Page 62 of Ghost in the Night

“Jabari?!”

EIGHTEEN

Theboy squints into the room, like he hasn’t seen light in days.

“No way,” Robby mutters, controller falling from his hand.

“Jabari? Is it really you?” Myah says in sheer disbelief, inching closer.

That’s not Jabari. That’s a haint. It’s tricking us. That’s what they do.

The haint/Jabari shuffles into the room, holding the robot, like a little kid who just broke something expensive and gotta own up to it.

I shake my head. No, he’s not real. We’re seeing things. What was it called again? Grief hallucinations.

Myah grabs a bottle of water from her bag and offers it to him. He clutches it with both hands and chugs.

I hang back, staring at the boy, and blink several times to make sure I’m not dreaming. His clumpy curls look like a dryer lint trap. His scrawny arms and legs are ashy, his clothes are nasty, his glasses are dusty. And he smells awful.

“Everyone has been looking for you,” Myah says, picking dry leaves from his hair. “We thought you were kidnapped! Or dead!”

I finally move across the room and poke the haint with a finger. Jabari flinches away with a small “ow.”

“Yo!” I gasp, hand to my mouth. “You really are real!”

He nods and drinks more water.

I’m shook. I’m gagged. I’m all the things.

“Where were you? Didn’t you hear us calling for you?” Myah demands.

“I didn’t know who you were,” he answers in a thick Southern accent. His voice is scratchy, like he hasn’t talked in a long time.

“Well, what are you doing in here in the first place?!” Myah presses.

“Hiding,” he says quietly.

“Why?”

“ ’Cause every night … I would see the person who killed my uncle,” he says, his bottom lip trembling. “If I opened my mouth, the same thing would’ve happened to me, to my brother and mama. I didn’t want them to get hurt too.”

“Wait, hold up, you saw who murdered your uncle?” I ask, baffled.

He nods twice and begins to sob. “I didn’t see all of it, but I heard it happen. I was supposed to wait in the van. I wasn’t supposed to be sneaking around and spying. But I was bored, and I didn’t have Wi-Fi. I just wanted to see if I could follow Uncle Tim without him knowing, like in the movies. But I couldn’t save him. And after, I was too scared to move.”

Robby’s mouth hangs wide open in shock. “How did you even last so long in this house?”

Jabari squirms. “Sometimes I’d sneak out and take food from a spot around the corner. Don’t tell my momma!”

“Why didn’t you ask anybody for help?” Myah asks.

“Were you really THAT scared you couldn’t say nothing to nobody?” Robby asks.

Jabari nods forlornly. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Myah sucks her teeth. “And what was your plan, just stay in this house forever?”

“Myah, chill,” I say. “He was scared. He’s a little kid!”