Free A Fate Totally Worse Than Death by Paul Fleischman Page A

described in the ad, in the privacy of her own room and felt anxious to be on her way.
    â€œSo what did you find out?” pressed Tiffany. “You know. In the horror books.”
    â€œNot much,” said Danielle. “Except that getting rid of a ghost isn’t easy. If you try to kill ’em, they usually just laugh and kill you instead. Then they come back in the sequel.”
    Danielle watched their faces fall. “Then, this morning,” she continued, “I remembered
Honeymoon in Hades.”
    The others leaned toward her as if magnetized.
    â€œThis boy and girl had got engaged in secret, on the first day of their senior year. They were going to get married right after graduation. But then he fell off the balcony of her apartment. Like thirty floors up. So then the girl, who’s really hot, starts going out with all these other guys. And one by one they all get killed by the boyfriend’s ghost. Wipes out half the football team.” She paused for three deep, lung-dredging coughs. “The girlfriend tries to kill the boyfriend’s ghost but can’t. Then she realizes that he won’t leave the earth till he gets what he wants—her. So
she
jumps off her balcony. Presto, the ghost disappears. He joins her in the underworld and everybody lives happily ever after.”
    Brooke cleaned out both her ears with a finger. “So what are we supposed to do?”
    Danielle lowered her voice. “We kill Drew.”
    Silence reigned. Eyes expanded. Brooke’s palms suddenly felt damp. Fearing they might be overheard, she closed all the windows, then stood on a chair and shut the heating vent.
    â€œThe only way to get rid of a ghost is to give it what it wants,” whispered Danielle. “Charity wanted Drew, but we wouldn’t let her have him. If we finally give him to her, she might forget about punishing us. She’ll be happy at last. She can rest in peace. Just like in the book.”
    â€œWhat about Helga?” asked Tiffany.
    â€œHelga
is
Charity. The minute Drew’s dead, Helga will vanish, to be with him in the afterlife. I’m almost sure of it.”
    Brooke’s face showed distaste. “I don’t want to kill Drew.”
    â€œI’m not wild about it either,” lied Danielle. After realizing she’d never possess him, she’d sworn that no other girl would either, or at least no other girl on earth. She smirked. Hadn’t she warned him about Helga? And hadn’t he rudely ridiculed her? Saving her own life by taking his would be sweet as clover honey.
    â€œI don’t know,” murmured Tiffany.
    â€œIt’s him or us!” said Danielle. She coughed again. “It’s our only hope. Don’t you understand that we’re
dying?”
She tugged off her beret and pulled out her bobby pins. The others gasped. Her hair tumbled down. It was now entirely white.
    â€œI skipped the nursing home this week because of my stupid breathing,” she said. “And now this. I look like one of
them!”
    By way of comfort, Brooke raised her pant leg. Her skin was cobwebbed with neon-purple varicose veins. She began to cry. Tiffany panicked, hoping she wouldn’t be asked to ante up a matching revelation.
    Danielle coughed again. “I swear I’ve got pneumonia or something.” She cleared her throat. “She’s
killing
us.
    Maybe it won’t work. But ending Drew’s life could save all three of ours. Maybe the aging will even reverse. We’ve got nothing to lose.”
    â€œBut Drew does,” said Brooke.
    â€œHe’ll be
happier
there,” Tiffany spoke up, casting her lot with Danielle. She began to pee into her diaper, an act she’d dreaded performing in public at first, but which she brought off now with perfect aplomb. “He’ll be with the woman he loves. Forever.” With Helga out of the picture, she wondered if she and Jonathan might be reunited as