Flowers For McGee

7 - Don't Be Scared

Rose made a mental note of how it is a lot easier to be brave when it isn't dark. She should probably do this stuff in the morning.

She stood in the middle of her room and she didn't know what do expect as she stood there calling for him to stop hiding. She knew he was there, so was there really a point?

Rose felt stupid, even if she knew she wasn't. She knew this was ridiculous and silly, but she knew she wasn't stupid. She wasn't dreaming or hallucinating.

"Come out... right now," She demands in a hesitant voice. Rose was afraid that now that she was asking, he really would and she didn't know if she was truly ready for that, but unfortunately it was her goal. "I don't know what to call you other than McGee. So march on out here before I have to hold a seance or something." She says and puts her hands in her black pajama bottom pockets, trying to hold them still and she waits impatiently.

Rose tried to appear nonchalant about it, but she was terrified. She honestly wanted to go home. She didn't have to deal with this in Broken Arrow.

"So demanding for a living girl." The voice says but still no one there. Rose stands in her room and she looks around.

"So?" Rose retorts back. She didn't want him to just pop out wherever he wanted and scare the life out of her, so she tried to keep her eyes on the entire room, which was difficult.

"Hasn't anyone ever taught you to respect the dead?" The lights slightly flickered and then the closet door clicks open.

"I have... I have a cross here." She says, motioning to the pountless object on her bed. "That usually works in movies." She says and then frowns. He was over two-hundred years old, did he even know what movies were? She had to cringe at her own actions. But it wasn't her fault, she didin't know what to do.

"Movies? No, that won't work." He says.

"Hasn't anyone ever taught you to not be dramatic? What's with the flickering lights and all that?" She says with a reddened face as her new home creaks and groans and the lights flicker.

Rose braces herself as a man walks out of the closet. He stands there with his shoulders straight and, ironically enough, a lively look in his eye. He wore dark colored jeans and plain white shirt. In no way did he look happy or even alive, other than his eyes. His eyes were a mirror of her own and she felt sick at sick of her own reflection.

"Who are you?" She asks him.

"McGee." He says simply.

"Your first name." Rose says and crosses her arms. Rose was shorter than him by quite a bit, but in no way did she want to appear less than him.

"I don't remember," He says in a small, sad voice and in an instant the tough act vainshes from Rose.

Rose watches as his eyes turn from her and flash with many things and many colors then his gaze snaps back to her. "I need your help." He says urgently.

"Of course you do, they always want something," She says and quickly moves back as he takes a step toward her. She was afraid of him. "Stay away from me. At least three feet."

"Don't be scared," He says quickly. "Please don't, I'm harmless." McGee tries to reassure her but Rose only narrows her eyes at him.

"Why shouldn't I? You're dead, you scared the crap out of me last night. I know I wasn't dreaming," Rose says and he walks across her room picks up a withered book. "What were you going to do to me, anyway? Eat my soul or something?"

"Eat your soul- what? What are you talking about? No, I was going to eliminate the problem... but you were like me." He says in a low tone.

Rose didn't like being referred to as a problem or the thought of being eliminated. "Like you?" She asks in an unsteady tone.

"Yes, like me, and I knew you could be the one. I don't know much, but I think I did something that made them unhappy. Will you help me fix it?" He asks with a hopeful expreesion and excited, wide eyes.

"But I don't understand. What do you mean you don't know who you are, though?" Rose ignores his question and asks him a different one with a tremendous amount of pity. It would be terrible to be stuck somewhere and not remember your own name.

"She won't let me remember." McGee says and Rose frowns.

"Who won't?" Rose asks.

"My sister. I can't do this by myself." McGee says and he looks at the ground.

"Do what? What exactly would I have to do?" Rose asks him and he doesn't move it and doesn't speak. "McGee?" She was getting angry that he wasn't answering her questions, even if she wasn't truly answering any of his.

"Find me, Rose. I need you to find where they put me." He looks up and says in a loud, fast tone and the outburst surprises her.

"Like, your body?" She asks nervously and he nods. "How do you expect me to do that? I mean, seriously?" She puts her hands on her hips.

"I think I'm on the estate somewhere." McGee says and paces her room. "Anne failed, you can't fail, Rose. This is important." He says and walks toward her and presses his cold hands down on her shoulders. She felt the coldness of his hands through her shirt and it sank into her bones and made her shiver.

"You must take into consideration that I haven't lived here long. Maybe I can't find it, then what?" She asks nervously. Rose was afraid of the answer because she didnt know how he would react.

"Then... Then I'll have to move to the next person. Johnny?" He says and Rose doesn't like the sound of that.

"Leave my brother alone, he can't do it." She says and scowls.

"Then help me." He says and crosses his arms. They stood face to face, both with fierce determination. Rose was determined to do this without Johnny and McGee was deteremined to make her.

"Why did they kill you, do you at least remember that?'' She asks quickly has his eyes blacken.

"It couldn't have been my fault. I didn't do amything... I only have flashes, but I can't remember what I did." He says in a whisper and the lights in the room flicker more harshly than before. McGee looks up at the ceiling with wide eyes.

"In this book you said you did a bad thing. Do you have any clue to what that could have been?" Rose asks and picks up his book.

The book flies from her hand and the box gets knocked over and McGee backs up and presses himself to the wall. Rose just stands still and looks between him and the box. Ros got the feeling McGee wasn't the one causing the commotion.

"They wait for me, but I can't face them." He says and looks out the window. Rose walks over and looks out.

"Who does?" Rose asks. A figure shrouded in light runs down the beaten path to the forest and McGee backs up. Rose squints to see who it is but she can't.

"Rose, I have to make it right. I'm here somewhere, then maybe we can all leave." He says urgently and her heart beat quickens.

"How many of you are there?" She asks in a shaky voice. McGee looks at forest and then back to her.

"No one has ever left." He says and Rose immediately wishes she hadn't asked.

"Rose?" She turns toward the open door when she hears her name and her mother stands there in the doorway with a plate. "You missed dinner. I'm beginning to worry about you. I heard a crash. All this, did you fall?" Maggie asks, referring to the box on the ground as she sets the plate down on the nghtstand.

"I'm fine, mom. It tipped over." Rose says and she glances over at McGee.

Her mother doesn't see him but he stays where he is, unmoving. His blue eyes pierce through Maggie and he looks evil, and Rose got a sense that he truly wasn't evil, but he could be. He was cautious, afraid even.

"School is tomorrow, I'm hoping you make friends. Good ones this time, no more hoodlums." Maggie says and Rose sighs.

"Of course." Rose says and nods. Rose had trouble making friends, it was obvious, people tended to avoid her as if she were a plague. She didn't mind too much. Sometimes.

"I'm serious. This can be a new start for you." Maggie kisses the top of Rose's head and she leaves. She shuts the door the door and Rose sighs.

"You are her shame." McGee says and Rose rolls her eyes at his comment. She didn't need to be reminded.

"How can you tell?" Rose asks and sits on the edge of her bed. She fiddles with the strings of her pajamas and scowls.

"I was in her mind." He says and walks over, placing his hand on he top her head' he stares staring ahead. "I can read her like a book, all of you actually. It's hard to get. Lear thought from you, you're so conflicted, but your mother truly worries about you."

Rose didn't like to talk about things like this that much, she felt uncomfortable. She didn't like to reveal anything to anyone, because she was always betrayed or hurt in some way, so she changes the subject to avoid it.

"Are you the only... Dead guy here in the house?" Rose asks and he frowns.

"You are quite insulting." He mutters. "There are others out there, hiding. And if you can see me, you can see them. So far you are the only one who has ever been able to see me other than Gwen and Anne." He says.

"Gwen was your sister, so you remember her?" Rose asks and McGee looks at her with sad eyes.

"She was the only thing I could remember, and unfornately I killed her." He says softly.