This Girl Who Was A Ghost, page 4
part #2 of Near Future Series
Leo glanced at her, then back at the road. “Where is the transporter?”
“I’ll have plenty of rats to pick from, according to Igor. The place is overrunning with them. Next time he’s looking to get paid, give him half on account of how unsafe the place is.”
“I haven’t noticed an infestation.”
“He’s just trying to scare Cindy out of the place. I knew something wasn’t right when he wasn’t drooling after the first few minutes.”
Leo studied her. “Paying another visit?”
“I dropped off the eggs, your precious eggs. She got home before I could leave.”
“Let me guess. You cleaned her dishes as well.”
Sammy rolled her eyes. “She thinks I’m a ghost. Feel like a ghost.”
“It might be best for all concerned if she believes you’re dead.”
“Typical guy response.”
“Suppose your condition is irreversible? Will you be sneaking into her apartment, supplying food and cleaning dishes for years to come?”
Sammy stared at him. “Are those pictures telling you that?”
“It’s too early in the analysis.”
Sammy gazed at the road as the transporter pulled up in front. Could she forget about Cindy and the twins? That had been her plan after killing Tatiana.
Leo bristled, pulling out his phone. “Could’ve sworn I mentioned that I had packages.” He tapped on the phone and the transporter’s back compartment opened.
Sammy looped her fingers around four bag handles and lifted them out of the cart.
The girl and her mother stepped out of the store, gaping at the spectacle.
Sammy huffed. “Figures.”
Leo smiled nervously. “What are you doing?”
“Giving you a chance to explain my affliction.” Sammy dropped the bags into the back compartment.
“Carrying four bags with one hand doesn’t come across as an affliction.”
Sammy stuffed her hands into her pockets, and Leo loaded the other three bags.
Chapter Eight
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Sammy walked toward Gladys’s house and crossed the street as she neared. It’d be hard to explain to the twins why she couldn’t take her hands out of her pockets. On the bright side, it’d be easier playing the candy monster. She had stopped by the school, and after spending a half hour staring at the stone-quiet building, she realized that the school was out for the summer.
Sammy peered into the yard from across the street. No sign of the twins. Mrs. Hughes was weeding her flower bed the next house over and looked up from the clump of dirt in her hands. She stared at her in the hooded jacket on a summer day. Sammy kept her head down and rushed past her, then crossed to the other side of the street and followed the path she and Cindy had taken the night everything changed. Sammy stood by the building where she had rested. On the other side of the fence, Tatiana had hidden in the shadows, bandaging her leg.
Two boys raced up the ramp and bolted out from the unlatched gate. The ramp sloped down into the building’s basement. Sammy thought there was a laundry room there but wasn’t sure. The ramp sloped back up to a playground in the back. Maybe the twins were there.
Sammy walked down the ramp and stood by the basement door. The room was blocked off by an entrance wall, but the faint, soapy floral smell of laundry detergents and the warm vents blowing out confirmed her suspicions.
Two kids were on the swings, two on the seesaw, and one on the monkey bars, but none of them were the twins. The three-story walk-up loomed ahead. She wandered toward it, each step tugging harder at her belly. The back door swung open. An older woman with a laundry bag tucked under her arm held the door, so Sammy felt obliged to go inside.
She trudged up the steps, trying to remember if they were the same ones she and Tatiana had taken that night. Tatiana had been in front, pushing off the handrail to keep off the injured leg. Sammy had followed, hoping by some miracle they’d work it out. Yeah, it had worked out with one dead and the other turning into a freak.
Sammy stopped at the top of the third-floor steps, looking up at the stairs to the roof. Tatiana had held the door to the roof and turned back to Sammy, who was on the midway landing, and said, “Coming?”
She lumbered up the steps and swung open the door. This time it was a bright, cloudless sky. Heat radiated from the black tar roof and yellow-and-black tape roped off the section where Tatiana had lain. A white taped outline marked the spot.
She dropped the hood and opened her jacket. Nobody was around. She drifted to the back of the building where Tatiana had stood, giving herself a bird’s-eye view of Gladys’s house and the surrounding neighborhood. Mrs. Hughes was talking to old man Gillespie. The twins raced down the block with another kid trailing behind. Jenna’s longer legs gave her the advantage with the race ending at Gladys’s house.
Sammy smiled. She hadn’t seen them in about two weeks. She laid her hands on the roof’s wall. What would they think if they saw these? Yesterday’s incident of the girl screaming, “Snakes!” clued her in to what they might think. She closed her eyes, not wanting to look at her hands. The warmth of the sun seemed to ease the heaviness. Her fingers relaxed as waves of warmth streamed up her arms, circling her body.
Distant steps, a banging, and the door flew open. “The dead lady was right here. I saw her.”
Sammy spun around. Her fingers swung out. A girl of about twelve screamed and ran for the door. The others followed, thumping down the steps.
Sammy circled the roof, looking for a way out. She’d be seen on the fire escape; this wasn’t an unoccupied zone building.
She tiptoed to the door and cracked it open.
“I called the cops. Somebody was killed up there already. Don’t know what this neighborhood is coming to.”
Sammy scoured the skies, looking for drones, although doubting they’d come to this neighborhood. A wail of sirens approached. Two cop cars raced toward the building, lights flashing.
“Damn! What was I thinking coming here?”
Sammy slipped out of her jacket and shirt and kicked off her shoes, thinking blend, but she wasn’t blending. She rolled the clothes into a ball and closed her eyes. “Come on, blend, just blend.” She exhaled and opened her eyes. “Shit!”
She dashed to the door and opened it a crack.
“Somebody’s up there threatening my kids with snakes,” a lady said.
“You said snakes?” He sounded like a cop.
“That’s what killed that woman a couple of weeks ago, wasn’t it?”
Sammy let the door close. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” She rushed around the other side of the building behind the door. There was an alley below and nobody in sight. She folded the shirt and shoes into the jacket, took off the trousers, and tied everything into a bundle with the jacket sleeves.
The door banged open followed by heavy footfalls. “How much you want to bet we find snakes?”
The other cop chuckled. “What odds are you giving me?”
Sammy dropped the bundle into the alley, then lowered herself over the side and inched down the wall. She was hoping for at least a flash blend. Footsteps headed toward her. She froze, clinging four or five feet from the top.
The cop snickered. “Saint Patrick must’ve come by and gotten rid of all the snakes.”
“They had us jumping to come over here for this?”
The cops were right above her.
“They’re spooked because of the Jane Doe.”
“Still a Jane Doe?”
“Found nothing on her,” the cop said. Dirt trickled down as he moved his arm over the top of the wall. “Rennie said that the feds are taking an interest.”
“I bet they have a name.”
“Give you good odds on that.”
They stepped away but not before dumping more dirt.
Sammy hurried down the wall to get into her clothes. She shivered as she unfurled the jacket and noticed she hadn’t even flash blended. What the hell was going on?
The back fence was about eight feet high, so she crept out to the front. The cop car was still there, lights flashing. That news lady Sammy had seen before was also out in front. The celebrities must be out of town.
Sammy sighed and headed back, not looking forward to climbing the fence. Her arms were still tired from the mad rush down the building’s wall. She toed the chain-link fence and climbed, crossing over the top and down.
“The snakes!”
Sammy jumped down the remaining few feet and stumbled.
It was a kid and the news lady watching her.
She ran out along the back of the building, past the playground, and down the ramp. She stopped by the laundry room. Could she hide in there? She dashed up the ramp and out the gate, then turned right and headed toward Gladys’s house. She ducked into Gillespie’s yard, figuring even if he came out, he wouldn’t notice her.
She sat between the back steps and the house, pulling her knees in and tugging her jacket tight around her. The ground was cold. Sirens wailed in the distance.
Chapter Nine
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Sammy walked through the busy midtown street like a ghost, brushing past people. Her hood was up, giving form to her blended body. With her head down, no one seemed to notice the ghost walking among them.
After an hour in Gillespie’s yard, she was bored and cold and thought wouldn’t it be nice if she could blend, then she blended just like that. She leaped to celebrate, sending the Chihuahua next door into a barking frenzy. Sammy scooted out of the yard with her hood up and hadn’t unblended since. No one wanted to look at her, anyway, so that was fine by her. She might go days without unblending.
“Snakes,” she whispered to herself. “Bet they’ve never even seen a snake.”
A small crowd gathered around a street vendor. Sammy sighed. It was Darla the Hygienic Robot with the catchphrase, “We leave out the germs with each serving.” They wore the same wig and dress since the time of the dinosaurs.
A guy lifted his kid so she could get a better look at the stupid robot. “I got my first sausage bun from Darla when I was your age.”
The kid stared at Darla, not looking too impressed.
Sammy reached up with her blended hands and pulled the wig halfway down the robot’s face.
“Oh, dear, I seem to have a wardrobe malfunction,” Darla said in its usual singsong way of talking.
Sammy swiped a sausage bun. “Thanks, Darla.”
The bun wasn’t that good, but at least it didn’t have any germs. She laughed. Didn’t Uncle Danny used to say that? A guy did a double take at the empty hood. She had to keep her head down.
Maybe she should get a wig and a mask and a couple of those phony hands sticking out of the sleeves. She might pass for normal then.
A store with an outdoor counter was selling popcorn, soft pretzels, and ice cream. It wasn’t even a bot, but a disembodied arm dishing it out. The arm held a bucket of popcorn as a girl tapped her phone to pay. Sammy reached around the counter and grabbed a bucket. She scooped out enough popcorn to stuff her mouth. “My arm’s better.”
Two girls walking by gasped at the sight of the faceless entity devouring the popcorn.
Sammy found a quiet space in the shadows of a large tree across the street from the park and free from the gawkers. It was close enough to see the jumbo screens. Just in time to watch the movie clips. The one with the big spaceship in orbit over a green planet piqued her interest. She just might sneak into a theater. She’d have to find a way to get butter on the popcorn, though.
The same reporter Sammy spotted at the building earlier popped on, looking more animated than usual. Sammy put the empty bucket down and rubbed her hand on her trousers. The three-story walk-up appeared next, followed by shaky images of her running along the back fence. A lady with snakes for hair flashed on the screen with sharp teeth and beams shooting out of her eyes, turning a guy into stone.
Sammy stomped on the empty bucket and marched out of the park. She walked back to the apartment like a ghost in the night. She reached into her pocket for the key, forgetting about her snake hands. Maybe her hair would turn into snakes next.
She skulked around the side of the building, checking for the open window to Leo’s apartment. Cat was on the fire escape, and Cindy was leaning out the window. Was she talking to Cat? If she was, it was but a whisper.
Igor had given Cindy till the end of the week to get out. Bastard. Leo said there was nothing he could do. It was between Igor and Cindy. At least he gave Cindy the food.
Sammy slithered up the wall, wishing she’d left the rope out. Something moved in the shadows by the courtyard’s back fence. It was a guy, and something about his face was off. She thought it might have been the angle, so she turned toward him, strapping her feet against the wall. He was wearing a rubber mask with wavy dark hair and the full cheeks of somebody famous.
He was halfway up the fence when his toe slipped, sending him sliding down. He hit the ground and fell back as if he was drunk or high. She’d seen Uncle Danny enough to know the look.
Cindy was still at the window. Did she see him?
The guy stared up at her.
Was he stalking her?
He turned and ran.
Sammy jumped down and chased him, finding something tossed by the stalker. It was the mask. She stuffed it into her pocket and raced down the block. The guy turned left up the next avenue. Sammy stopped at the corner, but there was no sign of him. In this part of the zone nothing stood, and the only inhabitants were the rats.
A cackling laugh erupted from behind. Sammy spun around.
Across the street, a scraggly old guy dressed in rags sat leaning against the lone standing wall to a collapsed building. He took a swig from something in a bag. “You ain’t going to catch him.”
“You saw him?”
“Biggest meanest red eyes you ever want to see.”
Red eyes? Sammy crossed the street. “Where did he go?”
“Flew off in a big black bird.”
Crazy old goat.
“The kind of bird that’ll swoop down and claw your eyes out.” He took another swig. “Knew a guy that had his eyes ripped out. Not a pretty sight.”
Sammy turned back, looking up the block. Nothing moved except the wind, which blew her hood back.
The guy stared. “Mind if you wait until I finish this bottle before you take me? It’d be a shame to waste half a bottle.”
“Take you?”
The guy swallowed. “You’re death, ain’t you?”
Sammy sighed. “I’m just a ghost.”
He took another swig from the bag. “Thank God.”
Sammy pulled up her hood and trudged back home.
“Say, you know Larry?” the old goat asked. “He died a few weeks back.”
“Yeah,” Sammy shouted back, “he said don’t drink so much.”
“Screw him!”
Chapter Ten
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Leo kept taking glances over at Sammy while he was eating his eggs at the dining room table. Sammy spooned in another mouthful of oatmeal. She was still blended since last night and figured he was going to say something but hadn’t come around to it.
He dropped the spoon in the bowl, making a clink. “It’s very disconcerting watching you eat in that state.”
“So don’t watch.”
He took the bowl to the sink. “That’s easier said than done.”
“Don’t want to burden you with my affliction.”
“Too late.”
Sammy rolled her eyes and spooned in the last of her oatmeal. “If you leave that bowl in the sink, don’t expect me to clean it.”
“Perhaps I should leave it in Cindy’s sink.”
“Don’t worry. She’ll be gone in a few days, no thanks to you.”
“And life will go on.”
“You’re such a sentimental guy, Leo. Don’t know how you get through most days.”
“Certainly this day will be a challenge.”
A bang at the door. “Hello?” It was Igor.
“At least I can speak to someone with a face.” Leo walked around the counter, then turned back. “Well?”
“You want me to leave?”
“It’d be difficult to explain your appearance.”
“Just say I’m a ghost. If you want, I’ll even make howling ghost noises.”
“Is this another tactic to curry favor for Cindy?”
“He said he never saw a ghost. Now he can say, ‘I see ghost. I believe in ghosts.’”
Leo just stared at her.
“Maybe I’ll grab him by the ankles and hang him out the window. Do you think he’ll believe in ghosts then?”
Igor called out, banging on the door again.
Leo sat down and crossed his arms.
“He’s probably looking for those pills. If you don’t give them to him, he’ll throw you out too, and then you’ll know what it’s like.”
Leo sat there looking smug. “I’ll manage.”
Sammy got up and headed to her room, where she stripped then scampered back out.
Leo swung open the door just as Igor turned to leave. “Sorry, I was otherwise occupied.”
Igor stepped in. “That is okay. Glad to see you, my friend.”
Leo closed the door, searching the room for signs of her.
She should grab the bowl and walk around with it or maybe put a sheet over her head.
“Building is good, yes? Everything fine?”
“The accommodations are satisfactory.”
“Satisfactory is good.”
“Are you looking for payment?”
“If you have it?”
Leo nodded and headed for the bedroom.
Sammy snapped his shirt from the back as he passed. She stepped beside Igor, plucking at a few strands of hair. Igor ran his hand over his head, looking up for flies.
Leo marched out, swinging wide from where she was before. He offered Igor a small bottle of pills.
