Misguided Ghosts

Chapter Forty-Three

Forty–Three - Ed

I didn’t even know what day it was. Would Tay be at the pool? If it was a weekday, then she’d left school hours ago. Maybe she was babysitting. Maybe she was sat at home, doodling mindlessly when she was meant to be doing her homework. Maybe she was out with Jared and Char.

I drove slowly through the streets, keeping one eye on the road and the other on the pavements, scanning them for a glimpse of the figure that haunted my dreams.

I’d learnt so much by being with my parents. No matter what happened, they were always there for each other. Like when Clara was born, the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and looking slightly blue. Or when I was born, and wasn’t breathing. They had held the other’s hand. They had comforted the other. I smiled slightly. Both Clara and I had had problematic births. Maybe it was hereditary. But even before Clara, when I’d fallen down those stone steps, they had been there for each other, and because of that, they’d been there for me. And now I had to follow the example that they’d set for me. I was going to be there for Tay.

I drove back to my flat, abandoning my search. I needed to gather my thoughts before I did anything else. Why was I delaying this? Why was there this deep dread in the pit of my stomach? What had happened? I pulled my car into my parking space and sighed. I needed to be with her. Being away from her for a week was horrible. A small gasp slipped past my lips as pain flared in the depths of my heart.

Something was wrong.

Listening to my gut instinct, I drove as fast as I dared to Tay’s house.

I flung open the car door and sprinted down the drive. “Tay!”

I skidded to a halt as the door opened, light spilling onto the dark driveway. Tay’s parents stood in the doorway, looking at me with haughty expressions. Damn it, why couldn’t I just see their daughter? She was the only thing that mattered. I loved her.

“Let me see her!” I demanded, my voice coming out a lot stronger than I felt, the burning in my chest was agonising now. “You have to let me see her!”

“We don’t have to let you do anything,” Lewis Woodson said coldly.

“Yes, you do!” My voice broke as the pain in my heart threatened to break not just my voice, but my very being. “Please!”

My vision blurred as my eyes watered. I bent double, dropping to my knees, pain lancing through my heart and spreading throughout my body. I cried out and my hands clasped at my heart, doing anything to stop the pain. But the only thing that could stop the pain was behind the door, hidden somewhere in the house. The agony swelled as I realised just how close she was to me, but she was so far away from me. I had to see her.

“You either let me in to see her, or I will sit on your doorstep for the rest of my life,” My voice came out as a low, deadly growl, weighed down with pain.

Upstairs, a window opened. Tay leaned out, her hair falling forward and almost hiding her face. My heart ached even more at the sight of her. They had to let me in. They had to.

“Let him in,” Tay said in a small voice.

“Taylor,” Her father growled, turning around to look up at her.

“Let him in!” Tay screamed. “Can’t you see he’s in pain?! Have you no moral code?!”

“He hurt you,” Her mother was doing her level best to let me die on the doorstep. “He’s no good for you. Why don’t you call Caleb, hm? There’s bound to be another dinner coming up soon. Look at him,” Mary looked down at me, her eyes full of pity and yet at the same time, they were full of a dark humour, as if there was some kind of twisted pleasure that she was getting from my pain.