SPECTRAL

Chapter 6

 One month. To many, it is not a long time. It flies by. But for Noah, it felt like years. It had been a month since Charley passed away, a month since Noah changed once more. A month full of grief and isolation.

But that all changed.

Noah was curled up in a ball on his bed, tears freely flowing down his face. The pitter patter of rain on the windows and the soft rumble of thunder in the distance filled the silence around him. On the other side of the room were his friends, huddled together, watching him. Wishing to comfort him.

In the midst of the storm outside, Noah almost didn't notice it. Actually, he didn't notice it until the thunder stopped for a brief second, allowing the familiar bark to ring in his ears. But lost in the swirling grief, Noah brushed it off. That is until he heard it again.

Hope flared up within him and he hurriedly wiped his eyes as he ran downstairs and out into the storm. Noah didn't care about the rain soaking his clothes, he didn't care about the thunder and lightning, he didn't care about how cold he was. He only cared for one thing. Charley.

And there he was, looking as healthy and lively as ever. The only difference was that he was no longer opaque. He was just like the ghosts, he was a ghost. His tail wagging furiously and the two friends ran towards each other. Noah began to cry again. No longer were they tears of grief, now they were tears of happiness.

Charley jumped into Noah's arms, and they embraced the best a human and the ghost of a dog could. Reunited friends, lost souls put back together. At that moment Noah was filled to the brim with a warmth that only love could give.

Noah sobbed, his voice cracking as he cried out, "Oh Charley, I thought I would never see you again!" Charley's pink tongue lapped at Noah's face, comforting him as he continued, "I- I thought I was alone... But here you a-are." Noah buried his face into Charley's fur. It wasn't the same, he couldn't really feel the coarseness of his fur. But the feeling was still there, barely noticeable. And that was all he could ask for.

With Charley back, Noah no longer despised what he could see. How could he, if the gift of seeing ghosts let him see his best friend again? It would never be the same, but Noah knew he had to accept it.

---

The reactions from his friends when he walked into his room and said, "Hello," were priceless. They grew up with him, from baby to teen, and they knew from experience how stubborn he was. So, of course, they were shocked. Joey began to jump up and down excitedly and clapped for a solid minute. Mildred just stared at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Claire gasped and lost her balance. And Josh began to cry tears of joy, singing a song and hugging Mildred and Claire.

Once they had all calmed down, Noah glanced down at Charley and spoke softly, "I hate that I can see you, I hate that I can't be normal." His eyes traveled back to his friends, briefly noticing their frowns before he continued, "But if it lets me see Charley again, I'll get over it."

Mildred gave Noah a warm smile as she replied, "I'm glad that you finally came around... It would have been terrible to watch you deny ghosts your whole life, deny who you are."

Noah turned to the older woman, his brown eyes twinkled as he grinned, "I had a feeling you would say something like that!"

Joey chose that moment to run up to Noah and give him a hug. The others followed suit. Noah really never noticed it before, but it felt the same as when he touched Charley. He could barely feel them touch him, but it was there. He noticed how they didn't affect his clothes at all, how his hair didn't move when Josh ruffled it.

As they pulled away, Josh spoke, "I've been wanting to know for a while, how is school? What are they teaching you now?"

Noah only shrugged, "I haven't really paid attention for the past month." His eyes glanced down at Charley who was now playing with Joey, "But before that, we were learning a variety of stuff, like normal. They were teaching about different eras, geometry, Shakespeare, and some other stuff. You'd think that they would move on to other topics, they take forever to teach!"