G – Ghost Girl

I’m not sure how long I’ve been like this, it seems like it’s been an eternity. No one speaks. I’m completely alone, even in a crowd. In the beginning I tried talking to everyone I could find. Nothing. I didn’t understand, until I saw him. Then I remembered.

I walked to our spot in the park. He wasn’t here. Not that I could tell him I love him. It wasn’t his fault. I sighed.

A girl walked down the path, completely absorbed in a book. She didn’t realize she was walking into the tree limb until it was too late. The book hit the ground.

“No! Did it keep my place?” she said, rushing to pick up the book. “Crap.”

I laughed. “Smooth move.”

“That’s rude. You could have warned me.”

I glanced around. She couldn’t be talking to me. No one talked to me.

“Cat’s got your tongue now?” she said, dusting the book off.

“You can see me?” I asked.

“Are you off your meds?”

For the first time in so long I had hope.

“I need your help!” I yelled. Closing the distance between us.

“Sorry, I have to go,” she said, sprinting away.

I followed her. I had to talk to Ethan.

“You with the book, stop!”

She glanced at me. Her eyes widened and she ran to a group of people watching their kids by a playground.

“Help, she’s following me!” she yelled.

“Sweetie who’s following you?” a lady asked.

“That girl in the blue hoodie right there!” she said, pointing at me again.

“There’s no one there hon. Do we need to call someone for you?”

“Are you serious? She’s standing right there! She chased me through the park!”

The mom group glanced at each other in concern.

“They can’t see me,” I said, walking closer.

“Of course they can see you.”

To make my point I walked through one of the mom’s. I tried not to walk through people. It’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me. Weirder than waking up dead. You can feel what they’re feeling, get snaps of their thoughts. It’s cold and creepy.

“Oh my God!” she yelled and ran.

I followed her again.

“No, no, no! Nonna said she talked to ghosts. No one believed her. No, this isn’t happening to me!” she said, pacing with her book wrapped in her arms.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to cause you any trouble, but I need you to talk to my husband.”

“Dude, give me a minute. I didn’t know ghosts were a thing two minutes ago. Or that I can chat them up.” She took a deep breath.

#

She knocked on the door of our house. Ethan answered. God, he looked worse than he did the last time I saw him.

Dark circles highlighted his bloodshot blue eyes, that no longer shone with warmth and laughter. They were cold and empty.

He hadn’t shaved in a while. The pajama pants he wore were stained and wrinkled, like he hadn’t changed clothes in a while.

He didn’t say anything he just stared at her.

“Ethan, my name is Anna. I’m here to talk to you about Lizzy.”

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. No.” He started to shut the door.

“Lizzy says you were singing Beatles songs in the car.”

He paused, glaring at Anna. “Excuse me?”

“Lizzy is haunting me until I help her talk to you. She’s threatened to sing the most annoying songs she knows until I help her.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You can’t be serious.”

“She says you were singing All You Need is Love right before the crash.”

“Oh my God,” he said. All the color had drained from his face. His hand was shaking when he motioned for her to come in the house.

“Is she here?”

“Oh yeah, she’s right in front of you.”

He put his hand out to touch me. As soon as he made contact I wanted to cry. Pain. Despair.

“She wants to tell you it’s not your fault the car crashed.”
“It was my fault. I took my eyes off the road. I didn’t have time to react,” he said, tears filling his eyes.

“No. Even if you’d seen it. There was no way to stop or swerve. She loves you so much. She wants you to take care of yourself. Stop dwelling on it. Stop thinking your dark thoughts.” Anna turned to me and asked, “What do you mean?”

Anna gasped. “Ethan, I know you miss her, but you have to continue living.”

“Why did she die? Why not me? She’s everything… I made so many mistakes,” Ethan said, sobs wracking his body.

“She says she knows you did. She loves you anyway. She even knew about the chick you saw when you separated. She loved you anyway.”

“She knew?”

Anna nodded. “Lizzy says that you’re not responsible for her death, but she’s going to…” Anna hesitated. “I’m not saying that Lizzy. Fine, she’s going to come back from the grave to kick your butt if you don’t get your crap together.”

He smiled. “She didn’t say butt or crap did she?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, no she did not. Was she this much of a pain when she was alive?”

“Yes.” he said, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

“She wants you to be happy and healthy. Will you promise to find someone to talk to and take care of yourself without her?”

Grief washed over his face. Sadness was almost palpable in the room.

“Ethan, I know this is weird, but I can stop by or something if you ever need to talk,” Anna offered.

He nodded. “I love you Lizzy.”

“I love you too sweet cheeks,” I said, as warmth spread through my body.

I flickered into view. Ethan gasped. I walked up to him and kissed him. “You only get the one life. Don’t mess it up,” I whispered, fading away.