Loud

Chapter 16

I was sitting down on a sofa in Mrs. Murzopf's living room with Josie at my side and Gwenny was in the kitchen with Mrs. M. 

I was so frustrated. I was literally about to throw the sofa across the room and crush it just like I did with the piano.

"Tea?" Mrs. M called from the kitchen.

"You have coffee?" I asked.

She walked in carrying a jug of coffee, poured it into a small cup and layed it in front of me on the table, the jug next to it. Then she and Gwenny sat down on the couch across from us. 

"Questions, Deary? If you want to live you need to work a tad fast." She took on the sweet old lady voice.

"Yes. Questions. A whole lot of them, in fact." I replied. 

"Go on."

"Why are the ghosts trying to kill me?"

"You broke their piano." Great. This was about the damn piano I had strangled. Of course.

"Who are they and how do I fix them if they're trying to kill me?"

"Oh, now here's the tricky part. The Ghosts of this town are the people who died here. But they didn't move on like everyone else. They stayed because they have unresolved things they had to deal with. But one ghost doesn't want everyone to be fixed. He wants power like all men do. So he's gathered up a bunch of ghosts to help stop anyone trying to fix this town. If the town isn't fixed, they can spread around the world, ultimately leaving him in charge. The piano was the only thing seperating us from them. Now they can communicate. But only with the person who broke the piano. You."

"So what do I have to do?" I took a long sip of the hot coffee. Ew. No sugar. 

"You have to communicate with the ghosts. They're going to try to reach you in any way they can. Be prepared. All you have to do is fix every ghost in this town. Resolve their unresolved problems."

"What about the...bad guys?" I giggled in my head.

"You'll have to figure that out yourself."

I frowned and put three piles of sugar in the unflavorful coffee. 

"I can do it." I heard small Gwenny's voice for the first time since we got in the house. Now that I mention it I haven't heard Josie either. She was sitting next to me still, staring off into space.

"What do you mean?" I asked, staring into her round blue eyes.

"I can read minds. I can figure out why they're still here." 

Perfect.