Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) by Joy Elbel Page A

Spare time together was
disappearing at lightning speed but our relationship was still
moving so slowly.
I bet Rachel and Boone never had this
problem. She probably had to fight him off until she finally
decided to have sex with him. Zach should be the one willing
to ignore everything else in an epic quest to get into my pants
and not the other way around.
Dodging all questions from
Dad and Shelly, I went to bed early. I slept like a rock until the
nightmare came.
    It started out in the hall leading to the cafeteria, the
same as before. The lights were off and the hallway was dark.
The only light I could see was a soft, shimmering glow spilling
out of the cafeteria.
As I walked, I could sense someone
walking with me—the light tap of footsteps on the floor, the
whispery sigh
of
a breath in
my ear—but I couldn’t see
anything. A faint hum of music floated through the air. With
my invisible companion by my side, I stepped inside.
    Party decorations littered the floor and ghostly trails
of crepe paper streamed down from the ceiling.
Brushing
them out of my face as I walked, I spotted a couple dancing in
the corner.
There was something so intimate about their
embrace that I almost left them to their privacy. That is until I
recognized them. It was Zach and Misty swaying to the music,
both dressed in black and entwined so closely that it was hard
to discern where he ended and she began.
    A hollow feeling grew in my chest as though my soul
were being drained from my body by the very sight of them.
It was a horrible vision but I couldn’t look away. I watched
them
from afar as
they moved together in
a slow circle.
Zach’s eyes were closed, his face frozen in a moment of pure
joy. As they turned, Misty’s face came into view. But it was no
longer Misty—it was Creepy Girl and she didn’t look happy at
all.
She slid her hands up Zach’s back never breaking eye
contact with me.
And with a wicked smile, she locked her
fingers around his neck and started to squeeze.
    Waking up in a cold sweat, I went into instant panic
mode. The dream couldn’t possibly have any hidden meaning,
could it? Sure, she was strange, but there was no way Creepy
Girl could be trying to kill Zach.
I mean, what reason could
she possibly have?
My overactive imagination—that’s all it
was. However, I instantly felt bad for blowing Zach off earlier.
He probably had no idea how I felt and by not telling him, I
just made things worse. The last thing I ever wanted to do
was hurt his feelings but that was exactly what I did. What if
something bad did happen to him? I would always regret not
being honest with him.
Instead of festering over what was
wrong
with
our relationship, I should have settled for
enjoying what was right. I hugged my pillow and cried—not
because of the dream but because of how childish I’d been.
    I woke up with a headache from all of my time spent
crying. My stomach growled at me angrily, reminding me that
essentially I didn’t eat at all yesterday. Chatting with Shelly
while I buried my face in a large bowl of cereal, the day was at
least starting out better than yesterday did. The only thing
about today that was really going to suck was phys ed. Was I
ready to undress in front of a bunch of girls I didn’t know?
Absolutely not but it was going to happen anyway. Maybe I
would get lucky and we wouldn’t have to wear our uniforms
today.
    When I saw Zach’s car pull up out front, I felt the same
sadness I felt after the dream. So the very second my butt hit
the seat, I threw my arms around him and held on tight.
    “Please tell me what I did to deserve that so I can do it
every day,” Zach whispered in my ear. Even though I couldn’t
see his face, I knew that he was smiling and it just made me
cling to him even tighter.
    “I love you, Zach. I’m sorry I didn’t come over last
night. I just had such a rotten day yesterday….” There
weren’t enough words to express just how sorry I was, or how
much I loved him.