ALL RIGHTS RESERVED COPYRIGHTED 2015
p r o l o g u e
t w o y e a r s a g o
"Jane," the soft but persistant sound of Jared whispering my name awakens me from my sleep as I stare up at my high ceiling above me. In the bruised air around me, everything is ten times darker in hue. Yet, Jared's crystal blue irsies are the only light that is striking in the darkness. Amusement floats in his eyes.
Sighing, I sit upright in my blankets and bring my knees up against my chest as Jared stands in front of me with a flash light in his hand and an Iron Man t-shirt over his red swim trunks. Raising my eyebrow up, I question the fact that he's dressed to go to the local pool when it's early Autumn and the pool is closed by now. His brownish red hair is styled in a mohawk and he's not wearing his glasses even though he's supposed to. He never wears them though.
"What is it, Jared?" I ask him as I push my pillows back and lean against them, pieces of my own brownish red hair falling in front of my face as I fold my arms against my chest. In the corner of my eye I see the bedroom door cracked open, enough for the both of us to hear the sound of our dad snoring down the hallway.
"I'm going to the lake to have a midnight dip. You want to come?" Jared turns on his flashlight and points it in my direction, earning a groan from me and an arm covering my eyes from the brightness blinding me. He turns it off and I let my arm fall back down again.
"No, but I'm coming anyway. I don't like you going out there by yourself." I hear a groan in annoyance from Jared before I slip out of my bed and head towards my dresser. I pull out my navy blue bikini before going into my closet.
Turning the light on and shutting the door, I begin to slip my t-shirt up over my head before flickering my eyes at the closed door again.
"Jared, was everything okay at school today? I didn't see you at all, you weren't in lunch either," I question him with my voice being the only noise in the bedroom. He can hear me.
"It was okay...until I walked into second block and saw Nick Garceia sitting at his desk, bawling his eyes out because his grandmother passed away. I couldn't comfort him because his grandmother appeared next to him. She wouldn't leave me alone all block. She said that she wanted me to tell Nick's dad that she was sorry for not showing how proud she was of him over the years," Jared admits this in a rushed tone and feeling my heart sadden, I finish slipping off my pajamas before slipping on my bikini.
"Sometimes I wish I could turn it off...at school at least. No one likes me, except for the few friends of mine that actually believe that you and I are clairvoyant. They think that we're lying or that we are creepy for knowing things about their deceased family and family friends that only they know," Jared continues as I yank down a huge t-shirt that was my dad's before he gave it to me from its hanger. I put it on and open the closet door, seeing Jared sitting at the end of my bed with his head tilted down to the carpet.
"I know how you feel, Jared. At least it's Friday though and you won't have to see Nick until Monday," I reassure him as I turn off the light and head over to him. I awkwardly pat him on the shoulder and he looks up at me, giving me a small smile. It almost reminds me of our first day of school in grade school and how we clung to each other in fear because we saw a bloody ghost on the way to school, but now we're sophomores in high school and we can't do that anymore. Well that and ghosts don't scare us like they did when we were little.
"Actually, Nick had invited me to his birthday party on Sunday. I don't know if I should go or not. If I go, then maybe I can talk to his dad and his grandmother to get her to cross over," Jared lightly brings the topic up almost as though I'm going to demand him to stay home on Sunday. Instead, I move away from him and sit next to him on the bed.
"Think about it, okay? It's your decision. Let's forget about it for now, and go down to the lake," I change the subject and Jared smiles before he hops up from the bed and makes his way towards the bedroom door again. I follow quietly behind him, the both of us on the mission to sneak out of the house and go to the lake.
Following behind Jared, I shadow his movements as we head downstairs and in the direction of where the back door is. I shiver when he opens the back door and a rush of cold air whips into the kitchen. Glaring at Jared, I can't help but question why he wants to go to the lake when it's getting cold but I don't. It's our quiet place, our place for us to sit and be ourselves and not feel like the freaks that our classmates think we are.
"Come on, Jane." Jared shoots me a sneaky smile and I roll my own blue eyes before I head out and shut the door closed behind me. I barely even have time to turn around before he grabs me by the arm and yanks me down the back deck and in the direction of where the trees are. Behind us, I hear the sound of our dog, Oliver, barking in his doghouse because we just woke him up.
Once in the tree line though, Jared drops his hand from my arm and turns on his flashlight again. Pointing it forward, Jared begins to follow the little markers in the woods that point in the direction fo where the lake is. We could walk to the lake with our eyes closed but I'm not in the mood to go to the E.R. because I tripped over a tree root and broke my ankle.
For the next ten minutes, we're quiet, just following the secret pathway to the lake. It isn't until Jared stops and turns off the flashlight before stepping forward that I see the two large trees that seperate us from the side of the lake. He pushes the limbs away and walks forward before I follow behind him, my eyes glued to the ground so that I don't trip.
Looking back up, I smile when I see the beautiful moon in the darkened skyline shimmering down moonlight across the land. The crystal clear waters from the lake reflect the moon and in the distant beyond the woods there's mountains with little snow dust on the tops of them. It's a camper's paradise, but also a paradise for my brother and me.
Jared takes a few steps into the large and drying tall grass, before he tilts his head back and lets out a large yell. I giggle and step forward before tilting my head and doing the same. Closing my eyes, I take in a large breath before I feel a cotton t-shirt smack itself against my head.
Opening my eyes, I peel Jared's t-shirt away from my head and notice him running in the direction of where the water is. "Be careful, Jared! Remember, don't go out too far!" I cup my hands to my mouth as I shout this, earning a wave to dismiss my mandate.
"Oh lighten up, Mom!" Jared shouts back before he runs into the waters, before screaming that it's cold on the top of his lungs. Rolling my eyes, I can't help but laugh at my brother and truest best friend before I sit down on the grass with his t-shirt underneath me.
All is content until I can't help but feel a pair of eyes on me. Turning my head, I almost shiver when I see a college aged girl standing in front of me with mud covering her body and hair that is dripping. I can feel all the emotions that she felt when she died, the way that she shouted for anyone to come and save her but no one came. She frowns at me, as she points her hand in the direction of where the lake is.
"Your brother is getting tired. He's too far out. The same thing happened to me. I thought that I could swim to the middle of the lake and lay on my back before staring up at the stars," the girl whispers as I snap my head in the direction of where my brother is. He's nearing the middle of the lake. "No one has reached the middle of the lake before. I should have reached the middle of the lake. Your brother doesn't deserve to."
My heart rattles in my chest as I get up from the ground and turn to the girl, seeing that she has a wicked look across her features. "And now, he'll die, just like I did." She raises her hand before pointing with a concentrated look crosses her eyes, and before I can do anything I see that she's trying to push Jared down underneath the waters.
"Stop! Please stop!" I scream but she shakes her head and without hesitation, I start running in the direction of where Jared is. I throw off my t-shirt and throw myself into the cold water, not caring if it's beyond cold and that I shouldn't be in the water. In the distance, I can hear the girl laughing and Jared screaming for me.
Yet, as much as I try to reach him, it's as though life is cruel and is playing with me. With every stroke towards him it's as though I'm farther away from him. It's like she wants to toy with me, wants me to see the only one who understands me be taken away from me.
In seconds, Jared disappears underneath the water and everything stops. The girl disappears and my brother doesn't resurface. I don't know how long I'm in the water, staring at the spot in front of me, hoping that he resurfaces again.
He doesn't.
With tears dripping down my cheekbones, I swim back onto dry land and grip onto his t-shirt for dear life. It isn't until I feel a hand touch my shoulder blade that I look up and see the ghost of my brother standing in front of me.
"Everything is okay, Jane. Let's go home." Jared reaches his hand out and staring at it, I stand up with tragedy soaking me before I take his hand and walk home with the ghost of my brother next to me, holding my hand.
I haven't been to the lake ever since. My brother though, he's still with me. Why? I don't know, but for selfish reasons, I don't want him to leave me again.