Walking Ghost Phase by D. C. Daugherty

clipboard again. “Know what? I'll give you this one. Twenty bucks says he is home.”
    Douglas threw out his hand. “You got it.” A tight-gripped shake sealed their wager.
    After the MPs climbed out, Emily again shared the peephole with Sarah and Raven. Damon stayed in his seat, his eyes forward and posture straight.
    “ What a dump,” Sarah said.
    It was. The home , if Emily could even call it that, begged some passing building inspector to condemn it. Strips of faded yellow vinyl hung from the sides, digging into the dirt. The right corner of the foundation sank a foot lower than the left, and chunks of grass reached through the missing sections of a chain link fence. Emily couldn't help but compare it to the abandoned house at the end of her walks.
    Vasquez banged on the door, and echoes bounced across the street. He put money on the line, so Emily assumed he wanted his presence known.
    No one answered.
    “ Vasquez's going to be so mad,” Sarah said. “And he's going to take it out on me.”
    “ Maybe if you kept your mouth shut,” Raven said.
    Sarah shot her a nasty glare and turned back to the peephole. “Come on, dude, answer.”
    Vasquez slammed the bottom of his fist into the door again. This time the door swung open, the occupant in full view. Sarah pumped her fists in the air. “Yes. Thank you.”
    Vasquez, a sick grin on his face, slapped Douglas on the back. Then his expression went south. The guy strolled past the MPs without hearing the orders, his eyes forward throughout the walk to the truck.
    “He's brave or stupid,” Emily said.
    “ But he's cute,” Raven said.
    Sarah backed away from the hole. “Don't you have a boyfriend?” She nudged Emily. “Unlike the cradle robber here, I kept my options open. You?”
    Raven crossed her arms and stood upright. “He's a bit out of your league.”
    “ How can either of you think about guys right now?” Emily asked.
    “ Did you even see him?” Sarah asked. “How can you not?”
    “ Here they come,” Raven said.
    The girls shuffled back to their places while Emily tried to keep her thoughts rational. He was just another victim who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and forced to make a life-altering decision. No more special than anyone else on the transport. No, nothing special at all.
    Then he climbed inside the transport. Each step seemed cold, as if he calculated every movement, not once looking anywhere but down. His dark brown hair hung across the palest of blue eyes. After he sat near the transport cab, his stare remained on the floorboards. Now Emily eagerly waited for the MPs to make their announcement.
    “ This is Matthew Holcomb,” Douglas said.
    “ Matt is fine.”
    Vasquez dug his fingers into the clipboard but said nothing.
    Emily scooted closer to Sarah and whispered something she hadn't said since the fourth grade, a single word that made her a hypocrite and sealed their friendship at the same time. “Dibs.”
    Sarah bit her lip, holding in the chuckle.
    The truck soon merged on the highway, leaving behind the rolling hills and trees. Emily watched the town where she had grown up, where she had dreams, where she had a forgotten past, vanish below the horizon.

 
     
    Wind ripped through the cabin, popping the tarp against the support rails and levitating the sleeping Sarah 's hair off her shoulders. Emily brushed the wandering strands off her face, but the hair reached for her again. She curled her arm, ready to send a gentle elbow into Sarah's rib cage. Then she heard the peaceful snore, saw the calm fluttering of Sarah's eyelids. Emily thought of her own restless nights, waking in a cold sweat, staying up for hours, trying to figure out what was real.
    She lowered her arm, leaned forward under the stream of hair and looked around the transport. Across from her, Vasquez and Douglas were resting against the tarp with their caps pulled down to shade their closed eyes. Asleep or not, Vasquez kept his right fingers