Keeping Secrets (Book 1)

Chapter 22: Exposed

"I need to die again."

Nina rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against the table. "Wow. Not even twenty-four hours after the last time. For someone so hesitant to do it yesterday, you sure do seem eager today."

I shook my head. "You know that author guy? D.H.R.? I emailed him. He told me the key to solving all of these ghost issues right now: apologize a lot to Death. So unless you know another way to casually find Death, I'm going to have to die again."

She sighed. "I guess that makes sense, but I can't help you. I don't have anymore drugs, and I can't get any more. Not right now."

Now I was confused. "What? Why not?"

"The guy I got them from won't give me more, at least not anytime soon. He told me it was too risky to do too often, which means if you try dying again, you're gonna stay dead."

"There has to be another way." I wasn't giving up. I couldn't. There was too much at stake right now to just roll over and forget about all of this.

"No, Dylan, there isn't." Nina sighed. "I'm sorry to say that, but there isn't another way. Travis will be safe as long as he keeps the pendant on. Death will get tired of the expired ghosts wandering around eventually and round them all back up. Until then, we just have to deal with them. At least they've scattered a bit now. I did not enjoy having them all right outside constantly."

I mimicked her stance, leaning up against one of her bookshelves. "So that's it? Forget it all happened? Move on with our lives? Give up?"

"I don't know what you want me to say, Dylan," she said softly, staring down at the ground.

"I don't know, okay? Maybe that there is another way? Or that we can at least try to find one? This doesn't have to be over."

"Yes, it does! If I don't get another job, they're going to turn the lights off in this place - in my home - because I can't afford to pay the bills without a job. I can't afford to run around chasing ghosts all day. That doesn't pay those bills. Maybe you can get away with it, living at home with your parents who pay for everything for you, but that's not how my life works."

I shook my head. "You think I have it so easy, don't you? Well, you're wrong. You don't know me as well as you think you do."

Nina pushed herself off the table and walked over to me. "Oh yeah? Every time a person came in here, I had to instantly judge their behavior and body language. I'd say I'm pretty good at figuring out a person."

"So tell me what you figured out about me."

She scoffed, walking back over to the other side of the room. She didn't say anything for a moment, and I almost expected her to not give me an answer. But then she turned back to me.

"You're scared. Scared of the secrets you are trying to keep - maybe it's how people will react to them, maybe it's dealing with them yourself, I don't know. You're kinda lonely, too. Not very many people are willing to casually talk about ghosts the way you need to - someone that's not me. I know Travis knows the truth, but he doesn't seem so into it. Mommy problems, but that, you told me."

Nina sighed, sitting down in a chair at the table. "Then there's the issue of your sister. I knew the moment you told me about her that you are determined to save her. I know you feel guilty for her death, but isn't it also because you don't want her to be gone? Losing a loved one is awful, but she wasn't really gone for you. Now she might just be and you can't handle that, can you? You've been hiding behind your secrets, behind your boyfriend, behind your parents, because you don't want to accept that she's gone."

"No." I took a shaky breath before explaining my side. "I'll hand it to you, some of that was pretty spot on. But not that last bit. Before the accident, I had plans to move out of my parents' house. I was going to move in with some of my friends. But that changed with the accident. I didn't just lose my sister. My friends walked away from me because I could no longer keep up with them." I walked over to sit in the other chair at the table. Then I slowly lifted up my pant leg to show Nina the prosthetic. "I used to do all kinds of extreme sports. That's how I met all those friends. I couldn't do any of it anymore, so they went on without me, gave my room in that house to someone else. Travis was the only one to stay by my side while I had to relearn how to walk. Hell, I'm still trying to figure it out - stairs are one problem I never expected to have and yet they have become my worst nightmare." I rolled my pant leg back down and sat back up to look Nina in the eyes. "And yeah, maybe I don't want to accept that Jenny's gone just yet, but that's only because I'm done having everything in my life taken from me. And if there's something I can do, then I'm going to do it."

Nina sat there, not speaking. I didn't wait for her to come up with a response, getting up and walking out the door.

I made it to Travis' house before the tears started falling. I don't know why I felt like crying; maybe it was stress or the realization that Nina was a little too close to the truth. But it didn't matter, I just wanted Travis right now. Thankfully, he was home and opened the door pretty quickly. It was the second day in a row I was showing up at his door on the verge of tears. I didn't want to bother him with all of this, but, like I had just told Nina, I had no one else.

Travis tried to lead me into the living room, but I didn't want that. I was willing to fight those stairs, because I knew if I could get Travis into his bedroom, we'd both end up feeling better.

Eventually, we made it upstairs. I was tired and I'm sure my eyes were red and puffy from the tears, but I didn't care. I pulled Travis down on top of me, bringing our lips together. There was nothing else I wanted right now except to feel him as close to me as possible.

The making out soon turned to striping each other of our clothing. This was going exactly where I wanted it to, just not as quick. I reached for Travis' underwear, ready to pull them all the way off.

"Dylan Fletcher," a voice said, sending a chill down my spine. I looked over towards the door, where Death was standing. "I heard you've been looking for me."