Run Away (An Academy Ghost Bird Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Four

North

     A ghost. We're searching for a ghost.
     We should pass this case off to another Academy team. I look around at my team, my family, and I can see they're already emotionally invested in finding this ghost girl. I sigh. Alright. The least I could do is make sure Luke stays out of trouble.
     Mr. Blackbourne calls an end to our family meeting for the night. We can't search for clues at night so they'll have to pick back up in the morning. But not Silas and I , we are suppose to report to football practice tomorrow, as part of our Ashley Waters cover.
     Luke, Silas and I walk out to my Jeep and start the journey home. Silas asks Luke more about what he saw in the girl's house as I drive. I just tune them out.
     When we reach Silas's apartment complex, I remind him that I'll be by in the morning to pick him up for practice. He rolls his eyes and looks as thrilled about it as I feel. He waves us off and turns toward his building and I take off again for home. Luke and I have been living in, and helping Uncle renovate, this old Victorian manor he bought. It's been a slow process. Usually it would only take a few months but Uncle has been distracted lately and we haven't gotten a lot done.
     I turn into the long driveway and follow it until it wraps around the back of the house to the barn I've turned into a garage. I park next to Uncle's car. Good, he's home, maybe we can figure out what area of the house to work on next. Walking into the house, we find Uncle in the kitchen.
     "Hello, boys! Glad you're home. You hungry? I made dinner."
     "Ah, you know me Uncle. I'd never turn down your cooking" Luke's says while rubbing his hands on his stomach, Uncle just chuckles. Luke and I set the table while Uncle puts the finishing touches on his pot roast, then I make a salad while Luke grabs drinks for everyone. Sitting down, we all dig in.
     "So, do you boys have any plans for tomorrow?" Uncle asks between bites.
     "I have football practice in the morning but should be free in the afternoon." I tell him.
     "I think I'm helping Kota but won't know for sure until tomorrow" Luke answers.
     "If you're both free in the afternoon, I was wondering if you could meet me somewhere? I have something I'd like to show you." Uncle asks.
"Sure. What's this about?" I ask, while putting my knife and fork down and looking directly at Uncle, holding his gaze. I don't like tip-toeing around anything, that's what this is starting to feel like.
"Well, you are both aware that Don and I had a falling out, business wise. One of the investments I had been pushing for was a restaurant, a diner, and he didn't want it." He stops eating as well and focuses on the both of us. "There is an old church near that neighborhood your friend Kota lives in. The church sits just off the highway backed up against the woods." Luke and I both nod. I've seen the old church on my way to Kota's and Nate's houses. "Well, I bought it." Uncle says simply. My eyebrows shoot up in surprise, "I'm turning that old church into a diner. I get the keys tomorrow morning and I want to show you boys what I have planned."
A few beats of silence followed until Luke finally spoke, "Will the diner serve pie?"
Uncle just nodded and laughed in response.

     The next morning I pick up Silas and we head to Ashley Waters High School for football practice. I know this is one part of our mission that I will absolutely hate. Don't get me wrong, I like football. I enjoy playing with my best friends, especially on Thanksgiving. Kota and I have a long rivalry with our Thanksgiving day game. But that's always just for fun. Silas and I are doing this for our mission, it's for work, so I'll do it. I'll put up with the asshole kids they have on the team, they usually just care about the next cheerleader they're banging. I'll put up with the dumbass coaches telling me to work harder, they don't know that Silas and I will be working harder than anyone. I'll do my job... but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

     Practice goes about as well as I expected. Silas and I are placed on varsity as  blockers. No surprise there, Silas is huge and I'm not much smaller. Silas has been pretty quiet all day, which isn't unusual in itself, but I've known Silas a very long time. There's something bothering him.
     "Everything okay with Charlie?" He looks up at me with confusion.
     "Huh? Yeah, why do you ask?"
     "You just seem a little lost in thought today"
     "I was wondering if the others found anything. I feel useless, off playing ball with a bunch of high school kids when there is a girl missing."
     "The others had everything under control. Mr. Blackbourne would have had us help if they needed us, but maintaining our cover for this mission was important too." He sighs, and nods.
     "Can you drop me off at Nate's?"
     "Yeah, sure. I've got to pick up Luke anyway, we're meeting with Uncle"

     I pull into Nathan's driveway. Silas jumps out with a "Thanks" and goes inside. I shoot off a text to Luke.

North: Where are you? We're supposed to be meeting Uncle.

     The passenger door suddenly opens causing me to jump. Luke.
     "Calm down grumpy pants, I'm here." He jumps into the seat Silas just left. I shoot him a glare but it quickly fades when I see my normally jolly brother with a frown.
     "Any new developments?" I ask him as I put the car in reverse.
     "Not a thing. We searched farther back in the woods in a wide sweep. We checked around that barn with the saw dust pile too." He sighs and pulls his long hair out of his face, "Too many kids play around the barn, we could tell one track from another."
     "Have we been watching her parents' house in case she goes back?"
     "Victor set up surveillance cameras pointing at both the front and back of the house." He stares out the window, "I hope she doesn't go back. Victor told me what the woman said about her, I don't think Sang had a good life there. You should have seen that room, North. So bare and empty, like she's been forgotten in her own house. She didn't take much with her because she had nothing to take. I think she's too scared to go home, I hope she's stays away until we find her." His hands clinch into fists on his leg, "That girl was alone long before she ran away. No one should be made to feel invisible."
     I feel a pang of guilt in my chest, reminded of how I ignored Luke when I first came to live with him and Uncle, refusing to speak to either of them for months. Luke was so excited to have a brother and I was just mad at the world and everyone in it, so I took it out on him.
     I pulled into the parking lot of the old church and spot Uncle right away. He's waiting for us by a side door with a huge grin on his face, excited to share this with the both of us. Neither Uncle or Luke are related to me by blood but they brought me into their home and never gave up on me. They are my family. Family is a choice and clearly this girl, Sang, made her choice.

     When we get home later that night Luke is practically bouncing off the walls. His excitement is irritating but I let it go.
     "Do you think he'll let the guys work at the diner?" He asks me.
     "He probably expects everyone will want to. Let them earn some extra money."  I send off a text to Mr. Blackbourne that we will be by Nate's in the morning. "We'll tell them tomorrow morning, give them some good news."
     "Yeah, that's a great idea!" He replies and then spends the rest of the night listing every item he thinks Uncle should add to the menu, most of which are dessert.

     The next morning Luke and I pull into the front church parking lot. We wanted to bring the guys by later and show them the place but wanted to walk through quickly this morning to make sure no one would trip on anything. I had noticed a few of the old pews had been knocked over when we walked through yesterday with Uncle. I start walking to the door but Luke turns to start walking around the building.
     "Where are you going?"
     "I just wanted to walk around back and see what's there. I didn't get to yesterday." I watch him go for a moment, trying to figure out if I should follow him. If I don't follow him, he's going to end up climbing to the roof or something. I turn and start walking to the back of the building. I spot some playground equipment with a couple swings, a tunnel and a slide. Sure enough, Luke starts climbing across the monkey bars like the overgrown kid he is. When he reaches the platform he freezes. Without looking away from whatever caught his attention he motions for me to join him, urgently. Must be a family of raccoons or something. Not wanting to startle to animals I approach quietly and move to the other side of the tunnel by the slide and climb up.
     Inside the tunnel, the first thing I spot are two tiny feet caked in mud, I let my eyes travel up a pair of thin legs covered in shallow scratches and dirt, a nasty looking gash on one knee and a dark bruise on the other. Knees that are exposed because the girl they belong to is only wearing a pair of thin cotton shorts and a t-shirt. She's curled up, asleep, with her arms wrapped around her body. The scraps on her arms seem shallow, already scabbed over. A dark bruise circles one bicep, like someone grabbed her arm hard. Stringy, dirty, tangled hair covers her face that is tucked down, her cheek resting against her shoulder. Hair, that if washed free from dirt and leaves, would be blonde.
     I look up at Luke, who is already looking silently back at me, and I nod. He takes out his phone to send a group text.

Luke: We found her

     We found the ghost.