Page 9 of Ghost

Ghost had never seen Conor this angrybefore. The dude was always calm and friendly, with a smile and apositive word to say. However, it seemed this was Conor 2.0. Thefuck-around-and-find-out Conor. The take-no-shit Conor, and the manwho could stand toe to toe with any badass the team faced. Ghostcouldn’t help but want to be like him.

“The only way for you tomove forward and grow into the person you’re meant to be is byletting all that shit go. You are good enough, and those who madeyou feel as if you weren’t are of no value to your current life.You need to shed it like an old coat, let it go, and pick a new onethat fits you better.”

By the end, the old Conor hadreturned; his welcoming smile was back in place, and his concernwas evident.

“How the hell do you dothat?” Ghost asked.

“What?”

“Cut to the core of aperson so precisely. Like a surgeon with a scalpel, you go straightto the tumor that’s sucking the life out of someone and attempt toexcise it. To make the person feel better and survive.”

If Ghost wasn’t seeing things, he waspositive Conor blushed.

“I’ve never heard it putthat way before.”

“But it fits. I’m alreadyfeeling better than before I left the house.”

“Good. Now, back to thetopic at hand. What about Ray has you literally sprinting away fromyour attraction to him? From what I’ve been told, he’s a stand-upguy, and with his honest willingness to help Brick with theinvestigation, I haven’t seen or felt anything to indicate anythingdifferent. He may be anxious about returning to Marshall, butreturning to your hometown isn’t always like a Hallmarkmovie.”

“It’snot ideal to pursueanything with him or anyone. Besides, the guy has zero interest inanything related to me. We aren’t exactly at the same level. He’s adetective in Seattle, and I’m a mutant on the run from a psychoticgroup bent on collecting me, along with others like me, to use togain power. Pretty well opposites and not exactly datingmaterial.”

Ghost had to laugh at the situation.Here they were trying to prevent some crazy shit from going down,and he and Conor were discussing his love life or lackthereof.

“Did you date much?” Connorasked.

“No, that wasn’t a toppriority for me. Growing up, I mainly tried to stay out of the wayand stay alive with relatively few injuries. My existence was basedon survival and what I needed to do to ensure I made it to the nextday.” Facts were facts.

“Aren’t you tired of simplysurviving now that you have the safety of thiscommunity?”

“How do you turn off theonly instinct you’ve depended on for your entire life? It’s notsimply a matter of saying, ‘Oh, I’m relatively safe now, so I canact like any other person’ because I can’t. I don’t even think Iwant to be a normal, well-adjusted member of society anymore. Iwant to be alive.”

Conor sighed heavily. “What is normaland well-adjusted, and who the hell decided what it should be? I’mso tired of the masses thinking that if you’re not the same as theyare, then you’re abnormal. We all have our own hang-ups,differences, problems, and freaky shit to deal with. Trust me whenI say I’ve seen into their minds, and not one person is the same asthe other. There’s no standard to go by. We’re all fucked up oneway or another.”

Ghost shook his head in disagreement.“You can’t stand there and tell me someone who can disappear intothe scenery like a chameleon has the same screwed-up issues as thelocal corner store dude pumping gas.”

“Really? You’re more alikethan you think,” Conor said, raising his hand and beginning tocount with his fingers. “Acceptance, safety, security, family,love, and happiness are all things both of you want and need. Whatdoes it matter that your genetic makeup was fucked with and thatother person’s wasn’t? You both deserve all those things andmore.”

“Deserve and attainable aretwo different things.”

“Nothing is attainableunless you’re willing to take the first steps. That’s the point. Itdoesn’t have to be here and now with this man. That’s not what I’mtrying to convince you of. What I’m hoping to get through to you isthat someday, somewhere, you have to allow yourself the chance tohave what you view as unattainable because you deserve to havethose things, even if you believe you’ll never be able to havethem. You have to give yourself a chance.”

Ghost stood frozen in the middle ofthe forest beside Fire Lake, having his first come-to-Jesus momentor existential crisis, awakening, whatever the hell you wanted tocall it. He was smack-dab in the middle of ground zero as therealization swam laps in his brain. Was he the reason he couldn’tmove forward and not what those bastards had done to him? Could itbe as clear-cut as that, and could he get past it? Did he have thepower to do it? Did he want to?

Huh. Seemed he had a little thinkingto do.

CHAPTER FOUR

Ray

Walking down the worn sidewalks ofMarshall after all these years wasn’t as emotionally grueling asRay first thought it would be. The sun was high, and the sky wasblue; shops were open and busy, and people were waving hello as he,Elias, Fletcher, Brick, and Roman walked by. More than one persondid a double take at Ray, and several recognized him ratherquickly, considering he was the spitting image of his father, theformer sheriff.

“Ray Sommers, it’s good tosee you back in town.” Or “Is that you, Ray? Where the hell haveyou been?” Or better yet, “Look what the damn cat dragged in.” And“Never thought I’d see the day.”

Any way you cut it, the word wasspreading like damn wildfire that Ray Sommers was back in town, andby the time they reached the bar, he almost pulled the door off itshinges with how fast he opened it and bolted inside. He could use abeer or two.

His friends watched closely but hadyet to come out and ask what was going on with him. That would takemore than a couple more beers to fully explain his history with thetown.

“Hey, guys, what can I getyou?” the bartender asked as they pulled up to the bar.

---