Somewhere In-Between ~ An Adventure in the Afterlife

CHAPTER 32 - "I SEE YOU."

Max watched his parents shake hands with the last people to leave the gravesite. A caregiver stayed with Perry while they spoke with some family members who wanted to help transporting personal items – photographs, albums – left back at the funeral parlor.

Max stepped over to his little sister. She had fallen asleep and was dozing peacefully with the nurse at her side. "I'm glad you survived, little bud," he said.

He saw her squirm a bit in her sleep.

"I'll keep an eye on you, okay? As often as I can. I'll be busy with my new friends. We have a lot of good work to do." He chuckled. "I guess I kind of ended up as a bit of a superhero, after all, Perry. SuperMax to the rescue!" He laughed, and looked down. "I wish you could see me now. You'd probably tell me to wear a cape. Ha! Yep, SuperMax, that's me! You'd be surprised. I have some pretty cool super powers, too."

Max looked back up, chuckling, and his face dropped immediately, frozen with shock. Perry woke up, and her eyes were wide open... staring directly at him.

Max stared back at her, stunned. "Perry..." He whispered. "... Do you see me?"

His eyes widened as he heard her giggle, and point to him. "See you, Max! See you!"

The nurse sitting beside Perry stared at the toddler, confused.

Max didn't know what to do. Perry was too young to understand the delicacy of the situation. He looked around to see if his parents noticed.

Perry kept chatting away. "I see SupaMax! I see SupaMax!"

The nurse tried to shush her, concerned.

Perry paused, cocking her head like a confused puppy. She pointed, looking at something farther away. "Who that?"

Max looked around, wondering what she was talking about. His eyes stopped at a figure in the distance. It was someone he'd never seen before, but it was definitely another dead person. He was an older teen, looking to be about the same age as Dirk, but not nearly as athletic-looking. Max raised a hand to wave hello, which startled the boy. He straightened up sharply and bolted.

"Hey, wait!" Max called out, but the boy was already gone.

"He says he's sorry," Perry said.

Max turned and squatted down next to her again. "What? Who?"

"That boy. He told me when I was asleep. I was asleep a lot in the hospital, and he told me a lot of things."

Max leaned close. "What did he tell you, Perry?"

"He says he's really sorry. He didn't mean to hit us. He said he forgot to take his pills."

Max's eyes were wide, and he stood up again, looking for the boy. "Oh my God. Where the heck did he go? Who is he?"

Perry shrugged. "I dunno. He's really nice, though."

"Nice?!" Max fumed. "He's nice? He killed me, Perry! He put you in the hospital!"

"I'm okay." Perry squinted, confused. "And you're not killed, Max." She smiled wide. "You SupaMax!"

The nurse was progressively growing more concerned and suspicious the longer Perry babbled. Max decided he would wait until they were alone before explaining anything further to her.

Max looked for Lizzie and Carl, and saw they had retreated to the opposite side of the graveyard, perched on Lizzie's usual gravestone hangout spot by her house. "I'll see you later, Perry," Max smiled. "You keep getting better, okay? And take care of mom and dad for me!"

Perry smiled up at him, grinning wide. He walked away and waved, watching her wave back with her little arm as he joined Lizzie and Carl.

"We still have some time left before our parents get home," Carl said. "How about we walk over to the Hastee Tastee? I'm in the mood for ice cream."

"Sounds good to me," Lizzie said. "Wanna join us, Max?"

"Yeah, sure!" Max faked an excited tone. "I'll have a double scoop of mint chocolate chip in a waffle cone! Oh – Hey! Wait a minute, I forgot..." He laughed, scoffing. "... I'm dead!"

Lizzie laughed. "I'll order one and you can watch me eat it."

"As fun as that sounds," Max said sarcastically, "I think I'll pass. You two live people enjoy your ice cream."

"Come on, Max. Remember, we're a team now!" Lizzie smiled.

Carl grinned. "Yeah, we're the Amherst Paranormal Society!"

"I think we need a better name," Max said. "I don't know if 'society' applies to a pair of kids and a dead guy."

"We'll talk about it over ice cream, Max." Lizzie waved at him to join them as she and Carl hopped off the gravestone to head across the street.