Occupation: Ghost

Chapter 3

So. Dave Franco will be serving as Parker Lotman, the main antagonist.

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After her stomach was empty, and she felt a bit better, James and Stevie left the bathroom ad went to first hour.

"What are we going to do when we go to the rest of our classes?" James asked Stevie nervously.

"Dude...we have all of our classes together remember?" Stevie said confused.

"Oh...right. Sorry."

"What's got you all shaken up?" Stevie asked, her tone sounding very caring.

"This whole thing with Parker. It's just got my stomach in knots." She admitted quietly. Before Stevie could reply, James kept on. "You know, I fell going up the stairs this morning. When I stood back up, I got a terrified feeling over me. Like, I knew something bad was going to happen. What if...what if Parker is meant to kill me?" She asked. Her timid voice got quieter and quieter with every word.

"Don't say that. You're meant to live a long life. You are not supposed to die now. Do you hear me?" She asked sternly

James let out a sigh. "Yeah, I hear what you're saying. But, just because you want something, doesn't mean it's going to happen."

"Fine. If you want to be stubborn and have this negative attitude all day, be my guest. But, if you keep whining, I will walk away." She said, and that was that.

James didn't have any energy to fight with Stevie. She knew Stevie was right. James was meant to live. So that's what she did. She promised Stevie that she would live everyday to it's fullest. Stevie was content with hearing that.

During the day, James got into more trouble than she had ever been in before. She talked back to a teacher; she took a nap in class. She was on her phone during a test. She and Stevie had a conversation during class while the teacher was talking.

When the school day had come to an end, she had four detentions. She didn't have any intention of staying there after school, so she didn't. She got her stuff from her locker and grabbed Stevie and left.

"Wow. Look at you, little miss rebel. I never thought I would see the day where James Taylor not only gets detention, but skips it too." Stevie laughed.

"I know. It feels...liberating. I never knew that not caring about the consequences would feel so freeing." James said, followed by a breathy laugh.

"See? I told you a long ass time ago. Doing what you want can't hurt you, unless it promotes destructive behaviors. As long as you're not hurting yourself or others, then you're honkey dorey." Stevie said, matter-of-factly.

"I see. I'll keep that in mind for tomorrow." James said and laughed. She looked up from the sidewalk and noticed that they were in her front yard.

"Well, I guess I will see you tomorrow. Behave. You don't need to be in anymore trouble than you already are!" James shouted to the retreating form of Stevie.

"SCREW IT!" Stevie shouted back. By the time it reached James' ears, Stevie was at the end of the block, nothing but a black line with highlighter yellow at the top.

When she could no longer see her best friend, she turned to her front door. Digging for her keys in the bottom of her bag, she heard the familiar roar of an engine. Parker's engine, to be exact. It wasn't loud enough to be too close, but she hurried and got the keys quicker. She unlocked the door and slammed it shut, making sure to lock it behind her. Discarding her bag on the floor, she ran upstairs, but fell on the way up and hit her head on the hard wood railing.

She had to sit on the stairs for a moment; her head was still reeling from the fall. But she quickly regained enough balance to get to her room. Terrified, she whipped out her phone and called Stevie. But, of course, she didn't answer.

'She probably just went to the bathroom or something. She'll call me back in like three seconds.' James tried to reassure herself.

She heard the faint sound of someone knocking on the front door. Instead of checking out the window, she crawled on her hands and knees to her closet. Once there, she huddled in the corner hugging her knees. She felt her breathing go shaky.

'You'll be okay. You locked all the doors. He can't get in. He cannot get in. There's no possible way.' She told herself.

She kept repeating those words to herself in her head. Feeling her head get heavy, she put her forehead on her knees, letting her hair waterfall around her. Her knees were cramping up, so she crawled to the other side of the closet. Once there, she ran a shaky hand through her now tangled hair. She rubbed her eye and was thoroughly surprised when it was wet when she pulled it away.

She could still hear the knocking on the front door. She was extremely surprised, nervous, and scared when it stopped. Then, she heard and even fainter noise.

A door opening.

Terror flooded through her. She was contemplating all the ways they could have gotten the door open. 'The back door.' She thought to herself.

She had been in such a rush to get away from Parker this morning, that she had forgotten to lock it when she left. A fresh set of tears sprang to James' eyes. But she refused to let them fall. If they heard her sobbing her eyes out, like a child, they would not only kill her, but they would drag her name through the mud.

She heard the hard thud of heavy shoes on the stairs. Quickly, she put her hand over her mouth, as to quiet her breathing. The soft *click* of her doorknob was the only thing to be heard. Tears sprang to her eyes, and this time she didn't fight them. She just let them silently fall down her porcelain face.

She heard the closet door being opened. So, she squeezed her eyes shut. Then, she heard Parker chuckle.

"Who would have thought. The stone cold, James Taylor would be crying when met with death. This is going to be wonderful." Parker reveled in the knowledge that he would get to kill James.

He roughly grabbed her arm, standing her up. James didn't even fight it. She was right. It was supposed to be this way. Parker is supposed to kill her. Stevie was wrong. She shouldn't fight fate. Fate is going to happen one way or another, no matter how hard you try to outsmart it.

"You are going to stand here. While Mark over there holds the phone taking a video." Parker said, as if he was talking to a three year old.

"I got it. I'm not stupid. Don't waste my last moments by belittling me. Got it?" James spoke harshly.

"Got it, missy. Now, this is gonna hurt, like, a lot." Parker said curtly.

The next thing she knew, James had a blinding pain ripping through her abdomen. Before anyone could make a sound, she fell to her knees. Parker and Mark just stood there and laughed.

"Did you get it?"A voice, who she could identify as Parker, asked, while howling with laughter.

"Duh. I got it all. I even worked the camera angle so it wouldn't catch your face." Mark replied back, trying to sound smart.

They both exited the room, leaving James laying in a pool of her own blood. It would stain the pure white carpet. Her mother would have a field day. She would worry about the stain before she worried about taking care of James' funeral.

With that in mind, she pulled a weak hand away from her bleeding stomach and dialed Stevies' number.

She answered on the third ring. "Hey. What's up?" she asked casually.

"Help." James barely managed to choke the word out before everything went black.