Ghost town

The Parents

"Hi, I'm sorry if I was interrupting. I was just..."

"It's okay Ali, isn't it? I'm Carl Sam's Dad", he said reassuringly, reaching out to shake my hand.

"Hi Ali, I'm Tyler's Mum. I've heard a lot about you", the woman whispered in that hushed ghost voice.

"Come in Ali, I need to speak to you", said Tyler pulling me inside before I could say anything.

He pulled me into a small room with a cream sofa and fireplace full of wispy flames.

"What... Why... I don't underst-"

"It's fine Ali, you don't have to be scared", he reassured me.

"Is this why you have been off of school?"

"What, because of my Mum, no. She died last year", he said.

"So it wasn't the bullying that made you do that", I said, looking at his wrists.

"No, we moved after the funeral. My Mum was the first dead person I ever saw. I told my Dad and he had been seeing them ever since he was 18, and I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. But of cause I had to tell someone what I saw, everyone I told thought I was nuts and made fun of me. One day a teacher at my old school rung to tell my Dad. That's why we moved", he said, taking in a deep breath. It was obviously a hard thing to talk about for him.

"Tyler... I had no idea. I'm so sorry."

"No you have nothing to apologise for, I should have told you sooner," he quietly whispered, so that I could barely hear him.

In my failed attempt to comfort him, I took his hand.

"Thanks Ali."

"For what?"

"For being here, it makes me feel better knowing someone actually cares about me."

"I'll always be here, no matter what."

We sat there a few minutes, my head on his shoulder, our hands together as like we would never let each other go.

"You never told me why you were off school", I said looking up to him.

"Family emergency, my little brother wanted to know what it would be like to live on the beach. He even set up a little camp there."

I couldn't help laughing. It reminded me so much of Jason. "Just the kind of thing my brother would do", I said, seeing a beautiful smile cross his face.