February 14, 2010
12:30 p.m.
Evalynne’s House



Dear Diary,

I didn’t tell my parents about Lori yet. I decided to just let them know when they got home. Right now, I wanted to be alone.

As I was driving home from the hospital, I thought a lot about what Lori told me before she died, about how she saw Ash’s ghost. I don’t believe in ghosts, but how else would she have found out about Marconi Beach? It just didn’t make sense.

There was no way that Ash just turned into a ghost, followed me around, saw that I was hanging out with Cole, came back to my house, and gave Lori a heart attack. It just didn’t seem logical. But how else


I dropped my pen before I was able to finish writing that last sentence. And the reason I dropped it was shock, because I had just seen something. Something that looked a lot like Ash.

It was weird though. He was there one second and then he was gone in a flash. And he had this eerie, translucent glow to him. Kind of like a ghost.

I set my diary down on my bedside table and stood up, beginning to pace back and forth, shaking my head. “No,” I said to myself. “I didn’t just see a ghost. That’s not possible.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, but it didn’t work.

I had to have been hallucinating. There was no way I had just seen Ash’s ghost. It just wasn’t possible.

“Why?” an all too familiar voice said from behind me. I turned around, but no one was there. “Why are you still hanging around with him?” the voice spoke again. I knew this voice. It was Ash.

I shut my eyes tightly and covered my ears, trying to block out the sound. But it was everywhere. It was filling my head. And It was so loud.

“I thought you said you loved me.” he said. “Cole doesn’t deserve you. He doesn’t love you like I did! Does that ring on your finger mean nothing to you?”

Tears flooded my eyes, as I lifted my right hand up to my face. I opened my eyes, letting all the tears trickle out, and looked at the wedding ring Ash had placed on my finger such a long time ago.

“I saw you at Sadie’s. I heard what you said to him. You hurt me, Evalynne. You betrayed me.”

“I’m sorry!” I cried. “I’m so, so sorry! I never meant to hurt you! I’m sorry!”

“Then get rid of him.” Ash told me. “I don’t ever want to see you and him together ever again. I want you to stay away from-”

All of the sudden, the doorbell rang, and everything was silent. I looked around. Ash was gone. I could feel it. His presence was gone. Sighing, I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand and made my way down to the front door.

I opened it to find Cole standing there. As soon as I saw him, Ash’s words rang in my ears: “Get rid of him. I don’t ever want to see you and him together ever again.”

“Hey,” Cole greeted me. “Can I come in?”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Where’s Kristy?” I asked him.

“She’s at home. She’s going to call you once I leave, but I kind of wanted to talk to you alone.” he replied. “So, uh, is Lori ok?”

I shook my head. “She died.” I informed him.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” he cried.

“It’s fine.” I assured him. “I’m ok.”

“Well that’s good.” he said. For a moment, he was silent, but then finally, he spoke. “So, earlier at Sadie’s, you said you wanted to be more than just friends…”

I knew this was coming. I knew it from the moment I opened the door. And I knew that I had a choice to make: I could either date Cole, who I really liked or be faithful to my dead husband, who I still loved.

“Yep, I did say that.” I replied, unable to make any direct eye contact with him.

“Well I actually got a girlfriend back in Michigan.” He bit his lip, glancing up at me.

Immediately, I felt a blush spread across my face. “But I thought you said that you came here because you didn’t want to spend Valentine’s Day alone.”

“Well, she actually had to go visit her family this weekend for her mom’s birthday. You see, she lives in Florida, but she goes to college in Michigan. That’s how I met her.”

I was so totally and completely stupid. Of course Cole had a new girlfriend! I should have known! He was sweet, funny, smart, charming, not to mention extremely hot. How could he not have a new girlfriend?

“Well, I think that’s great.” I told him. I didn’t mean it. In fact, I was fuming with envy at the moment. But I wasn’t going to let him know that.

“Really?” he asked, his face lighting up.

I nodded, “Yep,”

He sighed, clearly relieved. “Wow, you are so great! I wasn’t sure if you’d be mad that I didn’t tell you right away or not, but I’m so glad that you understand.”

I nodded once again, “Yep,” I repeated, unsure of what else to say.

He grinned, “You know, you should meet her. I’m sure you guys would become really good friends.”

“Yeah, totally,” I replied. That was the last thing I wanted to do! If I met her, I’d see how beautiful she was, and then I’d be even more jealous. My heart felt so empty at that moment. I could tell by the way his eyes sparkled when he talked about her that he was in love.

If only I’d have picked him over Ash. Then he would still be in love with me. I’d be the one that made his eyes sparkle like that. Not the one with the dead husband that came back to haunt her. Not the one who give anything just to kiss Cole one last time.

“Ok, well I know that Kristy’s pretty much dying to talk to you, so I’d better get going.” he told me.

I nodded, “Yeah,”

“Alright, well I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,”

Then he turned around and left.

“I can’t believe you!” Ash’s voice cried out. Instantly, I felt the eerie presence of his ghost once again. “You’d rather have picked him over me?” he demanded.

My eyes went wide with shock. How could he have possibly known that I’d thought that? Could he read my mind or something?

“Yes, I can.” he replied. Well that answered my question.

“Ash, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have thought that.” I told him, even though he really wasn’t there. I couldn’t see his ghost; I just…felt his being there. It was really weird. And when he spoke, I could hear it in my head. It wasn’t like when some normal, live human being was talking to you. It was much different.

“Then why did you?” he asked. “Why would you ever think something like that?”

“Because you’re dead!” I exploded. “And I’m not going to spend the rest of my life alone! Don’t you want me to be happy?”

“Of course I do. And you don’t have to worry. You’ll never be alone…I’m always with you.”

This new information totally and completely creeped me out. Wherever I went, Ash’s ghost followed me. He watched me, he read my thoughts, he followed me around like some kind of freakish stalker.

“I’m not a stalker. I just follow you so that I can protect you.” he told me.

I jumped, startled by the sound of his voice in my head. “Ash, you’ve got to stop that. I don’t want you to follow me. I don’t want you to listen to my thoughts. And I don’t want you to protect me.” I snapped. I loved him and all, but he seriously needed to back off. I just wanted to try and get my life to go back to normal again. And having a ghost following me around wasn’t very normal.

Ash didn’t reply to any of this. Instead, the feeling of his presence disappeared. I was pretty sure that he was gone…until the cabinets in the kitchen began to slam open and closed. I let a stunned, shrill gasp.

“Ash, what are you doing?” I shouted. He was obviously angry, because people didn’t just start slamming kitchen cabinets open and closed out of joy. And I was pretty sure the same thing applied to ghosts too. “Stop it!” I shrieked.

Instantly, the slamming stopped, and everything was silent. Panting in exasperation, I glanced around, as if to make sure he was gone. But I couldn’t ever really be sure. After all, he’d told me that he followed me around everywhere I went. In fact, he was probably there at that very moment, listening in on my thoughts.

Well, here’s a thought for him: Leave me alone! I like Cole so get over it!

I crossed my arms, smirking in satisfaction. But right after I’d had that thought, a strange chill ran down my spine, and I had a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.