Read Indwell (Chasing Natalie's Ghosts) for Free Online Page A

cautiously, expecting the worst I feared. I reached my hands to touch his face. I wanted him to know just how much he meant to me, living or not, I loved him. He smiled as he leaned closer to me, his lips again just lightly brushing mine. I moved closer to him. I had to feel him, to know that he wasn’t just my imagination. He made me feel so warm still and his touch made my skin tingle. I bit gently down onto his lip and I could feel his skin beneath my teeth. He didn’t flinch or back away. He was mine. I pulled away, smiling at him, the tears drying in my eyes. He started to laugh nervously.
    “Wow, I’m glad that’s over. You have no idea how nervous I’ve been, anticipating the moment you recognized what you already knew from the first time you saw me. I honestly didn’t want you to but I knew it was just a matter of time. I was scared you would ask me to leave and I didn’t think I would be able to,” he said, relief just pouring out of him. I grabbed hold of both of his hands, looking up at him, to meet his eyes.
    “I need to ask you some questions, I think.” He jumped up.
    “Not now. I’ll tell you everything later, but today I just want to enjoy this time with you.” I just nodded. Not really sure if I was ready to hear all he had to tell me. I wasn’t the same little girl anymore that just accepted these uninvited visitors. I needed more than just their company. I wanted more. I needed to know why they found me. I wanted to know why they always left me.
    “I’ll tell you as much as I can,” he said, seeming to understand my fears. We carried on that day, fresh, as though we were new friends, laughing and chatting casually about nothing serious. He would stop me whenever a deer was close, he showed me a beaver dam and a log in the sun covered with three baby turtles. He was very alert to everything living on our walk. It was such a beautiful day that I wished it would never end. As the sun was starting to set we were back in the canoe again.
    Once we neared the houses along the river again, I took over paddling this time. Instead of talking I just stared at him and smiled. He looked so serious and stern. I couldn’t help but laugh. I must have looked crazy to anyone that saw me. As we were getting closer to my backyard, a boy flew in front of me and landed in the middle of the canoe. I screamed and the kid just started laughing in hysterics, holding his side that hit the canoe. There was more laughter coming from the river bank on the opposite side. The boy had used his rope swing to get as far out into the middle of the river as he could before letting go.
    “Why did you do that?” I demanded of the kid, who was starting to swim back to shore.
    “He dared me,” he said, pointing at another boy.
    “Well I guess that explains it, thanks,” I said sarcastically. Adam was slightly amused by this, I could tell by the smirk on his face.
    “Sorry, you just looked kind of lonely, so I thought you needed some company,” the boy yelled from the bank. My face went blank. He reminded me that they couldn’t see Adam. They thought I was alone, smiling to myself paddling down the river. I must have looked incredibly pathetic, I thought.
    “Are you okay?” I shouted back.
    “Yeah, it didn’t really hurt,” I waved as we continued back towards my side of the river. Adam surprised me when he began to explain something I hadn’t noticed about the event.
    “There’s a reason it didn’t hurt that kid as much as it could have.”
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “I cushioned his landing,” he answered.
    “How, I thought only I can see you and feel you?”
    “Well, he can’t see me, but I can make my presence known if I want to, it’s not all just ghost stories. I can move things, I can make noise and I can let them hear me talk if I decide to. I can even hold them, without them actually feeling me do it. I could have lifted that kid up and thrown him into the river and he would not have felt