Page 89 of Possibly Texas

He said nothing more but punched me in the arm lightly before he turned away once again and sauntered from the side of Jack’s house. I watched him for a moment, decked out in cargo pants, a black, flowy skirt worn over them, Chucks, and a tank top completing his outfit. The moon seemed to find his pale skin in the night and make him glow as he walked through the darkness. He had almost gotten to the edge of the yard before I realized I hadn’t taken a single step. Finally, I urged my feet into motion and chased after him.

Silently, Auggie and I left the yard and stepped out onto the road, turning left towards Bend of the Road Graveyard. Like every other night, Possibly was utterly dark. Only the moon and stars provided any light by which to see, though they seemed brighter than anywhere else in the world. The light pollution in Possibly was basically nonexistent, so any bit of moonlight made traveling through downtown Possibly a piece of cake.

Auggie and I walked side by side, our arms brushing against each other lightly here and there as we made our way down the road. Pebbles were kicked by the toes of our shoes, sometimes playfully at each other as we traveled. The graveyard was only twenty yards or so away from Jack’s place, so there wasn’t much time to fill with talk. Before I knew it, we were standing at the junction in the road where we could turn right to go into downtown Possibly, or take the roads that went up and around or down and around the graveyard.

No decision was left up to me. I was just along for the experience of ghost hunting in Possibly. Auggie had a plan in mind. He motioned for me to follow him as he dashed off to the copse that was in the center of the “O” junction between Jack’s place and the graveyard. Together, we scampered behind the tree closest to the road and knelt down, facing the graveyard.

Looking across the road, I was surprised at how visible the headstones were under the moon. I’d never really noticed on other nightly walks or when staring out my window at Possibly during the dark hours. However, they were like beacons there on the north side of town. More than likely, the type of stone the markers had been carved from was the reason for their brilliance in the dark. However, squatting there, in the dark, waiting to see ghosts, it was eerie more than fascinating.

“Shhhhh,” Auggie whispered.

“Are we going to scare the ghosts?” It was mostly a joke, but my voice cracked, which I hoped Auggie didn’t notice.

“Maybe they’re as scared of us as we are of them?” Auggie turned his head to give me a quick wink. “We don’t want to scare the dead.”

“Right.”

“You never know.”

“What do we do now?” I whispered.

Auggie shrugged. “We wait. See if they show up.”

“Why do they show up here?” I asked. “What if they decide they want to show up at Molly’s? Or Windchime Hollow? Or—”

“We started our thirteen circles here and ended them here,” Auggie stopped me. “They’ll show up here.”

“If they show up.”

Auggie turned to me, an expression between a frustrated frown and an amused grin plastered across his face.

“You really have to find something to believe in.”

“You keep saying that,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

Auggie jabbed a finger at the ground.

“Park it. Shush. We’re going to see ghosts.”

Grumbling, though not unamused, I dropped to my rear in the grass under the shadow of the tree and did as I was told. I shushed. And I waited. Auggie turned his attention back to the graveyard, ignoring me completely. With wide eyes and his whole body tense with anticipation, Auggie moved so that he was no longer crouching, but sitting on his knees and waiting. With no idea how long we’d be waiting, comfort was paramount, I supposed.

Bringing my knees up to my chest, I wrapped my arms around them and rested my chin atop them. Though I wanted to ask a million questions of Auggie, I forced myself to keep my eyes on the graveyard, watching for any sign of movement. For a bit, as minutes ticked by, my whole body felt tense, as though a spring was compressed, ready to pop and send me into the branches above. As time passed, I felt less and less concerned with the fact that we were actually waiting to see if ghosts showed up in a graveyard.

My eyes were becoming more accustomed to the low-level light of the moon and the shadows became less ominous around us. Auggie stayed kneeling in the grass, half of his body hidden by the trunk of the tree. The Possibilian breeze whistled through town softly, ruffling our hair with its cool breath, but nothing else stirred. No other citizen of town came walking down the road on their way to…wherever one might go in the middle of the night.

Birds weren’t chirping, critters weren’t scurrying, and Auggie and I stayed stock still as we waited to see if our ghost hunting experiment had been worth the effort put forth. Though nothing stirred but the breeze, downtown Possibly wasn’t completely silent. I could hear Susurrus Creek in the distance—water slapping against the shore as the creek slipped through town on its way to wherever creeks go.

I hadn’t thought to grab my phone before I climbed out of my bedroom window and onto the roof to follow Auggie, so time meant nothing. Whether two minutes or two hours passed was impossible to know, but as Possibly tucked into the dead hours of night, I could tell it was getting colder. A shiver ran up my spine as I hugged my knees more tightly to my chest for warmth. Auggie seemed unaffected, not so much as twitching at the cold.

Before I knew it, a light mist was rolling in from the east—from the direction of Susurrus Creek, crawling westerly through town. Another shiver ran through my body as the mist inched along the road towards us, slowly but surely blanketing the grounds of the graveyard. My eyes were fixed on the glowing headstones as the mist created a miasma around us.

I’d never been a superstitious person, nor was I decided on whether or not ghosts existed, but the sudden appearance of the mist gave me the heebie-jeebies. Though I’d watched Possibly through the dormer window of my third-story bedroom many nights—even at midnight—I’d never seen a mist roll into town from the creek. After having walked thirteen circles around town, beginning and ending at the graveyard, in order to summon ghosts, and then having the mist appear suddenly, I was beginning to feel on edge.

Suddenly, it struck me. There were no ghosts in Possibly. Nothing was haunted. I didn’t know how I knew, but something told me it was an undeniable fact that Possibly was not haunted. Auggie and I had talked about ghosts after the Fourth of July festivities. He was having a bit of fun with me, waiting to see how long I would last by the graveyard before I ran home scared.

The thought brought a grin to my face.

The thirteen trips around town, Windchime Hollow, meeting me on the roof of Jack’s place—all of it—was just a ruse. He was toying with me but also inventing fun and creative ways for us to spend time together. That’s…that’s what friends did.