Ghost Me

Unwanted Truth

Dain's thoughts were a mess.
As he was walking down the cobblestone streets, the sun began to peak through the clouds, painting the sky with a vibrant rose colour. The day was coming to an end and everything became more calm as the birds tweeted and fluttered by and the street lamps lit up. Dain enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere... But even though his surroundings were beautiful and partially distracting, it was unfathomable to him as to how to tell Finis about his death.

After stopping by one or two grocery and flower shops to make his trip away seem less suspicious, he finally got home.
"Good evening, mother!" he said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Dain, where on earth were you!?" said his mother, worried.

"Um, I went grocery shopping so you didn't have to..."

"OH! How sweet of you, darling. But why did you ask me where the McRay's-"

"OH! I was just curious for some reason. Sorry." Dain replied quickly.
His mother gave him a quizzical look, and carried on in the kitchen. Relieved, Dain walked up the stairs and into his room.
"Psst... Finis? Are you here?" Dain whispered.

No response.

"Finis?" he said a bit more loudly.

No response.

Dain's mind started racing, but before he could jump to any conclusions, he saw a note on his small, white-sheeted bed.

Don't get into a whole frizz by the fact that I've disappeared. (I know you like getting ahead of yourself.)
I've gone to where I always go when I'm bored, and no, I haven't gone to make street lamps flicker!!!
Meet me at the flower fields by the same clearing you took me the first time.

~Finis

Dain sighed with relief, grabbed his black trench coat and went downstairs once again.
"I'm going to the flower fields, mother!" he said.

"DAIN! YOU CANNOT BE RUNNING OFF ALL THE TIME!" his mother screamed.
Dain ignored this and walked out the front door and started in a jog. 

The clouds had fully moved out of the sun's way, and the sky was now an even more brilliant rose colour. The town of Charrault was quite calm and silent except for the muffled conversations of people in restaurants and walking down the road to get back home. Dain slowed down to a stroll to take all of this in. 
Then his thoughts began badgering him.

For a while now, Dain had been feeling quite strange around his Ghost friend. He couldn't quite put a finger on what said feeling was... And every evening before he fell asleep, he would try figure out what it was.

But now in the peace and quiet, he could think about this more.

He could think about the way Finis made him so joyous even though he was dead.
The way Finis would always be there for him in times of need.
The way Finis tried to steal Dain's textbooks and try learn something from them, but always got bored seconds later. (Dain found this fascinating since Finis found flickering street lamps entertaining.)
The way Finis was always so nonchalant, as if he didn't have a care in the world.
The way Finis was actually quite good looking- 

Dain stopped.

'No no no no no no no... I'm supposed to like girls!!! Finis is a boy... A DEAD BOY!' Dain started panicking, suddenly coming to this realization. 
Trying to forget about it, he started jogging to the clearing in the flower fields.

A black bowler hat was pacing up and down the small clearing, then realized his guest had come.
"I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost. Not a surprise if you did though, considering the size of your brain," said Finis.

Dain stared at the bowler hat, eyes wide. "You, of all people, should not be able to determine my brain size! You're the one who gets bored of learning before even finishing the first page of a textbook!" Dain snapped.

"Lovely to see that your comebacks are still rubbish... Just like you!" Finis shot back, then started to laugh.

Dain was astounded. But before too long, he burst into laughter too. "Wow, Finis." he said sarcastically. 
The bowler hat sunk to the floor. Dain followed.
"So, why did you want me here?" Dain asked.

"I just wanted to have some fun! Surely there's nothing wrong with that! I was thinking we could watch the sunset and pick some flowers-" Finis stopped.

"Finis?" Dain said, confused. Then he saw a single flower float across to him with the bowler hat.

"I have a gift for you," said Finis. "Not really a big gift, is it? Although, it would be odd if a Ghost went to a local store and grabbed the largest thing they could find!" Finis laughed.

Dain looked up at the invisible being and smiled a soft smile before grabbing the flower and tucking it behind his ear.

"You look... nice," Finis said. Although Dain couldn't see it, Finis was blushing deeply.

A bright red blush crossed Dain's neck and cheeks. "Th- thank you," he said. 

The two boys lay on the ground for an hour or two, watching the sunset together. Then after some time it was blue hour and Dain decided to get up from the ground to leave-

"Wait!" Finis said hastily. "Um, I need to say something..."

Dain paused and realized he needed to say something too. "I also need to say something. May I go first?"

The bowler hat nodded.
Dain sat back down and took a deep breath before speaking.
"Finis, I need to tell you something that might be uncomfortable or terrifying or even odd to you..." he began.

"Don't worry, Dain. Just say what you need to say," Finis answered.

"This afternoon I didn't really go grocery shopping. Instead I went to your family's home... Just listen to me before you get all whoozy."

Finis laughed.

"The truth is, I wanted to find out how you died. And I did find out." Dain paused. "I'm sorry, Finis-" he broke into tears. "Your own father shot you by accident thinking you were a deer while he was hunting and he was arrested even thought he didn't do it on purpose." Dain cried, burying his face into his hands.

Fury was building up inside Finis. "You are such an arse," he said softly.

Dain looked up, confused.

"YOU ARE SUCH AN ARSE, DAIN! I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T WANT TO HEAR HOW I DIED THE FIRST DAY WE MET! AND NOW YOU ARE FORCING ME TO RELIVE THE PAST!!! YOU IDIOT, DIMWITTED, STUPID ARSE!"

Dain was in utter disbelief. "Excuse me!?"

"You heard me right, Dain." Finis said in less of a yell, but more in a hissy tone. "I thought you were better than this. You didn't even try tell it to me lightly! Instead you went straight for it."

Finis paused.

"AND TO THINK I WAS IN LOVE WITH YOU!!!"

Dain stumbled back as if this sentence hit him like a bowling ball.

"YOU HEAR ME!? I'VE BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU SINCE HIGH SCHOOL!" Finis stopped again. "And it hurt me every day knowing that you would never feel the same. You had hurt me more than anyone ever could... And just when I thought I could get to know you, you hurt me even more. There's nothing here for me anymore, Dain. Nothing."

A black bowler hat fell to the floor.
A silent wish was made.

Finis was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~