Abandoned by Abigail Livinghouse (distant reading txt) 📕

Tessie took in a lungful of air, ready to let it out in a scream when his hand clamped down on her mouth.

 “Shh, relax Tessie. It’s just me.”

Her eyes blazed emerald green with fury. She mumbled uselessly against his palm. He gave her a pleading look before tentatively dropping his hand.

“What the hell are you doing in my room Chip?” She gasped, taking in gulps of oxygen.

 Chip stood in front of her in ripped jeans and a cotton tee. He had on running shoes, and his hair was mussed from the wind outside.

“How did you get in here anyway?” She asked, her face flushed with anger.

Chip’s eyes remained calm pools of blue. He didn’t flinch at how pissed off she was, granted, he probably expected it. God knows how many times he’s snuck into a girl’s room and gotten his ass kicked because of it. He gazed at her, his eyes approaching.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. I came to talk to you.”

She let out a laugh, rolling her eyes. “Wonderful. Okay”, she crossed her arms, “let’s get this over with.”

 Chip spoke quickly, like he was afraid of her judgment of him. “I’m sorry I upset you earlier with the whole ‘ghost buster’ jibe. I didn’t mean it. I–I just thought you wanted to get rid of the ghosts. I didn’t know you cared about them so much. I’m–really sorry.”

 The look on his face was similar to one of a puppy’s after it knows it’s done something wrong. Tessie had an absurd thought of Chip on his knees, his pink tongue hanging out of his mouth, and her waving a biscuit in front of his face. She couldn’t help the curve of her mouth.

“Alright, alright. I forgive you already. Just–stop looking at me like that.”

Chip’s expression softened, and the doe eyes he had been giving her finally let up. “Thanks. But, that’s not the only reason I came here.”

Tessie let out a sigh. Of course it wasn’t. It never could be that simple, always complicated. Always.

“Well?” She asked expectantly.

Chip rubbed his jaw, seeming to choose his words carefully. “Um, how do I put this? What exactly happens when you have a vision?”

Tessie’s stomach did a little flip. “What are you saying?”

Chip hesitated a fraction of a second before speaking. “Well, I think I might’ve had one, and I’d like to know the specifics just to make sure I’m not going crazy.”

Her stomach went from flipping to plummeting down to her feet. All she could think was no. No. Please, Chip isn’t psychic. He can’t be psychic.

The thing was, visions weren’t “fun”. Tessie wouldn’t wish this on anyone else. It was completely unfair that she was psychic, if she had a choice, she would say take it away and never give it back.

But Chip being psychic? It would be horrible. The sickening colors, the swirling dizziness, fainting, feeling like you’re going to puke every time you come out of a vision. And the worst part would be: Tessie wouldn’t even be able to help him.

Sure, she had no help herself, but she didn’t know any other psychic. If there had been one around, she would’ve begged for their help. She knew that Chip would need help. She had desperately wanted it when she had started getting visions. But to be there, and not be able to help, it would kill Tessie.

Chip would have to go through this with no help, basically alone, with her on the sidelines being able to offer him no salvation. It would be as if she wasn’t even there. Chip noticed Tessie’s fear. He reached out to caress her shoulder, but she paled at his touch. She swallowed, feeling a lump thickening her throat.

“Tell me Chip.” She murmured so quiet he leaned in further in order to hear her. She cleared her throat, speaking up. “Tell me. What happened?”

He hesitated, seeming to wonder if he said something wrong she would break down. She stood taller, trying to show that she was strong and confident, even though her hands were shaking. He eyed her for a moment, but then seemed to decide that she could hold up. She wasn’t as sure.

“I was in my room when this enormous pressure settled onto my chest, like someone was sitting on me. I couldn’t breathe. I thought I’d blacked out, but then I started seeing this–face.” Tessie scowled but motioned for him to continue.

“It was blurry. The features were all distorted. I remember that the face was really angry, angry at me. I didn’t know why. It was strange, I didn’t recognize the person. But, I probably wouldn’t have known if I had known the person, it was so dark and fuzzy. The face’s eyes flashed, God, those eyes were pretty scary. They were almost black, I couldn’t tell what color they were exactly, but they were piercing. And then, the pressure was gone, and I woke up. It took me a minute to remember what had happened. It felt like someone had knocked me out, but I passed out. I’m sure about that.”

He eyed Tessie curiously. “What’s your take on that?”

She shook her head, glaring at the wood floors. It definitely wasn’t a vision, more like a dream. A nightmare. Or maybe a hallucination. But no, you’d have to be awake to have a hallucination, wouldn’t you? Tessie couldn’t tell. She had never had something like that happen to her. If was almost like something had overpowered him and forced him to see what it wanted. But what was it?

She was relieved that he wasn’t psychic, but what if something worse had happened to him? Her mind went immediately to the ghosts, but they couldn’t leave the house without being sent to hell, could they?

Tessie hated this endless loop of questions. She felt like she was going in circles, making no progress, and ending up right back where she started.

“Tessie?” Chip asked, bringing her back to reality.

 She shook her head. “That wasn’t a vision. I don’t know what it was.”

 I wish I knew, she thought dismally. Chip sighed, sitting down on the edge of her bed, the springs groaning loudly under his weight.

“I had a feeling I wasn’t psychic. I figured I might as well come to you. You’re the specialist when it comes to this stuff.” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but Tessie stood straight as a board, her face stern.

“I wish I could offer more advice than this but, just stay away from this place for a while, okay?”

His eyes widened and he sprang to his feet. “What? No. No way. What about you? I can’t just leave you alone to deal with these spirits floating around.”

Tessie sighed, leaning against her bedframe. She was exhausted. It had only been a week since Cade had shown up, and she was still tired from that encounter. Right now, she just wanted to happily pass out on her bed. But no, there was always something to deal with. Something to keep her entertained even when she would just be glad to be bored for once. God, why couldn’t she be bored like any other teenager?

“I can handle the spirits on my own. They won’t hurt me.” Chip eyed her suspiciously.

“I don’t trust them.” He murmured.

“They’re completely harmless. And I trust them.” She snapped, regretting the harsh tone of her voice.

Chip shook his head, getting to his feet and brushing his jeans off. He caught her gaze, his face softening but his eyes hard. “I just don’t want you to get hurt Tessie. You may trust them, but I don’t. I–”

He sucked in a breath, abruptly pushing away what he was about to say. He shut his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again.

“Just be careful.” He cautioned.

She was about to say that she could take care of herself, but stopped at the sincerity shining in his eyes like tears. She nodded instead.

Chip ducked out the window, jumping onto a thick tree branch, from the oak near her window, gripping the thick limb, swinging his legs for traction and then releasing. Tessie sucked in a sharp breath as he whistled through the air. He landed hard on the balls of his feet, straightening up. Unbelievably he stuck the landing, sprinting off in the direction of his house. Tessie’s jaw dropped in awe and annoyance. That lucky bastard. 

“Tessie! You’re going to be late for school!” Her mother shrieked.

Tessie groaned and rolled over in bed, thrusting a pillow over her head.

“Tessie Lea Porter you’d better get down here right now or else you will get an extension on your punishment! Get down here!” Her mom’s shrill voice pierced through the wall and bounced around in Tessie’s eardrums, reverberating over and over again.

She grunted, tossing the pillow to the ground and sitting up in bed.

“Morning.” A tiny voice whispered in her ear.

She yelped, leaping to her feet. It was amazing that she hadn’t jumped out of her skin.

“Cyndi!” She hissed, pressing her palm to her erratically beating heart.

Cyndi’s face crinkled with worry as she stood, clasping her hands in front of her. Tessie noticed that she was still wearing her school girl uniform. In fact, none of the ghosts seemed to change their clothes. Did ghosts even have wardrobes?

Tessie let out a long breath, moving to her closet and opening the doors. She riffled through the little articles of clothing she owned, dropping her hands after a moment, figuring it was useless. At that moment, she almost wished her parents had made good on their threat to send her to Catholic school. At least then she’d have a uniform and wouldn’t have to go through the agonizing process of finding an outfit. Cyndi came up next to her shoulder, gazing into her walk-in closet.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

Tessie sighed, shaking her head. “I’m having a bit of trouble finding an outfit.”

She ran her hands through her tangled red hair. She would have to attempt to tame the wild mane. She sure as hell wasn’t going to attend her first day of high school as a new student looking like this. Cyndi gave a little giggle and plopped down on Tessie’s bed, lying back and staring at the ceiling.

“Pick the first things your hands touch. If it doesn’t match, it doesn’t matter. It’s what you want to wear.” The girl murmured with her eyes closed.

Tessie turned to look at her. “I don’t know. I don’t want to end up wearing green skinny jeans and an orange tank top.”

Cyndi