Page 33 of Ghosted

“That’s why I’ve spent days looking this shit over,” Jayce growls in frustration. “There’s no other options that I found and how do we live with ourselves if we make this choice for her?”

“Easily. Because if we don’t, she’ll kill us one by one,” I shoot back. “Look. I’m not the one to usually just go right for something so vile. But if we stay complacent, it’ll end in losing one of us. And frankly, I won’t risk you to save her fucking soul, she’s a murderer. Let the bitch burn.”

“Damn, Rav, that’s dark,” Eli whistles. “But I have to agree. We’ve reached the point of no return here. If it’s us or her, then she goes.”

“Okay,” Jayce says, his face now at peace. “Then that’s what we do. I’ll have her details tomorrow. Just be one hundred percent sure, alright?”

Stella

Did Iris really think that she could kill me? I sent that bitch to her grave once, there was nothing on this earth that would stop me from doing it again.

I overheard Iris and her new boy toys talking about digging me up and salting my remains before burning them. How that will get rid of me, I’m not sure but I can’t take that chance. I have to get Iris out of the way so I can have Lucien for myself once more.

Think, Stella, think.

Where are we buried? The college?

No, I couldn’t be there, could I?

There isn’t exactly a cemetery on campus.

Not sure where else to go, I do my ghost floating thing and head over to the grounds that I long to walk hand in hand with my soulmate again. Before she was in the picture, we spent many afternoons walking side by side, talking and laughing. We were meant to be.

A flash of anger has me growling to myself. Why is Lucien acting differently toward me? It has to be because of Iris. But no worries, I took care of her once, I can do it again.

It isn't far from the housing that Iris and her boys stay in, but with the changing times, I take a few wrong turns here and there.

Damn it!

All these roads look so similar that I’m somehow turned around. Turning north, I keep going and by a stroke of luck, I find myself back at home sweet home. The small Dean’s cottage where Daddy and I lived, until Iris ruined our lives at least.

It wasn’t my fault that she got Lucien under her spell. I tried to tell Daddy that she was a witch but he just laughed me off. Me? His daughter. That’s why he wasn’t spared from the fire. I wasn’t the liar, Iris was, and if he couldn’t see that then he was as bad as she was. I was the one laughing when the flames had consumed their bodies. Wasn’t I, Father?

Seeing our home neglected has me fighting back a wave of sadness. It is now nothing more than a shack that a strong wind can blow over. Just then, the wind begins to blow and the wood of the house rattles as if it can read my thoughts. I know I have a mission and finding my body is more important than these old memories.

My body, my body. Where are you?I laugh as I sing to myself, the sound as unhinged as they all think I am. But they are wrong about me. I’m the only observant one. It wasn’t my fault they couldn't understand that Iris had tried to ruin my life. That she’d cast spells on all of them.

Needing to be closer to the grounds where I met my one true love, I hover toward the college grounds themselves. I know this trail like the back of my hand. How many times have I made this trip? Memories threaten to take over again but I can’t let them. I’m too close to figuring this out.

Focus, Stella.

That bitch will get what’s coming to her soon enough. There will be a day that my love and those other idiots will not be there to save her and her life will be mine. It’s all I’ve thought of from the moment I saw she was back.

There is nothing I crave more than her blood coating my hands, to watch as the life depletes from her eyes. I hope it’s slow and painful, the agony too much to bear. I need her to know thatIam the one that kills her, to take back what was mine.

Just before I reach the edge of the university, I hear a rustling in front of me. Being so hellbent on my mission to find my body, I’m not paying attention to things around me. Giggles fill the air and I know it isn’t dangerous, just some kids fooling around.

Rolling my eyes, I keep moving.

Body, Stella.

Right, I have to move it…but how? I heard some of the so-called ghost hunters say that ghosts could inhabit a body but that was never anything that I wanted to do until now. The thought of being stuck in someone's insides makes my nonexistent skin crawl. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Not to mention, I have no clue how to achieve it. Am I supposed to just float in to take over? Do I have to attach myself somehow? What if they fight the possession? Maybe a weak-minded person would be the best to try it on. Yes, I will find my body and then attempt to dominate the living.

Oh, I love the thought of that. If I am successful, maybe Iris would be next. Oh yes, I could make her kill herself and not one person would be the wiser. My laughter echoes around me, no one able to hear my gleeful excitement at the mental image I painted.I love when a plan comes together.

Before I leave the college grounds I glide just above the buildings, searching everywhere for my remains. There’s nothing marking a grave or a sign that mentions a body buried on the grounds. It was a long shot but a girl can hope.

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