[ 8 ] 2013 

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"So...getting rid of him would get rid of you."

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"Will you leave us, grandmum?" He said to the ghost of Claire Feeney, seemingly bored of the conversation. "We have some things to do."

"Okay sweetie." She said to her grandson with a smile. Looking at Ashton, she added, "Think about my offer, Ashton. I know I made some mistakes...I'm not perfect. But I still care about you and we can spend the rest of eternity together." Her words came out in an attempt to sound sincere, but Ashton saw right through her.

He knew Claire just didn't want to be alone.

The blonde vanished into thin air, leaving Calum and Ashton in the room by themselves. They both immediately continued searching through the books. But there were so many of them and Calum feared their searching would be in vain.

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Paúl and Dempsey entered the hospital in a hurry. They didn't know where they were going. But they knew one thing for sure; Kylie was inside and there was a reason why she was at the hospital.

The sixteen year old ran up to the reception desk with her collegue trailing behind her. Tapping on the smooth surface of the desk, she started desperately, "I need you to help me. I'm looking for a boy. He was brought here last night...What was his name?" She muttered the last part. 

When she realized she didn't know the boy's name, Paúl decided to cut in. "Let me handle this." He placed his hand on her reassuringly. Turning to the nurse, who watched the teenagers in confusion, he said, "We're here to see Luke Hemmings."

"Are you family members of the young man?" She asked.

"Well...yes." He lied.

She searched something on her computer and looked up at them. "It says here the boy is in critical condition. No one is allowed to see him right now. But his sister is at the fifth floor waiting room. You're welcome to wait for news of him there."

"Come on, Paul." Dempsey tugged on his arm and led him to the elevator.

The door slid open to reveal a lobby that divided into two hallways; east and west. In the middle was a woman sitting at a desk. In front of her was a stack of papers with the names of the patients on that floor. Dempsey made her way over to her and tapped on the desk to get her attention. "Can you tell us where Luke Hemmings is?" She asked.

The woman said nothing, but she grabbed the stack of papers and sifted through them until she found the one she was looking for. "Luke Hemmings...he's in A3 of the west wing. But he can't have any visitors. You're welcome to stay in the waiting room." She gestured down the west hallway. They both thanked her and went to find the waiting room.

There were two of them. One of them was full of people. Though it was late at night, they waited to hear news of their family members. Cindy wasn't in that room. There was another room, a closed off one that had a sign with the words private room. Since the Hemmings family was wealthy, Dempsey wasn't surprised she would there instead of the place where everyone else waited.

Dempsey opened the door to find Cindy with the Quinns older son Billy.

The two blondes turned in the direction of the door and the boy smiled at his new neighbors. "Dempsey? Paul? What are you doing here?"

"We were worried about Harley." The dark haired boy said. "She was sleeping over with Dempsey and I, but then she just left the house."

"That's weird." Billy commented. "My sister said you guys brought her."

The brunette went to sit by Cindy, but Paúl remained standing. While Dempsey consoled Cindy and offered her support. After all, her brother was in the hospital with his life hanging by a thread and her parents were nowhere to be found. Dempsey wondered if their parents would even show up.

Paúl sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I'll leave you for a bit. But I'll be back for you in the morning, eh Demsi." He said, leaning towards Dempsey and placing a kiss on her cheek. "I have some pre-calculus quizzes to correct. And the art history teacher wants me to create a short lesson on Diego de Velazquez' painting Las Meninas by Monday." Dempsey knew they agreed that he would search the entire hospital from top to bottom to find the girl, while she would stay in the waiting room in case she returned there.

"Bye Pauly." She waved goodbye to him and he left the room.

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It was early morning when Calum felt his eyes blur tiredly. He couldn't even see the words on the pages correctly anymore because he was so tired. He brought a hand to wipe his chocolate brown eyes and a yawn escaped his lips. He put the book down on one of the desks and said to Ashton. "Oi, Mirror Boy," When Ashton turned in his direction, he continued, "I'm going to go nap for a little bit. A half-hour to an hour. I just can't see straight anymore."

"Mhm." Ashton nodded, "I'll keep looking."

Calum headed towards the door, but paused before opening it. He wondered, "Why are you working so hard to help?"

"Because," The golden haired boy sighed. "I love Harley. And there's nothing else I can help with. You're the one who will go get her because you can. But me? I'm useless unless I can find that book we're looking for."

The raven haired boy agreed. "You are useless. But...take a break. Harley will be fine. We both know she's strong."

"The dead don't get tired." Ashton pointed out. "I don't need rest. I...I'll wake you in an hour if you want." He offered.

Shaking his head, Calum replied, "That's what alarm clocks are for."

"They still make those annoying things?" Ashton asked in amazement.

"Not exactly." Calum said. 

As he was walking out of the library, he saw a tired Niall on his way there. When he saw his friend, Niall stopped him. "How's the search coming along?" He asked, "Have you found anything?"

"Nothing yet." Admitted the dark haired boy.

"Look mate, Andrea feels really bad-" The blue eyed boy began, but Calum stopped him.

"I don't want to hear about her." He said. "I can understand she's still hurt over her brother's death. But she needs to go get the person responsible for his death. Harley had nothing to do with this. You two call yourselves my friends, but you have only caused trouble for me. And I will not," he warned, "allow her to mess with Harley again."

Niall placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You really like her, don't you?"

"I would do anything for her." Calum nodded. "The only problem is that fucking ghost boy. If I could send him off or return him to the fucking sixties, I would."

"That could be a good plan." Niall said. He only found one flaw in Calum's plan to return Ashton to the sixties. "But...if he had survived in the sixties or if you could find a way to return him there...wouldn't he have married your grandmother? Then you wouldn't be here because your dad was born from her marriage to your grandfather. So...getting rid of him would get rid of you. And if you send him off to the afterlife, Harley would never forgive you. There's no way you can win. Things are looking cloudy for you, mate."

Calum chuckled at his friend's analysis of his plans. "You really aren't making me feel so great about my plans."

"Sorry." The blonde apologized.

-

hey guys.

here's the chapter for the week. 

and hey! tomorrow's holloween, my fellow americans. and two days after that is dia de los muertos, for my hermanos mexicanos ^.^

i know there are countries who have started to celebrate halloween. but i know americans do it for sure. so be safe. go trick or treating in safe areas and DO NOT eat candy that is open cause i want you all to be okay. and don't go out alone, go out in a group. don't talk to strangers and all that jazz.

and for my peeps who will take part in dia de los muertos: cook some delicious meals and honor the dead ^.^

sorry if the chapter isn't so great.

i've been studying like crazy for my philosophy test tomorrow cause i got a D on the previous one. oops.

anyway, happy holiday season. cause i know we have tomorrow, then we have thanksgiving, then we have christmas, then new year ^.^ tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la laaaaa la la la laaaa.

thank you for reading.

i love you.

and i'll have you all know i have some more plot twist planned. this one involves calum. but you'll find out soon enough ^.^

-clary xx