Haunted

‘Stupid family.' Eric pulled his suitcase out
of the trunk and let it land on the ground with
a *thunk.*

‘Stupid freaking haunted house in the stupid
MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!' He wanted to punch something
but grabbed his suitcase instead, heading up
the long walk to the front door.

Stupid, *stupid* Aunt Sally and her paranormal
research! Not that ghosts weren't cool - he'd
never admit that to *her*, she took all the fun
out of it - but he was going to be stranded here
without his friends and without his fun for the
entire summer!

If he was lucky!

"Two month rental with option to buy." He
growled, stopping half-way and glaring at the
house again.

‘Stupid parents had to go and *die* and leave
me with Sally and Peter. ‘Course, Pete's okay...'
He stared up at the second story and froze.

"Who is that?" He hadn't realized the Real Estate
Lady - *stupid* Real Estate Lady - had brought
a kid with her. He got an impression of long dark
hair and big dark eyes and funny clothes - then the
kid was gone, away from the window. He grumbled
again and stumped inside. He still had to pick a
stupid room.


*


/Gods... he saw me.../


*


Eric picked the room furthest from Sally and Peter's.
They were all pretty much the same size, and this one
looked like it got the least sun. Eric liked it as
dark as possible. He admitted to himself that the room
was nice, very goth, big four-poster bed and dark antique
wood furniture. Hardwood floors with red and grey
oriental rugs and darkly paneled walls. Man, this place
*so* cost a fortune to build, why were they selling it for
peanuts?

Haunted. Right.

Okay, so the clock was weird. He wasn't *scared* - in
fact, if Sally had been human, he would have been amazed,
would have asked Pete so many questions. But Sally had to
give him that snotty, ‘I-told-you-so' look and he wouldn't
have reacted for the world. He'd just snorted out something
about stupid ghosts and stalked back out to the car, waiting
until Pete came and told him to bring his stuff in.

When he'd gotten inside Sally was going over the contract
with a fine-tooth comb and Pete was happily setting up
weird sensor stuff all over the place. Roberta Seals
looked like she wanted to escape. Her expression was so
funny Eric had forgotten all about asking about her kid.
He'd gone upstairs to explore instead and found this dark,
comfortable room. He'd immediately staked claim, realizing
that Sally had just flung her suitcase into the room closest
to the head of the stairs. Pete, of course, could care less
as long as the bed was soft and Sally was in it.

How anyone could love *Sally* was beyond him.

He finished unpacking and threw himself on the bed. It
was late evening - it had taken almost all day to drive to
this gods-forsaken place, which just went to show how far
from his friends he really was, despite Pete's promise that
he'd take him back to visit. Probably wouldn't be worth it.
He wasn't so blinded to his few friends that he didn't
realize out of sight was out
of mind.

"Sometimes I wish..." He didn't finish the thought.
Why bother wishing someone cared about him, that he was
the most important person in the world to *somebody?*
Wasn't going to happen.

"Eric!" Pete's voice echoed up from downstairs.
"C'mon and eat, kiddo!"

So maybe Pete cared. He was his uncle, he was pretty
sure that meant he *had* to care. Being Pete and all.
He liked everybody. Then, of course, he was Eric's
guardian. Wished his parents had thought that one out
more - Pete was cool, but Sally was *cold*.

"Stupid Ice Queen." He muttered, getting up and trudging
downstairs. Roberta was gone, Pete had warmed up the pizza
they'd bought earlier.

"Yum, reheated leftover pizza..." He muttered, and Pete
laughed. Sally tilted her glasses down and glared at him
over the rims.

"Eric - you shouldn't be so rude when your uncle has
taken the time to..."

"Sally." Pete's voice was gentle and she turned her
eyes to him. He smiled and the cold orbs went soft.
Yeah, Peter Gaines was easy to love. He deserved so
much better than ‘Ms. Blevins.' Couldn't she be ‘Ms.'
*Gaines?* He knew Pete was disappointed when she didn't
want to take his name. Wasn't like she was well known,
either, or that Pete wanted her to be a good little
housewife. He had admitted to Eric that he'd just always
liked the idea of calling Sally Mrs. Gaines, like the words
would seal the fact that they were together. Ice Queen
didn't understand that and didn't try. Pete just let it
go. Stupid.

Eric nibbled at his pizza while Pete and Sally went over
the data they'd collected so far. Whoo, one cold draft
and a clock that turned itself back on. Both could be
explained, yet they were already celebrating a ‘real'
haunted house. He hoped Pete could put the brakes on
- they'd been through this before. Sally'd thought she'd
found a real one two years ago, had called in all sorts
of experts and it had been the freaking *water pipes*
expanding. Eric had laughed himself sick over that one.

If she called them in this time, she'd use Pete's name.

He *so* didn't want Pete to be a laughing stock like her.
Maybe he could talk him down a bit later. He listened to
them for a moment, going on about putting the tape on the
machine to see if they'd caught any ‘voices', and for some
reason wide dark eyes came back to mind.

"Why'd the Real Estate broad bring her kid?" He asked
suddenly. Pete looked up, puzzled.

"She didn't."

"Oh, yeah?" Eric raised a golden eyebrow. "Then who
was upstairs?"

"No one was upstairs." Sally said coldly, still
scribbling on a data pad.

"I *saw* someone upstairs." Eric could be just as
cold when he wanted. Pete's head came up sharply.

"Oh, yeah? When?"

"When I was bringing in my stuff. Saw a kid in the
big bay window." Now Sally was looking at him, too.

"Just a trick of light. This old glass is wavy and
makes odd reflections, you probably thought you saw..."

Eric cut her off with cold facts. "Skinny and sort of
short, long dark hair and funny clothes." He left out
the bit about the big sad eyes - he wasn't quite sure
why. The adults were staring at him like he'd grown
another head. Then their eyes turned to each other.

"Manifestation?" Sally breathed.

"Could be. Eric? Draw it." Pete pushed a pad and
pencil toward him. Eric didn't much care for using
his artistic talents this way, but he picked up the
pencil. Five minutes later he pushed the paper back
to Pete. His uncle looked down at a sketch of the
window, a small shadowy figure behind it. He saw the
long dark hair, wide eyes, a thin hand resting against
the glass. The - child? - wore a ruffled shirt with a
high collar and flowing sleeves. Their lower half
was obscured in shadow. Sally's hand landed on the
pad and pulled it over to study while Pete looked back
at Eric.

"L-let us know if you see her again."

Eric sniffed, studying his pizza. "Really think that's
a ghost? Could be some kid playing."

"The door was locked." Great, now Sally was all stiff
over it *not* being a ghost.

"So? Kids can always find a way in. I should know."

"Ms. Seals told us she *never* found a way in as a
child."

"Broad's a prep. Preps can't find their way into a
paper bag." Pete laughed.

"Mixing your metaphors there, kiddo."

"You know what I mean." Eric grinned back. Sally
tightened her lips and slid another pad and pencil
over to him.

"Log anything you see." It was an order, not a request.
Pete frowned at her, then grinned at his nephew.

"It'll be a big help, kiddo."

"Anything for *you*, Uncle Pete." Eric replied,
deliberately provoking Sally, who scowled at him.
He dropped the half-eaten pizza slice back on the
paper plate and stood up. "I'm going to bed. Sleeping
in the car might as well not be sleeping."

Pete nodded. "Yeah. G'night, kiddo."

"Night, Pete." He left the room without a word to
Sally, and heard her arguing with Pete as soon as she
*thought* he was out of earshot. He grinned. Stupid
Ice Queen... He headed upstairs and was not expecting
the flash of movement he saw out of the corner of his
eye. He turned, slowly, carefully, and looked across
the landing toward the bay window.

Huge dark eyes full of infinite sorrow gazed back.


*


For a long moment he just stared. The other didn't
move, only watched him, their expression questioning,
yearning.

/Why can you see me?/

"Um... hi?" Brilliant, Gaines, just brilliant.
Say ‘hi' to a ghost, that'll start the ball rolling.
Sally would kick you. He knew the other was a ghost
- the legs weren't obscured by shadows like he
thought... they just faded away into mist somewhere
around the... hmm, *boy's* thighs. 'Thought it was
a girl, too. Pretty...'

‘Oh, I so did *not* just think a Boy. Ghost.
Is *pretty*...'

But he was. Slim, not skinny, and pale, glowing
faintly. He'd always thought of ghosts being like
washed out old black-and-white photographs but he
could see that the waist length hair was black, that
the big eyes were dark, dark green. Soft lips were
flushed pink and he suddenly thought of kissing him...

...whoa. He. Is. A. Ghost. And a guy...

Back to talking.

"I'm Eric..." What did Sally say when she had that
stupid recorder? "It's okay to talk to me." And how
did he know *that,* hmm? Whoever told Sally that a
ghost wouldn't be breaking some cosmic rule if it spoke
to a living person? "If... if it's okay with you, I
mean. What's your name?"

/I wonder if.../

And suddenly the ghost was drifting toward him, a
question clearly written in those bottomless
green eyes. ‘Too close...' He couldn't help but
be frightened when the ghost boy stopped barely
three feet away. Gods, he could see right through
him. Gods again, his lips were moving.

"Cccccaaa...leb...." He *felt* the word more than
heard it and suddenly everything was getting dark.
The ghost went from looking questioning to looking
concerned and then Pete was shaking him.

"Eric! Eric, wake up! What's wrong?" Sally was
standing above them and for a wonder her eyes looked
a little worried, too. Pete was crouching on the floor
beside him and helped him sit up. "Kiddo, c'mon,
kiddo... What happened?"

He swallowed, mouth dry. When he spoke his voice was
trembling harder than he was. "I-i-i d-didn't kn-know
g-ghosts c-could t-tal-alk out-t l-loud..." And not
surprisingly, the world went dark again. Who knew he
could faint?


*

"S-saw a ghost." Pete's eyes were wide as he cradled
his nephew carefully. Sally knelt down and stretched
out a hand to Eric, then stopped and pulled it back.

"Apparently he *heard* a ghost, too. This is utterly
strange - he didn't register any psychic abilities at
all when I tested him."

"Sally - he wouldn't have *let* you register them.
I'm sorry, love, but he just doesn't like you."

"I don't see why not." She huffed.

"Give him time. He's still grieving."

"They died five years ago!"

"Sally!" Peter's voice was unusually sharp. "You
don't turn grief off like a faucet. And he's a
teenager, too. Rebellion is automatic." Sally didn't
look convinced and Peter sighed. It was getting to be
an old argument. He shifted Eric's weight and got up
slowly. "I'll put him to bed and wait for a while.
He'll either wake up or go into real sleep. You can
start the EVP tape without me, I'll be down soon."

"All right."


*


He drifted.

In front of the grandfather clock, watching the
pendulum.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I didn't mean to
frighten him. But he saw me... I wanted to know
if he could hear me... Do you think he'll be all
right?"

Back and forth, back and forth.

"I don't know, either."

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

"I just wanted to know. I didn't mean to hurt
him."

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

"Or frighten him..."

Tick, tock...

"I should stay away from him."

The woman was coming down the stairs, scribbling
again in that notepad. He was distracted from
the clock and drifted after her, wondering what
she was doing. She headed back to the kitchen
and picked up her little music-machine that didn't
make music, and began to fiddle with it, reading
over her notes.

He waited a moment, then grew bored and drifted
past her, going to the wind chimes hanging above
the window seat. On warm days Grace used to open
the windows and the house would be full of their
sweet music. He liked music...

He stroked the chimes and smiled at the tinkling
sound.

"Peter!" The word was a yelp behind him and he
jerked around. The grim-faced woman was slack-
jawed with amazement and a little fear, staring
at the swaying chimes.

/Oops./