Music filled at the auditorium as a band practiced for their show tonight, a few people wandered around the floor, making sure that everything was set up and ready for the concert. Alma was singing the song that she wrote all those years ago, she had ended up calling it Ghost, she had worked on it for years before the band put it out as their first single. Everything was going perfect for Scarlett Eyes...that is until Alma started to see him again, started to see the man who she had been married to in a past life and who had tried to marry her when she was just a teenager.
"Hey, Alma! Pay attention!" Someone called out loudly before she suddenly stepped too close to the edge of the stage, the spot light having been shining too brightly in her eyes, and she suddenly fell off with a cry of surprise. Alma closed her eyes tightly as she prepared to hit the floor, only the pain of the landing never came, instead of hitting the floor she was caught in a pair of strong arms. "You gotta be more careful there babe, don't want to get hurt." Said a rough familiar voice.
Alma's eyes snapped open and she cried out when she saw Beetlejuice holding her, she quickly started to struggle to try and get away from him. "Alma, chill out, what's wrong?" The voice of their manager said, looking up again, Alma was shocked to see that it was her manager who caught her and not... someone else. "What's going on with you? I know that you fell off the stage, but what are you freaking out over? I caught you before you could fall." Marko said as he put her down on her feet.
Gulping nervously, Alma shook her head. "Sorry, I uhh...I guess I need some air, I'll be right back." She said before she practically ran out of the auditorium, hands shaking as she got outside and took out her cellphone when she suddenly noticed it buzzing. She noticed that it was Delia was blowing up her phone and there were even a few from Lydia asking if she was texting her too, she quickly Lydia back saying that she was headed for the gallery as soon as she told her manager what was going on.
"Hey, Marko! I have to head off to see Delia, she's freaking out about something and is texting my sister and I non-stop." Alma said as she walked back into the auditorium, her eyes gazing around slightly as though she was looking for someone.
"What?! No way! You can't just leave, we have a show!" Alex yelled from on stage as he put down his guitar and walked closer to the edge of the stage.
Alma looked over at the rhythm guitarist and glared at Alex. "It's a family emergency! Delia never texts like this when she has an art show at her gallery." She said before turning on her heels and stormed off, she knew that something had to be wrong for Delia to be texting both of them so urgently.
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Later
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Just as Alma's taxi was pulling up to Delia's art gallery, she saw Lydia getting out of a taxi as well. "Lydia!" She called out as she quickly got out as well and quickly paid the driver, the two sisters walked quickly over to each other and hugged tightly. "What is going on?" Alma asked her, only for the younger woman to shake her head with a frown.
Lydia looked just as stressed as Alma did when they pulled apart. "I have no idea, I was taping an episode of Ghost House when I saw all the texts." She said as the two of them started to head into the gallery, looking around for their step mother. The further in they get, the more they both hear someone practically having a hissy fit in French.
"I have a feeling, Delia can't be far from that." Alma said before they head in the direction of the yelling.
They came across Delia sitting outside of a glass box where's rather upset French man was throwing things into a bag and was the source of the yelling.
"Delia." Both women called out as they walked over to her.
"Where have you two been? I think that I've cried all the water out of my body." Delia said with a sniffle as she dabbed at her eyes.
"What happened to dad?" Lydia asked as she tried to ignore the upset Frenchman.
Delia huffed and looked over to the artist before turning back to her stepdaughters. "I'm desolee, Le Tigre! He is the Picasso of graffiti artists. He was tagging me like the walls of the Paris Metro. But now he's having a petit tantrum because I had to cancel the performance." She said with a shake of her head.
"What's happened?" Alma asked with a frown on her face.
Delia looked up at the girls with a small frown on her face. "What? Oh. Your father's left me." She said with a small whimpered.
The girls looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces before Lydia spoke up. "He's divorcing you?"
The older woman looked appalled by the very thought. "What a horrible thought. No! He's dead!"
Both sisters froze at that, their eyes going wide. "What?" They both said at the same time.
"Daddy's passed away." Delia said before she dabbed at her eyes.
Lydia and Alma both sat themselves down next to their stepmother. "How?" Lydia asked.
"He was returning from his bird-watching expedition to the Funafuti Atoll. When his plane went down in the South Pacific." Delia started as she looked off into the distance.
"A plane crash? That was his worse nightmare." Lydia said as she shook her head.
Delia seemed to snap back into herself and looked over to Lydia. "Actually, he survived the crash." She explained to them.
"He drown?" Alma asked with a puzzled look on her face, their father had always been a good swimmer though.
"Almost. But not quite, no. According to survivors, Daddy clung onto a wing." Delia said with a small frown on her face.
The sisters looked at each other in confusion before looking at their stepmother. "So, how did he die?" Alma asked finally.
"A shark jumped out of the water and got him!" Delia said before reaching her arms out and snapping them down together. "Just like that."
"I just spoke to him on Saturday. He was so excited, he thanked me for the binoculars, he said he had observed the mating rituals of the Tuamotu sandpiper." Lydia said as her shoulders slumped slightly and looked down at the floor.
"Yes, he flew halfway around the world to watch birds do it on a beach. And it killed him!" Delia said with frown on her face.
Alma sighed suddenly and rubbed at her face. "We need to tell Astrid." She said as she looked at the other two women.
Delia seemed to cringe at that as Lydia's shoulders slumped slightly. "Oh. Must we? She's already such a morbid little thing."
"That's if I can even reach her. We're barely on speaking terms." Lydia added with a look of defeat in her eyes.
"Oh, it would kill Charles to know I had to cancel my show." Delia whined.
Suddenly Le Tigre stormed passed them. "Bonne journe a jamais!"
Delia looked confused at those words. "What'd he say?"
Alma frowned slightly at the words and the slight chill that it sent through her. "If I remember correctly from highschool French, he said 'good day forever.'"
