Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [113]
I cut my arm down by my elbow. That way I could hide the cut while it healed and it wouldn’t interfere with anything. It’s funny, in movies, when people need blood, they always slice their hands. That’s never made sense to me. You use your hands a lot, and they’re hard to heal. I let the blood drip into the grass and called Brooke’s body out of the ground. The earth split easily and let her up, I think because she was newly dead. Or maybe it was because she wanted this as much as I needed to do it. Once her body was completely out, I gave her back her head, knitting the flesh together at the neck. She stood in front of me, smiling, hugging herself with her arms.
“Feel better?” I could barely choke out the words. I couldn’t tell if it was the joy of seeing her whole again or the pain of letting her go.
Brooke threw her arms around me and kissed me on the forehead. I hugged her back, holding her as tight as I could.
“Thank you.” She leaned down and pulled a strip of cloth out of her bowling bag. Frank had put it there to cushion her neck. I guess we didn’t need it anymore. She wrapped the strip around the new cut on my elbow, tying it into a neat bandage. Then she reached up and wiped my cheeks. I hadn’t realized that I was crying.
Brooke looked out of the circle and smiled. She nodded at the detective and waved at Frank, her grin growing bigger. He used the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe his eyes. Brooke’s smile turned a little sad as she watched Frank break down.
“You sure?” His voice broke on the words.
She nodded. “I can’t stay this way, Frank.” He returned her nod, his shoulders slumping in acceptance. “Hey,” she said. He looked back up at her and she blew him a kiss.
Frank reached out and caught it.
I put Brooke back in the ground, everything going off without a hitch. A thoughtful—and shaken—Dunaway said good-bye with promises that we’d talk about all of this tomorrow. I shook his hand and walked back to the car, a dejected Frank in my wake.
I took a few of the sedatives once I got home. I needed rest, and I didn’t think there was any other way I was going to get it. I felt drained down to nothing.
Frank slept on the floor. He didn’t feel right about taking Ramon’s spot, even after I told him Ramon would tell him to get his ass on the couch.
I slept like a sedated baby. When I woke up, I felt refreshed and fairly happy. My blankets were warm, my pillow soft, and I didn’t want to get up. It was my pillow. It had been an uphill battle to get back to it.
“You’re going to get bedsores if you don’t get up soon.”
I twisted and fell off my bed with a shout. I peeked past the edge of my bed. Brooke, the whole Brooke, peered back at me. Her hands curled over the mattress, her back arched like a cat ready to pounce.
“What the hell?” I yelled.
Frank ran in. His face broke into a smile.
“What?” Brooke said, resting her ghostly hands on her hips. “You didn’t think I’d leave you losers on your own, did you?”
“Yeah,” I said, grinning. “I kind of thought you would.”
“Psh, whatever.” Brooke pulled a ghostly pen and clipboard out of thin air. “Ashley said you needed another adviser, so we worked something out.” She tapped her pen against her lips. “Now, what should we do first?”
Detective Dunaway called me later that day. We’d been playing Mario Party, Frank and I hitting buttons, Brooke ordering us around. She’d made us choose Princess Daisy and Princess Peach for the computer players so she could yell derogatory names at them while we played. I felt better than I had in a long time.
“I’m not sure what to do with the info you’ve given me,” he said, “but I’ll figure out something. Something to give the family closure at least.”
“You’re not going to drag us into the station?”
“And tell them what? I’d be in a shrink’s office before I finished my first sentence.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I hope it doesn’t get you in trouble.”
“I’ll be okay,” he said. “I’ve still got a lot of questions for you,