"Totally creepy, isn't it?" she asked as he read her name, and tried to force a laugh that died in her throat. She was glad for the darkness that hid her expression. When he offered a hug she took it and stood there hanging on to him for a long silent minute, telling herself it was because it was cold out not because she was freaked out or sad or felt the actual presence of death like she never had before in her life.
This wasn't just the chill of a horror movie that would wear off in the bright lights and popcorn scent of a theatre lobby. It wasn't a spooky dare in a graveyard that ended in giggles and hot chocolate safe and sound at a slumber party. It was the terror of seeing a ghost except that here Cassie was the ghost. It was surviving a near death experience except that she didn't and the consequence six feet under ground right in front of her. What it was, absolutely, was terrible. That Cassie Lang was dead hadn't actually dawned on Cassie Lang until just this moment. When she drew away from Teddy she still gripped his wrist and already she was shuffling back towards the path.