Replay: Ghost

Replay: Ghost

Book 7

By K. Weikel

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is currently coincidental.

Text copyright © 2019 K. Weikel

Jacket photograph copyright © 2019 by K. Weikel

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact kweikel@kweikel.com

Jacket design and photo-illustration by K. Weikel

The text of this book was set in Calibri. Chapter titles set in Bedtime Stories.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Replay: Ghost / by K. Weikel. – First paperback edition p. cm.

Copyright © 2020 by K. Weikel

All rights reserved. No part of this public action may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic of mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brie quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in the United States of America

First published on Radish Fiction in 2019

Imprint: Independently published

Other books by K. Weikel

The Replay Series

Amnesia

Reboot

Tiptoe

Crimson

Glitch

Lifeline

Ghost

The One-Hundred Series

The One-Hundred

Untouched Water

Tamir

Damian’s Deeds

The One

The Deal

Human

The Blood Room

Alternate Endings 1, 2, & 3

The Unnamed Duology

The Unnamed

The Elite

The Maskless Trilogy

Hiding Behind A Mask

Hiding Behind A Name

Hiding Behind A Face

The Trapped Trilogy

Trapped

Wiped

Grounded

The Haunted Mansion Series

The Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Band Room

Revenge

Nord and the Bord

Creatures of the Below

Stop

Sameness

Building Monsters

Krystal’s World

Caged

Figures

Catrina Billowson

The Vampire’s Carnival

Labyrinth

Dollhouse

Match

Chapter 1

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The sound pulls you from your sleep, fluorescent lights overhead drilling into your struggling-to-adjust pupils. For a moment, you panic, sitting upright. You see white walls… but they aren’t the ones you’d become so used to waking up to.

Cora!

Your mom. Why is she here?

She hugs you, a blubbering mess as your dad wraps his arms around the both of you. You wince from aches in your body, the drip in your arm pulling at your skin.

Cora, we were so worried, your dad exhales into your hair, your brain still fuzzy. The police showed up just as we got home and they informed us they’d gotten an anonymous call about a break-in.

Your mom sobs as she squeezes you tight. You can’t cry. You feel numb, but mostly confused. The last thing you remember was a crash... and then…

Your hand covers your mouth as a surge of emotions hits you like a train. Your eyes brim with tears and your chest constricts, everything inside shuddering. How many times did you have to watch yourself die? Karika? Him?

You’re the one who set yourself on this path. It doesn’t matter if divinity intervened your life; you chose to force yourself through all of that. All of this…

My jellybean, your mom sobs into your hair, the nickname making your heart squeeze. When you were younger, that’s what you’d call jellyfish. How naïve you were… 

How you’ve grown.

A sob breaks loose and you pull away, your body aching. Scrapes and bruises litter your skin, changing its color and making your reflection seem alien.

How did you—find me?

A cough scratches your throat and you rub it, the drip in your arm becoming a nuisance.

Your old friend called… what was his name? she asks your dad, who shrugs. Said you were in a bad wreck and told us he was bringing you to the hospital. He sounded real shook-up.

You bite your tongue, a flurry of emotions stirring inside. Is he here?

Furrowing her brow, she nods, the both of them still in your face. You want to tell them to back off, that you need room to breathe… but you must admit that, in a way, you don’t mind it. Growing up, your parents were only there for you when they had time or when you desperately needed them. This is one of those times where you shouldn’t push them away, even if they won’t understand your reasoning or story.

Is he allowed to come in?

Well… she glances at your dad, who nods once. If you want.

Hesitantly, you nod, and your parents retreat into the hallway, not saying a word. There’s a moment where you finally feel like you’re able to breathe as you sit alone in your hospital room, nothing but the whirring of gadgets and technology around you to keep you company. It’s a relief, almost… a break from the reality that shouldn’t have been real.

Your mind wanders to the beginning, where this all started. How did you get so wrapped up in these people and their problems? How did you end up here?

You stare at your hands as you recall the crash. The sound of metal, the blackness—whatever happened to Karika?

"Karika, don’t do this," you heard the man you knew as Max snap. If it really is her last reboot, neither of you will come back.

Good! Karika laughed in a craze, pushing one-hundred on her speedometer. I gave up long ago.

A large semi came from around the bend and Karika locked eyes with it. Something hit the windshield as the truck honked, fear clawing at your heart as your mind panicked. Karika switched lanes, becoming distracted by the large bug that had splattered against the windshield.

The largest Glasswing Butterfly you’d ever seen.

I don’t know which one of us that’s for, she said to you as she turned back to the road, heading full-speed for the truck. But I guess we’re about to find out.

The line went dead.

Honking.

Metal crashing.

Screaming.

Pain.

Black.

You shake your head as the door to your hospital room opens. Expecting to see him, you pull the blankets up over your chest and ready yourself.

He walks in, banged and bruised but covering as much as he can with makeup and his long hair. Slowly, he makes his way to your side, not able to look you in the eye.

You’re the first to speak.

Thank you, you tell him, clenching your jaw and turning away. The things you’d witnessed, watching yourself and others die over and over, it hits you like a brick wall and your throat knots. Pain laces through your body like a spider’s web and you struggle to breathe. My parents told me what happened.

He nods slowly, hesitating.

Karika’s body is missing. I don’t know if she got away or what, but she wasn’t there with you at the crash site.

A tingling fills your senses and you stifle a shudder. And the truck driver?

He shakes his head. There was no truck. The two of you ran into a tree.

You furrow your brow. No truck?

But—

You’re at a loss for words.

You aren’t crazy, he blurts, to which you finally look at him. His face is pinched in confusion as he scratches the back of his head. I heard the truck’s horn, too. Maybe she swerved off the road?

You turn away, almost certain you’d hit the truck head-on. Karika had been so dead-set on dying, that she… she aimed for the truck. She didn’t pull away, did she?

This doesn’t make any sense, you breathe. Shaking your head, you move on. There wasn’t any evidence that she walked or anything?

He shakes his head. If there was, she would have been found by now, either by me or her goons.

Why would you go to find someone who’s after you?

His eyes flick up to yours for a moment, darting away as he presses his lips together, as if he’s trying to keep something inside. Because she tried to kill you.

You drop your gaze. Did he try to go after her? How far was he from where the two of you crashed? Had he really been watching you the whole time?

A heavy silence weighs on your shoulders and you shift uncomfortably.

Do you think she rebooted? you ask quietly, picking at your fingernails. We saw a butterfly.

He purses his lips in thought, the wheels turning in his mind.

You glance up, meeting his gaze. We didn’t know who it was for.

Your heart stopped on the way to the hospital, yet here you are, in the same reality you were in before. He exhales heavily. I hope, he adds. 

You nod. So you had died.

It seems like it. Nothing has changed, I guess, except that my parents are here… For a moment, you want to ask him how he got their numbers, but the image of the glowing monitor in Oliver’s no-go room pulls to the front of your mind. He could have figured it out. After all, he had hacked into your phone once upon a time. Where’s everybody else?

Recuperating, he responds. I haven’t told them you’re in the hospital, but I reassured them that you were safe. Didn’t think you’d want all that attention just yet.

Is everyone okay?

He gives you a sideways glance but nods. Yeah. We’re all beat up pretty badly, but we’re still breathing. Peter got the worst of it.

Your heart cracks as he says that. And… he’s okay, though, right?

He eyes you once more, as if trying to calculate what’s going on in that head of yours. Yeah.

Good, you sigh, settling back against the raised hospital bed. Good.

Your eyelids grow heavy and you can feel exhaustion weighing on your chest. Everyone is safe, except maybe Karika, who has gone missing. Your parents are here, too, and it puts you on edge, but only a little. They’re more of a comfort, really.

I’m… going to get some sleep, you murmur, your eyes moving lazily across his face. You can send my parents in if they’re wanting to be with me.

He nods, his face filled with secrets as it hardens, reminding you of Oliver when his face turns to stone.

There’s a pang in your soul as you recall those last moments with him, and each agonizing moment with every one of the guys in previous reboots.

I’ll, uh… I’ll be in the waiting room if you need anything.

You shoot Ronnie a look, wondering why he’d stick around. You can go home. I’m sure everything’s okay now.

He places his hand on the doorknob, pausing before shaking his head.

"I’m not."

With that, he exits, shutting the door behind him.

Ronnie.

~

"You’re lucky… kill… already… work out… me…"

There’s a voice, a familiar voice that drifts in and out of your unconscious mind.

"If… reboot."

Karika?

You grunt as you sit upright in the hospital bed. Your heart rate monitor beeps as your pulse slowly makes its way down, your mom and dad asleep in a chair and a recliner. You sit back, your fingers itching with adrenaline. Was her voice only in your head?

Exhaling, you run a hand over your face, sweat lining your hairline. Reboot. If Karika rebooted, wouldn’t she know where you were,