TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THE REST OF THIS STORY: Death, loss, cancer, angst
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My dad's smile faded when he saw the picture. He carefully took it from me, gazing at it with a sad look in his eyes.
He didn't answer my question, instead asking one of his own. "Why did you tear this out of my photo album, Cherry?"
My breaths felt shaky. Gerard, sitting on my other side, gave me an encouraging nod. Did he really mean it? I looked to him a moment longer, and he gave me another nod.
"I've seen him before."
Dad held the almost paper-thin photo in his hands, staring at it. His fingers brushed over it carefully, like he was afraid of touching it. "That's not possible." He sighed quietly, then finally looked to me. "He's--He's been dead for a long time."
"How long?"
"I don't really want to--"
"Dad, please." I had to know the truth about my ghost's connection to us, about what had happened to him.
Dad didn't talk for a moment, but then he spoke. Softly, like he was a little afraid to. "You know there's those two boys in your class who are dating one another?"
"Tyler and Josh, yeah."
"Well..." My dad rubbed the back of his neck. "I did, once."
"You dated Tyler and Josh?"
He chuckled a little. "No. I dated another man." His voice grew soft again at the word 'man'.
"Who was it?"
Dad gently tapped Gerard's face in the photo. "Him."
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A/N: Crap's going down
