The bell rang dully as she walked to class, it was her last class of the day; English. Groaning she continued her slow pace towards the classroom, 'senior year and so far the only interesting thing about it are graduating.’ She thought as she walked into the classroom, tossing her black Kingdom Hearts bag by her desk. She slowly slid into her seat and popped in her skull candies. Her teacher, Ms. Connelly, constantly nagged her about them, even reported her to the principal once. Nothing came of it due to the fact that she “Was one of Lincoln’s top students”. She smiled as the look on her teachers face when she heard that came back to her.


As said person walked into the room, she pulled out her new Net book computer which not only held her life, but it held one of her best kept secrets. She pulled her long black hair over her shoulder and began typing away at her Scarlet Rousse's new books from here hit series, Ghost Wanderer” She had come up with the pen name so as not to be put in the celebrity class, though it was difficult to do so in a place such as Hollow Town. Here where the only weather forecast was either cloudy or rainy.


That’s mostly why she'd chosen this place to live, it helped inspire her to write Mary Langston's journey to help the earth-bound ghosts of her sunny town to move on. Alice had to laugh at the irony of her stories; she herself had that exact same ability but used it with far less grace. In fact she found herself, on more than one occasion, seemly talking to herself in the middle of the grocery store or at school. It was because of these occasions that she was now branded a social outcast in Lincoln High. Not that it mattered to her; she was only here because it was the farthest place her parents could find away from them.


It made her almost sad to remember how they had “told” her that she had been accepted to a fine school in which her “special” talents could be utilized. That was just their way of saying “Sorry we don't want a freak for a daughter.” She definitely would have preferred the truth over their lie. She was interrupted from her thoughts by a tap on her shoulder, looking up she saw him; tanned skin, black hair, green eyes. Every girl’s heartthrob, including hers. She took out one of her headphones and gave him her signature kindness, “What?” he smiled showing off his perfectly white teeth. “Oh, nothing. Just thought I’d say hi to my neighbor.” he said as he sat down at the once empty desk beside her.


Not far from Alice sat the high and mighty Stacy Santos, giggling with her flock of cheerleader Barbie dolls. “Oh my god! He is so cute! Its so sad he has to sit next to the school freak.” she stated loud enough so people in china probably heard. Alice heard she just ignored it as she attempted to finish her sentence, but finding her eyes wandering back towards the boy sitting next to her. He turned to her again as she darted her eyes away, “oh by the way, my name is Aiden Heart. What’s your name?” he asked his emerald eyes staring right into her ice blue ones. She turned away to hide her blush and quickly mumbled “Alice Sciuto.” The bell rang not a second too soon, as she quickly packed away her stuff and nearly ran from the room.


She quickly walked to the student parking lot and pulled out the keys to her carbon black V12 Vantage, which her parents had gotten her prior her request, of which they were happy to oblige as long as she stayed where she was that is. When she got to the drivers side she found the one person she had been secretly trying to escape digging in his silver Mercedes-Benz. Frowning she quickly got into her car, started the engine and drove off. Once on the road her mind became clear and she suddenly realized how stupid she must have looked, and sighed. She parked in the parking lot of her apartment and got out, only to find a man standing in front of her; he was badly burned and hardly looked human anymore. In a raspy voice he said, “Help me.” she narrowed her eyes and tried to ignore him. Suddenly she fell backward hitting her head on the roof of her car, ‘ok your pissed I get It.’ she thought rubbing her head. Suddenly the man began burning, as in there was actual fire coming up around him, as if to swallow him up. He screamed in agony then vanished, leaving behind the smell of charred flesh. She looked around, the lot was empty. ‘What the heck was that? I’ve never seen a ghost do that…unless it wasn’t the ghost.’ she thought as another car pulled in next to hers, the very same car that had been parked next to hers at school.


Aiden slid out of his car and after shutting his door walked over to where she was currently standing. “Hey, I didn’t know you lived her too.” he stated with a smile. Alice turned and attempted to ignore him, hoping silently that he would get the hint and leave her alone. The way her heart beat in her chest said the exact opposite, she grabbed her bag and after slamming her door shut she walked up to the elevator that would take her to her apartment’s floor. The doors opened with a ding and she walked in, with him right behind her. After what seemed to be an eternity the elevator arrived at the 10th floor and she got off, only to find Aiden get off with her. ‘Great…Either he lives on this floor too or he’s following me.’ she thought as she stuck her key in the door and walked inside, he didn’t follow her so she guessed the former. She sat down on her couch and flipped on the TV, a big news story was on:


“Breaking news; a highway pile up occurred earlier this afternoon on highway 65. According to reports a reckless driver’s breaks failed and cause him to crash into a turning oil tanker. A fire broke out causing many cars behind them to also combust, as of now we a total of 10 dead. We will continue giving updates as they come.” They showed pictures of the people who died before she switched off the TV.

Alice groaned stuff like this always made it harder to hide her abilities, ‘Ignoring them doesn’t seem to help either.’ She thought as she rubbed her still aching head. Suddenly the scent of charred flesh filled her nose, without even having to look she knew the people from the crash were there, in her apartment. She got up and turned to them, each of their faces were a horrifying mess. Some where barely recognizable, others had patches of skin missing all and all it was not a pretty sight. “Why are you still here?! Move on already, your dead!” she nearly shouted at them. The man from the parking garage stepped forward; “We know, we need your help.” “Why?! What can I do?” They didn’t have a chance to answer as they all suddenly burst into flames. ‘It’s just like before…’ “Wait! Don’t go yet! Tell me what you want me to do!” But it was too late, they vanished.


Slowly he opened his eyes and knew they were gone he stood outside her apartment staring at her door., ‘So many spirits, I felt them over in my place.’ Aiden smiled, ‘I knew there was a reason I liked this town, she’s definitely the one I’ve been searching for.’ He considered knocking on her door, just as a concerned neighbor. But decided against it, it would be problematic if she were to discover his abilities so soon. He slowly turned and walked back to his door, intent on keeping up his charade. If only for a little while longer.


The next morning Alice went through her regular routine to get ready for school; wake up, dress in her usual black clothing, brush her teeth and hair, then stop at a nearby Starbucks for a hot chocolate before pulling into the school parking lot. Everything was routine except for one little snag, when she walked out the door none other than Aiden Heart was standing there waiting. Inwardly sighing she walked right past him to the elevator; she felt his eyes on her the entire time sending chills down her spine. She heard what sounded like keys hitting the floor and looking down saw her keys had dropped from her bag right smack dab between herself and him. She quickly bent down to pick them up and slammed into something. She looked up. It was none other than, Aiden. When they were bent down, they had a moment when they just went silent and looked into each others eyes, it felt like forever. ‘Remember, he will only break your heart’. She thought, as she jumped up quickly "sorry i have to go" she said and rushed away.


‘Last class of the day, finally! It seemed like this day would drag on forever.’ She thought as she once again sat down in her English class, the only downside was him. The thing the universe decided to dangle in front of her just to punish her for some sin she committed. Once again just like clock work he felt a tap on her shoulder as she pulled out her Net book when she turned she found her gaze locked with his emerald eyes, "why did you play so hard to get?" he asked. His bluntness made her speechless for a moment and she scoffed to cover it, “Who says I’m playing hard to get? Maybe I just don’t like you; did you ever think of that?” he picked up strand of hair from her shoulder and kissed it, Alice blushed. “Hmm…Somehow I highly doubt that.” She turned back to her work but could still feel his fiery gaze on her, which only made her blush more.


Finally the last bell rang and she rushed out of the class telling herself it was just to beat hallway traffic, but even she knew that was a lie. A sudden shiver raced down her spine as she walked, ‘A ghost?!’ . She waited till the halls were empty then she followed the feeling to where it was strongest, the boiler room. ‘A dark creepy place, how cliché.’ She thought as she opened the door and walked down the stairs. The room was humid and pipes hung from everywhere and the place reeked of moldy water, once at the bottom of the steps they appeared; the people from the accident yesterday. She felt it all at once, desperation, confusion, pain… a multitude of different emotions swirling around in one place. “Help us! Please we can’t-“the man from the garage said before the others joined their pleas into his, Alice’s head pounded from the choir of voices around her. “Please stop…I can’t…” but her pleas just mixed with theirs. A voice called to her as a vision passed her eyes, a blinding light…a mirror? Someone grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the circle of ghosts “Stay back!” they yelled she recognized the silky voice, ‘Aiden? What is he doing here?’ As the vision cleared she blinked back her tears at what she saw, she didn’t even have time to register the fact that she was currently in the arms of her worst fear and best dream.


A piercing scream breeched her eardrums as she looked up to see one of the ghosts thrashing around, blue fire surrounding her body. “Stay back! I mean it, she can’t help you!” Aiden shouted at them, ‘He was the one doing that! No way!’ She quickly pushed him away and as expected with his concentration broken the fire went out, “Don’t do that you idiot!” He frowned “I’m trying to help you! They were hurting you!” “ Yeah, because I totally asked for it, if you want to help just sit there and be quiet.” She turned back to the people, “I understand now what you need my help for. You want to enter the light, but you can’t.” They nodded “Yes, the light has rejected us. Why has it rejected us?” The man in overalls said, Alice smiled. “The light hasn’t rejected any of you, tell me; when you looked into the light. What did you see?” the man in overalls answered, “I saw my self, I was depressed.” “Why is that?” “Well, my…my wife left me recently and I was left all alone. I-Is that why I wasn’t allowed to go into the light?” Alice nodded.


“You all were rejected not by the light, but by yourselves. Just let go of all your insecurities, doubts and fears. Then tell me what you see.” The overalls man was the first to answer, “I see my parents and their calling to me! C-Can I-?” she nodded as he disappeared, followed suit by all the others. A feeling of warmth overtook her as she felt them pass into the light, “That…” “Was cool.” She finished Aiden’s sentence. They looked at each other and laughed, after catching their breath’s they walked back up the stairs Aiden holding her hand the entire way.

As soon as they were back in the hallway she removed her hand from Aiden’s grip and turned to him hands on her hips, the way a disappointed mother would do with her child. He lifted an eyebrow, “What?” She narrowed her eyes at his carefree tone, “Don’t what me, you know about my powers. So I want to know about yours.” He shrugged “What makes you think I have any?” “Because the last time I checked ghosts can’t catch on fire.” He sighed and leaned against the wall of lockers crossing his arms over his chest. “I read an article a while back about a girl from a prominent family getting put in an asylum for ‘hearing voices’. I wasn’t sure why but the story stuck with me, because of my own abilities.” “ The fire.” He nodded “That’s my ability, so when I found out that you were released and sent here I felt like I had to meet you.”
“Sorry I didn’t meet up to expectation.” He laughed and walked towards her wrapping his arms around her waist and cupped her chin and tilted her head upwards to look at him, “Hardly. So, you ready to stop playing hard to get?” she scoffed and began walking down the hall “Depends on if you can catch me.” She said as she began running down the hall, a smile plastered on her face. ‘Maybe the universe isn’t punishing me after all.’