Who Cares Who Wins? (boyxboy)

Chapter 8. Xander's Secret.

Xander's POV.

I could tell from Cliff's face that I had shocked him even before he had turned and ran out of the room.

Tonight's visitation was very different. Generally the Spirits were calm and very undemanding, but this Spirit was anything but that and it had compelled me to act. It was quite insistent that I told Cliff right there and then.

I realised that I would need to take care when I approached him or I could frighten him even further.

I didn't run after him as, having locked the outer door behind us and the key was in my pocket, he couldn't get out of the building.

Cliff was sitting on the floor with his back resting against the exit door. An arm covered his face and he appeared to be crying.

"Are you okay?" I stupidly asked as I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. What sort of dumb question was that? Just one look at him would tell that he wasn't.

He firmly brushed my hand aside and quickly stood up. He wiped the tears away with the back of his hand and with his sleeve and looked at me.

A frown creased his brow. "That was a very cruel trick to play on me.... What have I done to deserve you doing something as twisted as that to me? Kasper warned me to watch out for you..... He said you were weird and that you talked to dead people.... I thought he was joking or just being a bastard. Why be so evil Xander? Why?"

He banged on the door, angrily, and then slumped back down on the floor again.

I sat down next to him. "I wasn't being evil. There was nothing I could do about it..... Honest..... I had no control at all...... It was your brother......, he was so desperate to talk to you."

Cliff raised his head and looked at me, his eyes filled with tears again. "I-I-I don't understand....... The things you s-s-said..... about the accident..... and him not blaming me.... How c-c-could you know about that?"

I placed an arm awkwardly over his shoulders in an effort to show some compassion. "I don't know anything about the accident or about him... I only know what his Spirit has just told me. Nothing else... Honest.... I know it sounds pretty weird and spooky, but it's true."

Cliff's eyes widened. "You mean....., what Kasper said was true.....? You really do talk to dead people?"

"I don't really talk to dead people Cliff...... It's their Spirit that talks through me. Usually they appear when I meditate or when I am in a quiet place on my own. A spirit contacting me as suddenly and unexpectedly as your brother's did, has never happened to me before."

We sat in silence for quite a few minutes as Cliff regained his composure.

"I'm sorry to have been such a wuss," Cliff suddenly remarked, breaking the silence. "It just took me by surprise. I've heard of things like that happening and people swear that it's very real..... Does that mean you're a psychic?"

"Not really..... I see myself as a medium. Someone a Spirit uses to contact their loved one."

Cliff gave a nervous laugh. "You're having me on. We played with an Ouija board at my old school and it was a crock of shit. We just put the wind up each other..., that's all!"

"I'm not surprised by that," I answered, glad he was at least trying to make a joke out of it. "It would never work by just pushing a board around. One of you would have had to be receptive to the Spirits and not everybody can do that."

"How comes you're able to do that then? Is it something you've learnt?"

I had only told one other boy about how these visitations started. He had been totally understanding and supportive.