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I turn to him in surprise, “Nothing negative to say, no trying to talk us out of it? You must have really hit your head hard. I never thought I’d see the day that Jayce Walker would agree with me,” I say jokingly, nudging him a little with my uninjured shoulder.
“Ouch,” he laughs, “I think I have a bruise there.”
“The three of us are walking, talking bruises bro,” Eli adds.
“You two staying the night again?” I ask with a yawn. “I’m gonna turn in. I think these pain meds are kicking in.”
“Yeah, Jayce and I are going to cuddle on the couch, maybe watch some movies. Like I have another place to be?”
“Have fun with that,” I reply as I push myself to my feet. I sway for just a moment before I’m steady enough to trek to my room. “And Jayce, watch out for this one, he can get a little handsy when cuddling.”
This gets a laugh from them both. They bid me goodnight as I trudge down the hall.
The TV roars to life behind me, and I can’t help but think that I’m pretty lucky to have a best friend and boyfriend that get along so well. But if I do find them asleep in each other’s arms, there’s gonna be some explaining for them to do. Okay…and maybe a picture or two.
Since the accident, the only positive for me has been that my sleep has been dreamless. I feared my brain would replay the accident over and over again every night. But so far, it’s just pain-free bliss.
As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out, and the thing I dread happens. I’m wandering the halls of the college and my feet take me back to the classroom where Professor Wolf had made contact with us.
Just as handsome as he was in his painting, Wolf has his nose in a stack of papers as I approach his desk.
He stops what he's doing, and his eyes meet mine, he smiles.
“You resemble my Iris, so much so, you could be her twin.” Wait… is this not just a dream? Is he manipulating my sleep to speak to me?
I ignore his statement. “Did you know we were going to wreck? Did you cause it? We almost died.”
A grimace crosses his face and he runs a hand through his crimson hair. “I was trying to prevent it. I had a sinking feeling that something bad was going to happen to you and I couldn’t lose you again.”
“I’m not Iris,” I remind him. For some reason, his words hurt. I didn’t like being compared to someone else or the idea of him getting close to me because of her.
“I know that now, at the time it was hard to differentiate you from her. I’m sorry for any pain this has caused. I only wanted to stop it.”
He won’t look me in the eye. But even as he gazes down, I can see he is at war with himself. My chest tightens at how hard he is fighting his past. He’s trying to let her go.
“Why did my friends and I get powers, the ghostly kind?” I ask. I need answers and I’m hoping this melancholy ghost holds at least a few of them. We’re flying blind here and my brain needs to make sense of it before I truly accept it. The rest can wait.
My question must have caught him off guard, because he raises his eyes to mine.
“What do you mean ghostly gifts?”
His green eyes bore into mine, and the moment I go to answer, I wake up.
I’m blinded by a strange, orange glow as I blink a few times. My eyes focus on the figure in front of me. When I realize what it is, I can’t stop the scream that leaves my lips.
Eli
I don’t remember when Jayce went to bed, but when Raven’s scream pierces the night, I bolt upright. With a groan of pain, I haul my ass down the hall towards her. Jayce makes it to her first but he can’t get her to stop shrieking.
Just before I get to her, I’m thrown into another memory.
The ring is burning a hole in my pocket. My nerves are on edge, tonight is the night I will ask Iris to be mine for the rest of our lives. I have a few more papers to grade before I can ascend the stairs to my love. Everything has been planned meticulously and I am beside myself with anticipation.
I’m on the last page of the current paper when the yelling starts filling the hall.
Dropping everything, I push back from my desk and head to the commotion. I wrench open my door and the scent of smoke fills my nostrils. I don’t notice any flames as I push through the students and faculty since I seem to be going the wrong way.
With each step, I get nearer to the point of origin, I know because the heat is becoming blistering. I have to get to Iris. That’s all I can think, that is until an older lady falls down the last few stairs and will be trampled if I don’t intervene. I get to her just in time, whatever herd of students who were here seemed to clear out. I help her up and head her in the opposite direction of the flames. When I get her outside safely, I turn to head back to Iris and as I cross the threshold, the smoke begins billowing out, filling my face with ash as I trudge forward.
