For Always (book one)

Chapter 24: Haunted

Beau

Malyn opted to sit in the back seat with me on the way to Savannah. I never thought I'd ever love a girl as much as I did her. Her head was leaned up against the window while she had her feet laid up in my lap. Since she was asleep, I could stare at her as much as I wanted without her gettin' creeped out on me.

The sun beat down on her long, dark hair, remindin' me of the first time I saw her. I reached over and slid my fingers down a strand of it, which I'd wanted to do on that first day. Her skin was a little bit darker, now, where she'd been out in the sun, makin' it possible to see a few freckles. I ran my hand across her leg, thankful that Nellie was in the car with us. I had to admit, Malyn had some nice gams on her, even though they barely reached across the seat. I pulled 'em close to me and rubbed my thumb back and forth across her shin bone, lookin' out the window, watchin' this new world go by. That's the only thing that kept me from closin' my eyes and joinin' her.

We'd been sharin' our dreams ever since we found out we could. As much as I wanted to, right now, and make this trip go by faster, I just couldn't close my eyes and take the chance of missin' somethin'. I'd watched a lot of television before the livers moved out and Nellie and Malyn moved in, and this was like that, only better. I rolled my window down, so I could feel the wind on my face, which was nice, even though it let a lot of hot air in.

It felt odd ridin' in a car. All we ever used were horses, sometimes the buggy, if we were all goin'. The world had changed so much in the past century that it's like I was on some other planet. My pa would roll over in his grave if he seen all this—all these buildin's that're everywhere and all the machines they got doin' all the work. It seems that workin' for a livin' didn't involve a whole lotta work, nowadays.

I had quit school and started workin' the fields when I was sixteen, helpin' take care of my family. Now, people have to go to school forever just to be able to get a good job. Just didn't make much sense.

I was watchin' all the towns as we passed by, gettin' lost in my own thoughts, when Nellie interrupted 'em. "So, what do ya think?"

"About what, ma'am?"

"Our trip so far."

"It's... different." Different was an understatement.

"I'd reckon it is."

She turned the radio on to one of her country stations and started singin' along. "Do ya miss singin'?" I asked.

"What do ya mean? I am singin'."

"No, I mean on stage. Do ya miss it?"

She thought it over for a minute. "Yes and no. I loved entertainin' people and seein' new places, but not the schedule of it all. I'd have to be in one town one night and another'n clear across the country the next." She looked at me in the review mirror and grinned. "And contrary to how I look, I was gettin' too old for all that." She told me a few stories about her singin' days until we pulled into a gas station to fill up.

I had to laugh at some of her tales. "You beat all I ever saw."

"Don't I, though?" She laughed and motioned to Malyn. "Better wake her up. I'm sure she's hungry."

"Yeah, seein' as how she's always hungry." I waited on Nellie to get out before I leaned over and ran my lips across Malyn's cheek. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead."

"Are we there?" she asked, tryin' to open her eyes to look around.

"Not yet. But we thought you'd be hungry. Want me to getcha somethin' or ya wanna go in?"

"No, I'll go in. I need to stretch my legs."

"That shouldn't take long since ya ain't got much to stretch," I teased her.

"Ha ha."

Nellie got gas while Malyn went inside to stock up. When she finally came back out, her arms were full. I was shakin' my head and smilin' at her when I noticed she had a worried look on her face and kept lookin' back over her shoulder. Once she got closer to the car, I knew why. A goner was followin' her.

"Hurry, let's get out of here," she told Nellie as I opened the door for her. She tossed her provisions onto my lap as she got in the car. "You can't turn off the pump, Beau, you can't or you'll—"

"Don't worry, I won't," I interrupted her.

Malyn was panicked, but since it was just us in the lot, I didn't feel too alarmed. I watched as the girl walked to our car. She looked to be just a little older than me and had blonde hair that was pulled up with a red ribbon around it that matched her lips and the flowers on her dress. She seemed rather calm, which surprised me, since all the other goners we'd gotten around went nutty on us.

"Please," she said to Malyn from the side of the car. Then she leaned her head through the closed window. "Help me. I know you can."

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you." Malyn looked at me with a confused look on her face, then at Nellie, who had gotten into the car. "She's leaning through the window. Why is she not solid?"

"Because I'm dead," the girl answered. "You knew that. But how? How can you see me? And him? He can see me, too." She looked at me all strange-like. "You're dead, like me."

"Yep." I didn't know what else to say.

"One of you needs to tell me what's going on," Nellie said, lookin' over the seat at us.

"I want you to help me like you're helping him."

Malyn repeated what the girl said to Nellie before looking back at the girl. "All I can tell you is to move stuff around. Touch people. Open and shut doors. Show yourself to people. Make yourself known."

The girl laughed at her. "How is that supposed to help?"

"You can do what I say or be stuck here longer. It's your call. But that's all I can do to help you. I'm sorry." Malyn told Nellie we needed to go, and that's exactly what we did as the girl stood there and watched us leave. We were all quiet until we got a little ways up the road. "What else could I do?" Malyn asked as she looked out her window. I could tell she was upset but had no idea what to say, so I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"There's nothin' ya could've done," Nellie told her, but then started to laugh. "But I bet that store ain't gonna be open too much longer—stuff flyin' off the shelves and people bein' touched by something they can't see."

When we got through laughin', Malyn leaned forward. "Why didn't the pump work on her like it does Beau? She was right there next to it."

"I don't know," Nellie answered, shruggin' her shoulders. "That's a Max question. And it won't be too much longer and ya can ask him."

We didn't stop the rest of the trip, which seemed to go by pretty quick. Before I knew it, we were passin' a sign for Savannah. I felt Malyn take a deep breath, so I asked her what was wrong.

"I don't know if we mentioned it or not, but Savannah's supposed to be one of the most haunted cities in America."

I shook my head. "For the love of all that's holy." I wondered how it was ever gonna work. Or if I'd be stuck inside every day. Or if I was gonna surprise all the dead people with my magic box.

"Well, look at it this way," Malyn said, pattin' my leg, "at least you'll fit right in."