Seeing Ghosts

"Freeze." Arms grab me from behind. Strong arms. I sigh and reach up to grab them. Then flip them over my head. "Oof!" The man lands on the ground. I roll my eyes. Another ghost. Turns out, there are lots of them here. Once they found out about me, they started coming around practically every day.

Many want to fight, or try to harm me. Others just want to talk. "Sorry, I'm not interested." I roll my shoulders, then continue walking home. It's late. I should already be home, but I stopped by an old orchard. It's owned by a nice old couple. They let me go there to sit and think.

There's a really big tree that makes me think of the one back at our other house. Herm goes with me sometimes. We've been living here for half a year now.

"I'm home!" I toss my bag into the chest beside the door. My shoes go on the rack. No one answers. That's weird. Normally at least one person would yell a greeting back. "Hello? Is anyone home?" I peek into the dining room. No one. The kitchen is empty as well.

Where is everyone? I finally go to the living room. Inside, I find everyone crowded together. Standing in front of them, are two men. One is holding what looks like a gun.

They all look at me. Herm is with them. He has his hands up as well. I raise an eyebrow. He gives a slight grin before his expression changes back to one of fear. Fake fear. I sigh and roll my eyes. "What are you doing in my house?"

The men turn. Mom looks at me. She looks worried. I walk closer. "Stop scaring them. If you want to talk, just talk. There is no need to pretend to be scary." I pull a couple of folding chairs out and motion to them. The one holding the gun frowns. "You are?" I smile. "Eres." I hold out a hand and after a moment of hesitation, he shakes it.

Dad looks surprised. Herm finally walks over. "They came in. Seems everyone can see them. I'm not sure how though." I nod. Theo looks around. "Did you just hear someone? They sounded like Hermes." I frown. Herm stops moving. "Wait, what?" The two men frown too. "I'm sorry, what exactly is going on here? Are you trying to say you can't see the boy here?"

Theo looks at the man with the gun. "Boy?" I sigh. "Alright. Everybody sit down. We can figure it all out together." No one moves. The guy without a gun moves over and strikes at me. I move out of the way. "Sorry, you won't beat me up. I've beat up more ghosts than you can count on both hands." He strikes again.

This time, I catch his fist and shove him back. He flies through the wall. Everyone looks shocked. Mom almost faints. Lysie does. The man walks back through the wall. "How did you do that?" I smile. "Not only can I see ghosts on a daily basis, I can interact with them. Which means I can fight back." I sit down.

Finally, the rest follow my lead. Mom finally talks. "You mean, all these years, you really were seeing ghosts?" I nod. "Of course. None of you would believe me though. Except Herm. Part of that was because he could hear them though. Not see or interact, just hear. I've never met another person that could interact with them like I can." The man I shoved nods.

"I've heard of you. You're quite famous. Ghosters fear you." I sigh. "They want me dead." He nods. "Here is safe from them. We have a few moon spirits that live here. Ghosters fear them most. Even Fay Ghosters fear moon spirits. We also have a shadow that lives here. He doesn't show himself very often, but he's extremely powerful." Theo looks at him. "You have a shadow living here?"

  He nods. "That's what I said, isn't it?" Theo nods. I look at him. "Theo, you seem to know a lot. You knew the woman was a Fay when she showed up at our house too." He looks down. "I started researching after Herm was killed. I wanted to know more, and see how many people could really see ghosts." I nod. That's why he seemed to believe me a little more than the others.