Occupation: Ghost

Chapter 4

Stevie rushed to James' house as fast as she could. But, she was too late. She ran into James room and immediately fell to her knees next to James's lifeless body. She picked up James' head and cradled it in her lap.

She kept sobbing and sobbing. James stood there watching the scene unfold, wanting nothing more than to be able to comfort the only friend she's ever had, but she couldn't. Not now. Now that she's dead. Now that she's nothing but a soul that has been detached from its skin bound home.

She wasn't going to give up that easily, though. She was going to make her presence known. She willed herself to move her feet, inching closer to her former best friend. She dropped onto her knees next to Stevie, who was still cradling her head and sobbing uncontrollably.

Lifting an uncontrollably shaky hand, she lays it softly on Stevie's shoulder. It seemingly worked. Stevie felt a light-as-a-feather touch on her shoulder. That's all it took for another rack of sobs to break through the tear ducts of Stevie's emerald green eyes. 

"Ja-James?" she asked quietly and timidly.

James wanted to engulf Stevie in the biggest hug she's ever had, but she couldn't. All she could do was attempt to press harder on Stevie's shoulder.

"I just- before you go into the light, I just wanted to say that you're the best friend I've ever had, and I will miss you so much. You were my...you were my rock. I love you as much as any girl has ever loved her best friend. So...yeah. That's umm...that's it. Now you can go into the light. Go see your dad. Go have fun with all the ghost people." Stevie said with a fake laugh.

James could see right through it, so she attempted to wrap her arms around Stevie's trembling frame. A small smile crept onto Stevie's tear-stained face. She could sense that it was James' way of saying goodbye. She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it, as if she couldn't find the right words to say.

'It's ok. You're the best friend I've ever had too.' James thought.

Stevie looked up from James' body and looked directly where James' current ghost form was seated. Right next to her.

"Well, I guess I'm gonna hop out of here before the cops arrive and arrest me for accusation of murder." Stevie said, with a fake light laugh.

Then, she got up and walked to the door. Before she left, she looked at James' body one last time.

"Goodbye for now, best friend." Then she left the room.

James could feel her heart dropping into her stomach. She just wanted to tell Stevie that she was okay. That she's not in any pain any more. She's not scared of being a ghost.

She was then pulled out of her thoughts by a voice. Stevie's voice. She poked her head back into the bedroom

"By the way, I'm taking the last can of Diet Pepsi. Also, I'm gonna borrow Annabelle. I don't know when you're gonna get it back...maybe I'll just keep it. You're not gonna need it where you're going." She stated, as if she was talking to the living James.

Then, she went back into the hallway, got what she wanted, and left. Stevie was never one to close doors quietly. She always slammed them shut, so then you would know she had left.

But, James didn't hear the door slam shut, only a normal sounding *click* as the door was shut. James heard the door open again, but didn't bother to check who it was.

'It's probably just Stevie again. She's always forgetting something.' She thought to herself. So, she just sat next to her body. She was curious, though. She had always wondered what a dead body felt like. Lifting a shaky hand, she started breathing in and out deeply. Then, as lightly as she could, she allowed her fingertips to trace her collar bones.

She gasped and shuddered at the same time. Her body was cold. Well, colder than a living body. She felt tear welling up in her eyes. Just because she was dead, doesn't mean she would let her emotions show through.

'No one can see you now. You're allowed to feel emotions now.' She thought to herself.

A loud thumping noise broke her out of her train of thought. She quickly wiped her eyes of any tears that may have broken free from her tear ducts. She could hear the footsteps coming closer. But, they were too heavy to belong to Stevie. She temporarily forgot that no one could see her, because she got off the floor and hid in her closet.

Her bedroom door swung open, but she still didn't come out to see who it was.

"Come on. If the cops show up and get the knife, I'll be put away for good." A voice rang out.

James was too frazzled to realize who it was until the voice spoke again. The voice was closer this time.

"Whoa, dude. We got her good." Parkers' voice was like a slap in the face.

"Yeah. Look, I'm starting to get sick thinking about what we did. Maybe we should just tell the police." It was Mark.

Mark was always the kindest one of Parker's friends. He wasn't the smartest, but he has always been the nicest. James was surprised when he was the one to video James' death.

"Yeah right. If you go to the police, we all are dead. All of us. Do you understand that?" Parker said in a harsh tone.

"Yeah. I understand that, but that doesn't mean I don't feel bad about it. I mean, she had a life. She had friends. And we...we took that away from her. We took her away from her life." Mark said sadly.

"No, we didn't. She had one friend. Her mother didn't even care about her. We didn't take anything away from her. If anything, we sent her off to a better place." Parker said rudely.

That made James' blood boil. Her anger manifested itself and made the lights in the room flicker on and off. After ten minutes of flickering lights, the light bulb exploded. Hearing Parker's and Mark's confused and slightly scared voices made James feel better. In fact, it made her feel so much better that she let out a light, thoughtless giggle.

It floated through the air and landed in Parker's ears.

"Did you hear that?" He asked Mark.

Mark shook his head. "Hear what?"

"Someone was laughing. A girl was laughing." Parker said, sounding shocked and very scared.

James' ears perked up at hearing the news. Someone could hear her. Maybe, he could see her too.

"Dude, no one is in here. It's just you and me." Mark said, in an obvious tone. Then, as if to say he was done with the conversation, he turned and left the room.

James took that as her cue to show herself. So, she slowly stood up off the floor of the closet. Lifting her shaking hands, she opened her closet doors. Hearing the noise, Parker turned around and stared at the doors that were seemingly opening by themselves. He took a tentative step forward. James slowly walked out and stood in front of Parker. He looked at her with eyes as wide as the moon.

James opened her mouth, and the only thing said was, "boo." 

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SO! There you go. Zac Efron is serving as Mark...obviously.