary, unseen being. He has no body." Zephy lowered her voice like she was sharing a secret. "And...," she leaned closer, even though Christi couldn't see her, and whispered in her ear. "I'm a ghost too." At that, Christi jumped up and turned herself to face her floating hairbrush, slowly backing away. "Stay away from me you invisible FREAK!" she screamed. "Freak? Did you just call me a freak?!" Zephy yelled, throwing the hairbrush it Christi. This was extremely fun. "I'm not a FREAK!" She picked up a picture frame and chucked it at Christi. "You do NOT call me a freak! I am NOT a freak!" She grabbed anything she could find and threw it at Christi; not trying to hit her, just throwing them all around her body. Christi screeched at each thrown item and kept backing up until... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" ...she flipped right out the window. Zephy ran to the window and looked down. "Did you get her?" "...Noooo," Jake responded, sounding slightly chagrined. "...She's a lot bigger and heavier than I soccer ball...." "SHI--JAKE!" She yelled, then vaulted out the window. She landed on one knee, then pushed herself to her feet and took off at a dead run, hearing Jake lagging behind her. She thought back and saw Christi lying on the ground. Dammit. Jake missed her. ...Oh well. Two floors wasn't that far to fall. Besides...Zephy had almost been beating her head with that brush. She obviously had a hard head. No worries.
demanding folk. I plan on updating twice today. One now and one later. They're both pretty short. Hope you like. They didn't run far. Jake wanted to hear everything that had happened, and Zephy wanted to see what happened to Christi. They stopped a few horses down, far enough away that, if it was possible for them to be seen, they couldn't be seen, but still close enough to see everything. They saw Christi's house bathed in light. Saw her laying on the ground, on her back, her mother crouching beside her. "Jake," Zephy whispered furiously, peeking around the corner of the house, "why didn't you catch her? And why are you leaning on my back?" Christi's mother was shaking her, trying to het her to wake up. Or move. Her moving might be it. She was laying in the flower bed.... "I told you! She was heavy! And I want to see. And you're not leaning down far enough. This is the only way I can see. Why are you whispering? No one can hear us." Really. He felt like he was her voice of reason or something. Underused but always there. Christi suddenly screamed, her head turned their way. They froze, afraid she had seen them (although improbable, it was a small, granted unlikely, probability), and shocked at the noise. The only thing that moved was her mouth. She never twitched; another muscle never moved. Her mouth made a perfect "O". Her eyes were unfocused, glazed over. They gave a sigh of relief in unison. She wasn't looking at them. "It's setting the mood. Now hush," Zephy responded, whispering slightly louder to be heard over Christi's screams. "You need to see what happens. I need to see what happens. Is she okay?" They watched her scream, convulse, then stop. She didn't move, didn't respond to her mothers frantic calls. "Is she okay? I don't know, Z. Why would I care?" Jake sounded flippant, but he wasn't. Zephy glanced up briefly at his face and saw the worry and self loathing he was feeling. He does care, she thought slowly. He needed her to be okay...or...or...he would hate himself. That was obvious. She had to do something. "She should be fine. Her mother just isn't--" "I'll be right back," Zephy told him, interrupting his spoken musings. She headed toward the open door determinedly. Around her, she saw neighbors peeking between their curtains, trying to see what was going on. Well, she thought, they better keep looking. They'll get an eyeful. Friends don't let friends live in internal eternal hell, right?