Page 22 of Lightning Angel
Thatcaught her attention despite listening to every word. “What?”
“I think it’s your dad’s ghost…”
Alexa stiffened at first, and then she clenched her jaw. “Nice try, Melissa. I’m not playing your game. Do you really hate me so much that you want to call me in the middle of night and tell me my dad’s ghost is in your house?”
Melissa’s sobs reverberated through the speaker. “Alexa, I swear! I swear on my life! I’m telling the truth. I saw it, it was a dark shadow, it moved like vampires in movies. It’s roaming all around my house. There was a crash in my kitchen first, I woke up and went to check, but there was nothing amiss. Then I saw this passing dark figure, like a vampire. I screamed and came back to my room immediately, and I found a note on my bed; it said, I should call you right away and apologize—”
“A note?”
“It was signed byLightning Knight.”
“Lightning Knight?” Alexa’s heart hammered for no reason.
“Yes, do you know who that is?”
Alexa’s mind refused to process what was going on. “No, I’ve never heard of it. You’re not… pranking me, are you?”
“Alexandra, my life is hanging on a cliff! Pranking you is the last thing I want, especially with your dad’s ghost threatening me.”
“Ghosts don’t exist, silly.”
“Then who is thisLightning Knight?”
“I don’t know!” Alexa threw her free hand in the air exasperatedly.
“I don’t care, because whoever or whatever it is, it won’t leave until I have apologized.”
“Did it tell you that?” Alexa couldn’t believe she was actually discussing ghosts with the person who thought fiction and fictional stuff were immature.
“No, I… I actually refused to call you at first. And it banged on my door, as if it read my mind or something. So I called you immediately; it hasn’t banged or made a noise again… yet.”
“Well, since you have apologized, it should be gone now.”
“I hope so.” Melissa sighed, but Alexa could tell she wasn’t assured.
“So,thatwas why you apologized, though I still don’t get what or who could be inside your house.”
“Don’t you believe me?”
“That there’s someone in your house? Yes, I do. I have no other choice. It made you apologize after all. But, one question, did you actually mean it? The apology?”
Alexa’s question was met with a beat of silence, until she heard a bang coming from the other end of the line, followed by Melissa’s deafening shriek, and, “Yes, yes, I mean it. I mean itnow. I swear not to bully you again. I’ll let you be and clear your reputation if my actions have ruined it. I promise!”
Melissa was sobbing again. Alexa sighed. “I forgive you.”
“Thank you,” Melissa choked out. “I’m truly scared, Alexa. It’s still here, and I’m alone. I have no crucifix with me!”
It wasn’t as if crucifixes could actually keep ghosts away. Alexa’s fingers reached for the cross pendant around her neck and clutched it in her palm.Only Christ living in you could; no human-made object has such power even if it resembles a sanctified sign—she thought absentmindedly.
Ifthis thing was a ghost at all. And, herdad’sghost? As much as Alexa wanted to believe it—it was touching more than she could express—she knew ghosts didn’t exist. Neither did vampires, or any other mythical creatures, as much as she loved fiction and wished they had.
“Hold on, I’ll call Daph.”
“What can she do?”
“You can sleep in her house.”
“She’s mad at me after what I did to you. She won’t let me in. Even if she agrees, I don’t know how to get past a ghost to make it out of my house first.”