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“The second type of banshee has learned to feed on the grief of the living,”
loud
loudly
There are some very fancy converted-loft communities for wealthy young professionals around the city. Mine isn’t one of them.
“This place is starting to creep me out,” Stacey whispered. “It’s kind of post-apocalyptic, all the people gone...” “Except nobody was ever here in the first place, except the construction crew. And they didn’t finish.” “So, kind of pre-post-apocalyptic, then? Is that a thing?” “Sure.”
little voice at the back of my head screaming for me to get out of there right away and find a job doing anything else. Something less scary, like lion taming or working the night shift at an asylum for the criminally insane.
For a moment while the wind had blasted through, flattening all the weeds to the earth, I’d seen it laid bare, the two rails dark with decades of rust, the railroad ties pulverized by weather, time, and termites, lying crooked under the wrought-iron rails like the teeth in a crazy man’s smile.
“Never kill a ghost hunter. We make very dangerous ghosts. We know all the tricks.”
wants
who wants
Not even my cat’s relentless desire to use my face as a punching pillow could keep me awake.
I could barely hear her over the sound of the hard granola breaking my teeth and shredding my gums.
the sort of headache you might get when you’ve been awake for six days and haven’t eaten in three. Well, I imagine that’s what it would feel like.
“So why were we all summoned here today?” Jacob asked. “Is there a murder mystery involved? Someone in this restaurant is the killer? I’m guessing it was the chef, in the kitchen, with the sausage gravy. Did the victim die of rapid-onset heart disease?”
“You certainly know your trains,” Grant said, looking impressed. “Don’t tell me you’re a train buff,” I said. “Or any kind of transportation-technology buff.” “Nah, just kidding. I just read the plaques right there. Still, it’s impressive, isn’t it?”
“We can’t have the dangerous and unpleasant sorts of ghosts overrunning the city, can we? There won’t be room left for the living.” “And imagine the parking nightmare,” Michael said. “Ghosts don’t normally drive cars,” I said. “Do they normally drive trains?” he asked. “Okay, good point.”
“Train ride?” Michael looked down the longest track. “What does it do, travel a couple hundred feet and come back?” “I admit it’s not a long ride.
I’m in the ‘protect everyone from everything’ business.” “Sounds like you’ve got a Superman complex.” “I had a Superman backpack. No, wait. Spider-Man,” he said. “It had this cool spider pull tab.”
“So helping you hunt ghosts counts as a date, right?” Michael said as I drove us toward the highway to the northern suburbs. I smiled. “There’s nothing more romantic than confronting and evicting the unwanted dead. You might get scratched or thrown around, or psychologically tormented.” “Still sounds better than the concert I dragged you to,”
murderous criminals in life tended not to grow docile and harmless when they became restless ghosts.
“It’s another reason to move as fast as we can,” I said. “That and the murderous ghosts.”
Plastic signs had been stapled to the gate. NO TRESPASSING. HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS. “That could be our stop,”
to knit a solid ceiling overhead, thatched with leaves and Spanish moss.
Love the imagery, but you thatch a roof, not a ceiling.
“Haven’t you ever played Oregon Trail?” Stacey asked. “Fording a stream is a good way to lose your ox and develop dysentery.”
We’re fording the stream.” “Fine,” Stacey said. “But if I die of cholera, you’re going to pay.”
The fence is probably just to keep out kids, vandals, and weirdos.” “Which one are we?” Jacob asked.
“I’m feeling weird about this place,” Jacob added. “We must be on the right track, then.”
“What are we looking for, anyway?” Michael asked. “In my experience, probably human remains,” I said. “We might find a crushed skull or some vertebrae.” “Oh, good, I was worried it might be something scary,”
Get thee to a Motel 6 if necessary.
wasn’t
weren't
split
Remove
“So the railroad cop and Maggie would have been cahooting together,”
LOL. Cahooting...great coined word!
“Hoping for the best is rarely the soundest strategy,” Calvin replied. “You should put that on a poster,” I said. “Maybe with a kitten dangling from a limb.
I’m not exactly a people person—not a misanthrope, just not the peoplest person around. I’d rather be quietly reading by myself.
“I’m open to suggestions if you have any.” “Nope, just nitpicks and criticism.”
I’m not sure where the dead take their vacations. Cape Fear, maybe. Or the Dead Sea. I’ll be here all evening, folks, tip your waitresses.
carefully not
Either “carefully so as not” or “careful not”.
“I should’ve chosen a safer line of work,” I said. “Like cage-fighting with rabid hyenas.”
access
have access
I feel like we’re supposed to sacrifice a chicken on the way inside or something.” “That’s one of the top thirty weirdest things you’ve ever said, Stacey.
place
placed
Michael and I finally had our date—plantains and crab cakes by the ocean, followed by an actual long, starlit walk on the beach. Some things are cliché because they’re true.
