Near Touch

Chapter 26: After School Special

"You got them to use the picture I liked," remarked Caleb, casually leaning against the chipped monochrome lockers of Sirencester High. His boyish grin twinkled from a flyer regarding his memorial on the notice board. Lunch break had just begun and Amy was stowing away her French textbook back into the dark void where it belonged.

"Who knew dead people could be so vain?" Amy wondered. Her earbuds - which had no charge but a permanent station in her ears - now served a new purpose: they warded off the living who haunted her.

Caleb pouted. "That shirt really brings out my eyes." Sending his gaze toward a trio nervously observing them, he sighed. "They seem so lost without you."

"Well, they should've thought of that before implying that I need to see a shrink. And ugh, Gemma even had the guts to suggest Abernathy." Amy slammed her locker shut.

Robin, Kristine, and Gemma stood near the mini shrine to Caleb Dawson formally known as his locker. Flowers, polaroids, candles, 'I'll-miss-you' notes, and keepsakes overflowed from the space, taking up almost half the corridor. Amy wasn't sure what her peers missed the most - Caleb or his magic pills that let their boohoos out.

Besides asking Gemma why Henry hadn't shown up for school three days in a row, Amy had minimum contact with her friends. When Kristine tried to tell Amy that she had finally managed to wear Robin down and they were going out on Friday, Amy was preoccupied with Caleb pretending to shoot himself behind her. There was no pressure, no ticking time bomb anymore and the hours passed them by like a pleasure barge drifting on a lazy river.

Amy had thrown herself into paranormal research, fully channeling the little mad scientist inside her. From peer-reviewed articles to seedy Reddit posts, she left no stone unturned the minute she came back from school. Caleb read bulky books as well, Leigh turning the pages for him when Amy asked her to.

Leigh was the only one Amy trusted. Her genius often surpassed both teens' expectations and they soon began taking her insights seriously.

On some days Caleb would pretend to be a normal student; attending classes with Amy, laughing, and making fun of Mr. Hanes by imitating his drawl or trying to trip Ms. Lifebuoy as she scuttled down the aisles. If they didn't have classes together, he would wait for her in the hall, making kissy faces through the little window in the door. On other occasions, Caleb would be home with his mom, talking to her constantly, willing her to get back on her feet and take care of her only daughter; or despondently stalk the town in the light winter rain.

Amy had become closer to Emma after her brother's funeral. Confiding in her that they had a clandestine relationship just before Caleb disappeared, Amy had slowly but surely won the grieving girl's trust. The three of them had lunch together every day and hearing Emma discuss all the problems of a normal teenager never failed to make Caleb feel better.

Any boy who troubled Emma would soon find himself stumbling and falling in the most embarrassing way possible.

The doors of the Student Office opened and Henry Wigmore stepped out. Adjusting the straps of his backpack, he caught Amy's gaze. His right eye was blackened and he had cuts and bruises all over his face.

Gemma took his hand and they walked toward the cafeteria. Amy glanced at Caleb who nodded. The moment they had been waiting for had arrived.

Time to get some answers, Amy thought.

Sitting at their usual spot by the window, the two couples looked innocuous in their surroundings. Amy grabbed a lunch tray and went up to them.