The Mysterious Life Of Lorelei Jones

II

Back in her apartment, Lori throws the bag of cookies on the counter and puts on a pot of coffee for them. Conner opened the door unamused.

“Not cool,” He said, grabbing the bag of cookies. “I’m repoing these.”

“It was a joke, Connie. You do know what those are, right?” She laughed, grabbing two mugs. “No cream, right?”

“Yep. So, um, what happened? I doubt you just wantaed to hang out. Not this late. I mean, I don’t mind, but you sounded like something happened. You saw a spirit, didn’t you?”

Lori contemplated telling him. The last thing she wanted was to make him worried. She knew he wouldn’t let it go. She didn’t want him to get hurt or worse.

“Lori?” He asked.

“Huh? Oh, well, I had a bad dream. I just wanted company.” She said, “Technically, I didn’t lie.” She thought.

“You’re lying. It was more than that. I can tell.” Conner bit into a cookie.

“It was a bad dream. I was a guy, and he was being chased by something. It killed him, and I woke up. Then, he appeared in my room. He told me that I needed to find what killed him. That’s it.” She placed the mugs in between them. “I don’t know how you can drink this straight up. I need like a pound of sugar.”

Connor looked at her with a concerned expression. She knew he believed her. He always believed her when it came to spirits ever since they were kids. When a spirit became angry and grabbed her, it threw her into the wall and nearly broke her arm. Conner ran into the room and saw what was happening. He held her as she cried.

“It’s mad. I couldn’t help. I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do.” She cried. The spirit threw them both into another wall.

“What the hell? Lori, are you okay?” He asked. She looked at him. He had a big gash across his forehead.

“Connie? You’re hurt.”

“This? It’s nothing. What was that?”

“The ghost. It’s mad. You have to believe me. My dad said I was making it up. I’m not! Please, believe me.”

He hugged her. “I do. I believe you. I believe you.” He said as furniture started flinging itself at them. Connor shielded her as best he could. In the end, Connor needed stitches, and she had to wear a cast for a few weeks. She promised herself she would never put him in that much pain ever again if she could help it.

“****, I don’t think you’ve ever told me anything like this before. What does it want?”

“I need to find out what killed him. It was a monster that looked like his brother. Only it had claws and sharp teeth. It ripped his heart out and ate it.” She says, shaking. She didn’t even truly experience it. Yet, she was terrified. No spirit ever made her feel like this. If she feels like this now, she could only imagine the true feelings Thomas went through at the moment. “His name was Thomas.”

“Thomas, huh? What did he look like?” Connor took out his phone and opened the notes app.

“No, Connie. You’re not getting involved”

“The hell I’m not! You need me. Plus, look at yourself. You’re shaking. I’ve known you for years, Lori. I know when you need me. Now, I need a description.”

“Thanks. He’s about 5″11. Short brown hair with blue eyes. He’s black and kind of athletic-looking.”

“Good memory. Well, at least that’s a start. Do you think it was recent?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Lori looked in the corner and saw Thomas standing there.

“A week ago,” Thomas said.

“He says it was a week ago.”

“Is he here now?” Connor whispered.

“Tell him I can still hear him. I’m dead, not deaf.” Thomas rolled his eyes.

“He said he can still hear you, and yes, he is behind you. For real this time.”

Connor turned around. “Ask him to do something.”

“I. Can. Hear. You.” Thomas said, pulling the chair out from under Conner.

“****! That was cool. Also, **** you, Thomas.” Connor picked up the chair and sat back down. “Okay, now what?”

“Now you and your boyfriend need to go find that monster,” Thomas said, slapping the cookie out of Connor’s hand.

“*******! You really hit the lottery with this one, Lori.”

“I could say the same,” Thoams said.

“Stop it, both of you,” She said. “I will kick both of you out.”

“Sorry,” They both said in unison.

“Also, he’s my best friend. Treat him with respect or the deal is off.”

“Fine. I’ll be good.” Thomas said, disappearing again.

“I feel like I missed something,” Connor said, confused.

“Don’t worry about it. I feel like I need a good distraction. I can barely think right now. Wanna play some games?”

“I don’t see how e kicking your butt in a game will be good for you, but hey.”He laughed. She threw a rag at him. “Hey!”

“Just because you won the other times doesn’t mean anything! I’ve been practicing.”

“Uh-huh. We’ll see about that.” He said as they went into the living room. “I pick the game.”

“You picked last time! My place, my pick.” She looked over her shelf. “This one!”

“I would’ve picked that one too. Are you sure about that one? You’ve lost the most in that game.”

“I only need one time, Connie. Then, I win forever. That’s how this works.” She smiled

“How does that make sense? One win doesn’t erase a hundred losses. I’ve counted,” He said, picking up a controller.

“It does for me. Ready to lose, Mr. Miller?” She asks, sitting beside him.

He swats her puffy hair out of his face. “Blinding me is cheating.”

“Hey! That’s not my fault. My hair is naturally poofy. Like your one to talk. How can you see through that curtain of hair?”

Connor slicked his hair back. “I can see perfectly fine. Just for you, though, I’ll move it back. Ms. Jones.

The screen turned on, and the game started up. “Player one, are you ready?!” The game asked.

“Hell yeah! I’m going to win this time,” Lori said.

“Player two: Are you ready?!”

“To win again? Always,” Connor winked at her.

“Get ready, Players! Three…two…one…start!”