Chapter 26
I had trouble sleeping that night. I tossed and turned, my mind buzzing with situations on how I would ask for Beth's help, and especially telling her about my new found secret; I communicated with the dead.
Before I went to bed I spent an hour on the phone talking to Conner. I had asked where he got the number to my private line as I knew that I had not provided it to him. He chuckled saying that we had a mutual contact that took pity on him; I took that as meaning Beth. Surprisingly Conner has sensed that I wasn't focused on our conversation and had tried to get me talking. But I had stayed strong and stubbornly refused to tell him, after all how was I supposed to tell him.
And that was my dilemma. Except I wasn't planning to tell Conner but Beth. How would I break it to her? Would she freak out? Would she attempt to call an asylum to get me admitted or would she just not believe me? How could I persuade her to believe me and not think I was being mental or playing a joke? What if she did believe me, but refused to help me or even worse what if she ran away screaming?
I put a break on my thoughts as they got crazier and crazier.
Of course Beth wouldn't run away she was my friend, my best friend. And I guess if she doesn't help us find Tommy's parents murder then… I guess that would be fine because at least I would have told someone besides my parents. But I'm sure she'd help, after all she is my best friend, with that thought in my mind I fell asleep.
I woke up in the morning with a crick in my neck and felt lousy. I didn't quiet realise why until yesterdays events flashed in my mind. The prank came first, following Lucy Andersons embarrassment. Next came Tommy's admission about his parent's death, and then came my offer to help him and in order to do that I'd ask for Beth's help, thus resulting in me telling her EVERYTHING.
I groaned as I pulled the quilt cover over my head.
I was just about to fall asleep when my alarm clock went off. I groaned again and forced myself to get ready for school. Mum was in the kitchen when I went down stairs, briskly eating toast.
'Morning sweetie, oh dear what's the matter you look terrible? It's not about your gift is it? Don't let it get on top of you darling, I know it must be difficult but you must learn to control it, don't let it control you'.
I would have laughed t that if I hadn't felt so terrible. I kissed her cheeks, caught the toast that popped out of the toaster, and then ran out of the house. I had just finished the toast when the bus pulled up. I quickly found a place then sat down. No sooner had I placed my bag on my lap did Conner sit next to me. He smiled at me and started talking. With out realising it my mind wandered back to the situation I'd have to have with Beth. Unconsciously I sighed loudly and sank deeper into my seat.
'Are you okay Tanya?' I heard, I looked up and saw Conner looking at me worriedly.
'Of course I am' I smiled. Not looking entirely convinced, but not wanting to press the situation any further he carried on talking. I shook my head as a thought came to me. Here sat Conner O'Neil talking to me and here I sat ignoring him. Well I might not be ignoring him purposely but I still wasn't listening to what he was saying. The rest of the bus ride continued in the same way. When we got to school I went searching for Beth, whilst Conner went to talk to some of his friends. I found Beth by our lockers talking to Damon. I blinked at I realised that Beth wasn't having a go at him. They were talking quietly to each other and looked relaxed with the other. I walked up to then and smiled when Beth blushed.
It was the first time in years I saw her blush and it was to do with Damon. Weird.
We greeted each other then waited for Damon to leave. He finally caught on as we both stared at him expectantly. As he hurried of I burst out laughing.
'So when did this happen?' I asked, Beth blushed again.
Clearing her throat she explained to me about how he went to her house yesterday and after a long chat (which included him apologising to her for all the mean stuff he said to us) he asked her out. She accepted "and the rest is history" as she so eloquently put it.
I smiled again feeling genuinely happy for her.
The bell rang indicating for us to head to our form rooms. The morning past in a blur as I couldn't focus on what the teachers were saying (let alone all the whispering and pointing that were headed I my direction) as my mind was still reoccupied with telling Beth the truth.
It was during break time when I'd managed to pry Beth away from Damon that I decided to start telling her. I pulled her to the side of the building whilst she winked bye to Damon.
We sat on a bench and as I tried to gather my thoughts she started talking.
'It's so weird how we both found Conner and Damon. I mean it was only a while ago that Conner ignored you and Damon was an ass to both of us, now look at us eh. Hmm…it's all changed. Listen I know this is gonna sound completely wacky but do you think that their our soulmates?'
I gaped at her, that was rather heart felt.
'Err… soulmates?' I questioned.
'Yeah, you know the idea that theirs some one out there destined for us and when we'll meet them we'll feel complete…err…or at least that's hat I've heard, I'm not sure if it's true or anything.' Beth sat there quietly contemplating what she'd said, whilst I also mulled over her words.
I mentally shook my head as I decided that this was not the time to be thinking about soulmates as I had other things planned to say.
'Err…um…Beth, err…I need to tell you something.'
'Yeah, what's up?'
' Er…okay what ever I tell you now is the truth, I mean you probably wont believe me at first, hell I wouldn't believe it if somebody told me but…err… just remember its not a joke or anything, okay.' I said, deliberating whether I had enough courage to tell her.
'Okay' she said looking expectant.
'Oh I don't know how to tell you this, but you know how everyone thinks that I can talk to the dead, well the thing is I can.'
'Riiggggghhhhhhtttt.' Said Beth narrowing her eyes at me. Next thing I know the back of her hands are on my forehead.
'Hmm you haven't got a temperature.'
'Ha-ha funny' I replied, smacking her hand away. Beth looked at me for a couple of minutes before she smiled. I frowned thinking she'd gone mad, as this was not the reaction I was expecting, when she said, 'I know you like to have a laugh every now and then but if I were you I wouldn't go around saying rubbish like that around here, you know what every one are like they'll pounce on you like a group of hags, gossipy hags that is.'
I shook my head. She didn't believe me; duh of course she won't believe me its unbelievable. Hmm what I have to do is some how convince her that I'm telling her the truth but how. I sat there thinking when an idea struck me.
'Beth, do you remember when Lucy Anderson fell down the stairs' Beth nodded, 'well' I began 'she didn't fall down the stairs she was tripped'.
'Really…no, I thought she was surrounded by her friends, and why would they want to trip her up, and what on earth has this got to do with what you want to tell me?'
'You see that's it, she did trip over just not by her friends. A spirit tripped her up. Look I know this sounds crazy buts its true. His name is Tommy, I only found out my self lately that I can communicate with them. He was helping me on getting revenge on Lucy Anderson for always being a mean, evil, horrible cow.' I tapered of, still having a feeling that Beth didn't believe me.
'Listen girl, I don't know why your saying all this but you should stop, you don't want anyone to over hear do you, they'll think your more of a crack pot then they seem to think that you are now.'
Agghhh I felt like screaming, she wouldn't even consider believing me. I understand that it's hard to believe in spirits, but dear lord it sure is harder to convince someone in believing in you. I breathed deeply before having another try.
'Okay, yesterday at lunch time, Lucy Anderson suddenly found worms in her plate, how do you suggest that they got there?' she'd have to believe me now I thought.
'I don't know some one must have put it in her plate, man that was funny wasn't it, oh her expression was priceless' replied Beth, she'd started to laugh and I was beginning to lose hope that she'd ever believe me.
'No your wrong, well not really I mean your right someone did put the worms in her plate but it was Tommy, the spirit.'
Beth looked are me in confusion.
'I don't understand you Tanya, for ages now people have been saying stuff like that and we've ignored it. But now here you are practically encouraging it, I don't get it.' She said her forehead creased in a deep frown.
'I'm not being funny or anything, I'm telling the truth. It's only been a while now that I've known about me contacting with the dead. Look do you remember my grandmother and how she used to say she could communicate with the dead and nobody believed her, well she could talk to the dead. I know that now because I can to, I didn't believe her myself until I was able to see Tommy. I don't want to mention this because it's embarrassing, but remember in the library when I fainted and I thought I saw some one behind me. Well I did, I saw Tommy. That was why nobody else saw him. That was the first time I saw him, I fainted because I could see right through him, it scared me.'
'Hmm, I'm not saying I believe you or anything because to tell you the truth this is the weirdest thing I've ever heard but why are you telling me this now.'
I was just about to explain to her about Tommy's parents when the bell rang indicating that the next lesson was about to start. As I had English next Beth wasn't in my class or the class after that which would be science, I told her to meet me by our lockers. We spilt up and both headed towards our next class. During both English and science I didn't pay attention to a single thing that he teachers had said. Even in science where Conner where with me I didn't talk to him because I couldn't pay attention to anything, I kept on planning how I would tell Beth. Lucy Anderson it seemed was also relatively quite, normally she would make sure that she was the centre of attention for everything but today it seemed that she didn't want people to be taking about her or to her. The lesson ended with Conner asking if I was okay. After convincing him that I was fine we headed towards the lockers. When we got there we found Damon and Beth huddled buy the lockers.
'Alright guys' said Conner whilst slapping Damon on the back. We headed towards the bus stop when Beth said 'so are you going to continue?'
I quickly looked towards Conner only to see him conversing with Damon.
'Yes I am, but not now. Is it alright if you come over to my place so we can talk in private?' I whispered.
'Yeah course it is.' Said Beth, looking mystified.
We waited for a couple of minutes before the bus came. I sat with Conner and Beth sat with Damon.
Conner held my hands and said gently 'Tanya, I know something's up, and I'd like you to tell me. You know you can talk to me, don't you?' I kept quiet.
'Look Tanya, is it about us, do you regret us being together or something?'
Looking stunned I turned to face him. 'How can you think that, oh I'm sorry, I know I've been acting strange today. There is something going on but it's got nothing to do with us being together. And no, I don't regret us being together, I don't I ever could. It's just…well I can't really tell you but you've got nothing to be worried about I'm fine and I think were fine too' I said, I leaned towards him and gently kissed his cheek. He smiled at me and caressed my hands. When the bus stopped at my stop I gave another kiss to Conner and waved goodbye with Beth behind me.
We enter the house to find it empty. We walk into the kitchen and raid the fridge. Half an hour later both of us are in my room. Beth's lying on my bed whilst I sit on a bean bag in the corner of the room.
'Right, Beth I know you don't believe me but you have to because I'm telling the truth.' I pleaded with her.
'I need your help Beth, and the reason I'm telling you is because I don't know who else to turn to. I mean my parents know about my gift, but I know that they wouldn't want me to get involved with Tommy's problems, they wouldn't understand.' I explained to Beth.
'Tanya, I'd love to believe you but I just don't believe in ghosts.'
Ah so that was the problem, she wouldn't believe in Tommy because she doesn't believe in spirits. Hmm what I need to do is prove it to her.
'Okay Beth, what if I proved to you that Tommy exists.'
'Okaaay…but how are you supposed to do that if I can't see him.'
Err…I hadn't thought of that. Umm what am I supposed to do? I sit there thinking for a while before it pops into my head.
Without looking at Beth I yell out for Tommy. He appears in front of me after my second yell.
'I've told Beth about you but she doesn't believe me. Not that I blame her or anything.' I say quickly, as I see her peering in the direction of Tommy. What we need to do is prove to her you exist.'
'Right, and how are we supposed to do that, she can't see me remember?'
'Yes I know that, Beth actually pointed that out to me' I said smiling at Beth who looked completely baffled.
'Okay this is what we'll do,' I say turning so I could face both Beth and Tommy.
'Beth I want you to go downstairs and do something, anything, it doesn't matter what it is. Tommy will be downstairs with you and he'll watch what you do, then he'll tell me. I'll be here in my room. That way you'll know I'm telling the truth.' I said.
'Err… you want me to go downstairs with an alleged ghost?' Beth asked looking slightly alarmed.
'Yes I do, oh and he's a spirit not a ghost. And don't worry he won't hurt you or anything,' I said carefully making sure that she that I was telling the truth.
'Okay' she said looking around.
She went downstairs whilst Tommy looked at me.
'Are you sure this is going to work?' he asked looking uncertain.
'I'm sure it is' I replied to Tommy, hopefully it'll work I thought silently to myself.
I waited for five minutes before Beth walked into the room and Tommy appeared beside me.
'Okay girlie ask your spirit what I've been doing?' she asked again looking round.
'What has Beth been doing?' I asked Tommy as he was drifting across the room.
'Well first she was just looking around; I think she was looking for me. Anyway then she got up and walked twice around the room and then started humming to herself until she came upstairs, oh and by the way she tripped when she was on the bottom of the stairs and cursed rather colourfully.' He said whilst chuckling.
I repeated all this to Beth including her tripping on the stairs. When I'd finished her eyes were narrow and she'd gone pale. She gulped loudly and sat on the bed.
'You were telling the truth, weren't you?' she asked, seeming to look slightly afraid of my answer.
'Yes, I was. Sorry.' I said knowing that I had just virtually shocked her to the core.
'Right' she said slowly, 'so where is the spirit, err I mean Tommy, where is he now?'
'He's by the window' I told her pointing to him even though I knew she wouldn't be able to see him.
'Okay, err just give me a second to get my head around all this' she said whilst rubbing her temples. Beth sat in the same position for ten minutes before she breathed in loudly.
'Right, erm…I was just trying to get my head around the fact that my best friend can see ghosts, oh sorry sprits. And that there's one right in this room. Okay I think I'm alright now. So Tanya, why didn't you tell me this before?' she asked, still looking in the direction of the window.
'To tell you the truth I only just found out myself and I would have told you, eventually. But I needed to get my head around it first. It wasn't easy; I thought I was going crazy. Shall I tell you something even crazier? A couple of nights ago my grandmother visited me in my dream.' At this point Beth eyebrows rose to her hair line. 'What?!' she shrieked.
'I know completely crazy or what? But the thing is that she told me about seeing spirits and how it's passed down our generation. The thing that got to me was that in my dream she gave me a necklace, it was beautiful. Then when I woke up I was holding the necklace. That's how I knew it was real.'
Beth sat there staring at me as if I was nuts. I decided again that the only way for her to believe me was if she had physical proof. Without looking at her I took out the necklace which I kept under my top. I showed it to her and let her admire the pattern and the stones.
'Wow' she exclaimed. 'That's gorgeous, did you really get it from your grandmother'
'Yeah I did.' I said looking down at the necklace. 'I showed it to my parents after I got it and apparently its been missing for a while now, so when I showed it to her she was stumped, that is until I told her how I got it. My parents believe me about my…err…gift which is great because I thought they wouldn't.' I said thinking about the day that I told them. The room was quiet for a while before Beth turned to me again.
'I'm assuming you told me about Tommy for a reason' she said again looking in the direction of Tommy.
'Yes, I did actually. The thing is I need your help'. I explained to Beth about the murder of Tommy's parent and how he died because he went to get justice. I told her about my theory for Tommy still being tied to this world was because he didn't get justice for his parents. There was silence after I told Beth; I waited for her to take the information in.
'So your telling me you want to help Tommy by getting the guy yourself and make him confess?' She said looking confused.
'Err, yep that what I plan to do.'
'How?' she asked.
'That's the part I'm stuck on but I'm sure we'll figure it out. That is of course, if you want to help.' I asked quietly, praying she'd say yes.
'Of course I'll help. That's what friends are for. That man can not get away with murder.' She said speaking bravely.
I smiled at Beth then Tommy, knowing that with Beth and I being side by side we'd be able to accomplish anything, including the capture and confession of the murder.
I fell asleep easily that night, unaware of how naïve I was about the future.
Hey everyone, I am sooooo sorry about not updating any quicker but I'm completely snowed under at uni. I tried to make this chapter longer then usual by way of apology. I also have another notice; one that I'm sure will end up with all of you hating my very existence (I hope it doesn't lead to that lol). I'm afraid I won't be able to update any chapters in the near future. The reason for this again is the workload. I'm really sorry to those of you who have been waiting since I last updated. I promise to start updating as soon as I finish my first year. I SOOO SORRY.
Thank you to everyone who's reviewed they are Slytherin gurl, Alfiriel, ?, pinkfluffyoranges, Water Block, red rose, K.S, anon, Mei1105, Chez, Shez, bohtea, unthinkable.