Misguided Ghosts

Chapter Nineteen

Nineteen – Caleb

I opened my eyes at half nine. Tay was curled into a ball as close to me as possible without our skin being in contact. I watched as she slept, her deep breaths making her hair flutter around her face. Tucking an arm behind my head, I tried to get closer to her. I wanted her, so, so badly. But she wasn’t mine – not yet. That would all happen in good time. Tay shifted her position, rolling onto her back, throwing an arm over her stomach. Oh, how I wished to be that arm. Beneath her lids, her eyes flickered along with whatever she was dreaming about. Reaching out, I gently touched two fingers to her temple and an image flashed through my mind. Ed’s face, his jaw clenched and his cold, dead eyes staring back at her.

Withdrawing my hand, I ground my teeth together and felt a low growl rumble from deep in my chest. How could she be dreaming about him, while I was lying next to her? A hiss escaped my clenched teeth.  I had Ed’s soul, which meant she was just as in love with me as she was with him.

I clambered out of her bed, reluctant to leave her. Where was this reluctance coming from? Ed. Yes, I had his soul, which meant that I was now capable of emotion while he wasn’t, but I never asked for his emotions. Clearly, emotion was something that couldn’t be controlled. Certainly when it came to her.

I stood by the window, looking down at the garden, but not really taking it in. My mind wandered. My plan was working. Ed’s loss of emotion was driving a rift between him and Tay, I was sure of it. And my presence was certainly getting to him. I didn’t even have to torture his soul anymore. His own mind was torture enough for him. The constant swirl of memories from his old life, coupled with his new life, along with his indecision to tell Tay about what was going on; who I really was.

A soft sigh from the bed made me turn around. Tay had finally woken up. “Morning,”

She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Morning. How long have you been awake?”

I shrugged. “Not long. About five minutes or so,”

“That’s not too bad then,” She said. “I’d feel terrible if you’d been awake for hours,”

I moved to sit next to her. “Tay, after the state you were in last night, I think sleep was exactly what you needed,”

She rested her head on my chest and I slung an arm around her shoulders. I had to resist smirking: this was how things should be: Tay in my arms, next to me, falling asleep next to me, relying on me to comfort her, not with him. A heavy sigh escaped her.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She chewed on her lip. “Not really. It’s bad enough that I dreamt about it, let alone talking about it.”   

“So what do we do now?”

“Well, I am going to play Zelda, and you are going to watch and marvel at my Zelda skills.”

We went into the living room and Tay sat down heavily on the floor, leaning her back against the coffee table. She reached under it and pulled out a blanket, draping it over herself. Tay flexed her fingers before picking up the controls and starting the game.

“So what is Zelda?” I asked, settling myself on the sofa as my interest piqued.

Tay turned, the controller slipping from her suddenly limp hands, her eyes wide with shock. “Please tell me you did not just say that.”

“But I did,” I said, slightly confused. “So what is Zelda?”

Tay sighed and shook her head. “Be grateful Jared isn’t here to hear you say that. He would have kicked your ass. Zelda, my poor, uneducated sir, is a rather amazing video game that I happen to be extremely good at.”

I sat and listened as she explained the intricacies of the video game, all while playing it. Admittedly, she often stopped mid-flow to swear at whatever monsters were attacking her or whatever, but I guess that was an integral part of the game, especially seeing as I’d been watching her and Ed the night before, both of them swearing loudly at whatever they were playing. Halo 4. That was it. A rather ironic choice of game for two dead people to be playing. But then again, with the amount of swearing that had gone on, it was unlikely that angels had anything to do with it.

“Why do you swear so much?”

Tay sighed and paused the game, twisting round to face me. “Well, it’s called raging. Sometimes, it just slips out. You’d understand if you were a gamer.”

“Well, can I have a go?”

Tay gave me a reproachful look, but shifted her position on the floor so I could sit next to her. With my back leaning against the coffee table, I felt vaguely at home, in front of the TV screen. Tay saved her own game and opened an empty log – the last free slot. “You’re so lucky I have this free slot. But if Jared found out I had a free slot and didn’t let him use it, I’d be dead meat.”

“Who does the other slot belong to?” I asked, taking the controller.

“Ed,” Tay said softly, looking at the floor.

I squeezed her shoulder and then flexed my fingers, just like I’d seen her doing. “Right. How do I play this?”

After an hour and a surprising amount of swearing, Tay was staring at me in shock, her mouth slightly agape.  By the looks of it, I was a better Zelda player than she was, despite her proclamation of being the Queen of Zelda.

“Caleb-” She began, but stopped. “How did you – How did you manage to do that? I mean, you’ve never played anything before. Well, you might have played MarioKart, but that’s nothing like this.”

I shrugged. “Maybe it’s my hidden talent,”

She laughed. “Cute. Have you seriously never played anything like this before?”

I fought back the flush that threatened to creep up my cheeks. Tay thought I was cute. “Never. First time I’ve ever played a video game.”

“Damn, you’ve had a deprived childhood,” Tay laughed, bumping her shoulder against my own. “But now you’ve passed the Zelda test, maybe now you can join Jared, Ed and I on our fabled Call Of Duty nights,”

I laughed. “I’d like that, a lot,”

“Tay?”

A voice from the doorway made us both spin around. Ed was standing there, a massive bar of chocolate in one hand, some DVDs tucked under his arm and a bouquet of roses in his other hand.

“Would either of you care to explain to me what the hell is going on?” 

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Woo! Chapter Nineteen! So this was the first time I tried writing from Caleb's perspective, so two things: 1, I'm sorry if it's a bit rubbish and 2, that's why it's slightly shorter. Oh, and I'm sorry that this chapter seems to focus around Zelda a lot, I've got tonsillitis and I've been playing Zelda for about four days straight now. 

....And I'm going to shut up now.   

xoxo Cat