[ IP ] Abandoned Train Tunnel

`` You live up there, on the hill.'' 
 
 A voice, young, but cracking. Tell tale signs of puberty, a boy becoming a man. She heard it as a whisper in the dark. She turned on her flashlight, observed the bushes, looking for movement. 
 
 `` Yeah,'' she said. `` I do and you know that. I got your note Derek, real scary.'' She had it in the back pocket of her jeans, a crumpled piece of loose-leaf, painstakingly flattened, and then scrawled in a jolting script,'Meet me at the tunnel!' left on the floor of her room. She had almost overlooked it, with all the clutter. 
 
 `` Not Derek,'' said the voice. 
 
 `` Sure you are n't. You do n't give up, I'll give you that, but it wo n't amount to much if you do n't show your face. Also how the fuck did you get in my room, did my mom let you in?'' She found herself an open piece of ground in front of the sheer black of the tunnel, something that unsettled her, but less so than the prospect of an amorous young man jumping out from some bush and sending her on her backside screaming. She tried to see everything at once, failed, and began to get awfully nervous. `` I'm serious, come out!'' She yelled, her voice echoed down the tunnel, and otherwise was met with silence. The wind rustled leaves. 
 
 She swung around again, directed her meager light at the tunnel, saw little and said, `` Okay, I guess I'm leaving then.'' She made her voice hard, but playful, hoping to come across as tempting, not scared. 
 
 `` No!'' The voice again, louder, `` Wait, this is difficult.'' 
 
 `` What? You've already asked me out three times, and you know the answer, just come out, please.'' 
 
 There he was, in front of her, hazy, her light shun through him, made him glow. He was grinning, a boy, perhaps fourteen, black mop of a head, dirty cheeks and sunken eyes. `` See? Not Derek,'' he said, and she screamed. Dropped her light. 
 
 `` Do n't panic!'' Came the voice from the dark. 
 
 She was frozen where she trembled, she brought her arms up to her mouth. She did n't breathe. Stopped screaming after one shrill note. 
 
 `` You've been looking for something like me all along, have n't you Jenny?'' 
 
 She did n't know her heart could beat this fast, it felt dangerous, heart attack dangerous. She was short of breath, but she worked her mouth, said something dumb, `` Ghost.'' 
 
 He laughed, oddly musical, innocent. `` Yes. Ghost,'' he said, and he pointed at his ethereal chest, but she could n't see that. `` I'd give you back your flashlight, but I ca n't pick things up, not all the time. Still working on that.'' 
 
 `` H-How?'' She stammered, eyed her light, the cone it cut through the night, decided she would rather see nothing than what she knew was there. 
 
 `` Not sure really, not sure at all. Before you ask, I did n't die here. You called me.'' Shit eating grin, hands on his hips. 
 
 `` But the message?'' 
 
 `` Yes, that took me awhile. I wrote it in your closet, you do n't often go in there. All your clothes are in the dresser. Oh! Do n't worry, I did n't look for your underwear or anything, and I turn away when you change. Honest. Mostly honest.'' He giggled, he was bold in death, and shameless, he found. 
 
 She took pains to calm herself, she did n't much hear his words, she was still working out the fact he was there at all, and once she was at peace, which he honored with patience, she collected her light and turned it away from where he was standing, in front of the tunnel. `` You're still there?'' she asked. 
 
 `` Yeah, I'm here.'' 
 
 She moved her light with a shaky hand, caught the corner of his leg, paused, and then brought him back into the light. 
 
 `` Cool, huh?'' he said. 
 
 `` Very.'' She breathed, `` The oujia board?'' 
 
 `` Mhmm, I think so.'' 
 
 `` I thought Candice was messing with me.'' 
 
 `` She was, but I was too. Anyway, you called me here.'' 
 
 `` You're really a ghost, really really a ghost?'' She was growing excited, edging closer, they were close enough to touch now, and she was raising her hand as though she wanted to, but thought better. She left it halfway in the air, as if she were to caress his cheek. 
 
 `` Yup. Think so, I bet once we get comfy you're going to ask me allll sorts of questions about death and such, but to be frank, I do n't know squat. Pretty sure I'm ghost though. I mean, look at me.'' He laughed. 
 
 `` This is so cool!'' She squealed and pumped her arms, her flashlight danced on the tree tops, `` I ca n't believe it.'' 
 
 `` I'm glad you're taking this well, I was n't sure.'' 
 
 `` You sure you did n't die here? Is n't that how these things go? I heard this place was haunted.'' 
 
 He smiled, shrugged, `` Reasonably sure, I would n't know this is my first time too. And I guess its haunted now.'' 
 
 `` Can I touch you?'' 
 
 `` Wow, I'm getting this far already,'' he grinned, `` sure!'' 
 
 She reached out, hovered near his cheek and then placed it where his cheek would have been. There was some resistance, a lot of cold, and then she pushed through, hand in his would be mouth. 
 
 `` Weird,'' he said, his image wavered, his non body tingled. 
 
 `` Totally,'' she said and withdrew her hand, examined it, `` no ectoplasm or whatever.'' 
 
 `` Guess not. That's good, I would n't want to leave a mess.'' He broke out into hysterics, wheezed, tried to apologize, hand on his stomach, bending over. 
 
 `` Sorry?'' 
 
 `` Suicide. I was a suicide, when you die I guess your sense of humor does too.'' He was still laughing. 
 
 She fumbled for words, found none. 
 
 Suddenly he felt very awkward, very fleshy, very real. `` I've gone and made it weird, have n't I? I'm sorry. Really.'' 
 
 `` No, no. It's just, man this is strange. Can I ask why, you know, you did it?'' 
 
 His smile returned, `` Funny, I ca n't remember. I guess it did n't matter after all.'' There was a silence after those words, she had withdrawn a few steps. He made a noise like he was clearing his throat, which he did not technically have. `` But let's not talk about me.'' 
 
 `` How could we not?'' 
 
 He took a deep breath, rolled back and forth on his heels and then said, `` Right, well then how about why I asked you here?'' 
 
 `` I'm dying to know,'' she said and then stumbled back, hand to her mouth, eyes wide. `` Was that rude?'' she asked at a whisper. 
 
 He smiled, pressed on. `` I asked you here because I wanted to ask you on a date.'' He closed his eyes, waited, tensed. 
 
 `` Uh,'' she said. 
 
 `` No, huh? Figures. Oh well, do n't feel bad about it. We're dimensions apart, after all, darling.'' He was smiling, but sad, that seemed to be the way his face was stuck. Maybe it was the last one he made. 
 
 `` Okay. Take me on a date, Mr Ghost.'' 
 
 He jumped, floated in the air like a proper spook, twirled around her. Set himself down, composed himself. `` I thought we'd take a walk,'' he said, hand outstretched at his side, waiting for her to take it. She did. 
 
 `` Sounds nice.'' 
 
 They strolled, hand in hand, towards that suddenly welcoming tunnel. She tried not to squeeze through his grip. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

