"You okay?"

I quickly glanced up from my salad and looked at my sister, who had a concerned look on her face.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you were okay," she repeated.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've been acting...off."

"How?"

"You've hardly said a word to me since I've gotten home, you're drifting off into space more than usual, and I haven't seen you crack a smile all night."

I gave a small smile in response, to which she rolled her eyes.

"Well, that's progress, I suppose, but for real. What's going on?"

My smile went away as I stared at her. What was I supposed to say? She still didn't know about Jamie's calls, and for me to explain the concept of that on top of the fact that she could be in danger would make me look like a psycho all over again.

"I've just had a rough day, that's all. Just a bunch of little things all at once. It's no big deal."

I looked back down at my salad and took a bite. After I did, I looked back up and saw that she was still staring at me, only she looked less worried and more pissed.

"Mike," she said in a cold tone that sent a shiver down my spine, "tell me what's going on."

I gulped down my salad and stared at her. I could feel sweat starting to build up.

"I told you it's not a big deal."

That did it. She slammed her fork down and stood up before I could even blink. If she wasn't pissed before, she was now!

"WHY DON'T YOU TRUST ME??" she screamed as she leaned towards me.

I was equally terrified and confused.

"I'M YOUR SISTER! I'M YOUR FAMILY!! I'M THE ONLY FUCKING FAMILY YOU'VE GOT AT THE MOMENT! I'M THE CLOSEST THING YOU HAVE TO A FUCKING FRIEND AT THE MOMENT! I TELL YOU EVERYTHING THAT GOES WRONG IN MY LIFE, EVEN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!! YOU KNOW WHY??"

I quickly shook my head.

"BECAUSE I TRUST THAT YOU'LL UNDERSTAND! I TRUST THAT YOU WON'T LAUGH AT ME! I WANT MY BROTHER TO BE A PART OF MY LIFE! IS IT SO WRONG TO WANT THE SAME TRUST IN RETURN, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY HAVING A PROBLEM AND MAKING THE BULLSHIT EXCUSE EVEN MORE OBVIOUS???"

I felt myself blink quickly and breathe heavily.

"FUCK YOU, MIKE! I'M SORRY I'M NOT WORTHY OF KNOWING YOUR TROUBLES! GOD FORBID YOU LET THE ONLY PERSON WHO CARES ABOUT YOU TRY TO HELP!"

She then stomped out of the kitchen and into her bedroom. She was kind enough to slam the door on her way in.

Once my mind finally comprehended what the hell just happened, I could feel tears running down my face. I never really realized it before, but she's right; whenever there was a problem with something involving Jamie, I just brushed it aside like it was nothing. I mean, sometimes, it really WAS nothing, but from her perspective, I can see where she was coming from.

I placed my head on the table and felt the tears continue to pour as I thought about how terrible of a brother I was to her. She's done nothing but try to help me even before the whole Freddy's incident and what have I done? Nothing but an occasional thanks. And she's right in the sense that she's the only person that really has my best interest in mind. Hell, she cares about me more than I care about myself, which admittedly isn't hard to do, but still.

Well, if it bothers her this much, then it's time I finally came clean about my secret. If she can trust me with her stupid secrets, I can trust her.

I wiped my tears away and walked to her bedroom door. I gave a quick knock and waited. No response.

I knocked again. Nothing.

"Mace," I told the door, "I'm sorry. I really mean it."

Silence.

"I'm coming in, Macey."

I opened up the door and saw my sister lying on her bed, rubbing her eyes, obviously crying.

When she heard the door open, she took her hands away from her face and looked at me.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have snapped on you."

"Macey, you have every right to be mad at me," I replied as I sat at the foot of the bed. "You were right. I've been acting like a douche and taking you for granted."

"Still. I overreacted. It's been a stressful week at work, I'm on my period, and this just set off a powder keg of negative emotion I'd been bottling up. You didn't deserve to have that taken out on you."

"Yes, I did. It's time I finally realized that I can trust you with anything."

She sat up and wiped the tears off her face.

"So..." she said softly. "I'll ask again. What's going on?"

I took a deep breath and braced for impact.

"Remember Jamie, that waitress from the Freddy's in Wisconsin?"

"The one you found cute?"

I gave a small scoff of laughter as I replied, "Yes, her."

"What about her? Are you still mourning her?"

"Kinda, in a way."

"Well, it's been years since she died, Mike. You got over Grandma's death faster than that."

"Well, at least Grandma doesn't call me on my phone from time to time."

Macey stared at me. She was clearly trying to comprehend what that statement had to do with anything.

"That's what I've been hiding from you," I admitted. "Jamie's spirit has been calling me from beyond the grave ever since she was murdered."

Macey had the blankest of expressions on her face. I couldn't tell tell how she was feeling about this. Was she confused? Did she think I was lying? Did she think I was crazy? Hell, it was probably all three, if we're being realistic.

"So, her spirit calls you on your phone?" she asked in clarification.

"Yes," I replied with a nod. "But it gets worse than that."

"How?"

"Well, for the past few months, she just stopped talking to me. No warning or anything. Then, today, she finally called me again, only she said she was in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"She didn't say. She sounded really scared, though..."

"Well, she's dead, right? How are you supposed to help her?"

"Well, another voice talked afterwards and said that 'she'll get it' if I don't return to Scottsdale."

"And your immediate thought wasn't to go back?"

"It was too much to process all at once! Plus, I vowed to myself to never step foot in Scottsdale again!"

"And I vowed to never eat at McDonald's again because I needed to lose weight, yet the next week, I was back in there, getting myself fatter!

"Mace, I think those are your hormones speaking."

"My point is that sometimes you gotta put your pride aside and don't let outside influences keep you from doing what you need to do!"

"Like stuffing your face with McNuggets?"

"Exactly!"

We both than laughed. Man, we both really needed to laugh. After a few seconds, I gave a real, not-phony smile and nodded.

"Okay," I replied. "I'll go to Scottsdale."

"Great! I'll pack my bags."

She then got off her bed and went to her closet.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Well, I'm obviously coming with you."

"Wait, I didn't say I was going tonight! And why would you come with?"

"Because every time I let you do something stupid and dangerous alone, you nearly die!"

Well, she's not wrong.

"Still," I argued, "Shouldn't we wait for a better time?"

"We both have the next two days off. I can't think of a better time."

"It would take two days just to get there!"

"Ever hear of a plane?"

"We can't afford last-minute plane tickets!"

"Maybe YOU can't. I have a bunch of money saved up for emergencies such as this one."

I sat in silence before sighing and standing up.

"Alright, I'll let packed."

"Good!" she replied with a cheesy grin as she pulled a travel bag out of her closet and started picking out shirts.

I walked out of her room and into mine. Man, she took that Jamie thing better than I thought. I guess after learning of murderous entertainment animatronics that were possessed by children, as well as a crazy young woman who was using human meat in pizza, nothing else could shock her.

Still, that voice's warning made it sound like this was going to be dangerous... If anything were to happen to Macey, I could never forgive myself. But there's no way she's going to back down now.

I guess it's time for a Schmidt family vacation.