Penalty for My Friends' Death

Chapter Five

The warmth before him backed off, the spirit wide eyed. He was still shocked, but tried to move closer.

“T-Tom? Is that you? Is that really you?” He could feel tears falling down his cheeks, his heart skipping beats.

“Tord? You can see me? What-” He moved forward quicker, loosely wrapping his arms around the spirit since there was nothing he could actually hold. He relaxed as he felt warmth encircling him, his tears drying up as they fell.

“I-I can see you. Y-you're real, I'm not just imagining this.” A sob wracked his body as he pulled his arms back closer to himself.

“Well. I'm real in some way shape or form. All three of us are. We're just ghosts.” The ghost's sockets went white, most likely shocked by how he was crying. “Why don't you go get dressed and sit on the couch. Matt's probably messing with the freezer or something and Edd went to haunt the neighbors.” He nodded at the suggestion, laughing at the antics the other two were probably taking part in. Limping back to his room, he cleaned himself up before slipping on some clothes, not even noticing what he was putting on before he brought his three newborns with him into the living room and onto the couch. Ringo hopped up onto the cushion next to him, trying to protect him from what she thought were evil spirits.

“Sorry about that, Matt got himself stuck in the ice maker.” The partially see-through ginger looked embarrassed by the explanation. “Anyway, you want to know things right? Go ahead and ask.” He looked between the three, before looking to his lap and where his little trio were propped against his stomach. He didn't know what to ask, it's been so long since he's had human contact that wasn't from complete strangers. Wait a second...

“Why didn't you make yourselves known, help me. I almost killed myself after you three died! The only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger was thinking about how you'd react to it, how disappointed you'd be if I died by my own hand. I was so alone, Ringo has been helping me but at times she just wasn't enough.” He tried to keep his voice low, not wanting to wake up the three babies. The three ghosts looked startled by the angry tone of voice, though they could understand where Tord was coming from.

“Maybe three months after we died was when the three of us found each other, and it was maybe two more weeks before we could actually follow what was happening with the living. Haunted the underground for a while before finding our way back here.” Oh, well that explains why they weren't there sooner. But it still didn't tell him why they hadn't let him know he wasn't alone when they finally did find their way home.

“We didn't make our presence known at first because you were acting oddly and we thought you were in a relationship or something. So we kept away for the most part. We saw what you did to our rooms.” Blinking, he tried to think of what was happening when they would've been back. It would've been when he was about three months in, so their thoughts were justified.

“I was acting odd because I was abducted by aliens and there were some… odd side effects. It wasn't till I tested something that I continuously upchucked that I knew what was wrong. That's where these three came from.” He wasn't sure how believable he was with his explanation, but he was relieved by the three ghosts nodding. He forgot that they were abducted by aliens at some point as well, though nothing like this happened when it was their turn. Ringo finally calmed down her hissing, curling up next to him on the couch.

“Well we're glad that you… five are alright. Sorry for leaving you so suddenly.” His eyes widened at the apology, feeling the entire weight of the situation finally hit. Here he was, sitting on the couch just after giving birth to alien triplets, speaking with his three dead best friends. He felt the weight in his arms shift, glancing down to the three shifting bundles of alien baby.