Free Elly's Ghost by John R. Kess Page A

boy’s arms flailed helplessly as he fell backward. “Ben,” Jay
gasped.
    The ping-ping-ping
of shots ricocheting off the large rock Jay was hiding behind filled the air.
    “Open fire!”
The command was loud in Jay’s earpiece. “This is Alpha team. We are under
fire!”
    Everything was
so clear: the convulsing boy, the barking commands from the platoon leader, and
the deep boom that shook the ground as the explosion ripped apart the cave’s
entrance.
    The cloud of
dust settled, revealing a group of hunters crowded around Ben as blood poured
out from between the fingers he held against his stomach.
    Jay twisted on
his ground mat and bolted up.
    “Jay, are you
all right?” Elly placed her cuffed hands on his shoulder.
    Jay caught his
breath and lay back down. The darkness didn’t help the image in his mind fade
away. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen it, and he feared it wouldn’t be the
last.
    “I’m okay,” he
said after a moment. “It was just a bad dream.”
    Jay turned his
back to her and put his hands over his head. He tried to clear his mind and go
back to sleep.
     
    * * *
     
     
    A throbbing
headache told Joanna that she was awake. She thought she heard someone calling
Elly’s name, but the room was quiet. Tears formed in her eyes.
    The clock on her
nightstand read 3:48 AM. She reached out to touch Mark, but he wasn’t there. Sitting
up, she saw him across the room, staring out the window.
    Mark had been an
invaluable support to her since the news first came in about Elly’s plane.
Joanna wondered how she would have survived without him. He had not left her
side the whole time. He’d kept his emotions in check, and for a moment she
replaced grief about her daughter with concern for her husband.
    “Mark.” She
wiped her eyes, sniffing.
    He did not
respond. Slowly Joanna stood up and walked to him. Together they looked at the
street below. The memorial of flowers and gifts on the sidewalk in front of the
house had grown in size and now covered half the front lawn. Someone had
printed a huge picture of System Override’s latest album cover and outlined it
in a huge heart. The wind had blown out all the candles except for a lone one
that continued to burn deep inside its vase.
    “Mark.” Joanna
wrapped her arms around his waist.
    “This is my
fault,” he said. “I signed it.”
    “Signed what?”
    “Elly’s record
contract. I signed it, and it killed her.”
    Joanna rested
her head on the back of his neck. “Mark, don’t do this to yourself.”
    “She was only a
child, and she needed my signature. I didn’t have to sign it, but I did. This
is my fault. I killed my daughter.”
    “I signed it,
too.”
    Mark turned to
face Joanna. “Elly would have hated me the rest of her life”— he wiped away a
tear—“but she’d still be here.”
     
    * * *
     
     
    The cool morning
air made hiking easy. Elly was glad there was a slight breeze blowing their scent
away from each other. She desperately wanted a shower. They hiked for several hours
before stopping to take a break.
    “Jay, do you
have any siblings?”
    “I have an older
sister.”
    “Do you get
along with her?”
    Jay nodded.
“She’s five years older than I am, and I’ve always looked up to her. I called
her just about every week when I was in Afghanistan.”
    “I wish I could
be close with my brother. I mean, Nick and I are twins, but we hardly speak.”
Elly picked up a twig and rolled it between her fingers. “We were close when we
were younger. I know he doesn’t like having a famous sister, but I didn’t
realize how his life has been affected by my career. I found out how much he
hates it this past weekend.”
    “What happened?”
Jay asked.
    Elly shoulders dropped.
“We had a fight. It happened at our dad’s fiftieth birthday party. Nick had
been drinking for a while by the time we got around to talking. I’d suspected
that something was wrong, but I didn’t know what exactly. At first he didn’t
want to