Shadow of a Life (8 page)

I grabbed a notebook and we jumped in
the car.

“
So how long have you been
driving?” I’ll admit I was a little anxious. It wasn’t often that
teenagers drove me around.

Sophia put a pair of sparkly pink
sunglasses on and looked at me. “Honey, I’ve been driving since
Henry Ford rolled his first Model T off the assembly
line.”

“
Yay. I’m sure that would be
the perfect story to tell my father when he finds out that you’re
old enough to drive and proceeds to question your driving
ability.”

Sophia was right—she was actually a
great driver. In fact, probably better than a lot of the adults on
the road. She’d been around for almost a hundred and fifty years,
and I guess it was good that she had something to brag about. The
site where Rose Cottage used to stand was on the other side of
town. The cottage itself had burned down back in the early sixties.
We didn’t know what we were looking for or what we were supposed to
do. We hoped there might be other ghosts hanging around that could
shed some light on the subject for us. We didn’t want to be caught
trespassing so we sat on a grassy area across the street and
watched the site where Sophia’s family used to live.

“
My grandfather was killed
at Rose Cottage, you know,” Sophia said after we sat in silence for
a while.

“
Killed? You mean he was
murdered? Maybe that’s a clue to something.”

“
No. He wasn’t murdered. He
opened the front door to look outside during a big storm and was
struck by lightning. He died immediately. Grandma Briggs cradled
his body until the storm ended and she was able to get
help.”

“
That’s crazy. The chances
of being struck by lightning are rare. Combine that with what
happened to your immediate family and you could say that your
family had a bit of bad luck.”

“
Ha!” Sophia scoffed. “You
don’t know the half of it. We had so much tragedy in our family
that the townspeople began to talk about the Briggs family curse.
All but one of my father’s brothers sailed as well. My Uncle Nathan
died of yellow fever while at sea. Father’s sister and her husband,
Maria and Joseph Gibbs, died when they were washed overboard when
their ship collided with a steamer near North Carolina. They hadn’t
been married very long and they left behind a son who stayed with
Grandmother Briggs at Rose Cottage. Their son died a short time
later, too. Then, the month I was born, my Uncle Zenus died of
yellow fever while on my Uncle Oliver’s ship. The list just keeps
going.”

I was astounded. I grew up with the
story of the Mary Celeste, but I didn’t remember hearing anything
about all the other tragic events. My heart ached for the strange
ghost and her lost family.

“
I’m really sorry, Sophia.
No family should have to go through that much pain.” It sounded
lame, but I didn’t know what else I
could
say.

“
It
is
a really sad series of stories,
isn’t it? But keep in mind that I was so young when I was kidnapped
that I never knew any of my real family members. I didn’t learn
about most of it until I started trying to extricate. And some of
it I didn’t discover until this week when I was reading books in
your bedroom. I know all of it happened to my family, but I’m
having a hard time feeling any connection to them or this place
where Rose Cottage used to be.”

Eventually, Sophia decided to
invisibly poke around in a couple of the nearby homes. We didn’t
find any ghosts that we could talk to. Our first mission was a
complete failure.

Sophia dropped me off just before six,
and I ran up the porch stairs and into the house where I found Dad
making dinner.

“
Dad? You’re home earlier
than I thought. Sorry I was gone so long. I
did
plan on making
dinner.”

Since Dad was gone so much, he gave me
access to a household expense account. I usually did the grocery
shopping and made dinner more often than not. Because I was
typically a responsible child, he always kept money in the account
that I could use to hang out with friends or shop for myself. It
was a pretty good arrangement in my opinion.

“
Don’t worry about it. I’m
just glad I get to see you on the first day of your summer break.”
He paused to stir some soup in a pan on the stove. “Jamie, Camille
stopped by a little while ago.”

“
She did?” I didn’t mean to
sound surprised, but it totally came out that way.

“
I think she was upset about
something, honey. Were you out with Sophia again?” he asked
gently.

“
Yes. We thought it would be
fun to visit the site where Rose Cottage used to stand.”

It was Dad’s turn to look
surprised.

“
Remember? I’m showing her
all our town has to offer this summer. She’s got to learn the story
of some of Marion’s most famous people.”

“
I vaguely remember when the
cottage burned down. I was pretty young, maybe five or six, but
there were rumors of it being haunted. Kids in town would dare each
other to go onto the property at night,” Dad reminisced before
changing the subject. “Can we talk about something that’s been
bothering me, honey?”

“
Sure. What’s
up?”

“
Jamie, I’m worried about
you. I don’t want you to throw away friendships that you’ve had
your entire life to hang out with someone who might only be here
temporarily.”

He didn’t know how right he was about
the temporary thing. “I know, Dad. Sophia and I try to include
Camille when we can, but she doesn’t get as excited about some of
our suggestions as we do.” It was only a partial lie.

“
Just be careful, sweetie.
Remember to think before you act. How old is Sophia
anyway?”

Now came the moment of truth. I wanted
Dad to know that she was old enough to legally drive, but not that
she was old enough to have graduated from high school already. What
eighteen-year-old would willingly hang out with someone three years
younger? I decided to go somewhere in the middle. It seemed
safe.

“
She just barely turned
seventeen, Dad. She has her own car and she’s a really safe driver.
Her parents totally trust her. I promise.”

Dad raised his eyebrows. “Just stay
off your phones when you’re in the car, okay?”

“
Of course,” I
promised.

After eating dinner and helping Dad
with the dishes, I retreated upstairs to my bedroom. A short time
later there was a quiet tap on the door. I opened it to find Sophia
standing in the hall. I grabbed her arm and yanked her into the
room.

“
Are you trying to get me
into trouble?” I hissed.

“
I didn’t know if your Dad
wanted you to have friends over this late and I promised not to
sneak up on you, remember?” she hissed back.

Sophia looked at me in my pajamas and
registered a look of surprise. “Are you going to bed
already?”

“
I don’t know. I guess. I
usually put my pajamas on after dinner and then read until I fall
asleep.”

“
We should go someplace.
Ghosts tend to feel more comfortable going out at night. Maybe we
can go find some. Come on, put some clothes on.” Sophia snapped her
fingers.

I couldn’t take it anymore.
“You know, I’m doing you a favor and it wouldn’t hurt you to be a
little more appreciative and a lot less demanding. I didn’t
ask
to be your soul
saver. I’ve spent every extra moment with you in the last week.
Have you even noticed that I’m losing the people I care about most?
I understand your predicament and I feel sorry for you. Really, I
do. But the fact is that sooner or later you’re going to be gone
and I will still be here. What if I have no one left to stay with
me when you’re gone?”

Sophia appeared shocked as I fiercely
whispered at her. I know I was shocked. Outbursts were not common
coming from me.

I took a deep breath and continued. “I
think you should leave for tonight. I have a lot of thinking to
do.”

“
Ok. Sorry, Jamie. I’ll see
you later.” Sophia stepped back toward my closet and
vanished.

I threw myself onto my bed and sobbed.
Camille didn’t want to hang out with me anymore. I was
disappointing Dad who I knew loved me dearly. If I didn’t help
Sophia I would disappoint someone who had been lost for decades. I
didn’t know what to do so I opted for Plan C. I cried myself to
sleep.

CHAPTER 7

I
felt much better the next morning. I still didn’t know what I
was going to do, but I felt like everything would work out okay. I
took a quick shower and dressed by 8 o’clock. Considering that it
was the first full day of summer break, as well as the fact that it
was a Saturday, I was willing to bet that I was the only teenager
in all of Marion up at that hour. I felt so good that I even took
time to put a little makeup on and ditched my usual weekend
ponytail for an attempt at a hairstyle. Dad was reading his
newspaper, of course, in the living room that morning. He offered
to make me pancakes and I took him up on his offer. It was a rare
occurrence and I couldn’t help but question his motives.

“
Jamie, I know your break is
just starting, but I got a call this morning and I need to go to
Chicago for a conference on Tuesday. I’ll be gone for 4 or 5 days.
I’m really sorry. You know I try to keep my summer travel to a
minimum, but I
have
to go on this trip.”

“
Don’t worry about it. I can
find something to do to stay busy. I’m not a little girl anymore.”
I kissed him on his cheek for added emphasis.

When Dad traveled without me, he
usually notified a neighbor, but I was ultimately left on my own.
To some people the arrangement might seem odd, but Dad checked in
often and there was never a problem. Dad’s trip to Chicago was
actually a blessing in disguise. If he were out of town, I wouldn’t
have to be so cautious with Sophia in the house.

“
I’m glad you aren’t upset,
honey. I’ll make sure there’s plenty of money for you in your
household account before I leave. And no wild parties.” He
laughed.

Dad knew me well enough to know that
it would never even occur to me to throw a party while he was gone.
I really wasn’t a typical teenager.

I spent the rest of the morning
helping Dad catch up on the household to-do list. I cleaned my
bathroom, vacuumed the living room, and washed some laundry. I even
mopped the kitchen floor.

Our home was nothing fancy, but it
worked perfectly for us. We once had the American dream: a modern
three bedroom, two bathroom home on a quarter of an acre in the
same family-oriented subdivision as Camille and many of the other
students at my school. We moved out shortly after Mom left us. Our
first home was only a couple of blocks south of our new home and
was similar in square footage, but memories of Mom were in every
room and Dad couldn’t stand being there. It was as if the walls
still breathed her scent in and out, in and out. The new home was
an old two and a half story home built sometime in the 1890’s,
which meant it was well over 100 years old.

My room and its impressive ocean view
was the best part of our house. In one corner of the room a small
circular staircase that led to the attic. From the attic you could
step out through a tall window to a miniature widow’s walk. History
says that widow’s walks were built on coastal homes so women could
watch the ocean while waiting for their seafaring men to come home.
The idea of ladies in long flowing dresses pacing the floor above
me as I slept sometimes gave me the creeps. Dad wasn’t a big fan of
me going out on the roof so we rarely even went into the attic. The
staircase leading to it had become an extension of my closet and I
often threw my clothes there when I was too lazy to hang them up or
toss them into the hamper.

Previous owners had done an
amazing job of keeping the home in good condition, but when dealing
with an old home there are always little maintenance jobs to do. It
had become a project for me and Dad and we genuinely enjoyed
working on it together. Sometimes we spent his rare days off going
to antique stores. Our goal was to eventually have the entire home
furnished in Victorian era décor. Our
pièce
de résistance
was a beautiful bedroom set
Dad bought on one of our antiquing trips to Boston. I couldn’t stop
admiring it so Dad splurged and got it for my birthday present when
I was thirteen. I especially loved the intricate four-poster
bed.

The doorbell rang shortly after Dad
and I returned to our projects after stopping for lunch. I opened
the door to find a very subdued Sophia.

“
Hi,” she said
cautiously.

“
Hi.”

“
Do you mind if I come
in?”

I stepped aside and she entered the
living room. Dad was outside in the yard working on his summer
vegetable garden. It only consisted of tomatoes and a few herbs,
but he was proud of it nonetheless.

“
I’m sorry about last
night,” Sophia began. “You were right to be angry. I’ve been alone
for so long that I’ve forgotten how to act around true friends.
Yes, I have ghost friends, but they come and go. You never know
when someone is going to extricate and disappear for good without
so much as a goodbye. I’ve been waiting for so long to
finish
my
business
so that I can go be with my real family that I haven’t been very
nice. I’m sorry.”