Bonded

Chapter Ten

"Christy?" When I walked into the café, I saw her sitting at a table by herself, frantically tapping her phone.

"Are you Diana? Oh! You brought pants!" She quickly got up, and snatched the jeans out of my hands. "Be right back." So I sat down in another chair and waited for her to get back from the bathroom. The little girl's mother saw Christy as a demon... but from what I saw...she's just an eccentric girl who is willing to wear a strangers pants.

I was starting to worry. Seth had left, and how could I convince Christy that her brother was here when he... wasn't? Seth, please. I need you right now.

Nothing.

When Christy emerged from the bathroom, she had a smile on her face. "Oh man, I feel great. These fit perfectly! Are they yours?"

"Uh, no actually. They belong to my friend. I sort of just took them."

"That's my girl. So, you said you know where Seth is?"

Moment of truth. "Yes. A while ago, I noticed something weird. A shadow, really, hovering in the corner of my sight-"

"Naturally. Please, go on."

I took me a second to figure out whether she actually believed me or if that was sarcasm, but I went on. "And I also had weird dreams about a boy with dark hair and blue eyes, like yours, and in my dreams he drowned." Christy's smile suddenly turned into a frown. "And then I saw the shadow again, and he possessed me, kind of. In the morning, he possessed my teddy bear and we had a conversation. He said –that is, your brother –said that his name was Seth, and that he'd been 12 when he died, about five years ago."

"Seth. My little brother. Can I talk to him?"

"He.... You can't. Not right now. He doesn't want to talk to anybody, I think."

I'm okay now. Tell her we should come over.

I literally gasped and covered my mouth when I heard his voice in my head. Seth! Where did you go? Don't leave again, you hear me!?

I just needed to think. I won't do it again, though. Anyways, tell her we can come to her house.

"He's back now. He just said we should come over to your house to talk." She looked dubious, but I could tell she was also curious. She bit her bottom lip and nodded, picking up the pile of papers that had been on the table.

"It's not that far. Can you come over today? I don't have anything planned." She laughs suddenly, "and even if I did, frankly I don't care!"

"Oh." I crossed my arms and shivered as a breeze came by. At this point, we had left the cafe, and were on our way back to Christy's house. I was wearing my new pink jacket. "Do you actually have any real training in dealing with... er... supernatural occurrences?"

"Well this one guy from college was super into stuff like this, and we read up on it in our free time. Never paid money to go through any stupid classes though, the people running those are fakers ninety percent of the time. My job is based off of experience."

"Isn't that illegal? Do you even need a license or something?" I whispered.

"Sweetie, barely anything I do is legal."

I just shook my head and looked at the door in front of us. "This is my place," Christy said. "Not much, but it's home." Now I know what you're thinking-

She's a stranger. I met her in a café I'd never been to. She's weird enough to be called a demon by neighbors, and 'barely anything she did was legal'. All of these things pointed to the fact that I should NOT be going into her house, especially alone, without my parents or anyone for that matter knowing where I am. What would my parents think of me?

Well, to be honest I didn't care. They didn't know about Seth. They wouldn't understand why this was necessary. Besides, I had a pretty sweet pocketknife in my back pocket in case things got ugly.

Don't worry about it kid. Christy's always been a rebel, but she's never hurt anybody.

I just sighed in response. As of five years ago. People can change. When she led me into the house, I gasped. There were pictures everywhere, paintings and photos and origami scattered throughout the room. "Yeah," She smiled. "Gets them every time. Pretty impressive, huh? You'd be amazed what someone can do in her spare time. Plus, this is what I do for a living. That and ruining town buildings with graffiti. And helping scared people with haunted houses. But mainly this."

She set down her papers on a desk, shoving some pencils and pastels out of the way as she did. They fell to the floor with a few soft thuds. She then sat on her couch, and gestured for me to do the same. I sat on the farthest cushion from her, just to be safe. Then I called on Seth.

At first, nothing happened. Then I felt a pressure in my chest and a tugging sensation in my head. Seth had lost his black dust form, now everything was more mental and less physical when he entered and left my body. The boy suddenly appeared in front of us in his nearly transparent form, wearing his faded black jeans and green hoodie as always.

"Hey Christy."

She didn't even blink, but her eyes seemed to shine. "I knew it. I KNEW IT! You little shit! All these years and you never visited me!?"

You should have seen his face. "W-what? I-"

"I know you died and all, but a ghost should visit his family once in awhile. I missed you. Why are you guys staring at me? Is there something on my face?" As she wiped her face, Seth and I shared a confused look. It was me who spoke up.

"Christy, why are you not surprised?-"

"Oh kid, you don't know me. I've been able to see ghosts since I was ten. Mom called it a curse, but I call it FREAKING AWESOME! And I've known Seth didn't leave this plane of existence because I saw him a few days after he died. I saw his ghost, but I couldn't say anything because he left and I didn't know where he'd gone. So when you called me, I was like 'HOLY MOTHERFUCK' and I knew that I could finally see him again and prove mom wrong. Aw, if she could see me now."

"Christy, we have a problem." Seth's voice was firm, despite the obvious longing to see his family that I felt from him

"Huh?"

"Somehow Diana and I are attached. It's some kind of bond that doesn't let me go anywhere without her. We share thoughts and emotions too. We wanted to know if you can help us get rid of it."

Christy chewed on her lip again, a habit that I had already noticed. Then she sighed and nodded, standing up to tower over her brother. "I'll try to help, but you have to stick around for a while. Which means your friend is going to have to stay the night."

I called my dad and he said that I could stay, since he still thought I was out with the girls. He was used to me having sleepovers. He only warned me that I had better not miss school tomorrow, and I said that I'd be there.

It was a lie, of course.

Christy made me tell her EVERYTHING about how I was connected to the ghost boy, and then she had Seth tell it from his point of view, starting with the moment he drowned.