Among the stars

Chapter two:

Bright. Too bright.

Harper's eyes fluttered open slowly. At first she had no clue where she was. The sun was streaming on her face, making it feel as if see was burned.

"What the hell?" Sitting up, she realized she was in Adri's van. Only then did she remember the events leading up to where she was now.

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One day earlier
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"Adrianna, where are you?" Harper whispered as she drove around town to all of Adri's favorite hang out spots.

Harper was exhausted. She had searched since the moment she got out of school. Looking down at her phone, the time read 2:48 a.m. Sighing she slowly pulled over into a small clearing in the woods surrounding the road. She could barely keep her eyes open by the time she put the car in park. Yet she was restless all the same.

She evaded devastation by 2 days, but she knew she was a fool to get used to that miracle. Nevertheless, she was in denial. She couldn't lose her sister. Not after everything they've been through, and everything shes said. Not after the way Harper pushed her away when their mother left.

The restlessness was overpowered by Harper's exhaustion as she succumbed to her heavy eyes.

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That's right, she hadn't gone home last night. She was about 15 minutes away from home. She had been heading back into her small town when she had to pull over. Looking down to check her phone, the drained battery image popped up.

"Damn.." She hadn't plugged it in, "So stupid."

She pulled herself together in the van, turned the ignition, and veered herself back onto the road. The drive was quiet. Too quiet. She was used to Adrianna being there and filling the silence with her thoughts and opinions. The radio didn't work so all she had was listening to how her sister's mind worked. Harper gripped the steering wheel tighter, knuckles turning white.
She's not gone. She wouldn't go without saying anything, much less a note or a sign.

•~•

So Harper waited. 3 months. When there was still no sign of Adri, Harper couldn't take it. Her sister wasn't gone. There was no way she was given the gift of her sister after death, just for God to rip it away from her like some sick joke. Harper was angry, no, furious. There were no words to convey the way she felt the moment she realized Adrianna wasn't going to come back. Not on her own at least. Harper was pissed that Adri ditched her. So she swore she'd find her and tear her a new one about abandoning family.

Harper had avoided the writing club, avoided interaction with others, and overall shut down. She was angry and knew if she'd interacted with other people, she'd take it out on them. She knew it wouldn't be their fault, and she didn't want to explain why she was angry to people, who wouldn't understand and probably send her somewhere for being crazy. She couldn't just say, 'sorry I'm not angry at you, my sister who died still talks to me and appears to me, and now she really disappeared like an asshole.' She'd be labeled schizophrenic.

After school, she stood up from her desk and gathered her things. Her teacher noticed Harper's change in attitude since that first day, but hadn't reached out or said anything. She figured it was the grief and let Harper be. Not that Harper was complaining, she didn't want to talk to anyone. So when someone tapped on her shoulder, she couldn't help but let out an annoyed sigh.

Turning around, it was the same boy who snapped his neck. His hair looked different. Sure the last time Harper even noticed another person was 3 months ago, but jeez.

"Can I help you?" Harper quirked her eyebrow at the boy. He was slightly taller than her, but not enough to intimidate her, thank goodness.

"Yeah, hi, can we talk privately?" Jonah asked. Naturally Harper was ready to punch him and tell him to piss off. But curiosity got the best of her. It was something in his facial expression that told her she should talk to him.

Nodding and gesturing to the door, Harper let Jonah guide her all the way out of school and to the soccer field. Jonah sat down by a nearby tree and patted the ground next to him. Hesitantly, Harper sat. No one spoke for a moment, just listening to the tree move with the wind. Like Harper's little swing she realized. Before long the silence was painful.

"Why'd you drag me all the way out here?" Harper broke the unbearable silence.

Jonah sat still without even looking in Harper's direction when he spoke, "Did your sister disappear about 4 months ago?"

Harper's eyes widened. "What are you talking about? She died."

"I think you know what I mean." Jonah stated, finally turning his grey eyes to face her green ones. "Sure she died, but you still saw her didn't you?"

Harper couldn't breathe. Was she hearing him right? She wasn't going crazy? But how had he known? He couldn't see Adrianna so how does he know?

"It might sound crazy, but I lost my brother Tom 2 years ago. Only, I didn't lose anything. He was still around for me. Talking, walking, interacting with things like he would if he were still here. Only thing is, no one else saw what I did. My parents would tell me to stop, and scream at me saying I was only making Tommy's death harder on them. Told me I was a lunatic, and I needed help. So eventually I stopped telling people. They never believed me anyway, so why bother."

"Look, I'm sorry about your brother and your shitty parents, but why tell me all of this? What makes you think I'll believe you?" Harper asked, trying to defer the subject. It's not all that impossible he found out about Harper talking to Adri. Harper's dad could have told the school to keep an eye on her, giving teachers a reason to make sure she "wasn't losing it".

"I know you'll believe me, because you talked to Tom that day."

What? When? Who was he? What did he look like- Oh.

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She then turned fully around to see a boy sitting behind her, playing with the rings on his fingers. He was slouched in his chair, no paper in front of him, and didn't seem to care about doing what was instructed. Harper then whispered to him, "Funny coming from the guy who isn't even doing the assignment."

Immediately, he looked up and his eyes went wide. The boy next to him snapped his head over to her and stared like he'd seen a ghost.

"What?" Harper whispered to them both.
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"He had sat right behind you, and next to me. We couldn't believe it when you'd spoken to him." Jonah saw Harper's eyes widen with realization.

"Wait so, he's..?"

"Yeah, to everyone else he's dead." Jonah answered.

"How do you know about Adrianna then?" Harper asked.

"Because I saw her too."

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Words: 1190
A/N: Apologies for the shorter chapter, I promise everything will even out as the story continues.