Sixth Sense

3. Cedric Swern Pemberton the Second

I was sitting upward in bed, watching the shadows dance across the large expanse of my facing wall. It was entirely dark yet in Harlem, but for me, the dusk was always the eeriest time of day.

I sighed, swing my legs upward on top of my headrest and placing my hands behind my head. Sleep would elude me tonight.

With a evil smirk plastered across my mouth, I stepped up to my window, my hands finding the latch and sliding it open. The cold air of fall Harlem air hit me, stinging my cheeks and sending my hair astray.

Without looking back, I slid my leg over the ledge and was dangling from my window sill. Our house wasn't entirely large, the old architect not entirely sure if he wanted a two story or a one story so he compromised to a one story with a large room with low ceilings above. My room.

So the drop, while not deadly, still sent my body across our grassy lawn and to bones jarring. I laid on the grass breifly, my teeth singing, before lifting myself upward.

I was quick to tiptoe alongside our property, instantly finding my beloved tree house. The 'tree house' as I called it, was actually just a bunch of stacked branches on the ground that I had haphazardly shaped into a shelter.

I stepped inside, finding all the books and knickknacks I had stolen from the house and smuggled out here. I reached upward and lit a lantern sitting in the corner, sending a orange glow across the tree house.

Leaning backward onto my butt, I picked up a particularly interesting looking book and dove into the words.

Before I knew it, my lamp had flickered out and I was thrown into darkness. Sighing, I pushed myself out of the dirt and brushed off my night gown.

I suppose I must retire before the sun rises and I lose sleep altogether.

As I walked back, my stomach suddenly became uneasy. I noticed a lantern flickering in my parents window. They never lit candles at night, never woke up unless there was something important.

That's when I heard my mothers blood curdling scream. The screams continued and my feet somehow because incapable of movement. Frozen, I listened to the screams and the yells that joined.

After one final scream, they stopped altogether. After an eternity, I watched, concealed in shadow as three men in dark clothes left the house, heavy bags in their hands. They ran off into the night, not noticing me at all.

I finally willed myself to step forward and I reached the front door. But I paused, something wet at my bare toes. I reached down and touched them and brought my fingers to my face. Metallic smell. Bright red.

Blood.

I reached to open the front door.

~

It was the slap of a hand against my cheek that awoke me. I gasped, my hand coming to meet my stinging cheek and my covers falling around my waist.

"Well it's about time, you sleep like the dead!"

A scream was ripped from my throat at the sight of the familiar blue, ethereal skin standing besides my bed. I flung myself off the bed, my butt hitting the floor painfully as I continued to scream.

No, no, no! Have they finally come for me? Have they come to drag me to the underworld, to death himself?

"Have you gone loony, girl?"

I rolled over, my heart nearly beating out of my chest. Cautiously, I lifted myself and peaked over the side of my bed.

I watched as the ghost sent me a long look, his see through arms crossing over his see through chest. The ghost was a middle aged man, oddly dressed in a extravagant coat and his hair slicked up in a bundle. My mouth dropped open as I stared.

"You... your... YOU!" I stuttered.

The blue man only sighed, sitting on the edge of my bed with easy grace, his legs crossing at the ankles and his hand brushing his shoulder.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," he drawled flatly.

"You can talk to me? You know that I can see you?"

Again, he sent me a flat look over his shoulder. "You've hid it well, I must admit, but not well enough. We all know about you now, the special little weirdo that can see us when nobody else can."

I sank against the other corner of the bed, my head falling in my hands as I groaned. "I'm going insane! My mind is fleeing me!"

I shrieked as I felt a slap against the back of my head. I snapped upward, watching as the ghost stood. "Well don't let it! I need your help!"

I leaned backward. "My help? I don't even know who you are or why I can see you! How can I help you?"

He grinned broadly, his blue skin flashing. "My name is Cedric Swern Pemberton the Second! And I've been murdered!"

I gasped, my hand flying up to my chest. "Murdered?"

Cedric looked away, suddenly distraught and went to look out my window quite dramatically. The sun hit him fully, making him appear to be glowing.

"Yes, murdered, in cold blood."

I stood as well, coming to stand by him, marveling at his closeness when I had only seen them from far away.

"But what does that have to do with me?"

He looked down upon me, his big hair juggling. "You'll avenge me of course?"

My eyebrows raised.

"Souls go to heaven. Haven't you wondered why the ghosts wandering around this village don't?"

This, caught my attention. I gasped, looking out the window at the other blue ghosts traveled past my house aimlessly. "No, I haven't even though about it."

"We call it the In-between, stuck between the real world and heaven and hell. The only way for us to move on from here is if we are at peace. And considering I was stabbed in the back, and can do nothing about it, I'm destined to be stuck in the In-Between, alone and in despair!"

My eyes widened. "Oh, no!"

"Oh no, indeed. Which is why I come to you. Somehow, your stuck in the In-Between as well  but your still here here. So I ask you one favor. If you have any sympathy for me at all, you'll help me get to the other side! You'll help me find peace!"

I paused, my mind suddenly clearing with this new purpose. This could help me rid of my ghostly encounters! Perhaps, I could even help them all to the other side.

"What do I need to do?"

Cedric patted his hair as a wicked determined grin spread across his blue teeth.