GHOST SITTER
(Part 7)
"Why'd you pull me
away?!" demanded Josh, throwing wild punches at Kathy as tears began to
run down his face uncontrollably. "We could've done something!"
"Josh, stop
it!" yelled Tara, pulling him off her.
"Tara, it's
okay," said Kathy.
Tara looked at her, then
Josh, then let Josh go. "No," she began. "No, it's not okay.
Robin's gone and we could've..."
"You think Robin
would've wanted you to get blown up for her?" Kathy demanded.
"Yes...no...I
mean...I dunno!" he gasped exasperatedly. He could feel a major asthma
attack coming on and his hysterics weren't helping. Wheezing, he leaned back
against the rock.
"No, I...I guess
not," Tara said slowly.
"She wouldn't have,
trust me," said Kathy. "Now, she's my best friend in the world and by
the time I stop to think about this, I may die myself with agony. But I know
that the last thing she'dve wanted was for either one of her favorite kids to
die over her. I know that in my heart." Josh was silent, as was Tara.
True, Robin may not have wanted that, but...
"She would've also
been totally pissed if you didn't use your inhaler, stup," came a voice.
Josh spun around and saw Robin leaning against the rock next to him.
"Robin!" he
yelled. He leaped on her, forgetting she was still a ghost. They both laughed
as he hit the ground.
"She's here?!"
gasped Tara.
"Where is she?"
Kathy demanded.
"Leaning on the
rock; how'd you escape?" Josh asked.
"Fear does a lot for
the concentration, man!" she grinned.
"You went through
the door?"
"Like a
bullet!"
"Cool!" Josh
panted, grinning.
"Use you puffer,
already," she sighed.
Josh pulled out his
inhaler and took a puff as Kathy and Tara began bombarding him with questions.
When he could finally talk without too much difficulty, he said, "We've
gotta give you this antidote, man!" He pulled out the bottle and Robin
frowned. "What?"
"I can't take
that," she said.
"Why not?" he
asked.
"Jo-osh!" Tara
shouted. "Would you mind keeping us informed so that we can at least
pretend to be in the conversation?"
Josh repeated what had
been said, then Kathy frowned too. "She's right. That potion's in the real
world and she isn't."
"Yeah, but if we can
get back to Mr. T's store, then we could put the soul potion on the bottle and
it'll work like it did on the Book of Remedies."
"Yeah, that'll work!"
agreed Robin.
"We might as well
try," said Kathy. "Anything is better than hanging out here while the
place goes up in flames."
"So
we flagged a car down and it was the cops and they took us home. Then Tara's
dad thought Kathy had kidnapped us and the cops thought she might've killed
Robin, so they took her to jail," Josh finished. "And tomorrow is
Friday, so I really gotta get that potion for the potion so I can give it to
Robin so Kathy can get out of jail and Robin won't fade totally away.
Y'understand now?"
Jake
looked at Josh for a moment, then stood up, grabbed Josh's coat, tossed it to
him, then opened the door and said, "I've got a weird theory about this,
but I'm gonna humor you first before I tell you. But you better not be yanking
my chain, kid."
"As
if I had nothing better to do," muttered Josh, getting up and going to the
door. "Coming?" he said aloud. His eyes moved across the room as if
he were watching someone, then he added, "You don't look so good, either.
Just hang on a few minutes more and we'll be there."
Jake
looked at Josh strangely for a moment, then grabbed his own coat and went with
him.
An
hour later, when they had reached the shop, Josh led Jake in and showed him the
area where he had spilled the potion and where he had found the shrunken head.
Then he went to the back of the store, took the bottle of soul potion from the
desk and poured it on the small vial of antidote he had pulled from his pocket.
Within seconds, it had disappeared, along with part of the desk. While Jake
stared at the desktop in shock, Josh looked up at the space next to him.
Then,
to Jake's surprise, the young black college student they'd been looking for for
the past three days appeared very slowly in the spot Josh had been watching.
When she had fully reappeared, Josh yelled "ROBIN!!!", then rushed
her with a bear hug. She caught him, but the force of his tackle knocked her
backward into the chair next to her. They rolled partway across the room, laughing,
while Jake gaped at them open mouthed.
"I
never thought I'd say this, but man, I'm glad I can finally hug you!" said
Josh, looking up at her.
"Ditto,"
said Robin, "God, it's good to be back!"
"Y-You
weren't lying after all!" gasped Jake.
"You
thought he was?" said Robin, somewhat insulted, as she stood up and picked
Josh up.
"I
thought the kid had been brainwashed," said Jake.
"I
told you I wasn't kidding," said Josh, with a sigh. Robin let him down as
Jake said,
"I
don't believe it! All this time and you've been right next to the kid...hey,
this changes things! Now that we've found you, your friend doesn't have to take
a murder one rap. Let's get back to the station, and get these charges cleared,
some paperwork done..."
"No
offense or anything, Jake, but I think me and Josh have seen just about enough
of you and the legal system for the past two days," said Robin.
"Right now, I just wanna get Kathy out, get home and let everyone know I'm
okay."
"I
understand," he returned. "Let me call the station just to let them
know where we're headed and get Kathy released and we'll be on our way."
He left, leaving Josh and Robin in the room alone. They stood grinning at each
other, then Josh gave Robin another flying tackle hug.
"Man,
you scared me!" he said.
"You
think you got scared? You know what it feels like to nearly disappear from the
face of the planet forever?" she replied. "It's like having the life
slowly drained out of you. I thought I was gonna die!"
"I
thought so, too." They both grew quiet, then Robin said,
"Do
me a favor."
"Maybe,"
Josh replied.
"Leave
stuff alone when I tell you to."
"Well,
y'know, if you hadn't picked that book up, I wouldn't of ever spilled that
bottle on you."
"Well,
I can afford to pick stuff up," retorted Robin.
Josh
gasped sarcastically. "Not! You're so poor you can't pay attention!"
"As
if your cash flow ever peaked $10!"
"That's
more than what you got!"
"Not
if you count everything you have to buy for breaking it!"
"I
don't break everything I touch!"
"You
do, too!"
"Do
not!"
"Do
too!"
"Do
not!"
"Do
too!"
Josh
grabbed a blue bottle from the shelf next to them and held it firmly in Robin's
face. "SEE?!"
Robin
tried to grab it from him. "Will you gimme that before you...!"
Jake
heard the glass break in the other room before he had even gotten the police
department on the line. He drew his gun, then ran to the room to investigate.
He stopped in the doorway for cover, then leaned around it with his gun aimed
ahead of him. He looked around and finally saw Josh standing next to Robin, who
was sitting in the chair with a hand over her eyes in exasperation...less than
4 inches tall.
"Jake,"
began Josh, "we have a small problem."