Page 39 of Ghost Girl

‘No,’ I answered. ‘I don’t think so. She said we couldn’t…’

A sound of pure grief tore from Chance’s throat, and he collapsed onto his knees.

‘What…?’ I began to ask, but I didn’t even know what the question needed to be.

Gloria was the one who filled in the blanks, but she did it with a tear tracking down her cheek. ‘This is the cruellest way to discover the woman you love is dead.’

My breath hitched. ‘Dead? Who’s dead?’

‘Kali.’ Her voice broke as she uttered the name that sent confusion and dread rolling through my entire body. ‘I can talk to spirits, Rhodes. And so can you. Likely because you’re so close to death yourself.’

If what she was saying was true, then that meant… Kali was…

A ghost.

Chapter 16

Chance

She was truly gone.

There was no denying it now. Kali was dead. She had likely died somewhere nearby, and brutally, if she was still lingering as a spirit all these years later.

It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. She’d been gone for seven whole years, and some innate part of me had already known that she was no longer of this world. Yet, Rhodes had given me hope. There was no body, no evidence to suggest she was dead beyond her disappearance, but Gloria’s words were irrefutable evidence, at least to me. Evidence that was given too late, since I had already been led to believe she was alive and needed help.

Far quicker than I expected, my grief became numbness, and I sat back on my heels to tilt my face up to the sky. I barely felt the tears tracking down my cheeks, though I knew they were still leaking.

There were so many questions, and if Gloria was correct that Kali’s spirit was still lingering, then the answers to those questions were within reach. I didn’t think I could stomach those answers yet, however. There was too much chaos still wreaking havoc on my mind and emotions. I could barely breathe. It wasjust like that phone call all those years ago when Blake had first called me home. The sinking feeling in my gut had apparently only been floating all this time, because it had only just officially sunk.

‘Chance… Rhodes needs his medication,’ Ashe prompted firmly, but I didn’t respond. She didn’t wait for me to, either. Instead, she pried open my fingers that were still clutching the little orange bottle and took it to where Rhodes was swaying in place. A quick study showed he was paler than before, his face scrunched in pain. Was it just physical? I thought so. He had no reason to mourn Kali. Not like I did. He could see her, speak with her, like she was a regular, living person, and he would soon join her across the veil.

Would she accept me if I joined her, too?

It wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed my mind. After the first search parties came back with nothing, I’d gone into a deep, dark place in my head, and the only way out I could think of at the time was to just end it. If I wanted her so badly and she wasn’t here, then why was I sticking around?

The only thing that had stayed my hand back then was the thought that she might not have wanted me with her. We were friends, but despite the way I had always wanted more from her, she had never shown any signs that she returned those feelings. And I’d never pushed. I highly doubted she was even aware of my feelings, especially considering she had married my little brother instead.

My regrets plagued me, even more now than ever before. I’d never spoken up, never fought for her the way I should have, and I would never know if she could have felt the same way about me, because now she was gone.

I could ask through Rhodes or Gloria, but was it worth it?

Yes, I decided. That was a stupid question. I should have begged for the answer to that question when we were still kids,before my golden boy little brother weaselled his way into her heart.

‘Is she still here?’ I asked, my voice sounding muffled to my own ears like I was trying to talk underwater.

‘No,’ was Gloria’s one-word answer. Short, succinct, and crushing all at once.

No matter. I would stay put until she came back. I could ask her my questions then. I was a patient man, after all, and my love for her superseded death itself. If I could be with her, I didn’t care if my form was physical or paranormal, just as long as she wasthere.

Well, that answered one question. It seemed it didn’t matter much if she was in love with me, so long as I no longer had to face any kind of existence without her in it. I should probably get my affairs in order if I were to follow through with this line of thinking. And I would. The decision settled in with a sense of rightness, peace spreading through my veins like this course of action was long overdue.

But not yet. I still needed to speak with her, to confess my feelings, not to mention all the other logistics that needed to be settled. And then there was the mystery of her death. If she was murdered, and it was pretty damned obvious at this point that she was, then I was going to see that fucker pay for his crimes before I joined her in the afterlife.

I watched absentmindedly from my periphery as Ashe and Gloria lowered Rhodes to the grass and helped him put his head between his knees like he was dizzy. Ashe then left Gloria to take care of the younger man while she moved to kneel in front of me. Her expression was closed off, and we both knew she was aware of the dark path my thoughts had taken. I had known in previous instances that my thoughts were something to be concerned about in the past. That was the difference between now and then,though. Then, I wasn’t ready. There were too many unanswered questions, too much hope still flickering desperately inside me.

Now, I was just ready to move forward with what I knew in my very soul I needed to do. It was a peaceful kind of resignation, because I was finally admitting to myself that I wasn’t meant for this world. I wasn’t meant for any world without Kali in it.

‘I don’t like that look,’ she told me, but I couldn’t bring myself to reassure her.

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