Creeper

After much text goading from Billy, Jonas agreed to meet him at school for the last half of the day. He had a paper on the American Revolution to hand in anyway, and Billy wanted to hear all about his encounter with the witch. Plus, Jonas needed advice on how to handle Moonlight, and he knew his parents were gearing up to ship him off to who knows where, so he didn't know when, or if, he'd see his friend again.

Head reeling, he sat in class pretending to listen to Mrs. Black explain their next essay topic.

That's when the jogger joined him. Oh god, not now. Why did I let him talk me into coming here?

The jogger was this really fit, middle-aged blonde guy with tire treads running up the full length of his back. It wasn't the treads on his shirt that bothered Jonas so much, it was the fact he was wearing shorts, and his legs were flattened. It looked like he shouldn't even be able to stand up on them, yet he jogged around the perimeter of the classroom. Jonas flinched went he just about sacked Mrs. Black, but he simply passed right through her, and she remained oblivious to his otherworldly presence.

"I just want to know if she graduated, my daughter Leena, did she finish high school?" The jogger had spotted Jonas and called out to him during one of his laps.

"Leena, my daughter, I told her I'd make sure she got her cap and gown, have you seen her?"

Another lap.

"Can you take me to her graduation?"

Another lap.

"LEE-NA, do you know her? Did she graduate the top of her class?"

Only days ago Jonas would have been able to ignore the roadkill, but things had definitely changed. He decided he wasn't going to sit there any longer, being useless or helpless or bothered. He raised his hand.

"Yes, Jonas?"

"I'm not feeling well, Miss," Jonas lied, "may I go to the nurse's station please?"

"Certainly, Jonas, you're excused." Of course, he would be excused, he never used the lame nurse's station excuse before and he was a little surprised at how easy it was to get out of class. Obviously he had no intention of going anywhere near the nurse's station, he had bigger fish to fry.

The jogger followed him out into the hallway. "Did my daughter graduate? Do you know Leena?"

Jonas looked around the halls to make sure no one was in earshot. It seemed empty enough. He spun around and faced the ghost.

"Hey man, look, I don't know your daughter, but maybe tell me what high school she was at and I can find out if she graduated for you."

"Jefferson High! Do you know it? You know Leena?"

Jonas pulled his phone out of his duffel bag to check the time. It was just after one o'clock. That would give him plenty of time to help the jogger, grab something to eat and make it to the library in time to meet Morrigan. He figured if he could help this guy, maybe he could ask him for a favor in return. That's what his Aunt Tily had told him, wasn't it? If he helped the dead, they'd help him. It seemed simple enough.

First, he needed to get out of sight. "Sorry, Billy." He knew his friend would be bummed.

He decided to go back home, it was a bad idea to come to school. Plus, they had no Wi-Fi.

"No, I've never met your daughter, but I'm sure she's really nice. Come on, let's go to my house."

"Thank you, young man, thank you, is it far?"

"Nah, not really, we got to jump on the bus though."

As he sat on the bus watching the city pass him by, a thought occurred to him. "Tom," he whispered to the ghost who didn't seem to want to sit still. "Do I have some sort of mark?"

"The mark," Tom answered. "Yes, you have it."

"Yeah, what is it? Some sort of tattoo?"

Tom stopped jogging up and down the bus and came and sat next to Jonas. "No, it's like a light. I felt it first on the other side where everything was dark. I felt it's pull and when I came through you were there. Well everyone was, but you're the only one marked with a light. And you're the only one who can hear me too, lucky you!" Tom slapped Jonas' back, though Jonas didn't feel it, and got up to keep jogging.

"So I'm basically a night light for the dead." Jonas muttered to himself.

He thought about Tom's daughter and how he could find her. He went to Sacred Heart, though he'd heard of Jefferson High but it was all the way on the Southside of town, nowhere near where he lived. He thought he might be able to find the information he needed for the dead guy on-line and that would be that. Easy enough.

They made it back to Jonas' house just before two o'clock. His phone beeped as soon as he got in the door. It was a text from Billy, probably wondering where Jonas was last period.

- Skipping class again? I want details. -

Jonas didn't reply, he wasn't so sure Billy could handle the details, so he just put his phone away and headed up to his room and his computer.

On the ride home, he also found out a few things about the jogger. He discreetly had a conversation with him on the back of the bus. It surprised him how much the dead actually talked if you acknowledged them. His name was Tom Finkle, he was 48 years old when he died. He'd been run down by a stolen taxi in the middle of a police chase while on his morning jog up Eucalyptus Street. He said his daughter's graduation was supposed to be in a few days, he wasn't sure if he missed it.

Jonas guessed the dead must lose track of time when they are stuck in limbo. It was the end of September now, so this guy must have kicked it last May or June, depending on the school district. Jefferson was actually in Daly City so he wasn't sure when their classes let out. The website listed wasn't loading properly either, so he jumped on. When he entered Leena Finkle's name for a search nothing came up for 2015.

Could he really have been dead longer than a year?

He searched for 2014.

Nothing.

"Uh, Tom?"

The dead man stopped jogging, the man ran like he had a tick, and came up beside Jonas' desk.

"What year do you think it is, Tom?"

Tom's face scrunched up like he was trying to remember something really important. "It's 1997, right?"

Jonas let out a long sigh. "No, Tom. It's 2016. Leena's been out of high school for a while now."

"So she graduated? She finished school?"

"I can't say for sure, yet." Jonas had another idea and pulled up Facebook. He typed in Leena's full name with no results. He tried just typing in Leena and got several pages of results.

Tom was off jogging again. "Dude, take a load off, come sit next to me and look at these photos. Are any of these people your daughter?"

They scrolled and scrolled through the pictures. Sometimes Tom would think he recognized her, but when Jonas would click on the pictures, he would realize his mistake. They searched the entire 28 pages of results for Leena's on Facebook and came up with nothing.

"Sorry man, I don't know what else we can do besides go to Jefferson and ask, but I can't tonight."

"Well," dead Tom thought very hard, "I can come back, right?"

"I don't know," Jonas said sincerely. He had never seen the same dead person twice in his whole life, but he had never talked this much to one either. Maybe now he would be anchored to him for a little while longer. Besides Aunt Tily, they usually stuck around for a few hours.

"Listen, I promise I'll take you to Jefferson tomorrow if you can hang on. Don't go wandering off anywhere... unless you see a bright light."

"Deal."

Jonas had a feeling that Tom was about to become the third wheel at the library that night. He went downstairs to eat and pack up what he needed so he could leave before his parents got home. He was nervous about his impending evacuation and surprised they even let him out of their sight.

As he hurried down the stairs and out the door, he thought of what he might tell the witch. He hoped he picked the right girl to help him. If she didn't believe him tonight, he could be on a plane to nowhere by morning.