Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ My Ghost ❯ Chapter Nineteen ( Chapter 19 )

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My Ghost

Chapter Nineteen

October 20, 1927

I hope whoever finds this is stronger than I am.

I have uncovered a startling truth about my brothers. Nora confessed everything two nights ago. I have started this new journal and hidden it in a very secure place, in order to keep certain people from viewing it.

My brother William is dead. My other brother, Samuel, killed him.

Nora came crying to me, telling me about Sam's plan to get rid of Will, and how she begged him not to do it.

The worst of it is that my friend James was an accomplice to the murder. James was also Will's best friend. I cannot imagine either of them doing such a thing, but Nora would not lie to me.

The plan was, apparently, for Sam to invite Will out in the middle of the night to go fishing. It wasn't unusual, especially in the summer, for us to do that in the middle of the night. It is always quiet and peaceful at nighttime.

So he led Will to the pond, not the creek, as was usual. The pond is closer to James's house than to ours. It is also more secluded. James was waiting, lurking behind a tree. When Will waded out into the water, James fired his father's rifle, and Will was dead almost instantly.

I do not know what happened next. They must have done something with Will's body, but Nora said that she does not know where it is. She only knows this much because Sam is still in love with her, and told her all of this. But even then, he would not tell her what they did with Will.

I can understand, somewhat, why Sam would do this. What confounds me, though, is why James would not only go along with it, but fire the rifle himself. What caused him to shoot and kill his best friend?

I hope that whoever reads this can find the answer, because I fear it will never be known otherwise.

Goodbye, Will. Rest in peace, my brother.

Callie looked at Will. He stared blankly at the page in front of them. “That's the only entry,” Callie mumbled. “But…now we know how it happened.”

Will nodded. His eyes drifted away from the page and settled on Callie's eyes instead. “But we don't know why…or where my body is,” he said. “And we're out of leads.”

“Well…not entirely,” Callie said slowly. Will looked at her, confused. “There's still your room.”

Will shook his head. “We tried that, and it ended badly for you.”

“You're the one who wanted this done quickly, Will,” Callie said.

“Not if you're going to get hurt.”

She sighed, looking away from him and standing up. “Stop it,” she said.

“Stop what?”

“This…I don't know, the whole indecisive thing. It's like we're really bonding, and suddenly you act like you're mad at me. And then you turn around and say something like that, and I think you actually care.”

“I do,” he said softly. “Too much.”

“What?” Callie asked, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“I told you, the reason I want this done quickly is because I'm afraid that I'm developing feelings that will prevent me from actually `crossing over,' as you say. The longer I stay here, with you, like this, the worse it gets. I care too much. That's why I'm acting like that.”

Callie sat back down, hard. “Oh my God. You're not saying…” She leaned her head back and sighed. “This just got really complicated, didn't it?”

“It's been complicated from the beginning,” Will said. “Why do you think I've been trying to push you toward Aaron? I thought it would help both of us. But instead, it's making it worse, for me, at least.”

Callie frowned. “We can't be together. There's no way to make it work…”

“I know.”

They sat in silence for a minute. Finally, Callie stood up. Silently, she walked toward the door.

“What are you doing?” Will asked, following her. She didn't reply as she walked through the doorway and put her hand on the doorknob of Will's room.

“Don't!” Will cried, but Callie was already opening the door. She took a step inside, and she felt the same rush of sights and sounds coming at her as before. She swallowed, determined to sort through the images in front of her.

She leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. She saw Will, sitting on a bed, clearly alive. Another young man, a little older than him but with an obvious family resemblance, stood beside him, talking. He seemed nervous or excited. Maybe both, Callie thought.Obviously, this was Sam.

Both boys left the room. Callie followed them. Strangely, as she left the room, she didn't see ghost-Will standing outside the door. The house was decorated differently, and everything appeared much newer than it should have. But Callie didn't have the time or energy to focus on trivial things like decoration. She followed the boys outside and down the street.

They walked for at least a half an hour, before heading into a secluded wooded area. Callie became very nervous, knowing what she was about to witness. She heard the distant trickle of a pond. After a few minutes, they reached it.

Now came the voices. Everyone had been silent until now. Suddenly, both Sam and Will were talking.

Sam handed Will a fishing rod. “It's been a while since we did this, hasn't it?”

Will nodded, stepping forward into the pond. “Why didn't Ed want to join us?”

“I didn't ask him. I wanted this to be just between us, for once.” Sam smiled. “We don't have enough time to ourselves.”

“That makes sense,” Will said, wading further into the pond. “We still haven't really talked about what happened with you and Nora.”

“No, we haven't,” Sam agreed.

“I don't mind if you see her, now,” Will said. “She made it clear that it was you she wanted, after all.”

“I'm happy to hear that, brother, but I don't need your permission.” Sam was still smiling. It was unnerving. Callie saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Another boy had stepped out from behind a tree.

“Will!” Callie cried. As if he'd heard her, he whirled around and faced his friend, who was pointing a rifle at him.

“James?” he asked. “What are you doing here? Why…?” His voice trailed off. He looked between Sam and James, realization in his eyes.

“Sorry, Will,” James said softly. “We really were friends, but this is something beyond friendship.” He smiled sadly as he fired the rifle. The bullet went straight into Will's heart. It killed him instantly. The clear water of the pond turned red with blood.

Tears welled up in Callie's eyes, but she brushed them away. She felt weak, but she had to stay and find out what the two boys were going to do with the body.

“Good work,” Sam said as James waded out to meet him. “Now, let's get him to the field. We have to hurry. The sun will be out in a few hours, and my parents will be looking for us.”

The field? Callie wondered as he watched the boys carefully bandage Will's wound in order to soak up the blood. Then they carried him, slowly, through the woods. She followed nervously, knowing that they couldn't hurt her, but still afraid that they somehow would.

Finally, they stopped. At first, Callie didn't recognize where they were. It was dark, and it was hard to see anything. But about twenty feet ahead of her, she saw a familiar shape. “The gazebo!” She gasped, looking around. All around her was freshly dug ground. She wondered who had dug it up, and realized that the daisies were gone.

“Are you certain that nobody is going to find him here?” James asked. He and Sam had gathered some shovels from a spot near the gazebo, where they had conveniently lain when they arrived.

“Absolutely certain,” Sam said. “Nora's parents are using this area to grow more flowers. Nobody is ever going to dig this far down. It's perfect.”

“Someone will be looking for him, won't they?”

Sam shrugged. “Even if he is found, how will they know it was us? Nobody saw us do anything.” They finished digging the hole, which was impressively deep, for how little time they had been digging. Then they threw the body into it, covering it with the dirt they had just moved.

Callie's legs felt weak. She sat down, trying to focus on the scene before her. Maybe Sam or James would reveal the motive behind the crime…

But no revelation came. Instead, she felt the floor come up to meet her as her world became black.