For Always (book one)

Chapter 4: Goner

Malyn

I had talked to Grandmama last night about seeing the figure by the edge of the house. She then proceeded to tell me that we weren't alone here. I had assumed as much by the way she acted when I'd asked her about it on the way home from the bus station. But all she could tell me was that it was a boy who died here and that he meant us no harm. It's rare that she's able to communicate with them like that, so I was impressed—with her and our dead roommate. She said she would introduce us but wanted to talk to him about me first. This entire situation was just plain weird.

I kept peeking around my room as I tried to fall asleep, seeing if he had snuck in. I can't feel them like Grandmama can, I can only see them. They look just like regular people to me. When I was little, I couldn't tell them apart from real people. Now that I'm a little older and more used to it, I can usually tell if someone is dead or not. Sometimes, I'm caught off guard and end up talking to a dead person in public, but that's rare, thank goodness.

I had no visitors to my room, so my first night in my new home was surprisingly quiet and restful. I was glad, though, because I knew today was going to be a strange one. It wasn't every day that I was introduced to a ghost by my grandmother.

She always woke up at the crack of dawn, which meant I usually did, too. It's like she hated being awake by herself. She usually started breakfast early, and I was starving, so I decided to go ahead and get up. I figured if she had some help cooking that my belly might get some food a little faster.

I walked over to the window to open my curtains and see what kind of view I had. The sun was up over the mountains just enough so I could see the rolling landscape. The river was pretty close to the house, running along the edge of the property. I'd have to ask Grandmama if she had seen any snakes. I didn't like snakes or any other reptiles. I didn't like animals much at all, really. But, snakes or no snakes, the view from my room was awesome. I could see the mountains, part of the river, and colorful wildflowers growing in the fields. Tennessee could be breathtakingly beautiful at times.

I continued to check out the yard, huge trees, and wildflowers growing at the back of it when I noticed that one of the trees had been cut down. All that was left was a huge stump, which I thought was odd. But what was even odder was the fact that someone was sitting on it. From this distance, it was hard to tell much about them, but I could tell it was a guy and that he seemed to be dead.

He sat there looking out over the river banks like he was deep in thought. As I watched him, he got up from the tree stump and walked back this way. When he got close, he looked up towards the house and stopped like he had just seen a ghost. He was looking right at me. He just stood there, staring at me with an intense look on his face—his handsome, model-type face.

He had dark, disheveled hair that looked like it needed to be cut, tanned skin, and the most piercing blue eyes I'd ever seen. Even from here, they looked like blue diamonds. He seemed tall, but most people seemed that way to me, so it's hard to judge. He also looked muscular, more from manual labor rather than from lifting weights. His clothes were definitely from another time. He had on brown pants that were tattered at the bottom, and tucked into them was a thin, light-colored, long sleeve shirt that buttoned halfway down the front. His feet were bare.

Realizing that I was gawking, I tried to compose myself. I could tell I had surprised him, so to keep it from being awkward, I smiled and held my hand up like I was gonna wave, and dropped it back down. When I did, the intense look left his face and was replaced with what almost looked like relief. I was probably the first person who had ever actually seen him since he died, so I guess that would feel strange. His look of relief turned into a grin that completely melted my heart—he had dimples. I stepped away from my window and decided to put some clothes on instead of going down in my pajamas. Dead or not dead, this was a cute guy that I was about to meet.