Haunted Read Free Page B

been for the prom. He was leaning against the tree, arms casually crossed, smiling as she came.
    For a moment, she was afraid. Only a moment.
    â€œJosh?”
    â€œDarcy, poor Darcy,” he said softly. His rueful smile reminded her of his father’s when he had spoken to her over his son’s coffin. “Darcy, you’ve got to know. It’s okay. Honestly, it’s okay.”
    â€œIt’s not okay, you’re dead.” She frowned, amazed to realize that she was a little angry with him. “You knew it, Josh! You knew you were going to die. The day that Mike threatenedyou…you said that maybe you’d be dead, but he’d be dead as well. And he is!”
    â€œI know. I’m sorry. He was a true jerk, but I didn’t really hate him.”
    â€œJosh—”
    â€œI’ve got to go, Darcy. I just wanted you to know that I’m okay. I’m really okay. And you’ve got to go on.”
    â€œI will, Josh, but…I never knew how much I’d miss you,” she whispered.
    He touched her hair. Except that…he wasn’t real, and of course, it was just a whisper of the breeze.
    â€œI’ll always be with you, Darcy. When you need me, just think of me. Here.” He laid his palm against his heart.
    â€œOh, Josh!”
    He was fading. Into the silver color of the day. Of course. It was a dream. A drug-induced dream.
    He smiled. “You’re special, Darcy. You’ll need to be strong,” he said softly.
    And then he was gone.
    Â 
    It began the next day.
    Her father had determined that he wasn’t going into work; neither was her mother. They were going to spend the day with her, take a drive to the nearby mountains, and just spend time in that quite and beautiful part of their state.
    He couldn’t find his Palm Pilot.
    â€œYou left it on the counter of your bath,” she told him.
    â€œHow on earth would you know that? Were you in our room, sweetheart?” her dad asked.
    â€œNo,” Darcy said, startled herself. “I just…well, I guess it’s a place you might have left it.”
    He went upstairs to his bathroom and returned with his Palm Pilot, looking at her oddly. “Thanks. I guess you know your old man pretty well, huh, kid?”
    Of course, that was it.
    But then…
    Little pieces of precognition began to come to her, now and then. A few that summer, a few during her first years of college, more after that.
    They were disturbing at first. Then she came to accept them. She thought that they were maybe something that Josh had very strangely managed to leave her.
    It wasn’t until later that she decided it was time to call Josh’s father.
    When the ghosts came.

1
    J eannie Mason Thomas lay in the white expanse of the four-poster bed in the Lee room at Melody House in pure bliss.
    Roger was snoring softly at her side. Men, she thought affectionately. Bless ’em. Whatever came, they could sleep.
    She could not. She had to keep playing over the day, minute by minute. Her wedding day.
    There had been the usual hassles in the morning. Her mom had gotten all teary every few minutes, and insisted on giving speeches about sex and marriage that were totally unnecessary. Alice, her matron of honor, had clipped off two of her newly purchased acrylic nails trying to fix Jeannie’s train. Sandy, another bridesmaid, had gotten too looped on the champagne they had shared while dressing for the service. The limo had been late. Her original soprano had come down with a sore throat leaving Jeannie desperately seeking a new singer at the last minute. But she’d managed to find an Irish tenor through the priest, Father O’Hara, and once she had reached the Revolution-era church just outside town, everything had gone perfectly.
    Everyone claimed that it had been one of the most beautiful weddings they had ever seen. Roger had been tall, dark, and glorious in his tux. Her father had been stately,