• That Monday

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    I woke up, still nothing was wrong. It's as if the ghost had moved out. I was
    confused. Did he stop because he knew what ever he wanted from me he wasn't
    getting? Or was it that he just got bored? Either way it made me happy that I
    wasn't marked by an unseen force. It was getting unbelieveable.
    "Ta, ready?" Matt asked. He was sitting at the table, finishing his coffee. He
    looked tired as hell. Which was unusual for his mornings.
    "Yeah, you're subbing in gym today arn't you?" I put my cup in the sink and got
    my jacket.
    "Um, yeah. Mrs. Kelly will be out for the week, so I am subbing until she
    returns." He looked totally out of it. It was weird to see. Hard to believe. He
    was the morning person, up and ready, always pushing me out of bed.
    "Oh, she okay?" We walked out to the car.
    "Just a bad cold. She'll get over it."
    We were on our way to the school. I tried thinking of every reason why he was
    like this today. I looked at him closely. That's when I saw the first clue.
    "Matt, what happened to your arm?" Bruises and cuts covered what I could see of
    his wrist.
    "Oh, um...it got a little rough on the ice last practice." I looked at his face,
    seeing the lie as he spoke. I decided to leave it alone. There wasn't enough
    time to crack him, we were just pulling into a parking spot.
    "Oh, when we get back home, I'll clean it up for you. It looks like it may get
    infected."
    "Okay. I'll see you at 3, I love you." He leaned over and kissed me.
    "I love you too, bye." We walked in different directions.
    I went through my first 2 classes fine. When the kids presented their videos, I
    tried to think up more reasons to why Matt would lie to me. I decided to push
    the thought away till after lunch. Josh could always tell when I was unhappy
    about something, I didn't want him to be unhappy also. It's how our friendship
    worked.
    "Afternoon my dear Ta." Josh said. He was the first to ever call me Ta. But only
    two people in the world call me that now. Matt and Josh.
    I was lucky that Matt wasn't super jealous like a lot of other guys. I could
    hang out with Josh all day and he wouldn't be mad.
    "Morning hun. How are you today?" I sat down and smiled.
    "Great, and yourself?" He sat across from me.
    "Wonderful. I was able to pick up chicken and broccoli from the chinese
    restraunt this morning." I pulled out my lunch.
    "Ah, I have a boring sandwhich." Josh laughed.
    We ate and chatted until the bell for next period rang. We said bye and left for
    our last class.
    "Okay class. Next class we start To Kill a Mockingbird. Tonight, no homework.
    Have a good day." I said standing up and packing my things. The bell rang and
    everyone rushed out, happy for the end of the day. I headed down to Matt's
    office, but he wasn't there. Probably had a make-up class to do. He'd let them
    off easy, we did have to leave in 15 minutes. So I sat at his desk and played
    with his little hockey guys he had sitting on his desk.
    I waited 20 minutes, he finally came.
    "Hey Ta, sorry. I had a make-up kid and she just wouldn't settle with 10 minutes
    for the 20 she needed." He put down his papers and hugged me. "Lets get going.
    She should be getting there soon." He grabbed his keys and dragged me to the
    car.
    We got there just as Cris did.
    "You must be Taralee, and you are?" She looked at Matt, "Wait, Matthew Death,
    her husband." Matt and I looked at each other confused.
    "Yes. But how'd you know?" Matt asked.
    "You called me to find out about the supernatural. To do so, I must have some
    kind of power, am I right?" He nodded and we showed her inside. "Oh my my my,
    what do we have here? Male, about 34 died 49 years ago, in this very house." She
    looked at the kitchen table. "He wants us to sit." She looked at us and showed
    us to the chairs.
    We all picked a seat and sat down. "Ow!" Matt jumped from his seat. "What the?"
    He rubbed his arm.
    "He doesn't like you, he wants Tara to sit there." Cris said with a smile. I
    moved slowly from my seat and sat down, leaning towards Matt. It was kind of
    awkward sitting next to a ghost. "Okay, now, to do this, I need everyone to join
    hands, Tara, you will join hands with me, not the empty chair." She gave another
    warm smile. "I am going to get a better connection with the ghost so I can see
    what he wants." We nodded and joined hands. "Now, whatever happens, neither of
    you can let go until I tell you. If we have him here and we lose the connection
    with him either possessing my body or just in the circle, it will trap him and
    make him angrier, then who knows what he will do then." We nodded again and
    looked at her, waiting for her to start.
    "I call upon you to join this circle. Reveal yourself to us and show what is--"
    she started spazzing. Her whole body, as if someone was shaking her and not
    lightly at that. "Tara. How could you love him?" She said, her voice was deeper,
    almost exactly like the voice that yelled at me that night. "You are mine Tara,
    I love you. Not him, he is nothing." I couldn't answer to that, and I could tell
    Matt was trying so hard to blow up at him.
    "I don't love you." I said quietly. The grip on my hand grew tighter, the pain
    was unbearable, but I knew I couldn't let go.
    "You don't what Taralee?" He yelled.
    "Love you. I don't love you, I love Matt. You are dead...."
    "Dead, since when did that stop anything. I watched you grow, I saw you get you
    heartbroken, I was the one who would whisper to you, it wasn't you imagination.
    I was the one who was always there for you, he was there in high school, then
    you left. He took you away from me Tara. He took you and when your mom died, he
    brought you back, but he had you all to himself, he didn't share like your mom
    did. She didn't take you away for a long time. You are so beautiful Tara, I saw
    you become the women you are today, not Matt, no. He was only there for a time.
    You will be mine Tara. You will. Be. Mine." And then Cris's face lightened, she
    looked at us, saw our horror.
    "He is obsessed with you Tara, either you must leave or he will find a way to
    get you. I can't be sure how that will be, but death is most likely the way."
    Cris let go of our hands and stood. "Do what you wish with the information I
    have showed you."
    "Thank you, how much do we owe you?" Matt said, reaching for his wallet.
    "Don't pay me, you need the money, I see you just redid the whole kitchen. Must
    have been a lot. I'd leave soon before he decides to do something you'll all
    regret." She then left.
    "Matt, let's leave. Please, we need to get out of here, soon." I grabbed his
    hand, leading him up to the bedroom and started packing clothes.
    "No, we are staying. We are not getting run out of our house."
    "It was his house first! He is mad, he is mad at you, at me for being with you.
    I love you Matt and he could kill one of us. We need to go!" I yelled.
    "No, we can make it. We will." He pulled me close and hugged me.
    "Matt--"
    "Tara, everything will be okay." He whispered in my ear. "I love you, don't
    worry."
    With a sigh I replied, "Fine, I love you too. Oh hey, I still have to look at
    your scratches. You guys need to stop getting so rough in practices." I was
    putting clothes back.
    "Oh yeah... Um, lets do that later."
    "No, I need to do it now, they look pretty bad." I walked over and pulled his
    sleeves up. They were all over him. I lifted his shirt, there were a few deep
    scratches and a huge bruise. I looked on his back, it looked like nails were dug
    into his back. "Matthew! What happened, I demand you tell me the complete and
    God's honest truth!"
    With a sigh he said, "It was the ghost."
    "Matt, we have to leave, right now! Look at you! He could kill you!" Tears fell
    from my eyes.
    "Tara, it's my body, it's our house. Let him scratch me, I can deal with it, but
    he is not running us out of our own house!"
    "We will come back when everything quiets down! Matthew. look at you." He looked
    to the ground. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you really want to stay."
    He looked up, looked me straight in they eyes and said,
    "I want to stay."
    "You can stay. I am going, until you realize that this is hurting more then just
    you I am going to stay with Josh." I said, packing the rest of my clothes. I
    walked downstairs and grabbed my papers for class tomorrow. "Goodbye Matthew."
    "Taralee, be serious."
    "I am, it's pretty much suicide you are dealing with!" I grabbed my car keys.
    "Call me when you decide you don't want to be suicidal anymore." I walked out,
    ignoring my name being called from behind.

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    I woke up the next morning, my head pounding and my mind racing.
    "Morning hun. How you feeling?" Josh asked, handing me a cup of coffee.
    "Um, like s**t. Thanks." I took a sip of coffee.
    "Maybe you should stay out today, I'll stay home too, we can talk. Like old
    times." I nodded. "I'll call in, say we both got something."
    Josh and I sat and talked for a while.