Jimmy Stone's Ghost Town (12 page)

My perfect little
Jimmy
,
one day
you'll understand all that's happened to me and Charlotte. One day
you'll find your way. One day, you'll be everything you can imagine
and everything your father and I have ever hoped for you. And, one
day, you'll see me again.

You're the man of the
house now
, it continued, reiterating what
she'd told me the last time I saw her in the hospital.
Take care of your father and Trex. I know you can
do it. Find the things you need to get you through each day.
They're usually right there under your nose, if you just look
around. I'll see you soon, Jimmy. Love, Mom

It may not have been the
most poetic and touching of letters, but it didn't matter to me one
little bit. It was the
perfect
letter and I could hear my mother's voice reading
it to me as I scanned the lines with my eyes. She was standing over
my shoulder as the tears began to tap tap tap on the paper while I
read.

It was the closest I'd ever come to hearing
her voice again since she was gone, and it was exactly what I
needed at the time. Even Trex moaned slightly as I reached the end
of the letter and began stroking him behind the ears.

At the time, I thought it was nothing more
than a mother's last words to her son when she knew she'd be
leaving soon. It was a farewell that I needed to close the book on
something that I was having a hard time dealing with.

But now, I wonder, after
hearing the words of the Oracle Essex just what Mom had meant when
she told me she'd
see me
soon
. Did she mean she'd literally see me
soon? She couldn't have. There's no way. Could she have possibly
known I'd have to search for these seven things the Oracle Essex
spoke of in
her
letter? She
couldn't
have, right?

Or could she?
I wondered as I put my hand on my back pocket,
right where I kept the letter my mother gave him, folded up but
ready to be read at any time I needed. I had the letter here with
me in Ghost Town and now I thought just what all those words meant
and why they seemed so prophetic to me now.

No way
, I thought, finally convincing myself that I was just
thinking too much.
It's just a letter.
It's just a goodbye
.

Or was it?

Gasp had a lot of questions to answer.

Chapter Twenty Four

When the smoked finally cleared and we all
had a chance to catch our collective breath, I finally moved up off
the floor, shuffled my feet under me, and stood in the center of
the room. I placed my hands firmly on my hips, looked down at my
shoes briefly, and then back up at David, Trex, and Gasp.

It was Gasp, however, that
I was really looking at. I was
glaring
. I have no idea where this
newfound strength (maybe you'd even call it
gall
) came from, but I knew I had to
get across to Gasp the fact that I was 1) pretty angry about what
just happened 2) pretty
scared
about what just happened, and 3) pretty annoyed
that he didn't give us any warning about what just
happened.

"Gasp," I said with about
as much intestinal fortitude as I could muster from my little fifth
grade body. "Do you have
any
idea what you just put us through? Do you
have
any
idea
what just happened here?"

Gasp's head was still pointing straight down
at the floor. He hadn't looked up since the Oracle Essex had
finished her speech and disappeared. It was as if he felt he'd
failed. Like he didn't have all the answers that he thought he had,
and now he was in a place he wasn't used to being in - with his
back against the wall.

"Do you?" I asked again, a little more angry
and high-pitched this time. David's face showed just how shocked he
was that I had this in me. It even looked to me like Trex was a
little frightened. He tilted his head like he didn't really
recognize me. "Well, do you?"

Gasp lifted his eyes slowly toward me, and
then the rest of his head followed behind. It was as if his eyes
were pulling the rest of his face and everything was fighting those
eyes. His head didn't want to look up, but he was forcing it.

"Jimmy," he said in what
was probably the quietest voice I'd heard from him since we arrived
in Ghost Town, "I'm going to be completely honest with you." He ran
his hand through his hair, his body still completely corporeal for
the time being. "I really have
no
idea what just happened."

I turned my back to the three of them
sitting on the floor and pushed my hands down even harder on my
hips. I could feel the burn of my hands on my sides and I wanted to
let go. I wanted to just swing my hands freely at my sides and let
this all go, but I knew I couldn't. Not now. I needed to show Gasp
that I meant business, that I wasn't just another pushover, and
that I wasn't going to sit around and wait for more of his
surprises.

"What do you mean, you
have no idea what happened?" I asked. "How could you
not
know that would
happen? You're our
guide
! You're supposed to be the
expert here in Ghost Town. You're a Town Elder. How can you
honestly think I would believe that you have
no idea
what just
transpired?"

We'd just learned the word "transpired" a
few weeks ago, in school, and it felt good to be able to use it in
this situation. It made me feel strong and mature, like I knew what
I was talking about and Gasp better shape up quick.

"Jimmy," Gasp said quickly as his eyes
wrinkled tightly and his face began to gain a slight red tinge
around his cheeks.

"Don't, Gasp. Don't even try it. I'm
not--"

"Jimmy," said David sternly as he let go of
Trex and jumped up from the floor. He crossed the room towards me
and placed both hands on my shoulders. "I don't think he's
lying."

"But he--"

"I think you should let this one go, Jimmy,"
he said and turned me just enough to look me in the eyes. "I know
you're mad. I know you feel like we've been duped. I know how you
feel, but I think we need to hear Gasp out. I think we need to
listen to what he says."

David let go of my shoulders and stepped
back, all without letting go of the virtual lock his eyes had on
mine.

"And I think we need to do whatever we can
to heed the message of the Oracle Essex. I think we need to do
whatever we can to help Gasp and the people of Ghost Town."

"You do?" I asked him sincerely, keeping my
eyes beamed into his. "You don't think it's all some big joke?"

"I think it's probably the only way we're
going to get home again, Jimmy."

David was right. I knew,
before he even said it, that he was right. He was
usually
right, but this
time he was especially right. Not only did I want to have that
chance, albeit an incredibly slim one, that I might see my mother
again, but there was no way we were going to find our way out of
Ghost Town and back home on our own.

Hell, I don't even think I could find my way
out of this crazy ghost hotel without Gasp's help.

It was time to swallow the pride I'd just
welled up inside of me for this very occasion. I had my moment and
now it was time to get back to being the Jimmy Stone I've been my
whole life. Not the running-and-hiding-in-the-bathroom-stall Jimmy,
but not the yelling-at-Gasp-to-try-and-intimidate-him Jimmy
either.

"You're right, David," I said just loud
enough for him to hear but no one else. "You're always right,
man."

David smiled briefly and walked back across
the room to his seat on the floor next to Trex. He didn't say
anything about being right (that's not his style), but he knew he
was too. I'm not that dumb.

"I'm sorry, Gasp. I didn't mean to--"

"That's quite alright, Jimmy." Gasp slowly
moved from the floor and began to morph out of the solid body he'd
been in and back into the floating ghost we'd become used to. "I
know how people can get when they're scared. I know what it's like
to be surprised. I know how it feels to lose control and have no
idea what's going on."

I stood in front of Gasp, hanging my head
just long enough to show him that I was truly sorry and that I knew
I was in the wrong for what I'd said and done.

"I spent a lot of my time
in your world feeling those things, Jimmy. Fear, surprise, and
confusion. But that was a
long
time ago and, since I've been in Ghost Town, I
haven't had to feel them. Ever."

"That is," he said, "until
just a few moments ago when the Oracle Essex appeared and delivered
her message." Gasp's expression became one of deadly seriousness
and I knew he truly meant what he was telling us now. This
was
not
something
that Gasp was prepared for and it was clearly something that scared
him almost as much as it did us.

"I'd always heard
stories," he continued, "about the various Oracles and what they
do. I'd heard stories from some of the other Elders about how
they'd seen Oracles delivering messages of grave importance - often
death prophecies. It was all doom and gloom and, to be quite
honest, I never really believed they even existed. I mean, it's one
thing to hear stories from your peers, but it's another to
actually
see
something you'd heard so much about. I truly didn't think
I'd
ever
see an
Oracle."

"But why?" I tried desperately to ask. "Why
would she come here to deliver this message? Why is it so important
that we listen to what she says? Why me?"

"A letter, every week for
seven weeks," he continued without even really acknowledging my
questions, "was one thing, Jimmy. But an actual
visit
from an actual
Oracle
- that's
something
completely
different. For the Oracle Essex to actually come here and
deliver that message to us means that she -
they
- mean business."

I looked over at David and
Trex whose faces held the same confused and frustrated looks as I'm
sure I had on mine. At this point, we really just wanted to be
home. I didn't care if I had to clean up Dad's empty green bottles
for another fifty years. I just wanted to be home. I wanted to
be
out
of Ghost
Town.

"This is
gravely
serious," said
Gasp. "And I think we
absolutely
must heed her message."

"But how?" I asked. "It
was so vague. We don't even have any idea what these
seven things
are or how
to find them." I ran my hand through my hair and left it right on
top of my head, holding the bridge of my nose and squeezing until I
thought it might pop right off like a big fat zit. I needed to feel
a little of that pain to know I was still there. To know that this
wasn't all some big, bad dream that I could wake myself up
from.

"And what does she
mean
Ghost Town be the
first
?"

"Actually," said Gasp, "I think I can
explain that one."

"Please," I said
completely exasperated. "I'll take
anything
you can tell me at this
point. We just need information."

"Ok, well. You see, Jimmy. This may come as
a shock to you, but Ghost Town is not the only world outside of
yours."

He was right. That
did
come as a shock to
me. I think I'm
still
a little shocked as he continues his story.

"We actually call them Realms and there are
seven, of which Ghost Town is just one."

"Seven?" I asked. "What is with everyone and
sevens around here?!"

"Seven," Gasp said, "is a very important
number. Seven days of the week and all that. I don't think it's
worth wasting your time telling you all about the importance of the
number seven right now, Jimmy."

"No," I said. "You're right. Seven Realms.
That's all I need to know. Keep going."

"So, yes, there are Seven Realms outside of
your world. Do you happen to remember the tree that got you
here?"

"Do you mean the big round
glowing one? The one I traced the letters GT on and all of a sudden
I'm waking up in a creepy room seeing you float in front of an open
window? Yeah," I said sarcastically. "I think I remember
that
one."

"Well, that tree is the key to moving
between realms. The one you found in your world just happened to
bring you to Ghost Town because that's where you were needed. Once
we started getting the letters addressed to you, we knew we had to
get you here to help us. So we placed the Transport Tree in your
world and hoped that you'd find it and do exactly what you ended up
doing."

"Once you're done with the work needed in
each realm, you shouldn't have any trouble finding the Transport
Tree to get where you need to be next."

"Wait a minute," I said as
soon as those last words escaped Gasp's lips. "If there's a
Transport Tree here in Ghost Town, why can't we just pack ourselves
up, find the tree and transport ourselves back home? I think I've
had enough of Ghost Town for a
long
time."