Into the Light

137

There was a smaller girl, maybe 16 from the looks of her, with long red hair, wearing jeans and a graphic t-shirt. Standing next to her was a muscular man, a little taller than me probably, with a shaved head, wearing a white tank top. The last new arrival was a man of Hispanic descent, with curly brown hair. He kind of reminded me of Brennen, only a little older. Barbie took the two different kinds of breads out of the oven, cut them and put them on a serving dish. She brought them over and set them in the middle of the table. Then she and the others, started filing towards us with bowls of stew, plates of veggies, and silverware. It happened so fast, I was almost overwhelmed. "Thank you," I murmured, every time someone sat something down next to me. Ghost or not, it was just good manners. Finally, everything was in place in front of us. Each of us had a hot, steaming bowl of stew, a side dish of assorted fresh vegetables, with the sliced bread in front of us. My stomach sounded like a damn zombie at this point, rumbling away without even pausing. Anna shot me a look, then smiled and shook her head. "Thank you for helping out," Ash said, looking at the ghosts. They nodded, then faded from view. Freaky. Barbie stuck around and pulled out the chair that was free on the other side of Ash, next to Katrina. "I hope you all enjoy. I love to cook," she replied, smiling at all of us. She seemed a little more inviting this time, than before, but Anna still didn't look to pleased by her presence. She really was a jealous little thing. I laughed to myself, then mimicked Ash in grabbing a couple of slices of garlic bread. It still had steam seeping off of it and strands of cheese stretching to the table, when I picked it up. "Oh," Sam exclaimed, around the food that was stuffing his mouth. He swallowed then looked at Barbie. "This is amazing!" She blushed and turned her head a little. "Thank you," she murmured, almost looking embarrassed. "Damn it," I heard Anna whisper. I glanced over to see her chewing, while she glared at the bowl of stew in front of her. "Something wrong?" I whispered to her. She looked up, meeting my gaze. "No...nothing's wrong. It's good. It's really good," she all but grumbled. A laugh got caught in my throat, making me cough. I covered my mouth, then took a swallow of water. "Sorry," I said, looking around at everyone. "Went down the wrong pipe." Sam cocked his eyebrow at me, but continued to stuff his face. The room was quiet except for the sounds of chewing and drinking for a while. Once we were all pretty stuffed, the conversation began. I leaned back in my chair and thought about unbuttoning my pants, since my stomach was so full. They felt pretty tight. I decided against it, because, well, this wasn't my home and we were company. It wouldn't be polite. Sam was discussing how to work on making our hit a little stronger, while the others listened to him explain. I tuned in, but my eyes started to droop. I was exhausted. "So, Ash, you said that I could help spirits move on, right? Eventually? What about you? Why do you still have so many spirits hanging out around here?" I heard Anna ask. My eyes snapped open, when I realized that I was falling asleep at the table. "Well," Ash replied, leaning his elbow on the table and propping his chin in his hand. "I can HELP them, if they're ready. I try to go through their lives with them and figure out what is holding them back. Then, we work on finding their way out. Their way into the beyond. It's different for each of them. I'm not sure it's going to be the same with you." "What do you mean?" she asked, nervously. "I thought you said that I could do what you do. That I was also a Dream Walker, or whatever." He nodded. "You are, but...I think that you could be more than that. Like I said earlier, I've never seen that kind of power from one witch, so early in the game. It usually takes years to master your powers, to even learn how to collect that much power to use. We pull from the elements around us, which I told you about earlier...but I don't think you're pulling too much from around us. I think that it's coming from within yourself. You're using power that you already have, and it's an incredible amount. So, Anna, I'm not sure anymore what you are." Everyone fell silent, as we all looked at her. Her face turned red and she dropped her eyes to the table. "Can you all stop looking at me? I'm not a zoo animal on display," she muttered. Everyone looked away and Kat started a conversation with Barbie about what fashion was like when she was alive. Sam continued his conversation with Ash, and I put my arm around Anna, drawing her close to me. I kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly. "No one thinks you are, babe. We're just amazed with you," I whispered, my lips close to her ear. She shivered then looked up at me. "I just don't like being the center of attention. You know that. There's nothing special about me, and I wish that everyone would stop saying that there is. I was a stupid girl who got caught by a witch, because I went inside her damn house. It was luck that she decided to keep me alive, instead of someone else. It could have been anyone, but I was the lucky one. The one who got the chance to continue her life, or start a new one. Why me, though? I'm not any better than anyone else," she replied. I noticed that everyone had stopped talking again, but at least they weren't looking in our direction. "I've always believed that things happen for a reason, even if we don't understand them," I replied. "So, just be thankful. Maybe we'll get answers for that later, maybe not, but it doesn't change anything. You're here. You're here, with me and I couldn't be more thankful that you were the one that was chosen." She rolled her eyes as a smile ghosted her full lips. "You're so corny," she responded.