Chapter 19:
Gary, Leo, and the Truth
“I’m really
sorry.” I said with hesitation while staring at my feet. I was helping Leo put his
things on his car’s compartment.
“Drop it,
Nick.” He answered without looking at me. He already told me yesterday to stop
apologizing because it wasn’t my fault. But I felt guilty when Bobby, with
Howie and Kevin’s approval, fired Leo yesterday.
“You don’t
understand, I should have told them the truth.”
“The truth
was they found Fred’s cellphone on my bag. End of
story.” Leo closed the compartment and walked towards the driver’s seat. “Don’t
worry about me.”
“But ---” I
tried to stop him by blocking his way with my body.
I felt
something funny when my left hand touched the hood of his car. I felt like
someone grabbed me and I was being electrocuted. I had no choice but to close
my eyes, and when I opened them I was sitting on the passenger seat of Leo’s
car while he was driving.
“What
happened? Where are we?” I asked while looking around. The place was not
familiar to me at all.
“Hey!” Leo
was ignoring me and he kept talking to someone on his cell phone, it was as if
I didn’t exist.
Leo started
stepping on the brake when we were about to approach an intersection and green
stop light was blinking. Then I saw Gary, the annoying ghost, on the other side
of the road waiting for the right time to cross the street. The next thing I
knew Gary was hit by speeding car who beat the red light. The impact was so
vigorous that Gary’s body crashed on Leo’s windshield.
“Nick?
Nick?”
Leo snapped
me back to reality by shaking my shoulders. He got a worried look on his eyes
when I looked at him.
“Oh my God!
You didn’t kill him.” I blurted out without thinking.
“What? Come
on, Nick, I have no time for this.” He tried to remove my hand that was
blocking his way from his car.
“Were you
ever involved in a vehicular accident?” I was still trying my luck. Leo can’t leave
until I resolve this matter; it was for his own good.
“Yes. Two
years ago but it was not my fault.”
“I know.
Leo, this might be hard to believe but there is a ghost attached to you. His
name is Gary and he was the victim of that road accident. He believes that you
were the one who killed him and was taking his revenge on you for the past two
years.” I said as fast as I could, I didn’t give him a chance to cut me off.
“Are you
kidding me?” Leo’s reaction was normal. Hell, I would freak out too if somebody
told me those things.
“He made
the spotlight fall so everyone would blame you, Gary put Fred’s cellphone on your bag, he made you tripped over invisible
things, and God knows what else he did to you.” I took a deep breath and sighed
heavily “It’s not easy to believe but I can see ghosts, and he has been
following you for years now. He even warned me to stay away and not to
interfere with his business.”
“I believe
you,” Leo nodded “For the past two years, there are so many things happened to
me that I can’t explain. This is a usual stuff, actually, colleague’s things
that were being found on my bag or locker, and next thing I knew I had to find
a job again.”
“I’m
sorry.”
“So, what
should we do now? Can this be stopped?”
“I will try.
But for the meantime you have to stay until we can talk to him and clear things
out.”
“But Bobby
already fired me.”
“Stay until
the concert is over.” I handed him one ticket for the concert tonight “See you
later.”
“Thanks,
Nick.”
I winked
and gave him a small smile before I turned around.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Didn’t I
tell you to mind your own business?”
I looked up
from typing a SMS on my cellphone and saw the angry
ghost standing in front of me.
“Hey, Gary!
I’ve been looking for you.” I gave him a wide grin that would surely annoyed
him.
“This is my
final warning, Carter. If you won’t leave that guy alone, I have no choice but
to agree on what Michael want me to do to you.” He even pointed his index
finger at me.
“Leo didn’t
kill you, Gary.”
“Don’t make
me laugh, Kid.” He snorted
“I swear. I
saw it.”
“How can
you possibly see it? You were not there.”
“I have my
ways.”
“Stop this
nonsense, I just came here to warn you.”
“You are taking
your revenge on the wrong person, and besides the culprit is already paying his
crime on jail.” I showed him an article from a newspaper that I got on the
internet, the story of how the driver that hit him surrendered was there.
“But I saw
my body on his car, and from that time I didn’t let him out of my sight.”
I explained
to him how he was crossing the street and was hit by a speeding car. If ghosts
could still cry, I was pretty sure this one would be bawling like a kid right
now.
“I didn’t
know…. I’m sorry… Can you tell that guy how sorry I am?” Gary said after a few
minutes of silence. He had a worried look on his face.
“Sure.”
“Do you
think he can forgive me?”
“I think he
already did, and that’s what you need to do as well. Forgive everyone who
harmed you when you were still alive.”
“That’s not
easy to do but I will try.” He paused as he looked over my shoulder, he was
staring at something behind me. “They were right, it’s beautiful.”
“Are you
seeing the light?” I turned around even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to see
it.
“Yes, but I
am not ready to go yet.”
“Are you
going to take your revenge to the man on prison?”
“No. I
think I’m done with it, it’s just that I am not yet ready to explore the
afterlife world. Thank you for your help, Nick Carter. I assure you that I will
not let Michael use me against you. I’m on your side.” Gary flashed a big smile
before he disappeared.
I couldn’t
wait to tell Leo the good news, but at the same time I was disappointed that
Gary chose to ignore the light.
***