Page 32 of Ghost in the Night

I cross the street, leading the way, with Robby and Myah trailing behind. Guess they don’t want to be the first kidnapped. I stop with a big smile right in front of the man.

“Hi! Are you Maverick?”

He frowns, gray eyebrows raised, all paranoid-like.

“Yeahhhh,” he says in a husky voice. “And you are?”

“We’re your noon tour.”

“What?”

“Yeah! Well, we’re really not here for a tour,” I add. “Wehave some questions we’re hoping you can help us with.”

He blinks, then scoffs. “Listen, kid, is this a joke? Did Harvey put you up to this? Do you know how much I charge for private tours? Four hundred bucks, up front.”

“Four hundred dollars!” Robby gasps, and I wave him away.

“Yeah,” Maverick says. “I’m not opening my mouth until I get paid.”

I sigh, digging into my bag and pulling out a wad of cash. “We have fifty-three dollars and twenty-five cents. How much time does that get us?”

Maverick eyes the crumpled bills and huffs. “You’re lucky it’s a slow week. This gets you fifteen minutes.”

He snatches the cash, counting it as he walks to a nearby bench.

“We’re here to learn how to hunt for ghosts,” I say, following Maverick.

“Like, for real,” Myah adds. “Not some kiddie stuff.”

Maverick laughs, sits on the bench, and leans back. “Who says ghosts are real?”

Robby grins at us. “I like him.”

“I bet,” I grumble.

“I thought you said this guy was a ghost scientist or whatever?” Myah snaps.

“That I am,” Maverick says. “But scientists always have to consider and test every possibility before reaching a conclusion on any theory.”

“So DO you believe in ghosts?” Robby asks him.

Maverick gives us a smug grin. “There’s a lot of reasons to believe in the unknown.”

Myah looks like her head’s about to explode. This guy is talking in riddles. Can’t believe I just wasted fifty dollars!

“Uhhh, yeah,” I say. “My bad. Sorry to waste your time. We’ll be taking back our money now and going.”

Maverick points two fingers at me. “Let me guess. You think you’ve seen a ghost or experienced something unexplainable before, right?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“Okay. And what was going on in your life around that time?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, stumped by the question. I thought he’d ask for more details about what I saw.

Maverick smiles. “There was a study done once, finding that people are prone and susceptible to seeing ghosts typically right after a loved one dies. They’re called grief hallucinations. Out of every ten people that say they’ve seen a ghost, seven of them had recently experienced grief of some sort. A person’s mental state at the time of a paranormal occurrence could muddle the way that person interprets the occurrence. Could make you think you’re seeing, hearing, or experiencing things that aren’t really there. You hear someone whispering your name and it could be wind whistling through a cracked window. Aftershocks from earthquakes miles away can cause vibrations, make things rattle, or cause old doors and cabinets to suddenly open on their own.”

A lump the size of a baseball rolls up my throat, and I grip my stomach tight. Could it have just been a tiny earthquake miles away that made our closet door open that day, and not Grandma? Could I have been imagining this all, like Dad said? Like everyone else has said? What if I’ve been wasting my time looking for proof of something that never really happened to begin with? I gulp down thepainful thought and fight the tears threatening to embarrass me in front of everyone.