Ocean Eyes

Chapter 8

Asher took a seat next to Evangeline, his eyes not meeting hers. Evangeline didn't know if she should run or stay next to him. She had nowhere else to go, and the girls were probably still at the party. But being next to Asher... she didn't know if she could handle it. 

"Are you really de-" Evangeline started to ask quietly. Asher cut her off before she could finish.

"Yeah...I'm really dead Eva." The way the words came out of his mouth, it made Evangeline want to shiver. He said it so... casually. He finally looked at her and gave her a feeble smile. She didn't return it, instead asking another question.

"How are you here though? Why aren't you in heaven or something like every other dead person. Why aren't you... dead?" He chuckled at her question before answering it. 

"I have some sort of unfinished business right? I mean, isn't that what most ghost movies are about. Dead person needs to figure out what to do before they can finally rest in peace? There has to be something I haven't done that needs to be done. I don't know what I have to do though." Evangeline thought for a minute before asking her next question. 

"Is anyone from the bus still ali-, I mean is anyone here, like the way you are now?" Asher shook his head, a saddened expression taking over his face. A strand of hair fell over Evangeline's face, and she pushed it out of the way. 

"So how long have you been like this?"

"I woke up when the people pulled our bodies out of the water. It was like watching a dream. I saw my body being dragged out. It terrified me. I tried talking to people, but no one could hear me, or see me for that matter."

"So how can I see you?"

"I have no idea. I usually just hang around people, friends of mine mostly. When you said you saw me at that party, I couldn't believe it. You're the only one who can see me." What's so special about me? How can I only see him? Evangeline thought. 

"Sooo...what's it like? Do you eat? Or sleep"

"It's a weird feeling, I mean I can walk and talk, but as for everything else...I can't feel the temperature, I cant touch anything, I don't need to sleep, but sometimes I do. And I don't need to eat. And trust me, I do miss my food." He laughed at his own comment, Evangeline giving a small laugh as well. Evangeline wondered how he was able to talk about all of this so casually. 

"Do you miss them...I mean your family and friends?" He nodded and the grin fell from his face.

"It's hard, not being able to be with them. I've been to my house a few times, but it's just too hard to be around them. I wish I could just tell them that i'm ok." Evangeline didn't know what to do. She couldn't exactly tell anyone what was happening, no one would believe her. Her friends all thought that she was probably crazy right about now. She rubbed the sides of her head, trying to dull the headache that was forming. 

"What's wrong?" He asked her. She looked up at him slowly. 

"It's just a bit much right now. I'm talking to a ghost who apparently no one else can see. It sounds a little crazy, don't you think?"

"Yeah...it is crazy. Absolutely fucking insane actually. Sometimes I wish I was with the rest of the bus. Chilling peacefully instead of being stuck here with no one to talk to." He sounded angry, and Evangeline felt sad that he was the only one who was dealing with this.

"Have you seen anyone else like this... not from your bus, but like any others?" She was trying to make sense of it all, he couldn't be the only one like this, right?

"Yeah actually, I've seen a few people. Never talked to them though. I'll be walking and they look my way, staring me down. I just get a feeling that they are like me. I'll nod to them, and they nod back, but I've never talked to any of them before."

"You should try talking to one of them sometime, maybe they could help you with all of this." He nodded agreeing with her. She took another look at Asher. He just seemed so real. He wasn't a cartoon character like Caspar, and he wasn't see through. 

How are you able to sit? Like how are you not going through the bench right now?" she asked. He shrugged his shoulders. 

"Not sure, it's weird, I can sit on everything, but I can't open doors, touch people. I don't know why."

"So thats why when I tried to touch you, you pulled away. So like... if I touch you does my hand like pass through or something?" He nodded. Evangeline lifted her hand up.

"Can I try it?" she asked. He looked at her nervously, but nodded. He lifted his hand up to match hers. She slowly moved her hand towards his. She made the movement to interlock her fingers with his, but surely enough, her hand went right through. She gasped, when her hand went through it felt colder.

"That was....weird," she said. He nodded. 

"I actually felt kind of cold. It was strange" Asher said. Evangeline nodded in agreement. Asher laughed.

"It's funny. The first few days I was still figuring out if I was dead, I walked right through a person. I was walking in town, trying to get someone to notice me. One man came straight towards me and I just walked right through him. I screamed like such a girl, but no one could hear me." Evangeline scoffed. 

"How on earth is that funny?" she questioned. He shrugged.

"It just is, ya' know that would of been a really cool superpower to have, minus the dead part."He laughed again, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I don't get how you're able to talk about this like it's normal."

"Well, it's the norm for me now. I guess I've just kinda gotten used to it." Evangeline looked at her phone, showing Asher that it was getting close to midnight. 

"I have to go ok. The girls are probably worried sick about me, and I can't go home. I told my mom I was sleeping over at my friend's house." Asher nodded. Evangeline stood up, pushing her hair behind her. She thought about everything that he had to go through. Suddenly she wasn't mad at him anymore, she felt sad, and angry. Sad that he was stuck like this, and angry that he was basically goin through it alone. 

"When can I see you again?" he asked her. He continued to sit on the bench.

"Soon ok. How about next Friday."

"Yeah that works for me, it's not like I've got anything else planned" he grinned. 

"Ok, meet me at my house after 3. We can maybe do some research on this whole mess and try and figure it out." Asher nodded in agreement. She went to give him a hug, but remembered that he would literally pass through her. 

"Sorry," she said, "I'm not used to this whole thing yet."

"It's ok Eva, it's all a bit weird right now." The expression on his was complete sadness.

"Ok... well, I'll see you ok?"

"Yeah, bye Eva."

Evangeline turned and started to walk in the direction of Julia's house. The girls were going to freak when she showed up. But Evangeline didn't care, she had bigger problems to worry about now. Her and Asher were going to figure out this whole mess, and they were going to do it... together.