Out of the Darkness

32

"I'll go with you," she said, floating behind me. "No!" I whispered harshly, noticing that Corey had just come in the front door downstairs. "They can't see you and they can't see me talking to you!" I watched as her form completely disappeared except for a slight shimmer. "This better? I won't say a word. Pinky promise." I grinned and rolled my eyes. "So, I guess you can do that at will. Good to know."  When I reached the first floor landing, Corey was going into his room. "Hey bro," I said, throwing my hand up as I walked through the entryway to the hall leading to the kitchen. "Yo, what's up man? Give me about an hour and then we can film. You still down?" he asked, stepping inside his room, looking back at me. "Yeah, sure. Whenever you're ready," I answered. He nodded and walked inside his room. I had no idea what he wanted to film but he was always there for me if I needed him. When I got to the kitchen, I grabbed some berries and fruit to make a fruit bowl. It didn't take long, and I threw in some chocolate chips for good measure. After I grabbed a cold bottle of water from the fridge, I headed back upstairs. I could hear music blasting from outside where Jake was with Tara and her friend. Usually, I'd be out there with him. I vaguely wondered if this is how it started with George, the man who had went crazy. I really hoped not. "See, I was good. I didn't speak and no one saw me," Anna's whispered voice startled me. I gasped and stopped on the second floor landing. "For fuck's sake Anna, you have got to stop doing that. I forgot you were even with me." Her tinkling laughter made me smile. "That means that I'm not so bad at this ghost thing. This could be fun. It's funny when you get scared of lil' ol' me." "Oh, you think that's funny huh?" I asked, looking at the slightly shimmering area where I knew she as at. "Yup. Very funny," she replied. "Best laugh I've had in God knows how long. Maybe hundreds of years." "No. Your clothes aren't hundreds of years old. You know, it's really not fair that I can't get you back. It's kind of hard to scare a ghost," I answered. "Um, Colby." I froze, hearing Sam's voice. Shit. I pasted a smile on my face and turned towards him. "Yeah, what's up?" I asked. "Who are you talking too?" he asked, looking around like he was going to see someone jump out of the wall. "Myself," I answered quickly, my brain not working fast enough to come up with a valid excuse. "Um, you're telling yourself that it's not fair that you can't scare a ghost?" he asked, his face confused and concerned. "Ugh yeah, I guess. Just thinking. Possible skits and shit for future videos." I had no idea what I was saying, so I started laughing nervously. "Are you okay?" he asked me. I glanced over to where I knew Anna was at, then back to Sam. He followed my gaze, but didn't show any sign that he saw anything. "Yeah brother, I'm fine. Just thinking out loud, ya know?" He reached his hand behind his head and scratched, the confusion still on his face. "Okay then. If you need to talk, you know I'm here, yeah?" I nodded, and grinned. "Yeah, I'm good. Just thinking, like I said. I'll see you when Corey's ready to film." Without another word, I opened my door, walked inside, and closed it before Sam could say anything else. "Shit," I muttered, scrubbing my face with my hands. "Sorry," Anna whispered from beside me. I turned to where her voice came from and watched her transparent form appear in front of me. "S'not your fault. I just have to be more careful. I swear they're going to have me admitted," I sighed, shaking my head. I could still see Sam's worried eyes in my mind. "Back to the research for a while," I said, nodding my head towards my computer. "I'll have to go film with Corey in a little while though." I walked over to my desktop and sat down, pulling the hidden pages back up. "Can I come watch? What are you filming? Are you guys in the movies? That would make sense actually. You're all good looking enough to be." she asked, the scent of fruity citrus floating around me. "And the fact that you can afford this stellar computer. I've never seen one like this before. AND you have internet! You guys must be hella rich. "Uh we're YouTubers. You know, we just make funny content or whatever for people to watch on YouTube. We're not rich. I mean, I guess we're well off, but I wouldn't say rich. But wait, if you aren't used to the internet or computers, then before the late 2000's. That's a clue. Great. Ok yeah, I guess. You'll just need to stay quiet and invisible," I replied absentmindedly, taking down more notes. It was eerie how comfortable I was getting talking to a ghost. Almost like it was normal. "Yayyy!" she squealed loudly, clapping her hands. No sound emitted from them, but I could see the motion. I grinned at her acting like a kid. "You act like it's some big deal. We'll probably just react to something, or act like total idiots for a little while. Nothing big." She shrugged, smile on her beautiful face. "Doesn't matter. I've been stuck in the darkness for so long, anything is entertaining." She nodded towards my computer screen. "Even trying to figure out my own demise." I didn't know how to respond to that, so I turned my face back to the screen and continued taking notes on all of the articles we were reading. We were starting with all of the disappearing people who were actually named.