The Ghost Keeper

Chapter 3

Aurora Grace

It's been three peaceful days since I last went to school . When I bunked school on Monday
I came home straight to my soft bed and my fluffy pillows. I couldn't help the sobs that came next, my life with my granma, Giselle just flashed before my eyes.
She had hated me with venom, always saying I'd bring chaos to her perfect world.
And now being treated with just as much hate as Giselle had by some dumb freaky boy, staying at home seemed perfect.
Every morning when my dad went to work I'd pretend to be up, I'd convinced him I was fine walking, but as soon as I heard him leave I just sprinted back to my bed. There was honestly nothing for me to go back to. I hated school. And I honestly prefer saying right here.
But today was Friday, and I was determined to get out of bed . Just roam around the town for a while, check it out.
I got dressed in casual normal clothes, a white crop top with "TGIF" and black hightop gladiators with black boyfriend jeans. My hair was In a tiny pony. It actually looked cool. I was still admiring my cute ponytail when the house bell rang . It can't be the pizza man, dad went out of town the other day and stocked the whole fridge.
Weird.

Why is he buying food out of town? I shook my head as I made my way downstairs. Man these stairs. Making me lose weight forcefully.

I quickly undid my pony tail, wouldn't wanna look like a mouse. What if whoever is at the door is cute and hunky and you know rawwwrrr, I pressed the button at the top and the sliding door slid open.

You have got to be kidding me!

"Why are you here Ellis ?"

Ellis was about to answer when Elizabeth and Toby pushed past him.

-"dude, are you rich or something? Most importantly, do you have food?"
I looked at him dumbfounded and nodded
"Yes! We're making pancakes"

I looked at Toby like he was something from the madmen movies . Seriously . Do you not ask? And when did we become such good friends?

-"Aurora Grace, I would like to apologize. For being rude and inconsiderate I'm sorry"
Ellis looked like he was shitting bricks where he was standing. Uncomfortable does not even begin to describe his face and the way his arms were folded so tightly across his chest.

I chuckled lightly at his manner and how he seemed out of his comfort zone. He probably never apologizes for anything.
When he saw me chuckle he sighed and ran his hand though his hair.

-"you're doing it again"
"What?" I asked puzzled
-"randomly laughing. It's frustrating"

And hello mr jerk muscles. I rolled my eyes and walked over to Elizabeth and Toby. I was gonna make myself lasagna. There's no way I'm eating pancakes.

-"okay, that is rude! We're making pancakes and you're busy making lasagna." Elizabeth said with a scorn.

"Well . It's not my fault, I don't eat pancakes."

Gasps

-"what?" I was surprised to hear Ellis say anything, mostly he was just quiet and staring at me. Creep. Probably working out how he's gonna kill me.

"I don't eat pancakes, waffles, all those nasty things"
-"omg guys I can't do this, she doesn't eat pancakes ?!!"

I laughed at Ellis and his over the top dramatic performance, too much titanic. He looked at me like I was an alien.
"What? Do I have two heads?"
-"I'm starting to think you do." At this I laughed and pinched his cold arm playfully
"Right"
I guess I pinched him too hard cause he flinched and I smirked.
~~~
After the three weirdos made the pancakes yesterday, we all sat down in the living room, me eating lasagna and them eating pancakes. I switched on the tv cause I really wanted to catch up on telemundo and I swear I heard gasps.

I looked over to them and they were trying so hard to not act wowed. Seriously? What's weird about telemundo? Well except the voicing part. And I looked at them questioningly and laughed.

"Come on guys after a while you'll get used to the way their mouths move. I'm used to it now."

They nodded and smiled. Weird.

Something was definitely off with them. They wouldn't stop sniffing around, literally. Especially Ellis. And I can recall a couple of times him and Toby went into the kitchen to get "refreshments" but every time they came back empty handed.

When it was time for my dad to come back from work, they excused themselves and left. Something in their behavior had definitely changed. But what good is me thinking about it now?
Today is Saturday and I'd made it my mission to find out more about this town. Good place to start: Google.

-"Aurora can you come downstairs?"

I went downstairs to find my dad already done eating breakfast. Hey, I'm not a morning person.
"Sup yo."

-"did you have people over yesterday?" My dad asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh and one more thing before we leave Aurora Grace, do not tell your dad about our visit"

Ellis' warning rang in my head as I tried to answer my dad. Why would he say that?
"Ah nope, why?"

-"no I'm just asking, something just seems a bit weird"

I laughed as I diverted the attention from any more questions.

"Dad why did we really move here?"
My dad seemed taken aback by the question.
-"what do you mean?"
"Why did we move here? Of all places. This town is very strange, we are like the only living people with color and vibrant, that's weird"

My dad laughed and shrugged, -"oh well, it's intimate and quiet. I just wanted a bit of normalcy. After your mom left I.. I just.."
"Dad it's okay." I cut him off. I hated seeing him like this, so sad, crest fallen. He looked as if his heart had been torn out of his chest. 'Damn you mother'! I thought to myself.

"Really it's okay dad, besides I get to stand out." I smirked, trying to lighten up the mood and he laughed.
-"sure you do". I'm pretty sure that was a jab. So I narrowed my eyes. I really loved these moments.