Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 139

Chapter Twenty-One

                We’re back in Yates’s hayfield in less than a second. Elle spins on the spot, raking her fingers through her pink locks.

                ‘How did that happen, Easton?’ she asks, her voice sounding strangled.

                ‘I-I don’t know,’ I stammer. ‘It must have been the light in there, the halogen bulbs, I guess they reacted with us?’

                ‘But why’s it never happened before?’

                ‘How many ghosts go to police stations?’ I reply. ‘We’re a little unusual, Elle you have to admit.’

                Her eyes shine and I know she’s inches from the memory of tears.

                Graham and Yates pass through the door. ‘You two were on TV!’ Graham erupts before taking stock of the situation. ‘Conspiracy theorists will be going nuts! I have to get online.’

                ‘Because that’s all you care about?’ Elle says.

                Graham runs several accounts online. I wonder how many people on forums and just randomers from social media have been ghosts. Those anonymous posters with no picture but a constant presence.

                ‘What’s up with her?’ Graham says, jerking his thumb in Elle’s direction.

                I open my mouth but she interjects before I can utter a sound.

                ‘Because I’m dead, idiot,’ she says. ‘I died. Died. I lived a life and it was stolen from me by a couple of bastard cells and people were upset about it. Do you know what that feels like? Do you know how many times I went to visit my parents after I died? How many times I sat with them?’

                ‘Elle,’ I say, putting a hand on her forearm, the one  she viciously waves at Graham who looks like a kid caught in the act.

                ‘No, Easton,’ she says. ‘People die and break hearts. You chose to cross over like it was a game and broke your parent’s hearts. They don’t even know you are dead, could you take your tongue out of Yates’s mouth for two seconds and consider what that kind of worry even feels like?’

                ‘Oh so you’re against our relationship?’ Graham says, putting his arm around Yates’s shoulders. Yates, thankfully, shrugs it off and takes a step back.

                ‘Don’t you dare deflect,’ she says. ‘I am so happy for Yates. You can do whatever you like as far as I’m concerned. My problem lies with your attitude to life. Life is precious and you’ve pissed yours up the wall because you feel like it.’ She pauses, taking a deep, shaky breath. ‘Somewhere out there, my parents will see an image of the daughter they once had on television, and it will break their hearts all over again.’

                She turns around and storms towards the house, I presume so Graham won’t see her cry.