Ha! They think I’m sleeping. See, I can be quiet when I want to be! And I think Ghost is a cool name. I also think I should get full credit for it.
I like Ghost. He brought us to the mysterious house across the street. I haven’t been to old man Eric’s home since we sang carols to him last Christmas, and then it was crammed full of old people nick-knacks on doilies. “Dust-catchers” my mother called them. It’s not like that now.
I remember when we got in last night, it was totally dark and my eyes were burning so much from that smoke I couldn’t see anything. I heard a door close behind us, and I heard my ghost say “You’re safe now.” Then I heard a thud as someone hit the floor. “Mom?” I asked. “KC? Houston?”
Ghost’s voice was reassuring in the dark. “They’re in shock. They’ll be fine after a little sleep; your mother’s just collapsed and your brother and sister have joined her.” That made sense. They probably felt it was safe enough to take a nap. I felt safe too. I didn’t know where I was and I didn’t really know Ghost, but I could tell that I could trust him. I mean, he saved us! And he stopped that zombie from biting me more!
I started crying at the thought of that biting head. “My arm hurts.”
Ghost spoke like he understood. “I’m sure it does, that parasite had a good grip on you.”
“Why am I not dead?”
“Because of your raincoat. Your mother invested in some pretty thick vinyl there. Can you take it off for me? I need to wash it in saltwater.”
“Because it has zombie spit on it?”
“Something like that.”
I needed help getting my raincoat on in the first place, and I needed help getting it off too. But once it was off I felt like I really was safe, and once I realized I was safe, I realized that I was super tired. Not “it’s late” tired, but tired in my head and body. Even my eyeballs were tired. I felt around in the dark for someone, found Houston, found Naked, and then soon found myself asleep.
Now that I’m awake I can feel my arm again. I’ve got these dashes on it, like the ones you see down the middle of the road. I bet the dashes don’t hurt the road as much as they hurt me. I look around now that it’s light enough to see and I gasp.
“Cooooool,” I exhale.