To Hell With Us

Chapter 7

Back home everyone was thankfully sound asleep. I slowly walked up the granite staircase trying not to make a sound, however, my black Doc Martens made a tiny squeak with each step. I had reached the top of the staircase when my sister, Alyx arrives at the scene for an "early morning snack."

"Nephele! How disappointing. I'm telling!" She said in a condescending tone

I rolled my eyes, "Snitches get stitches Alyx, don't be a jerk."

She lets out an exasperated, dramatic sigh and, walks away in her pearl slippers.

I got to my room and slipped off my black shorts and grabbed a pair of sweatpants. The soft fleece brushing against my bare legs felt like being wrapped up in the down of a baby bird. I pushed my stomach forward to crack my back and yawned as I laid down on my mattress to drift to sleep.

I woke up to the blare of my alarm clock. I rubbed my eyes and stretched to read the alarm, "11:00pm.".

"Shit, Declan!" I said, jumping out of my bed to get in the shower.

I raked through my tangled long hair and let the steamy water soak it. I hopped out, threw my hair into a top not, and grabbed the closest pair of shorts and a t-shirt I could find. I ran out the door pulling on my converse high tops at the same time. I realized I left the dress back in my room and ran back up to get it. I yanked it from its hanger and ran back to the door. I pushed down the lever struggling to get it open. I sprinted and tried my best to reach Declan as soon as possible. I knew it wasn't that big of a deal, but if there was one thing I hated more than anything it was broken promises.

When I arrived at the store once more I had to stop to regain my breath. I put my hands on my knees and inhaled deeply to regain and regular breathing pattern.

"Wow, I am out of shape."

"Nephele, is that you?"

I walked around the shop to find Declan in the same spot as before but looking much more defeated than the previous night.

"Here I am," I said with a grin

"I thought you were gonna ditch me," he said chuckling

"Sorry about that. To be honest I was sleeping. My alarm didn't go off until eleven o'clock."

Jokingly he replied, "Alright, I guess I can forgive you."

I playfully nudged him in response to his comment. He flashed that infamous smirk sending a chill through my body.

"So, what does this dress of yours look like?"

I went and grabbed the dress from where I had left it at the front of the store. When It came into Declan's view he immediately burst into laughter.

"Oh damn," he said between a laugh, "we've got a lot of work to do."

"Tell me about it."

We immediately started cutting, stitching, and transforming the dress. He had some real talent that I wasn't expecting. We replaced the itchy, tool bottom with and beautiful satin train overlaying a pair of black shorts, turning the dress into a romper.

"Ow!" I said sticking my index finger in my mouth.

"Shit! Did I prick you?"

"Yeah but, it's fine."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry. Let me go get you a bandage."

"That's not necessary it's only a prick, I'll be fine"

"I insist, I'll be right back. Give me a second."

"Alright," I said, "Whatever floats your boat."

Within seconds, he returned with a small first aid kit.

"This is way over the top," I said.

"Better to be safe than sorry," he said opening the box.

As he took my finger and wrapped the small latex bandage around it I watched how gentle he was. It was as if my finger was glass and he had to do everything in his willpower not to break it. When he finished he noticed I was watching him and made eye contact with me.

"Tell me about yourself," I said.

"I feel like we've only talked about me and I want to get to know a little about you."

"Alright so, if you couldn't already tell I'm a ghost."

"Wait for real?"

"Yeah..." he said looking discouraged

"Then how do you look so real?"

"That's where it gets complicated. You see most people who die become spirits. They are just floating around and invisible to you and me. That's what you heard when you came down here the other day. However, since Hades can't control all the spirits he picks a select few to rule over different parts of the Underworld. If you are one of the few he picks and, accept the challenge he grants you with the ability to look, well, alive."

"That's insane, yet really intriguing. Do you mind if I ask you how you died?"

"No that's fine. So I'm from a small town in the U.K. and I died when I was eighteen. My friends and I had been drinking, a lot. We decided to get into the car and somehow wound up on the interstate. I was in the passenger seat, my best friend, Jax was driving, and two other guys were in the back. Jax obviously couldn't comprehend what he was doing and it happened to be raining so now he couldn't see. He started to hydroplane and swerved causing us to get hit head-on by a semi-truck. We all died immediately from the impact."

A tear ran down his face. I could tell it wasn't an easy subject for him to talk about. I reached my hand out and rubbed his arm. It made sense know, you could see him but it wasn't as easy to feel or touch him.

"Hey, thank you. I appreciate you sharing."

He quickly wiped the tear from his face trying to make his emotion as least noticeable as possible.

"I'm sorry tonight was supposed to be fun. Let's get back to your dress."

I let him change the subject and carry on with our design. It was still a fresh wound and I wasn't about to overstep my boundaries. We worked all night trying to perfect outfit. We pushed ourselves to near perfection draining us of every ounce of energy we had.