Chapter Nine
AN: Hey guys, I'm sorry about not updating ALL SUMMER. For most of it, I just sort of forgot about the fic, and then I wasn't inspired, and then I was busy doing my AP World summer assignments. But I promised myself I'd give you an update before school (for me, at least) started. So, with three days to spare, here you are!
-Rick's POV-
I don't know why I still hang out at the Dot. All it does is cause me anger and pain, and yet here I sit.
JT Yorke walked in and started toward me. I really wished he would just leave me alone—mostly because I envied him. I envied the fact that he could just live his afterlife without anger, without drama, without angst.
But something in his continuance as he advanced toward me seemed…not like his usual self.
"Hey Rick," he said, his voice sounding strained.
"Hi, JT," I responded. It seemed like he was finally feeling the harshness of the afterlife, and for that I felt something almost like respect towards him.
"Can I see your hands?" I wondered what he could want to see my hands for, but I held them up anyway. He looked for a second, and then back at his.
"What are you trying to do?" I asked. He sighed.
"Well, I just discovered that ghosts who were murdered have red hands," he confessed. I glanced at my scarlet hands, and realized that he was trying to see.
"So…is that all?" He nodded, thought a second, and shook his head.
"Actually, you're pretty observant, right?" I nodded curtly, starting to wish again that I was somewhere else. "Well, do you know Julia? She's been dead about a year now."
"I think I've seen her," I said quietly, recalling the dark haired girl that I had seen around occasionally. I remembered her strength, wishing I could somehow be as forceful as her some day.
"Well, she thinks she was hit by a car on accident, but she has red hands. What do you think?"
"Honestly, I really don't care. But I don't think a natural-causes ghost, or an accident ghost, could be as strong as her." He had on a melancholy expression, like I had confirmed his fears.
If JT didn't come off as happy all the time, I might feel sorry for him. I had seen has death, had seen all the loose ends he hadn't been able to tie. I regretted my death a lot, but I had seen it coming. I knew of the downward spiral I was falling into. JT was completely innocent, and at the time, I had felt something of pity towards him.
I saw how he bounced back, though, in all due time. Even in the afterlife he was easy-going and playful. Even in the afterlife he was something I could never be.
Now, though, I almost felt empathetic. He was acting sort of like how a ghost ought to, and I slightly commended him for that.
"Well, thanks," he said gloomily. I nodded curtly as he disappeared.
Suddenly, I was angry all over again. How pathetic were these people, when they somehow found drama in the afterlife? Why did ghosts have to talk to each other at all? Couldn't we all just mind our own business?
The only plus side to being dead is that you don't have to talk to anyone, get involved with anything. And yet here JT was, asking me if my hands were red, and what my opinion was. The nerve!
If even Degrassi afterlife was filled with drama, maybe we weren't safe anywhere.
-Julia's POV-
For two days straight, I followed Eli like a puppy. I managed to avoid JT, too—I wasn't in the mood for talking.
Around nine at night on the second day, Eli got in his hearse and headed to the Dot. He seemed complacent enough to me—wouldn't a murderer be on edge all the time? Nervous about riding in a hearse? It was all the more reason to believe him to be innocent.
We got to the Dot, where he was meeting his friend Adam. I followed him in, seeing the comic-book in his hand.
I walked into the restaurant and caught the eye of another ghost, who was sitting in the corner. He seemed to recognize me, though I had no idea who he was. He was sort of nerdy looking, with long hair and glasses, dressed in a suit that was all dirty.
"Get out!" He shouted to me.
"Excuse me?"
"Get out of here! Take your drama somewhere else!"
I narrowed my eyes. "I'm kind of busy here. Why don't you move, Mr. Cranky?" He stood up and pointed his palms at me.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" He bellowed, sending a burst of energy at me, which sent me reeling. Somebody's coffee fell off a table nearby. The comic book opened up, the pages fluttering. It was like a gust of wind in doors.
Frankly, it pissed me off.
"YOU!" I shouted back, sending my own burst of energy.
Only, my burst was a little stronger.
A hamburger flew off its plate and into someone's face. Something big fell with a slam behind me. People's hats came off, and several plates crashed to the floor. I glanced at Eli, whose face was white.
"She's here," he murmured to himself. He looked terrified. Before Adam could ask him what was going on, he rushed out of the door.
"How did you do that?" The nerdy ghost asked. He was on his hands and knees, hardly able to stand.
"If you give me attitude next time I come here, I'll show you," I replied with a sneer, popping back to Eli.
He was out on the street, sprinting as fast as he could. There was sweat trickling down his face, and his jacket was flapping in the wind. I'd never seen him so terrified.
"I didn't mean to!" He cried. "Get away from me, Julia!" I paused, watching as he kept running forward, until he was out of my sight.
'I didn't mean to?'
I blinked a few times, replaying the scene in my head. His terrified eyes, his panic. How come he'd never acted like this in the past? How come he always seemed to keep his cool when I was around? Like at the graveyard, or when Clare was over, or in his car.
Never, before this, had he given me reason to believe he'd killed me.
-JT's POV-
"Check this out," Jess said to Clare and Toby eagerly. They were having a session today to go over the evidence that they'd already collected, so my presence wasn't necessary, but I needed something to get my mind off of Julia.
Jessica clicked a button on her laptop, and there was a burst of static, followed by a scream that sounded like it was underwater.
"What is that?" Toby asked, covering his ears.
"That was Clare. I analyzed her tape, and you're going to want to hear this," Jess replied as the tape continued. As soon as the scream concluded, there was another voice, a voice that wasn't Clare's. It sounded gurgly, and had a strange sort of echo, but after Julia stopped the tape and replayed it slower, you could make out two distinct words:
"Be quiet." I knew already that it was Julia, and Clare realized this with a shocked expression, but Toby looked dumbfounded.
"That was Julia," Jessica told him, practically emanating excitement. She played the next part of the tape. I listened as Clare and Eli bickered, seemingly in the background. Clare blushed. Suddenly, though, Julia's voice came back. Jess replayed it slower again, and a few words could be made out.
"No!...wrong…want….together." Clare's face got even whiter.
"She was talking to me…and I didn't even realize it," she said softly.
"Obviously you didn't realize it," I muttered as Jessica continued the tape.
The next time Julia was audible was when she said something like "I'm not scary". Clare cracked a weak smile, explaining to Jessica that she was almost hysterical at that point.
Julia didn't seem to say anything for the rest of the tape, until right at the end, when Clare declares that she is crazy, and Julia replies with the most easily distinguished words of the tape: "I'm real!"
Jessica smiled a huge smile. "That's my favorite part," she gushed. I've listened to it over and over again. 'I'm real'. It's just so…angsty, almost. Like, even though there isn't much expression in the tape, I can feel her emotions in those two words. She's a real person, with a real soul, you know?" Clare nodded, still shaken, and Toby just stared at the computer.
I thought about Julia's predicament as I gazed at Clare. If Eli really did murder her, wasn't Clare now in danger? Shouldn't we find a way to warn her?
"Let's look at JT's tape now," Jessica suggested, referring to the tape from when they did all the experiments with me. She had video footage for this one.
I wondered what would show up on there, if anything, but I felt a nagging urge to go find Julia, to express my concern about Clare. Only, where would I find her?
I floated down the stairs, into the North Building lounge, and something on TV caught my eye. It showed video footage of the Dot, and there was wind blowing everything around.
Except that no doors or windows were opened.
I noticed Eli on the TV, and saw him bolt out of the restaurant. That's when the wind stopped.
I had a feeling I knew where Julia would be.
AN: I probably wouldn't have even remembered this fic if it wasn't for the few reviews I've gotten just recently, so thank you very much. By the way, how about that season finale last night?