Prologue #2
Adeline shook her head, avoiding eye contact with Martin.
She knew it wasn’t her fault that her parents had died, but she still felt ashamed that she didn’t have anyone who really loved her.
Uncle Albert took care of her, but she saw the way other parents acted with the kids in her class.
They hugged and kissed them. They laughed and tickled them.
Her mom and dad used to do that with her, but Uncle Albert never did.
He never even tucked her in at bed time or sat with her when she had a nightmare.
“My dad’s not coming either,” Martin said. “He was killed in a fire last year.”
Adeline’s head shot up as she stared at Martin with wide eyes. It was stupid, but she’d always thought she was the only one whose parents died. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Martin gave a half shrug. “That's why I don’t really get in trouble anymore. The teachers all feel sorry for me. He was a firefighter.”
Adeline didn’t know what to say to that.
Her dad had his own tax business, but he wasn’t very good at his job because he got in trouble with the government.
They were going to send him and mommy to jail, but then they died in the garage.
Adeline didn’t understand how, but she made sure to never go into Uncle Albert’s garage because she didn’t want to die, too.
“Do you want to come over to play after school?” Martin asked. “We still have the basketball hoop my dad put up. We could practice our free throws.”
Adeline wanted to say yes, but Uncle Albert would get mad if she didn’t walk straight home after school.
He said he had a surprise for her tonight and she didn’t want to admit it, but she was excited.
It wasn’t her birthday or any special occasion that she could think of. That made it even more exciting.
Uncle Albert never gave her presents or bought her anything unless it was absolutely necessary. She couldn’t wait to get home and see what his surprise was. “I can’t,” she whispered. “Sorry.”
When Adeline got home, Uncle Albert hadn’t come home from work yet so she grabbed a banana off the counter, and retreated to her room to do her homework. She felt a familiar presence at her back and smiled. “Hi, Ford,” she said, not turning around to look at him.
“How was school?” He asked, moving to float next to her bed as she climbed onto it with her backpack and pulled out her math textbook. Mrs. Dunhill had assigned them twenty problems. Adeline hated math, so she always did it first to get it out of the way.
“Fine,” she said. “Do you know what Uncle Albert’s surprise is for me?”
Ford shrugged. “No idea, Kid. Let me know if you need help with any of those problems though. I think I still remember how to do long division.”
Adeline smiled. “I don’t think I could’ve gotten through multiplication without you. Thanks for helping me memorize those tables.”
Ford took another one of his gratuitous bows that always made Adeline laugh. “You’re very welcome.”
Uncle Albert came home a few hours later and unceremoniously took out two frozen dinners to nuke in the microwave. Adeline was nearly bouncing with excitement as she took her place at the table. “So, what is it?” She asked. “What’s my surprise?”
Uncle Albert looked at her with a strange glare that made her smile fall as she sat back in her chair. She hadn’t meant to upset him.
“You’ll find out tonight,” he said, then turned his attention to his meal. They ate in silence like they always did, and Adeline did her best to scarf down her food as fast as possible.
She wanted to go back to her room. To the safety of those peeling walls and her secret ghost friend.
Ford was funny and nice, and sometimes Adeline felt like he was the only real friend she had.
Except for Martin. He was pretty cool. She didn’t know his dad had died though, and that sucked, but maybe they could talk about it one day at recess.
Later that evening, as Adeline was getting ready for bed, there was a knock on her door. She climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over her legs. “Come in,” she said.
Uncle Albert opened her door and stood in the doorway of her room. “Ready for your surprise?”
Adeline beamed. “Yes. What is it?”
“Now, you can’t get upset and you have to keep it our little secret. Can you do that?”
Adeline nodded, eagerly. Whatever Uncle Albert’s surprise was, she was ready for it.
He stood in the middle of her room and unfastened his belt, letting his pants fall to his ankles.
She averted her eyes, avoiding the plaid boxers he was left standing in.
She didn’t understand. “Uncle Albert? What are you doing?”
“Oh, God. No. NO!” Ford screamed, bellowing from the corner of the room, but only Adeline could hear him. She glanced up at him. His eyes were sad and raging at the same time. “Oh, God, asshole, don’t do this to her!”
Tears welled up in Adeline’s eyes as she tried to understand what was going on. Ford never yelled or got angry. “What’s going on?” She asked in a small voice, wishing someone would explain it to her.
“This is your surprise, Adeline.” Uncle Albert sat on the edge of the bed and brushed a finger across her cheek. “Do you know how pretty you are, my sweet little one? How perfectly shaped you are?”
Adeline swallowed. She had no idea what he was talking about.
He’d never called her pretty, and he hated buying her new clothes.
Why was he telling her she was pretty now?
She was wearing her ratty old pajamas and her hair was messy with several strands hanging loose out of the ponytail that she’d tied back that morning.
“I’ve waited as long as I could,” Uncle Albert said. “I let you get used to me, to this place. I gave you everything you needed. Now it’s your turn to give me what I need.”
“I’ll kill him,” Ford roared.
Uncle Albert’s hands went lower, down her neck, across her chest. She tried to squirm away but he held her in place.
When he started touching her in places, she knew no one was supposed to touch, she started crying and tried to get away from him.
But Uncle Albert was strong and she was just a little girl.
“Please stop,” she cried softly, but he didn’t listen.
Instead, he pushed her blanket out of the way and helped himself to more of her.
He lifted the hem of her pajama top and splayed his fingers across her belly.
She kicked her legs, needing to get away, but he held her down.
“Look at me,” Ford said, and her eyes immediately searched for him. “I’m here, Adeline. I’m right here. What he’s doing is wrong. He’s a fucking monster, Kid, and he’s going to pay for this. I’ll find a way to make him pay.”
Adeline didn’t know how Ford was going to do that. She’d heard of ghosts being able to move things, but she’d never met any that actually could. And in the two years she’d known Ford, he’d never affected so much as a particle of dust.
Uncle Albert moved lower. Her pajama pants were down around her knees now, and his fingers were tickling her in places no one had ever touched her before except her mom when she used to give her baths.
“Uncle Albert,” she whined, helpless to stop him, but the man was deaf to her pleas.
She lay there, silently crying, waiting for what seemed like an eternity, staring at Ford hovering over her bed, his face contorted with sadness and anger as he kept his eyes locked with hers.
After what seemed like hours later, Uncle Albert‘s hand finally came away from her. “There, that wasn’t so bad, right?” Uncle Albert stood and pulled up his pants. “Now, go to sleep.”
Adeline watched him walk out of her room and close her door.
Then she let out a silent guttural sob that she hadn’t even known she’d been holding in.
She cried long into the night, soaking her pillow with her tears.
She felt dirty and alone, even though Ford was there, hovering over her, or kneeling beside her, his feather light, non-existent touch surrounding her.
But there was nothing he could do for her.
Nothing he could do to stop Uncle Albert from hurting her again.
At least he was here. He was always here, and Adeline found comfort in his presence, even when he didn’t speak or move, or make himself known.
Adeline, Age 13
“Don’t,” Ford said, a pleading tone to his voice. “He’s not worth it.” Adeline drew in a shaky breath as she pushed the razor deeper into the inside of her thigh. A thin line of red formed on her pale skin and she watched as it beaded and rolled down to the nasty brown carpet.
“You can’t stop me anymore than you can stop him,” she bit out, not even looking up. There was something so satisfying about seeing her own blood seeping out of her. She did it again, cutting a small slit in her skin right next to the other one.
“I wish I could. I wish I could kill him for you,” Ford ground out. “He deserves a place in hell for what he’s doing to you.”
Adeline fought back the tears, and sliced through her skin again. Three cuts. Three lines of red blood. Her blood. Her life. She was in control. She had all the power. It was all in her hands with this little razor she stole from Albert’s shaving kit.
She watched and waited until the bleeding stopped and the cuts scabbed over, just like she always did. Then she cleaned the razor and tucked it away under one of the dolls she’d kept from her childhood. It was all she had left of her parents.
Feeling oddly relieved after doing that, she pulled out her math textbook and started her homework.
She still hated math, but it was challenging enough that it gave her mind a break from thinking about other things.
After all, she couldn’t very well think about calculating equations while also debating whether or not Uncle Albert would decide to come into her room tonight.