“It’s one more,” Katie said. “Eventually it’s too much and the whole thing spills over.”
I placed my hands on the sides of the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. “I can’t wait for this all to be over and for things to get back to normal.”
My eyes caught Katie’s in the mirror and I immediately regretted what I said. When this was all over, she would go back to the Dark Place and I would be stuck here without her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“No, it’s okay.”
“Have you ever thought about just staying here? Greta says she sees dead people wandering around all the time.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Anna. The souls who stay here, they never get to move on, ever. They’re stuck here, even after everybody in their lives has died.”
I turned to her. “But I’ll stay, and we could haunt people together. It would be fun.”
“That does sound nice, but you don’t understand. When you’re a ghost, you feel hollow, like you’re not all there. I miss so much. I miss reaching out and touching things. I miss touching you. I miss hugging my mother. I miss so much. I couldn’t imagine going through that forever, even with you by my side.”
It was quiet for a moment while I stared at the floor. Finally, I whispered, “I hate this so much.”
Katie looked at me, her ghost eyes brimming with tears. “Me too, but maybe one day we’ll meet together, in the Dark Place, and go through the great hereafter together.”
I smiled. “That sounds nice, but you know it’s impossible. You’ll go back, and dematerialize, forgetting all about me.”
“Can we just dream, okay? For one second can we just dream?”
I nodded and took a deep breath. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”
Even if Samantha was a little off, she still understood what it meant to meet at the flagpole after school, because when Katie and I left the school, she was there.
“You made it.”
“This is the correct destination we agreed upon, was it not?”
“It’s perfect. Come on.”
I grabbed Samantha’s hand and dragged her to the head of the bus line. One time, Katie and I had followed her friend Rebecca home for a slumber party back when she was in remission. It was near the Witch’s Brew, so I knew if we took Bus 51, we would wind up near the store and could walk from there.
What I didn’t expect was to get on the bus and see Rebecca staring at me. “What are you doing here?”
I panicked and stared through her for a moment, but I realized that she was waiting for an answer, which I had to give.
“I’m helping my new friend get home,” I said, pointing to Samantha.
Rebecca scoffed. “I’ve seen her around, and she doesn’t take this bus.”
The bus driver turned around and looked at us. “Do one of you live on this route, because we don’t run a taxi service.”
“Yes, ma’am. My friend Samantha just had to move houses, and now she lives over on Donnelly near the strip mall. Isn’t that right, Samantha?”
“Very right.” Samantha gave a vacant smile. “Couldn’t be righter.”
“What’s the house number?”
“She’s not telling you, creeper,” I said.
“Yeah, creeper,” Samantha added.
“Just sit down,” the bus driver grumbled. “I have to get home to my stories.”
I plopped down with Samantha in the back of the bus, next to the big emergency exit door. Rebecca darted her eyes at me, and Katie looked back and forth between the two of us with an astonished expression. I looked over at the door and thought about pushing it open so I could avoid the awkwardness of Rebecca’s gaze and this whole situation.
“Why is she so mean?” Katie asked. “She was never so mean to me.”
“Things changed when you weren’t around,” I said. “People’s true colors came out.”
“I don’t like that at all,” Katie said, shaking her head as the bus jerked forward and we started to move.
The bus let us out a half mile from the Witch’s Brew, and we headed toward the store. Samantha walked in silence, but Katie couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
“So, you’re saying that they weren’t nice to you?” She asked. “Any of them?”
I shook my head. “They didn’t like me, Katie. They liked you. Or, at least they liked you when you were winning things for them.”
“I just can’t believe Rebecca would act like that. I have half a mind to punch her in the nose.”
“Well, good luck with that. I got used to it a long time ago.”
“Is this why you didn’t like hanging around me when I was with them?”
I nodded. “It was never about you, Katie. I always loved you, but your friends, they kind of sucked, and the minute shit got real, they abandoned you.”
“They held a bake sale for me, and a car wash.”
“Yeah, when you first got sick, but after the glamour of having a sick friend wore off, what happened then? They left, because it was easier. It would have been nice if one person knew you like I knew you, but now I’m alone.”
Katie pointed to Samantha who shuffled in front of us. “Not alone. She’s pretty cool.”
“Well, she was pretty cool when she wasn’t some weird zombie, but who knows what she is now. I guess we’ll find out.”
It took us fifteen minutes to walk from the bus stop to the Witch’s Brew. Mom was already at work at this point. She had to cover a swing shift, and then work her normal hours, which meant I had until morning before she figured out I hadn’t come home.
When we walked inside the Witch’s Brew, Frank recoiled in terror. “Oh my god! Why would you bring that thing in here?”
“Do you know what’s wrong with Samantha, then?”
“Of course I do,” Frank said, his eyes wide. “She’s a golem.”
“A golem?” Katie replied.
“A being made of clay that just looks like Samantha. Put her in a rainstorm and she’ll fall apart. Ugh, how did you make this?”
“We didn’t make it,” I said. “She
