Chapter 2: Distraction

Alessa dropped her pen and looked longingly at the clock. She had less than twelve hours until the semester's first exam, and she just could not focus on the words swimming on the page in front of her. All she could think about was the ghost.

She turned back to the diagram in her textbook, but it was no use. All she could see were those piercing sapphire eyes.

Alessa sighed, gently thumbing her laptop closed. She was resigned. If she didn't know the basics of physics by now, she certainly wasn't going to learn them by tomorrow. At least the midterm was open book.

She plunked the textbook down on the far corner of her desk with a resolute thud.

Alessa knew she needed to stop obsessing about the ghost. Her fixation had taken over her life, much to the detriment of her schoolwork and the few friendships she'd begun to develop at the start of the semester. She was barely sleeping, her mind abuzz dusk to dawn with questions about the ghost. And then the nightmares had started - always the same immobilizing fear pulsing through her in that dark, dank cell.

No, this was not at all what Alessa had envisioned for her first semester of college.

Alessa pushed back from her desk and stood up, poking her head out into the hallway. As she'd hoped, the door to Janie's room was propped open invitingly. Perfect - a little Janie time was just what she needed to decompress. Alessa dug into her small refrigerator for a day-old sandwich and headed down the hall towards her friend's room.

Janie was sitting at her desk, her small frame hunched over her computer as she typed furiously, short brown hair tucked behind her ears. Alessa remembered that in addition to the physics exam, Janie also had a paper due tomorrow.

"How's it going?"

Janie finished the sentence she was keying and swung around in her chair. "Well, I might bomb physics, but at least I won't show up empty-handed to psych."

Alessa crossed the room to sit down on Janie's bed, noticing that her friend's usually neat chin-length bob was mussed, dark wavy layers sticking out in all directions. It looked like Janie could use some reassurance.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You took physics in high school, right?" She began unwrapping the crinkled cellophane around her turkey club.

"Yeah. But unlike some people -" Janie turned her chocolate brown eyes toward Alessa, eyebrows raised, "I didn't get the highest grade in the class."

Before Alessa could explain that it was chemistry she had mastered - physics was after the accident, and she had barely scraped by - Janie reached for the sandwich.

"Whatcha got there?" Sooner than Alessa could react, Janie had already stolen a bite. Despite her pixie-like proportions, Janie had a considerable appetite. She was chewing in a loud, dramatic fashion. "Mmm, dry turkey, tasteless vegetables, and soggy bread. Let me guess - Van Husen basement?"

Alessa loosed a small smile and nodded as she swallowed her own bite. "Culinary excellence at its finest." Yes, it was a poor excuse for a sandwich, but putting food in her stomach - even these meager provisions from the pitiful student-run café - immediately took the edge off her hunger, and vastly improved her mood. "Got anything to wash this down with?"

Janie swung open the minifridge to her right and pulled out a can of iced tea. She placed it on the edge of the desk nearest Alessa. "Here you go."

Janie turned back to her paper while Alessa finished off the sandwich. Alessa loved that about Janie. Neither of them ever felt a need to keep the conversation going just to fill the space.

With the other girls in the house, Alessa struggled to even manage a 30 second exchange in the bathroom. Her sorority sisters were nice enough, but Alessa often found that she had so little in common with them that many interactions were palpably awkward. But not with Janie. Alessa was content just to sit in the same room as her, knowing that she'd be there to talk to if anything interesting occurred to her. And Janie felt the same.

The only other freshman in the house, Janie had had an easier time assimilating - her natural charisma helped her get along with anyone, even people whose only interest seemed to be boys and parties - but privately, Janie had expressed the same frustrations that Alessa felt. Alessa was just glad that they had found each other.

A spunky, sharp little bundle of energy, Janie had a fire in her that helped Alessa forget her troubles for a while - no small feat, given the long, lonely, painful year Alessa was coming off. For some reason that Alessa couldn't fathom, Janie had been drawn to Alessa as well, and the two had become fast friends.

As Alessa drained the last few sips of iced tea, Janie tapped a few keys with a sense of finality and sat back in her chair, a satisfied smile on her face as she turned towards Alessa. "Now that that's done… What do you say we get out of here?"

A break was exactly what Alessa needed. "Let me just grab my bag." She headed back down the hall, looking forward to some fresh air after a long, fruitless day staring at a textbook she could barely bring herself to read.

Crossing the threshold into her room, Alessa stopped short. Standing at the window not ten feet from her was a tall solitary figure, partially cast in shadow.

Alessa stifled the urge to scream. Adrenaline rushed through her body and panic threatened to overtake her as blood throbbed through her temples, her muscles tensing for action. But she couldn't breathe, couldn't think, so she just stood still, watching.

He was looking out the window, breathing gently, one slim lace-up boot perched on the low windowsill, suspenders pulled taut across a broad, flat back and fastened to the narrow waist of his trim brown slacks. He gazed pensively across the wide expanse of the lawn, his chin perched gently upon the knuckles of his left fist, white shirtsleeves rolled up to the elbow. She could see the muscles in his forearm flex as he clenched and unclenched his hand.

He dropped his left arm and tousled a hand through the short waves of his soft brown hair. His skin was pale, but not the pallid color of sickness, more the luminous porcelain of midwinter. As usual, he was contemplative, and didn't seem to notice her presence.

But Alessa's body refused to calm, her insides churning as she fought the mayhem stirring in her chest. Terror mixed with agony, her heart sinking with each beat, overwhelmed with an aching sorrow she couldn't explain. Her every impulse screamed at her to run, but she was rooted in place, transfixed, waves of anguish washing over her, drowning.

At the same time, though, she felt the firm tug of a powerful longing, searing her from the inside out. She couldn't have torn her eyes from him if she'd tried. How did this strange apparition invoke such turmoil in her?

His image glowed faintly, the lines of the windowpane just barely visible through his semi-translucent form. For a moment, his head inclined in her direction and she could see the gleam of one sea blue eye, flecks of green and gold shining above a strong, straight nose and thin pale rose lips.

She watched, rapt, as he clenched his jaw and swallowed, breathing deep then exhaling with an almost imperceptible shake of his head, hard lines of melancholy scored into his face.

Alessa was building the courage to try to reach out to him when the ghost began to fade. It started with the hazy glow around him, which grew strong for a moment then rapidly drew inward, erasing his presence as it went. Alessa thought she saw a small flicker and then the form was gone.