Free Shadow of a Life by Mute8

night,
too.
    “ I stopped by last night,”
she said flatly when she reached the bottom of the
staircase.
    “ I know. Dad told
me.”
    “ I’m sorry,” Camille and I
said at the same time and then laughed.
    “ I haven’t been trying to
ignore you or push you away. I promise. There were just some things
that I couldn’t talk about before,” I said.
    “ I guess I shouldn’t expect
you to be at my beck and call all the time.”
    Camille glanced at the entrance to her
home and gave a nod and a half-smile to Sophia.
    “ Hi, Camille. I’m sorry I
caused a rift between the two of you. I didn’t mean to and I’d
really like to start over. Jamie’s been helping me with a project
and I made her keep it a secret, but I want to let you in on the
secret now.”
    “ A secret? What kind of a
secret?” she said with a hint of distrust in her voice.
    “ I think we should go
somewhere where we won’t be interrupted.” Sophia nodded toward the
kitchen doorway where Allison had just disappeared.
    “ Let’s go to the tree house,
Cam.”
    When we were younger, Camille and I
spent all our time outside in her tree house. We would play house,
or school, or dolls, or a million other things out there. As we
started to get a little older, that’s where we would go to gossip
and talk about boys. We slept there on occasion and even hid there
when we’d done something we shouldn’t have—like pranks aimed at
Allison. The walls held many of our secrets. I knew Allison would
never in a million years come out into the backyard. Camille’s
parents tended to ignore her, too. In some ways it was good—she
could pretty much come and go as she pleased.
    “ I haven’t been out there in
years, Jamie. There better not be animals living in it.”
    The three of us retreated to the
backyard where we climbed an aging ladder and disappeared into the
floor of the tree house about twelve feet up. The entrance felt
much smaller since I was bigger. The inside didn’t feel nearly as
expansive as I remembered, either. Dust and old leaves covered
every surface.
    “ Okay, you have me
thoroughly curious. What’s going on?” Camille asked after the three
of us settled on the old rug lining the wooden floor.
    Sophia cleared her throat. “I think
you should explain it to her, Jamie.”
    “ Are you sure?”
    “ Yeah. Go ahead.”
    “ Umm . . . okay. Cam, you
know I’d never try to hurt you or lead you astray,
right?”
    Camille frowned. “What’s going on,
Jamie?”
    “ The truth is that Sophia
and I didn’t meet each other at the library the other day. She
first saw me when my dad and I went to New York a couple of weeks
ago. Do you remember that?”
    She nodded, not taking her eyes off
Sophia.
    “ I didn’t know she’d seen
me, but she felt like we had a connection and she followed me.
She’s been following me ever since.”
    “ What ? That’s sooo creepy.” Camille glared at Sophia.
    “ That’s what I thought at
first too, but it turns out I’m her soul saver.”
    “ Am I supposed to know what
the crap that is?” Camille was getting annoyed. I wasn’t sure how
to proceed. It wasn’t like I’d ever told anyone about ghosts before
and it wasn’t going the way I intended.
    “ Cam, do you remember the
story of the Mary
Celeste ?”
    “ Duh. I may not be as smart
as you, but I haven’t exactly been living under a rock in this
town.”
    “ I know. Sorry. Do you
remember the name of the little girl on the boat?”
    “ Yeah, Sophia
Briggs.”
    I continued on. “Camille, that little
girl didn’t actually die on the ship. She survived. And when she
eventually did die, she became a ghost.”
    Camille gave a little start and looked
Sophia’s way. The color slowly drained from her face. I could tell
she was confused—and a little bit angry.
    “ Are you trying to tell me
that Sophia here is the ghost of the two-year-old Sophia
Briggs?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ Jamie, that’s the stupidest
thing I’ve ever heard. Why are you guys