You Promised

8

Maddie's pov

Annabelle and Jay sat down across from me in the booth. Annabelle had some kind of Frappe and Jay had what looked like hot cocoa. They both looked pretty shaken, but Annabelle was definitely worse. Her hands tapped and twitched on the table, her eyes darted frantically around the coffee shop. Jay kept one hand on her at all times.

"So why did you guys move here?" I tried to keep conversation away from the last twenty-four hours.

"I-I wou-would rather n-not talk about it." Her face turned even paler than before. I could tell she hadn't slept well. She had dark circles under her eyes and her curly brown hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail.

I nodded and tried to think of something else. After a minuet I noticed she was wearing a Harley-Quinn shirt.

"You like superhero stuff?"

She smiled. "Yeah. I prefer Marvel but I like DC too."

We talked for over an hour, occasionally Jay would interject his opinions and by the time the sun started to go down I could tell that Annabelle was doing much better.

"It's getting pretty late and Jay's got school tomorrow so we'd better get going. Thanks Maddie, I needed this."

"No problem."

Annabelle's pov

I unlocked the truck and hopped into the driver seat. Jay sat beside me. I had just started the engine when two hands popped up from the back seat. One clamped over my mouth and the other over Jay's.

"Sshhhh. If you want to live a bit longer I suggest you do what I say."
I recognized that voice from last night.
Casket.

He had me drive all the way across town to the park. From there he led Jay and I through the surrounding woods to a clearing.

"Now that we're here the fun can start."
He picked up a length of rope and tied Jay to a tree, then he grabbed both my wrists and pulled me in close to him.
"You have very strange eyes, like me. I think maybe I'll keep them."

I saw his knife come close to my face when suddenly someone hit him from behind with a baseball bat. Jimmy fell to the ground and there behind him was Johnny Toast. Black hair a mess of leaves and blue eyes filled with concern.

"Are you okay madam?"

"Yes. How did you find us?"

He refused to meet my eyes and began mumbling something when Jimmy suddenly sat up. Except.... he looked different. His black hair was now a light brown and when he opened his eyes they were no longer red. Instead they were a very familiar shade of chocolate brown. It was Johnny Ghost.

I backed away slowly towards the tree where Jay was tied up. I untied him and we were about to run off when Ghost stopped us.

"I wouldn't if I were you."

I was breathing heavily to avoid a panic attack so Kay said what I was thinking.
"And what's stopping us from calling the cops?"

Johnny sighed.
"Well first, Jimmy swiped your phones."
We both felt our empty pockets to see that he was right.
"And second, Jimmy is right about one thing. You know our secret, and we can't very well just leave you alone."

I looked over at him trying to comprehend.
"So you and Jimmy are-"

"Yep."

"So what now," said Jay.

At that point Toast stepped up beside his partner.
"If I may suggest Sir, what is instead of killing her we offer her a job. You can keep an eye on her, and she doesn't contact the police."

Ghost nodded.
"Alright Annabelle. How would you like to be a paranormal investigator extraordinaire?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No, be at headquarters tomorrow at seven thirty. And remember, tell no one what you know."