Elias - 2. Part 2

The next thing I heard, which caused me to sit straight up in bed and look around, was Mom calling down the stairs for me. Sliding out of the bed, I rubbed the lingering heaviness from my eyes as I made my way to the bathroom.

After I finished peeing I washed my hands and sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were red and heavy, I looked hung over. I didn’t know what time it was or how long I slept, it surprised me that I fell asleep at all. Reaching up I tried to smooth down my hair, but when I saw that it was a lost cause I turned and opened the bathroom door.

At first I didn’t see him. Luckily the cold air that seemed to radiate from him hit me in the face before I walked through him. Groaning I jumped backwards and had to catch myself in the door frame of the bathroom to keep from falling. Looking at me he looked confused seeing me there.

“Where am I?” He asked, his voice distant and airy as he floated closer to me.

“In my bedroom,” I answered looking down the hallway to make sure Mom hadn’t come on down the stairs after I didn’t answer her.

“How did I get here?” He asked and I reached up and scratched the back of my head. I was starting to circle back to the thought I was going crazy, but as he settled in front of me and became more visible I let my hand drop to my side.

“I stole your ring,” I answered, then hesitated to judge his reaction. “Don’t you remember?”

I watched him glance around my room then he turned away from me and darted in a blur out of my room. Following in the direction he went I saw his form taking shape by the bottom of the stairs and I knew he remembered.

“Where is it?” He asked, turning and rushing back to me. Taking a few steps back into the hallway, I closed my eyes but only felt the unnerving chill of him again. “I can feel the pull of it.”

“I put it in a box,” I answered, opening my eyes to look at him. He was floating a few inches from me, but he blocked my path. “In the other room, I can get it for you.”

“Thank you,” he said as he backed away from me and when he was clear of the hallway I followed him back through it. Swallowing, not wanting to turn my back to him I walked over to the end table and pulled the box back out. Looking down, I saw that it had fallen to the corner of the box and when I reached inside, I heard a whooshing sound beside me. Jerking my hand out of the box, I looked to see him hovering next to me, staring expectantly.

“You can sense when people touch the ring, can’t you?” I asked, only to confirm what I already thought.

“It is a strange feeling,” he answered and I reached my hand slowly back into the box and let my finger graze it again. When he didn’t react I looped my finger into the ring and lifted it out with the trapped chain. Seeing it, he reached for it and I flailed myself backwards against the wall, thankful that it was block so that I didn’t crash through it.

“Don’t do that,” I hissed as I slid down the wall onto the cold concrete. “You tried to touch it last night, you couldn’t.”

“It's mine,” he said, holding out his hand.

“I know that,” I countered, shaking my head as I pushed myself up with my free hand onto my knees. Then I stood and held my hand out, the ring still slid onto the tip of my finger. Taking a deep breath, I held it out for him to see it. “Go ahead, take it.”

I watched his hand become blurred as he grabbed for it, the cold air that hit my hand almost made me drop the ring. Swallowing I had to focus on steadying my hand as I watched him make a few more fast attempts like he did last night. When that didn’t work I watched as he let his hand hover over mine. This was worse than the fast grabbing, I could feel the cold of him on my fingers. Sighing I looked towards his face to see him focusing on my hand. When he looked up at me he lowered his hand onto mine and it felt like I had plunged my hand into snow without the wet that followed. Shuddering I held my hand there until it became too uncomfortable then pulled it away.

“I am sorry,” he said as he backed away from me.

“You told me not to take it back to the stone,” I said, swallowing as he refocused on me.

“No, don’t take me back there,” he pleaded, shaking his head as he floated slightly towards me. “I am alone there.”

“Does the witch not come to see you?” I asked, feeling my face getting warm.

“No one is there, she was never there,” he answered, backing away from me.

“So she’s not really buried there?” I asked and he shook his head.

“She isn’t there, but her bones are there,” he answered looking around the room. “I can’t remember why I am there.”

“Where do you want to be?” I asked, stepping around him. I was starting to hear movement above my head and expected Mom to call for me again.

“Be?” He asked as he darted in front of me, blocking my path so I had to stop walking. I didn’t want to step through him.

“Where do you want me to take the ring,” I clarified. “I can take it to the bluffs, or the waterfalls.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head.

“You might like the views,” I countered as I heard the upstairs basement door open.

“Asher, are you awake?” Mom called and I watched the ghost look towards the stairs and then back to me.

“Yeah I’m up, just about to get dressed,” I answered and I heard the wood floors creak as she backed away from the door.

“Asher,” he said looking at me as he raised his hand to point towards me. “That’s your name.”

“Yeah,” I answered, “do you remember your name?”

“E, e,” he started, then scowled and shifted between a hazy form to clear and back again.

“It’s alright,” I said, holding up my hand. “Maybe I’ll find out for you later.”

“Now?” He asked, rushing to hover in front of me.

“If you stop doing that,” I answered grimacing, “slow down, please.”

“I cannot,” he said, shaking his head. “This is me.”

“Try,” I said as I stepped away from him and walked back down the hallway to my bedroom.

I knew he was following me by the cold air that sent goosebumps over my back and down my arms. Still holding his ring on my index finger I walked over to my bed and checked my phone. I hoped to see a text from Kaelie, but I wouldn’t know how to explain this to her. She was there at the stone with me, maybe she had felt something and didn’t tell me. I had felt the breeze when I touched the ring last night. She believed in ghosts or at least superstitions about not disturbing the dead where they laid.

Not seeing a text, I laid the phone down and then the ring on top of it. I expected questions, I could tell from his clothes that he didn’t die recently. He wasn’t from my time and if he was from the time of the township, he could be over a hundred years old or more. He wouldn’t know what electricity was, running water, or phones. His silence unnerved me too, knowing he was watching made it worse.

Looking over at him he hovered just past the hallway, still looking between me and the ring. Sighing I walked into the bathroom and turned on the water. Then I looked towards the door and closed it behind me. It wasn’t enough though, I knew he could go through walls and when he appeared I jumped backwards and slammed my hand on the bathroom counter and sent my deodorant and toothpaste flying.

“Sorry,” he said and I bent over and picked everything up off the floor and put it back onto the counter.

“Get out of here and wait outside the door,” I said, waving my hand.

“Why?” He asked as he floated forward.

“So I can take a shower,” I answered and when he looked confused I pointed to the running water. “So I can bathe myself.”

“Forgive me,” he said as he bowed his head slightly and I watched him float back out of the bathroom.

I ended up leaving my boxer briefs on as I stepped into the hot water, not trusting him not to come back inside. Showering quickly, barely bothering to wash myself with soap, I hit the water release button and turned the water off. Stepping out I grabbed a towel and dried my hair and chest. Then I wrapped it around me and pulled my soaked underwear off then stepped out of them. Bending over I picked them up then opened my bathroom door. Jumping again as I nearly ran into him, I waited for him to move so I could walk down the hallway and dump my dripping boxer briefs into the washer hoping Mom wouldn’t check before she put a load of laundry in later today.

Walking back I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a new pair. Glancing over my shoulder I bent over and stepped into them, pulling them up under my towel. Huffing from the effort and still being a little bit wet, I let the towel drop and walked over to my closet. I pulled out a blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans. After I closed my closet door I looked over to see if he was still there, seeing him watching me from the spot where I left him after leaving the bathroom. I tossed my clothes onto my bed and grabbed a pair of socks from my dresser.

“You left me last night,” I said as I grabbed my t-shirt and pulled it over my head and down my chest. “When we were talking.”

“I had to go,” he said as he finally moved and hovered just on the other side of the bed. He seemed to be aware of things in his way and actually took the time to not walk into them, at least when he wasn’t darting around. When he was focused and still, I couldn’t help seeing the human in him. I knew that meant he was once alive, that’s what ghosts were, spirits left behind. I hadn’t allowed my mind to go to where it wanted to, to what happens after someone dies. What it all could mean having seen him for what he was. I wasn’t a religious person, not really, but I still thought and wondered if it could all be real, that maybe I needed to get my shit in order if it was.

“Why did you have to go?” I asked, shaking my head, not wanting to think about all that.

“I was tired,” he answered as I grabbed up my jeans and removed the hanger. Letting it fall to the bed I pulled them up one leg at a time then buttoned and zipped them.

“Being here drains you?” I asked as I grabbed up my socks and held them in my hand as I walked around the foot of my bed. I gathered up my phone and my car keys, then I slowly reached for the ring and when I touched it, I saw him dart forward.

“I am not supposed to be here,” he answered, looking down at the ring.

“I’m sorry I brought you here,” I said and he shook his head.

“I’m not supposed to be here,” he said, waving his hands before he floated into a circle and then back to me. “I have watched and I have wanted time to stop for me, it was supposed to stop.”

“Why didn’t it?” I asked and he started flashing between forms again and I knew that when he was battling for an answer he didn’t have. I didn’t think it hurt him, but the strain on his face made me wonder if he felt something.

“I don’t know,” he answered, reforming in front of me, his voice changing from distant and airy to clear as he spoke.

“Come on,” I said, knowing I really didn’t have to say anything. Me having the ring, meant that he would follow me. Sliding it into my pocket seemed to make him anxious and I jumped when he reached for it. I darted my hand forward to try and block him out of habit protecting my junk from stupid teenage shenanigans, but only felt air. Glaring at him he didn’t say anything, but stared at my pocket until I started walking again.

At the bottom of my stairs I hesitated until I felt him closing in behind me. I didn’t know what would happen, glancing over my shoulder I started up them. There was only one way to find out though and I hoped my ass wouldn’t look like I completely lost it when my parents saw me.

Reaching the top stair I let out a breath and closed the door behind me, because that was the normal thing to do. I watched him float through it, scowling at me like I had been rude to him. Ignoring him, I turned and scanned the kitchen. Seeing my plate from breakfast waiting for me on the kitchen table I walked over to it and sat down. I made a sandwich from the bacon and toast, chewing quickly.

“There you are,” Mom said just as I reached for my orange juice. When half of it went flying out of my glass I looked around at her. She was holding a laundry basket.

“You scared the hell out of me,” I groaned through a mouth full of food.

“Are you still freaked out about that nightmare?” She asked as she sat the laundry basket down and grabbed a towel out of it. I watched her clean up the mess I made, but I forced a smile when she looked back up at me, pulling her black hair out of her face. She had one gray streak that she never bothered to color.

“No,” I answered, then jumped again when I noticed the ghost had floated to stand next to her and she obviously couldn’t see him. Looking back at her I saw her blink and shake her head.

“Your father told me you screamed loud enough to rattle the house,” she said as she slid the towel back into the laundry basket and stood.

“He’s a biology teacher, he should know that’s not possible,” I answered and when she laughed and placed her hand on my shoulder I felt some of the tension of the night leave me.

“Are you okay?” She asked as she wrapped me into half a hug.

“Yeah,” I said, nodding as I glanced up at her. She was tall, taller than Dad when she had on heels, which was hardly ever. I shared my black hair with both my parents, but had her brown eyes, Dad’s blue eyes all of my brothers had except for my second oldest brother Kellen being a bit of a scandal since he had green eyes and blond hair. “I’ll never go exploring graveyards again.”

“Why would you in the first place?” She asked as she broke the hug, laughing as she walked into the kitchen grabbing dirty dish towels and tossing them into the basket.

“Nothing better to do,” I answered shrugging as I finished off what was left in my glass of orange juice and scooped up a few bites of scrambled eggs. The ghost had followed her around the kitchen and I sucked in a breath when she took a sudden step backwards and ran into him. When she didn’t react I let out the breath and he turned to look at me.

“You look rough, by the way,” she said as she came back to the table. I knew she would be heading down stairs, if I wasn’t the best son of the bunch, I could see her searching my room for drugs.

“I need a nap,” I said, stretching as I stood and grabbed my plate. I dumped my scraps into the compost and rinsed my plate and glass before I opened the dishwasher and placed them inside. Closing it I turned and jumped slightly when I felt the ghost beside me. Luckily Mom had her back turned as she scanned the kitchen for any discarded laundry that she missed.

“Sorry I woke you, then,” she said as she turned back to me with a small smile. “Go on back to sleep.”

“Nah, I need to talk to Kaelie,” I said as I stepped up to her and kissed her on the cheek. If she wasn’t paranoid about me now, she would be after that. Grimacing as I stepped around her I didn’t dare look back as I stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room. I grabbed my sneakers and walked over to the couch and slid on my socks and toed into my shoes not bothering to untie them. They were old and in need of being replaced, but they were worn and comfortable enough that I didn’t want to do it yet.

“No more graveyards,” Mom said pointing her finger at me before she disappeared down the hallway. I heard her open the basement door as I stood and walked to the front door. Turning the knob and pulling it open I held it open looking over at him, then I swore under my breath and walked out, thankful that Mom hadn’t followed me into the living room.

“Fuck me,” I hissed after I closed the door behind me. Shaking my head I glanced behind me as he appeared, it was slightly harder to see him out in the brightness of daylight. He looked around briefly and I scanned the neighborhood wondering what he was thinking. He told me last night that he wasn’t able to leave the stone, so he wasn’t able to see the full impact of a changing world around him. The field the stone was in had been preserved meticulously, but the tourists and staff would have changed over the years. He never mentioned the changes, I would never be able to understand what watching the world pass you by would look like.

“You know that’s vulgar to say,” he said as I stepped down the stairs and onto the sidewalk. Walking to the dark green Charger I smiled looking over at him.

“Yeah?” I said as I opened the driver side door.

“How does this work?” He asked as I started to slide into the driver’s seat. I didn’t know how it would work. He had traveled from the stone to my house, but he had been wherever he was when he wasn’t here.

After I pulled out of the driveway though, he disappeared and I was left in silence. I didn’t call out to him, even alone in my car I thought it would sound crazy. I was also of two minds, I wanted to just take the ring back to the stone, but I also wanted to talk to Kaelie. I wanted her to touch the ring and see if she was able to see him too. If both of us saw him, talked to him, then I couldn’t be going crazy. Kaelie was the most sane person I knew aside from my parents, but asking either of them to touch a ring I found at the witch’s gravesite wouldn’t have gone over well.

Turning down the sideroad she lived on, I also knew I needed help. I didn’t know if I could turn the stone back over and get it back by myself. The abandoned town was on the outskirts of ours. No one, not even people who had family history here since the new town was founded could explain why the abandoned one wasn’t bulldozed down decades ago. Before it was protected, now no one even dared to fight that legal battle to tear it down. We were a growing town, new factories and businesses were coming in every few years. Our school had to build additional buildings on the campus to keep the class sizes down as people moved in, following the jobs. The new families liked the mystery that I grew up hearing, which got tourists coming in, including ghost hunting tours. Now around Halloween it becomes almost annoying to see the lengths people went through to advertise the little town as haunted. Before last night I just rolled my eyes and thought it was all silly. Having your shit scared out of you in the middle of the night changes you quickly though and the town looked different to me now. With the ghost and him not knowing why he was here or who he was, I felt a little drawn to the mystery. The stories of murder, witches, curses, and strange disappearances, I never thought twice about until last night.

Pulling into Kaelie’s driveway I saw her purple Jeep parked in the driveway. Honking my horn, knowing both of her parents were gone by now, I waited for her to come outside. When the door opened I reached down and touched the outline of the ring in my pocket. I looked around, listening for any sign he was here, but the only noise was the hum of the engine.

When she got to the side of the car I motioned for her to get into the passenger side and she smiled and jogged around the front of the car. She had her hair up in a tight ponytail and she was holding strong against the encroaching fall in a pair of shorts and a shirt that didn’t cover her stomach completely as she swung her arms when she walked.

“What’s up?” She asked after the door flew open. I watched her crawl inside already smelling her perfume.

“Nothing,” I answered swallowing. There was a time not very long ago that I fought myself at every turn to try to be attracted to her. Now all I saw was that she was a pretty girl and she was quickly becoming my best friend now that Brady had been whipped into submission by Carly. He was mostly willing, but doesn’t even deny it anymore when I tease him about it. It shuts him up when he starts telling me to make my move on Kaelie before someone else does.

“I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” she said as she buckled her seatbelt even though I hadn’t told her that we were going anywhere.

“Why not?” I asked as I leaned back in my seat and grazed my pinky over the ring. I wasn’t exactly touching it, I knew that. I also just didn’t want to whip it out of my pants in front of her either, not without explaining myself. I just wished I knew how I was going to do that.

“Yeah, I felt weird,” she answered and I looked over to see her shaking her head. “I even tried looking up the name we found carved in the stone.”

“Maggie?” I asked, remembering the name and thinking it could’ve been a boy carving it in there while he was with his girlfriend. There were names carved in things all over town, picnic tables being what most popular medium. There were also trees and park benches, and then the most unflattering being bathroom stall walls.

“Yeah, I couldn’t really find anything though,” she answered, sighing. “So why are you really here?”

“Are you hungry?” I asked, but she wrinkled her nose.

“I was hungry ten minutes ago, you should have called then,” she said as she reached up and turned my rearview mirror around so that she could see herself in it. I watched her run her finger over her hair and when she finished she leaned back and smiled at me.

“Alright, fine,” I said smirking when she rolled her eyes. “Can we go back to the stone?”

“Why?” She asked, her voice raising half an octave.

“I want to put the ring back,” I answered, shrugging my shoulders, trying to seem casual about it. When I saw her turn in the seat though, I grimaced knowing what follows.

“You were going to sell it to the curator of the ghost town last night,” she said, cocking an eyebrow. “What changed between now and then?”

“Nothing,” I answered, “maybe what’s buried there needs to stay there.”

“Oh my god,” she said and I watched as her hand shot out and grabbed my elbow and I started to rethink ever wanting to stop here first. The difference with Brady and her is that Brady would be like, ‘Hell yeah, dude lets go,’ and that would have been the end of it. We would be in the drive thru of some fast food place five minutes after putting the ring back. He would give me hell for not selling it, but that would be it. I blamed Carly for this new torture.

“What?” I asked, trying to shake her off my arm.

“You feel weird about last night too,” she said, her eyes going wide as she let go of me just long enough to slap my arm.

“Can we go to the stone, or not?” I asked as I pressed the power button on my radio.

“Sure,” she said, her smile widening as she immediately hooked up her phone to my bluetooth so that she could shuffle through her playlists. “And you’ll tell me why you’re being weird when we get there.”

“Fine,” I said, shaking my head as I readjusted my rearview mirror then backed out of the driveway.

I knew Kaelie wouldn’t be able to settle on a song by the time we got to the ghost town. Pulling into the parking lot of the small museum, instead of the small paved side road we parked in last night. I wasn’t worried about being fined or towed in the daytime. I killed the engine and looked out at the welcoming looking building where the curator would be if it were open. We were technically trespassing still, but as long as nothing was disturbed nobody cared during the day, people liked walking the grounds. We were the only car parked, so I sighed and watched Kaelie hop out of the car and I slowly followed her.

“I really wish someone was here, I wanted to ask about the witch,” Kaelie said as she closed the door and I stepped out of the way and closed my own. Then I walked up to the sidewalk and we walked around the side of the building where the sidewalk transitions into three different walking paths. One went to the town center, the other to the town’s graveyard, and the third was a scenic loop around the witch’s stone.

“So you’re acting weird too,” I said, nudging her as I stepped down the smooth ramp that started around the scenic loop. She elbowed me when she caught up to me and I stuck my foot out to trip her. Knowing me, she ended up kicking my foot and I stumbled over it and barely saved myself from a total wipeout.

“We’re both a little weird anyway,” she answered shrugging. “Maybe if we had people to make out with, we wouldn’t be disturbing a witch’s grave.”

“Right,” I said, glancing down at her. Unlike me she didn’t take a year off and would be starting college in a few weeks. Also unlike me, she wanted to go out of state and I knew I wouldn’t be able to drive up to see her much. She needed to leave me behind here though, before both our parents started writing up our wedding invitations and mailing them out to family.

When we got halfway up the scenic loop we turned off the path and walked through the small line of trees that separated the path and the stone. The stone was there and seeing it I stopped walking. Kaelie walked on a few steps then turned to look back at me. When she cocked her eyebrow and opened her mouth to say something I started walking again, but I reached down and ran my finger over the ring.

I couldn’t help feeling like I was about to betray him, wherever he was. He told me not to bring him back here and I had every intention of doing that. He couldn’t be in my room anymore and if the ring brought him there, this was the safest place for it. No one would disturb it, only me and Kaelie would know the ring was even here. He could go on being a ghost and I could just move on.

Kaelie beat me to the stone and when she knelt, gently putting her knee onto the grass she bent forward. When she found the name she looked up at me and smiled and I hovered behind the stone.

“Let me see it in the daylight,” she said, reaching her hand out. Glancing down at my pocket then back up, I scanned the grounds. The other side of the loop was completely open and in view of the stone. We were the only people out here. I knew people liked to walk it for exercise since it was peaceful and so many laps around it were equal to a mile, but I didn’t know how many. In the daylight the stone, aside from the obvious carving and squaring off of it, looked like a rock you’d find out in the forest or at the base of a bluff. It didn’t look like a grave marker, not like the old and weathered ones at the town’s graveyard just two hundred or so yards away.

“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath as I reached down and into my pocket. I felt the balled up chain and then the ring. Biting the inside of my bottom lip, I pulled it out as a cold breeze that would only be explained away in the middle of December hit me squarely in the face. Holding up the ring, I saw him swirl around looking down at the stone and then to me.

“What are you doing?” Kaelie asked and I looked down at her. She had dropped her hand to her side and was leaning on the stone preparing the stand. “You’re going white as a sheet.”

“Take it,” I said, holding out the ring.

“I don’t want it,” she said as she stood and looked at me. “What’s going on, you better not be fooling around.”

“Just take it,” I said, taking a step towards her as the ghost tried to focus and become more solid.

“Alright, fine,” she said as she stepped around the stone and held out her hand. “Give it here.”

Dropping the ring into her hand I felt another wave of cold air as the ghost finally was able to focus and keep his form. He was looking at her, just like I was as she flipped the ring around in her hand studying it. She didn’t shudder, her hair wasn’t blowing in any breeze. When he turned to look at me, he frowned and shook his head.

“I told you not to bring me back,” he said and I felt the sadness in his voice. “Don’t leave me here, I have seen too many years here, I can’t see another.”

“Sorry,” I said, swallowing as Kaelie looked up at me.

“About what?” She asked as she took the ring off the chain and held it between two fingers.

“Nothing,” I answered as I watched him watching her. She couldn’t see him, she would have seen him when she looked over at me. She also didn’t hear him or I would be hearing the echo of her scream by now as it bounced off the mountains thirty miles away. That’s how I pictured myself sounding last night.

“What about this ring that has you so messed up?” She asked as she looped it back on the chain and held it out for me. “It is odd, it never would have fit a finger, it's too large.”

“I tried my best,” the ghost answered and I glanced at him as he looked at the ring. It was the first time he ever mentioned anything about his past with any clarity.

When I hesitated in taking the ring I watched her eyebrows raise that slightly wrinkled her forehead. Kaelie wasn’t the most patient person, especially if she felt like she was missing something important.

“Asher?” She asked and I sighed and held out my hand. She placed the ring back and when I closed my hand around it, the ghost smiled and I felt the cold air that always followed when touching the ring.

“Sorry,” I said, not looking directly at either of them. “Let’s get this back under the stone.”

“No!” He yelled as he darted in front of me.

“Just tell me what’s going on,” she said as I did a large circle around them both, too large of a circle to just be walking around her. “It can’t be more difficult than you telling me that you were gay when I was unzipping your pants.”

“Kaelie,” I groaned, never liking the retelling of how I came out to her.

“Are you usually not joyful?” The ghost asked and I looked directly at him and despite everything, I smiled.

“Why are you grinning like a dumbass at nothing?” She asked and I shook my head looking at her and then back to him. Shrugging my shoulders I sighed and walked up to the stone.

“What if I told you there is someone else here,” I answered, kneeling down at the stone as they both followed me. He respected her space by hovering on the opposite side of me.

“I know there is someone else here,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Hello we’re at a grave.”

“Why weren’t you happy when she undid your trousers?” He asked as I pressed my palm against the stone to see if it would budge. In the daylight I saw the scarred ground from where we failed to get it back where it originally was. No one would notice it being shifted after the grass started growing back. I didn’t know how anal the curator of the place was, maybe she wouldn’t notice before then.

“She didn’t mean gay, as in happy,” I explained turning to look at him not wanting to look at Kaelie. “I like guys, men, sexually.”

“You’re a buggerist!” He gasped, hovering backwards and then back towards me.

“If that’s what that means to you, then yes,” I answered, having never heard the term before now.

“Who the hell are you talking to?” Kaelie asked and I turned to look at her.

“The ghost that the ring belongs to,” I answered and when her mouth fell open I sat back on the heels of my shoes and waited.

“You shut up, that’s not funny,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re not smart enough to pull off this kind of prank, you’re not a good actor. I saw you in the Spring play.”

“Now you shut up, I got great reviews,” I countered as her eyes darted around as she studied me.

“Only because your bubble butt pretty much stole the show,” she said blinking, “it took away from your shitty acting.”

“There’s a ghost here Kaelie,” I said looking back down at the stone. “It isn’t the witch, it is a young man.”

“No there isn’t,” she said, her voice raising an entire octave as she spoke. “Knock it off.”

“He called me a buggerist,” I said, glancing over at him before I turned back to her.

“Then he’s rude,” she said and I smiled. “Let me see your phone, you never delete your search history. I got a very nasty surprise one time and I know your vocabulary isn’t that advanced.”

“First you tell me I can’t act,” I countered as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Now you’re calling me a dumbass.”

“Well,” she said as she snatched my phone from me. She cracked my easy as shit passcode and I watched her with the ghost coming around the stone to hover over her shoulder to watch her. Looking up at him he leaned forward and when I saw her wave her hand, I thought she might have sensed his presence, but then I saw the fly.

“Well what?” I asked as she continued to look over my phone.

“You could have deleted it,” she answered, shaking her head.

“Look,” I said as I held out my hand for my phone. When she handed it back to me, I slid it back into my pocket. “Why would I change my mind about selling the ring?”

“I don’t know, a conscience?” She said and I snorted as the ghost rose up and scowled at me.

“You can’t sell it, it's mine,” he said pointing at the ring.

“Then why would I want to put it back?” I asked, ignoring the look he shot me as I focused on her. The smile was fading from her lips as I talked. Her first attempt was to react with jokes or teasing, that’s how we were. Now that I knew she couldn’t see or hear him, the thought that I was going crazy came hauntingly back to my mind. I needed to leave the stone with her telling me that I wasn’t crazy, because I didn’t know if I could rely on my own words to convince myself.

“I don’t know, Asher,” she said, reaching over to grab my wrist. “Stop playing around, I’ve had enough.”

“I’m not,” I said, feeling the strength of her grip, she would be more intimidating if she wasn’t so small. She had a painful pinch in her arsenal though. “I’m either seeing a ghost or going crazy.”

“You did almost pass out when you entered the clearing,” she said, releasing my wrist. “You’re not crazy, Asher, I would never think you were.”

“You don’t believe me though,” I said, feeling the strain of leaning back on my heels. I pushed myself up off the ground and held my hand out for her.

“I don’t know,” she said, reaching up to smooth out her hair as she looked around. “This place has a really old and weird history, but I don’t truly believe in ghosts.”

“I didn’t either,” I said, stepping towards her.

“Where is he now?” She asked and I looked around until I saw him standing silently off to the side watching us. When he saw me he smiled and when I looked back at Kaelie she had already followed my gaze to look in his direction.

“What will it take?” I asked, feeling myself getting anxious. She could leave this clearing with a changed mind and not have anything to do with me. I could wake up tomorrow with a text from her telling me that she didn’t want to see me for a while, that she needed space. She didn’t do that when I came out to her, she took it in stride. She even zipped my pants back up for me and let me cry it out because she was the first person I told and I hated myself for what I almost did with her in a last ditch effort to prove a point that didn’t exist.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she hissed, shaking her head. “You know with that butt chin and your puppy dog eyes I can’t think.”

“I have to try,” I said, shrugging. “I’m here thinking you’re about to run screaming away from me.”

“No, never,” she said, offering me a smile. “If you’re destined for a straight jacket, I’ll be right there with you.”

“Thanks for that,” I said, reaching up, I ran my fingers through my hair and looked back out towards him.

“During visiting hours,” she continued and I shook my head trying not to laugh.

“And not on Tuesdays and Fridays because that’s when that beauty blogger does her live feeds,” I said, rolling my eyes when she nodded.

“What is the ghost wearing?” She asked and I sighed, turning to look at him. In the sunlight and the color of the grass and the sky, he wasn’t as easy to see. I could tell that me focusing on something that she couldn’t see was bothering Kaelie, I heard her let out a breath as I studied him.

“I can’t really tell,” I answered as the ghost came closer to where we stood. “His hair is wavy and it always looks like it is blowing in a soft breeze. He might have freckles across his nose, a hint of a beard.”

“Of course you’d notice his face,” she said and I turned to glance at her.

“I don’t know what his clothes are, a jacket that covers a shirt with a frilled collar, and pants that end below the knees,” I said remembering what I noticed about him the night before. “He has to be really still before he comes fully into focus for me and he rarely is.”

“Fine she said as she pulled both hands behind her back,” she said, straightening up as she looked at me. “Tell him to show you what my hands are doing.”

“Why not how many fingers you’re holding up?” I asked and she cocked an eyebrow.

“Because you can guess between one and ten,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “I’m ready.”

“Show me what she’s doing,” I said, but he had already formed behind her and was watching her.

“I’m confused,” he said, cocking his head to the side, “is this some kind of game?”

“It is to convince her that you’re here,” I answered, nodding my head. “Just show me with your hands what she’s doing behind her back.”

“Yes, I will,” he offered, then I watched him move his hand up and he made a fist with both hands and held them out in front of himself side by side. .

“You have both your hands balled up into fists,” I answered and I saw her squint and take a small step towards me. “Do something harder to guess.”

“Okay,” she said and I watched the muscles in her shoulders twitch as she moved her hands around behind her. “I’m ready.”

This time he made a circle with his index finger then did the same with his other hand, with his other fingers making a triangle. He was smiling and I wondered how much entertainment we gave him or what his days were like before last night.

“You’re linking your index fingers together,” I said and this time she shuddered completely away from where she thought he was standing.

“This is so fucking crazy,” she hissed as she put her hands back behind her.

“She’s vulgar too,” he said, his eyes going wide.

“Yes she is,” I answered and when she looked at me, her eyes wide I smirked ignoring her. “You have no idea how bad she gets.”

“What did he say about me?” She asked, “oh my god, I’m sweating like a sinner in church.”

“Just do one more,” I said and she shot me a glare and I watched her, but this time she kept moving and when he looked at me, he held one hand under his other one palm up, his other hand was an open fist. Then he started moving his fisted hand up and away from his palm, and then back again.

“You won’t guess this one,” she said as she continued what she was doing behind her back and waited.

“My god Kaelie, stop making him do that,” I groaned when it hit me and this time her hands flew out from behind her as her mouth fell open and she ran towards me.

“I can’t, I can’t,” she hissed as she crashed into me. “Where is he now, I’m so freaked out right now.”

“Still standing where he was,” I said as he watched us.

“He’s really here,” she said, stepping away from me. I swallowed and nodded my head. “That’s why I want to put the ring back.”

“No,” he yelled as he came storming towards me. “Don’t, don’t put it back.”

When I shuddered and shook my head Kaelie looked up at me and then around the clearing again. The ghost was darting around the stone, muttering, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying, it was coming out muffled and distant.

“He doesn’t want me to put it back there,” I said as I held up the ring and opened my palm. “He’s tied to it, he’ll be where it is.”

“I can see why he doesn’t want to be here,” she said looking up at me. “It would be so lonely.”

“Then you take him,” I said, holding out my hand. “You can’t even see him, you wouldn’t know he was there.”

“Hell yes I would,” she hissed, backing away from the ring. “You’ve just told me he would be there, idiot.”

“So we put him back,” I said looking down at the stone.

“Please,” he said as he came to a stop in front of me. “I will stay quiet, I will stay as far away as I can, but not here, please.”

“Don’t you think you belong here?” I asked as his scowl softened and I saw the pain I was causing and I wanted to look away. I needed my resolve to stay firm, I couldn’t leave this clearing with him, I would lose what sanity I had left.

“I don’t know where I belong,” he answered looking around. “I, I can’t remember where I was supposed to belong.”

“I’m sorry,” I said and this time it was Kaelie watching me and when I glanced at her, I knew I was confusing the hell out of her. Talking to something she couldn’t see.

“What’s he saying?” She whispered, taking a step closer to me not knowing that she was coming closer to him by doing so.

“He said he doesn’t remember where he belongs,” I answered and I saw her push out her bottom lip.

“The poor thing,” she said, shaking her head. “Ask him his name.”

“I already have,” I answered looking out across the clearing suddenly feeling ganged up on. “He doesn’t remember his name.”

“How did he die?” She asked and I looked over at her.

“He doesn’t remember that either,” I answered, sighing.

“Do you think that’s what happens to all ghosts?” She asked, tucking herself under my arm, leaning against me. I could feel the warmth of her and the chill radiating off him and I wanted to step away from both of them.

“I only know the one ghost, Kaelie,” I said and I jumped when she reached up and pinched me. “What the hell was that for?”

“Your smartass remark,” she answered, but when I went to raise my arm off her shoulder she reached up and pulled it back down across her chest. To anyone else we would look like a couple cuddling, awkwardly, but still. It wouldn’t look like I was being sandwiched between a scared girl and a depressed ghost. The only weird thing about us doing that, would be the location we picked. The unmarked grave, as peaceful of a place it was in the daytime, wasn’t the most romantic of spots the town offered. The superstitions about the woman buried underneath would never allow for the place to feel comfortable to me, especially now.

“Let’s put him back and get out of here,” I said as I started to try and retrieve my arm again.

“You can’t put him back, Asher,” she said as she stepped away from me.

“I can’t have him buzzing around scaring the hell out of me either,” I countered looking between the both of them. “I showered in my underwear this morning.”

“Why?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Are you ashamed of yourself?”

“No, I'm modest,” I said, shaking my head. “And I like my privacy.”

“Have you asked him if he can see through clothes and walls?” She asked, but the question had the same effect on both of us and I laughed when she stepped behind me.

“I can’t see through walls or clothing,” he answered, but I didn’t say anything. “You’ve been in various states of undress most of the day. You might catch a chill and be sick if you keep that up.”

“I know,” I said, closing my eyes not wanting to think about it. I still had most of my fitness from tennis, I liked how I looked for the most part. Everybody had things they wished were different, forever it was the cleft in my chin. People called me Ass-chin Asher in middle school until my growth spurt. Having three older brothers kept most of the bullying at a distance too. It all stopped after I dented my locker with a guy’s forehead my freshman year. After Gavin graduated, I knew the bullying would get worse. It was the first day of school, I had lifted weights and worked out harder during fitness training for tennis all summer. He didn’t even see me coming, it was a happy coincidence that he was standing near my locker that morning. His name is Hayden and no one knew that I apologized to him a few days later after school after my suspension was lifted, because that is who I was. I had been angry, but I ended up disliking myself for what I had done to him. I saw the look of shock and hurt, the anger twinged with his embarrassment. Having looked at the ghost, and seeing the fear and the sadness playing out on his face, I knew.

I was standing here at a stone and I knew I wouldn’t be pushing it back over to hide a ring and rid myself of a ghost. Not when he was looking at me like I held his entire happiness in my hand. I already knew that I did. I knew last night when I told him what I was planning to do and he pleaded with me then. I had been too scared to let anything else in, but now after some time with him, I saw him. I saw those same sad eyes, just mine more than once, in the mirror when my biggest secret threatened to knock the breath out of me again. If another night here was his biggest sadness then I didn’t know what that made me if I could walk away without him being able to follow behind me.

“I can be anywhere,” he said as he hovered over the stone. “Anywhere but here.”

“Then let’s go,” I said, sighing as I looked over at Kaelie and she smiled a tight smile. “We’ll drive around until you see somewhere you like.”

“Asher,” Kaelie said as she fell in step beside me. “You can’t do that either.”

“Why not?” I asked, glancing over at her.

“You would just be moving him from one prison to another,” she said, looking around at the place for herself.

“What am I supposed to do?” I asked, throwing my hands into the air. “Take him with me everywhere I go, like a dog? I feel him around me every time I touch his ring.”

“Then don’t touch it,” she said looking up at me with a smile that told me she wasn’t trying to be helpful. “I don’t know, I can’t understand what you’re going through.”

“I apologize,” he offered and I glanced on my other side to see him hovering along beside us as we walked. He was studying me, his wavy hair flowing across his forehead, not long enough to get into his eyes, but only just. I didn’t know how old he was when he died, but he had a youthful look to him, he wasn’t older than me, maybe my age or a little younger.

“We could go to the graveyard in the town to see if a name stands out,” Kaelie suggested as she walked ahead then turned to walk backwards. Her eyes were wide like the idea had just hit her. We were about to cross through the treeline again, down the middle path was the graveyard. It wasn’t visible through the trees and how the land gently rolled between the stone and there.

“Could we?” He asked as Kaelie turned around just at the treeline and I ducked a tree limb and followed her as he walked right through the tree itself. Watching her ponytail bounce as she stepped over the uneven ground and tree roots I didn't know what I wanted to do. I hated not knowing his name though and I remembered how upset he got when I had asked him and he couldn’t tell me.

“It starts with an E,” I said as we cleared the treeline and kept walking over another manicured lawn to the graveyard. It had a low iron fence around it and a large oak tree that was still living, in the center of it. On the other side of it was the church, which was separated from the rest of the town by another small dip. There was a path that led from the church to the town, but this hill was slightly higher than the town itself. None of the hills were large, just gentle rolls in the earth that took little effort to climb. “Someone that is around our age.”

“Our age?” Kaelie asked, looking over her shoulder as she continued to lead us towards the graveyard.

“Yeah,” I answered looking towards him, he didn’t offer anything so I looked forward as we started up the hill. Being closer to the graves he darted forward leaving us both behind. I didn’t know how far of a range he had or what happened if he crossed that threshold. With him gone I couldn’t ask him, but made a mental note to do it later, when he wasn’t so focused on this.

“You have to admit it does have a prettier view,” Kaelie said after we got to the small iron fence and looked around. The fence was more decorative than confining, Kaelie being shorter than me easily stepped over it. The jagged points made me hesitate, I had a lot to lose if I fell.

Making it over the fence I looked up at the tree that stood watch over the graves, like a giant sentinel. The trunk of it had to be five feet across and there was no telling how old the thing was. I didn’t know how long they lived either, I couldn’t imagine it being here for as long as the town had been, but the people who lived here seemed to give the tree room to grow its roots. Looking past the tree I saw the ghost darting from grave to grave, he was too far away and moving too quickly for me to know if he was saying anything. Instead I looked out at the view and saw hayfields dominating the landscape. The town looked smaller from here than it did back at the museum, even though we weren’t that far from it. The buildings were also nestled closely together, the largest being the old Mayors’ estate. It looked different from the others, but it had the most recent occupants, being privately owned until finally donated to the county after the last surviving relative wanted to move out of the state. That was still well before my grandpa was born.

“Thank you,” the ghost said well before he came into view in front of me. I jumped not expecting his sudden appearance. Frowning at him I nodded my head then looked to see that Kaelie was already looking at the graves and I hoped his answers were buried here. If he was here, maybe he would want to stay and I could be rid of him. After another glance in his direction I sighed and started walking towards the gravestones.