The Haunted_Edit Copy 4-7-17

“Well, I mean, I’ll probably have to work Saturday morning.
I don’t know ...” I trailed off as I realized my words were vacuuming
the happiness right off of his face. Serious guilt nailed me in the gut.
I hadn’t seen my dad so enthusiastic about anything since the
divorce. He was constantly working his butt off just to keep some
kind of security for Gunner and me. And here I was shooting down
the first thing he wanted to do for himself in a solid six months.
Hoping that he would forgive my total assholeishness, I said,
“You know what, forget work. I can get my Saturday switched. I’d
love to go, Dad.”
It was like flipping a switch and turning the lights on. The
smile sprang back onto his face and he leaned down to hug me.
“Great! I would have brought your brother, but you have to be over
eighteen. I know you’ll enjoy it, Chels. It’s not like a horror movie,
I promise.”
I winced as his beard scraped my cheek and patted his arm
tentatively. I had seen him watching the shows on TV; I had a basic
idea of what ghost hunting was supposed to be about. From my
understanding, it was a bunch of dudes creeping around some
ancient buildings that had tons of reports of people being tormented
by spirits. It was pretty much like, “Hey, I hear that some lady got
pushed down the stairs here by something she can’t see. I’m going
to come in and try to figure out who this ghost is and why they’re
being a royal pain.”
But I wanted my dad to be happy, especially since it was his
birthday. And if this was going to do it, then so be it. I would grow
a pair for the night. Or at least pretend to, for his sake.
Finally, he let me go and bounded off, probably to go find
Gunner and tell him about it, even though he was too young to come.
My brother would probably think it was seriously the coolest thing
ever. He had totally inherited my dad’s love of the creepy, crawly
stuff.
That was how, on June 2 at 5:45, I scurried quickly after my
dad through the doors of The End Shelf. My head was bowed so my
hair would hang around my face, just in case anyone I knew
2