Ghostly

Dead

"Because you're what?" Malia repeated for what felt to Declan like the 300th time.

"Because I'm dead, Malia, okay!" He shouted, then slumped down to the ground in almost the exact same spot he had done months before- what felt like a lifetime ago

Her face fell, and he could see that somewhere, maybe, something had clicked. "You're what? What are you talking about Declan?"

"Just hear me out for a second okay?" He sighed, wiping the tears away from his eyes. This was truly going to be some story.

She nodded, her brow furrowed.

He cleared his throat, then finally spoke the words he never thought he would hear himself say, "I'm dead. I died two years ago in a huge terrible car accident on the interstate." He paused to take a breath, before continuing, "I was coming home from bowling with my family. Stupid, I know. Who thinks they're gonna die right after going bowling? We were on the highway doing speed limit, everything was fine. My family was just relaxing listening to the radio, then out of absolutely fucking nowhere some car just rammed into our right side. The car flipped and I died on impact but thanks be to whatever god I'm not sure is up there, my family survived. The other car ran straight off the side of the road and hit a tree. Three people had been inside and all of them died. After-...

 "After the other car hit, the weirdest thing happened to me. Everything was black for a second and I felt like I was floating and then all of a sudden I was standing on the road like 20 feet away from my car and I saw my brother and my mom sitting on the back of an ambulance wrapped in blankets, and my dad talking to a fireman, and everything was quiet. Like, I knew the world was going on around me and I could see mouths moving, and lights flashing, but everything was just quiet. I didn't even realize what was happening until I saw them pull my body out of the wreckage and then my sister's after me. It barely felt real until I met you. No one could hear or see me and every day I would just walk around aimlessly or go watch my family for a few hours. The first few nights I tried to sleep in my room but it felt too weird. It all just feels so weird." He took a breath, wiping his eyes again, then looked up at her, "I went to my own funeral. How fucked up is that?"

~  

Malia so desperately did not want to believe a word of what Declan was saying. She couldn't explain it though, but despite how crazy it sounded, she didn't have a doubt in her mind that it was true. It gave an explanation for, well, everything. Why he had disappeared so quickly on that first day she saw him; why no one else stopped to wave, smile, or say hello to him on the street; why sometimes she got very, very strange looks for talking to him, which she assumed was why he always chose to go to fairly deserted places; and most of all, it explained why he had never given her his phone number. She began to realize that every time they hung out together it was because he had shown up at her house, or had left a note for her to meet him, or they just bumped into each other. In fact, he had been to her house so many times, yet she hadn't even had a clue where he lived. She had never even thought to ask. 

Malia looked deeper into Declan's face, analyzing every single little detail. Now she saw it- Holden Long had to be his brother. Holden was a boy in her grade who was very quiet and usually kept to himself. She remembered bits and pieces from their childhood and realized that he used to be very outgoing and fun, they had played together occasionally. Malia had never realized that he had changed after the car accident that everyone knew he had been in. She had known there was a brother but at the time, he was a year older and Malia now knew how very introverted Declan was. Practically no one knew him. But now she saw it. Declan and Holden shared the same soft beauty and radiance. God, she thought, how could she have been so stupid? Four months and she had never noticed?

"Lia, please. Say something?"

"I believe you," she whispered.

"You-what?"

"I believe you." Malia moved forward slowly and cupped Declan's face in her hands. Then she kissed him.