Not Quite Dead

Chapter Two - Not Quite Convinced

Dawn

The last two days, I'd been hiding from Artemis. He thinks I'm not real? Ha. He's going to lie to himself about my existence? Ha. He thinks ghosts aren't real? (Well, we're not technically ghosts, but we're the closest things to them.) Well, Mr. Artemis Alexander: HA, and HA.

I didn't exactly know how I was going to freak him out. I just knew I was. Most likely, when he really convinced himself I wasn't real - which probably wouldn't take too long - I'd drive him crazy, sitting next to him on the couch, being by him whenever he was with his family, the exact people in the house who couldn't see me. Maybe I'd go into the baby when he's taking care of her. When he least expects it, I'd talk. That'd scare the crap out of him.

I think my Dark is showing.

At the moment, I was with the triplets in Samantha's room. As usual, Serena was looking bored while messing around with a basketball, Samantha was texting God knows who and giggling nonstop, and Seraphina was reading two books at the same time. I'd gone to the twins earlier, thinking they'd be more interesting, but they were just doing classic, nine-year-old boy stuff.

I checked with Mr. and Mrs. Alexander, but they were busy fixing the house, taking care of Abigail, and other adult activities.

Artemis had been stuck in his room, doing some scientific activity again, I heard the triplets tell Mrs. Alexander earlier. I considered checking in on him, but I didn't want to do it in this form. I went into Serena's body. She didn't seem to be doing anything really important.

It was always weird, controlling someone else's body. I always got thought of what they would be thinking if they were actually in control. Not that they would remember anything they did while I was in their body.

As I got up from Serena's spot on the bed, Samantha asked, "Where ya goin', S.?" So they had nicknames for each other. If Serena was S, Samantha was probably Sam, and Seraphina was probably, Ser or Sera. It only made sense that Serena had the least girly nickname.

What would Serena say? I wondered. But I never had to think that hard. Whenever a spirit was in another person's body, we knew their feelings and thoughts, and could easily say things that the person we were controlling would say just as easily as they would.

"Dunno," said Serena/me. "Walk around this big a---"

"Serena. Language," Samantha scolded.

Serena/Me chuckled. "I'm probably gonna walk around this big...house" - I left a pause between big and house just to annoy her - "I mean, it's not like I've got anything else to do. Later, guys."

Samantha went back to texting, and I slipped out of the room. I walked down the hall until I reached Artemis' room. I knocked on the door and heard a muffled "come in" from the other side of the door.

I opened the door and found Artemis lying on his bed, watching a science documentary on his laptop.

"Whaddya need, kiddo?" he wondered not too enthusiastically. "I'm busy, as you can tell." Artemis sleepily gestured to the millions of things he didn't have to do because they didn't exist, yet still not taking his eyes off his computer screen.

"Busy doing what?"

"Being me. It's a hassle, you know, S."

"Yeah. Sure."

Serena's voice was much higher than mine was when I was still alive. It was so weird speaking and hearing another person's voice. Then again, it really was another person's voice. I couldn't remember if I sounded like this at her age. Probably.