Page 25 of You'll Be the Death of Me

“Standard prepossession haunting,” Cole said. “Flickeringlights, creaking floorboards. Objects put into other places. Little things to let them know you’re there. But those are advanced skills in themselves.”

“Ah yes, the sweet nothings of poltergeists,” she said with another gasp. She felt like he’d kicked her in the shin.

“Get out! Get the hell out!” Robbie shouted inside her head again.

“Try talking to him,” Cole suggested.

“Robbie, stop it!” she commanded in his voice.

“Not out loud,” Cole said. He pointed at her head. “Inside.”

Dell tried to focus over the thrashing going on inside her head—Robbie’s head. Whoever’s head it was, it raged in a tangle of claws and fists and panic. She used his lungs to take a breath.

“Robbie, it’s me. You don’t have to be afraid.”

“Oh God. Is this the mushrooms talking? IknewI shouldn’t have taken them from Travis.”

“What? No, this isn’t mushrooms. It’s Dell, the woman you see jogging in the park every morning.”

The thrashing paused long enough for her to feel like she got a hand around him.

“Who’s Dell?”

She mentally grumbled.“Ugh. You know who I am. I jog with my best friend, Jason, through this park every morning. You know, the tall guy in spandex and neon gear?”

He paused again, and she felt like she had her other hand on him. She wasn’t physically grabbing anything, but control of his body was coming to her in bits and pieces.

“Oh, you’rethatchick.”

Dell rolled her eyes but didn’t voice her discontent. She didn’t want to lose whatever ground she was gaining.

“Yes, it’s me. I need your help.”

“Why are you in my head?”

It was a fair question, and one she didn’t really know how to answer.

“Because I’m— I just am. I need to borrow your body for a few minutes, so if you could let me in, I—”

“Borrow my body? What the hell?”

“Yes, okay. I know that sounds weird, but it’s no big deal. I need to talk to Jason, and I can’t at the moment. He’ll recognize you, and I’m going to talk to him through you. It’s—”

“Iknewthose mushrooms were a bad idea. This is either a really fucked-up dream, or I am still tripping hard.”

Dell decided to take another approach.“Yes,”she said in a dreamy voice.“This is a trip. You are imagining all this, so you should just sit back and enjoy the ride. Relax. Let me take over...”She let her voice drift off and felt a rigid tension ease.

“This is a weird-ass trip...”His voice faded out, and the tension fell away altogether.

Dell blinked and held out her arms—his arms. She waved them around with no resistance. She stood up.

“What happened?” Cole asked.

“He acquiesced,” she said in Robbie’s voice, and smiled. She stepped around Cole, ready to move to the next stage.

“Really?” he asked in shock, and followed her.

“Yep. And I convinced him he’s on drugs and this is all in his head, which, for all I know, is true.”