"Hey, Millie," Mason started, acting quite awkward. He had on a shy smile and scratched the side of his arm as he approached me at my locker. It was the end of the school day.
"What's up?" I asked, noticing his actions.
"I wanted to talk to you about the Spring Formal."
"Yeah?" I tilted my head to the side, waiting for him to continue.
"Do you want to go with me?"
A grin appeared on my face. "Of course I'm going with you. We all talked about going as a group, remember?"
Mason's shy smile slowly faded. "We?" His eyebrows lowered and he dropped our eye contact. "Right, one big friend group. Sorry, it must've slipped from my mind."
I reached over to ruffle his dark curly hair. "If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't remember your head."
Mason softly chuckled, before starting to walk off. "I'll see you later, Millie."
"Bye, take care!"
Today is the first day of spring. The bus dropped me off at the end of my driveway. I get most of the day to myself since my parents were currently at work. I slowly breathed in the sweet scent of budding flowers and fresh air. I no longer needed to wear a jacket, or worry about any chilling winds.
I knew exactly what that meant.
Instead of continuing the path up to my house, I turned off the driveway and towards the barns. On my way, I plucked a couple wildflowers that grew in the tall grass. It was kind of funny to me how such pretty flowers were considered weeds.
The old silo appeared just a few feet away. I smiled, sliding my backpack off and leaned it against the metal siding, which was now warm from the spring sun shining on it.
"Henry!" I called, sliding in through the broken siding.
He appeared in front of me, quickly this time. "You kept your promise," he said, a proud look in his eyes. "That's a first."
"Just like the weather, I think you're starting to warm up to me." A smile surfaced on my face.
Henry gave a breathy laugh. "Keep dreaming. I could still put you to sleep at any moment." He glanced down at my hands that still clutched the flowers. "What's that for?"
"You." I extended them out in his direction. He gave me a weird look, not taking them. "It's musty in here. I thought you would like something sweet to smell." My shoulders bounced with a small shrug.
"How considerate," Henry sarcastically thanked before finally taking the flowers from me. He examined them, before gently bringing them towards his face. He closed his eyes, experiencing the blissful aroma they gave off, but it didn't last for long. The petals began to wilt incredibly fast and the vibrant blues, greens, and yellows became gray and dusty.
I gasped as they crumbled to the floor. When I looked back to Henry, he seemed disappointed. "I'm sorry," he apologized, a glint of sincerity in his eyes. I stepped closer, taking his hands in my own.
"If you make flowers wilt away without any control, what would happen if I continued to hold your hand?"
Henry was taken aback by my question. "I don't want to find out."
"You don't know?"
"Of course not. I haven't experienced any human touch in my whole existence of this second life. Everyone has been too scared, or just never knew about me."
I slid my fingers in between his, locking our hands together. "How does it feel?" I asked him.
Henry almost seemed like the scared one in that moment. "It's making me feel on edge."
"Why?"
"I'm dead. I shouldn't feel any kind of emotion, except maybe anger."
His vision was locked onto our closed hands, but broke away to meet my eyes. My heart seemed to stop beating at the moment, seeing his eyes this close. They were black as ink and like soulless pits of darkness. However, looking deeper, I seemed to see myself.
"What do you feel?"
"I feel... happy."
