Ethereal Beings

Chapter Six: Familiarity

Sorry it's been a little while since I last updated!
I've been super busy with uni work and assignments for the last couple of weeks, but I'm back with a brand new chapter which I hope you guys will love :)

Enjoy!
- Alex

Nancy was still trying to catch up with the text messages and voicemails left on her phone from Lucas and others from school. She knew that most of them were pity messages, texts which were sent to make the senders feel better about themselves. Nancy was an outcast at her college, and she was certainly smart enough to realise that these messages were not sent because people genuinely cared about her. She catches a glimpse of her reflection in her phone screen – the tattoo was still there, proud as ever, in the middle of her face. Sighing, she nonchalantly continues scrolling through her social media platforms, looking for anything to distract herself from the past few days.

Whilst in the middle of her daydreaming state, there is a subtle knock at her door before it swings open. Lucas is standing there, holding a magnificent bunch of white peonies, an awkward grin on his face. Nancy looks up from her phone and smiles, jumping to her feet to give him a bear hug. White peonies were her favourite and she was thankful to have someone like Lucas to call her friend.

"I've missed you so much!" Nancy begins to cry, burying her face in her best friend's shoulder. Lucas comforts Nancy, angling her face upwards and wiping away the tears which have spilled over her eyelids and began travelling down to her chin.
"Hey, hey... it's okay! You're gonna get tears on my new jumper if you're not careful." He shakes his head, a smirk breaking out across his lips. Nancy sniffs and wipes her face on her sleeves. "You know, that's really gross..."
"I don't really care right now!" Nancy shoves Lucas' chest in jest and he pretends to stagger backwards, raising his hands in surrender. The boy had a gift when it came to theatrics.

Lucas places the bouquet of flowers down on Nancy's desk and sits beside her on her bed. "So..." he sighs, scratching his head. "Things have been rough the last few days, ey?"
Nancy nods, staring off into space.
"Is everything okay?" Lucas' eyebrows knit together, and he wraps an arm around Nancy's shoulder. "You can tell me, ya know?"

And tell him, she did.

Nancy tries to describe the events which took place before her seizure to the best of her ability. She explains how she was at the Gateway from her dream, and how Nephthys had appeared to her. She was half expecting Lucas to laugh, but instead he listened intently, nodding in places he felt appropriate.

"You're telling me that you're basically some bad-ass Goddess? And that you have to harbour lost souls to the afterlife? And that these souls appear to you in this... Inbetween place?" Lucas raises one of his perfectly threaded eyebrows. "That's pretty fucking cool! But, come on Nance, are you sure that you weren't just high off the morphine the docs gave you at the hospital?" Lucas chuckles.
"I'm sure. This happened before I woke up in the hospital, I was in Mr. Girton's class, taking a history quiz and then the next thing I know, I've been in a mini coma! When I got home, I took a shower and then this weird mark appeared on my forehead. It's like a tattoo, but it's part of my skin. I did think I was still high from the drugs they gave me, but it's not fading. No one else can see it and it's freaking me out." She points to the space above and between her eyebrows, "it's a huge crescent moon and it's right here."

As Nancy finishes explaining, her dad calls up to her, saying that dinner is ready. The two make their way downstairs and into the living room, where they find Nancy's parents curled up on the sofa together. "Hey, Mr and Mrs Howes!"
"Hey Lucas, thank you so much for what you've done for Nancy this last week, we really appreciate it." Phillip stands and shakes Lucas' hand, pulling him in for an awkward man hug. "Dinner's just about ready, so if you guys want to give us a hand plating up?" He makes his way into the kitchen and Lucas and Nancy follow swiftly.