After Obsession by Carrie Jones

Author:Carrie Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

My cell phone rings. I take my arms from around Aimee and fish it out of my jeans pocket. It’s Mom’s ringtone.

“This is my mom,” I say. “She’ll tell us that Courtney is better. She’s resting.”

Aimee nods. “I know. We were wrong. It’s like he recharges from her now, gets all his energy out of her and then uses it up doing crazy stuff, and then sucks it all out of her again.”

Not a good thought. I hit the button to accept the call.

“Alan, where are you?” Mom asks.

“I’m at Aimee’s.”

“Who?”

“Aimee. Courtney’s friend.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom.” Almost shaken out of a tree house by an evil spirit, but otherwise fine. “How’s Courtney?”

“She’s resting. Finally.” Mom sounds very tired.

I look at Aimee. She heard and nods at me.

“She settled down all of a sudden, didn’t she?” I ask.

“Ye-es. How did you know?”

“You won’t get mad?” She doesn’t say anything. “Mom, I don’t think Courtney has a tumor, or any kind of disease. I think it’s something else. I think there’s a ghost or something bothering—”

“Alan, please. Please. Just don’t. I’ve let you read what you want, let you pretend you’re some Native American, even let you wear that disgusting bag around your neck, but you can’t … This isn’t about you, Alan.”

Aimee looks very, very sorry and I know she heard every word.

“Okay.” It’s all I can say.

“I swear, Alan,” Mom goes on. “You think, what? She’s possessed? Like in the movies?”

“I guess not.” I swallow down the anger bubbling up my throat.

“Don’t you dare mention that to Lisa. You understand me?”

“Yeah. I understand.”

“If you’re okay, I’m going to stay here for a while,” Mom says. “Lisa is still frantic and almost exhausted. The doctors are talking about giving her a sedative, too. That’s what they did with Courtney. They pumped the poor girl full of tranquilizers. It took a long time for them to work, though.”

“Was she cussing at everyone?”

“Alan,” she warns.

“Just asking.”

“This isn’t a game.”

“I know, Mom. I know it isn’t a game.”

“I don’t know when they’ll let Courtney go home. If they keep her overnight, and I can only imagine they will, Lisa wants to stay here. You might need to come get me.”

“I will. Bye.”

I put the phone back in my pocket.

“Sorry,” Aimee offers. I wave it away like it’s nothing, but she knows. She grabs my hand and holds it tight in both of her little hands. Touching her doesn’t make me feel like I’m getting shocked anymore, or like I’m seeing visions; instead it’s just warmth, a healing kind of warmth. I remember what she told me about dreams that evening we first talked on the phone.

“You see things, don’t you? Things that have happened or that will happen in the future?”

“Sometimes.” There’s fear in her voice. That doesn’t comfort me.

“What do you see for Courtney? How about me? Us?”

She shakes her head. “I can’t. I see bad things, but nothing … nothing solid. Just threats. So far.”

Her eyes look toward the river. She shudders and says, “Let’s go inside.

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