Krysta's Curse (10 page)

Finally, Bryon threw down his pen and
exhaled slowly. “I won’t bother your clients.” His voice sounded
tired, strained. “Now will you let us study?”

“Okay, then.” Mr. Thomas pushed off the
counter and threw his bottle in the trash. “You kids have fun.” He
walked out the door without a glance at either of us.

I sat there for a moment, watching as Bryon
continued to stare at the same page in his chemistry book.

What was I supposed to say in a situation
like this?

Luckily, I’d had some experience with
father/child misunderstandings. “Wow. I thought things were bad
with my dad,” I blurted.

“I hate him.” Bryon spoke in a low, cold
voice, his brow marred with several deep creases.

What had his dad done to make Bryon hate him
so much? Suddenly, I felt like I really didn’t know Bryon—this
supposedly cute, sweet guy who sat next to me in science class.
Where was the caring guy who’d stood up for Sunny at the café a few
nights ago?

“Hate is a pretty strong feeling,
Bryon.”

He looked up while plastering a passive
expression on his face, like everything between him and his dad was
okay. Like, suddenly, he didn’t have any more issues.

But the guy had lots of issues.

“Are we going to study or what?” He
shrugged, feigning a smile.

“Sure.” I nodded, trying my best to act like
I wasn’t totally freaked out by our study session.

****

The drive home from Bryon’s house was almost
as weird as our study session. When Mrs. Dawson came to get me, Mr.
Thomas acted like a total jerk and flirted with her, even asking to
take her to dinner. Didn’t he notice the totally huge rock on her
finger?

Mrs. Dawson didn’t seem to mind. She just
turned her nose up at him before walking me to the car.

I cringed as I heard Bryon in the background
yelling at his dad.

“You must have had a delightful evening.”
Mrs. Dawson slanted me an all-knowing smile.

I shrugged, not wanting to go into the awful
details with her. When she didn’t press the issue, I wondered if
she already knew what went on. If she’d spied on me and Bryon with
her powers. Would she really invade my privacy like that? I almost
thought I heard AJ’s voice in the back of my brain.

Heck, yeah, she would spy. My mother is so nosy.
Maybe she thought that was her job. She was responsible for me
while I stayed with them. After the lake incident, I guess I lost
her trust.

But I still didn’t like it. Even Ed and
Gertrude were nice enough to give me some alone time tonight.

Sighing, I brushed a frizzy lock behind my
ear. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to have my own bathroom to
do my makeup and not be forced to share one with AJ, her disgusting
brother and his zit juice collection.

Gag. Why didn’t anyone clean the bathroom
mirror?

Besides, Ed, Gertrude and I could talk
freely without worrying about freaking anyone out. Even though the
dead were kind of a pain in the butt, they were still easier to get
along with than the living.

“We have to pick up AJ at the softball
field.” Mrs. Dawson flipped her long blonde tresses behind one
shoulder. “I brought you some company for the ride.”

“Surprise!” Sophie squealed as she jumped
out of the back of Mrs. Dawson’s car and pulled me back in with
her.

A wave of relief washed over me at seeing my
best friend. Someone I could talk to about Bryon and my crazy night
with him and his dad. Besides, who better to get to the root of his
problems than a mind reader?

“How’d it go?” Sophie’s eyes bulged and her
voice held a note of fear, like she was expecting me to have a
terrible time.

I looked at my friend with suspicion. Had
Mrs. Dawson spied on me and Bryon and then told Sophie what she
saw?

Mrs. Dawson slid into the seat in front of
us and, thankfully, flipped open her phone. I didn’t want her
invading any more of my personal life.

“There’s something wrong with Bryon,” I
whispered to Sophie.

“Yeah.” She nodded all too eagerly. “I
wanted to tell you.”

I looked at Mrs. Dawson. Her eyes were on
the road as she seemed to be into her phone conversation.

I leaned toward Sophie, keeping my voice
low. “Have his bad thoughts been popping in your brain lately?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah. That’s why I
worried that tonight would be a disaster.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I bit on my lower
lip, almost afraid of Sophie’s answer and wondering why she never
mentioned anything about this before.

“Because I know you like him.” Mouth turning
into a pout, she dropped her gaze to her lap, toying with her
fingers. “I was going to tell you tonight, I promise.” She leaned
over and clasped my hands in hers. “I just didn’t want to make you
mad, like I got when AJ told me to ditch Jacob.”

Last semester Sophie liked a total dork
named Jacob and got into it with AJ over him. Even though I thought
he was a loser, too, I decided to stay out of their fight. I didn’t
think Sophie needed both of us on her back. Besides, she figured it
out on her own, eventually. I guess I couldn’t be too mad at Sophie
for keeping Bryon’s thoughts secret. After tonight, I figured out
he had problems.

“He’s feeling a great sense of abandonment.”
Her brows rose and she added the last part with emphasis. “And
anger.”

Crap. So he wasn’t just having a bad day.
The guy had major issues. “I got the anger part. Who abandoned
him?” I asked, kind of already suspecting his mom.

“Not to sound selfish.” Sophie rolled her
eyes. “But I’m more concerned with passing algebra than prying in
on Bryon’s brain. His depression has been distracting me enough
lately.”

“Yeah, but I’m worried about him. You should
have heard him tonight with his dad. He really hates him.”

Sophie narrowed her eyes, her nostrils
flaring ever so slightly. “So you’re asking me to spy? I promised
you and AJ I wouldn’t do that anymore.”

“I just want to know why he’s so on edge,” I
pleaded. “I don’t think it’s Sunny’s murder. I think it’s something
worse and I can’t help him if I don’t know.”

“Don’t you have enough crap to deal with
right now?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, then swore as a frizzy
curl escaped from my hair band and scraped the roof of the car.
“But what’s one more problem?”

“Sun-ny?
Sun-ny, are you out here?”

The real question was, what the heck was I
doing out here? AJ’s mom would so bust me if she woke up and used
her spying powers, but here I was anyway at two in the morning,
channeling a dead spirit like a total idiot.

I couldn’t help myself. I’d lain on the cot
beside AJ’s bed all night, worrying.

Worrying over Bryon’s disturbing
thoughts.

Worrying about my chemistry test in two
days.

Worrying for Sunny’s poor lost spirit.

The worst of it was Ed and Gertrude never
showed up tonight to console me. Where were they? I’d had a hard
enough time getting them to give me any privacy, and suddenly, they
just vanished. Were they okay? I mean, I knew they were already
dead, but I still worried about them.

My life was totally out of control. I felt
so stuck, so helpless. With so many things needing to be fixed, I
couldn’t just lay there all night. I had to take action.

“Sunny! Come out so we can talk!” I hollered
into the crisp night air, scanning the dark, watery horizon for any
sign of her spirit. Crap, I should’ve brought a jacket, but I was
in too much of a hurry to sneak out of the house. Rubbing my bare
arms for warmth, a shiver raced up my spine. This wasn’t the kind
of shiver I got from cold weather.

This was something else. More like a blade
of ice was slicing my spinal cord.

I was now beginning to recognize the feeling
when Sunny’s apparition was suddenly too close.

Turning on my heel, I gasped.

Her pale, bruised face was within inches of
mine.

“What do you want?” She asked in a voice
almost as cold as her aura.

Backing up a few paces, I swallowed hard,
instinctively rubbing my arms again. No matter how much I was used
to ghosts, she still gave me goose- flesh. “The police caught your
boyfriend.”

“Raymond,” she breathed and her stone eyes
softened.

I nodded.

A crease marred her pale brow. “What are
they going to do to him?”

“I don’t know yet.” I held out my palms.
“Maybe put him in jail.”

Sunny’s eyes widened, her mouth falling
open. “He didn’t mean to do it.”

That strange chill brought on by her
presence intensified, like an arctic wind had rushed up my
spine.

I shivered through a yelp, backing up more
until I felt the soles of my shoes sink into soft mud. With a quick
glance behind me, I cursed at the ripples lapping at my heels. Any
further and I’d be swimming.

“Sunny, do you understand what happened?” I
spoke through a shaky voice while trying to control my trembling
limbs.

“He hurt me,” she said in a monotone.

Had dying made her that disoriented or was
she just in denial?

I shook my head. “You’re dead.”

“No!” She glared at me through swollen
eyelids. “It’s not true.”

“It’s true, Sunny. Listen, you’ve got to
leave this dark place. Find some light and move on.”

“I can’t leave Raymond. He’ll be here for me
soon.” She nodded at something just beyond my shoulder.

I turned my head, following the direction of
her gaze. She was looking at something in the center of the lake.
Was mental illness a side-effect of dying? He wasn’t going to be
meeting her anywhere, unless maybe he got the death penalty.

“Raymond’s not coming,” I said in a clipped
voice, trying to make her understand the reality of my words. “He’s
the one who killed you.”

Without another glance, she turned, floating
toward the canopy of trees behind us.

“Sunny, where are you going? Please don’t
leave!” I screamed, trying to chase after her, but it was hard on
wobbly legs. For some reason, all of my energy had suddenly drained
and I felt as lifeless as a corpse.

She floated further away until the faint
light of her spirit was shrouded in darkness.

Exhaling a deep breath, I sank to my bottom
on the nearest small boulder and rested my head in my hands.

That didn’t go so well.

I wondered if all dead people in dark places
acted this way. When my grammy died last semester, she kind of
freaked me out because she wouldn’t speak, but I didn’t get the
feeling of a thousand tiny spiders racing up my spine. Closing my
eyes, I briefly remembered her smiling face. She had that same
serene expression in death. Sunny’s stark glare looked anything but
serene.

“Too bad we can’t put you on the witness
stand. This would be an open and shut case.”

A jolt of fear shot up my spine at the sound
of the deep male voice. My eyes flew open and I jumped to my feet.
Officer Garza stood a few feet in front of me, his flashlight aimed
at the ground beneath his feet.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted, my
voice shaking with apprehension.

He smiled softly, but not like the smile of
a good friend. Kind of like a sorrowful smile that didn’t quite
reach his eyes. “I knew you’d come back.”

I held my breath, afraid to respond. How did
he know I’d come back here?

Shaking his head, his gaze shot up to the
stars before coming back to me with a hard stare. “You’re just like
your mother.”

I winced, that familiar surge of anger
welling inside my chest. He could have punched me and it would’ve
had the same effect. Just the mention of her name and I wanted to
hurl.

She left us.

She left me.

I’d just entered my teen years, right at a
time when I needed her most, and she walked out. That was over a
year ago and I haven’t even gotten an email from her.

Was I that bad of a daughter? I stayed out
of her hair when she asked me to—and she asked me to all the
time.

And I worshiped her.

She was so beautiful. I did everything in my
power to look just like her. She had straight, silky red hair and
fair skin. Her eyes were of the brightest green.

I knew I looked more like my dad’s side of
the family, even though I’d never met them. He told me my aunt had
frizzy hair.

That didn’t stop me from buying every hair
straightener under the sun, from trying to dye my hair red and
getting bright orange instead. I dressed stylish, I acted cute.

I wanted to be just like my mom.

Then she left.

“I’m nothing like her.” I spoke evenly, with
a chest that felt ready to explode.

A deep frown marred his brow and under the
pale moonlight, the lines framing his dark, sunken eyes were
clearly visible. Not only did the guy need a good moisturizer, he
was majorly stressed.

“You dad should have told you.” He shook his
head. “Your mother deserved better.”

“What are you talking about?”

What was my dad hiding from me? Had she
tried to call and he wouldn’t let her talk to me? Did she have a
good reason for leaving?

“Your real mother died when you were a
baby.”

Bam
.

My brain exploded, a pair of lead weights
fell to my feet. As I felt my legs give way, I stumbled to sit on
the rock behind me.

“W-what?” That was all that came out of my
mouth, as I was vaguely aware of my own actions.

“She was murdered.” Officer Garza’s voice
echoed in my ears and he sounded miles away.

That last word wrapped around my brain and
threatened to strangle all reasoning from my mind.

Murdered.

Just like Sunny.

My stomach clenched and a sickening feeling
shot up my chest.

“This can’t be true,” I breathed.

Setting the flashlight at his feet, Officer
Garza knelt in front of me, his eyes pooling with moisture. “I’m
sorry, Krysta.”