Passenger

Chapter 2

Once we arrived at Leif's home, I quickly realized that...it wasn't home.

Not real home. Not my home, our home. It was a rustic-looking log cabin set into a grove of white-barked birch trees, a stack of firewood off to the side. It looked nice, homely, but...it wasn't right. It wasn't home, with mom and dad.

But I had already done the math. When I had...well, before I died, my last memory of Leif was from when he was eighteen years old. But since he was obviously living away from mom and dad now, and was clearly older than eighteen, time had definitely passed. Leif looked around maybe...I don't know, twenty-two, twenty-three? Which meant that at the very least, four years had passed since I had been alive.

I had been five years older than Leif. If he was twenty-two, that meant I was twenty-eight. I didn't feel twenty-eight. I still felt twenty-two. I had missed out on nearly four years of my life...actually, I hadn't. I had just been dead for four years. Proper dead, I guess. Still wasn't sure how exactly this worked.

Unaware of my thoughts, Leif and the Avian had dismounted. "well, here it is." My brother announced, gesturing. "home sweet home. Come in, I'll make you some coffee."

He started into the house, the Avian following. With no other option, I followed behind as well – only to have the door closed in my face. Well, not really a problem, being a ghost – I just floated through the doorframe and into the house with no problem.

The inside was cozy – woolen rugs on the floor, a hand-carved table and stools to one end of the room. Two other rooms were sectioned off in a small hallway – probably sleeping quarters and some storage room. Towards the side of the house was a fireplace, with a few cushioned chairs positioned around it. It looked warm; but even if it was, I couldn't feel it.

The Avian was looking around slowly as Leif made his way over to a cabinet, taking out a few cups of coffee grounds and mixing them into cups. "like I said – not much, but it's something." He said. "go ahead, sit down. Make yourself comfortable!"

I watched as, slowly, the Avian wandered over to one of the chairs and sat down, gazing into the empty fireplace. I floated over to stand next to him and peer into the fireplace. It just had a few pieces of dried wood and some soot in it. "looks like it hasn't been used in a while." I remarked, more to myself than anything.

Again, I wasn't really expecting an answer. But as I said it, the Avian raised his head, turning until he was looking directly at me. We stared at each other for a long moment, before he nodded, seemingly in agreement.

There was no denying it this time. "you...you can see me?" I whispered hopefully. The Avian's brow knitted into a puzzled frown, before nodding in affirmation. "and you can hear me, too!"

The Avian's confused expression deepened. He gestured to Leif, who was still making coffee, then to me again, looking puzzled as he tried to convey his meaning.

I understood immediately. "oh, yeah. That's Leif. He's my brother, but...I don't think he can see me." I sighed sadly. "right now, I think you're the only one. But don't worry – I promise, you can trust him. Leif wouldn't hurt anyone."

For whatever reason, the Avian seemed to believe me. And I wasn't lying – Leif really was one of the nicest people I knew, even if I'd never tell it to his face. He had never liked fighting – matter of fact, I always thought he was a bit too nice for his own good. Nicer than me, at the very least.

Regardless, the Avian relaxed, leaning back into the chair, then looked at me quizzically. He didn't seem to understand what I was. I couldn't exactly blame him for that – I barely knew what I was. Calling myself a ghost was just the best guess I had. I turned my attention away as Leif walked over with two cups of coffee in hand. He sat down across from the Avian, handing him a cup.