Chapter Eleven
When I found myself outside, standing in front of my front door, I was feeling extremely nervous. What if they didn't believe me? How could I explain it to them anyway? This is going to be difficult.
I reached out with a trembling hand and opened the door, letting myself in and shutting it behind me. My family were sitting at the table, all except my mom who was standing and setting a plate down in front of my dad.
"There you are Angie," my mom announced. "Come, sit down so we can start eating."
I held my position, not even blinking. It was time to tell them, but I couldn't seem to open my mouth.
"Darling, come on," my dad waved me over. I still didn't move, trying to remember how to speak.
"Angelina, what are you waiting for?" My mom asked with a puzzled look.
"I... can't eat," I admitted after what felt like an hour, even though it hadn't even been a minute.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll never eat again."
My family was all silent. Finally, my mom broke the silence, giving me a concerned look. "Did something happen?"
I nodded, still trying to figure out where to start my explanation. I looked straight at her and decided to begin explaining, whether they chose to believe me or not. "Please believe me? I'm not lying."
Looking a little nervous, my mom nodded.
I began. "I have always been able to see... ghosts. I've never told you this, but it's true. Not too long ago though, I was nearly hit by a car. My life was saved by a ghost who's name I don't know." I looked at Fez, who was standing next to me.
"I'm not going to tell you my name now after all of this time," He answered my unasked question.
I sighed, then continued. "He's standing right here," I poked his shoulder. "Because my life was spared, another ghost, Amanda, was going to kill me anyway. Instead, she made me immortal. Since I am immortal now, I don't have to eat and I'm not sure what will happen if I do eat so I'm not going to." I had been monotone throughout the shortened story, never changing my blank expression.
After a moment of silence, Samantha snorted. "Yeah, cause ghosts exist." She laughed, looking at me with disbelief in her eyes.
"Remember the vacuum, Samantha?" I asked her.
She stopped laughing, but nodded.
"That was my ghost... friend here," I poked him again. I don't know why I was now referring to him as my friend, but it seemed right. He was strange, but so was I. Maybe he could be my friend.
"Y-yeah right," Samantha said, but she looked a little uneasy.
"Angie, don't make up stories just because you don't want to eat dinner with us," my mom scolded me, looking slightly hurt.
"I'm not lying!" I said, my voice raising. "I don't know why this happened, but it's all true! I can see ghosts whether I want to or not!"
I turned to Fez. "Fez, can't you do something to prove to them that I'm not lying?" I pleaded with him.
"Fez?" My dad questioned.
"It's the name I gave him since he won't tell me his real name," I explained to my dad, feeling a bit annoyed.
Fez flew over to my mom, my eyes following him. He poked her back, causing her to jump. She looked behind her, but found no one. Then, Fez picked up one of the plates on the table. My family watched it, and to them it seemed to be hovering in mid air. I saw their eyes widen as I folded my arms and raised my eyebrows.
"Well?" I asked them.
"There's no such thing as ghosts," Samantha exclaimed, pushed back her chair and standing up. She walked over to me and gave me a glare.
"Yes there is!"
"It's a fairy tail, not reality." Samantha turned from me to our parents. "Sorry, but do to Angie I have lost my appetite." She shook her head and climbed up the stairs. I heard a door slam.
My parents exchanged worried glances. Then I remembered Haley.
"That Haley girl I mentioned earlier is also a ghost. She's five in appearance. Oh, and she drew a picture of me and Fez." I turned and dashed up the stairs to retrieve the drawing. I pulled it out of my drawer and then ran back downstairs, skidding to a halt in front of my parents. "Here." I handed Mom the drawing.
She took it, looking paler than usual. Her mouth dropped when she saw the excellent picture of me, but then her eyes moved in a lateral movement over to Fez.
"That's Fez," I informed her, tapping the drawing of him that she was looking at. Speaking of Fez. My eyes flickered over to him. He was still holding the plate. "Put that down now," I commanded him. He set it back down and flew over to stand next to me.
"Am I allowed to tell people about all of this?" I whispered to him, dreading another visit from Amanda or any other reaper.
"I don't know," he shrugged.
"What a help you are."
"Angie, are you talking to yourself?" Dad asked me.
"No, I was talking to Fez," I answered honestly. Dad gave me a slow nod, probably pondering over whether that was the truth or not. They better believe me. How much more proof do they need?
"Sweetie," Mom began, still looking at Haley's drawing. "This doesn't make sense."
"What are you talking about? It makes perfect sense!" I found my voice rising again. These people were making me angry.
"No, no no no no no. Ghosts aren't real, they just aren't." Mom was shaking her head back and forth, tears threatening to fall.
"They are!" I threw my hands into the air out of frustration. I know it's hard to believe but come on! If a hovering plate isn't enough to make them believe, then I don't know what is.
"I think, maybe you're seeing things," Mom concluded.
"Then how do you explain the plate, vacuum, and the drawing! I may be good with clay but since when have I ever drawn that good!" My temper was rising, and I thought for a moment that Drake might be nearby. No, whether or not he was here I would still be arguing like this.
"There is some logical explanation for those things," Dad decided, even though even he didn't seem to believe himself. There was a hint of something in his eyes, and it took me a moment to realize it was fear.
"Please don't be scared. Nothing bad is going to happen," I pleaded. "And trust me, this is the truth. Everything I have told you is the truth." I raised my right hand as I vowed that. They needed to believe- to know what I was going through so I could stop keeping secrets and lieing.
"Enough," Mom whispered, putting her hand to her forehead as if this conversation was giving her a headache.
"But please-"
"ENOUGH!"
I was startled by her sudden anger. I hardly ever heard her shout like this.
"Mom," I whispered.
"Angie, if you don't stop this nonsense then I'll send you to a mental hospital, or something."
I closed my mouth, feeling very defeated and angry. Turning on my heal, I dashed to the door, only stopping to yell "Fine, don't believe me! I'm sure you'll change your mind once you've realized that I'm not aging!" Without another word, I slammed the door behind me, darting down the street without a destination.
Fez trailed me, but I wasn't giving him any attention. I was sad, angry, and very, very disappointed. I had hoped that they would listen and believe me, but they didn't. Samantha not believing me wasn't much of a shock, but I had had some hope that she might when I explained the whole vacuum problem she had.
My life was plummeting down a hill that I could only hope to climb out of. First I was doomed to immortality, then my family thinks I'm insane. How could my life get any worse?
"They could die," the fish in my head said to me casually.
'True, they could,' I thought back to her.
I kept running for several more minutes. When I finally came to a stop, it took me awhile to figure out where the heck I was. I was in front of the cemetery, but I wasn't the only one there.
I saw long red hair through the many trees as I slowly crept up to the entrance. A familiar feeling swept through my body. I peered around a tree and saw the person who had started part of this whole mess.
Amanda.
She was bent down by a tombstone, but I was too far away to see who's it was. I decided to take a risk and enter the graveyard, despite her presence.
When I entered the cemetary, she was already leaving. Once Amanda and her dark cloud were out of sight, I tip toed over to the tombstone she had been looking at. For some reason, I felt like I was intruding on something, so I was keeping as quiet as I could.
"That's my twin sisters grave," a familiar voice said from my right. I turned to see Haden standing there, looking down at the grave. "Her name's Nicole."
"You have a sister?" I asked him. For some reason, he was looking very sad. If they were both dead, couldn't they still see each other?
"Yeah, my older twin sister." He was staring at the grave, but his mind was somewhere else. Probably in some happier time he spent with Nicole.
"So, why haven't I ever seen her before?" His eyes snapped to me, a grave look in them, warning me not to venture forward in this conversation.
I changed the subject. "My parents didn't believe me when I told them that I could speak to ghosts." I sighed, wondering what it'll be like when I return home. Then again, I didn't need to return home just yet. I wasn't going to get tired out here, and I would have just as much fun here as I would at home.
Another question popped into my head that I should have asked before changing the subject. Before I could ask though, Haden replied.
"That's not good, now is it?" Haden commented on my problem. He seemed glad to be talking about something else, so I decided to save the question for another time.
"No, it isn't good," I agreed. "What should I do about it?" I was looking for advice from Haden, completely forgetting Fez.
"Can you prove it to them somehow?"
"I tried that, but they still didn't believe me." I let out another sigh, this one of frustration. "I wish they would believe me."
It was silent, none of us having anything to say. What was there to say anyway? Then I thought of something. "Hey, remember earlier with Drake?"
"Yeah, why?" He looked at me, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, he put his hand to my forehead and pulled it back away from me, but I don't know what he was doing. Do you have any idea?"
He thought for a moment, staring at the sky. "Well, it looked like he was trying to remove something from you."
I pondered over that. It was possible, but what? With a sudden jolt, I realized what it was. It was the voice in my head that he was trying to pull out. It had affected her, so it must have been for that reason.
My only question now is, what is the voice in my head and why is it there?