|IN THE EMBERS|

Baylor's gaze lingered on Harley a little longer than usual as her figure headed through the darkness towards the school. I could tell that there were words he wanted to say still left on his tongue. He didn't say them for one reason or another, but perhaps he regretted agreeing to go into work.

Worry painted his freckled face; for Harley no doubt. Baylor had a sixth sense that detected danger on Harley's behalf. It's probably killing him to not follow in after her.

I know it's killing me. I'm freaking out about something that already happened. I mean technically it doesn't matter what happens at this prom, I'm still dead in the end. Whatever it is, it won't matter anymore in a few hours. It will be a silly, insignificant, highschool memory of a girl that doesn't exist anymore.

But, it still matters to me. It matters because that girl is me; the old me anyway. I'm terrified for her. I'm worried about her well being even though it's pointless. Maybe my fears boil down to me, ghost me that is. Maybe I'm worried about what happens to her, because that's still a mystery.

"Hey!" An all too familiar voice said. I couldn't even see her yet, but I know who it is. Leslie.

She stepped out from a dark corner in the brick wall. Harley didn't say anything.

"You look...great!" She said after looking over Harley's dress.

She didn't seem to really think that though, but for some reason she was playing nice.

Harley noticed too because I caught her rolling her eyes after Leslie turned towards the gym door.

Josiah, Harley, and I all shuffled in after her.

The entire gym was filled with teenagers in fancy formal wear. This is like a nightmare already. Strobe lights danced to the loud music all over the walls.

"I'm gonna grab myself some punch, then meet back up with you! JT is waiting for you in the middle of the dance floor. I already talked to him. He looks great by the way!" Leslie yelled over the music.

Harley knodded her head, then took a deep breath.

I looked up to Josiah, his face was a serious statue as usual. He only moved when we both followed after Harley through the crowd.

None payed any attention to Harley trying to fight her way through the dancers. Perhaps she's always been invisible.

Every few feet she stopped to look around, most likely for JT. I wouldn't know though because I have no idea what he looks like.

My fear wanted her to call it a night even though she just got here, but my curiosity wanted her to go on. I want to see this JT guy for myself. I also want to know what caused her to run out of prom, even if it will most likely hurt me.

Suddenly I heard Harley's hopeful voice call out. "JT!" She yelled.

My eyes slid over the crowd briefly, attempting to distinguish who she was talking to. No one seemed to react to her voice.

"JT!" She called again. This time my eyes fell on a tall guy that danced with a sloshing Solo cup in his hand. He turned around abruptly, and my ghost legs almost buckled beneath me. I knew JT after all. He stood right next to me. He's been next to me this entire time, following me around my depressing spirit world.

Josiah. It was him. I would know him anywhere. It was the living, breathing version of him right here in my own memory.

I didn't have time to question the Josiah next to me, because the memory Josiah began to speak.

"Yeah?" His face was confused. I'm not sure if he knew where the voice had come from.

"It's me." Harley said.

His dark eyes finally found her. She isn't invisible after all. "Who?"

"It's me, Harley..." She said. Her brows knitted together as she spoke. "Your date..." She said to further clarify.

He shook his head like he was trying to clear it. He doesn't know who she is. "I'm not your date." He said finally.

"But you agreed to go with me on the phone.." Harley said. I wish she would walk away now and save herself the embarrassment.

"I don't know what your talking about." People around them were starting to notice the conversation. They stopped dancing to listen.

"We talked to you on the phone a week ago, and you said you would go with me."

"Look, I don't even know who you are. I think I would remember if I asked some girl to prom on the phone."

Harley's lips quivered slightly.

Leslie appeared out from the crowd suddenly, snaking her arm around JT's. "What's going on?" she asked, looking up to him.

"This girl thinks I asked her to prom last week." He explained.

Harley stared at Leslie with a look of hatred in her eyes. I think she has figured out what's going on here.

"This is my date." JT said, pointing at Leslie. "Now can you leave us alone?" He started to turn around, but Harley's angry words caused him to turn back around.

"Why would you do this to me?!" Harley asked her. "You told me I was his date!"

"Ha! What makes you think he would want to go with you? I can't help it you believed me."

"I believed it because you told me!" Harley said. She was desperate to defend herself even though she wasn't doing a very good job.

"You're a pathetic little girl that's so desperate for attention that you would believe anything."

"You are dating my brother!" Harley returned, changing the direction of the conversation.

Leslie smiled wide. Perhaps her goal was to stir Harley up even more. "I'm not dating your brother, not anymore. I was going to dump him a while ago anyway, it just seemed more fun to do it this way."

The music had stopped; I hadn't noticed until now, but everyone's attention was diverted to the situation in the center of the dance floor.

"More fun?! You think it's more fun to hurt him?!" Harley was angry. I've never seen this emotion from her.

"Please, Baylor won't be hurt. All he cares about is you and keeping your depression under control. He babysits you like the little baby you are. Get over yourself Harley, everyone has problems, no need to turn it into a constant drama fest."

Tears were filling the rim of Harley's eyes. She was trying to hold them back, but she just isn't good at controlling her tears. "He doesn't babysit me." She said quietly.

"That's what it's called when you have to tiptoe around someone's feelings so they don't off themselves. He spends every second of his life keeping you happy, and it obviously doesn't do any good since you hide in the library anyway."

Not a single person interjected, they just all stared. Some mouths hung opened, some held an entertained grin, some whispered to the person next to them.

"P.S. Harley, incest is disgusting."

JT and Leslie both chuckled at her cruel statement.

I think Harley was stunned by her accusation, she didn't speak at all.

Suddenly, the laughter swept over the entire gym. It echoed back to my ears in loud, overpowering booms.

Harley couldn't take it, she ran. She ran for cover, or from the evil in this room, perhaps a mixture of both. I chased after her, wishing I could hold her in my arms and tell her it's okay.

It would be a lie though. It's not okay; it never has been.

The gym door slammed, and she collapsed to the ground in a heap of tears and purple fabric.

This is where she calls Baylor, this is the part of the memory I saw already, so I took the time to interrogate Josiah.

"You were there! You were involved. You...You lied to me..." My words trailed off as I thought about all the comfort Josiah had offered me; all the encouraging words, how he convinced me he was real and there to protect me...

Suddenly, he hugged me tightly against him. I could feel his powerful words as they vibrated throughout his chest. "I am real, and I am here to protect you. Won't you let me explain?"

I guess I owe him at least that much. I can't wait to see how he explains his way out of this.

"I didn't lie to you Harley, I could never lie to you. That person in there, that wasn't me..." His eyes bore into mine, instantly calming me.

"But he looks just like you... I don't understand." I admitted.

"You gave me his face, but I'm not him."

That did nothing to help my confusion subside.

"Remember how you saw Larson?"

I knodded my head; thoughts of Larson flooded back, but I tried to ignore them.

"Larson wasn't a physical being, but you gave him a face. It's the same thing with me. Your mind can't fathom what I really look like, so your brain uses images from your memories to compensate. You just picked Josiah Thomas McNally to be me." He waited patiently for me to understand.

It kind of made sense, but at the same time it made it more confusing to think about. It's just one of those things I'll never understand.

"So you don't really look like this?" I said, motioning to his "body".

"No. I'm more of a spirit."

"Like a ghost?"

"No, a living spirit."

I remember him telling me that he didn't die, so I guess we're not the same type of spirit.
That's something else I will probably never be able to understand.

"So what just happened in there?" I asked, changing the topic for now.

We both glanced off to the gym door.

"Leslie had her brother talk to you on the phone that day in the coffee shop. It wasn't Josiah. He had no idea she had done that until you went up to him at prom."

"Why did she do that to me?" I asked.

He sighed. "She was jealous of you and Baylor's relationship. She felt like she needed to get back at you.."

"But I didn't do anything to her."

He shrugged. "She blamed you for him not paying attention to her."

"That's dumb." I said.

Josiah didn't comment. I don't think he likes to take sides, maybe he isn't allowed to.

"Humans rarely make good choices." As usual his words had a thousand meanings. I didn't have a chance to try to decipher them because a horn honked.

Baylor had arrived to save the day.

We watched the scene of the two siblings trying to piece their lives together. Baylor did his best to repair every crack in Harley's broken heart, but his efforts only hold for so long. Bad things follow Harley.

We all got into the Jeep at one time. I was morbidly excited about the rest of this memory. I've been waiting to find out what happens tonight for the entire duration of my stay in the spirit world. Tonight, my terrible memories come to an end, and I can move on.

Josiah's gaze was out the window. He refused to look in my direction for some reason. Maybe he's in someone elses memories. I wonder if he can do that; be in two places at once. He can read minds, and take me to any day in my past. He seems to be able to do anything. Is he omnipresent too?

"So ice cream it is then?" Baylor asked. He smiled over at Harley, attempting to get her to tell him what happened.

She didn't respond.

He frowned slightly. "Well I brought you a change of clothes if you want to change before we get there. We're getting ice cream whether you want to or not."

Harley glanced back to the back seat. She unbuckled her seat belt and climbed back in the back with us. The front seat provided privacy as well as the darkness, and she was out of her purple dress and in the outfit she died in within a few minutes. She let the dress fall into the floor.

When she returned to her spot in the front seat, Baylor asked, "feel better?"

"Nope."

"Come on Harley, I'll find out eventually anyway."

"I don't want to talk about it with you." She said quietly.

"Why not?" He asked. His concern for her diverted most of his attention from the road.

"Because I don't want you to have to babysit me anymore. I can take care of myself." Her words were choking her up. I'm sure unwanted tears were flooding out.

"Harley, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing, it doesn't matter anyway." She was completely turned towards the window, hiding her emotions from him.

"No, who said that to you?" His voice raised slightly.

"No one."

"No tell me, someone put that idea in your head."

"I said no one, Baylor." Harley's tone matched his.

Baylor hesitated with his next question, and he asked it in almost a whisper. "Did JT do something to you?"

"No!" Harley said. I think that question shocked her a bit.

Baylor let out a sigh of relief.

Baylor sucked in a big breath of air. He took Harley's hand in his to make sure she was listening even though she wouldn't look at him. "Harley, you listen to me. I don't know what they did, and I don't know what happened, but I do know that you're right, it doesn't matter. You are better than all those idiots at that prom, hell, you're better than everyone in this whole stupid town. We don't belong here Harley. I promise I'll get us out, one way or another. We have one month left. Just one more month to put up with all this crap, then we can leave. We can go wherever you want; wherever will make you happy, because honestly, that's all I want. I want you to be happy Harley, and I want you to have an awesome life filled with awesome people that deserve to be around you. You are smart, and talented, and you'll make something of yourself, I believe in you; even when you don't believe in yourself. I'll love you enough for the both of us. And Harley..."

I was so caught up in Baylor's words, that I didn't realize my eyes were closed until his words were suddenly cut off.

A big boom followed by the sound of shattered glass crashed throughout the silent Jeep.