Mall Ghosts

six

Just when I thought Sean Mori's behavior couldn't get any weirder.

He didn't want me touching the carousel. With the way he was using his body to block my path, you would have thought he was trying to keep a toddler from walking directly into a campfire.

Dangerous or not, now I really wanted to know why he didn't want me getting any closer.

"I can't touch it?" I scoffed, crossing my arms. "Why not?"

A muscle in Sean's jaw tightened as he tried to come up with an answer. "Trust me. It's up here," he gestured to our surroundings, "for a reason."

"But you've touched it."

Sean sighed and massaged his temples. "Yeah, you're right, Aqua. I did. I touched the carousel and I'm still paying for it."

Obviously Sean wasn't used to all of these questions, but he was the one who brought me up here. If he didn't want me to ask about the carousel, he shouldn't have invited me to join him.

Still, I could see how hard it was for him to communicate this stuff. I tried to put myself in his shoes for a moment and think. Sean said that he was still paying for having touched the ride.

"What do you mean? Paying for it as in... the numbers?"

"Yeah, that." He lowered his hands from his head and regarded me cautiously. "Other things too." He didn't care to elaborate.

I leveled my gaze with his. "You won't tell me."

Sean didn't look away. "I don't think you'd want to know."

For a brief moment, the lights above us flickered. It wasn't enough to break us out of this stalemate.

Finally, I uncrossed my arms. "But there are some things you want me to know, Sean. Otherwise, why did you bring me here?"

I guess he was no longer afraid of me making a dash for the merry-go-around because he relaxed his stance and dragged his hand through his dark waves. "I wanted you to see the carousel. You seemed so bummed earlier and I wanted you to know that it was still here." He paused. "I'm... still here. There are things that I wish you didn't hear, things I don't want you to see, but I'm still here if you..."

I didn't miss the way he glanced at me and looked away too quickly.

"If I what?"

If he was thinking what I was thinking, then yes. I wanted to see where things would go with Sean.

Sean exhaled. "If you want to at least try... this. With me."

I looked back at the carousel and the scrawly black writing on the poles and flanks of the horses.

Quietly, Sean said, "The ghosts aren't as loud when I'm with you. Or when I'm thinking of you."

This was the first time Sean had been straightforward with what was going on in the mall. He actually admitted that what he was dealing with were in fact ghosts.

Somewhere in all of this, he had gotten very close to me. His chin came to the middle of my forehead. He went from looking over my head to leveling his face more with mine. His lips floated just above the curve of my own. His weren't anything special, but I found myself wanting to kiss them all the same.

"Sean." I whispered. "I don't want to be your ghost repellent."

He cracked a small smile and shook his head. "I don't want that either. I'm just saying."

He leaned in, but I rested my hand against his chest. "You can't leave me in the dark." I made sure that his deceptively green eyes were focused on mine. "If you need more time, I get that, but eventually I want to know the truth. The weird sounds. The missing stuff. Your creepy numbers. All of it."