Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

Author:Erica Waters [Waters, Erica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 2020-07-13T18:30:00+00:00

Sixteen

When I get home, I park Mama’s car and head into the woods. Despite everything that just happened, I already want to play the fiddle again.

This instrument has nearly drowned me, filled the trailer with wasps, and transported me to a dark and hideous hell dimension. It called up my best friend’s dead mom and almost hurt my little sister. Jesse and Aunt Ena were right to keep it from me—to keep it from the world. There’s a darkness at its core, something beyond its ability to draw out spirits.

But my fear of it is still less than my wonder—I raised a ghost. With my fingers and the fiddle’s strange magic, I brought a ghost to life. I let her move and speak. I gave her a chance to tell her daughter she loved her, even if it did hurt my friend. Exhilaration is slowly pushing my doubts and even my guilt aside.

I understand now why Daddy was always picking up the fiddle again. Some things are worth the dangers—like Cedar said about rodeo, it doesn’t happen on a screen or to someone else. It’s real life, and that makes it worth the risk.

These trees are full of spirits. How many stories do they have to tell? How many of them are longing to be seen, to be heard as more than a rustle of wind in the pines?

I was born to play this fiddle, to make this ghost wood sing.

My heart races as I push through the trees, deeper into the woods, as far from Mama’s trailer as I can get. That will keep Honey safe. The only person I can hurt out here is myself.

I find a clearing where the moonlight is bright enough to let me see any ghosts I might raise. I sit on the blanket of pine needles and wait, listening.

The ghosts are here, practically pressed against my skin, drawn to the fiddle’s power. They murmur and sway like dry leaves, their presence comforting, familiar. They aren’t evil; they aren’t trying to pull me down to hell. They’re just lonesome.

I bring up my fiddle and begin to play an old Everly Brothers song, “Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail.” It’s about an elderly woman who wants to bail her son out of jail. She brings her watch and her chain, even her wedding ring, ready to offer anything for his release. The moment she embraces him, she dies. The song seems right somehow, a way to tap into the ghosts’ longing, into the ties that keep them bound to this world.

In this moment, I wish Daddy’s ghost would come. I wish he would appear and tell me what to do, how to help Jesse. I wish he would hold me and tell me everything will be okay. But I’m also not ready to see him yet—I might only get one chance to raise his ghost, and I want to make sure I know how to keep him as long as possible. I want to be ready to say all the things in my heart.

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