The Ghosts

Chapter Four, Part Three

Somehow I managed to end up at Central Park. It was a long way, especially for my already tired muscles but I kept walking and that’s where I ended up. I knew if I stopped, what I just saw would fully sink in. Somehow I’d managed to wreck everything I had scrapped together since I got here. I’d brought my nightmares to my reality thinking it would make everything better but instead it just made everything more…unbearable.

I felt worse and I didn’t think that was possible at all.

My phone started ringing in my pocket and I assumed it was Gregori. I owed him an apology. He’d trusted me not to go and do something like this but I did. And worst of all, I’d dragged his men into it. I was messing in other people’s lives again and it wasn’t right of me.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, fully planning on groveling but the name on the caller ID didn’t match the person I owed the begging and apologizing to.

Luke.

I answered it and before I could even say hello he spoke.

“Keep going straight. You’ll see a willow tree 25 yards up.”

He hung up the phone as did I. The gem of the fake class ring glinted at me, reminding me that the Guild could track my movements when I was outside the building. I didn’t really care. If this would get me kicked out then that was fine. If it would keep my self-destructiveness from affecting those around me, it was for the best. I didn’t want to be there anyways. All I needed to do was apologize to Gregori and that would be the end of it.

I saw the willow and the figure sitting underneath. The sun was almost down and I was thankful he picked a spot that had light nearby. Luke looked up at me as I sat down next to him but he turned back to look out at the water. We sat there together for a while, neither of us really saying anything.

“I thought you’d go back there.”

“You followed me.”

“I was already there.” He turned to look at me. “I was waiting for you. I knew you’d show up there before I left the city.”

“How could you possibly know I would go there? And then come here afterwards?”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “I know you, Georgiana. I’ve been your Guardian for years, a life time it seems like. I think I know your habits pretty well by now.”

“Were,” I whispered. “You were my Guardian.”

He reached over and took my hand. “Am. I am and will always be your Guardian. Nothing will ever change that. Not even me being reassigned.”

I squeezed his hand and looked at him. “I think I’m going crazy.”

“What do you mean?”

Tears slipped down my face. “Some things have happened…and now, now I’m hallucinating.”

“Georgiana…”

“I see him like he’s really there. It’s not like he just stands there, he talks to me, he acts like he used to. I’m crazy, right?”

“You’re talking about Aidan.” I nodded. “When did it start?”

“Today.” He sighed. “Luke, I don’t…”

“It’s just your mind trying to help you cope. It’s normal, it happens.”

“I don’t want to see him anymore. I thought it was gone and buried but…”

“You’ve lost them, both of them, within a short span of time. It’s normal that you would see one or the other. Maybe both. It’ll go away eventually.”