The Haunted_Edit Copy 4-9-17 final final 5 Upload

Tucker was quiet for a moment, and all I could hear was the
sound of his breath gently moving next to my ear. Then he asked,
“Did it hurt you?”
“It shoved me!” I exclaimed instinctively, and then I actually
thought about the question. Yeah, my shin might be bruised a little.
But it didn’t hurt now. My hands weren’t stinging. Nothing was
sprained, twisted, or broken. No blood had been shed during the
incident. “Well ... I guess not really. It tried though.”
“Maybe. And maybe it was able to touch you because you
let your guard down a little because we were wrapping up the first
round. In any case, this ‘worst fear’ of yours — it just happened.
And you survived it.”
Damn. The boy had a point. I was pretty much no worse for
wear after the incident. Granted, I was a little shook up, and I’d most
likely have a bruise, but that was the worst of it. I wasn’t
psychologically scarred — at least as far as I could tell. I wasn’t
running screaming for my mommy. I wasn’t being rushed to the
hospital or spinning my head in a full 360, Regan style.
“Trust me. I’ve never been pushed, but I have had things
thrown at me. And let me tell you, I know it’s freaky. But you’re not
defenseless. Remember, you’re alive. They’re dead. You can claim
your space and ground yourself again and head back in there and be
just fine again.” His voice circled my head and seemed to stroke my
frazzled nerves; I could feel the adrenaline slowly dissipating.
For a few minutes, we just sat there and I focused on doing
just what he’d said. I felt the ground beneath my feet and envisioned
myself covered in armor and surrounded by white light. Little by
little, my senses began to return to normal.
After a while, he asked, “Do you feel better now?”
I sucked in a deep breath and heaved it out. The oxygen was
definitely clearing my head. That and not being stuck in a room with
an angry dead guy. “Yeah, I do.”
Tucker’s fingers touched my cheek and he gently turned my
head up so I would meet his gaze. Those coffee-colored eyes
grabbed me and held me in place. “Do you want to sit out the rest of
this investigation?”
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