The Ghost

Chapter 15

"You seem annoyed with me, Kayleene," Keith says as we enter my apartment.

"Not annoyed, no. It's nothing to do with you, actually." I walk into my room, and Keith waits outside while I change.

"Oh?" He asks through the door. "Then what is it?"

I walk back out, in a white blouse and knee-length shorts that hug my legs.

Keith raises an eyebrow at my apparel, but says nothing. He steps aside, and we walk into the living room, sitting on the couch.

"There was a guy there. I'm sure you noticed him. New in town, kept looking at me funny?"

Keith nods. "Yes, I definitely noticed him."

"I... I don't know what it is, but something just seems off about him. I mean, no one comes to Bedford. It's not even on the map. The whole town is just generations and generations of the same families. Then, we have this guy, comes out of nowhere, and he's wanting to move here. He's only been here a week, hardly knows anyone, and he wants to move in... Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you?"

"I have to admit, it does," Keith agrees. "He could be a Rookie, though."

"No. We'd have seen him."

"He could have came in while I was dropping you off last night?"

"No. You know very well that all Ghosts are notified of a new arrival in the Facility."

He sighs, rubbing his face. "I know, I know. I just refuse to think that he has something to do with our current dilemma."

"Maybe he doesn't. It could be something else entirely. That's not what I'm implying at all. I just think it's odd that he's around. I mean, first Zander, and now this guy?"

"You're right, it is odd. I just..." He trails off, and I notice how tired he looks.

"How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Not much. I had a hard time sleeping last night."

I frown. "Why?"

"I don't know, actually. Insomnia, I guess."

"But you don't get insomnia," I point out. "You never have any trouble sleeping."

He's about to respond, but he falters. "How do you know I never have trouble sleeping?"

"I just do," I say, waving the question off.

He doesn't push any further. "I suppose it could be from the stress of the last few days."

"But you didn't have this problem last night, or the night before that."

"Again, how the heck do you know that?"

"It's just one of the things I know," I tell him. "It doesn't matter how I know it."

"No, I think it does. How do you know I don't have problems sleeping?"

I sigh. "I can just tell. It's seriously not worth explaining. Anyways, you need to sleep, Keith. You're not going to be able to do anything if you're exhausted."

"I'm fine," he says. "I'll be alright for the next few hours."

I look at him. "You may have had no trouble sleeping the past two days, but it doesn't mean you've gotten enough sleep. Keith, you've probably gotten a little over twelve hours of sleep Friday and Saturday night. Not to mention, you look like you only had three hours of sleep last night. I know we can keep going with less sleep than that, but that's on missions, where we need to be awake."