Atlantis (6 page)

“
I’ll consider it, but no promises.”

“
Good luck. She’s really on one today,” I said as I gave him a hug.

“
Thanks. See you later.” Nicholas ran off following Charlotte’s trail of tears, and I turned to go home.

I took the stairs on my porch two at a time, as usual. A brown paper wrapped package was leaning up against the door. I guess no one was home. I bent down and picked up the toaster sized box and went inside. I gently tossed the box on the kitchen table when my name on the recipient line caught my eye.
Who would send me a package?

Curious now, I examined it closer. There was no return address. Just a few “fragile”
stickers. Whoops. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen drawer and broke the tape so I could see what was inside. Packing peanuts, sweet! I sifted through the peanuts until I found what was so fragile.

A camera.

I searched the box for a card or a note, anything.

Finally, I came across a small notecard on the bottom of the box that read,

When you try to look at things differently,

you start to see what’s really there.

Odd. There was no signature. Very confused, I stumbled up to my room with the camera and mystery note in hand.

I shut myself in my room and plopped down on my bed. I reread the small white piece of paper about twenty times, searching for some indication of what it meant or who sent it. I found nothing.

The handwriting didn’t look familiar either.

Finally I gave up on the mystery of the obscure message and turned my attention to the camera. Small, black, digital.

I turned it on.

A green light came on. I decided to test it out. Theory was hanging out in my room, as usual, so I aimed the lens at her. Click. The picture showed up on a screen on the back under the eyepiece.
Cool, it works.

I proceeded to shoot a variety of angles of my room, Theory, and myself to test out my photography skills. About ten pictures later, I sat back down on my bed, and tried to figure out how to review my work.

At first I couldn’t figure out how to access the vault of photographs, since my mystery present didn’t come with instructions. But after a little elbow grease and patience I found them. The last photograph showed up on the screen first. It was a picture of my bedroom window. I fell off the bed at what I saw.

In the reflection of my window of the picture was a dull ghost-like image of a person. A person with green eyes. Now sitting on the floor, I held the camera tight, and zoomed in for a closer look. The pale portrait of the person in the picture made me gasp.

It was Elliott.

I looked around my room. No one was there. I looked out my window. No one. Only me, by myself. I re-examined the camera. It looked normal. The lens looked clean. I scrolled through the other pictures I had taken, only to find the mysterious green-eyed figure hidden in each shot.

The picture of my desk, he was on the computer screen. The picture of my bed, he was in the mirror. Even in the picture of Theory, I found him hidden as a reflection in her eyes.

I shivered. An eerie chill ran down my spine.

The glass of my window was abruptly shoved open, and I jumped.

“
Hey hoe.” Good. It was just Nicholas.

“
Hey.”

“
How's it going?” he said as he let himself in and sat down beside me on the floor.

“
Eh.”
I’m seeing things that aren’t there, but otherwise great.
I hurried and turned off the camera and pushed it under my bed.

“
Come on Lil, you can tell me.” He gave me his best persuasive look, his blond hair in his eyes.

“
Just silently going crazy.” My thoughts were still muddled by my current episode.

“
Good.” Nicholas smiled. “I wouldn’t want you turning all normal on me now.”

I had to smile at him, as I shook my head. “Only you would think going crazy is a good thing.”

“
Going
crazy? You already are. That’s why I like you so much.”

Nicholas was great. He was like a male version of me. Our personalities complemented each others perfectly.

He leaned up against me.

“
Hey, where’s Charlotte? Is she still mad?” I asked.

“
Yep. She’s still mad at me. I can’t figure her out lately,” he paused reflecting, “or pretending at least. Ugh! Do you know what her deal is? It’s not like we’re dating.”

Funny. Nicholas had inadvertently stumbled on the magic word. Dating. I just shrugged and gave him my it’s-a-mystery-to-me face. I was determined not to get in the middle. I had enough to deal with.

Nicholas looked at the clock. “Well I’d better go Lil. I told my mom I would be home for dinner. Seriously though, if you figure out what’s up with Charlotte let me know.”

I looked at him. My thoughts were miles away and I am sure it showed on my face.

He added, “and if you need someone to talk to about going crazy, I’m here. But don’t expect me to try and fix you. I like you just the way you are, you crazy hoe.” He winked. Nicholas left as he came, out the window.

I got up and hit play on my stereo, laid back down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. Good thing Nicholas didn’t see crazy as a bad thing, because I was sure I was on my way to a straight jacket and a padded white room.

I laid there for awhile, not moving, just thinking. Staring off into oblivion. I shut my eyes, trying to collect my thoughts. Trying to make some sense of all the weird things that were happening to me lately. The ring, the mirror, and now the camera. I was almost one hundred percent sure that they all were somehow related to my new neighbor, Elliott.

I felt what I thought was Theory jumping up onto my bed and opened my eyes to see what she was up to. My eyes mimicked golf balls when I saw it was Elliott sitting beside me.

Chapter 4. The Ghost

“
I didn’t hear you come in!” I was going to have a heart attack. All of these jolts to my system couldn’t be good for me.

He sat there silent.
How dare he materialize in my room and not speak to me. Rude.
“Elliott, what are you doing here?”

He looked at me as though it surprised him that I could see him. He cocked his head to the side and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“
Elliott, did you hear me? What are you doing here?”

His eyes got wide and his expression was frightened. Like something was terribly wrong.

The anger that colored my voice before was gone, all that was left was concern. “Are you okay?” I reached out to comfort him. I reached out to touch him.

He jumped up off the bed and practically teleported himself out the window. I sat there stunned and a little hurt. What on earth had just happened? He was the one that showed up unexpectedly in my room.
Why did he freak out?

I lay back down on my bed in a daze from all the confusion clouding my brain. I hadn’t even had time to get comfortable when Charlotte pranced in through the window.

“
Did you see Elliott?” I asked, quickly sitting up.

“
When?”

“
Now, he just barely left.”

“
No. I didn’t see anyone, Lil.”

“
Are you sure? He seriously hasn’t been gone more than a minute. You two should have crossed paths.”

Charlotte looked back out the window. “There was nobody there, Lil. Now I’m really beginning to think you made him up,” she laughed, teasing.

I was starting to question that myself, but I wasn’t about to tell that to Charlotte. So I changed the subject.

“
You and Nicholas make up yet?”

“
Kinda. He apologized for being a jerk earlier today, but I think I should pretend to be angry a little longer. You know, to sweeten the moment.”

“
What
moment
are you trying to sweeten?”

“
The one where Nicholas realizes how much he likes me.” And she was off. There was no stopping her once she got going. I pushed myself back on the bed so that I could lean against the wall and zone while Charlotte talked to herself. She was practically bouncing around the room, playing out her romantic fantasies on how she hoped Nicholas will proclaim his love for her and how she will pretend to be surprised. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, and unfortunately she saw it.

“
What?” she scoffed.

“
Harlet, you think
I
live in a fantasy world. Listen to yourself.”

“
You
do
live in a fantasy world. And anyways, I am not fantasizing but foreseeing the natural future of things.”