The Key To Ghost World Read online

  “Get out of my room.” Jaedon ordered.

  “No. You get out.”

  “Sam, get out of my room right now. If you don’t get out, I’ll sic my ghost on you.”

  Randy jumped up grinning.

  “Oh, like I’m afraid of your stinking ghost. You’re stupid.” Sam stomped his foot.

  Randy stepped up to Sam and blew in his ear. Before Sam could blink, Randy reached down and grabbed the waistband of his underwear and pulled. Sam’s eyes bulged and he yanked at the seat of his pants.

  “I’m leaving.” He stomped out of Jaedon’s room and into his own, slamming the door.

  Jaedon heard him crying. “Thanks.” he said to Randy.

  “My pleasure! I told you some people deserve teasing.”

  “Yeah, some people do. The wedgie was awesome! That look on his face was classic.” Jaedon giggled.

  “John’s wedgie last night was better. He was getting in your mom’s face screaming about how spoiled you are. So I just reached in and wedgied him. He stopped screaming, and his face got white. He settled down and straightened his shorts. A couple minutes later he started getting hot again so I wedgied him again. He started getting really nervous then. That’s when your mom told him that she wanted him to move out today. I think he was happy to go. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling.”

  Jaedon knelt by his dresser and pulled the bottom drawer out. “You want to feel warm and fuzzy? I’ve got a gold pocket watch that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. You’ll like this.”

  He reached into the space under the missing drawer and pulled out his treasure box. As soon as his hands wrapped around the box, he knew something was wrong. Instead of the calm, happy feeling that usually enveloped his body when he had the watch in his hand, he felt a foreboding sense. Opening the lock, he shuffled through his treasures looking for the watch.

  Jaedon looked up at Randy his eyes wide. “It’s gone! How could it be gone? The box was locked.”

  Randy looked over Jaedon’s shoulder at the treasure box. “Are you sure you put it away before you locked the box?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. And, nobody knows where it is.”

  “Well, it couldn’t just disappear.”

  Jaedon sat back on his heels and turned his head to look at Randy. “And ghosts don’t exist either.”

  “Oh, yeah. Point taken.” Randy grinned.

  Sam knocked on Jaedon’s bedroom door. “Can I come in?” he asked.

  “Just a minute.” Jaedon tossed the treasure box in its home and shoved the drawer back in the track.

  “What are you doing?” Sam asked, stepping into the room. His face was red; his nose even redder. Tears had not quite dried on his cheeks. “Is your ghost still here? Please don’t let him get me. I’ll be good.” He walked to the window and pushed the curtain aside to look out.

  “Last night, I heard mom and dad saying that they were going to get a divorce. I’m sorry I said it was your fault. It’s not your fault. It’s my fault because I’m a jerk. I know I’m a jerk.”

  “Well, you are a jerk, but that’s not the reason they are getting divorced. They just fight all the time. Are you ready to go to Clown’s? I told mom that we would come down when we got hungry.”

  “Yeah, will you play basketball with me?”

  Chapter 9 - Clown's Pizza

  Clown’s Pizza was a shabby building with a big clown face poking out of the bricks. Jaedon remembered when he was younger that the clown always scared him. He thought it was an evil looking clown.

  Inside it was bright and cheery. It smelled like pizza. Behind the eating area was a huge room that had an arcade and all sorts of games like bowling and basketball shooting.

  Sam was pretty good at basketball. Better than Jaedon, actually. They played every time they came here. Jaedon didn’t win very often.

  “Cheese pizza!” said Sam picking up the menu and pretending to read.

  “Can we get pepperoni?” asked Jaedon.

  “No pepperoni!” screamed Sam. “I’ll barf all over you if we get that.”

  “Mom, please? Pepperoni?”

  “How about we get a cheese pizza with pepperoni on half of it?”

  “Works for me,” said Jaedon, happy with the suggestion.

  “No!” screamed Sam. “No pepperoni.”

  Jaedon sighed. But his mom surprised him when she reached over and put her hand on Sam’s arm.

  “You need to settle down. We can get a pizza that you both will like. Half of it will be pepperoni. The pepperoni won’t touch your half. Now, go play and learn to deal with it.”

  “Come on, Jaedon.” Sam didn’t look happy. “Let’s play basketball. I hope I don’t ralf all over you when I smell your stupid pepperoni.”

  Jaedon didn’t care if Sam was unhappy. It had been a long time since he had gotten his way. Things were definitely looking up. He led the way to the game room.

  Jaedon took the basketball first. He had three minutes to make as many baskets as he could. He didn’t do too badly. He knew Sam would beat him though.

  Sam elbowed him out of the way. “Stand back, moron. Let me show you how a pro shoots.” As he took his first shot, Randy appeared next to the basket. He slapped the first shot away from the net. And the second. And the third. For three minutes Sam threw balls at the basket without making one single basket. Jaedon grinned.

  “What the ..?” Sam demanded. “This is just wrong. This game is broke!”

  “My turn.” Jaedon said.

  “Don’t bother. The game is broke.”

  Jaedon took his first shot. Randy helped it in. For three minutes Jaedon threw balls in the direction of the basket. Randy slammed them all through the net.

  “It isn’t broke,” Jaedon grinned, looking at the all time highest score.

  “Move over. I’ll show you!”

  Again Randy smacked Sam’s balls away from the hoop. Sam didn’t score one basket. Tossing the last one, he ducked as it bounced back at him. He was too slow. It hit him in the chest.

  “Woof!” he sat hard on his butt. Blinking and shaking his head, he looked at Jaedon. Then he started to bawl.

  “Come on, Sam. Today just isn’t your basketball game. Let’s go play arm wrestling. You can beat me at that.”

  Randy flexed his muscles. Jaedon shook his head. Sam had had enough for one day. Randy wandered off to find someone else to tease.

  Jaedon let Sam beat him in a couple rounds of arm wrestling. Sam was happy by the time they joined their mom at the table for pizza.

  Sam didn’t complain about the pepperoni. He seemed deep in thought.

  “Are you OK, Sam? Mom asked.

  “I’m OK. I was just thinking. Did you know that Jaedon has a ghost?”

  “Jaedon,” Samantha said in her warning voice. “What have you been telling your brother? You know better than to try to scare him.”

  “No, Mom. He’s not trying to scare me.” Sam insisted, his mouth full of cheese pizza. “His ghost does. Jaedon doesn’t do anything. His ghost is a jerk.”

  Mom shot Jaedon a look that made him slump down in his chair.

  “Do you think it’s funny to scare your little brother like that?” she hissed. She reached across the table and grabbed his wrist. “Can’t you be nice to him just once?”

  “Mom!” Sam insisted. “Jaedon doesn’t scare me. His ghost does.” Turning to Jaedon he asked, “Can you see the ghost, Jaedon? Does he talk to you?”

  “Enough!” their mom said firmly. “I don’t want to hear any nonsense about ghosts. Finish your pizza. It’s getting late. You have school tomorrow.”

  They finished their pizza in silence. When they got back home, Jaedon escaped to his room.

  When he finished his homework, he searched the medicine cabinet of the bathroom he shared with Sam. The gold watch wasn’t there. Striding into Sam’s room, he looked around, not sure where to start his search. Toys and dirty clothes littered the floor and bed.

  He used his foot to clear the mess from
the corner of the room between the dresser and the wall, and then started looking through the piles.

  Picking up a pair of dirty underwear between his thumb and middle finger, he wrinkled his nose when he spotted brown stains inside. He flung it to the corner, and continued his search.

  When the floor of the room was cleared, and the mess was contained in one big pile that heaped as high as the bed, Jaedon moved to the dresser. At least the drawers were neat and clean. His fingers felt each piece of clothing, but he did not find the gold watch. In the bottom drawer he found some Halloween candy that Sam must have forgotten about.

  Shoving the drawer shut he went downstairs to join his small family.

  His mom was sitting at the table looking at the want ads; across from her Sam was brushing Pickles.

  Jaedon sat down next to Sam.

  “Want to go watch TV?”

  “Nah. I’m helping mom find a job. If she can’t find a job, we won’t be able to buy groceries. I don’t want to starve to death.”

  “Can I help?”

  “There’s nothing in here,” said Samantha. “We’ll look again tomorrow. Let’s play Uno before bed.”

  It had been a long time since they’d played a game. For the next hour, they sat at the kitchen table laughing and joking over the game of cards.

  Getting ready for bed, he thought that it had been one of the best times he’d had in a long time. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

  Chapter 10 - Jaedon sends Randy away

  Jaedon was dreaming about a bird that kept dive bombing his head. Its tail feathers stroked Jaedon’s face every time it dived. He woke with a start and laughed out loud when he realized that the “bird” was Pickles and the “tail feathers” were Pickles tail swishing back and forth. He was laying next to Jaedon’s head, staring across the room. His tail was flopping very hard next to Jaedon’s face.

  Jaedon followed the cat’s gaze to see what was disturbing him. Randy lounged on the game chair watching Jaedon sleep.

  “Don’t do that!” Jaedon grumped.

  “Why?”

  “Well, first, it’s rude to watch someone sleep. And second, I don’t like you sneaking up on me.”

  “I’m not watching or sneaking up on you. I’m just waiting for you to wake up.”

  “Why?”

  “I just wanted to say ‘Good morning’. I want to come to school today.”

  “NO!”

  “I won’t get you in trouble. Don’t worry about it.”

  Randy watched Jaedon get dressed and pack his book bag. “I used to have a book bag just like that. Mom packed it with the rest of my stuff and moved it back to England when they moved. I wonder why she kept it. It’s not like I’ll ever need it again.”

  Jaedon walked out of the room and downstairs ignoring Randy who continued talking. Jaedon poured his milk and unwrapped a fruit bar. Carrying both to the living room, he turned on the TV. Randy continued to chatter.

  “Are you listening? I asked you if Hannah still had her cat.”

  Jaedon turned to face Randy. “Why are you here? What do you want? Why are you haunting me?”

  Randy looked hurt. “I’m not haunting you.”

  “Yes, you are. I didn’t ask you to be here. I don’t even want you here. I wish you would just get the hell out of here.”

  Tears filled Randy’s eyes before he disappeared with a soft pop and the familiar smell.

  “Crap!” thought Jaedon. “I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings.”

  “Randy.” He called. “Randy, I’m sorry. Come back.”

  There was no answer. Randy was gone.

  Alex and Emma were waiting for him and today’s trip to school was uneventful. Without Randy to tease Emma, Jaedon managed to stay out of trouble.

  He didn’t get a chance to talk to Hannah until recess. She caught him and pulled him over to the swings. “I talked to my mom last night. My grandma, too. Mom says that you should call if you need someone to talk to.”

  “He’s gone.” Jaedon said. “I don’t think he’s coming back. I made him cry this morning.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I woke up and he was watching me. It creeped me out. Then, he just kept talking and talking. It got on my nerves and I told him that I didn’t want him around. I haven’t seen him since. I tried calling him back, but he’s gone."

  "Did you actually tell him to leave?” Hannah asked.

  “I think I said that I didn’t want him here.”

  “If you ask a ghost to leave, they have to leave; but they come back. You just need to remember that they have to respect any request you make. It’s like a ghost law. Anyway, mom wanted to know if you wanted to come over for supper tonight. Bring Randy and we’ll find out why he is here.”

  “I’ll ask my mom if I can come over, but I don’t know if Randy will be there. He seemed pretty upset this morning.”

  “When you get home from school, just call out to him. He’ll come. Call me and let me know if you can come for supper. We eat at 5:30. Tell your mom that my mom will pick you up and take you home.”

  Jaedon watched Hannah walk away. Her long black hair held in a ponytail bounced with each step. It made Jaedon feel good to watch Hannah. Not as good as holding the gold watch made him feel, but it was a close second.

  The rest of the day was uneventful, except when the bell rang after lunch. As Jaedon followed the line of kids into the school, he thought he saw the Fat Man standing by the corner of the school staring at him.

  His mom wasn’t home when Jaedon got off the bus, but she had left a key under the mat for him. Jaedon was glad that she wasn’t home. It gave him a chance to see if Randy would come back.

  “Randy. I need to talk to you. Are you here? Randy?”

  There was no answer. Sneaking a cookie from mom’s hidden stash, Jaedon went up the stairs to his room. He was opening his drawer to get his PSP out when Randy appeared at the foot of his bed.

  “Where did you go this morning? I tried calling you, but you didn’t come back.”

  “You said you didn’t want me here.”

  “I meant that I didn’t like it when you are here and there are other people around. I end up getting blamed for things that I don’t do. I was just in a bad mood. I’m sorry.”

  “No, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to get you in trouble.”

  “Well, anyway, Hannah has invited us both for supper tonight. I have to ask mom if I can go, but I’m sure she won’t mind. It will give her more time to spend with Sam.”

  “Hannah asked if I would come?” Randy was stunned. “She asked for me?”

  “Yes, she asked for you, moron. Since you are the first ghost I’ve ever seen, they thought they could help us out.”

  “I always liked Hannah. Have you seen that blue skirt she wears? I loved it when she wore that. I don’t know why, but it sure was a pretty skirt.”

  “She’s a couple years older now so I doubt that skirt still fits her. Stop acting like such a moron.”

  “You’re the moron.”

  “Well, if I’m a moron, then you’re a barf bucket.”

  “Well, if I’m a barf bucket then you’re a toilet log.”

  “Toilet log? That’s gross!” Jaedon laughed. “Leave me alone so I can finish my homework. That’s the first thing mom will want to know when I ask her if I can go to Hannah’s for supper.”

  Chapter 11 - Jaedon meets Hannah's family

  Jaedon breezed through his homework and had it done before his mom came home. He was in the kitchen searching through the silverware drawer for his gold watch when mom and Sam walked through the door.