Haunt (Monster Boyfriends #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

KENNEDY

Acreak at my door has my head shooting up.

Claudia stands at the threshold with red, swollen eyes and clutching a tissue in her right hand. My sister stopped coming into my room when she started ballet, when our personalities began to diverge.

Seeing her at my door, I know something isn't right.

I put my journal down on the desk in front of me.

My words stare back at me, the black ink noting my most recent job search failures doing nothing to calm me.

I rarely see my little sister cry, not even when she broke her leg attempting to mimic me doing backflips on the trampoline.

The few tears she cried when our dog, Lucy, died, barely counted.

So, to see her now, it feels like I should look away.

Like I'm invading her privacy, even while sitting in my own bed. We’ve been nearly strangers over the past few years, so the fact that she’s come to me with something is a big deal.

I remain silent as I watch her take a seat at the end of my bed, hand wiping at her eyes. As I turn back to my desk to close my journal, my eyes land on the words written in sparkly, pink gel pen. Strange. But wait...

I hadn’t been writing about my hopeless job hunt; the page is filled with love notes about a boy named Kyle.

Brows drawing together in confusion, I turn back to my sister, opening my mouth to speak, but I’m interrupted by a wave of sobs from Claudia. I get up from my desk and move to sit on the bed beside her. The old mattress groans under my weight, but she doesn’t acknowledge me.

“What happened?” I ask, keeping my voice low so as not to spook her.

She doesn’t respond, only shakes her head, and I understand she probably doesn’t want to talk about it, whatever it is. So, instead of trying to get her to speak, I take her hand.

Only…I can’t seem to get a good grip.

My fingers slid right through hers like water.

“Claudia?”

I try to stay calm for her, but I can't keep the fear from my voice or my eyes from growing larger the longer I try to grasp her.

“What’s going on?” I ask, hoping either Claudia or an omnipotent god will answer me.

Taking in my room, I see glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the walls, framing my window.

They’re yellowish-white as they patiently soak in the sun.

The room still felt like mine only moments ago, but now I see the layer of dust that’s formed on the windowsill and the surface of the desk.

It looks just like my childhood bedroom, and if that’s the case, I haven’t been here for a very long time.

This has to be a dream.

I face Claudia again, this time reaching for either side of her face, willing my hands to shake her. For just a moment, I think I’ve managed to really do something, but like before, my hands sink through her as if I’m not even here.

What kind of nightmare is this?

Patting myself down, I take assessment of my physical state.

Everything feels normal, but why can’t I touch my sister?

I’m sitting on my bed, which means some laws of physics are still at play here.

I test my limits, going to the window and pulling back the curtain.

I slide my desk chair out from its designated spot and then slide it back.

I can make things move, but I can’t touch her.

As I turn to Claudia where she weeps on the end of my bed, I can feel something strange going on, and I’m desperate to understand what my subconscious is trying to tell me.

Dreams are our brain’s way of coping with real life, right?

Only I’ve never dreamed this vividly before and never about my sister.

Maybe someone’s playing a practical joke on me, or this could be some wild attempt at an intervention.

I can definitely see my mother trying to teach me a lesson about the consequences of my actions.

Sure, I’ve distanced myself from both her and my sister as an adult, but it wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision. It just sort of happened.

Life does that sometimes. People grow apart.

So, why would I need to be punished with such a cruel trick?

No. That can’t be it. It must be a dream. If this is just some bizarre nightmare, surely I’m seconds away from waking up. I just need to give myself a little pinch.

As my sister continues to sniffle quietly to herself, I grab a chunk of skin on my forearm and squeeze. It’s much harder than a typical pinch should be, but I need results.

Shit!

If I were awake, I would have definitely caused a bruise. I rub the sensitive skin, trying to massage the pain away, and suddenly Claudia looks up. She’s staring right at me, bright blue eyes swimming in tears.

I gasp with relief.

I’m desperate to ask what this dream is supposed to be about, but then I notice she isn’t looking at me. She’s looking just past me, at my journal.

I wave my hand in front of her face, but she continues to ignore me. Then she gets up and steps through me.

My entire body feels as if it’s receiving a million tiny pinpricks at once, just like the times I’ve lain on my arm too long and it fell asleep.

What the fuck?

Claudia shivers violently out of the corner of my eye, and I freeze.

Did she feel it too?

It’s at this moment I finally take note of what she’s wearing. It’s a knee-length black dress with an eyelet trim. She’s matched it with a pair of simple black heels, and her legs are covered by a thin pair of hosiery.

It looks like she’s going to a funeral.

As I take in her appearance, a voice travels up the stairs from the front door. “Claudia, darling, come now or we’ll be late.”

It’s my mother.

Claudia takes a good look around my room one last time, then turns to leave. I reach out desperately for her, trying my best to grab her arm, the sleeve of her dress, anything…but then she’s gone.

Rushing to the window, I stare below as my mother and stepfather get inside the back of a hearse. Claudia exits the house, locking the door behind her, then gets in after them.

As I watch the long black car pull out of the driveway and make their way out of our neighborhood, it finally occurs to me…

I think I’m dead.