Tonya Hurley_Ghostgirl_02 by Homecoming Read Free Book Online Page A

well. “We just have to wait.”
    Damen turned to Petula and started to reminisce about their past. He tried everything to bring her back, just the way you are supposed to when someone is comatose. For Scarlet, sitting there listening, his memories seemed a little too fresh. Too vivid.
    “Hey, remember when you said you’d rather be dead than have your hair frizzy?” Damen asked desperately, trying to get her to regain consciousness. “Well, it’s starting to frizz.”
    Scarlet’s jealousy was overcome for a minute by the sight of his genuine compassion, the thing she liked most about him.
    “Wake up, Petula. I need you …” He paused. “… to wake up.”
    Scarlet couldn’t stand there and witness such an intimate moment for another second. Whatever her motivation, selflessness or selfishness, didn’t matter. She needed to do something to bring Petula back. To restore things to the abnormal, dysfunctional way they had always been. If the doctors couldn’t help, she would find a way on her own. She’d only just learned CPR from the poster at Identitea, the cafe at Hawthorne where she worked, but Petula seemed beyond her reach no matter what she might try.
    And then it came to her.
    Charlotte.
    Chapter 5
    Dead Sound
    In a manner of speaking
    I just want to say
    That I could never forget the way
    You told me everything
    By saying nothing
    —Tuxedomoon
    If you can’t say something nice, lie.
    Words not only help us express emotion, they distance us from it as well. They can be a useful safety net, protecting your heart from overexposure, parceling out your true feelings in carefully crafted syllables rather than gushing sincerity. They can also be misinterpreted, doing damage by creating an impression in someone else’s mind that wasn’t intended. Sometimes, things really are better left unsaid.
    Charlotte stepped down the phone bank corridor to chat with Pam, and apologized for her outburst the day before, but Pam was talking away to God knows who and waved Charlotte off. She then turned to Call Me Kim, who was gabbing away as usual. This was definitely heaven to Kim, who had a permanent red-ring phone impression on her face. Just as Charlotte started to trudge back toward her desk, she thought she heard her phone ring.
    “Omigod, omigod, omigod.” Charlotte stopped and shouted out loud, frozen in place at the prospect of getting her first call.
    The excitement level in the entire room suddenly jumped too, with all the interns peeking around their cubicles, eyeing one another with relief and urging Charlotte to hurry up and get it.
    “Hells Bells!” Metal Mike screeched, his AC/DC fixation still detectable.
    “Off the hook,” DJ yelled to supportive chuckles from Jerry and Bud.
    Charlotte hadn’t felt so special since the Fall Ball, and the fact that all this was over a stupid phone call was overwhelming evidence of how much things had changed. Her hesitation delayed her just long enough for Maddy, who was closest to Charlotte’s cubicle, to snatch the receiver before the third ring sounded.
    “Hello,” Maddy answered sweetly, but her expression quickly turned sullen.
    Charlotte arrived a second later, anxious to take the call.
    “Is it for me?” Charlotte whispered excitedly, bouncing in place on the balls of her feet.
    Maddy didn’t respond and Charlotte didn’t interrupt out of respect for the caller and so as to not distract Maddy. The puckered and serious look on Maddy’s face was one Charlotte hadn’t seen from her before.
    “Maddy?” Charlotte asked more impatiently.
    Maddy extended her index finger stiffly and turned her back to Charlotte, the universal sign for “just a minute” or perhaps “this is more important than whatever you have to ask me.”
    “That could work,” Maddy said encouragingly to whomever.
    Charlotte could barely hear what she was saying, apart from the fact that Maddy was quickly wrapping up.
    Maddy hung up the phone.
    “Who was it?” Charlotte asked