sept

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16:14

Rae sat me down at the table about ten minutes ago.
I can't believe this.
This girl is dead.
She stares at me, waiting for some kind of reaction.
Her shoulders are slumped, her hands are in her lap, and she looks like a child, adding to her doll-like appearance.
My eyes avert to the ring on my finger.

This is hers.

"Do you want your ring back?" I whisper.

She simply shakes her head.

"So, you're dead?"

She nods, "yep."

This is awkward.

"What's it like?"

What kind of a question is that?

"Boring. I don't sleep, I don't eat, I can't feel anything physically . . . It's lonely."

"Are there more people like you?"

"Yeah. They mainly hang around the cemetery. I just kind of adventure and travel because it's something I've always wanted to do." She shrugs.

"Do you have emotions?"

"Yeah, hence how I feel lonely." She chuckles.

I shake my head, "oh, right, sorry. That was stupid."

"No, you're fine."

"Where have you gone? Like, traveled?"

"Um, I haven't gone too far. Like, I haven't been to anywhere in the Midwest or far south. I've been to L.A., which was kind of interesting, and Nevada . . . I walked a lot, but sometimes I'd sneak into semi-trucks and stuff. You can do a lot of things when you don't get tired."

"Why are you back here?"

She smiles slightly, "I wanted to come home. And when I came home, you were here. I'm not gonna lie, I got kind of mad. Like, how-dare-you move-into-my-house? But then it clicked that I wasn't living anymore."

My heart aches for her.
Her family split, I'm assuming no one knows she's still around, and she's been traveling by herself, day in and day out, for a year.
I can see how she's lonely.

"Do you want something from me?"

She looks at me for a moment.
Her eyes are thoughtful and her smile is small.

"No. It's just nice to know I have somebody to talk to."

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