A Pocket Full of Posies (Book 1)

Chapter Five

Everywhere I turn, I'm terrified I'll see a pair of black eyes staring back at me. A few days have passed since I saw that thing in Ava's window, and I've not seen it since, but I'm constantly on edge. Part of me is still living in the hope that it's all a hallucination or some bizarre thing I've conjured up inside my own head, not that literal insanity is a great alternative to spirit-related stuff.

Annabel keeps going on at me to reveal all to Ava, but I just can't bring myself to do it. To get her alone is near enough impossible in itself, and I've only ever told one person about my abilities before. That resulted in the only foster parent I ever actually liked trying to literally section me, and then throw me out like a pair of old shoes.

Sometimes I wonder if I actually am insane, and that maybe every single thing I see is a figment of my imagination. What if I tell Ava everything, only for her to think I'm an absolute freak? What if she proves me wrong, and it turns out I am actually just crazy?

These questions are burning the circuits of my brain when I wander into the living area of my flat one Wednesday afternoon, and the first thing I spot is a small, brown book sitting on the kitchen island. I recognise it immediately. It's the book Ava handed Carmen the other day, the simplified one about spirits.

I drop the plate I brought in to clean up onto the countertop, right next to the two other plates I've yet to clean, and sit down beside the island. Everyone else has left the flat for a paranormal society meeting, which I gladly declined, so I've got at least an hour. Annabel's listening to some god-awful audiobook about a middle-aged divorcee who falls in love with a rich arsehole and adopts a puppy, or some garbage, so I'm even free of her for a while.

If she had it her way she'd probably stalk me every waking hour of the day, but I think she's gotten the message that being attached by the hip can be a bit much for me at times. She's pretty good at knowing when I want some privacy, and usually goes for a walk somewhere else for a few hours, or finds somewhere new to explore.

I flip open the book, and turn the slightly yellowed pages until I find the index. Hm. There are a lot more categories than I thought there'd be in a simplified version of something, half of which I've no idea what they actually mean. I figure the best place to start is the beginning.

I quickly pop back into my room to grab some writing materials. I'm soon hunched back over the book in the kitchen, with a pencil in my hand and a notebook by my side. I best write some notes for Annabel--I have a habit of processing information, only to verbally regurgitate that information in a way that makes no sense whatsoever to anyone but myself.

By the time I hear people returning to the flat, it feels as if I've been through the most intense academic session of my life. Ava is studying for a Law degree, so it should have occurred to me that her version of simplified reading will differ a lot from my version of it. I hastily slam the book shut, along with the small notepad.

Tom is the first to walk in, and judging by his wonky grin, he had a whale of a time at the society meeting. He immediately starts blathering on about how I missed out, how everyone there was weird as shit, and how much they all loved Ava. Jamie, who apparently attended for 'Scientific purposes' appears unimpressed, and follows Tom into the kitchen. The others must head straight to their bedrooms.

"They're real, man, I'm telling you now," Tom says to me as he opens the fridge and takes out a bowl of pasta that's been in there for at least a week. "The ghost people said it would make sense for my nan to haunt the bathroom because she had this thing for towels--used to collect them--and we had them all when she died. Kept them all in that bathroom."

"Ghost people?" I ask, struggling not to snigger.

"Yeah! The society members, and hell, even the president of it thought I was on to something. We're going on this trip to a haunted house before the semester ends, so I'll be able to flex my expertise then."