Beyond - Volume 1 (YA Paranormal Romance) by S.P. van der Lee Page B

recognize, but it looks like a wooden box. Sam turns around, sees the blue ghost and tries to flee, but it’s already too late. The blue one is chasing him around the room. They only have their eyes on each other now. This is my chance.
    I push myself up from the floor and run as fast as I can toward the room Damian’s in. Maybe I’m safe here, for now, but I’m too curious to duck for cover. I want to know more about this. I stop at the door to pant and watch the ghosts in action. I can’t keep my eyes off this spectacle. Their smoke fills the hallway, covering it in black and blue stripes.
    Won’t they follow me? Wh y are they here? Why are these delusions getting stronger? I don’t understand any of this. I have to think of something to make it stop. Something I know that works.
    The pills!
    I glance at my bag that’s still on the floor, near the phantoms. The bottle is still in there. It’s impossible to reach without them seeing me and I don’t want to be seen, especially not by Sam.
    The blue ghost puts the box on the floor and makes such fast movements I can hardly keep up. They fight; the blue one is trying to get Sam near the box. It’s all going so fast that there’s only vague flashes of smoke when they move. They leave faint spots on the walls that fade after a few seconds, just like a handprint on a window.
    Then a shock runs through the black ghost as an electrical charge shoots out of the box. Sam disperses like clearing mist. The smoke in the hallway dissipates.
    The blue ghost bends down and picks up the box from the floor. Then he turns around and starts walking toward me.
    I shriek, cover my mouth with my hands and walk backward into the room. Please don’t come to me, please don’t come any closer. Stay away. I count down the seconds, hoping it’s all just in my head.
    I slam the door and walk farther backward. Every step I get farther away from those ghosts, the safer I feel, even if it’s only by a small amount. It makes no sense, because I’m stuck here. This is a dead end. There’s no way out. I’m stuck in a small room with just my fear and a blue ghost coming toward me.
    Suddenly I trip over something and fall down to the floor. When I get up and look at what it was that made me stumble, I squeal.
    It’s the lifeless body of Damian Hayes.
    I put my hand over my mouth to keep myself from screaming. I look up to see if the ghost isn’t here, then sneak closer to Damian’s head. He looks handsome, even though this is really not the time to think about that, but I just can’t keep my eyes off him. His eyes are closed. I put my head near his nose and listen, but I can’t hear anything. Not a snort, not a sniff, nothing. I press my finger against his neck and another one on his wrist. I swallow. There’s no heartbeat.
    I have to do something!
    I think about my mom and what she used to tell me about situations like this. Pinch the nose, blow air into the lungs through the mouth. If that doesn’t work, press two hands against his chest.
    I pull up his shirt and see his muscular torso. Strapped around it is a band connected to a strange little box that rests on top of his heart.
    What the heck is that? Oh well, let’s try blowing some air into him first.
    Just do it. I pinch his nose, but before I can press my lips against his, a blue glow appears in the door-window.
    The light grows and then comes right through the door. I look at the ghost while releasing Damian’s nose from my grip. I wonder what this ghost is going to do. A loud bleep goes off, somewhere close to Damian’s wrist. There’s a strange watch attached to him. When I touch it, the ghost raises his hand.
    I release Damian’s hand. The bleeping sound repeats itself and then there’s a light buzzing coming from the little box on his chest. His body convulses, moving up and down again. Then the blue ghost in front of me dissolves and Damian’s gasping for air. When he opens his eyes I’m sure of it; he’s the blue