I Don't Believe in Ghosts {Remington Leith}

3

She set the flowers and heirloom ring down on the scratchy grass, watching as they were enveloped in a bright, white light and disappeared. She stood up out of my crouching position, and sighed while dusting off the top of the tombstone, whispering, "Nice knowing you, Tom." Her job here was done, that's one more soul at rest. Brushing my long, blonde hair out of her face, the woman glanced around.

"C'mon, Patty. I know you're here somewhere." She huffed, annoyed at her friend. Patty appeared in front of her, smiling mischievously. "I can never pull a fast one on ya, can I Kristen?" He asked, bubbly as ever. Kristen smiled, looking up at him. "Nope!" She confirmed. "So what's this I hear about another Key?" The last Key, didn't take his new role well. He was already unstable, so when he started seeing ghosts, who asked him to do stuff, he just went over the deep end. Kristen didn't know the specifics, and even if she did, she wouldn't remember them as it happened about three hundred years ago.

"So astute." Patty smirked, slinging an arm around Kristen's shoulders as they  left the cemetery.  "I mean, being around for a little over a thousand years can do that to a person." Kristen smiled smugly at her friend. "Sometimes I forget how long it's truly been." Patty says wistfully, before squeezing Kristen into his side. "Still my little sister, though!" He cheered. Kristen smiles, rolling her eyes at Patty's childishness. "Sure, Pats. So, when am I going to meet the new guy? Is my role still the same as last time?"

"Well, it'll change a little bit. He seems to be a little more openminded than the last one, buuuuuuut he's also very skeptical. But with your sweet face, who wouldn't be manipulated into doing good for the world?" Patty teases, making Kristen dig her elbow into his side. He giggles in response, her jab only tickling the phantom boy. "I'm not going to make him do something he doesn't want to do."

"You won't, but the rest of us will."
Kristen took this with a grain of salt. "Hmm. How's Rain and Sofia, anyway?" She asked, genuinely curious. They're her friends as well, but Kristen and then are nowhere near as close as her and Patty.

Kristen has known Patty since they were children, living and carefree. The two of them used to "run away" together into the forests, but they typically only made it about a mile away from home before they got bored, or hungry. One day, though, Patty ran off without Kristen, and he didn't come back. So, despite all the warnings she received from neighbors and her parents, she went after him. It's not like Kristen could leave him alone out there, because they were attached at the hip. Kristen felt so lost without him.

She went into the forest, and didn't go home for three days. On the fourth morning, Kristen was covered in dirt and dizzy from hunger and dehydration, and she tripped for the bajillionth time on the forest floor resulting in her landing on her knees and reopening the previously closed scabs. The blood ran down Kristen's shins, and dripped onto the dead leaves around her. The ground started shaking, and it split open in front of her. But then, there was Patty. He was taller, older, but just as comforting to Kristen's seven year old mind. He smiled down at her, and picked her up. "I knew you'd find me." Patty whispered, kissing Kristen's forehead as she passed out. When she came to, Patty explained to her their destiny: to remain immortal and help heal the world. The split in the earth was created by Kristen's blood- the Lock's blood- and could only be sealed with a Key's sacrifice.

What Patty refused to tell Kristen despite her annoying persistence, was what kind of sacrifice. She could only assume the worse, as was her nature.

"Krissie? Kristen!"
"Wha..?" She was snapped out of her reminiscing. Patty was watching her, concerned, but his expression cleared abruptly. "We're here!" He chirped, pointing towards a house. He shoved Kristen towards the front door, rang the doorbell, and disappeared. "Dude! I hate when you do that!" She hissed, watching the door. She felt his breath on her neck, so Kristen knew he was still with her, no matter how uncomfortable the gesture made her feel.

"Ask for Remington. Tell him you need to speak to him in private. Say, you're a friend of Sofia." And with that, the door opened. One of the most attractive guys Kristen had ever seen was standing where the door used to be. "Yes?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Kristen swallowed thickly. "Hi, uh, I came to talk to...Remington?" She asked. His expression became confused.
"This is he."
"Oh! Hi, uh, I'm a friend of Sofia's. We need to talk."