Fowler School of Magic's

Evander

"Here this is from Max." Nathan handed her a black ring, it slid off his finger and shrunk. He slid it on to hers and she was sure she would never take it off as it shifted to fit her ring finger. "Usually people don't get one this early, they must really like you."

Calla looked at it, spinning it quietly as she watched the light reflect off the metal.

"Why's that?"
"It's a protection band. Simple enchantment magic."

She wondered if it was light or magic that made it look so bright. Still, she needed it today. Nathan had come to her dorm once Francine let him know she was sick, something she didn't want happening but she was beginning to see Francine couldn't keep a secret within an inch of her life.

He waited until Nathan left to reappear. Clawing red streaks down her chest beneath her lose shirt. She gripped the table as she cough, spitting water into the trash can. "Fuck off." She snapped, listening to the non-existent sink in the background. The non-existent hands holding her head under non-existent water.

"I can only come out on the day of," he started, "I'm sorry. You're the only one I know now." Hugo stared him down, barely visible. Evander looked down at her, legs dangling off Francine's bed. Their parents like Greek mythology, he was some hero or something but he went by Evan, though only she called him that seeing as he never even made a friend.

Their mother drowned him as an infant. Calliope was three. He would've been thirteen now.

"I know I can't be there for you," he said quietly, "but I still see you. I watch. I'm sorry the only time we can be together is like th-"
"You apologize every year Evan. It's fine. Just let me-" she coughed and water worked it's way up her throat. She threw up in the trash can by her bed. All water.

"This school seems cool. I only catch glimpses of it really but from what I've seen, you look happy."
"I wish you were here."
"I am."

But he wasn't. He only got to see her once a year and that day was awful. They would've been together had their father not driven off with her to her aunt's where she left her. She read about the Mother drowns infant! story years later in middle school when she started looking through photo albums and saw a picture of him. That's when it started happening.

She felt bad for trying to forget. For trying to rid him from her life. But she didn't know a thing about him when he was alive and she only saw him once a year, half of which she was too sick to remember.

"Happy thirteenth," she said quietly, lying on her side with the trash can next to her. Evan nodded and looked out the window. "I miss Aunt Mary's house." He said quietly, "She was nice."

She beat me, she thought, forced me to call her my mother because her real one was 'out of her mind, do you really want to be her daughter?' Still, ruining her younger brother's annual day on earth wasn't kind, so she didn't.

"Maybe you should do some of your schoolwork?" Hugo offered, his voice barely audible. Evan took up most of what Hugo called 'Ghost Space' some ghosts use more energy than others. Ones with traumatic deaths, such as Hugo or Evan, used more of this Ghost Space. Angry or sad spirits also took up a lot of space. The exact mechanics of it she didn't know, only what Hugo had told her.

Evander looked to the door, "I'll hold it in. Make it quick." He disappears as the door opened. Ramona entered, a few papers in her hand.

"Hi! Sorry for barging in! I knocked first, promise." Calla swallowed hard, water pooling in her mouth. If Ramona saw, she ignored it.

"I brought your schoolwork for the day. We didn't get much but we did take some notes in third period." She set the papers on her desk at the end of the bed. "Are you feeling alright? Francine told me you were sick but you-" she opened her mouth to respond and water came crashing out. She gagged, gripping the trash can with white knuckles as she leaned into it, rolling off the bed as Ramona gasped. She quickly sat her up, pulling her alright tied back hair back.

"Good god, are you alright?" She looked at the clear water in the trash can, "That isn't-" Evan appeared on her bed, offering only a sympathetic shrug and a quiet, "I tried." Ramona looked at him, "Who are you? Why are you wet? Calla-"

Calla grabbed her wrist, squeezing it hard as it held onto her shoulder. She looked at Evan, hair pressed against his face, eternally wet along with his loose clothes. Their faces were almost identical, slim, brown, the only difference was that his jawline was sharper and the scars that found a home on Calla's face. Mostly from acne but a few from incidents with her aunt.

"That's my brother." Calla managed through the water pooling in her mouth once more. He gave her a wave, "I'm dead."

Ramona nodded carefully, "Why is she throwing up?"
"Trauma."
"I drowned."

Their answers overlapped but Ramona seemed to hear them anyway. "Is there anyway I can help?" The answer was no. No sleeping pills. No pushing him out. No crosses. No holy water. The last two she tried only once on her twelfth.

"I just have to wait it out," she answered. Ramona nodded and settled in beside her. "Then we'll wait it out, yeah?"

Calla looked at her for a long time. Waiting to see the lie. The ulterior motive. But all she found was a crease between her furrowed brows and careful fingers on her shoulder. Concern.

"Okay."

So Ramona stayed with her, helping her through the work she had to make up and consoling her as she heaved water into the trash can. Francine stayed with Nathan that night because of a weak stomach, Calla didn't take it personally.

12:57

Evan stared out the window as twelve tucked closer. He watched the courtyard quietly before he was flung backward, hitting the wall and leaving a dent beside the door. Ramona and Calla stared as he gasped for air, clutching at his throat. This wasn't how the re-enactment went. He still had a minute left before it began. Still, she covered Ramona's eyes, it wasn't a pretty thing, the first time she watched it she didn't sleep for nearly three days.

"Something's wrong here." He gasped, "You have to lea-"

12:58

The minutes ticked by slowly as Evan was forced to the ground, gasping for air as he cried, water spilling from his mouth, screams muffled. Ramona pulled Calla's hands away, unable to look away from the horrible scene before her.

12:59

The last minute of his death date arrived. He lay on the floor, gasping as his body jerked on its own. It slowed as the seconds passed before he faded from existence again.

When Calla looked at her Ramona was crying. A hand covered her mouth as she stared at the space he had been. Calla opened her mouth to speak but a ragged gasp from Ramona interrupted her.

She sobbed against her as Calla sat in the practiced numbness of the annual occurrence. She was detached. She thought about having Hugo take over but that wasn't fair to Ramona. So, she simply put an arm around her and let her cry.