Eidolon

Chapter 18: Out Past Curfew

Alex couldn't sleep. A lot had happened today, between her fight with Zoe, exorcising the ghost of Heather Cole, and encountering Professor Richter again. But that wasn't what was keeping her awake, eating at the edge of her mind whenever she closed her eyes. No, it was Lucas.

With everything that had been going on, she still hadn't had a chance to go see him. At least, that's what she told herself. Deep down, she knew she could have prioritized things differently. She could have gone to the park instead of going wraith hunting with Cynthia Saturday night, or even afterwards. She had certainly had time on Sunday, but had rationalized that it would be easier to just go during lunch at school the next day. The truth was that she was letting things get in the way because she was nervous to see him again. She lay in bed awake for well over an hour before deciding that it could not wait any longer.

She waited until a little after midnight to leave the house, just to make sure that her father and sister were both asleep and that neither would hear her slip out the front door. It was a long walk to Ellison Park, and she knew she wouldn't be getting much, if any sleep tonight. School the next day was definitely going to suck, but this was something she had to do.

She put on a heavy pea coat, a scarf, and an old pair of suede gloves to help stay warm. She also grabbed a flashlight from the bottom drawer in the kitchen, not wanting to rely solely on her phone for light..

It took almost an hour to get there on foot without running. When she arrived, she found that the flashlight was unnecessary. The gibbous moon hanging overhead provided adequate light to see by, and there were street lamps along the paved path. There didn't appear to be anyone else out. Under normal circumstances, she felt certain that it would look very peaceful. But then, it had also appeared serene on the afternoon of Halloween, before she had stumbled upon the wraith and Lucas's body.

As she walked down the path, a wispy figure appeared in the darkness before her. It appeared at first as some kind of ethereal mist, but coalesced into a mostly solid form as she approached.

Lucas did not look much different as a ghost. Paler, perhaps, and a bit hazy, but other than that, he appeared much the same as he had before.

"Hey, Alex," he said, smiling. He looked so pleased to see her, and it just made her stomach tighten with guilt. Why hadn't she come sooner?

"Hi Lucas," she whispered softly. She noticed that he was not dressed in the clothes he had died in, his bardic Halloween costume. Instead, he wore baggy jeans and a Legend of Zelda T-shirt. It occurred to her that perhaps a ghost's appearance was based on its own self-perception, considering the twisted shapes that wraiths took.

"I'm really sorry I didn't come sooner. Spooky Jay told me you were here, I just..."
"It's okay. I'm just glad you're here now." He reached out a hand towards her, and without thinking, she lifted her own hand to take it. She might have thought that, as a ghost, they would just pass through one another, but she was surprised to discover she could feel it. It wasn't solid, exactly, but there was a sort of tingling sensation on her skin, like painless electricity dancing down her fingers and into the palm of her hand.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated. "What happened to you... God, it must have been awful."

Lucas did his best to smile reassuringly at her, but there was just a hint of despair hidden in the darkness of his eyes. "It didn't hurt as much as you'd think. It was pretty sudden."

"So, you were already dead by the time I found you?" She tried not to sound too relieved by that. The thought that she could have saved him and had instead ran away in fear had been eating away at the back of her mind for the past week. Knowing there was nothing else she could have done at least helped assuage some of the guilt she had been feeling.