The Lost

The Lost (Chapter 8)

Okay, so for all you impatient people out there (i.e. Light and Brian) this is for you.

Chapter 8

ARI

"Wait, her as in said ghost we were just discussing?" I asked completely taken-back, while staring at the face of a ghostly angel. Her twinkling eyes shone in a way that I could not make light of, not for a ghost anyway. Her ghost practically shone with life, and that should be a complete contradiction.

"Yeah" he said in awe, as well.

I began to walk towards her, the reawakening of sensations flooding back to me. The loosely compacted ground that was recently moistened squished between my toes as I walked towards the girl. The feeling was surreal. The way that all sensation flooded back. The wind nipping at me instead of ignoring my presence. The clean afternoon air rose into my now fully functioning nostrils, tickling the hair that was within. My eyes aching from the way the world seemed brighter, livelier than before I had a solid connection to the world, even before I died. It was fiercer than when I couldn't keep my form.

Having a body again made me feel weightless, like the world was at my fingertips, and those fingertips could actually touch the world.

As I closed the distance between the girl, and me the smile that was on the girls face grew. In my mind I kept thinking 'girl' instead of ghost. Her very being screamed humanity, life, freedom, but if your eyes could get past the glamour, she was still a wispy figment of her former self.

When I was even with Kian, he grabbed my hand, as we continued to walk towards the living ghost girl. A slight tingle shot through my hand and radiated up my arm and down my spine in a fluttering, buttery feeling that left me at peace with everything that surrounded me. Mere feet from her, I stopped, giving us space. An instant feeling of apprehension gripped me, but was soon abated when she opened her mouth.

"You two are a cute couple. Are you married? How can you touch him? My mom says that when I grow up I will get married and get to dress up, and live happily ever after." she strung out in a continual wave of thought that was expected of any six-year-old. The way she talked of her future like it was still going to happen broke my heart. I did not want to be the one to tell her that she was never going to see her family again, in a flesh and bone body. I didn't know where to begin to answer her questions.

Kian thankfully stepped in. "We aren't married sweetie, we are just really good friends. What is your name?"

"Sarah Gringman, I live at 459 Sparrows Way." She said with a sureness that I didn't expect from such a young person, especially since children her age are taught to not talk to strangers, much less tell them where they live, but I guess these are different circumstances.

"Hi Sarah, I'm Ari, and this is Kian. What did you mean when you asked how can I touch him?" I asked, a thought coming into focus.

"I saw you were like me, not here, then you were touching his hand again. Can I do that too? Can I be here and not here?" The confusion entering her voice as her mind tried to wrap around the abstract thought of being a ghost, and yet me still being a human, in her eyes.

"I'm not sure Sarah, we just found out I could do it. I am still like you, but I can change shape. Try something for me. Think really hard about being able to be a little girl again, think of the last time you were a little girl playing with your toys."

She looked up at me with a determination in her eyes and a look of concentration etched along her beautifully angelic face. She didn't change shape, but her face did. Her eyes began to fill with foggy liquid, brimming over into her eyelashes and down her rosy cheeks in an almost invisible path. It was unnerving; watching a little girl fill with such emotion, show such physical pain. The fact that she was a ghost didn't help, it made it worse. The horror that washed out her lively face froze me to the core. I didn't have to ask what she was seeing, what horrendous thing she was reliving. I knew it was her death. It didn't cross my mind when I asked her to remember her last time as a human that I would be asking her to recall her last seconds of life.