CHAPTER 14

Charli hated lying to Milli, but she knew her friend wouldn't understand, and she had promised not to mention ghosts. Pretending that she had not seen Chris's ghost was far better than the alternative – everybody thinking she belonged in a mental home – or worse, her aunt committing her to one.

Traveling to the city by bus took two hours, which gave Charli ample time to review all the facts she had discovered and the plans she had put into place. Surfing the net had proved invaluable to her search for Chris's parents. She knew the exact location of the Beaumont's castle-shaped home, and that was just the beginning. Unfortunately, their telephone number wasn't listed. With the little bit of pocket money, she had left from her father, which she still had in her savings account, she had enough to purchase a return bus ticket and a little extra to buy lunch. Charli just hoped that her aunt wouldn't contact Milli's folks to confirm whether she was spending the day with Milli. She had to lie and tell them she would be staying at Milli's, or they wouldn't have allowed her to go. And Milli just assumed Charli had chores to do. No one needed to know the truth.

The bus stopped a few blocks away from the Beaumont's grandeur home and it didn't take Charli long before she spotted the two large towers which belonged to the castle home of Chris's grandparents, the Beaumont's.

A few minutes later, a breath-taking sight welcomed Charli. The Beaumont's grandeur home resembled an archival-designed French Chateaux in its full splendour with magnificent gardens sporting lavish-styled gardens reminiscent of French Baroque gardens. A rush of emotions, which included envy, washed over her. She sighed heavily and, after spotting a nearby park bench which was located under a large Jacaranda tree, and which was conveniently empty and sat down. She immediately started contemplating her next move. Solid built walls and rows of security cameras surrounded the home. A massive electric gate leading to the entrance of the mansion highlighted a large portion of the grandeur and splendour of the home and its gardens. To the left of the automatic gate, there was a miniature tower look-alike building that housed the security post wherein two security guards sat.

Now that she had come this far, she had no idea what she going to do next. Maybe she would be lucky and see either Mr or Mrs. Kempton coming in or out of the Beaumont's grandeur home. Before coming to the city Charli visited the library again to see if she could find any photos of Mr. and Mrs. Kempton, so she could recognize them. She was quite surprised to find that there were numerous photos of Mr. Kempton in the school's older edition yearbooks. Chris definitely took after his father in the looks department. She would instantly recognize him if she saw him. There were, however, no photos of Mrs. Kempton, which came as no surprise.

After two hours of sitting and waiting Charli's stomach protested violently with hunger pains. Leaving the house at the crack of dawn hadn't afforded her the time to eat breakfast, nor had she packed in any lunch for fear of raising suspicion. At first, she ignored her hunger pains but when a family came to the park to enjoy a picnic, the sight of them munching away on their sandwiches eventually made her succumb to her hunger and she hurriedly went in search of a shop.

Cherry's Diner seemed like a friendly spot. As she hungrily bit into her burger, she wondered what she would do if she came across Mr. and Mrs. Kempton. What would she tell them? Their son was a ghost and was walking around looking for them? Even if they believed her, how would she tell Chris? She had no idea where he was, nor whether she would ever see him again. At this thought a looming sadness covered her, like a dark cloud, refusing to dissipate now that it had settled over her. Charli finished her burger and sat staring out of the window, glaring at the tops of the two towers which were visible from where she sat. Longing and sadness engulfed her which she could not shake; a longing to belong and a sense of sadness at the loss of her father and now at the thought of losing Chris too.

She suddenly regretted taking this trip. It had all been in vain. What had first seemed like such a great idea now seemed futile. A few tears slid down her cheek. Her body felt numb - devoid of any enthusiasm or drive left. She continued to stare out of the window and even though the tears poured down, not a muscle in her body twitched. To a passer-by, she could be mistaken for a mannequin, she mused bitterly, that is if they failed to notice the river of tears that shamelessly rolled down her cheeks.

"Charli?"

She jumped out of her reverie. Then shouted with joy when she saw Chris.

"Chris."

"Hush, people are watching. I'm a ghost remember," he reminded her and then slid into the chair opposite her.

Sheepishly, she glanced around to see who had noticed her outburst. To her dismay, everyone in the Diner had and she was graced with curious glances. Fortunately, their curiosity didn't last long.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, trying to talk through her teeth without moving her mouth, to avoid further suspicious glances.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Chris replied, his face adorned with concern.

"I was looking for your parents," Charli admitted. The moment she had seen him, the dark emotional cloud had lifted and with it, her spirits.

"You were looking for my parents?" This surprised Chris. "Why would you do that?"

"I wanted to help you. I just wasn't sure if I'd see you again." She gave off a shy, guilty smile.

Chris smiled at her, affection adorning his eyes. "Thank you. You don't know what it means to me that you would do such a thing – for me."

She blushed.

"What did you find out?" he asked anxiously.

"I know where your grandparents live."

"Quite a place, isn't it?" Chris smiled broadly.

"It's definitely something else," Charli admitted. "If you know where they live why haven't you gone in to see if your folks are there?"

"They're not. I've been hanging around here for a while now. Not once has either of my parents been there to visit my grandparents."

"I don't understand, I thought your mother was close to her parents," Charli said, frowning.

"She was. I can't explain it either. All my grandfather does all day long is sit in his lazy boy, reading books, and my grandmother is forever out at some other social event or charity function. They hardly ever talk to each other anymore. At first, it saddened me, then it angered me, then I couldn't take it anymore, so I left."

"Perhaps you can listen to what they say. Maybe a discussion about your folks and their whereabouts will come up. Don't give up, Chris."

"You think I haven't thought about that? What do you think I've been doing down here?"

"Really, they haven't said anything, nothing at all?" Charli was shocked.

"Nope, and as I said, they hardly talk with one another."

"That's so sad." Her sadness soon changed into feelings of despondency.

"So, in other words, I've wasted my time by coming here, not to mention the last bit of savings I had." Charli was so distraught she didn't realize she'd uttered those words aloud. A few wary glances came her way. She smiled sweetly at them which seemed to appease their doubt and they looked away again.

"Well, if it's any consolation, I'm glad you came," Chris said, smiling affectionately.

Seeing his affection brought a smile to her lips. "I missed you," she confessed.

"I missed you too."

She noticed a trace of sadness looming in his beautiful eyes.

"Let's get out of here before they chase me out," Charli suggested and went to pay her bill.

Once they were seated on the park bench in front of Chris's grandparents' home, she dared to speak. "What now?" A feeling of hopelessness threatened to engulf her.

"I wish I knew!"

"Tell me," Charli began, with a sideways grin, "did you haunt the castle?"

"Funny!"

"No seriously, do you – uh – did you glide around all the passageways and rooms?"

"When I first - died, for a month or so, I did. But I didn't like it. It made me feel kind of lonely and sad. Trying to speak with them and reach out to them but am unable to. There was so much I wanted to say but nobody could hear me. So, I returned to the river. Strangely enough, the river gives me some sort of peace."

Charli's heart went out to him and reminded her again just how selfish she had been in the past, absorbed in her own pain that she failed to consider his.

"I'm so sorry – for everything." She wanted to put her arms around him and comfort him.

Chris shirked his shoulders, feeling uncomfortable. "Enough of me. How have things been with you? Is your situation getting any better at home?"

Charli shook her head miserably. "But I'm slowly learning to accept it. At school, I'm treated like a leper, except by Milli, but I can handle it. At home, I'm treated like Cinderella, but I can handle that too. Hard work doesn't scare me."

"It's not right. I really wish I could do something to change things for you."

"Are you kidding? I don't think I would have survived these past few months if it hadn't been for you and Milli. And I'm not talking about the time you literally saved my life when I almost drowned in the river, or the time you motivated me to stay strong when I hurt myself on that stupid mountain." She shook her head and looked at him, a serious expression on her face. "I'm talking about our friendship, your kindness, your care..."

"Charli..."

"You don't have to say anything."

"But I do, Charli, I really do."

She glanced at him curiously. Why was he looking at her with such a serious face? Whatever he had to say, prompted her full attention.

"You mean more to me than you realize." He wanted desperately to take her hand in his if only he could.

"You know how many times I wished I could have met you before the accident...."

"Chris." Charli wanted to appease him but focusing their attention on what they couldn't have just made things worse. "Let's not do this. It won't help. It won't change anything. It will just make us even more miserable than we already are – and trust me, we're already two sorrowful excuses for living beings." Charli tried to joke but she had to force herself not to burst into tears again.

"I need you to know how I feel about you," Chris said, and Charli noticed that his eyes were filling up with tears.

"I think I already know. I care about you too," Charli's voice broke.

Chris peered at her in silence for a moment before nodding. He wanted to tell her that he loved her but stopped himself. She was right, what good would it do? With a heart as heavy as if filled with sandbags, he glanced at his grandparent's home.

They sat in silence, each lost in their own inner torment until Charli realized how late it was.

"Oh my gosh, I better get back." She jumped up, then turned to look at Chris.

"I think it's better if you don't come back to see me," she whispered, even though it tore her up inside to have to say it, but she knew it was for the best. To her relief, Chris seemed to understand and simply nodded.

"Just don't give up," Charli urged and glanced at him one last time before walking away.

Chris stood and watched - with more pain than he'd ever experienced before - as she walked out of his life, again. If he were alive, and his heart was really beating, and if he was not already dead, he was sure it would have stopped beating at this moment and he would have died of a broken heart.