Ghosted

Chapter 20: Old Friends

"Hang on!" Julie's surprised by the person's voice as she pulled back up.

"Carrie!?" She says when her feet were back on solid ground. "What are you doing here?"

"My dad is always sneaking off and he comes here. I was looking for him, to confront him about...never mind it's none of your business." Carrie says. "What are you doing here?"

"It's also none of your business." Julie says, but she was wondering what Carrie's dad would be doing here. "I don't have time to talk, I'm looking for someone." Julie walks past Carrie, going down a wide open corridor of hotel rooms.

"Um, Julie wait." Carrie follows her. "So um...I just wanted to say, you did a great job that night." Julie  turns around and looks at her a little confused. "At the Orpheum." Carrie continues. "You were amazing."

"Oh. Thanks. I guess." Julie says, Carrie's kindness taking her by surprise.

"And I just wanted to say I'm sorry. About everything that happened between us." Carrie says and tension drops. Julie starts to see Carrie has someone who use to be her friend and not the drama queen form school.

"It was unfair for me to just stop talking to you, especially when you were going through something and I guess I was just mad at you....for not understanding what I was going through I spent the past year taking it out on you and I'm sorry." Carrie says.

"Thank you for apologizing." Julie says. "I'm sorry too. For not being there when your mom left."

"It's okay. I don't blame you for not wanting to be around me during that time. I didn't even wanna be around me." She says with a slight laugh.

Carrie didn't like the person she became after her mom left. Maybe she was just screaming for her dad's attention since he was her only parent left since her mom can't be bothered to reach out. Or maybe she was jealous of the picture perfect family she thought Julie had, but Julie didn't have it any easier then she did. Carrie's just realizing it now, and she feels awful for ever letting jealousy ruin one of the best friendships she's ever had.

"I know...I know we probably will never go back to what we were, but I just hope you can forgive me and we can be somewhat friends." Carrie says.

"I'd like that." Julie smiles. "I'd like that a lot actually." Carrie returns the smile and there's a moment where they both just stand in silence. Then Julie remembers why she's here in the first place and how she may be running out of time.

"It was really nice making up with you and all, but I really gotta find my friends." Julie says going into one of the hotel rooms. Nothing. Just a dusty old room.

"Maybe I can help?" Carrie offers. "I um...I know something is going on. I'm not sure what it is, but ever since you played the Orpheum my dad has been acting so weird. He keeps asking me about your holograms, as if I know anything. And Nick has been acting strange since the Orpheum too, I mean we haven't really talked, but still. He's just different. And my dad...I mean he's obsessed with your bandmates. I found this picture of the three of them plus....well plus this other guy that kinda looks like my dad." Carrie pulls a picture out from her pocket and hands it to Julie.

It's a picture of Sunset Curve, Bobby standing on in side next to Reggie and Luke and Alex were behind them with their arms draped over their shoulders.

"Okay, look, it's gonna sound crazy...I'm not crazy." Julie says. "The guys in my band are dead. They're ghosts and before they died they were in a band with your dad, but back then he went by Bobby. I don't know how or why but I can see the guys, and when we play together so can everyone else. There's this evil ghost who doesn't like that people can see them without his help, he took them and he took Flynn and this is suppose to be his club but it's just a stupid abandoned hotel."