Read Online Apparition (The Hungry Ghosts) by Trish J. MacGregor - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Trish J. MacGregor
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what can I say? Let’s make it legal.” He removed the ring from the box, held it out. His brows lifted, forming peaks above his beautiful eyes.
Lauren didn’t hesitate. She held up her left hand and Leo slipped the beautiful ring on her fourth finger. It fit perfectly. “Okay, I’m speechless.”
“Never. Just say yes.”
As she turned the ring, she caught a whiff of Charlie’s cigar, heard the click, click of his Zippo lighter, and knew he was here, watching.
Go away, Charlie. Please. This is private.
After a moment, the scent of cigar smoke dissipated and she no longer heard the click of the lighter. Had Leo smelled the smoke, heard the clicking? She didn’t know, had never asked. And she didn’t ask now. She felt that Charlie had left, departed, gone on to his chess club, his acting group, his fifteen girlfriends. She brought her focus back to the ring.
Peace symbol. My God. Leo understood that, understood her stance against Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, all wars, anywhere, for any reason. And for the sapphire to be in the juncture where the lower part of the symbol, the V, melded into the Y (why??) spoke tomes about how closely Leo had listened when she talked about her experiences of the sixties, about the Pranksters and that very special and psychedelic summer in Northern California.
The sapphire fractured the overhead light, and Lauren suddenly felt like crying. She knew if she gave in, the crying would collapse into sobs, then hysteria. So she leaned across the table and cupped Leo’s face in her hands and kissed him. “Yes,” she whispered. “Of course. Yes, yes.”
Four
Charlie
DECEMBER 15–16
1.
Charlie moved swiftly across the city, putting distance between himself and Lauren. And Leo and that ring. They’re going to get married. He didn’t want to dwell on that, his Lore married to another man. Even though Lauren and Leo had been living together for three years, it wasn’t the same thing as marriage.
So he thought himself along the old railroad tracks that ran through the city and wished he could see the legendary ghost train chugging along these tracks. Supposedly the train appeared once a year, the ghost of Esperanza 14. But he, a ghost himself, had never seen it.
Charlie thought himself forward faster and faster, traveling in the same way that brujos did when they were in their natural forms. Since both chasers and brujos were physically dead and existed as consciousness in a place that enabled them to interact with the living, they shared more than just the way they moved from one place to another. The similarities had always troubled Charlie. It was as if chasers and brujos were simply different sides of the same coin.
In Esperanza, brujos and chasers could assume virtual forms that looked as real and solid as the living. They could fade in and out of view as he had just done with Lauren and as this Ricardo had done with Tess. They could both draw on the power of the dead—and on the residual power of Esperanza from when it had been a nonphysical place.
Tried to choke her … Could a brujo in a virtual form kill the living? He didn’t know. He’d never heard of such a thing happening but that didn’t mean it was impossible. With a little practice and effort, brujos and chasers could create anything from thought—the clothes they wore, their homes, backyards, a courtroom, booze, food, animals. So he supposed a brujo could create the sensations of choking and maybe the person would simply die from fear.
The animal that followed him now, an Amazonian parrot, wasn’t a mental construct. It kept circling just above him, squawking, “Hola, amigo, hola. ¿Cómo andas?”
Literally, andas, from the verb andar, to walk, meant How’re you walking? But in the vernacular, it meant, How’s it going? So Charlie answered in the literal sense, that he was walking with both feet. The parrot made a noise that sounded so much like laughter it prompted Charlie to stop and peer upward
Lauren didn’t hesitate. She held up her left hand and Leo slipped the beautiful ring on her fourth finger. It fit perfectly. “Okay, I’m speechless.”
“Never. Just say yes.”
As she turned the ring, she caught a whiff of Charlie’s cigar, heard the click, click of his Zippo lighter, and knew he was here, watching.
Go away, Charlie. Please. This is private.
After a moment, the scent of cigar smoke dissipated and she no longer heard the click of the lighter. Had Leo smelled the smoke, heard the clicking? She didn’t know, had never asked. And she didn’t ask now. She felt that Charlie had left, departed, gone on to his chess club, his acting group, his fifteen girlfriends. She brought her focus back to the ring.
Peace symbol. My God. Leo understood that, understood her stance against Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, all wars, anywhere, for any reason. And for the sapphire to be in the juncture where the lower part of the symbol, the V, melded into the Y (why??) spoke tomes about how closely Leo had listened when she talked about her experiences of the sixties, about the Pranksters and that very special and psychedelic summer in Northern California.
The sapphire fractured the overhead light, and Lauren suddenly felt like crying. She knew if she gave in, the crying would collapse into sobs, then hysteria. So she leaned across the table and cupped Leo’s face in her hands and kissed him. “Yes,” she whispered. “Of course. Yes, yes.”
Four
Charlie
DECEMBER 15–16
1.
Charlie moved swiftly across the city, putting distance between himself and Lauren. And Leo and that ring. They’re going to get married. He didn’t want to dwell on that, his Lore married to another man. Even though Lauren and Leo had been living together for three years, it wasn’t the same thing as marriage.
So he thought himself along the old railroad tracks that ran through the city and wished he could see the legendary ghost train chugging along these tracks. Supposedly the train appeared once a year, the ghost of Esperanza 14. But he, a ghost himself, had never seen it.
Charlie thought himself forward faster and faster, traveling in the same way that brujos did when they were in their natural forms. Since both chasers and brujos were physically dead and existed as consciousness in a place that enabled them to interact with the living, they shared more than just the way they moved from one place to another. The similarities had always troubled Charlie. It was as if chasers and brujos were simply different sides of the same coin.
In Esperanza, brujos and chasers could assume virtual forms that looked as real and solid as the living. They could fade in and out of view as he had just done with Lauren and as this Ricardo had done with Tess. They could both draw on the power of the dead—and on the residual power of Esperanza from when it had been a nonphysical place.
Tried to choke her … Could a brujo in a virtual form kill the living? He didn’t know. He’d never heard of such a thing happening but that didn’t mean it was impossible. With a little practice and effort, brujos and chasers could create anything from thought—the clothes they wore, their homes, backyards, a courtroom, booze, food, animals. So he supposed a brujo could create the sensations of choking and maybe the person would simply die from fear.
The animal that followed him now, an Amazonian parrot, wasn’t a mental construct. It kept circling just above him, squawking, “Hola, amigo, hola. ¿Cómo andas?”
Literally, andas, from the verb andar, to walk, meant How’re you walking? But in the vernacular, it meant, How’s it going? So Charlie answered in the literal sense, that he was walking with both feet. The parrot made a noise that sounded so much like laughter it prompted Charlie to stop and peer upward
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