Oh, God. I squeezed my eyes shut. So much for proving my sanity; I’d messed up on my first day!

I had to be more careful.

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe she could have been on the phone?” the younger girl asked.

“Yeah, but I heard her say, ‘don’t look at me like that.’”

“Um, there’s these things called video calls.”

I couldn’t help smiling at that. I liked this girl.

“Shut up. I know I’m right.”

The voices were getting closer so I quietly closed the door. I did not want to be caught eavesdropping.

“You’re wrong about her. They’ve never put anyone in here that actually has mental problems. They only bring in Descendants so they can be properly trained, so she has to be one of us.”

I couldn’t make out what the other girl said after that.

An uneasy feeling crawled down my spine. What was a Descendant and what kind of training were they talking about?

I waited till they’d gone all the way down the stairs before I ventured out of the room. I’d gotten off to a terrific start and I hadn’t even met them yet.

The wonderful smell of roast lamb hit me when I got halfway down the stairs and I picked up the pace as my stomach growled again. I didn’t want to meet all these people, but the sooner I got it over with, the sooner I could eat.

Everyone was already seated and Anna-Marie stood as I entered. “Maddelyn, darling, I’d like you to meet Kellie, Justina, Laynee, Mitch, and Kaydan.” She pointed at them as she said their names. “Guys, this is Maddelyn Johnson. She’s come from Mirrabooka House in Katoomba. You all remember what it’s like being the new person; please make her feel welcome.”

Kellie smiled warmly at me as she said hello and I recognised her voice as the younger girl in the hallway. She was a fair-haired girl who looked like she could pass for a fairy or a pixie.

The tall, lanky guy next to her — Kaydan — lifted his chin and smiled in greeting.

Justina, the girl with long blonde, curly hair and dark eye makeup sitting opposite them had stared at me with her mouth hanging open when I walked in, but now she looked me up and down and made a non-committal noise in the back of her throat as she looked away. She was probably the one who’d said she’d heard me talking to no one.

Great.

Anna-Marie frowned. “Justina. Be nice.”

“I don’t see why I have to.”

Yes. It was her voice.

“It’s common courtesy.”

She picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of carrot, but Anna-Marie put her hands on her hips.

Justina let out a huff and turned to me with a fake smile. “Hello, Maddelyn. It’s so nice to meet you.”

I could fake a smile too. “Hi.”

I wasn’t going to say that it was nice to meet her when she had that crappy attitude.

With that awkward moment out the way, Anna-Marie switched places with me by moving her plate to the spot next to Justina and gestured for me to sit in the seat she’d vacated. I thanked her and sat, feeling uncomfortable as all eyes — except for Justina’s — were on me.

The youngest girl with the jet black hair and black clothing that had touches of lace here and there smiled shyly and gave me a wave. Laynee, was it?

The shorter guy with styled, blonde hair smiled, but it didn’t look genuine. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

I guessed he was Mitch.

None of them were really talkative, but I preferred it that way. No small talk. No annoying questions.

Tracy smiled. “Just help yourself, Maddelyn.”

“It’s just Maddie. No one really calls me Maddelyn.” Except you and the staff at Katoomba Hospital and Mirrabooka House… And Mrs C sometimes.

That thought made me miss her more.

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. Now, dig in.”

I put a bit of everything on my plate and it was so good, I had to make a conscious effort not to groan as I savoured the taste. Roast lamb and gravy, and some steamed veggies and baked potatoes. Mum wasn’t really the best cook, so Sunday roasts weren’t something we did. My taste buds were in heaven.

Considering it was a Friday, it seemed that they didn’t only do roasts on Sundays. I was down for that.

We made small talk while we ate so I couldn’t really avoid it.

Kellie was friendly and outgoing and her enthusiasm was contagious. There was no judgement. She seemed to treat everyone with genuine respect and just had a way of making you smile.

Kaydan pushed a baked potato around his plate. “So, have you always lived in Katoomba?”

“No. Mum and I move around a lot. We’ve been to lots of places in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland.”

“Wow. I’d love to be able to travel. Have you seen any famous landmarks?”

“You mean, besides The Three Sisters that were just up the road at Katoomba? Yeah. We’ve been to stuff in Sydney like the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, but we’ve also seen The Great Barrier Reef and the Gold Coast, the Big Banana, the Big Pineapple, both Luna Parks and we even saw Pharlap’s heart in the museum in Melbourne.”

His eyes were lit up like a kid in front of a Christmas tree and it made me smile. I was used to travelling around, but I guess if you’d grown up in the same town and had never really seen anywhere else, it would be exciting.

Laynee didn’t say anything at all. I caught her looking at me a couple of times, but her food would become really interesting right at that very moment.

Justina didn’t say a word either and sat brooding in her seat the whole time. What was her problem anyway? How can you instantly dislike someone for no reason?

Maybe she was like that to everyone. I decided to forget about it. If she wanted to be a bitch, I could easily ignore her.

Tracy and Anna-Marie joined in with our conversations too, and neither of them acted like Nurse Janice. Some of the tension in my shoulders left me. I must have been more worried about that than I’d realized.

“Are you on any socials?” Kellie asked, and I got the impression it wasn’t the first time she’d asked. I had to mentally kick myself for letting my thoughts wander.

“Um, I was, but I don’t have a phone at the moment. It got smashed when I was hit by a car in June.”

Kellie’s eyes widened and Justina’s eyes snapped to mine before they shared a look. I didn’t need them making me feel worse about not having a phone.

Wait — they probably reacted like that because it was confirmation that I’d been talking to myself earlier.

Damn.

Kellie frowned. “But that was months ago.”

“Yes, but I haven’t exactly been able to go shopping since then. I was in Katoomba Hospital for six weeks, then I went from there straight to Mirrabooka House.”

I felt a pang in my chest. I’d given up waiting for Mum to buy me a phone, but I didn’t want to ask for one either. I shouldn’t have to. I should have my own money. I was eighteen and before the accident, I was working and had my own money, I’d even passed my driving test, but things were all upside-down now.

Kellie smiled. “We have the two computers here. They’re a bit slow and outdated, but they’ll be good enough for surfing and socials.”

I returned her smile. “Thanks.”

Dessert was peaches and ice cream and I enjoyed every mouthful.

I could get used to this.

After dinner, we all pitched in to clean up, then as the others left the room, Anna-Marie went through the rules of the house again with me and took me to the laundry. She gave me instructions on how to use the washing machine and dryer and sent me off to my room.

As I put my foot on the first step, I did a double-take. Jemma sat on the third step from the top, looking forlorn. I tried to keep my momentum going so that it wouldn’t look weird to anyone watching me, but wondered how I was going to get past without having to talk to her or step around her.

When she looked up, I smiled and gave the tiniest of waves. She tried to smile through her tears and as I reached her, I stopped and pretended to tie my shoelace and whispered, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not allowed to talk to you!” she wailed.

I looked her in the eye. “Follow me.”

She followed me to my room and I closed the door behind us. “How’s that?” I whispered.

I couldn’t afford to be overheard again.

Jemma looked around, as if she was expecting something bad to happen. “Can I talk now? Mummy said I can’t ever talk to you. It’s not fair.”

I smiled. “You can — but only like this — when there’s no one around. You can’t just walk up to me when there’s other people there because if I talk to you then, or even look at you, they’ll think I’m crazy because they can’t see you.”

“But why can’t they? I used to see ghosts all the time before I turned into one.”

“They say kids can see ghosts, but they usually forget how when they get older.”

“That’s silly. Why would I forget?”

“I don’t know, but that’s what happens.”

“What about you? You can see us.”

“Yes, I forgot how, but for some reason, I remembered again. I can’t explain it.”

“I’m glad you remembered. No one can see us and I have no one to play with.”

“Well. I won’t always be able to play with you because I have to pretend I can’t see you.”

Her smile faded. “Being dead sucks!”

I tried not to laugh. “Jemma! That’s a bad word.”

“I know. Mummy won’t let me say it.”

“Well, I won’t let you say it either.”

“Okay.”

“So, how long have you been here?”

“I was born just after Mummy and Daddy moved here, Mummy says, but we’ve been here for a long time. I’ve been four for lots of years. I’ve never even been to school. We’ve had lots of people living in our house and they took my toys away and then I had to make up my own games with Mummy. Daddy moved away when we died and we don’t know where he went. He was sad for a long time and we tried to tell him to be happy again, but he left.”

I could feel the sting of tears, so I tried to think of something to say to change the subject.

“Jemma Watson!”

I jumped and put a hand to my chest.

“Coming!” She turned to me with wide eyes. “I’m gonna get in trouble now.”

“Tell her I said it’s okay. That you can talk to me when no one’s around. So can she.”

It was weird watching her walk straight through the wall. I could hear raised voices, then Victoria crept in after knocking on the wall and waiting for me to say she could come in.

So Johnny wasn’t the only one who could touch things.

She began by apologizing profusely, but relaxed when I explained things. Then she thanked me and ushered Jemma out of the room through the door.

I shook my head as they left. I probably would never get used to that.

I sat down on the bed, regretting shaking my head. The room seemed to be spinning.

When it wouldn’t stop, I knew it wasn’t just from shaking my head. The spinning increased until I thought I was floating and spinning. Darkness clouded my vision.

Something was very wrong.

 

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Author's Note: What could be wrong? Any guesses?

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