Ghost Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

ohmygod, I didn’t know if I was going to scream or cry, and Ichecked the message, but it didn’t say anything. It was a link—there wasn’t any message from him, nothing, so I just stared at the phone, thinking,
What are you doing? What is this?
And I was furious, you know. I was so worried about him, it’s no time for fun and games, but that’s all I had. So I went to my computer, and I clicked the e-mail, and it was a YouTube link. So I clicked and it started, and at first, it was so fuzzy and grainy, I couldn’t make out what was happening. I mean, it looked all night-vision
Blair Witch
herky-jerky motion, green crotches and… penis—ohmygod, it was a guy’s penis—and I looked up and my mouth fell open. Because it wasn’t just some guy, it was
us
. Only it wasn’t us—me and Cam—it was a sex video someone made of us. All I could do was cover my mouth.
    Because it was a video of the two of us from Monday afternoon… having sex. It was only fifteen seconds, but I couldn’t shut my mouth, so I just got up, off my chair, and I stepped away from the desk, shaking my head no. No, no, no… denying it—I don’t even know who I was denying it to. I mean, yes. Yes, yes, it was my face, my body, my—my pussy. God, what word do you use to talk about your own sex? I don’t know, especially since it’s not true. I mean, even if it was real—yes, that really happened; yes, we really had sex, but it still wasn’t true. What I mean is that there are things that cannot be shared, no matter what you see, but watching, I felt tingly all over, then numb, and then my mouth started watering like I was about to heave.
That’s not us
, I thought, swallowing back.
    Then my phone rang again, and I almost jumped out of my skin, checking. It was Karen again, so I didn’t know if I shouldanswer or not, because all I could think was that she was about to tell me she was watching the video, too. So my hands were totally shaking when I answered, and then Karen said, It’s me, Thea. Just wanted to let you know that I spoke with the police and I’m filing a missing person report. Okay, I said, still staring at my computer screen, and Karen said, They’d like to talk to you, as well. Is that all right? My stomach let out this huge gurgle, but I said, Yes, of course. I waited, holding my breath, but she didn’t say anything about the video, and then I asked her if she wanted me to go to the police station with her, and she said no, they’d be in touch.
    So after we hung up, like two seconds later, I turned back to my computer, and the video was gone. No, seriously, it was gone. There was an error message, and I tried checking the history, but it wasn’t in the history. So right way, I reached for my phone, but then Cam’s e-mail was gone, too—both the video and his e-mail were gone. Honestly, I clicked and clicked, looking for it, like,
What the fuck?
Nothing. I must have been dreaming—a waking dream, delirious, I—I don’t know. Too little sleep, too much stress—I don’t know what. But I swear, it was real: I saw it. So I sat down again, and I sat there, until my mom knocked, telling me to get a move on or I’d miss the bus. I mean, seriously, I felt like I was losing my mind, and I was this close to shouting, Mom, there’s a video of me and Cam having sex on YouTube, you think I care about
the bus
? But I didn’t say a word.
    The cops came right before lunch. I got a pink note at the end of fifth period that said I needed to go to the principal’s office, soon as the bell rang. So I went to the office, and the secretarytold me Cheswick was waiting for me in the conference room. So then I walked to the conference room and knocked, and Cheesy, Principal Cheswick says, Come in. So I walk in, and Cheswick’s standing there in front of the door, and he says, Thea, shut the door, please. So I shut the door, and Cheswick says, Thea, sit down please, and there’s this guy, standing there at the end of the table,