(Chapter 3) Summer

“Hello? Anyone home? Yoo-hoo earth to Summer.”

“Mhm..”

“You know this is the longest you have ever spent reading a single book in the library, by now you would have been sprinting up to the counter like a tiny five year old who just found out their getting a pony for Christmas. You must either really love that book or really hate it, it must be something special. Hey!” His fingers were manically clicking in front of my eyes.

“Oh…  Sorry and your right this is something special, I love it. The print is amazing, must have cost a fortune.”  It hadn’t yet occurred to me that I had slumped all the way down one of the far bookshelves. I could have sworn I was standing earlier when I picked up the book… I gripped onto the shelf behind me and pulled myself up, taking extra care of the book in hand.

 

My name is Summer, Summer Archer and I’m just like your everyday average teenage girl; long dark brown hair with a matching side fringe, hazel eyes and 5”4.  I receive average grades at Kingston School College and live in an average house in an average cul-de-sac. I have an ordinary family and ordinary friends. Yep everything about me just about screams ordinary and average.

Oh, and I have a friend who’s a guy and just so happens to be a ghost. That’s ordinary right? Ok maybe not.

 

Neither of us, however, have any idea how it happened exactly. Derek had told he was from Bridgewater and was simply walking home from seeing friends one day when a speeding car rushed past on a bending road. He didn’t see it coming and was killed on impact.

He told me that when he woke up in hospital he was completely confused, as when he woke up he could see his body lying in the hospital bed. Motionless. He thought he was having an outer body experience or dreaming, but when it came to his funeral day and he still hadn’t ‘returned’ to his body, he had feeling he wasn’t dreaming anymore, it was all too real to him. He knew he wasn’t going to wake up.

What confused him even more was when he returned to his home he, well, found me. I just moved in to Bridgewater at the age of twelve, originally from Bristol, my family moved to Bridgewater for my dad’s work. He’s a teacher so where work is available, we go too. By ‘we’ I only actually mean me, my mum and my dad. It’s not much, but nevertheless it’s still family. My family life is good I would say, I keep myself to myself, an individual and that’s how I like to be.

Derek’s family had sold their house after the, um, ‘death’ of him. Their pain had been unbearable and they weren’t handling the loss particularly well. They didn’t want to live with the memory of him in the house. Which is understandable, I couldn’t say I’d blame them. 

It was just as much shock for me seeing him too though. Yes, before you ask, I stuck my hand through him. Possibly threw a book or too. But it was fascinating to say the least. I wasn’t afraid. He looked lonely, he looked sad, scared. At the time I was only twelve of course so I hadn’t actually considered if I was crazy or not, I just believed what I saw.

We began talking, sat surrounded amongst the boxes needing to be unpacked in my room. He told me what he knew of what happened to him or at least what he thought was happening to him and I told him he was welcome to stay. I felt sorry for him. But he was kind and from that moment we became friends. We both agreed, of course, not to tell anyone else of his existence, at risk of me sounding crazy and being locked up and to protect him. I had asked him numerous of times if he would like to find his family or friends but he denied them all. He didn’t want to scare them or anyone else he knew. He trusted me and I respected that. We never spoke of it again and he became part of the family I guess or at least to me. He’s like the brother I never had.

A year later my dad’s job in Bridgewater hadn’t actually turned out as well as he planned. He thought the city would be perfect but I guess one as big as Bridgewater was too much to handle. Mum didn’t like it here anyway; she has always preferred a close knit town, a community was what she wanted, which is something you are unlikely to find in a city. The only reason I liked Bridgewater admittedly was because of the size of the library. I had always been a keen reader since I was young, it probably encouraged my individual qualities, but I didn’t mind. I loved my books, my stories; they are wonderful creations full of imagination, the limits being impossible. They are an escape from reality, but sometimes that’s all we need. We all need a break from time to time.

When we came to Kingston my first search was for the library and I was pleased to find they had one in the cul-de-sac. It wasn’t as big as Bridgewater, but a library was a library and considering the size of the town I would say it had an impressive range. I got my library card straight away and was already carrying books home on the day we moved to Kingston. Derek came of course, unlike many other ‘ghosts’ stories, Derek wasn’t bound to anywhere and was free to travel. I asked and made sure he wanted to come of course, but I most likely pulled my best puppy face on him. He was my friend and could be with me at anytime. Isn’t that everyone’s dream? We also shared interests; he had an interest in literature, although not as enthusiastic as mine, we still got along.

It's funny how lives plan out I always think, I somehow managed to meet my only friend in the most bizarre way imaginable. But we somehow fitted together. He’s the only one I’ve felt comfortable with and as far as I know he’s happy being with me, or at least I hope. After what he’s been through I think the least he deserves is to be happy and looked after.

Derek approached me and looked down upon the book.

“Are you sure it’s printed? It looks real.”

I’m not quite sure how to explain it, his appearance. Derek is the same age as me and also has dark brown hair, longer than most guys, swooping across his face and looking a rather mess. I told him this often and joked about it with him, but he always told me he liked it that way. He was considerably taller than me, just above a head and wore a dark polo shirt with jeans and trainers.  But the part I have trouble explaining is his appearance in general, as a whole. He’s not ‘see through’ exactly or floats or anything like that. He’s only slightly transparent and he does have the ability to pass through anything. As cool as that ability may be, it can be difficult. If you wanted to give him a hug it was impossible and incredibly frustrating. He can’t pick up anything either, which can also be equally frustrating, but he is good company. I always like the feeling of knowing someone is there.

“It does. It feels real too, either the author spent a fortune or it is real, but I’ve seen this done before so I’m not sure.” I began speculating the book, flicking through the rest of pages, careful not to lose my place and examining the fine print and cover. It was a thin leather bound notebook, very high quality.

I had found it hidden amongst some books at the far end of Kingston library, wedged in between some World War history books. With Kingston being a small town and in my four years of being here at Kingston, I’ve never seen many people actually venture to the back of the library. I was doing a history project at school, all about the World Wars, but despite my surprise a few years ago of Kingston’s range of books, apparently world history wasn’t included. I had become desperate and resorted to the very top shelf, I even had to get step ladder. Derek found this highly amusing of course.

But why was the book in the history section?

“Well either way you’re going to check it out, why not take it to the counter and ask the librarian, maybe they would know?”

“Good point…” I already began indulging myself into the story again, whilst slowly creeping to the counter at the front, book open in my hands.

“Stop reading it!

Look you’re going to forget your history books.” He pointed back towards the shelves of where we were standing earlier. I looked back blankly; completely unaware of what he was talking about.

“Oh yeah!

What would I ever do without you” Putting on my best sarcastic tone, even though I began questioning that phrase myself. What would I do without Derek?

“You’d fail your history project that’s what. What’s so great about this book anyway?”

He was probably right there to be honest. Derek was actually considerably smart, smarter than I thought he was going to be. He had been helping me with my project probably more than he should have. Apparently he went to a top school in Bridgewater, which shocked me for some reason. If he was from Bridgewater I should have knew that anyway, with it being a popular big city or maybe it was because we didn’t have many intellectual conversations. It wasn’t because I wasn’t capable of it of course, I’d read almost any book going, fiction and non-fiction, we just had a lot of fun together I guess.

 

I walked over to the heavy stack of history books piled on the floor beneath the shelf, looking down at the pile. As much as I loved books, I didn’t appreciate their mocking over me or their refusal to join a weight loss club. There were at least four weighty looking books, and it was times like these I really wished Derek had the ability to hold things. 

Reluctantly, I placed the leather bound book on top of the pile, closing it and crouching down to pick up the mountain of books. God they were heavy.  I started walking back to Derek, slightly hunched back from the weight, he giggled, probably because I was walking more like a penguin in distress than a sixteen year old girl.

“It’s great. The print helps capturing your imagination I have to admit, but it’s written in the character view of some guy called Larry Oak. He lived in Kingston too, said he grew up here.” I said giving the odd grunt and hand shuffle placement from the books, stopping every now and then to bring my knee up and re grip the pile.

“Hm. thought it was a work of fiction?” Derek walked beside me, hands deep in his pockets.

“So did I.

But now I’m not so sure what it is. Maybe a biography? It sounds too personal, even for a good author.”

 

Someone started walking past us.

You see Derek also has another special ability. He discovered he can disappear at any given time; turn completely invisible to the human eye. It definitely comes in handy. He can still talk whilst ‘invisible’ which is also helpful. Although at times does make me seem like a complete nut case, we both agreed it was better than seeing some transparent teenage guy.

Through over the years of being close to each other, we had been working on a way of me knowing where Derek was, even when he disappeared. It was like playing the ultimate ‘Blind’s Man Bluff’ game and we would practice often. With four years of training, we were getting good to say the least and I had developed a way of almost ‘sensing’ Derek. At times it came in handy, especially if I was talking to him in public. Well, for his benefit really, considering he could see me but I couldn’t see him, he didn’t appreciate it when I was talking to him in the complete opposite direction.

I approached the front desk and dropped the heavy books onto the counter, landing with a thud and propped my elbows up next to them. I was of course very familiar with the librarian, she even allowed me to take more than the normal amount of books out. I already had about fifteen at home, but they didn’t mind. It was a small town and not many came to the library.

“Ah Summer!” She looked down upon the pile and I could tell she felt my pain.

“History project I’m assuming?” Her name was Elaine, Elaine Eagle. Her face always lit up when I entered the library, at times I really think I’m the only one who comes here.

She was old, grey short hair, with her glasses on a chain around her neck and wearing her newest red cardigan, preparing for the harsh winter to come.

“Unfortunately. Elaine, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about this book would you? I found it amongst the history books; I think there had been a mistake.” I handed her the leather notebook.

A puzzled expression came across her face.

She started flicking through the pages, similar to what I had earlier, completely confused.

“This isn’t one of ours. It doesn’t have the stamp in the front, it doesn’t even have the title or author on the front!” I hadn’t noticed.

“It’s handwritten that’s for sure though… did you say you found it in the history section?” Her face still confused as she examined the pages.

“Yeah, wedged in between some World War books.

I started reading it…it’s a novel that’s why I asked.”

“It doesn’t belong to the library that’s for sure. But if you say you started reading it and it’s a novel?

Maybe it was some desperate author. Who Knows? I can stamp it and let you check it out if you’d like?” A gave a shot of glee, I could of sworn I even heard Derek chuckle beside me, he knew that was what I’d been waiting to hear.

“That’d be great! Thank you Elaine.” We shared a smile and she started scanning the books.

Author's Note

Any suggestions are welcome - Looking for any improvement necessary :)

Reviews

[Elle Telorve]

grammar: Sorry and your right, this . my impressinon of summer fromt the first few paragraphs is that she is a very perky, very fun quirky person. the makings of a great charater for comic relief, maybe. if you're just going to have this chapter from summers point of view then keep the name like that, if not switch chapter one's name to Larry: September 15th... 3rd paragraph you say hit on impact, that doesn't exactly make sence because there is no way you can be hit any other time than impact. so i'm just assuming typo and you meant killed on impact. you're good at switching the flow of the writing by the personallity of the charactor narrating, that is something hard to get down. just a sujestion, because derek is a ghost then what does he do while summer is at school. i'm thinking that he could go with her or to a univercity to get smarter forever. for awhile i was wondering what larry had to do with summer and i am glad that you connected the two by the end. for this being a longer chapter than your others i believe you did well on the length and balence between introducing new charactors, dialogue and actions. could have a bit more of the last one though

[Heromen Selena]

The background of Summer and Derek got a little boring, but I like how you made it longer than the last one :). I was confused in the beginning because I wasn't sure if it was a completely different person's perspective or that she was even reading the book. I understood later on but you might want to mention the book in the beginning to make it more clear. Be careful, make sure you don't mix up your stories now that you have two going. I've done that so many times. Can't wait to read more :)

[Shannon M. Beech]

Lovely story so far, I really like it. I do find it a little jarring though that we suddenly switch to this new character without any hint of her else where before this. Very intrigued by her ability to see ghosts too. Can't wait to see where this is going.

[Daring Darling Didi]

Okay, this was fantastic. I was wondering where you were going, there was just a random character shoved in there, but bringing Summer into Larry's story - ooooh, I want to see where this will be going!

[Gretchen Clarke]

Your writing just keeps getting better and better. I like how you made it so that Summer is reading Larry's autobiography in the library. This would be a best-seller, were it to be published in the real world!