Allie and the Phantoms

Chapter 3: Busted

Allie's POV:

"What? No. No, no, no. Th-th-that's impossible. All we did when we floated out of the ambulance is go to that weird dark room where Alex cried." Flannel guy says. "Well, I don't think...I think we were all pretty emotional." Blondie, or Alex, says.

"But that was just for like, an hour. We just showed up here." Leader guys says. I hold my phone out to them. "Look. I'm just telling you what my phone says. You died in 1995, when you were 17. It's now 2020." I explain softly. "So this is the future?" Flannel guys asks.

"Wait. So...so it has been twenty-five years. I have been crying for twenty-five years? How is that even possible?" Alex asks. "Well you're a very emotional person." Flannel guy suggests. "I am not!" Alex counters. That's when Carlos walks in.

"Thought you were afraid to come out here?" He asks. The boys part and let him stand in the middle of them. "Talking to your ghost friend? How's he look? Is he hideous?" He asks. "Haha, he can see you." Alex tells flannel guy. "No, he can't." I say. "What?" Carlos asks. I shake my head.

"Uh...what do you want?" I ask. "Both my sisters to be normal, for starters. Stop being weird and come eat." He says, walking away. I roll my eyes. I love my brother, but he sure is annoying at times. "He couldn't see you." I mutter. "Well yeah, that's, usually, how ghosts work." Alex says.

I just shake my head and walk past them to the door before turning. "Look guys. I'm very sorry for what happened to you, but I don't think you should stay here. I'm sorry." I say in a sincere tone. With that I turn to leave, but leader boy stops me.

"But wait...we didn't get your name." I says with a small smile. I pause for a second. "Allie. You can call me Allie." I say, giving them all a tight lipped smile. "Cool. I-I'm Luke. And this is..." "Reggie, I'm Reggie. Hey." Flannel guy says. "And..." "Alex. How's it going?" He asks.

"It's good to meet you guys." I say. With that I head towards the house. Maybe I was wrong to kick them out of the studio, but they can't be in there. They just can't. When I get to the house Julie is up from her nap and is helping Carlos set the table. I go and start helping as well.

"Hey, you ok? What as the 911 for?" Julie asks. I shake my head. "Nothing, it's fine now." I say, giving her a small smile. She nods and doesn't push me. Once the table is set, including a place for mom, dad sets the leftovers down and we all take our seats. "Allie, hat." I take off my beanie.

"Alright, let's do this." Dad says. "Let's do it." Carlos echos. "Carlos, it's your turn." Dad reminds him. "Thank you for out leftovers, and the power of the mighty microwave. Amen." "Amen." We echo before digging in. "So...Allie, Carlos tells me he found you in the studio." Dad says.

Julie's eyebrows shoot up. "She was out there talking to herself." Carlos says. I glare. "I was practicing for the school's spring play. Auditions are next week." I lie. Julie knows it too and her eyebrows go from raised to furrowed. I just shake my head.

That's when I hear our aunt enter the house. "Hello, hello." She calls. "Oh, busted." Carlos says as we go to get rid of mom's place setting. Our aunt would frown upon us giving her a place. "Yeah! We're in here! Quick." Dad whispers. We finish right before she rounds the corner.

"Huh! Spaghetti...again." She says. "Yeah." Dad mutters. "That's too bad. I brought my pasteles and arroz con pollo." She explains. "Yum." Dad say. "Mm! Thanks tía! It smells great." Julie says, forcing a smile.

"You can have it tomorrow. I can't let you have leftovers every night. My sister would kill me. May she rest in peace." She walks over to the table and rubs mom's now empty place. "Oh, I see things here are going better." She say, smiling.

"Actually...Allie has been cleaning out mom's studio. Hopefully we can get the house on the market and some offers soon." Dad says with a smile on his face. I give her a tight lipped smile. She's been waiting for this.

"Well, I like the sound of that. Moving from here is only gonna help you move on. You've got to rip that band aide off and get that pain over with." That's when I spot Reggie, Luke, and Alex enter the house. "Ah!" scream. Everyone looks at me and the boys just wave.

I look around blushing. "Uh, that was just me, you know, ripping off the band aide." I say, chuckling nervously. "There's my brave girl." My aunt says, grabbing my chin and then letting go. I turn away only for Luke to be right in my face. I blush a little.

"Hey Allie, I really like what you guys did with the new place." He says, giving me a heart stopping grin. I have to admit, for a ghost, Luke is hot. I shake my head. "You shouldn't be here." I say. My aunt thinks I'm talking to her. "Oh, I'm just here to help mija." She says.

I turn back to the boys who are slowly walking away. "Uh...I think that's our cue to leave." Alex says. I turn to my aunt. "I mean, you should be at Pilates. Thanks for bringing us food." I say, forcing a grin, and hugging her. I love my aunt, but she can be a little over bearing at times.

I turn back to the boys. "I think we should have called first." Reggie says, ushering the other boys out of the house. I hold back my sigh of relief. "It's nothing. And now that you're not in the music program, you can concentrate on the classes that matter." She says. My eyes widen.

My dad looks over at me. "You got the email from the school, right?" She asks dad. "Yeah, we're still discussing it." He says shortly. He hates lying. "Bueno. I'm off to Pilates." She says, kissing my forehead before leaving us.

"So, Allie, wanna hear how I slid into home and was almost safe?" Carlos asks, trying to bail me out of my conversation with dad. "You're a good brother. That's not gonna work." Dad tells him. With that he leaves. Dad gives Julie a look and she stands.

She gives me a reassuring smile before following Carlos out. "Why didn't you tell me? You made me lie to your aunt." He says. I sigh and tuck my loose hairs behind my ear. "Sorry. I was gonna tell you after dinner." I explain. "Yeah. Mm-hmm." He says, not believing me. "I was." I insist.

"Honey, I know those classes can be difficult, but you still like music, don't you?" He asks. I look down at my hands. "Of course I do, it's just-every time I attempt to play all I can think about is mom and...it hurts." I say.

"Look, we talked about this, and how...painful memories can be, but...you know every time I see you, Julie, and Carlos, I see mom. It's like she's right here with us. But you know what? I love that. I do. And maybe, if you'd give yourself a chance, you'll get there." He says.

I continue to look down. That is, until the sudden loud sound of a rock band playing comes from our garage. Very. Loudly. Oh no.