Free The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke Page B

projector above me started to whir, but a second later James turned on some music to cover the noise. The projector threw a movie of a man – who’s one of Jojo’s famous friends – on the wall just behind Liam. The projection was shadowy and the man’s face was hard to see and he really did look like a ghost. He was walking though he never got any closer. Liam didn’t see him.
    It was my turn to go on. I stepped forward through the black curtains of the wings. ‘What’s all this talk of ghosts, then?’ I said in a big voice, and Gareth and Liam almost jumped out of their skins.
    ‘We thought you were it,’ Liam said. He spun round, pointing his gun at blank space. ‘Two nights in a row now we’ve seen this … thing .’
    ‘Thing?’ I said, and as Liam told me about the ghost the fog grew thicker. Ruen was on the other side of the stage, right beside the projection of the ghost. He was just standing there, smirking. And then his voice appeared in my head.
    Alex , he said.
    I blinked, trying to ignore him. The ghost turned and started to walk again, but it looked like he really was coming towards us.
    ‘Aye, this ghost, demon, whatever you call it,’ Liam said fearfully, fluffing his lines a bit. ‘You’ll think I’m crazy, but I think it looks like the dead king.’
    I took a step beside Liam, remembering what Jojo said about keeping my shoulders turned to the audience at all times. I knew my line, as it’s important because it’s straight from Shakespeare’s play and Jojo said it was vital to the men with money that we keep some of Shakespeare in the play and so I made sure I learned those bits really carefully.
    ‘It harrows me with fear,’ I said, but my voice sounded really far away.
    Liam looked at the projection of the man walking towards us, and as he walked, Ruen marched beside him too and I felt dizzy at seeing double. Liam started to yell and the music got louder and sounded like a heartbeat – ba-dum, bad-dum, ba-dum – and I was supposed to lift up my fake gun and point it. But instead I looked down at it in my hand, and when I looked up at Ruen standing about ten feet away I saw he had one, too.
    ‘Don’t,’ I said as he lifted his gun, but he just grinned. The gun shone in the spotlight. The music got louder. Someone shouted.
    Ruen lifted his gun higher and aimed it at Liam, and I felt the crack of the gun deep in my gut. Liam’s head snapped back. Blood shot out of his forehead. He dropped to the ground.
    ‘Liam!’ I yelled, and I ran to him and fell to my knees beside his body. The blood was coming out and making a shiny puddle around his arms but it wasn’t really red like in films. It was black.
    Then the music stopped and the lights went up.
    I looked around. Ruen wasn’t there, and the projection was less ghostly and more like a home video against the wall on the stage. Liam leaned forward and I saw there was no blood on his body. He looked at me funny.
    ‘You’re shaking,’ he said as he sat up, and I went to answer but I was panting so heavily that I couldn’t form any words.
    Jojo ran on stage and she looked really shocked. ‘Alex!’ she shouted. ‘That was brilliant! So real, so convincing! Did you just make that up on the spot?’
    ‘I … I …’ was all I could say, and then I saw the gun in my hand and I dropped it. Jojo was using her hand to talk to the lights team. ‘Let’s go again. Same, please, Alex,’ she said, but I shook my head.
    ‘I don’t want to.’ I felt dirty and horrible and like I wanted to take a really hot bath.
    Jojo looked up. ‘Are you OK?’
    I shook my head. ‘I need to go,’ I told her, and she nodded like she understood.
    ‘OK, everyone, back to Plan A. Act Three. Assemble!’
    I whispered, ‘Thanks’ to Jojo and then, ‘Sorry’ and she told me, ‘It’s all right, Alex, just take it easy,’ but already I was running off stage and pulling open my locker and when I got home I sat in a hot bath until my fingers