The Ghost Within Me - Chapter 1, Derek

“Derek” exclaimed Margaret. I opened my eyes only to find myself laying on the cold, damp ground. I looked around for my glasses, but they were nowhere to be found.

“Derek!” yelled Margaret even louder than the last time, “Where are you?!” I heard the worry in her voice, I’m sure I would have heard it even if I was a mile away.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, I’m right here next to the shed, just a little bit away from wherever you’re yelling from” I shouted back to her.

Margaret slowly walked over and handed me my stupidly thick glasses. Without my glasses, I was about as blind as a bat. I brushed my shaggy brown hair out of my face and put my glasses on. As I did, my vision cleared up and the trees became more vivid. I looked at Margaret and she looked even more gorgeous than I last remembered with her long blonde hair and eyes as bright as a sunset at dusk, yet blue like the Indian ocean. Her skin was as soft as a fluffy bunny on a spring day and she smelled like roses freshly picked from a garden.

I’m not exactly sure how I got here or what caused me to black out, but I couldn’t let Margaret know that. She worries all the time and I don’t want her worrying even more about me. The last time that I had blackout out, Margaret passed out as soon as she had found me.
This wasn’t the first time I had blacked out, and I’m sure that it won’t be the last time, but there was no sense in scaring Margaret again. I scrambled up to my feet and looked around to see the headstones. This is the third time this week that I’ve blacked out and ended up at the cemetery. The blackouts had just started 2 weeks ago and it was quickly becoming a more frequent occurrence.

“Can we leave? This place gives me the creeps, you know I hate cemeteries. Did you black out again?” Margaret curiously asked with a touch of nervousness in her voice.

“Yeah we can leave sweetie, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to worry you or anything like that. I didn’t black out, just passed out from not getting enough sleep and I guess I slept walked all the way over here.” That was the first lie I ever told her, but things were getting worse and I couldn’t let her know that it was happening again.

She knew though, you could tell she knew by the way her soul seemed to sink with her entire body.

“Okay…” she whispered, “I’m not going to pass out again though… You didn’t need to lie to me about it, I just wanted to know if you were okay or if we needed to call an ambulance or something Derek.” I looked away from her shamefully, and what I saw behind me didn’t make the situation any better.

There was an injured leg partially sticking out from behind the old wood shed with a puddle of blood profusely pouring out from this mysterious leg. I quickly turned back toward Margaret and started pushing her towards the exit.

“I know, I’m sorry. Let’s get out of here now this place gives me the creeps too I hate cemeteries. How did you find me anyways, were you following me?” I stopped pushing her and looked at her skeptically.

“No! I didn’t follow you Derek, gosh I’m not a stalker.” She looked away from me when she spoke, that’s how I knew that I wasn’t the only one lying today.

“Alright, well let’s get out of here, it’s getting late and I’m starving” I said that at the same time that my stomach gave out a loud growl and Margaret laughed at me.

“Wow, alright let’s go back home before anything else happens and let you get some better rest” Margaret said while still laughing at me.

I look for her soft hand and intertwined my fingers with hers. We weren’t dating, but we agreed that it was nice to just hold someone’s hand. I’ve been in love with her since 7th grade, but I didn’t want to risk losing her as a friend. With all that’s been going on lately, I definitely did not want to put any more stress on her than she already has.

My house is only eight blocks away from the Beech Grove cemetery so walking home only took about fifteen minutes. Margaret is staying the night tonight to make sure that I don’t blackout and walk back to the cemetery.

As soon as we got home, I plopped on the couch while she put in a movie. Ugh. She chose a romantic comedy, I hate those, but for her I’ll tolerate it. As the movie went on, the story line began to blur and so did my vision. Maybe if I just….