Love, Like Ghosts: A Bay City Paranormal Investigations Story

wait in the deep shade of the old cemetery’s gazebo like he usually did. Instead, he stretched out in a sunny spot on the grass just inside the wall surrounding the graveyard. He had at least forty-five minutes to wait before Greg got out of class, but he didn’t mind. A little quiet time in the sunshine to assimilate what he’d just experienced would be a good thing.
The time passed quickly. Adrian was drifting in a pleasant doze, trying to remember why the bit of square jaw in Lyndon’s memory seemed familiar to him, when something nudged his ribs. He cracked his eyelids open and squinted up at the person-shaped shadow looming over him. “Hi, Greg.”
“Hey.” Dropping onto the grass, Greg tucked both legs beneath him. He grinned. “So. What’s up? You taking a nap?”
“Nope. Just thinking.”
“I see. The college intellectual ponders the mysteries of life while lounging in a graveyard.” Greg nodded, his expression dead serious.
Adrian laughed. “Something like that.” He sat up, leaned forward and kissed Greg’s lips. “I went back to Groome Castle today to talk to Lyndon. I think I made a real breakthrough this time. I’m pretty sure I experienced the moment of his death. I even saw a part of his killer’s face. A few more visits, and I think I could actually see enough to be able to identify the person who killed him.”
The smile froze to Greg’s face. “Oh, really? That’s great.”
Greg’s expression spoke the exact opposite of his words. Adrian’s excitement shriveled. He forced himself to speak calmly instead of letting his disappointment turn him waspish.
“Greg, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, honestly. But I don’t want you to lie to me either.” Taking Greg’s hand, Adrian wove their fingers together. “You obviously don’t think what I just said is great. Something about it bothers you. Please tell me what it is.”
Greg’s shoulders slumped. He fixed Adrian with a guilty look. “I’m sorry, I really am. It’s just that all this stuff about talking to ghosts and experiencing somebody else’s death…” He shook his head. “It sounds crazy, Adrian. You have to know it does.”
That hurt, even though Adrian knew Greg didn’t mean it like it sounded. “That’s why I don’t usually tell people. They tend to think I’m crazy.”
“I don’t think that.” Greg’s eyes searched Adrian’s face. “I know you’re not crazy. In fact, you might be the sanest person I’ve ever met. Which just makes it harder to understand when you start telling me about how you’ve been talking to a ghost and experiencing his death. It’s just…disturbing.”
Adrian stared at his and Greg’s entwined hands, his mind racing. When they’d first started seeing each other, revealing the secret of his psychokinesis to Greg hadn’t really been something he’d considered. After all, no one but his family and the BCPI team knew. The few friends he’d made in school had never known. He’d never even told Christian. As far as Adrian was concerned, no one would ever need to know except a long-term partner, and since he’d never expected to have one, he’d been content to leave his secret where it was.
No, he’d had no firm plans to tell Greg, in spite of the vague guilt that prodded him now and then. Yet here he was, at the point where he knew he had to do what he’d never done in his life—tell another human being his entire, unvarnished history, including the truth about his psychokinetic abilities.
The idea terrified him. He swallowed, his throat dry as dust.
Gathering all his courage, he lifted his gaze to meet Greg’s. “I think it’s time I told you a few things about myself, and my past. So that you’ll understand why I can talk to spirits and maybe understand me a little better too.”
Apprehension crept into Greg’s eyes. “What’re you talking about? What kinds of things?”
“That’s kind of hard to explain without really getting into it.” Adrian took a good look around. The sidewalk beside South Road, on the far side of the cemetery, was as crowded as ever with people passing back and forth. The one running not fifteen feet from where he and Greg sat wasn’t nearly as busy. A girl in green and black striped leggings loped down the pathway through the graveyard. Other than her, Greg and Adrian, the cemetery was empty. “We can talk here if you want, or go back to my place.”
Greg shrugged. “Here’s fine with me, if it’s okay with you.