Ways to See a Ghost

hunted or whatever. Thousands and thousands of deaths, and when the last one goes…
    Both times we saw all these tiny lights, coming together into one.
    “Do you think?” I asked, my words coming out slow. “Do you think when the last of some kind of animal gets wiped out, and it goes extinct, there could be a ghost for its species?”
    Stu and Dad both looked at me.
    “Well,” said Dad. “I suppose if you believed all that stuff. A species is kind of alive, so extinction is a kind of death.”
    Stu nearly choked on his beer. “I just explained why ghosts don’t exist! And even if they did, a species is millions of individual organisms, living over millions of years.”
    “That’d make it a big ghost then,” said Dad, grinning at him.
    Stu glared back. “Oh yes, and what would it look like, this ghost of a species?”
    Dad laughed, and shook his head.
    But I know. I’ve thought about it lots. The ghost of a species would look like itself. Like millions and one, at the same time. Birds or insects or fish or wild animals. Except most of us can only see them as lights.
    You see, Stu and Dad had it wrong. It isn’t aliens who are trying to tell us something.

    Hey, who’s there?

    Shh. Gray, be still.

    Someone’s knocking at the door.
    You will stay completely silent. You won’t be able to move a muscle. It’s just someone searching, probably for you. A boy doesn’t go missing from Accident and Emergency without hospital staff looking for him. But the doors to this storeroom are locked, and by the time they find another key, we will be finished.
    No, don’t try and leave, don’t panic. Just look into my eyes and lie back down on the trolley… that’s right… tell me what happened next.

Stu never got to do his interview. He nearly did, he even set up his camcorder, but then everything just kicked off.
    It was probably about eight o’clock. I was at the top of the stairs, going into my bedroom, when the phone rang.
    “Gray! Can you get that?” Dad yelled up from the living room.
    “You’re nearer than me!” I shouted back.
    The phone kept on ringing. Dad swore and came out of the living room.
    “Yes,” he snapped into the phone, then, “What, what is it, Cally? No, stop crying, I can’t understand you… Of course, come round then…”
    He put the phone down, a crinkly frown between his eyebrows. He glared up at me.
    “What have you said to Cally?”
    “Nothing,” I said, but Dad looked like he didn’t believe me.
    About a minute later the doorbell rang. Cally must’ve phoned from her car, when she was already driving round.
    Dad opened the door and made to kiss her, but Cally pushed past and turned on him. Her face was really white, and her eyes were red and teary.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” she cried. “Interfering with my life, trying to turn my own daughter against me!”
    In the living room, Stu froze. Dad backed up against the sofa.
    “Cally, darling. What’s the matter?” He had his hands out to her, and his voice was… well, it’s the way he sounds when he’s got an angry girlfriend to deal with. I’ve heard it often enough.
    Behind Cally, Isis was in the doorway, looking miserable. I went down the stairs and sneaked over to her.
    “What’s going on?” I whispered to Isis. “Why are you here?”
    “I tried to stop Cally,” Isis whispered back, “but she’s really mad at me.”
    Dad had his hands on Cally’s shoulders, stroking them.He always does that to women when they’re yelling at him, it distracts them or something.
    “Why are you upset?” he said, in his calming voice.
    “I’m upset because you’re poisoning my daughter’s mind!” shrieked Cally. “Because you’re using her against me!”
    “What’s happened?” I asked Isis. She gripped onto her sleeves, stretching them down, like she was cold.
    “I had to say something,” she whispered. “We went to these woods, and Philip Syndal was there. He told Cally some rubbish about cleaning our auras, but really he…” She looked at me. “He knows all about the ghost-eater. And…”
    “I thought you loved me, Gil!” shrieked Cally, and she started sobbing.
    In the living room, Stu was packing his camcorder away.
    “Love you?” Dad’s hands stopped for a second, then he started stroking again. “I mean, it’s early days…”
    Cally slapped at his hands.
    “You’re just using me!” she cried. “I should have known! That woman in the bar, the one you said was an