All Alone.

Huh?

Rich yawned and stretched his freckled arms lazily. He contemplated going back to bed before eventually deciding to head downstairs for breakfast. He peeked into Jake's room to find him tangled up in the sheets like a little kid. He chuckled and gently closed the door. After pouring himself a cup of coffee, something he started drinking to relax after the whole squipcedent. Apparently he had ADHD and caffeine helped him relax.

Suddenly, he heard a strange noise coming from outside. He went out to investigate and found a raccoon rummaging through the garbage. He shooed its away, and decided to take a jog now that he as already outside.

He was jogging near the old cemetery when he heard strange noises. Almost like someone calling for him. Don't do it Rich. He reasoned with himself This is how people die in horror movies. But against his better judgement, he turned and headed for the cemetery. He was almost there when he saw a tall teenager, about a year older than him, running towards him. Like, he was tall, not just by Rich standards. He was nearly as tall as Jake, maybe even more so. "Hey," yelled Rich as the ghost ran toward him. "Wait, what?" the ghost stopped in his tracks. "You can-" he gestured to himself. "You can see me?" "Well, yeah," responded Rich, confused. But then he looked closer. For one thing, all he was wearing was underwear and a letterman's jacket, so Rich was surprised no one was paying him any attention. Then he looked closer still, and noticed that when he tilted his head the right way, Rich could see light shine him. "Ghotht!" he cried and scrambled a little bit farther away. "Um, yeah, I'm dead. My name's Ram Sweeney." Ram said, as if you met ghosts every day. "Huh." Rich thought for a second. "If thith ithn't rude to athk, how did you die?" He hoped he hadn't crossed a line. "I-" he winced. He pulled away one side of his jacket to reveal a gunshot wound in his chest. "My best friend and I were killed by a messed up dude and his girlfriend. While she was alive we were allowed to haunt her,  but she like, became a better person or something so it wouldn't have been fair to haunt her. We dissolved or some junk like that and I never saw Kurt again." why'd the guy shoot you?" Rich pressed. "Um, I don't really like to talk about it, but let's just say we were pretty awful people when we were alive." Ram rubbed the back of his neck. "I just want to find Kurt. I haven't seen him in thirty years and I miss him so much..." Ram's voice dripped with pain. Rich felt a pang of sympathy for the poor soul. He couldn't imagine going without Jake for a week, let alone thirty years! "Hey, maybe you could come with me, we can look for your friend." Rich offered. "Thank you so much." Gushed Ram. "But why are you doing this?" Ram asked. "Because, I would be devastated if I had to go a week without Jake, I don't want you to feel like that. I don't know how you were when you were alive, but you seem nice." Rich smiled and Ram grimaced. "You wouldn't say that if you met us..." he sighed. "Well however you were when you were alive, you're not like that now." Rich reasoned. "So follow me"