"No Alex, I am being serious. It was the strangest thing I have ever seen and I thought if anyone would understand or empathize it would be you." Glancing up feeling like she thought I was nuts and really just wanting her to understand.
"Wow… Okay, I have heard of people seeing spirits before, I mean who hasn't? But I always thought it was just wild imaginations at work. I never actually believed it was real. But you're my best friend and if you say this happened then I believe you." She looked at me like she was really trying to be sincere. "Hey, if you want we can go look through old newspapers at the library tomorrow before you go to class, maybe we can find something about this. I have heard of spirits haunting the places they die, maybe she was killed on that road, or near it. If we could find something it might help give you some answers. Maybe other people have seen the same thing you did?"
"Actually that sounds great. How long do you think it will take? I have to be in class by five o'clock."
"It shouldn't take more than an hour or so, but we can leave early if you want and get something to eat in town before we go to the library."
"Okay, that sounds great." I stood up and walked toward my bedroom. "Goodnight Alex, thanks for believing me; I don't know what I would do without you."
"No problem Paige, get some rest." Getting up she turned the lights off and went to her room as well.
I walked in my room and turned the light on. My clothes strewn about on the floor, bed still unmade from last night. I guess chaos is comforting to me. Growing up with just a Dad around didn't teach me a lot about organization. Trying to lie down on my bed I toss and turn, realizing sleep is impossible, even if I wanted to all I can see is that girl.
Maybe I should read a little, that usually makes me tired. Walking over to my bookshelf I notice the old leather covered book that belonged to my Mother before she died. My Dad gave it to me a couple of weeks ago but I haven't been able to break the lock to read any of it. Apparently she didn't leave the key to my Dad. It was a journal she kept for years. Dad told me she always said she wanted me to have it right before my twenty-first birthday and he made sure to hold onto it for me after she was gone.
I made my way back to the kitchen illuminated only by the soft glow of the street lamps outside the window. I opened the drawer that the knives were in and grabbed out a small black steak knife and carried it back to my room. I plopped down on the bed with the book and tried to cut the lock off. I twisted and turned on the chain but to no avail. This book was obviously very private, which made me want to get into it more and more by the second.
Hmmm… I can't cut it off. Maybe I can pick the lock. I got off the bed and went around the corner to the bathroom that Alex and I share. I looked in the basket on the counter beside the sink and found a bobby-pin. This should do it.
Back in the bedroom I knelt by the bed, pried open the pin reshaping it to fit the lock in an attempt to jimmy it open. Nothing! This is impossible! Why would she leave me a book that I can't even read!
After a few minutes trying to open the journal I gave up. Not being able to take it anymore I decide to lie down and try to get some rest. Placing the book and pin on my desk and climbing under my silk sheets and fleece blanket. Even though it is warm in the apartment I love the soft feel and today I could use something comforting.
Exhaustion is taking over but I can't sleep, I toss and turn for an hour before rolling onto my back to stare at the dark ceiling. If I were religious I would be praying right now, asking God to help me like all the other devout Christians do when faced with a crisis. Before today I didn't believe in ghosts but then I saw one… At least, I think that is what I saw. I don't know what I think anymore.
A few minutes later I was asleep, dreaming of a Mother I barely remember.
I can see her through the trees; she is sitting alone in a clearing. She is small, like me. Her dark brown hair flowing down to the small of her back and shining in the light of the moon. She is looking up into the stars. She is thirty feet away from me but I can hear her talking quietly to herself. I desperately want to hear what she is saying. I walk out from the trees and inch up slowly behind her, my bare feet not making a sound on the earth beneath them. I slightly lean forward as I walk, with my head tilted to the side trying to make out anything.
I am five feet from her now and she has not noticed me behind her, steadily talking. "I can't help you my sweet darling. You must find your way. Find the key. You are the only one to set us free. Find us Paige, find us…"
She turned around and I saw her face, glowing dimmer than the girls did at the bus stop. As if her energy was burning out. I felt as if my Mother were dying, even though she had been dead for years. She looked through me, as if I were not even standing in front of her. Then I looked into her eyes and they were white like a person that has gone blind. My body stiffened and I couldn't breathe.