Conga Line of the Dead

Chapter 5 : The plan comes together or revenge of the asthma ghost

Halloween rolled around again as it usually did every year and Peter Worthers struggled to open his eyes as he awoke to a smell he wasn't use to. A home cooked breakfast.

Making his way groggily down the ratty staircase in his boxers and an old t-shirt wasn't easy when you're up so early; it had to be two in the morning. A glance at the wall clock read eight o'clock in the morning, but Peter was sure he had forgot to put batteries in that thing a few years ago.

He made it to the kitchen where he noticed two plates sitting on the now clean counter island in the middle of the room, one piled with eggs and the other piled with bacon.

A quick glance around and Peter noticed that the whole kitchen seemed to be much cleaner; apparently a burglar had broken into his house sometime last night on a wild cleaning spree.

There was someone at the stove still cooking; the only problem was that the person was a mortal. And it was a girl, which was something else Peter was not used to seeing in his house.

"How the hell did you get in here?" he asked and she jumped slightly, gasping for a moment.

"You scared the crap out of me. "she replied over the popping of whatever was cooking in the pan.

"Well that makes two of us." He replied as he made his way over to the island and the plates sitting there. "Breaking and entering or breakfast and entertaining?" He snagged a piece of bacon and swallowed it whole.

"A little of both I guess." She said as her attention returned to the pan, "I like the shirt."

Peter looked down at the black shirt he was wearing and the image of Barry Manilow smiling up at him, he blushed a bit as he looked back at Ashley.

"It was a birthday present from Toke, thank you smart ass. Plus I hear it's a collector's item." he replied.

"Sure it is." Her smile vanished as she returned her attention to the stove, turning her back to him. "I stayed at the hospital for as long as the doctors would let me, they told me to go home and get some rest. Can you believe that? So I drove over here and Toke let me in, he's been studying that book all night. Guess he doesn't need any beauty sleep since he's dead."

"Plus it wouldn't help, have you met Toke, he's ugly as hell." Peter replied sarcastically.

She smiled as she moved the pan to the island and slid the freshly cooked pieces of sausage into the plate with the bacon, returning the pan to the flame less stove to cool. She snagged some bacon herself and the two mortals stood there quiet for a moment eating. Peter had to admit that this was the longest a girl had been around him and not run off screaming.

"Hey, now that we have a minute I just wanted to say," he replied, then cleared his throat. "Back at the arcade, I had to protect myself. You know? A lifetime of people messing with you really screws with your mind..." he rolled his eyes to the top of his head as he thought about what he had just said, then tried to recover. "You know?" he asked hopefully.

Ashley only looked across the island at him, a blank look on her face as she slurped up a slice of bacon like spaghetti, and shook her head as she chewed.

He shrugged, maybe he was letting Ashley's charms get to him or maybe she poisoned the bacon, he didn't know but he still blushed. "The way you stood up for me to your mom was really nice. No one else has done that for me except for Toke." He took a deep breath, "Thanks, it meant a lot to me."

She smiled over at him and for a moment Peter Worthers found himself wondering if someone like her could fall for someone like him, but that type of thing only happened in books so no luck there.