Out of the Darkness

34

"Are you angry with me? I didn't mean to laugh downstairs. You guys were just acting like mega dorks and I couldn't stop myself. I'm sorry." Her face was downcast, a sad look in her beautiful emerald eyes. "No, I'm not mad at you. I just didn't want to say anything where anyone would catch me talking to myself again." She met my gaze, and tilted her head to the side. I watched her hair fan out as it fell off of her shoulder, and found myself wondering if it were as silky as it looked. "Really?" she asked quietly, almost sounding like a child. "Really," I answered, smiling at her. "I promise. You've done nothing wrong." She clapped and lunged forwards, like she was throwing her arms around me in a hug. I felt the bone chilling cold as her arms slid right though me, and couldn't stop the shiver that ran up my spine. "Oops," she said, falling back on her feet. "Sorry." Her eyes met mine again, and in that moment, all I wanted to be able to do was kiss her. This was getting to heavy. I turned away and looked back at my computer screen. "It's fine. Here, let's see if we can figure out who you are." So, we kept at it, with her still marveling over how fast the internet was, and at all of the information that it could pull up, from time to time. After a couple more hours of literally crossing almost everyone off of the list, I felt defeated. "This is hopeless, isn't it?" she said quietly, floating over to my couch and settling herself onto the arm of it. "Why can you sit on things and walk on the floor, but I can't touch you?" I blurted out, unaware that I was even going to say that. She frowned at me, a cute little crease forming on her forehead. "I'm not sure. It's totally bogus though. Sometimes, I can walk normally, but then when I actually try too, my feet fall through the floor. I don't know how to control it." She glanced down at the arm of the couch, then just as quickly fell through to the floor. I jumped up and rushed over to her, holding out my hand, then pulled it back when I realized how ridiculous that was. "Um, are you okay?" I asked, as I watched her float up off of the floor. She blew her hair out of her face with an annoyed expression. "I'm fine. The only thing that hurts me physically is the Dark One. My pride on the other hand," she replied. "What happened?" I asked. "You were sitting there normally, then just fell." "I'm beginning to think it's because I realized I was sitting on it with no problem. As soon as I started to think about it, I couldn't do it any longer. Things like walking, touching, sitting; those are all things that come naturally when you're alive. We don't think about them. We just do them because we know that we can. It's so off and on with me though. I don't understand it." "Hmm," I mused, thinking over what she had said. "So, basically, when you are just being yourself, these things come more naturally, but when you remember that you 'can't' do them, then you can't." "Not always," she said quietly, meeting my gaze. "What do you mean?" "I didn't think about being a ghost when I tried to hug you. I just acted on instinct. My arms still slid right through you." I was trapped in her gaze for a second, wondering how someone could be dead, could be a ghost, when there was so much life in those emerald eyes. "Oh. Yeah, I guess they did. Maybe with practice, you may be able to control it? I could help..." I let my voice trail off because I didn't have a clue how to do that. "Maybe," she replied, floating over to my computer chair again. "Can we just look a little more before we give up for today?" I sighed, and walked back to my chair to sit down. "Sure. Of course we can," I answered. "Well," I said after another hour of deep research. "There's only a few names left to check. The ones with no photos anywhere that we could find easily. We'll have to dig a little deeper for those but shouldn't be a problem. It's the ones that don't have a photo at all or isn't even listed that's going to be the problem." She heaved out a sigh, and I could actually feel the wind move around my face, as the fruity citrus scent intensified. "I know, but I can't just give up. I understand if you don't want to help anymore though. It's been really dope for you to do what you've done for me already. Getting me out of that horrible place was enough." My hand moved forwards on it's on, reaching towards her chin to nudge her face back up to look at me. For one second, I felt her skin, smooth and cold as ice against my knuckles. Both of us gasped, then my hand fell through her face. I let it drop down next to my hand and held her shocked gaze. "Did you just-" she asked, putting her hand to her chin. I nodded, knowing that my eyes were just as wide as hers. "I felt you," I whispered. "Oh," she let out a high pitched noise, then covered her mouth for a second. "How?" she whispered, moving it. "I...don't know." I reached towards her again, noticing that her wide, emerald eyes followed my fingers. Just before my fingers touched reached her, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut. To my surprise, my fingers once again lay on her soft, cold skin. I shock was still there, but I was ready for it this time. Maybe she was too. I inched my hand further up on her cheek, letting her cheek lay in my palm. She sighed, keeping her eyes closed, her sweet breath washing over me. I was scared to speak, to do anything except experience this moment. How was this possible? I knew I should stop myself. The one thing that had kept me from losing my mind over a damn ghost crush was the fact that we couldn't feel one another. Now this was happening. I should stop it. I didn't want too. I let my thumb brush over her pink lips, then noticed the intense look of concentration on her face. Almost like she were in pain. As much as I hated to do it, I moved my hand away from her. Her eyes came open slowly, with a slightly dazed look to them. "That was- I felt you. You hand on my cheek, on my lips," she replied, her voice a hushed whisper. "I know," I replied softly. "Do it again," she said, closing her eyes and leaning her face towards me. I ginned at her childlike eagerness and reached my fingertips out to her cheek. We both sighed as my fingers slid right through her transparent skin. "Damn it, NO!" She exclaimed, clenching her small fists. "I can do it again. Just give me a minute." "It's okay," I replied.