Ghost Child - Chapter Five
“I’m not sure sweet.” Lex admitted, “But I’m always here for you.”
Without thinking, I reached up and kissed Lex. He, of course, kissed back but Veronica gasped and something clicked. I didn’t mind it at first but the sound of a trigger pulled. Lex pushed me away just as a bullet struck his chest.
“Lex!” I cried and bent by him. The pressure of a gun-tip pushed against the side of my head.
“Go sit on the couch,” Veronica hissed, “You were supposed to be hit, not him.”
I did obey her but looked back at Lex who was breathing heavily on the ground. His eyes looked almost glazed as he stared at the ceiling.
“Let’s play a guessing game,” Veronica held the gun a little bit away from me now, “Guess a number one through ten, get it right and I’ll let you go and leave forever…get it wrong and…boom!” She laughed wickedly and bent down to whisper in my ear, “I want Lex. You’re an obstacle in my way, I’ll kill you.”
I just nodded, my eyes still on Lex.
“Guess a number one through ten.”
“Seven.”
“It was six, oops!” She placed her finger on the trigger.
Something flooded to me: the realization that Heaven would never accept Veronica and that only Hell could take her. I stood right before she pushed the trigger.
I straightened and I said words that I felt I had used a million times before, “I call upon the Grim Reaper to take this creature to my underground kingdom of Hell.”
The Grim Reaper appeared in front of me and opened the wooden box from my memory. The box my mother’s ghost was trapped inside of. Veronica’s face turned pale as her ghost left her body and flew into the box. Her body disappeared before my eyes and I called out, “Wait!”
The Grim Reaper turned to me.
“Heal Lex, please.” I whispered.
The Reaper waved a bony hand over his box and vanished. I turned around and saw Lex standing. There was no bullet in his chest and I ran to hug him. Tears escaped my eyes and rolled down my cheeks and Lex wiped them away.
“It was terrible! He stole her life and I couldn’t stop from summoning him with those…those words!
“It’s okay Rina. Shhh, it’s alright.” Lex rubbed my back and let me cry.
“Lex, I hate my ability. I want it to go away.”
“No, no you don’t want that,” he shook his head, “Your ability is a one and only original thing.”
I sniffed and stopped crying but my head leaned against his right heart. The telephone rang in the kitchen and Lex walked with me to get it.
“Hey,” he said into the receiver and listened. A couple times he would look worriedly at me, “Tomorrow?” he asked, “Okay. Yeah, see you then.” He hung up and rubbed his neck.
“Uh oh, what is it?” I clutched the edge of the counter in my hands.
“The IAL wants you on trial. This process could take awhile so Heath and Brad are coming home tonight. Or rather, in an hour.” He looked out the window; “Heath wants me to do something for you before you go to court.” Lex nodded to himself and continued, “He wants me to take you home.”
“I am home.”
“No. Heath says we have two teleportation keys left. One to take you home and the other to bring me back.” His expression was dead serious.
“No Lex! I won’t go. I am not staying at my old house.” I raised my voice.
“Rina do you realize that if you stay here you might die tomorrow?” Lex raised his too.
“I might get hit by a bus at my old house tomorrow and die too. Face it, I’m not going.” My voice started shaking now.
Lex grabbed my arm and pulled a key from his pocket and raised his arm. Suddenly we were standing in front of my old house. How long had I been living in the Ballingdon Mansion? Almost a month now?
“I’ll wait for you. Decide if you want to stay or not. Think about what you would lose if you left.” Lex dropped my arm.
“You don’t want me to stay with you,” I whispered.
“No, I don’t want to see you die.”
I stalked up to my old house, threw open the door and called out, “Hello?”
My Dad appeared from the living room, holding his Blackberry in his hand, “You’ve been spending a lot of time with your friends, Rina. You’ve been falling behind on your chores.”
What? That was it? No ‘Welcome home’ or ‘where have you been’? That made me hate my Dad all the more. I ran to my room and grabbed my cell phone and ran back down the stairs.
“Dad,” I took a deep breath, “I’m leaving.”
He looked up from his phone, “Don’t stay out too late.”
“No Dad, I’m going and not coming back. I’m moving out, leaving home, running away, whatever you want to call it.”
“Oh that’s posh.” He snorted. “Now come here and do your chores. I’m your parental authority.”
“I’m nineteen. An adult. I have no parental authority and you aren’t my parent.” I slammed the door as I went out our front door and ran to Lex who was leaning against my old red Porsche, “Let’s go.” I muttered.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Come on.” I touched his shoulder and he brought a key from his pocket and raised his hand.
Then we were both standing in the driveway. We both silently got dinner inside the house. Steak for me and blood for him. We walked to the family room and sat on the couch. A breeze came in through the window and I shivered.
“Ri, look at the fireplace and say ‘fire’.” Lex told me.
I looked questioningly at him. I looked at the fire though and said, “Fire.” A fire started in the fireplace and my tired eyes flew open, “Did I do that?” I asked, horrified and pleased at the same time.
“Mhm. As the Ghost Child for Hell, you can create fires.” Lex held me close. I settled into his arms and drifted to sleep.
Doors burst open and something sharp hit my neck before I could open my eyes. Lex’s angry voice was yelling words I couldn’t make out. Another male voice that sounded oddly familiar was shouting back at him. Someone picked me up; I tried to react but failed. My eyes felt glued shut. Heath and Brad’s voices came into the conversation
Lex shouted, “Let her go!”
An unfamiliar male voice said, “You three are under IAL arrest for previous murder offences. Rina is under arrest for being a lethal and dangerous creature.”
The person holding me started to run and put me down in what felt like the backseat of a car.
My fingers twitched and I moaned. Another male voice said, “Sir, she’s waking!”
“Needle her.” The familiar voice replied. A needle tip hit my neck again and my mind went dead.
