‘Just Graham was always
interested in ghosts. More to annoy his parents than anything.’
I walk over to a cabinet over to
the left of the TV screen. The sounds of gunfire from Graham’s game drown out
all sound in the room. It’s strange to be in the room with my friend and not
making contact. It almost feels as though he’s ignoring me.
I reach up to the top of the
cabinet, to a pile of old board games with dust caked over them.
‘So you came down here a lot
then?’ Penny asks. ‘Before you died?’
‘We had a bit of a falling out,’
I say, ‘after I got together with Penny. I was down here all the time before
that.’
‘I see,’ she says with a knowing
smile. ‘Same old story, spend enough time together to be married, then he gets
jealous when you stop paying him attention.’
‘Well – I –‘ I stutter.
‘Say no more, Easton,’ she says,
like a policeman who has me dead to rights.
‘We made up,’ I say. ‘It was
never the same though.’
I turn back to the board games. ‘We
used to read all these stories about ghosts,’ I continue, eager to change the
subject. ‘There’s – um – this graphic novel…’
Elle raises her eyebrows in an
accusing manner.
‘Alright, comic,’ I confess. ‘Anyway,
it’s about ghosts and we used to read it all the time. In the end, we decided
to try contacting some spirits for ourselves.’ I point out one particularly
dusty box right on the top. ‘This was a couple of years ago now, but it’s still
there.’
Elle’s eyes widen. ‘Oh I don’t
know Easton,’ she says. ‘Those things are bad. I don’t really consider myself
superstitious, but there’s so many bad stories.’
‘But we are the stories,’ I say.
‘We can see all the dead people around and there’s nothing that resembles a bad
spirit, unless you have something to tell me.’
‘But there’s other ways, we
could write something on a piece of paper…’
‘He won’t be off that thing for
hours yet,’ I say, nodding at the games console. ‘Come on, Elle.’ I used my
best persuasive voice. ‘You can’t solve a mystery without taking a few risks.
This will get his attention.’
She relents. ‘Alright,’ she
says. ‘But if we get haunted, I swear to God, I’m coming for you.’
I smile. ‘We’ll be fine,’ I say.
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