Luna's Ghost

3

All the wind left me. I felt my muscles tense. I pressed myself closer to the glass, horrified by what I was seeing but unable to look away.

What the hell was going on?

"Helen," I whispered. "Johnny."

"Hmm?" I heard Mom say. "What did you say?"

I ignored her, focused on the girl and how Helen and Johnny were reacting. Then she slowly turned her head in my direction. Our eyes locked. I felt something cold and tight grip my chest, making it impossible to breathe. I felt my heart start to pound heavily in my chest, my eyes widening.

She seemed to be staring right into my soul. Suddenly, my stomach twisted, bile rising in my throat and I had to put a hand over my mouth to keep from throwing up.

"Grace?" said Mom, concerned. "Are you okay?"

I could only shake my head slightly, my lips clamped together to keep from getting sick all over Mom's car. I still couldn't take my eyes off the girl.

Then there was a terrible, splitting pain that radiated throughout my skull. It felt like something was taking a hammer and beating it over my skull over and over until it started to break. I moaned and clutched my head.

"Grace what's wrong?" Mom sounded panicked now, but I couldn't respond. I was in too much pain and about to get sick.

"Breathe Luna," I heard Helen say. "Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth."

Johnny suddenly appeared in front of me. He reached out and placed a hand on my arm. All I felt was cold air that sent chills throughout my body, but it was still comforting.

Suddenly, I was no longer in the car with Mom, Johnny and Helen. I was in front of a high school, though it wasn't my old school. It was a different one.

I squinted against the bright sunlight that streamed down on my face and tried to read the sign in front of the huge school building. FAIRDALE HIGH SCHOOL. Fairdale High School? That school was across town. Why would I--?

A loud erupt of laughter interrupted my thoughts. I turned around and was shocked to see a mostly empty parking lot with one lone car, though that wasn't what shocked me.

Leaning against a 1954 Hudson Hornet, four guys who looked to be around eighteen were dressed up as Greasers, laughing and joking around with each other, holding glass bottles of beers in their hands, though that still wasn't what shocked me.

Johnny was one of them.

I gaped as I watched Johnny take a swig of his beer then slam it down to the ground when he was done, the bottle shattering into dozens of broken shards of glass across the pavement.

The Greaser's that were with him merely laughed then followed suit, shattering the glass bottles, shards of glass being scattered across the parking lot.

One of the Greasers, a guy who wore a white tank top and pale blue jeans with brown hair that was slicked all the way back from his face groaned and dropped his head back. "Man, we've been waiting here for an hour. When is that broad going to get here?"

"I don't know," said another Greaser, this one with auburn hair and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He pulled it from his mouth and said, "If she ain't here in the next five minutes, let's get out of here. We'll find someone else to deliver the goods," before putting it back in his mouth, little puffs of smoke wafting into the air.