Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) by Joy Elbel Read Free Book Online

it had been me but came up
blank. How exactly do you explain something like that?
    “I broke down in tears and told Kevin the truth and he
was simply wonderful. He believed every word I told him—
just like Zach believed you.”
    There was something in the way she spoke of him that
suggested she still loved him. “So did you stay together? Did
he help you with your problem?”
    “For a while. But the more I loved him, the worse it
got. It broke my heart every time I saw the worry on his face.
I just couldn’t go on hurting him that way.
So the night of
graduation, I broke up with him. I couldn’t tell him the truth
because he would have insisted that he could handle it so
instead, I told him I didn’t love him anymore. I broke that
boy’s heart but it was for his own good. I haven’t seen him
since. But I have seen plenty of ghosts and I’m afraid you will
too.”
    No. This couldn’t be happening. She was wrong—she
had to be wrong. I couldn’t face the possibility that the events
I endured over the summer would repeat themselves. What
about Zach?
He was great about what happened over the
summer, but how would he react if I told him that it could
possibly happen again—and again? He would stand by me,
but for how long?
And at what cost?
My anger returned.
How dare she lay this load of crap on me!
    I stood up abruptly, sending my chair to the floor with
a loud bang. “Thanks for the story, but it has nothing to do
with my situation. Rosewood was haunted—not me.”
I turned to walk away as she called after me, “I’m
sorry! I was only trying to help, Ruby!”
    Help? How could this be of any help to me? “If this is
your idea of help, I don’t need it. I’m fine—everything’s just
fine.” I flung that last comment over my shoulder as I ran out
the door.
    Rita followed me out onto the sidewalk but I gave her
a nasty look rivaling any her dead grandmother could have
given her and she retreated. I sat there in my car until I was
calm enough to drive. As I was about to pull out, my phone
buzzed. Zach.
“Done—can I c u in 30?”
    I wanted to see him, but I needed time to cool off and a
half hour wasn’t going to cut it. “Make it an hour—meet u at
The Hideout.”
    “K—luv u.” Staring at the words almost made me cry.
What if Rita was right? What if it happened again? What if I
put him in danger one time too many and I lost him? I threw
my phone on the passenger seat without replying. I needed to
think things through and I had one hour to do it.
7. Who Does He Think He Is?
    Test the theory. That was what I needed to do. If Rita
was right, then something was bound to happen and I would
have my answer. If I saw a ghost, I would know she was right
and I would have to decide what to do about Zach. If I didn’t,
she was wrong and I could meet Zach with open arms. And I
knew the perfect spot to test it out.
    A small overgrown cemetery lay just on the edge of
town on the other side of Baker Regional Medical Center.
“Heaven’s Gate Cemetery” read the sign. I took one look
around and decided if this was what heaven looked like, I
wasn’t sure I wanted to go there. The grass reached halfway
to my knees as I walked, tripping over broken headstones as I
went. A large white obelisk-shaped monument rose forlornly
above the grass in the center of the graveyard.
One newly
filled grave stood out from the rest of the landscape.
    Who would bury someone they loved here?
I could
understand how older graves got overrun with weeds and
such when the people who took care of your resting place
died themselves. But why would anyone choose to inter their
loved one in a place that looked like this? I couldn’t
comprehend the reason, but it was exactly what I was looking
for. A freshly dug grave held a freshly dead corpse—someone
who may not realize they were dead yet. If I was looking to
find a ghost, it was the best place to start.
    Looking all around to make sure I was alone, I stepped
up to the dirt