They Know Me

ANOTHER TIME

After being put through a rigorous barrage of questions by Aunt Karen, about everything under the sun, she suggested we eat dinner. I followed her to the kitchen and got the plates and silverware out to set our places at the table while she removed the meat loaf from the oven and started slicing into it. "I thought Rhys would be here. Or is he at home, drying off from the rainstorm?"

Knowing if I answered truthfully, she would worry and possibly cancel her next business trip, I told a half-truth. "He had a study group. Since I don't have any tests coming up, I passed."

She spun around. "You did go to school, didn't you?"

"Of course I did."

She turned her attention back to the meat loaf. "You should've gone. It would be an excellent way to make friends."

My aunt had never understood why I preferred being a loner. Flying solo, I avoided the tedious ups and downs of having friends one day and being dumped the next. But from the beginning, Rhys had been a true friend and I was okay with having just one. "I'm not like you."

She turned and looked at me. "And what am I like?"

Trying to balance the tightrope between sounding dismissive, but accepting, so she'd drop it, I said, "A social butterfly. Besides, I'm still trying to get used to Mannix. I didn't think of it as making new friends."

"Well, you should think of it that way."

I sat down as she brought over the food; meatloaf, green beans, and mashed potatoes. She sat directly across from me and watched as I scooped three large spoonfuls of mashed potato onto my plate. "No green beans or meat loaf?"

"Not my favorites."

Smiling slyly and then, looking ridiculously conspiratorial, she leaned across the table at me. "Have you met any cute boys?"

I had, sort of, only not at school. But if I told her that, it would lead to another in-depth interrogation – a headache best avoided, especially since I wasn't interested in him. "Just other kids. No one special."

Her smile gone, she leaned back. "Well, you just got here. There's still time."

"Why the big meal?"

"I was hungry and you look like you needed it." She looked at me almost pityingly. "I don't remember you being so thin."

"Thanks to a fast metabolism, it's always been a struggle to put weight on."

"Hm. The beauty of youth."

We ate the rest of our meal in silence. Occasionally she would glance my way, and I could see her poorly concealed pity for me. It made me want to get up and go ... I didn't know where, just any place away from her. It was selfish, and even though she had insisted, without hesitation, I come and live with her after my parents died, and as non-deserving as she was of my sullenness and disregard, I resented her for returning early from her trip and interrupting my life. I was fine on my own, but her being there meant one thing – constant, unwanted company.

The doorbell rang. Sounding relieved for a distraction to break the tension, she said, "I wonder who that could be."

I quickly finished my dinner so I could go upstairs but slowed when I heard Rhys' mom's voice. "I promised you my lemon meringue pie recipe, and Rhys is here to see Ashe."

Seizing the opportunity for both of us to escape, I walked into the living room. "Hey, Rhys." Shooting him a look to go along with whatever I said, I added, "Thanks for coming over to help me with that math problem. My homework's up in my room."

"Uh, yeah. No problem."

As he and I started up the stairs, my aunt called after us, "Your door stays open."

We entered my bedroom and I closed the door. "You came just in time. She's been trying to relate to me."

"Yeah, well – we're both stuck. When I told my mom I was on my way over, she decided to tag along. I didn't know your aunt was back. You couldn't have warned me?"

"I just found out, myself. So, about Cortland Bridge ... I want to go back."

"Thanks for asking ... yeah, the study group went well. I think we'll all pass the test coming up in English."

"Rhys, concentrate ... the bridge!"

He frowned. "You've gone off the deep end. Seriously, what about it is so great?"

Cortland Bridge was haunted, and I was haunted by it. But I couldn't say that to him, otherwise he'd be the one to go off the deep end. "I just think it's interesting."

His eyebrows rose. "Interesting? It's creepy. I'm not going back."

"Why? Nothing happened while we were there. It's just old and ..." I said, trailing off.

Epiphany! Suddenly, it made sense! Nothing happened at the bridge when Rhys was there because, somehow, the ghosts knew he wasn't a believer. Not that I was, fully, but, after seeing Mr. Kennerly, I wasn't a skeptic, either. The ghosts must have sensed it because when I'd gone back alone, a lot happened – and I had seen them! Excited by my flash of insight, I changed my mind – I didn't want him to go with me. If he did, I might lose my opportunity of finding other ghosts, and maybe even at Cemetery Raven! But ... the French guy. He seemed to know something about Cortland Bridge. The next time I saw him, I'd ask him, demanding he keep out the cryptic. "So ... is there anyone at school with a French accent?"

"No. Why?"

It was a setback. If the French guy wasn't enrolled at the school, it narrowed my chances of seeing him again. "I met someone who does and wondered why I haven't seen him at school."

From downstairs, Rhys' mom called out that it was time to go.

"I'll be back when your aunt leaves." Rhys and I left my room and started down the stairs, but then he slowed. Aunt Karen was at the bottom, smiling broadly up at us, like she was waiting. Rhys started down the stairs again, but as he neared her, he sped up and pivoted slightly in attempt to get around her. He wasn't quick enough. In one swift grab, he'd been captured in one of my aunt's strangling bear hugs, where she held him for an uncomfortable amount of time before finally releasing him. Rhys mumbled a hasty goodbye and then bolted out the door past his mother like a tiger was chasing him while she left at a more relaxed pace.

My aunt closed the door and looked up at me. "It looks like it's just us."

"I ... can't. I have homework and I'm kind of tired."

Her smile dimmed. "Of course you are. You've had a lot happen lately. We still have tonight."

As I started back upstairs, she said, "Honey, do you want to talk about your parents? You've been so quiet about them."

I stopped without turning. It was still too raw. Talking about it wouldn't reverse what happened. Not even begging for them to speak to me at their funeral had worked.

"Don't think you have to internalize your feelings. I'm here. I'm sure Rhys would be, too."

I started back up to my bedroom again and closed the door. Bypassing the bed, I went to stand at the window. Parting the curtains, Cemetery Raven was in my line of view. It looked beautiful, like a picture, mostly gray and white, with some splashes of color, surrounded by a gloomy sky. I whispered, "Okay, French guy. If you're not at school, then where are you?"

I'd look other places ... the bridge, downtown – wherever. And it might be perverse, but I wondered how he would feel knowing I was following him.

**This chapter is dedicated to all of my readers ... from the first to the newest. Thank you, everyone, for your support! You're the best!  **