Ghost Program by Marion Desaulniers Read Free Book Online Page B

thought about staying with me in Seattle with me in a couple weeks?  At least until you find a way to shake off creepy guy?  How are you going to deal with that?  Do you really believe you were attacked by an undead sociopath?”
       “I believe it, yes.  And I think I will take you up on that offer.  Maybe I’ll even enjoy it.  I’m not sure what I’ll say to mom, though.  It might upset her, me living with a male roommate.  She’ll be upset, anyway.  She’s having liposuction in two weeks and will probably be grouchy from her pain medicine.”
       “She’s having liposuction, why?”  He sounded dismayed.  “She has a lovely ass.”
       “Not there.  On her thighs.  You know, they get jiggly.”
       “Had you ever seen creepy guy before?  Or just in the bathroom shower?  Any idea why He ’s hung up on you?  And what’s up with Gregg reading his thoughts?  Didn’t that seem a little odd?”
     
       As if Brent’s words had summoned an angry spirit, a gust of wind slammed against the car, made a whistling sound, and the window next to me rattled.  Clouds of fog rolled across dreary farmland.
       “I saw Him before, yes.  He came to me in computer programming class,” I said.
       “What?  You hadn’t mentioned that to me before.” 
       A semi-trailer passed by us in the opposite lane causing the car to rattle.
       “I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone.  He did a striptease in my class, all the way down to his black speedo.  No one could see Him but me.  That’s why I knew He wasn’t human.  He stood right there in front of the instructor and all those students and took His coat off, and there was just panties underneath.  But I was the only one who saw.  Then I followed him outside, and He walked through the door of a house without opening it.  That’s why I didn’t want you to call the police.  I couldn’t have told them that.  What would that help me?  They would have laughed.”
       “Why would He do a striptease for you?”
       “I don’t know, really.  I think He wanted to intimidate me.  Or it was just a way of being noticed.  Maybe He thought I’d enjoy it.”  Part of me wondered if I’d just imagined the whole thing, but I didn’t want to tell Brent that.
       “And did you?”  A sudden downpour of rain fell on the windshield, and Brent flicked on the wipers and headlamps.  The tires hissed on the wet pavement.
       I screamed.
     
       With lightning flashing around us, the boom of its thunder filling the valley with harsh vibration, and as wind wailed through the dense pine forest while furry, green branches lifted and shook as if alive,  an ancient evergreen collapsed across the road with a resounding crash, the huge trunk blocking the highway in both directions, a not-so-subtle warning to those who dared to build a road through this once-forgotten backcountry.
       “ Shit! ” Brent muttered as he slammed on his brakes and spun the steering wheel, sending the small car into a pinwheel skid that jerked us around in a complete circle.
     
       I bent over my seat and covered my face with my hands, certain I was about to be chucked into the windshield, my stomach revolting as it slammed against my safety belt, the smell of burnt rubber blowing through the heating vent.
     
       The car stopped.  I pulled my face out of my hands and looked around.  We were only inches from the giant tree.  A whimpering noise escaped my throat, and the windshield wipers continued to squeak back and forth as the engine idled.  Gasping, his eyes wild, Brent seemed frozen in his seat as if he wasn’t certain what his next course of action would be.  Lightning cracked against the cloud-covered sky, and as  I opened my door with shaking hands, the car began to make a dinging sound.  I got out and saw black skid marks across the road but as I walked around the car, I could see no damage.  All four tires were still intact; Brent’s car