Strange Perceptions (4 page)

He had a point. “What if we get separated?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Been thinking about that. Let’s set up a time and place to meet. How about my place, with the pizza, where we met earlier?”

“Cool.”

“All right,” he said. “I’ll hang out here, you better go. Remember to keep focusing on what you’re doing, what’s around you.”

I left on the road, heading toward the distant mountain.

Less than fifty yards down the road the noise started. The same sound as I had heard earlier at Jeremy’s place, whispers, like a thousand voices in the distance. It didn’t seem too bad. I kept plodding along.

I decided to run, first jogging, then sprinting, then running faster than I had ever ran while alive. It was fun, but the whispering grew louder. It sounded like a noisy restaurant. And I had the sensation that someone was watching me.

I ran faster. The feeling that someone or something watched me increased. I looked around, expecting to see a pack of—I don’t know, monsters?—following me. Nothing there.

I kept running and the noise grew into a dull roar, like a waterfall. In addition to the feeling of being watched, I felt danger. As if my very existence hung in the balance. The roar grew harsher and louder. I closed my eyes.

Silence.

I was in the hospital room again, my body dying in the hospital bed, mom sleeping in the chair.

Shit. I closed my eyes, imagined the camping trip when I was eight, opened them and was there.

“How far’d you make it?” Jeremy asked.

“Probably a couple miles.”

“That’s awesome. Was it scary?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s scary the first few times. I got totally paranoid, but it gets easier. Okay, now moving through time. We’ll just move to tomorrow here. It’ll be easy because our live bodies will be near. The old ghost told me when you move through time you get anchor points that help you return, but you have to imagine time changing to get there the first time. Days turning to night or the seasons changing. Close your eyes and imagine the sun going around the earth?”

I laughed. “The sun doesn’t move around us.”

“Whatever. Imagine it however you want. Point is you want the sun to be the same place in the sky tomorrow. See you there.” His eyes closed and he disappeared.

I couldn’t imagine the sun moving around the earth. How stupid. I closed my eyes, imagined the earth spinning a full rotation, heard a whoosh, opened my eyes and was at the campground.

“You did it!” Jeremy said. “Took me a while to get it down.”

“Well, maybe if you learned about Copernicus it’d be easier.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

“The next jump will be harder,” Jeremy said. “Let’s move to tomorrow again. If we get separated meet back at my place with the pizza.” He looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Ready?”

I nodded.

He disappeared. I closed my eyes, imagined the earth spinning again, the roar started but this time it became so loud I yelled out, surprised. It sounded like I was in a tunnel with a freight train, horn blaring. I opened my eyes and looked around the campground. Our tents and cars were gone. Then I snapped into the hospital room again.

There I lay, still in a coma, mom still asleep.

What the hell had happened? I closed my eyes, imagined the pizza at Jeremy’s place when Rover the Cat walked on it, and was there.

Jeremy was laughing when I arrived. Live us were at the dresser, going through the playlist. I ignored them.

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

“We left the next day, remember? You were like fifty miles from your body.”

“Yeah, I saw. No tents.”

“You made it there?”

“For a second.”

“Whoa, dude. Impressive.”

“How am I going to go ahead of my death? I mean I’ll be a long ways from my body won’t I?”

He shook his head. “It’s different when you move past death. A few days past death is probably like half a mile away from your body. Fifty miles is, I don’t know, it’s got to be over 100 years past death.”

“When you first met me in the hospital, you were two weeks past death?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“What’s that like.”

“I don’t know. Maybe like a mile away from your body.”

“A mile isn’t too tough. I went a lot further than that.”

His shoulders sagged. “I know. I get easily distracted.”

Jeremy figured Dennis Spleenk would slip Ivy a roofie at the school dance. We decided to meet in my hospital room the next day at 6pm—funny when you’re a ghost you always knew what time now was. Don’t ask me how, you just know.

Since the dance started at 7pm we figured we’d move forward in time then walk to the high school. Since we were doing it tomorrow I had time to watch what I’d been putting off. My death.

I went to the hospital. Stood at the foot of my bed, waiting.

Marty appeared. He hooked a thumb around the one strap of his overalls and stood beside me, watching my body. “How you doing, kid?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Good. Any plans on interfering with the living?”

“How could I?”

“Good. Whatcha been up to?”

“Hanging out with my friend Jeremy.”

“I toldja, stay away from Percival. He doesn’t follow the rules.”

One of the machines hooked up to my body started beeping loudly. Mom woke, look around. A nurse rushed in, looked at the machine and called on the intercom for help.”

Mom hovered over my body, holding my hand. The nurse put an arm around mom. “Mrs. Phillips, I need you to step out.”

“What’s happening?” Mom asked.

Others rushed in. One pushed a cart. The nurse herded mom from the room.

They tried shocking me. It didn’t help. I died.

“This the first time you watched it?” Marty asked.

I nodded.

“It’s tough the first time.” He sighed. “Let me know if you need anything. I have to run.”

“How do I contact you?” I asked.

He was already gone.

The next day Jeremy and I met in the hospital room. The dance started at 7pm, an hour away, but we were three days earlier, a bit after 9pm. We decided to move forward past my death in a series of hops.

We went forward two days on our first jump. I closed my eyes, imagined the earth spinning around twice, heard a slight howl in my ears, and opened my eyes. Jeremy had made it too. We were in the same hospital room, only an old woman slept in the hospital bed I had been in.

The constant sound I heard from being past death wasn’t bad. It sounded like paper rustling.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Now,” Jeremy said, “let’s move forward half a day. Imagine the sun going halfway around the earth.”

I didn’t point out his error. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Let’s do it,” he said.

I closed my eyes, imagined the earth spinning halfway around, opened them up. Jeremy appeared an instant after I did.

Daylight filtered through the hospital window.

“Cool,” I said. I pointed to the large wall clock. It read 9:12.

“Now, imagine the clock hands moving around until it gets to now.”

I closed my eyes, imagined the hour hand spinning around 10, 11, 12, all the way up to 6:09. I stopped in the now and heard, in the background, constant whispering.

“Dude!” Jeremy said. “We’re here.”

I grinned. This wasn’t so hard.

“Let’s go,” Jeremy said. “Follow me.” He ran to the closed window, didn’t slow down, and disappeared through it.

I rushed to the window and looked down. Jeremy stood on the street below, waving at me. The hospital room was on the fourth or fifth floor. This seemed crazy but I couldn’t kill myself. Could I? I ran to the window like he had and through it, except I tripped, tumbled through the window, falling neither headfirst nor feet first, but flipping end over end all the way down. I tensed for the impact, but it’s not like I had a physical body with muscles I could tense. Sometimes, being a ghost is confusing. I hit the ground and just stopped. No impact. Just stopped.

Jeremy snickered. “You need to work on your landing.”

I stood up, glaring at him.

We headed down Fourth street. The school was half a mile away. There were a few cars on the road and almost no foot traffic. I heard the whispering noise, a bit louder now, but not bad.

“Keep focused, man,” Jeremy said. “Like on the buildings, little things, like the green awning over Geovani’s Produce. It helps you stay present. If you lose hold you can always come back to any point you focused on.”

I looked around and did as Jeremy suggested. Across the street a pawn shop’s neon sign glowed red, the letter “a” from “Fast C_sh” missing.

We turned right on Madison. The neighborhood changed from storefronts and businesses to residential. We went another couple blocks, passing small, brick apartments and a few duplexes, and then past a park and then Warner’s Crest High. The time was 6:23.

“Now, explain again how I control Dennis Spleenk,” I said.

Jeremy wasn’t around.

Crap. Now what? Should I wait for him or keep going toward the school? I wasn’t comfortable jumping into Dennis Spleenk. Jeremy had said to run and jump into his body. Creepy.

I hesitated, trying to figure out my next move. The rustling noise gained volume and my surroundings dimmed. I focused on the street lamp near me, felt a whoosh in my head, and snapped back to the now. Close call. Stopping to think about things made it easier to lose grip of the now.

I decided to keep going. Jeremy would catch up.

Kids and parent chaperones were already at the high school. I went through the front doors, glad I didn’t come here any longer. Sure, I would have graduated in a few months, but it felt good to not have high school looming over my head.

Two long tables sat side-by-side, decorated with red, white and pink ribbons and hearts. The Valentine’s day dance. Two girls sat at the table with a closed cash box, both texting.

How did Dennis Spleenk plan on slipping Ivy a roofie? No way she’d be at this dance with him.

I went to the gym and looked around. The lights were bright. They’d dim them when the dance started. The decorating committee had went wild. Red, white and pink balloons, most of them heart shaped, were tied everywhere. White and red ribbons hung from the ceiling, from the walls, from basketball hoops ratcheted up, out of the way.