Chapter 148

The stress of the day had taken over Will, and he fell asleep while staring at the ceiling. The empty, white slate of the ceiling let his mind go blank. The turmoil within slipped away, melting into the nothingness as he sank into the abyss. But the restful sleep he wanted for didn’t come. Images plagued him, disconnected images that didn’t seem to mean anything on their own. Images he didn’t want, that he wouldn’t welcome if he had control of them.
***
“Happy birthday!” The crowd called out as Will blew out his candles. Grace clung to his side, planting a kiss on his cheek. It was for show though. They’d been a big argument before arriving to the party. He’d been trying to make with her all day, but she wasn’t interested. She decided she’d put on a good face for the party, but it was fake.
“Babe,” Will pleaded, following Grace into their hotel room. “I don’t want to be in a fight.”
“I don’t want to hear it!” she crossed her arms and faced away from him. “I can’t keep waiting for you!”
“I just turned nineteen. What you’re asking for is unrealistic.”
“Why don’t you want to start your life with me?” she cried.
“I don’t need to ‘start’ my life with you. My life is already with you. How can I make you see that?” he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. “We’re just kids, Grace. We have so much time for all that adult stuff. Just because I don’t want to get married now, doesn’t mean I don’t want to marry you ever. Why are you rushing this?”
“Because I’m ready! I’ve been ready for this for this since we were kids. I don’t want to wait anymore!” she went to walk away from him, but Will held her arm and pulled her back to him.
“I love you,” he said. “But we are still so young. We’re still teenagers. I will marry you.”
“You promise?” she sniffled.
“Yes. But not today,” he smiled. “Let’s go back out to the party.”
The scene shifted. Will was talking to a group of his friends. Grace was notably absent.
Will was in a sour mood. Even after making up, Grace was still acting strange. Avoiding him and pushing him away.
“Dude,” his best friend Alex punched in the shoulder. “Who is that guy?”
“What guy?”
“The one over there,” Alex motioned towards the over side of the pool. Someone about their age stood there. Watching them.
“Oh him? I guess Pop must have invited. I used to know him years ago. He was nice, but then his family moved away. I guess they’re back now.”
“Oh shit, he noticed us looking. He’s coming this way.”
The new guy walked over with a smile.
“Hey,” he greeted. “It’s been a while. It’s good to see you.”
“Good to see you too,” Will said. “This is Alex. Alex, this is…”
The scene changed again, and it was a far cry from the festive atmosphere of a pool party.
“How could you do this to me? To us?” Will cried. “I thought you loved me!”
“I thought you loved me!” Grace countered. “I told you want I wanted, and you won’t give it to me!”
“That doesn’t make it okay to cheat on me! How long has this been going on?”
“You weren’t supposed to find out,” she looked away.
“How long?” Will shouted.
“It started after your birthday party last year. I hadn’t planned it. He approached me at first, and I wasn’t interested. Eventually though, I just… couldn’t resist him anymore. It doesn’t matter anyway. He and I want to be together. So… I’m breaking up with you. He’s going to give me the life I want. The one you refused to give me.”
“What life, Grace? What life? We’re only twenty years old!”
“I don’t care! I want what I want, and you won’t give it to me! I want to get married and have babies!”
“And he’s going to give that you to? Right now?”
“Well, not right now…”
“So, you’ll wait for him but not for me? How does that make sense?”
“Whatever, Will!” Grace shot back when she didn’t have answer. “I’m done with this. I’m moving on. The truth is… that he makes me happier than you do. He excites me. I’m bored of you.”
“Don’t do this,” Will begged. “Don’t leave me.”
“I already did.”
***
“Come on, man. You’ve been in here for over a week,” Alex called.
“You’ve got to come out,” his other friend, Derek, added.
“Get out!” Will yelled, throwing a half drunken bottle of whiskey towards them. They jumped out of the way, and the glass shattered behind them. He dissolved into a mess of sloppy sobs. His friends didn’t know what to do.
“Please, man. We hate seeing you like this.”
“How could she do this to me?” he wailed. “I love her. “How could she leave me? How could she leave me for…”
Will woke with a start, catching his breath. He sat on the edge of his bed, running his fingers through his hair, slouched over with his elbows resting on his knees while his heart jackhammered against his ribs. He hadn’t had that dream in a long time. In that year after Grace left him, it plagued him every night. But there was something different this time. Something familiar… something he hadn’t noticed before. It was something that pulled at the periphery of his mind. Notice me, it said. I’ve been here the whole time.
He looked at his phone and saw a recent missed call from Emma. He scrambled to call her back.
“Hi,” he greeted when she answered.
“Hi, are you okay? You sound off.”
“I’m sorry. I think the stress at the office is getting to me. I got home and fell asleep.”
“Why don’t you come over in the morning instead? You’ll be more refreshed, and I can make us a great breakfast.”
“That sounds like a good idea. But instead of you making breakfast, I want to take you and the baby out somewhere.”
“Okay. So, tomorrow then. You’ll have to make it up to me.”
“You know I will.”
He felt bad for bailing on Emma. But according to Alex’s Boyfriend 101, he was never supposed to be honest with his feelings. And after the events of the day, he wouldn’t have been able to be present with Emma.
“Another important lesson is to always be honest about what you’re feeling. Hiding your emotions doesn’t help anyone. If you don’t feel well, or up for something, it’s okay to let your partner know that.”
“See, that doesn’t make sense to me. So, if we were supposed to go do something, and I don’t feel like it, it’s okay to say that?”
“Yes. No one should be forced into doing something they don’t want to do or be somewhere they don’t want to be. Sometimes people aren’t up for things. And that’s okay.”
He hoped Alex was right, and that Emma wasn’t actually upset with him. But he would have to tackle that in the morning. Right now, he needed to figure out what the dream was telling him. Going through the things Grace had left him, had stirred up old emotions and memories.
His mind floated back to his dreams. A common thread seemed to connect them, and he couldn’t grab hold of it. It was like a ghost playing with the holes in his memory.
“A ghost,” Will repeated. He sat up; his eyes flew open with sudden realization. He dashed over to where he had left the photo album Grace had left behind. The photo of the pool party was the first one. There was a reason she did that. He analyzed the photo.
“What were you trying to tell me, Grace?”
And then he saw it. In the background of the photo, facing away from the camera. Panic and dread bloomed within him. This nightmare had been years in the making. After his moment of fear, wrath set in. This was personal. It had always been personal. He got his phone and called Captain Whitlock.
“Captain Damon Whitlock,” he answered.
“Captain, it’s Will. I know who Ghost is.”
Will’s car tires screeched as he careened around the corner by the station. He had Emma on the line because he knew she wouldn’t appreciate being kept in the dark. But he knew he couldn’t tell her everything,
“I can’t tell you everything, not yet at least.”
“What’s going on?”
“The captain had suspected that something more was going on, especially after they found my uncle dead.”
“But he killed himself,” Emma said. “I don’t understand.”
“No. I was staged to look like a suicide. He was murdered.”
“Oh my God,” Emma gasped. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. You were right. Grace left a clue. But I can’t tell you more, babe, I’m so sorry.”
“But…”
“Please, Emma. I can’t say anything else. I’ll keep you updated as best I can.”
“I understand. I’m not happy about it, but I get it. Thank you for not lying to me.”
“I’m trying,” he smiled.
“I know,” Emma’s voice softened. “I’m trying too.”
After hanging up, Will rushed into the captain’s office. Captain Whitlock had cleared his desk, ready for Will to go over what he had found. The frantic and frenzied energy permeated the room as Will handed everything to the captain.
“How bad is it?” The captain asked.
“We’re in trouble.”
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