She's Back by Nichole Alexander (different ereaders TXT) 📖

I woke up to a big bang. I was at Kate’s house, her mother wasn’t home. She was in Florida for the next week and her father is in Washington for a few more days. She has a brother, but he is at his friend’s house, her sister died in a car accident. The only people in this house are me and Kate. “Kate, wake up. Someone is in your living room.” “How do you know?”
“Listen.”
“I don’t hear anything. It’s probably in your head.”
“Kate, it’s not in my head. Just listen.”
“Niki, go back to sleep. It’s too early for this.” The TV made a big bang and it made us jump so high I thought we were going to go through the roof. Kate looked at me and looked at the knife under her bed. We were laying on the floor and I was closer to the bed, so I was the one who had to grab the knife. She was closer to her dresser, she grabbed her gun. Actually, it was her brother’s gun. Either way, it still shoots bullets and kills people.

We walked downstairs and into the kitchen at first. Kate grabbed an apple off the table. I gave her the look- really, not the time. She took a bite and put it back. We slowly and quietly walked into the living room. We looked around and didn’t see anything, nothing. “Why is the TV on?” “I don’t know. It doesn’t make since. Someone was in here, I heard them talking. Both of them. One was a guy and the other was a girl. But the doors are still locked.” Kate looked at me, a little nervous, “And it’s not like you can leave the house and lock the door on the way out with the type of lock I have.” We chuckled a little. She had the door chain lock. “We need to go get the boys.” “Why?” Kate wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box either. “To tell them what happened. To find out who was in your house.” I started to walk out of the house and stopped dead tracks, “We need to call the cops too while we are at it.” I grab Kate’s phone and call 911. I told them the issue and they said that they would be right over. “Well Kate, invite the boys here. The police will be here soon.”

The boys showed up ten minutes after the police did. “What’s going on here?” Alex gave me a kiss and looked at the cops. “Well, they are dusting for finger prints on the TV.” “Why the TV?” “Because this morning I woke up to a guy and girl talking in the living room, then a loud bang came from the TV. Kate and I walked into the kitchen. And she grabbed an apple then walked into the living room.” “And?” David interrupted me. “If you let me finish, I would tell you.” I look ever at the police and study what they are doing and continue talking to Alex and David. “The TV was on, so I figured that I shouldn’t touch it because whoever turned it on, left finger prints.” Alex looked so proud of me, and smiled at me. I noticed at the corner of my eye that Mr. Frank was heading over our way. “Well, Niki. There are finger prints on the TV. But they are your guy’s prints. However, I did notice something. When I walked from outside to in here, I realized that the air was heavy and cold, more than what it should be.” I gave him a look, who do you think you are, you are a cop not a priest. Do your job. “Okay. And?” “I’m not priest, but you should see one.” Then he left.

As soon as the police left, we locked the front door and went out through the back door. The back door has a knob lock and a password lock. “So, how about lunch?” Alex looked so happy and not a bit freaked out by this. “Sounds good.” I wish I was like him, not at all scared. We went to Denny’s. Cheap and good. We sat at our original table and ordered our original. I had the cheese omelet and orange juice, Alex had pancakes and milk, Kate had two eggs and water, and David had sausage patty and chocolate milk. Kate started off the conversation which is different. “So, who do you think it was?” I looked at her, “You heard Mr. Frank, it was a ghost.”
“He never said that.”
“No, but he implied that.”
“How?”
“He said we should consult a priest, you can’t argue with that, Kate.”
“Niki, calm down!” Alex grabbed my hand and gave me his death stare. I hated it when he did that. It made me calm down because I was scared of it and he knew it. Okay, so maybe I was a little rude and mean when I said that to Kate, but she doesn’t keep up with things like this. She is so far behind us, we can’t even see her anymore. And the sad thing is, is that there are no corners, just a straight and narrow path. I look down at my plate, “Sorry Kate.”

After eating breakfast Kate and David went to his house and I went with Alex to his house. While driving down the road, almost three blocks from his house, I seen something. “Alex, did you see that?” “See what?”
“You didn’t see her?”
“No. Who was it?”
“I think it was Max.”
“Impossible. We got rid of her, for good.”
“Well, babe, I think she’s back.”
“You’re imagining it.” Maybe he was right. Maybe it was what the police said, maybe it was all in my head. I was just seeing things. I look out the window of his Camaro Convertible and the next thing I know, Alex slams on the break. I look at him and he is staring right in front of him. I look where he is looking, I saw it. It was Max. “I told you.” I whispered in his ear so quiet I thought he didn’t hear me until I seen him shake his head slightly.

Max was walking over to Alex’s side and we never took our eyes off of her. When she got to Alex’s side she got face to face with Alex and in a soft voice started talking to us. “I thought you four would never separate from each other. I thought you were joined together at the hips. This is the perfect opportunity to talk to you two.” Alex looked at me then back at Max. “Why us? Why not Kate and David?” Max continued, “Because! You two are the smartest, fastest, and strongest. I need to talk to you. Meet me, unarmed, at the cave by the woods at ten.” I couldn’t help but ask, “Will you be armed?” “No. Just come unarmed.” And she disappeared. Alex drove to his house and we laid there on his bed looking at the ceiling, doing nothing but thinking. I broke the silence. “Are we really going unarmed?” Silence. “No.”

At nine fifty-nine, we were under the entrance of the cave. I looked at my phone, ten. We looked around and within a few seconds of looking Max showed up. “Okay let’s get this over with. What do you want?” Alex seemed more nervous than I did. Max started talking. “I heard you wanted to know why I am here and why I’m not gone. I have all the answers.” I look at her and I noticed one thing that I never noticed before. “What’s that?” I pointed to her pocket. She gave me a look, a look I have seen on her before she killed someone. She reached in her pocket and pulled out something. There was a reflection of the moonlight and I knew instantly what it was. I pulled out my flashlight and turned it on. “Alex, light… now!” My light wasn’t enough to get rid of her, I needed help. He grabbed his light and shined it at her too. Within a few seconds she was gone. “She’ll be back.” I hated to admit it but Alex was right, she will be back.

 “So burning her picture and her casket, the graveyard bonfire, didn’t do anything.” “Just made her stronger.” I had to correct David. “What do you mean?” Alex jumped in. “Last night, at the cave, Max was holding a knife.” “So.” “So, the knife was out of my kitchen, or my bedroom. Either way, it was from the human world. Everyone knows that ghosts can’t pick things up from the human world.” He was wrong. “She picked up my mom’s favorite cooking knife.” “No she didn’t, Niki. Max had that knife copied in the immortal world. Your mother’s favorite knife was left at Kate’s house when you and your mother had the BBQ at Kate’s house. Remember?” He was right. I shook my head. Max had gotten stronger, and this time, it was going to take something more than fire to get rid of her. “If fire didn’t kill her, then what will?” No one knew what would work. “The only thing we can do is consult a priest.” The only issue is, is that none of us had the money for that. What were we going to do?