Ethereal - Chapter 1

Ethereal 

Chapter 1

I’m lost.

But I know I’m on the corner of Harmony St and Fleeting Rd.

I’m lonely.

But I’m standing in a crowd of people with my friends and girlfriend.

I’m sad.

But there is nothing wrong with my life except one thing.

I’m dead.

This is the afterlife, eh? Well, it’s painless, I guess, I can’t feel my broken chest or crushed organs and I’m able to walk just like I could when I was alive. Huh… I’m leaning against the building beside the footpath, watching my friends grieve and the crowds walk past. I watch as a little boy comes walking down the path, running his hand along the wall as he walks, his little arm passing right through me. Already figured I couldn’t touch people… but what about objects? Just to see, I pick up a small stone off the ground with ease and close my fingers around it, encompassing the rock. Weird… I can pick up objects. Damn, does that mean the theory about ghosts being about to pass through walls isn’t true? I was hoping it was.

I wonder how Scott is feeling right now… I know he didn’t mean to push me onto the oncoming traffic but he’s stronger than he looks and I’m kinda weak, I hope he doesn’t feel too bad. Who am I kidding, of course he does, he’s going to blame himself for it, I just know it... I wonder if I can leave a message for him to make him okay? Oh shit, what about Kayley… I can see her now, she’s just lost it. My poor girl… My poor little angel… she’ll be okay right…?

“Dale!” I can hear her cry my name as she collapses to the ground, sobbing. Who am I kidding? She won’t be “okay”.

Jake and Cassy rush to her, hugging her tight and in tears herself while Jake seems shocked, kneeling beside the girls. I look over to Scott who is stunned, paralysed even, with his girlfriend, Eva, trying to get him to respond to her but doesn’t seem to be succeeding. Gah, what can I do? Nothing…

Interesting thing about being dead is seeing your own body before you, mangled and broken and yet you’re not controlling it. I watch as my crushed body gets lifted into the ambulance, a crowd of people watching along with my sobbing girlfriend, unable to take her eyes off my dead body. I guess it was that image of my dead body that make being dead feel real because there is no way that body is alive and there is no question that that body is… me.

“Scott? What are you doing?” I hear Eva talk and turn around to see what was happening.

Scott had walked down the footpath and didn’t appear to be stopping, even as Eva was pulling on his arm, as hard as she could.

“Scott?! Answer me!” Eva’s voice is worried… terrified even, he hasn’t said anything since I died.

He slowly starts turning onto the road, not paying attention to any traffic or anything, not caring either… he better not try to… he better not…

Moments before he stepped in front of the car driving down the road, Jake pulled him back onto the footpath.

“What the hell, man? We just lost one friend, we don’t need to lose another!” Jake yells, trying to talk some sense into the man.

“It’s my fault…” Scott spoke, softly. “It’s entirely my fault…”

“Scotty… baby, it’s not your fault, you didn’t mean to, we don’t blame you.” Eva stands in front of him and holds his face with both hands, forcing him to look at her, a fearful, shamed look in his eyes. “Don’t blame yourself, baby…”

Scott… my best friend since primary school… I don’t blame you, man, it wasn’t your fault… I pick up a rock from my feet and go over to the wall of the building. I start dragging the rock against the bricks, writing the words “It’s not your fault”.

It takes a few moments for Scott, Jake and Eva to hear the scraping sound and start watching the wall in amazement as the words form.

“It’s not your fault…?” Eva reads out slowly, shocked.

“Dale…?” Scott asks softly, scared. “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, Dale… please forgive me…”

“Hey, if that was him, he doesn’t blame you, man…” Jake says, still staring at the wall in disbelief.

Good, they know it was me… I smile softly, watching them. They’ll be okay… I know they will.

“Scott? Are you okay?” Cassy comes up the path towards them with a red-faced Kayley walking next to her. “Guys… what are you looking at?”

Kayley and Cassandra follow their gaze to the brick wall I wrote on, looking quite confused.

“When did that get there…?” Kayley asks, sniffing gently.

“I think Dale wrote it…” Eva said quietly.

“Dale…?” Kayley’s hair goes everywhere as she turns around rapidly, looking every which way. “Dale! Can you hear us?!”

I can hear you, baby…

She turns to the wall and rests her head against it, her fingers tracing the words. “It looks just like his hand writing… Dale…? If you can hear us… if you can hear me… I love you…”

I love you too, princess… I reach out my hand to touch her shoulder but my hand passes through her. Shit, I forgot about that… All I can do is watch as her eyes fill with tears once again, Eva by her side and hugging her while Cassy rubs her back gently. Scott is still staring at the wall in disbelief with Jake’s hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s all just go home… Kay, do you want to stay at our house? Then you won’t have to go home just yet… It’ll just be you, me, Scott and Cassy” Eva asks her, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear as Kayley faces her and nods slowly.

“Yea, you can come to ours, Kay, it’ll give you more time before you have to go home…” Scott said, nodding and agreeing with his girlfriend.

“Thank you…” Kayley says quietly, sadness still present in her voice.

My poor girl… at least the others are supporting her. They all start walking back to where our cars were all parked… lucky I guess that Kay and I carpooled with Jake so our car wasn’t there. I walk with there, listening and watching as my princess whimpers quietly with Eva gently whispering words of comfort and Scott walking with his head down. I don’t want to imagine the guilt he’s feeling right now…

“Hey Jake, wanna come to ours as well? Then it can be all of us together tonight…” Cassy asks him as they walk.

Everyone knows that Cassy likes Jake… except Jake. But you can never tell what Jake is thinking, he’s good at hiding his thoughts and his emotions very well so we don’t know whether he likes Cassy back or not… I hope he does, I reckon they’d be good together… Jake’s lack of emotion and Cassy’s excessive amounts of it might make him open up a little more which would be great.

“Sure, I’ll come... I’ll drive myself there though; I don’t want to leave my car out here overnight.” Jake says, his face passive as always. “You can come if you want, I don’t really remember the way to your house.”

“Sure, I’ll go with you.” Cassy smiles and matches her pace with his so she can walk with him. “We’ll see you guys back at our place.”

Jake and Cassy go in a different direction to Jake’s car while the other trio continue down to where Scott’s car is waiting.

“I’ll drive, Scotty, can you pass me the keys?” Eva asks, Scott promptly tossing her his keys not long after she had spoken. “Thanks, baby.”

I wonder if the theory of possession is true… That’d help me get around easier. I wouldn’t want to possess a person, fuck no, I would never want to do that to someone… objects on the other hand, I can do. I want to stay with Kayley, she’s my main concern right now… Her phone? Nah, that’s usually in her pocket, I wouldn’t be able to see anything… Her necklace. The one I gave her, she never takes it off… perfect. Smiling to myself about how clever I am, I focus on the silver necklace around her neck and the heart shaped pendent with our names engraved into the back. I focus…. Focussing… Nope, never mind, can’t do it… I look around again, trying to find a way to get in the car when I realise I already am inside the car and I can’t see Kayley… wait it worked? Aha! I am a clever boy, very clever.

“Kay, I have chocolate at home if you want some, it’s in my room, I’ll find it when we get home.” Eva says in an attempt to cheer the poor girl up.

“Wait, since when did you have chocolate in our room? I want some!” Scott said, pretending to look shocked at his girlfriend.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you because it’s mine and I don’t want you to eat it.” Eva grins at him, poking his tongue out.

Kayley giggles lightly at their banter, lifting her hand and holding the pendent that I’ve currently possessed, running her fingers along the edges of it. It feels so nice to feel her touch again… I’m gonna miss my girl a lot… I wonder if she’ll miss me