Ghost Of You (A Novella)

Chapter Twelve (REWRITTEN)

When Avery woke up the next morning, she immediately called her mother to ask what was happening.

"It's nothing you need to worry yourself over, sweetie." She sounded weathered, her voice flat and emotionless. "Your father has it under control."

But that wasn't good enough for Avery, "How?" She needed the confirmation—the absolute that her dad was just as slimy as they accused him of being because that meant it wasn't just a dream. That meant her life, as she currently knew it, was about to change drastically and she needed to prepare.

"I can't tell you that." Five simple words obliterated her world. Of course, Chloe could tell her but she wouldn't and it wasn't because she wanted to spare Avery's feelings. The government was listening and recording, after all, hoping for even more evidence to present at the trial against her dad.

The television suddenly sprang to life. A popular TV show theme song filled the apartment, the lyrics promising to be there for her "when the rain starts to fall."

Sebastian.

Her heart skipped a beat. While she was grateful for his consolation, that wasn't all she felt. Adulthood had brought her plenty of new experiences and eye-opening revelations—the most recent being that her parents were flawed. She hadn't yet gone through radical acceptance, but she had begun the grieving process. Even though her parents were very much alive, they were no longer the people she had grown up believing they were—those people are dead. Apparently, Avery's grieving process started with anger because she wasn't sad. She was seething. Fueled by the declaration of friendship from Sebastain, her confidence level rose ten-fold, seeking out the only target within range worth hitting.

While she had no idea who Daniel was paying off, she could guess. It was a bench trial, after all. No jury oversight, only a judge. She scoffed at the obvious, "Ya'll disgust me. I hope it backfires. I hope it all blows up in your lying faces! And when they bust your asses for paying off that judge, I hope you both rot in jail!"

She hoped the FBI was actually listening.

"Avery Marie! How dare—" Avery ended the call, blocking her parents' numbers. She did not expect them to go through the trouble to visit for what they would assume was a minor tiff. By the time they figured out it was more, she would be gone.

Tomorrow, she planned to clear out her bank account, cash in her bonds and sell the few stocks she had owned since she was twelve. It had never been her intention to touch any of it. The original plan was to save up for something meaningful like a wedding or retirement. She had made a promise to herself years ago that she would not dwindle it down for something measly like rent or groceries. But this wasn't measly.

The best part was that her parents had no claim to it.

The next step in her plan would be the hardest because it would lay the foundation for everything that followed. As someone who had traveled very little within the United States, Avery didn't feel qualified to make that monumental of a decision by herself.

Fortunately for her, she was now friends with an expert.

***

"This is the second night in a row you've brought me to this place," Sebastian put his hands on his hips, his mouth a tight, thin line. Avery's dreams were usually colorful—purposeful—but this... he didn't like black void. The way his voice reverberated through the empty space was almost grating upon his ears, bordering on annoying. "I don't like it," he added, just in case she was not fully aware of his discontentment.

Paying attention to their surroundings for the first time, she acquiesced in his feelings, "I'm sorry. I don't know why that keeps happening."

"Are you okay?" He had questioned the wide range of her emotions over the last few hours. From the lowest of the low, to the highest of the high, Sebastian had a tough time determining her thought process.

Women are so emotional.

With a casual wave of her hand, she instantly dismissed him, "Fine." Neither believed her, but that was okay. A pity party was not what she needed at the moment. "If you could live anywhere in the USA, where would you go?"

He blinked. Her question took him aback, he had never really thought about it before. "I... don't know."

"There's not one place that you would prefer above all the others? Or, like, a place where you would choose if you absolutely had to? There has to be somewhere..." Biting the inside of her cheek, she searched for something to look at, something other than him. She had assumed this conversation would be more simple than it was and she now worried that maybe she was being too rash. This was a huge life choice, and here she was, setting all logic aside and plowing forward on instinct alone.

"Avery," he implored, tilting his head to the side. "Tell me what's going on." Mind reading had never been in Sebastain's repertoire of the cool things he could do. He needed her to actually speak—full, comprehensive sentences were preferred.

"I want to leave."

"B-but we just got here," he swallowed hard, not liking the sting her words caused. The best part of his day was interacting with her. He could barely tolerate her waking hours anymore.

She pursed her lips at the sudden grimace upon his face. What was he talking about? She didn't just get to New York, she—Avery's eyes went wide, the whites prominent against the black backdrop of her dream space. "Oh my God, no!" She chortled, realizing her mistake. "No, no, no! I'm so sorry, that's not what I meant at all! I want to leave New York, Sebastian. I want to move."

"Oh... oh!" He rubbed the black of his neck, peering at her from under long, ebony lashes. "That makes more sense." Relieved, yet feeling a bit silly over his body's strange reaction, he pondered her question. He had visited so many different states, all beautiful in their own way. There didn't seem to be one that stood out above the rest, though he imagined that Indiana was not in the running when it came to the recommendations she wanted. "Well, I haven't been to all of them," he warned her. He had not yet made it west of where he first remembered starting, in Colorado. He had figured one day when he finished the eastside, that he would visit those other states. Although, in his current leashed position, he would have to give up that ambition unless Avery became more adventurous.

He wasn't going to hold his breath for that.

"If I had to pick..." Could he though? Could he pick a place for someone else to live? That seemed like a lot of unwanted pressure. What if she didn't like his choice? Sebastian did not want the resentment that might come with that but there was something about the way she looked to him now, full of hope and excitement... she was relying on him to point her in the right direction. She needed him to guide her. "Colorado," he decided. He had been there first so it held more nostalgic appeal than the rest, if only slightly.

"Colorado it is then!"