Just Trust Me

Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

          The next morning I was contemplating on how to not let Carter kill the ghosts as soon as he met them. It seemed like he really hated them and he would probably kill them the first chance he got. I had to first make Carter talk to the ghosts and get to know them so that he could change his mind about the ghosts.  Or at least try to.  They couldn’t possibly all be as bad as he thought, though.  Maybe a few he had met before were, but the ones on this island definitely weren’t.

          “Honey, are you alright?” Mom asked, looking up from one of the glossy magazines she had brought with her.

          “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I replied, looking over the cover with ridiculous headlines.  “I’m heading over to Carter’s place.”  I stood up and headed for the door before Mom could protest.  Anywhere was better than here.  

          Maybe I could try to lead Carter to another area instead of the place where I had met the ghosts. The ghosts probably wouldn't be there if I led Carter far away and so Carter wouldn't be able to kill them! I smiled as I thought up my brilliant plan. I am such a genius.

          I wove my way through the identical houses, trying to remember where Carter’s was, until I finally came across one that I had a feeling was his.  I hesitantly knocked on the door, which immediately opened.  

          “Hey, I’ve been waiting,” Carter said, flashing a grin that made my heart stop in my chest.  ‘He’s way too old for you,’ I thought to myself.  ‘Like, a billion years too old for you.’

          “So have I,” I said without thinking.

          “You’re the one that came here,” Carter said, his eyebrows scrunching together.

          “I know,” I replied, giggling.  “Let’s go off to the ghosts,” I said, grabbing his hand before I could convince myself otherwise and heading in the exact opposite direction from where I had gone and seen the boy and girl yesterday.  

          “It’s right here...somewhere...” I said, pushing aside the thick foliage.  I had told Carter there was a stream, and right now I heard running water, so I just needed to find the source and say that was where I had been yesterday.

          “Wait, I hear something,” Carter said, grabbing me and pulling me back.  We both froze and I heard humming.  We both slowly stepped behind a tree as a girl came into view, with a basket in one hand and the other picking through bushes for berries.  She looked a bit older than the other girl and had long blonde hair that reached her waist.  Suddenly she froze and stood up straighter, turning slowly to face where we were.  You could hear a pin drop.  If someone dropped a pin in the middle of the forest.  I tried to hold my breath as not to give us away.  

          “Are you the ghost whisperer they’ve been talking about?” the girl asked out loud.  She paused for a moment, as if trying to decide what to say.  “I wont hurt you, I promise.  I don’t know what the karuts told you, but -”

          Carter stepped out from behind the tree, freezing the girl in her tracks.  She stared, shocked, at his hard expression.

          “We only told her the truth,” he said curtly, pulling out a lighter from his pocket.  

          “Wait!” I said, jumping out from behind the tree.  “I wanna hear her side of the story.”

          “You already know what you need to know,” Carter said, turning to me.  “You trust me, don’t you?”