Out of the Darkness

107

She closed the door, and I leaned back against the wall to wait. "Yeah, weird," I muttered quietly. "Anna, are you here?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. I held my breath and waited for any sign that she was still around. Nothing came, but I knew that she was. I could feel her eyes on me. I knew exactly what Addy meant. Anna was watching. I reached my hand up, absentmindedly, to my busted bottom lip. I hated to think that she was the one who had caused that little tidal wave incident in our pool, but what else could it have been? We didn't have any other ghosts around here. I was pretty sure, at least. Suddenly, that sweet, citrusy scent filled the air around me and I inhaled deeply. "I know you're here," I whispered, looking around. I didn't even see a shimmer and the scent vanished almost immediately. "Why are you avoiding me?" I murmured, not sure if she were still around to even hear me. "What do you mean? I'm not." Addy's voice made me jump, and I grabbed my chest, over my pounding heart. She laughed at my reaction and patted my arm. "Didn't mean to scare you! If you weren't talking to me, then who were you talking too?" she asked, peering around me. "No one. Myself," I answered, leaning away from her and the wall. "You're asking yourself why you're avoiding you?" she asked, confusion on her pretty face. "Just thinking out loud. You ready to go back out?" She shook her head. "No, I think it's done with pool time. Tara and Kat said it was okay for me to crash here, since I've been drinking. I don't really have a lot of money so I'd rather not call an Uber." I nodded, but inwardly rolled my eyes. The amount of times we had strangers just spend the night was ridiculous. "Yeah, you can sleep on the couch or whatever." She nodded and bit her lip. She looked like she had something else to say, but was scared to say it. I looked away and started walking back towards the back door. I assumed she would follow, so I didn't bother looking back. When she let out a little shriek, it surprised me, making me jump again. I turned back, just as Addy ran straight into me, her eyes wide with fear. Her arms went around my waist, hugging herself to me. "What happened?" I asked, looking down at her. "Someone pulled my hair. I felt someone pull my hair. Colby, there's no one there! What is going on?" I reached down and moved her arms from around my waist, but keeping my hands on her wrists. "You're okay. I don't know. Maybe our house is haunted. It wouldn't be surprising. Did it hurt?" I was scared of her answer. I didn't want to think that Anna was hurting people. She shook her head, and relief flared up inside of me. "Okay. So, no harm done. Maybe they just think you have pretty hair." I could almost hear an annoyed huff come from somewhere close by. I couldn't stop the smile from appearing on my face. "This isn't funny, Colby!" she exclaimed, pulling her hands away from mine. I shrugged, and kept the smile on your face. "I don't know. You looked pretty scared to me. It was kind of funny." Her face softened at my teasing and I noticed how pretty she was again. She sighed hard, and looked around. "I want to change. My clothes are in the Sam's room, because Kat let me change in there. Can you come with me? I don't think I want to be alone in this house right now." I looked out the glass doors, towards the pool, where my friends were still laughing and having fun. Honestly, I was finished with the pool too. Wasn't in the mood anymore. "Yeah," I replied, looking back at her. "Sure. Let's go." "Thank you," she said, softly, looking down. "No problem." I held out my arm, indicating that she should go first, then followed closely behind her. The view of her walking in front of me in that bikini was definitely nice, and I couldn't totally keep my eyes off of her ass that was poking out from underneath the small towel she was using. When we started up the stairs, I felt a smack to the back of my head. "Ow!" I exclaimed, turning back to see no one behind me. "Stop it, Anna," I muttered. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Addy asked, turning back towards me. "I'm fine," I grumbled. "Almost tripped." She nodded, but still look concerned. Honestly, she was probably losing that little crush she had on me, because she was starting to think I was crazy. Maybe I was. I sighed, and followed her up the stairs to Sam's room. I opened the door and let her inside, in front of me. "You know where the bathroom is..I guess I'll just wait here," I replied, sitting on the bed. "Okay, thanks," she replied, then walked into the bathroom. I fell back on Sam's bed, and stared at the ceiling. I wasn't interested in Addy, but if I was, Anna was going to make sure that nothing came of it. I didn't understand. She told me, herself, that she didn't want to be with me. That she couldn't. She was right. She was a ghost. There was no way that we could be together, no matter what we were feeling for each other right now. Hell, I didn't even know if she liked me at all with the way she was acting earlier. So, how was it fair for her to try and mess up a possible relationship for me? I started to get annoyed the more I thought about it. "You didn't want me, Anna. I'm not interested in her, but it's not fair for you to act this way," I whispered. I felt a cool breath against my cheek, and closed my eyes. "I did want you, Colby. I do want you. We just can't. I'm sorry. You're right. I'll just go." Her voice floated around me, quietly.