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Teenage Ghost
It was half time at the homecoming game. Jeff and Evan were cheering on the Deerborne Crushers. The opposing Studemont Stingers were equally matched, and the game was too close to call. Everything was all fun and games til Jeff noticed something strange, or more to the point someone.
At first he thought he imagined it, a quick flicker of black on the field during the halftime show.
Then as the final seconds were played out on the field he saw it clearer. In the bleachers, on the opposing side. The crowd screamed wildly, Jeff’s attention went back to the players.
The Crusher’s quarterback threw the ball to the end zone where several players were open and ready. Then mid air the ball lost momentum, almost illogically, and fell like a stone into Roger Whitaker’s hands. Roger Whitaker was the fastest runner on the Stingers, no one could catch him.
He took off like a shot, through an almost vacant field. After scoring the final point and winning for the team, Jeff looked back to the bleachers.
There was no one there.
Evan couldn’t believe what he saw, “Did you see that?! Did you see that?!?”
“Yes.” Evan stared where he had seen the image in black. “I sure did.”
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At 3am Jeff stood in the bedroom of his oldest and best friend in all the world. He watched the old man sleep. The old man, something Jeff would never become. Never have a family, never have a son to carry on his name. He watched Evan Sr sleep soundly and peacefully. “You got it all didn’t you?” Evan spoke to the sleeping man, but the man couldn’t have heard even if he was awake. “Everything I wanted for myself, everything I wanted for both of us. You got it.” resentment was evident in Jeff’s voice.
Jeff walked to the side of the bed and leaned over his old friend. He whispered in his ear, “Evan, what happened to Vi Iamahoe after she left school?”
“Jeff?” the old man didn’t quite wake. “Jeff, where are you?”
“I’m sitting right beside you, can’t you see me?” Jeff manipulated Evan Sr’s dream so the two of them were back in school.
The two teenage friends sat on the bleachers at the stadium where the Stingers had just played.
Evan Sr turned to Jeff and smiled brightly, “JEFF! How long has it been? I missed you so much. I have so much to tell you, so much has been going on.”
“We’ll have plenty of time for that later.” Jeff waved him off, “I need to know about Vi.”
Evan pondered for a while, it took him a bit in his old age to remember that far back. The pathways weren’t as strong as they used to be. “She transferred to Studemont High after she was caught with speed on campus. Then I heard she was bullied there, and committed suicide. I would have reached out to her, but I was…”
“I know.” Jeff cut him off.
“I’m sorry, I never meant…”
“I know.” Jeff put his arm around his old friend and gave him a half hug. “I’m sorry too.”
The two sat there for a while staring at the empty field in the moonlight and reminiscing. Then the sun started to rise in the dream, Evan Sr felt better.
The old man woke up to an empty room, he glanced at the sun pouring in through the blinds. A smile crept across his face, one that hadn’t been there since before high school. He got out of bed and in his pajamas climbed to the top of the stairs that led to the attic. He walked to the back and knelt down in front of an old heavy suitcase. He flicked the case open with two loud clicks. He opened the suitcase and glanced at the bounty that laid inside. With a childish grin and slight mischievous giggle, Evan Sr sat down and cracked open a comic book.