And now, my best friend, with whom I'd shared those precious friendship-defining memories, was lying on the floor, eyes closed, in a small pool of blood, his leg bent at the wrong angle. I'd never seen his face so pale before. I slowly approached him with dull eyes, feeling disattached from this reality, as if I was only an onlooker watching a movie rather than someone actually living it. “Cade?” I whispered, barely aware I'd said it aloud. Suddenly, he sat up abruptly, gasping, his eyes snapping open. I screamed and fell ungracefully on my bottom. “Don't scare me like that!” I shrieked, though my heart was pounding but not from fear. He whipped his head toward me, and he blinked once, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. “Jimmy?” “Y-yeah, the one and only,” I replied, recovering from the shock he'd given me. “Now let's get the heck out of here.” “I can't get up,” he replied. “My leg's…” “Okay, I'll help you.” I held out my hand. “C'mon.” Grunting with the effort and a bead of sweat running down my face, I pulled Cade - who sure hadn't lost any of his bulkiness since I was ten and he was twelve while I had stayed as scrawny as ever - up to his feet. I let an oof as he leaned on me. I gritted my teeth as I struggled to support all his weight. I was already sweating by the time we'd made it to the stairs. “Where do you think you're going?” Suddenly, I felt some invisible force push me! I was sent flying halfway down the stairs, hitting my chin on the stair so hard that it started bleeding profusely. A second later, I felt something huge fall on me. My vision grew black and spotty for a few seconds as the breath was knocked out of me by almost three hundred pounds of Cade (almost double my size), and several deafening cracks sounded - probably some ribs breaking. He then rolled over off of me, and I was able to breathe again. Every time my chest rose and fell, I hissed in pain. Oh, yeah, something was broken alright. “You're never going to leave,” the little girl's voice hissed in my ear just as I felt a hand clamp over my mouth. I widened my eyes, fearing she going to pull the same trick from before, and I kicked and thrashed. I proved to be right, as the ghost started pulling me through the stairs. I felt a fist of fear grab my heart, and I struggled even more. I then felt someone grab my arms and pull them forward. A tug-of-war of sorts began between the ghost and Cade, each fiercely determined to keep me. “I shall have him!” the little girl shrieked angrily. “He'll be my friend for eternity!” “I won't let you! He's my friend!” Cade yelled, sounding angry - even furious - for the first time ever. I heard a low, pathetic whimper right before Cade overpowered the ghost and pulled me back. For a whole minute, we just sat there on the staircase, not quite believing all that'd transpired and staring at each other with widened eyes. Then Cade said, “Aw man, I need another one of those Kool-Aids,” before retching all over the place. I burst into uncontrollable laughter. I kept laughing until I was no longer laughing but crying, bawling like a freakin' baby. Finally, I wiped away my tears of relief and rose to my feet. “C'mon, let's go,” I said, hoisting Cade up to his feet with all the strength I had and just barely getting him down the stairs. I was ready to collapse the moment we reached the door when suddenly, the door slammed shut. “You have got to be kidding me!” I yelled just as the lights went out, and we were trapped in darkness while the thunder continued to rumble, nowhere near being done.