Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141
Teenage Ghost
There was knock on the girls bathroom door. “Vi. I have a present for you.” Josh called out to his girlfriend. She hadn’t returned any of his texts, answered the phone, or seen him in three days.
“What is it?” Vi asked from behind the locked door.
“You have to come out here and open it.” Josh then taunted her playfully, “I promise you’re going to like it.”
Vi opened the bathroom door and held out her hand.
Josh smiled and handed her a box the size of her hand. It was gift wrapped in aluminum foil, with cooking twine for a bow.
Vi smiled sweetly at him and opened the gift.
Inside was a folding pocket knife. The blade was about two inches long, but it was the thought that counted.
“I love it!” Vi exclaimed and hugged Josh tightly. “Thank you.”
“Now do you feel safe?” Josh asked as he embraced her.
“A little.” Vi pulled back a little. “A little bit more than I did before.” She looked deep into his eyes, and ran her fingers through his hair.
“I just want you to feel safe.” he glanced into her eyes deeply. “I don’t want you to be forced into locking yourself up in the bathroom here like a dungeon and never coming out. Just because you don’t feel safe.” He pulled her close and hugged her tightly, “You should never feel afraid. You should always feel…”
“The way you feel?” Vi pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Brave and strong. Able to do anything.”
The words sounded strange as he heard them, he felt as if Vi was manipulating him in some way. Like a siren from that movie he saw last summer, he imagined this must be what the sailors felt like before they crashed into the rocks. Josh looked into her eyes, “Was is this hold you have over me?”
“What are you talking about?” Vi moved away from him.
Josh looked at Vi for a second and the knife she held in her hand still.
“What’s the matter with you?” Vi asked suspiciously.
Josh shook his head and looked at Vi. Then turned to walk off.
“Well, when you decide to share whatever it is you’re on, you call me!” Vi shouted at his back as walked down the hallway. Then she went in the girls bathroom again and locked the door.
Josh climbed out the window and began thinking about Vi. He loved her. He felt an uncontrollable urge to be by her side all the time. To hear what she says, to know what she thinks. She was fascinating. She knew about things he’d never thought of. And when he was near her it felt like magic. It felt like he could accomplish anything he wanted to. He only needed one thing, her.
Josh arrived at his house and walked through the door to his room. After he shut the door he wondered. Did he really love Vi? Was this just a passing crush? Maybe it was a mere obsession. Why did he buy her that knife?
He had been so sure of his actions before. Everything made sense. Now, it seemed as if he was trying to wake up out of a dream, but couldn’t quite make the connection back to reality.
He glanced at his phone, but she had not called or texted.
Josh shook his head and put the phone on his headboard. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.