Ghost of Gale

         My grandmother was my closest friend. The one I squealed to when I had my first crush in second grade. The person that taught me my abc's. The one who took me to get tampons when I got my first period. And now she was gone. Who was going to listen to me lament about my first heart break? Or give me the best graduation card on when high school was finally over? And what about when I found a guy to marry and needed her blessing? I was going to be lost with out her.
         "Shh, it's okay," a voice murmured behind me and I didn't need to turn to see who it was. He was always there when I needed him. He always knew.
         "Gale it's not okay," I sobbed back, "She wasn't that old and I can't get through the next few years with out her."
         "I know sweetie," he soothed as I sensed rather than felt his arm settle around me. "It's going to be hard, but I promise you it will be okay."
         "I'm mad Gale, really mad," I told him, cocking my head so I could see his pale face in the light thrown by the overhead halogen outside the barn. "I'm mad that she had to go and I don't understand why."
         "Mad is easier than sad kid," Gale murmured quietly, "And it's okay to be mad. It's okay to be sad too. As long as you fit a little happy in there too. Your Grandma wouldn't want you to forget all the good stuff just because there's a lot of bad."
         I sighed, even at the naive age of fourteen I knew he was right. "I know," I admitted, "I won't forget the good stuff."
         "Good, because that's what keeps your grandma's memory alive."
         "What about you Gale? What keeps you alive?" I asked.
         He chuckled lightly, "Your imagination, my friend, your imagination."

Chapter 1:

         Coltan Carmichael groaned as her alarm clock literally crowed at her. Why she thought the rooster ring tone was something she wanted to wake up to every morning in the first place was beyond her but it worked so she wasn't going to change it. Silencing the obnoxious, abliet fake bird she stretched and flicked on the bedside lamp.
         "Here we go again," she muttered, throwing back the comforter and bracing herself for the impact of bare feet on cold linoleum. Her land lord was a cheap bastard, he could have at least carpeted the bedroom, but no every floor in the tiny one bedroom apartment was old scratched up linoleum. "I really need to get a couple area rugs," Colt reminded herself out loud as she shuffled to the bathroom. "Or some slippers."
         Glancing in the mirror she grimaced then shrugged. She had pretty much looked the same every morning since she was seventeen. Her brown hair hung to her shoulders in waves, much to her dismay, her complexion was splotchy and her nose was a bit too short for her liking. The one thing she did think her parents got right was her eyes, she had her mom's green and brown flecked eyes. The difference between hers and her mom's though was Colt's still had a spark in them, where as her mom's were weary, content but weary.
         "It's too early in the morning for philosophy," Colt told her reflection, grabbing her tooth brush.
         Half hour later, her hair was straightened, a dab of make up did what it could for her and she had on jeans that were almost bearable and a loose top to cover anything the jeans may not flatter, aka her stomach. She glanced in the mirror one more time and made a face. She wasn't happy with the end result, but it was good enough that she would only spent one minute out of every five wondering if someone else noticed how insecure she was.
         She locked her door and stuffed the key into her pocket. "It's going to be a long day," she grumbled as she stumbled on the last step of her porch stairs. She made the two block walk to work as if she was out for a lazy summer stroll, dragging her feet and spending too much time admiring the neighbors flowers. When she finally did wander into the deli where she worked her boss was already yelling at the poor guy that opened the store everyday. She wasn't late but she figured she better hurry up and help the short little Mexican man out.
         Quickly she pulled her hair up away from her face and scrubbed her hands. "Hi Juan," she smiled at him, trying to make up for Bosszilla's evil lecture. He nodded at her and went back to slicing meat. She could hear the girls that worked the register up front laughing at something and knew they weren't doing what they were supposed to but she ignored them and got to work helping Juan catch up on the morning duties.
         Colt had worked at the little deli for just shy of a year now. Most days it was okay, all she really had to do was make sandwich and clean up after Juan. Things sometimes got a little hectic during lunch or dinner shifts but she didn't mind, it was better than the boredom of slow days. The only real down fall to the job itself was her boss was nasty and yelled for no reason, but even that wasn't the reason she hated the job. Colt was terrified of being trapped. Last year when she had moved out of her parents and found the job right near her house she had been ecstatic with the new found freedom but a year later and she was beginning to get restless. This job was a dead end and was supposed to be a pit stop for her, but eight months later and she was still here. It scared the crap out of her.
         It didn't help either that she didn't know what she actually wanted to do with her life. At twenty two wasn't she supposed to have that figured out? Most of the people she went to high school with were either graduating college this year or were already married and spitting out kids. Colt had no idea where she wanted to be in five years and she had never even had a serious boyfriend.
         "Coltan!" her boss shrieked. "I need you to come restock!"
         "I'm pretty sure Corrine never actually speaks in a normal voice," Colt muttered as she pulled off her latex gloves. Juan just chuckled and nodded.
         "Coming boss!" Colt called back, hurrying to the front of the store where Corrine was waving a list around.  It really was a miracle they had customers at all with the crazy lady on display in the front window.
         "Here," Corrine thrust the list at Colt, "This is what needs to be restocked."          
         "Okay," Colt agreed, taking the paper and heading towards the store room.
         She was bent over, restocking cans of peas when she heard the door chime go off a little while later. She ignored it, assuming they would either go to the counter for cigarettes or to the deli for Juan to make them a sandwich.
         She was just putting the last can on the shelf when the hand came down on her backside. She yelped and straightened up.
         "Lookin good girly," purred the creep that thought it was okay to smack her ass.
         Colt glared at him, "Get lost jerk."
         "Aw come on honey, I'm just flirting with ya," he gave her what she was sure was probably his trademark smile. Colt knew guys like him. He was good looking enough to have any girl he wanted but for some reason found it amusing to mess with the girl he didn't have any interest in. Although he was a little more crude than most of the ones she had run into she was familiar with his type, after all why would a guy as good looking as him actually want her.
         "You're messing with me asshole, and I'm not tolerating it," she retorted angrily before stomping away and closing herself in the store room.
         She could still hear him laughing though and it made her tears come faster. Guys didn't want her but she still didn't see why they had to screw with her. Sure she wasn't the prettiest girl in the room, but that didn't mean she didn't have feelings. Grabbing an over sized hoodie she kept in the store room she wiped her tears and after waiting a few minutes to make sure he was gone she went back to the deli to grab the rest of what she needed to restock.
         "Ah oh," Juan said with a slight accent, "Someone wasn't nice to you?"
         "I'm fine Juan," Colt assured him.
         "You're wearing your big sweat shirt, that means someone made you feel small. Was it that pejeno that was just in here?" Juan asked, his perceptive brown eyes seeing too much.
         Colt scoffed, "I wish someone would make me feel small," she muttered under her breath, to Juan she said "I'm fine, I'm going to go finish restocking."
         Juan nodded unhappily. "Your a pretty girl Coltan," he told her but she didn't respond, she just kept walking.
         Half hour before closing the girl working the register called out to Colt. "Yeah?" she answered, wandering to the front of the store. Corrine had left earlier in the afternoon so it was just the pretty blonde, her and Juan left.
         "Me and the girls are going out tonight. Do you want to join?" the girl asked with a bubbly smile. She seemed genuine but unease gathered in Colt's stomach.
         "Um maybe," she responded, "Where you going?"
         "The new club downtown," the girl, Mandy, Colt thought her name was, answered.
         "Yeah um, maybe," Colt repeated, feeling like an idiot.
         "Okay," Mandy nodded, "We're meeting up at ten so just come find us if you want."
         Colt nodded back at her, "Okay thanks."
         Back in the deli Juan grinned, "What was that about?" he asked mischievously.
         "They want me to go out with them tonight I guess," Colt grumbled.
         "You should go," Juan urged, "You need a lit'l fun."
         "I don't trust them Juan," she sighed. "I won't fit in anyway, they're like the barbie troop and then there's me. It just wouldn't work."
         "You should go," Juan repeated. "Let loose a little, get a little wild, stop worrying so much over what people think of you."
         Colt gave him a skeptical look. "Maybe."
         "Go," Juan commanded firmly.
         "We have to finish up here before I can do anything, you bossy old man."
         He gave her a toothy grin but just went back about his work.
         At nine forty five Colt was cursing Juan. She had changed four times and was almost sick with worry that she would still stick out like a sore thumb. She had no idea what kind of club she was going to. Was it a 'real' club where girls wore short, tight dresses and squealed about how much fun 'clubbing' was? or was it a more relaxed denim is totally acceptable kind of place?
         Finally she had decided to go middle of the road and pray it was good enough. Glaring at her mirror she looked for any last minute improvements she could make. Her hair was down and straight, the way she liked it, she had on a silky, flowing blouse that hid her least favorite parts of her and jeans that managed to make her ass look good, or at least better in her opinion. To finish it off she had added a pair of open toed heels. Not many people knew it because she didn't usually have the confidence to wear them but she loved heels. Slipping the heels on she did a mock curtsy to the mirror and marched away, muttering, "Well it's as good as it's going to get."