The Ghost's Diary 👻 ✓

58. Grave of Embarrassment

The cool metal of my phone doesn't aid my tornado-stricken chest. Same old tunes play on it, and I'm still unable to pick it up.

Dylan leans in with squinted eyes at the screen. His brows relax, while mine remain wrinkled.

He elbows me-- making me nod a bit too hard.

Swiping on the green circle and immediately touching the speaker option, I hope my catering heart doesn't ring. The phone lies down on my straightened palm.
"Hullo..."

"Oh thank God, you picked up! I thought that maybe..." Ethan's voice comes out as relieved as a ballerina taking off her shoes after a two hour show.

"Well..." the words that are supposed to come out of me pat me on the back and turn around the corner.

"Look, I know you're angry with me-- and that's understandable. I was being an arse..."

"Ethan..."

"I shouldn't have all those things I said. What you tell and don't tell is not my decision, and I should understand that as a friend..."

I interrupt.
"Ethan..."

"I wanted to talk about all this stuff-- hell, Als's been nagging on me the entire time too. You won't believe how much she's started to favour you."

"I don't always..." another voice glides in-- Allison's.

"We'll talk about your discrimination later, Als. Now my full attention's on this call."

"That's because it's Lindsey--"

"Shut it, you.
Oh and I've got Als on speaker with me, if you don't mind."

Dylan glances at me, before looking at the phone again. Meanwhile, I plan on thinking about the last part later-- hopefully.

Instead, I change the subject:
"No, it's all right. I've got Dylan too."

"Wait-- really? Oh, that's good-- fantastic even.

"Okay onto the topic-- I'm sorry I didn't say this earlier. I wanted to tell you at school, but I didn't want any drama-- we've had enough of that.
And then I went over to Edenfield-- and the guard at the gates said you'd told them to not let me in through the intercom. So, yeah... got a big realisation of being screwed all over."

What?

I lean forward.
Both Dylan and I turning to meet each other's gaze-- him asking through his eyes if I did that and me whispering that I didn't.

"Are you sure about that?" Dylan asks.

"Well, yeah. Jared and Luke-- I think those were the names-- said that. I mean-- sure, that was... unexpected..."

"Can you hold for a second, please."

At this, Dylan takes out his own phone from the coat pocket and dials away.
Ethan and Allison stay silent on the other line, while my mouth is slightly agape.

After finishing his call, he puts the phone back.
"Apparently, Jared's saying that he got an intercom call to not let these two in anymore. From you," he faces me in a voice loud enough for the hung callers.

I straighten my lips into a narrow line and shake my head.
"This one's almost like your letters disappearing..."

An image of a girl-- of my age comes into my mind-- running around a forest with a small orb as her only source of hope. Then another comes.
It's of me screaming on this hill.

My stomach drops-- as if I'm on top of some bloody rollercoaster-- despite me not wanting for it to.

"Well, I just thought that Ethan meant was screwed, but now it looks like my ship's been saved by a homicidal sociopath. Yay!" Allison cheers on the other line.