Gravity

Chapter 4

Abigail reached for her seatbelt and brought it across her body as I searched for any sign of John or Zac in the parking lot. All I could picture in my head was John's face as he saw me standing there by the door. He didn't look scared or even surprised really. Instead, he looked pained, and devastated all at once. I didn't understand why he looked that way when he saw me. Suddenly a blast of music interrupted my thoughts.

"I'm taking taking all of my time, I'm dodging words but she's saying the right lines..." The lyrics poured from the speakers.

"She made me made me oh so crazy, but this time I feel like I'm doing something right." Abigail and I sang the words aloud, our voices filling the car as we drove along. We sang the rest of the song and as it came to an end, I looked over at Abigail.

"So? It wasn't too bad was it?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Mm. Not really. Just weird."

"You can say that again.." I rolled my eyes as we pulled into the garage.

Abigail let out a small chuckle as we made our way to her room. "Wait. Why do you say that? I mean, did you see something or...?"

"Well. Kinda." I plopped down onto her bed as she shut the door behind her. "What was Zac doing there?"

"Huh?" Abigail took a seat at her desk and swiveled in her chair to face me.

"I saw him at the school. Why is he still here?" I twisted around so my long brown hair hung off the edge of the bed and my legs were propped up against the wall.

"Oh, he's helping his dad out with some classes. Kinda like being a teacher's aid or whatever."

"Hm. That's weird."

"Is that the weird thing you saw today?"

"Well. Not entirely.." I started running my my fingers through my hair. "When I saw Zac he was sitting on that bench at the top of the stairs, but he wasn't alone. His brother John was with him. But when Zac went inside, John stayed sitting at the bench. And then, he looked up and, well...I swear he was looking right at me. And he looked so sad and in pain. I don't know, it was weird."

"Uh. Well, yeah, of course it was weird."

I turned my head to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"Zac's brother is the whole reason he's still in town. That's why he's here helping his dad get through his classes and stuff. Luke told me all about it when we got to English and Zac was writing our journal prompt on the board." Abigail leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Well what happened to John? I thought he was in Arizona."

"I guess about a month ago, when he came back to visit, something happened that freaked him out pretty bad. Luke didn't know for sure what it was but, it was enough to make him, well...commit suicide...." Abigail hung her head down and stared at her shoes.

"D-dead? He's... John's....dead?..." My eyes were wide with shock. Abigail slowly nodded her head in confirmation. "But..I just saw him!" I shot up and scrambled to my feet. "I don't understand! How? I mean, what? Why?" I began to pace around the room. "Why aren't you like, freaking out or something? I just saw a supposedly dead John!"

"Dude. I can see, hear, and touch my supposedly dead sister..."

"...Good point." I took a seat on the bed again. "Wait. That means he really did see me. Which means, he knows I saw him too."