Misguided Ghosts

Chapter Thirty-Two

Thirty-Two – Ed

Everything is so much easier when the object of your desires is in a coma. But when they’re awake, and alive, and on the other side of town and has been forbidden from seeing you? Now that is torture. My entire world had crumbled, the walls closing in on me when that one single text had appeared on my phone.

Tay: Do not contact my daughter for a long time, or I will ensure that you never lay eyes on her ever again.

It didn’t take a lot of brainpower to figure out who had sent that.

Days slipped through my fingers like water flowing from a tap, splashing over me but tumbling away before I could get ahold of it. My life fell into stasis, empty without Tay filling my day with her bright smile and quiet melodic laugh and soft hair and the feeling of her arms around me. There was the getting up and the drinking of coffee and the feeding of the cat and chewing dully on flavourless toast and waiting around for the time to go to work and the going to work and the earning money and the coming home and falling asleep on the sofa on front of the telly with my half-eaten meal on my stomach and the waking up… And so on and so forth. The more I thought about it, the more I preferred my life when it was in total turmoil than when it seemed frozen.

There were hints of Tay everywhere. One of her mugs in the cupboard. A T-shirt left in the corner of my room. A lone sock in the laundry basket. Her shampoo in the bathroom. Make-up by the sink. Less toothpaste in the tube than normal. Brown hairs mixed in with mine in my hairbrush. A Tay-shaped mould in my mattress. Her scent clinging to my bed sheets, as though it couldn’t bear to leave me. A pair of beat-up shoes by the door.

Outside, the trees began to shed their leaves. I watched as they fell from their branches, weightless, flying, free. Then they hit the ground, heavy, decaying, dying.  Did they know they were falling? Did they have a conscious, like us? There were so many unanswered questions that I would never know the answers to.

I sat on the sofa, crossing my legs. I shifted so my back was straight, despite its protests. I closed my eyes, letting my hands go limp on my lap. Without restraint or resistance or preference, I let myself fall into memories of my old life.

“Come on!” Emilie cried, tugging at my hand. “They’re gaining on us!”

It was yet another hot summer’s day, the blistering heat pouring from the sky, flooding tans through our skin and sending waves of euphoria rushing through us at the prospect of another day out in the sun. None of us knew when the heat wave was going to end, and none of us really wanted it to. Yeah, the lawns were dry and the pavements hot under our bare feet, but what did that matter to a bunch of thirteen year olds? The summer holidays were our time, the days when we would rise early and go home late, filling our days with laughter and photos and the wonders we found in the company of each other. As the days passed, Emilie’s light brown hair became bleached by the sun; Evie’s hair being shot through with light blonde streaks that had been gifted to her by the sunshine; Hayley’s red hair seemed to be orange in the bright shine of the sun; Liam’s hair began to grow out of control to the point where we took it upon ourselves to cut it and even I had to admit that while my skin turned darker, my hair was getting close to being blonde.

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing that Liam, Hayley and Evie were indeed gaining on us. It had been the hottest day yet, and the only respite from the heat that was outside was a water fight. Between them, they had a small arsenal of water balloons and water pistols.

“Keep going!” I shouted, letting go of her hand and turning around. “I’ll hold them off!”

At first, the fight had been all against all, with the last one to be completely drenched being announced as the winner, but alliances had soon formed. I knew why Liam had sided with Hayley and Evie: it had all been part of our plan. Eliminate two of the girls and when there was one left, we would break off our alliance and go it alone.