A ghostly girl was more or less floating above her, her long hair pulling away from her face in an invisible breeze, bearing down upon her with an angry smirk on her beautiful ghost-pale face.

“He is mine.” The girl whispered, her voice delicate.

Somehow, in the back of her mind, Alice knew who she was speaking of. “He’s not yours. He’s mine.” She whispered back loudly, angry.

“No. He was never yours.”

Alice fumed silently, unsure what to say. She decided upon repeating herself, more angrily than before. “He is mine. He can’t be yours.”

“I will get him.” The ghost-girl said before laughing and fading away in a bright shimmer.

Alice yelled in anger.

She bolted up in bed, her throat course as if she really had been screaming. Instinctively her hands went to her throat. She coughed, still very confused.

Brianna appeared at the foot of the bed, looking startled, her brown eyes bright with concern for her friend.

“What’s happened?” She asked, looking around the room, poised ready for danger.

“I had a dream…” Alice said quietly.

“Oh.” Brianna sighed in relief, relaxing her stance for friendly conversation.

“There was a girl.” Alice started, sitting up. She looked out the window, dazed, trying to remember the short dream, and saw it was still dark. She turned to look at her clock and groaned when she saw it read three am.

“Tell me.” Brianna said, next to her friend, putting a hand on her arm.

Alice looked at her friend and explained the dream, confused, unsure if there was anything to it at all. She couldn’t imagine why a ghost would want any boy she knew.

“Do you know who she was talking about?” Brianna asked, also confused.

Alice paused. “I think she was talking about Jake.”

Brianna looked taken aback. “Why would any ghost girl want Jake?”

Alice glared at her.

“Not that he’s not attractive.” Brianna said with a giggle, throwing her hands up in mock surrender, and received an agreeing nod from Alice. “But he’s…human. And, as far as I can tell, he doesn’t have any sort of previous life. Unless he’s hiding something from you.”

“Jake doesn’t lie to me.” Alice said smugly. “We have a very honest and open relationship.”

“I’m not doubting you but maybe you should do some research into this.”

“It was just a dream, Brianna.”

“Alice. When was the last time one of these sorts of dreams turned out to be just a dream?”

Brianna had a point, Alice had to admit. “True. Alright. I’ll do some research and…I’ll try to talk to Jake.”

“It doesn’t have to be right away.” Brianna said.

Alice shook her head. “Let me do some research and come up with some hard evidence before I say anything.”

“A very good idea, of course.” Brianna said with a smile.

Alice was beginning to fade back to sleep, though she was trying to keep the conversation going. Her eyes were drooping closed and she started to have long pauses between thoughts.

“Sleep now, Alice. We’ll talk more later today.”

“Yeah. Talk. Later.”

Alice was sleeping once again before Brianna could disappear from the room. She didn’t have the dream again but the thought haunted her so she couldn’t get back to sleep. She tossed and turned for hours before finally waking and picking up her phone. She stared at it for a few minutes, looking at the clock. It was six in the morning. She dialed Jake’s number and sat up in her mind as the other end greeted her with the dial tone.

“Ali. What are you doing up?” Jake answered groggily.

“I’m so sorry.” Alice apologized. “I just had this awful dream and I was…”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Jake cut her off. She noted a small smile in his voice.

“No, Jake. You don’t have to…”

“I know I don’t have to, sweety. But I want to.” He told her.

“Okay.” She said, a smile playing on her face.

“See you soon. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

They hung up and Alice laid back in her bed, smiling. Brianna glittered in, trying to hold back a laugh.

“He’s coming over? At six in the morning?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Alice smiled.

Brianna straightened up. “He must really care about you.”

Alice nodded.

“Alright. Well, I won’t intrude. But…” Brianna trailed off.

“Bri, I know.” Alice told her.

Brianna nodded and glittered away. Within a few minutes, there were soft thunks on her window. She crawled out of bed and went to the window. She saw Jake outside, throwing rocks at her window, and smiled as she opened it.

“I’ll let you in.” She called softly.

She saw Jake nod in early light and went down to open the door, letting him in. He hugged her tightly and opened his mouth to speak.

“Shh..” Alice whispered, putting her index finger to his mouth. “My room.”

Jake nodded and he followed her, their hands linked. She closed her bedroom door and Jake sat on her bed. She curled up next to him.

“What happened, babe?” Jake asked, stroking her hair soothingly.

Alice relayed the dream to him, explained why it was important and how it was connected to her gift. When she was done explaining, Jake pulled her close to him and kissed her head.

“I don’t have any crazy, or dead, ex girlfriends.” Jake told her. His face was actually serious and she was grateful for that. His brown eyes bored into her aqua ones.

“Okay.” Alice said, resting her head on him. “Why…don’t you stay.”

Jake chuckled. “Of course. Here, tuck back in.”

Alice smiled at him and crawled back in bed. He tucked her back in and laid next to her, on top of the covers, his arm around her.

“Oh, Alice?” He asked quietly.

“Hm?” Alice mumbled sleepily, curling up.

“Brianna…?”

Alice giggled and turned to face him. “She’s not here.”

Jake smiled sheepishly. “Okay.”

Alice smiled and kissed him before she turned completely around and snuggled against him. And she was honest. Brianna wasn’t there. But she could feel another presence looking down on her, she could almost feel the daggers, the anger. But she didn’t tell Jake. She was tired and, for the moment, happy.