Page 11 of Hot Ghost Summer

Dry swallowing, I lick my lips and nod. “Um, yeah. Yeah. So, ’ere’s the thing…”

Now that I have to ask for help, I realise that I don’t know how to put into words what happened, but I need to say something, or else…

“Hollis got electrocuted. And I think he’s dying,” I blurt out.

There’s a silence on the other end of the line, and it stretches on for so long that I pull the phone away from my ear to check the line’s still open.

“Hold please.”

I nod again, even though that’s ridiculous because he can’t see me.

Impatient, and with nothing else to do, I yank my hard hat off and let it tumble to the floor. Then I remove my cap and shake the sweat from my hair like a dog.

Right as I’m setting the cap back in place, Mr Pickett’s rushed, “Theo? Theo! Are you there?” fills the empty room.

“Yes! Yes, Mister Pickett, thank god. It’s Hollis, I need your help.”

“Yes, I’d say. Electrocuted? Theo, how? The site hasn’t got that far in development yet, the client assured me.”

I nod again. “I know. I’m not even sure how it happened, but it did. He’s covered in blue electricity, and he looks really bad…”

Excess saliva pools in my mouth at the thought of Hollis’s charring skin.

“I remembered not t’ get too close and not t’ touch him, so I left t’ call you, and—”

“You left him?” Mr Pickett barks out.

A surge of guilt floods me. I feel like a pre-teen all over again who just got caught smoking a cigarette around the back of school by a teacher.

“Where are you right now, Theo?”

“In the site office.”

“And Hollis is…?”

I stick my head out the open door, squinting to try to see the faint blue glow coming from the darkened first floor of Plot 47.

“Still on location. I don’t know about ghosts, and what they’re capable of. I hadn’t actually expected t’ see one today. But there was this noise, a bit like thunder, and the building rattled. Then there was this smell, like burning barbecue. Hollis was trying t’ tell me something, but it was so loud. Then the ray gun started vibrating, and there was a bright blue light before everything…”

My mouth runs dry. Slowly, I pivot to stare at the weapon that rests on the desk. Did it…? But how? And then, what if…?

My mind fills with a thousand questions. All of them squash into my body at the same time and press me down into the floor. But the safety was on.

“Which ray gun, Theo?”

I stare at the innocuous-looking pink glass tube that runs the length of the slide. It’s probably as long as my forearm. Scrunching my eyes closed tight, I strain to remember what happened, but it’d been so distracting and overwhelming…

“The LPA Synchrotron,” I answer on autopilot.

There’s some shuffling, and Mr Pickett clears his throat before then quietly asking, “Did you already call the emergency services?”

I strike my forehead hard with the heel of my palm. Why didn’t I do that first? Of course I should have done that first. Hollis clearly needs an ambulance.

“Theo? Which services did you call?”

All the blood drains from my head down to my toes, and in the sweltering heat and claustrophobic space of this tin-can office, I sway in place.

“I didn’t,” I whisper.