Read Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) Online
Authors: Joy Elbel
“Oh, well have you tried the internet? People sell old
yearbooks on auction sites all the time. Try it, you might get
lucky.” Shelly to the rescue—again.
And to think that it
wasn’t that long ago that I considered her to be an evil
stepmother.
Of course I felt bad about lying to them again, but it
was the only thing I could do.
Rita was the only one who
knew my secret and it had to stay that way. There was no
need to drag anyone else into my mess—especially when I
was positive I could fix things by myself this time.
After hours
of wading
through countless
online
auctions, I finally struck gold.
A seller in Wisconsin was
willing to part with his memories of Charlotte’s Grove High
School for a mere ten dollars.
Once I forked over an extra
twelve dollars
for express
shipping, the yearbook was
guaranteed to be in my hands by the middle of the week.
Satisfied that everything was going my way for once, I went to
bed with a sense of accomplishment.
I could handle my
problem without ever having to involve Zach or my family.
Maybe I would see ghosts for the rest of my life, and maybe I
wouldn’t. It’s not like every building in this town would be
haunted, right?
Getting rid of Creepy Girl would take care of
things until graduation and I couldn’t think any further into
the future than that right now. One ghost at a time, Ruby, one
ghost at a time.
It was nearly morning when the nightmare hit but it
didn’t exactly start out bad. Actually, in the beginning, it was
one of my best dreams ever. It was Friday—the night of my
big date with Zach. We were at the school dance surrounded
by people but it felt like we were alone in the universe. A red
spotlight beamed down on us as we kissed and danced to the
music.
And as we kissed,
everyone
watched.
I could hear
them whispering to each other about how perfect we looked
together and how in love we were. Even the teachers joined
in to praise our union. And then it happened.
“Get away from him—he’s
mine
!” The voice came
from behind me so I couldn’t see who was talking. Assuming
that it was Misty, I ignored her and kept kissing Zach.
Until a
set of fingernails started to dig into the hollow of my throat.
Blood red and sharp as daggers, I felt my skin shredding
under the attack.
Releasing my grip on Zach, I turned to
confront her. But it wasn’t Misty who was trying to rip my
throat out—it was Chloe.
I was astounded to see that it was her behind me, eyes
wild and murderous in the red glow of the spotlight.
How
could she betray me like that? She was my
friend
—or at least
I thought she was.
While I stood there contemplating the
depth of her treachery, her nails wound their way into my
hair and she began yanking it out by the handful. I couldn’t
even fight back because I was still in so much shock. I waited
for Zach to save me like he always did.
When I turned to him for protection though, he stared
right through me like I wasn’t even there and that was the
worst feeling of betrayal of all. If he couldn’t see how much
danger I was in, how could I trust that he would be there for
me when I really needed him? That hollow feeling of rejection
engulfed me as I sank to the floor and just let Chloe tear at me
without any urge to defend myself.
When I woke from the dream, mid-morning sun was
already pouring in
through the window.
Nine AM.
Not
exactly the most desirable time to wake up on a Saturday
morning, but I’d dealt with worse. Knowing it was useless to
try to go back to sleep now, I rolled out of bed and tried to
shake off the sorrow that still clung to me.
It was just a
dream.
Zach and I were solid—we were about to lose our
virginity together, for cryin’ out loud! And Chloe had no
interest in Zach.
If she did, I know I would have sensed it by
now. My dreams had some connection to Creepy Girl—not to
anything going on in my own love life.
Even so, it totally killed my appetite. I rooted around
the kitchen for a few minutes but decided to go without
breakfast. Rachel would be here in a few hours and I decided
to ask her for any scrap of information she might have about
Zach’s plans for our big date. I knew that he didn’t share a lot
of information about our relationship with her, but they were
still pretty close as brother and sister—he had to have at least
hinted
about it.
I decided to go for a run while I waited for her. The
morning air was cool and refreshing and I could almost feel
the bad energy draining from my body. I ran out to the main
road and back and decided to do it again. Before I knew it,
over an hour had passed but I didn’t want to stop. The only
thing that made me stop was an overwhelming urge to throw
up.
Now that whatever it was had ejected itself out of my
stomach, I felt so much better. “Yeah, I’m fine. A touch of the
flu, I think.”
“Well as long as you’re better for your big date next
week, that’s all that matters. Zach would be crushed if you got
sick and couldn’t go. He’s been planning this thing for weeks
now!”
“He has? What do you know about it?” I was glad she
mentioned it first because
it
meant she had some real
information to give me. Rachel wasn’t capable of keeping
secrets so I knew I could get her to spill her guts in no time.
Dammit!
What did he have planned for us?
He was
ultra-romantic but I couldn’t think of how he could possibly
outdo what he’d already done for me. I mean, putting a rose
on my pillow was pretty hard to top, wasn’t it? Not to
mention all of the wondrous nights we spent at The Hideout
stargazing together. Friday night couldn’t come fast enough
for me.
“Aside from your plans with Zach, what’s new? I’ve
been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to talk to you much
lately.”
What’s new? Lots, but nothing I was willing to share.
I got into the car with her and let her drive me back down to
the house. “Not much. You?”
My
question released a
torrent of information
on
topics ranging from cheerleading, to Boone, to working with
Shelly. Somehow, she even managed to sneak in what she ate
for breakfast. Just when I was afraid I was about to find out
the make and model of the underwear she was wearing, we
got to the house.
“Hey!” she called as she went in to find Shelly, “I don’t
care how busy I am next weekend—I
will
cancel all other
plans to discuss the details of your date with you.” She gave
me a sneaky smile. “Something tells me you’ll have a
lot
to
talk about.”
All I wanted to do was talk about it
now
and it hadn’t
even happened yet. One week from now, I would no longer be
a virgin. What exactly did Zach have planned for us? I was so
excited I was about to burst. When my phone buzzed, I was
sure it was Zach and that he found some way to sweet talk his
mom into ending his punishment early. My disappointment
was
profound when
I saw that
the text was
from
Chloe
instead.
Chloe. I really liked her but I couldn’t shake the
images of her from my dream, claiming that Zach belonged to
her. They were just friends, weren’t they? There was never
the slightest hint that there was ever anything more between
them. But still, something nagged at my brain, something I
couldn’t quite place. No, I was being irrational and jealous for
no reason. I opened the message to see what she wanted.
I was being silly. I needed something to do and she
just
handed
me
the
perfect
opportunity.
Replying
affirmatively, I agreed to meet her in an hour. If Zach insisted
I didn’t have to worry about Misty, then he certainly would
laugh at me for having suspicions about Chloe.
But even so, I
decided to stay alert to any weird vibes she may be giving off.
I would talk to her about my date with Zach and see how she
responded. Sigh. Just when I didn’t need something
else
to
worry about.
Our shopping trip was a complete failure.
Not only
did I not find anything worth buying, I couldn’t seem to get
Chloe to talk about Zach with me at all.
Every
time I
mentioned our plans, she would change the subject which
only fueled my suspicions about her. If they dated in the past,
I would know about it by now, wouldn’t I? Rachel told me
about Misty before Zach and I were technically even dating
and he provided the whole story for me the very same night.
The only other possibility was that they didn’t date but that
she wanted to change that. So I took the “keep your enemies
closer” approach and made plans to hang out with her again
the next day.
What I got was more of the same. I just couldn’t
understand
it though.
weekend she seemed
When we talked about this
last
truly happy
for
me then.
What
changed? Unless she was in love with Zach the whole time
and something caused her true feelings to surface.
But what
could have happened in the last week to change things so
drastically?
Add that to my ever growing list of things to
figure out before it was too late. One of these days I would
have to start carrying around a notebook so I could keep track
of all the weird things I needed to keep track of.
Basically dragging myself through each day, I rushed
home to check the mail in hopes that the yearbook arrived.
Monday—nothing.
Tuesday—still
nothing.
By
the time
Wednesday came, I was practically vibrating at the cellular
level all day long.
Zach was officially ungrounded and we
were supposed to get together to study for Friday’s big math
test.
Math or no math, I was thrilled to finally be able to
spend some time with him outside of school. And then there
it was—my package, sitting on the kitchen table beside a
basket of fresh blueberry muffins. Shelly’s friendship with
Diane Mason sure was
paying
off—she
had acquired a
newfound love for baking. But while the muffins looked good,
I remembered how sick I got from her eggs and decided not to
risk it. I couldn’t be sick on Friday—I just couldn’t.
I unwrapped the package as I climbed the stairs to the
attic.
When all
of the paper was
torn
aside,
I
held
the
yearbook up like it was the Holy Grail. Because to me, well, it
kind of was. It was my ticket to peace of mind, to ending the
haunting before it went any further. I tossed my other stuff
onto the floor and sat down at my desk.
Carefully, I leafed through the pages in search of that
one page I needed. I was more than halfway through the book
when I found it and I found
her
. Finally, I had a name to put to
the face. Garnet Hartley.
She looked just as miserable in life as she did in death.
Pale skin and limp blond hair—it was 1990, shouldn’t she
have been hair sprayed within an inch of her life?
Nearly
everyone else was, so I assumed she wasn’t one of the more
popular girls
in
school.
The
memorial said she
died on
October 31
st
of that year. Then it clicked.
Rachel and I had a conversation that first week of
school about going to the dance and I remembered her saying
that the school stopped having Halloween dances when some
girl killed herself. Why didn’t I remember this sooner? Why?
Because sometimes I got verbal whiplash just listening to
Rachel and I wasn’t really paying attention, that’s why.
I scanned the memorial for details of her death but
found nothing more. There were only two pictures of her and
in each of them she was with the same person, a chubby girl
with long brown hair who never seemed to be facing the
camera. I felt kind of sad looking at her this way. What could
I possibly be able to do for this homely wreck of a girl that
could make her happy? This wasn’t going to be as easy as I
originally thought.
Now that I knew who she was, I needed to figure out
exactly how she died. Committing suicide in the school was a
bold statement
coming
from
such a meek-looking
girl.
Something really big must have happened to push her over
the edge. But what? And how would I find the information I
needed? I couldn’t just walk up to her parents and ask them
why their daughter killed herself—it just didn’t work like
that. I glanced at the clock to see that Zach would be here
soon so I would have to think about Creepy Girl later. I mean,
Garnet. Garnet Hartley. What a pretty name for such a tragic
girl.
Zach arrived a little early and I joked with him that it
was
because every
prisoner is
happy
to leave his
cell.
Incarceration only served to deepen his charm, though.