Then it happened

Chapter 4

Fast forward a few months, to the fourth of July, and I was at my Dad and Kansas' house. Grace was coming over, with her parents, Lewis and Eliza.

I was sitting on the couch, on my phone, texting my friend, Lauren. "I'm home!" I heard someone call, and I looked up. It was Grace, and she walked into the living room. "Hello," she said absentmindedly looking at me for a second to signal it was towards me before walking over to the pantry.

"Hey!" I said, getting up and following her. Grace ignored me and scanned the shelves for anything to eat. "How are you?" I asked. Grace didnt say anything and went and sat on the couch.

"Grace!" I heard Riley from upstairs. "RILEY!!!" She squeaked and ran upstairs and tackled Riley to the ground. I sat down at the table as Lewis and Eliza came in. Kansas came out of her bedroom, and greeted them. Lewis went straight out the backyard with the fireworks they brought.

Gabriel, Grace's little brother, followed him. "Alex, can you please get me some water?" I asked Riley's younger brother. "Sure," he said. He got me a cup and brought it to me before going back to the VR.

I drank the water before going up the stairs to Riley's room and sitting on his bed. Grace walked in to, but went under the bed instead. Riley went over to his computer.

"Yeah, Riley's cousin/friend Grace and her family came over." I texted Lauren. "Oh? Really? No one came over for the fourth here, just me and my parents." She answered. "Oh, I wish I was there, I want to talk to Grace but she is ignoring me," I texted. "Oh, did you do something to her?" Lauren asked. "Not that I know of," I answered. "Oh, then that sucks." She said. "Yep," I said before putting my phone down and sitting up.

"Why are you under the bed?" I asked Grace. I heard her sigh  before answering. "Cause its comfy," she said. "Oh, ok. Well, I'm gonna go outside if either of you wanted to come with me," I said, no answer. I left the room, and went outside to the swing set and sat on one of the swings.

I watched as Lewis gave a sparkler to Gabriel, to which the boy laughed and started running with it. "Crazy little kid," I laughed to myself. "He sure seems happy," one of my ghosts, Aiden said. I jumped. "Holy shit Aiden, how many times have I told you not to do that?" I said before calming down. "Jeez, I'm sorry Shey," he said. "No, no its ok, you just startled me, is all," I said and looked at him.

"You looked lonely, so I came over, thought you could use some company." He said. "I was only thinking," I said, staring at the fire pit. "Mmm, about what?" He asked. "Fireworks," I lied. Truthfully, I was thinking about Grace, because I so desperately wanted her to like me but she didnt really seem to. "Ahh, I like the little colored smoke bombs," he said. "I think those are called 'Russian Candles'," he finished. I shrugged. "I dont know."

I got off the swing and stood up. "I am going back inside, you can come if you want," I said before walking away. Aiden followed me, and when I got inside I sat on a circular couch/chair and Aiden sat next to me. "Where is Riley?" He asked. "Up in his room with Grace, why?" I asked confused. He shrugged. "I don't know exactly," he said. "Ok, idiot," I said.

"Who are you talking to?" Alex asked me, still on VR. "No one," I said hurriedly. "If I tell him I see and hear things, he is gonna think I'm crazy," I thought. "Ok, thats fine, I am gonna go outside though, pretty sure my Dad and Lee are going to start the fireworks, its getting dark." I heard Grace from upstairs. Lee was Kansas best friend who lived with her and my Dad. He was also good friends with Lewis.

"Fireworks?" Aiden said. "Yes, its the fourth of July, remember?" I said getting up. "Oh yeah, I am dumb," he said. "Yes, you are idiot," I said. Grace came downstairs and went outside to watch the fireworks, and I followed. Alex came out to, which surprised me, because he usually spent his time on the VR.

Lee handed me and Grace small fireworks that we set off in the yard. Then, we went and got sparklers and when those went out I followed her to the swing set. "Oh look, Dick Wad is here," Grace said. "And Trash Man, oh, and look, Blondie to!" Confused I looked where she was and saw faint outlines of what looked like humans standing there. "Who are they?" I asked. "My ghosts," She replied. "You have them to? So I'm not crazy?" I said, shocked. "Nope, pretty sure you are," she whispered so I could barely hear. "Nope, your just as sane as I am," She said outloud. "Where have I heard that before?" I asked myself.

"I don't call mine 'Trash Man' or 'Blondie' or anything like that, they have regular names," I said. Grace stayed silent. "Hmm, lets see, there is Aiden, James, Maria, those are the maine three." I said before staring up as someone set off a firework.

As if it was dominos, everyone started setting off fireworks. Grace and I both started to record. As they were going off, Kansas came up to us. "Did you see the moon?" She asked. "No," I said. "Nope," Grace said. "Look at it, its kinda pink," "Eww, pink," I thought but got up to follow Kansas over to the tree to see the moon better. Grace followed. "Pretty," she said. "Its very orange," I said. "And kinda pink," I added.

"Did you eat anything?" Kansas asked me. "No, but I will later, ok?" I said. "Alright, thats fine with me," she said before going back to join the adults by the table on the patio. Suddenly Lee took some fireworks out to the front yard and everyone followed. After setting off a few in the street, Lee went back to the back yard to set off "The big ones," as he put it.

Lewis helped him set it up, and after it was set off, the firework was so big it was like a blanket of sparkles in the sky. "Oooh, wow,"  I said to myself. "Thats very pretty," I heard a voice next to me say. I turned and saw Maria standing there. "It is, Eliza said it was a sky flower," I said watching more go off.

After all the fireworks were set off it was pretty late and we decided to go inside. I followed Grace up to Riley's room, where we went back to our spots- me on the bed and her under it. "Why didnt you come out and watch?" I asked Riley. "Asthma, and people, also loud noises," he answered. "Oh, ok then." I looked down at my phone to see that one of my ghosts had started to text Grace.

"Hi...." They said.
"Sup hoe," Grace answered.
"Nothing much," they said and I realized it was James, Maria's younger twin brother.
"Peace," James texted.
"So you leavin?" Grace said.
"Uh, no." James answered.
"Oh, Alright." Grace texted. "Why would I leave?" James asked me. I shrugged.
"I'm literally right next to you," he said to Grace. "Oof," she said, coming out from under the bed and getting onto it with me.

"Can you not lay on me please?" I said to James. "Whatever," he said and left. I put my head on a pillow and played a game on my phone before accidentally falling asleep with my phone in my hand.

Hours later, I woke up to find that both Grace and Riley had fallen asleep, Riley on the pullout bed be always slept on, and Grace at my feet. Then I noticed that Grace was hugging my leg, and I quietly laughed to myself before rolling back over and going back to sleep.

The second time I woke up just as both Riley and Grace woke up. Grace realized she was holding my leg and quickly let go. Then all three of us went downstairs to find that breakfast was made. We all ate before Eliza said that they had to go.

"Bye Riley!" Grace said hugging him. "Bye Shey," she said quickly before leaving the house. "Bye Grace," I said as she walked away.

Long after they had gone, I sat at the table staring at my food, thinking about that fourth of July, the best in my opinion, that I had had in a while. But even though I had enjoyed it, a thought still fought with me, that no matter how hard I had tried, Grace didnt like me. "Maybe she will eventually," I said. "Huh?" Riley said and I realized he was right next to me. "Oh nothing," I said before getting up to go sit on the couch and get lost in my thoughts again.