Love Letters to the Dead

Chapter Four

My bedroom door bursts open and I awake in a panic. I see my mom standing in the doorway with a huge grin on her face.

"What do you want, Mom?" I groan sleepily.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" She yells happily, yanking the sheets off of my bed.

"Mom, stop. Leave me alone," I mumble.

"Not a chance!" She yells again, turning on the light.

I hold my hands up to my eyes and get out of bed. "What. Do. You. WANT?!?!?!?!" I shout back at her.

"We're going fishing!" Mom screams, and I literally have to plug my ears.

"Okay, that's nice. It's um...8:30 in the morning and for the second day in a row, you woke me up," I state.

"Who cares? We're renting a boat and we brought our fishing rods with us!"

"I'll say this again...that's nice."

"We're leaving in an hour!"

"Nope, I'm going back to bed."

"Oh, no, you're not!" She grabs my arm and tugs me downstairs for breakfast. I took a peek at my desk before we left the room, and Dylan hasn't replied to my letter yet.

An hour later, I've finished eating. I had just enough time to shower and get dressed before Mom and Dad force me into the car with all of our fishing gear.

Dad drives while Mom rambles on and on about the fish that she hopes to catch. We arrive at the lake fifteen minutes later. As soon as Dad stops the car, Mom is already out unpacking the fishing gear.

"Here you go!" She says excitedly, handing me my rod.

I sigh and reluctantly take the rod. Dad gets out of the car and grabs his. The three of us walk closer to the lake and put our stuff down near some benches.

"I'm going to get the boat!" Mom exclaims.

"And...I'll go with her," Dad adds.

It takes about an hour to get everything set up, but my parents and I are finally out on the lake, fishing. I don't mind fishing, too be honest. It's not that I don't like touching the bait or the fish, it's just that I get a bit bored sometimes. Thankfully, my parents allowed me to bring my phone with me so I could listen to music.

"Ooh! I think I got one!" Mom yells.

"Jeez, Mom! Shush!" I hiss. Even though my music is blasting in my ears, I can still hear her.

I watch as she yanks on her fishing rod and pulls out a black sea bass. It's a good size-not too big, not too small.

"This one should be tasty for dinner tonight! I'm gonna guess that it's around...six pounds," Mom says, putting the fish in the cooler.

And that wraps up how the rest of the day went. Every now and then, one of us would catch a fish, and we came home with a few black sea basses.

As soon as we return, I race up to my room and find another letter from Dylan.

Dear Bailey,

I'm glad that you believe me, too! I mean, I've been alone in this house for a year, so I've been pretty lonely. It's been pretty weird "living" as a ghost. I don't have ever need to sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom (which is why I don't feel like I'm alive). I actually spend my time writing. I've been writing my own stories, and I've actually completed a few of them.

I really hope that you can start interacting more with me. Don't ask me how I know this, but there are four stages to befriending a ghost. First, you have to believe that they're there. As you believe more, you hear them talking sometimes. Then, you might be able to see them. The fourth stage of befriending a ghost is when you can communicate, see, and touch them, or practically all of the stages combined.

Just keep on believing, Bailey. I long to communicate with you.

-Dylan

Aw! Even though Dylan is-or was, should I say-a bad boy, he can be super sweet sometimes.

Suddenly, I hear a quiet knock on my door.

"Bailey, dinner's ready," Mom whispers, opening the door. She comes to look at the letter and I quickly cover it. "What have you been doing?"

"Just writing," I answer simply. "Why are you whispering?"

"Dad's sleeping. I just don't want to wake him," She responds. "We're having fish for dinner!"

"Ooh...yum!" I exclaim quietly, but only to make her happy. I follow her downstairs and we eat dinner in silence. Well, until Mom breaks it.

"So, Bailey. What were you doing in your room?" She asks.

"Mom, I already told you. I was writing," I reply, rolling my eyes.

"Writing what?"

"Mom, chill. It's nothing you need to worry about."

"But you're my daughter, and I want to know."

"It's nothing that you should be concerned about!" I respond again, starting to raise my voice.

"Quiet down, Dad's sleeping," She shushes.

I roll my eyes again when I finish dinner. "Whatever, I'm still not telling you."

I stomp as quietly as I can up the stairs and into bed. I'm too frustrated to do anything right now.

A/N: Sorry for such the short chapter! I'm on a REALLY tight schedule because...um...I HAVE LESS THAN 5 HOURS TO FINISH THIS!!!! I keep taking deep breaths, WISH ME LUCK!!!! XD

-xX_FrostByte_Xx