Derek looked at me, a grin slowly spreading across his face. “So what does a stripper do on her day off?” he asked slyly. I could only imagine. I took a step towards the box, looking it up and down. I wanted to check it out, but I felt a little weird about it. Derek saw my hesitation. “Are you chicken?” he asked.
“No.” I told him.
“Are you too afraid to see what she does?”
“No.” I said again, but with a little more force this time.
I stepped up to the machine, put my quarter in, and took a look. I was a little nervous, but I reminded myself that this was a family institution; kids came here. How bad could it be?
I put my eyes down to the eyepiece and watched a short, choppy film clip.
I tried not to laugh, and had to stare into the eyepiece a few minutes after the movie had ended to just to make sure I wasn’t still smiling when I turned back to Derek.
“Well?” he asked expectantly, “What does she do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes you do!”
“Nope. You’re just going to have to watch for yourself. Or are you too afraid?”
“I am not!” he said, but his face got just the tiniest bit of red in it.
“Then check it out.”
“Fine.” He grabbed a quarter out of his pocket, jammed it into the machine and proceeded to watch the film clip. Thirty seconds later, he turned back towards me, laughing. “Hey!”
“I know!” I laughed along with him. The film had shown a young woman lounging for a few seconds on a small sofa before getting up, washing her stockings, and hanging them up to dry. Then it cut to black.
“I mean, I guess it makes sense. I just thought it’d be a little different.” Derek told me.
“I know what you mean!” I replied. “Hey, did you play that golf game?”
“No, I was over playing the basketball game.”
“Yeah? Where’s that?”
He showed me the basketball game and I showed him the golf one. By the time we were done, we’d taken over four hours, but we played every single game they had. I would have never thought I’d have had such a good time with Derek, and I began to wonder if maybe I’d underestimated him.
Chapter 24
“Mom, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, honey. What’s wrong?” she sat down on the couch next to me, a look of mild concern on her face.
Normally, my mom would be the last person I’d go to for help – especially when the problem involved girls. I knew all of her focus was going to be on the fact that I was hanging out with not one, but two girls, and she hadn’t even known I’d had any friends at all that were girls. The important part – the fact that I was having real problems – would be almost completely lost on her. But with Derek not wanting to talk about Samantha, who else could I turn to? Mindy didn’t know Samantha before she died, and even if she did, what good would it do? It wasn’t like I could just ask Mindy if I should ditch Samantha. As a reaper, her answer was almost definitely going to be yes. And if I mentioned her to Mindy, I knew it would only set her straight on Samantha. Even with everything that had happened so far, I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted just yet. Deciding to go to Mindy was such a permanent solution, and I needed to make sure it was what I really wanted before I did it.
My mom was the only other person I could talk to about this whole thing. I was just going to have to keep her focused on the important parts of the story. I let out a deep breath and got ready for a very long and probably awkward conversation.
“I have this friend, Samantha.” I started. “And she’s been acting really weird lately. She’s been snapping and –”
“She?” my mom cut in. Here we go, I thought. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend. How long have you been seeing her? Is it serious?”
“Mom, please. That’s not actually important. She’s been –”
“Well, I sure think it’s important. How can I know what’s going on in your life if you won’t tell me?” She sounded hurt.
I’m trying to tell you, I thought. What I said was, “Ok, fine. We’re not dating and never have been. So no, it’s not serious. But I really need to ask you about her, ok?”
“Anything, honey.”
“It’s just that she’s been acting really weird lately. She snaps at me whenever she doesn’t get her way, and she doesn’t really like my other friends. She gets really mad whenever I talk about them, actually.” Wow. Listening to myself talk, I suddenly felt like the world’s biggest wimp. At least my mom didn’t say it. She leaned over and patted my hand.
“Well, it sounds like she’s not a very good friend.” That was for sure. I wondered why it took a conversation with my mom before I realized it.
“So what should I do?” I found myself asking. “I mean, she was one of the first friends I met when we moved. I don’t want to just abandon her. Especially since if I do, I know I’ll never be friends with her again.”
“Sweetie, you’re not abandoning her. Sometimes people just grow apart; you realize that you have different interests or different goals. It’s nobody’s fault. If you decide you don’t want to be friends with her, that doesn’t mean she’ll be all alone. I’m sure she can make other friends.”
“I don’t think so.” I said slowly. She was a ghost, after all. How many other people could she meet?
“Of course she will.” my mom said lightly. “And you can’t let someone else run your life. If things aren’t working out, you have to move on.”
“Yeah,” I was starting to warm to the idea. “I tried to ask Derek what I should do, but he wasn’t much help. And I couldn’t ask Mindy – I don’t think she’s really able to be objective about things like this.”
My mom raised her eyebrows. I could hardly wait to hear what she was going to say.
“Mindy?” she asked. I’d never heard so much meaning squished into one tiny word. When I didn’t say anything, she continued on. “Who’s Mindy?”
“She’s a friend at school.” I said wearily.
“Could this Mindy be the reason your other friend is upset with you?”
“No.” I said it with finality, even if it wasn’t technically true. Samantha was mad about me talking to Mindy, but not for the reasons my mom was thinking.
“Maybe she’s jealous.” she said.
“Of what? There’s nothing to be jealous of!”
“I didn’t say it was rational. But sometimes, when a girl likes you… ” she shrugged, trailing off.
“Mom, I’m not dating either of them. I don’t want to date them. And I’m pretty sure that neither of them wants to date me either.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true. Who wouldn’t want to date you?”
“Yeah, I’m just beating them off with sticks.” I told her.
“Well, just because you don’t want to date them, doesn’t mean they’re not interested in you.”
“Ok, mom.” I said, rolling my eyes. I could just picture trying to date either a ghost or a reaper. I actually couldn’t decide which would be a worse idea.
“So, if you’re not dating either of these two girls, who are you dating?”
“No one, mom.”
“You can tell me. You don’t have to be embarrassed.”
“I’m not embarrassed because I’m not dating anyone.” I was trying not to get annoyed, but she made it really hard sometimes.
My mom kept on asking about my dating life, convinced that I was just being secretive. She didn’t stop until I promised she could meet my girlfriend. Now all I needed to do was find one.
……
The next day after school, I walked up to my room and laid down on the bed. As usual, no one was home, and for once I was glad to be alone. I saw the lamp resting in the corner, but I didn’t bother to light it; I needed time to think.
I couldn’t believe I actually had to break down and talk to my mom in order for me to realize what I had to do. Thinking back on it just made me feel li
ke such a huge wimp all over again. Crying about how mean Samantha was! Even my mom had said pointed out that she wasn’t a good person to hang out with. I’d been worried that telling Mindy where Samantha was would be betraying a friend. But the more I thought about it, the more I had to wonder if Samantha had really been a friend at all. And if she wasn’t a friend, then I wasn’t really betraying her, was I?
Even with all the talking I’d done, I still wasn’t particularly close to Mindy. But she still seemed way better than Samantha. She paid a lot more attention to what I was saying, and even though she was just as scary and potentially dangerous as Samantha, Mindy was never angry. When I thought about Samantha, I realized that not only was she mad a lot of the time, but her anger was usually directed at me.
I liked to think of myself as a pretty nice guy. And I could understand how being a ghost could put a lot of stress on a person. I knew I’d be cranky if I’d been dead for as long as she had. But there comes a point where stress just can’t be the reason a person’s acting that way; at some point, it’s obvious that that’s just their personality. It was really simple; Samantha’s personality just wasn’t that good. And when I thought about it for any time at all, I realized I’d definitely rather have Mindy around than Samantha any day.
Chapter 25
“When you talked to Samantha, did she ever tell you how she died?” Derek asked.
School had gotten out about ten minutes ago, and we were now cutting through the field behind school, heading home. When I first found out Derek only lived a few blocks away from me, I’d been somewhat annoyed and I worried that I might see him around the neighborhood after school. But now that I knew him, I was kind of glad for the company I got most of the way home.
“Uh…” I said, mentally running through the conversations I’d had with Samantha. “I think she said she drowned.”
“Yeah. Did she tell you how?”
“Too much water?” I guessed. Derek did not seem impressed.
“I’m going to take that as a no.” he said. “I would have been surprised if she’d told you, in all honesty. She died in Eric Milner’s pool.”
“Really?” I said, surprised. How was that even possible? “What, she didn’t know how to swim?”
“How would I know if she could swim?”
“Well, if she could swim, how did she drown in a pool?”
“Will you let me finish?” I could tell he was starting to get annoyed.
“Sorry.” I mumbled. Once he was satisfied that I wouldn’t be interrupting again, Derek continued.
“Apparently, she’d climbed up a tree in Milner’s backyard and was trying to make her way to his window when she fell. She hit her head on the side of the pool and knocked herself unconscious or something. That’s why she didn’t get out of the water once she fell in.”
“No, she didn’t.” I looked sidewise at him, trying to decide if he was joking.
“She did too!” he shot back.
“Why would she go through all that?” I think it’s fair to say that I was scoffing at this point. Derek’s story just wasn’t making sense; why would she bother with such a dramatic entrance? Nobody really did that kind of thing. “Why didn’t she just go through the front door? It’d be way easier.”
“Because most psychos don’t use the front door?” Derek asked.
“Why’s she psycho? I mean, if Eric was her boyfriend and all, why not just have him let her in the easy way?”
“Her boyfriend?” Now it was Derek who was scoffing. “Are you crazy? She was stalking him! She followed him around every day from the moment she woke up. He couldn’t stand her; she even tried to get rid of all his friends so she could have him all to herself. Why would you ever think Milner was Samantha’s boyfriend?”
“Cause she told me.” I mumbled into my shirt. It was one of the most painful admissions of my life. I was such an idiot! She told me a story, and I just took her at her word for it, despite everything to the contrary. Even when she’d told me how mean Karen was, it still hadn’t clicked. How could I have been so stupid? Clearly Derek agreed with my self-assessment because he started laughing at me like I’d just told the best joke. “Well how was I supposed to know?” I said defensively.
“I can’t believe you bought that!” he said, gasping for air. He actually grabbed his sides and doubled over, he was laughing so hard. After what seemed like forever, Derek’s laughter finally died down and he turned serious again. “She really is crazy, though. If anyone ever tried to get between her and Milner…” Derek trailed off, looking nauseous. When I asked him what he meant, he just shook his head. All he would say is, “Let’s just say a lot of people thought it would be Karen that died instead of Samantha.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes while I did my best to absorb what Derek had said. If what he said was true, it certainly would explain a lot. The more I thought about it, the stupider I felt. I mean, what was wrong with me? How could I really not have noticed? I’d managed to ignore for months the fact that this girl was completely crazy. And what was even worse was the fact that I had almost gone along with her! If I’d listened to Samantha, I would have been trying to get rid of Mindy permanently.
Mindy. My blood ran cold. Just the thought of what I had almost done made me feel a little sick. Especially after getting to know her, it was hard to imagine there was a time when I’d wanted her gone. Good thing I’d never have to tell her!
Chapter 26
“Hi, James!” Mindy gave me a big smile and a goofy wave when she saw me. Derek made a strangled-sounding noise in his throat as he tried to choke back his laughter, but he managed to at least keep his mouth shut.
“Hi, Mindy.” I mumbled, and I could feel my face start to turn red. I tried not to be embarrassed as people around the cafeteria turned and stared, but it was really hard. I’d really gotten to like Mindy and Derek, but sometimes the things they did made me wish I was invisible; it was no wonder I’d never gotten to hang out with the kids over at Karen’s table once everyone saw me with these two. As soon as the thought entered my mind, I felt a fresh wave of guilt rise up and hit me, causing my face to turn an even deeper shade of red.
“Are you ok?” Mindy asked, looking at me with concern. I cleared my throat and gave my head a quick nod before smiling back at her.
“I’m fine.” I told her. “Look, are you busy? We really need to talk to you.”
“Ok.” she said, then stood patiently waiting.
“Umm, ok.” I’d expected a little more than that, somehow. When it became obvious that she was going to wait until I told her what I needed, I just shrugged; I really should be used to it from her by now. I looked around the cafeteria. At least no one was looking in our direction anymore – they’d all gone back to whatever they’d been doing before they spotted Mindy and me. Still, we were standing pretty close to a couple of the tables. We might not be interesting now, but if any of them heard us talking about grim reapers and ghosts, we’d probably catch their attention all over again. And that was the last thing I needed; if Mindy thought people were listening, I was pretty sure she’d never agree to help.
“Why don’t we go outside?” I suggested.
We left the cafeteria and headed quickly around the back corner so no one would see us. Once I was sure we were alone, I turned to face Mindy. She still hadn’t asked what I wanted. She just stood there, waiting for me to explain myself. I took a deep breath and plunged right in; there was no point in being shy about it.
“Ok. So, I found this lamp a couple of months ago…” I trailed off, already losing steam. It was bad enough I’d had to explain the whole thing to Derek. But now I was going to have to do it all over again. Only this time, I was going to have to tell it to someone much stronger and a whole lot scarier.
“What are you waiting for?” Derek asked. Since he didn’t know about Mindy, he didn’t have the same problem with telling her that I did.
“The lamp is haunted.” He blurted out. “By the
ghost of a girl who used to go to this school. Her name is Samantha Corben, and she died last year.”
I watched as Mindy’s eyes lit up for a split second before going dark again.
“Why are you telling me?” she asked. She tried to sound casual about it, but I knew better. I’d heard that hideous laugh of hers, and I’d seen the way her eyes lit up with recognition at Samantha’s name; she was a reaper for sure. And you couldn’t tell me that a reaper would be able to resist tracking down and catching a ghost that had been running around for over a year, especially when they clearly knew the name.
“She wants to kill you.” I said simply. “You don’t care about that?”
“Why would she want to kill me?” she asked impassively. “I’ve never even met her.”
I stared levelly at her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Derek turn to look at me too. I hadn’t really told him why we needed Mindy. All I’d said was that she’d help. And since she didn’t seem too interested at the moment, I could tell he was starting to doubt me.
“Why would Samantha want to kill Mindy?” he asked quietly, trying to at least keep his doubts between the two of us.
I stared pointedly at Mindy, but she just kind of shrugged like she had no idea what I’d been talking about. She really was going to make me tell him.
“Because.” I said, “Samantha wants to get rid of any reapers in the area. And Mindy is one of them.”
Mindy, of course, denied it. She raised her hands up in front of her and looked wide-eyed as she tried to tell Derek that she had no idea what I was talking about. And when he looked back at me with doubt written all over his face, Mindy squinted her eyes and set her jaw. She shot me such a dirty look I actually took a step back. Under her icy glare, I wavered just a bit. I almost told Derek that I must have been wrong, but I managed to stay firm. If she didn’t agree to help, I really didn’t know what I’d do.