This swelled into a large story involving a reluctant medium and a ghost on her porch. Here's the last part, picking up where we left off last Wednesday...
“How did you know what I was thinking?” Suspicion curled within her. “Did you know Minae and I before you died?”
The ghost hung her head in a very human gesture. “I was aware of very little until I saw you, felt you. Even now, I’m not sure which thoughts are mine and which are yours.”
Minae shimmered in the heat, as if she were part of the sticky air, clinging the dust bunnies, the blood splatter, and to Caitlin herself. “I hit my head when I fell.”
“You’re claiming head trauma after death?” This wasn’t the strangest notion Caitlin had ever heard. Ghosts tended to cling to the sensations they remembered from life. Literal phantom limb syndrom, how very punny.
“There must have been something you wanted to resolve or you wouldn’t be here.” Caitlin decided to focus on the here and now, what she could do something about. “You said you wanted to talk to me, but I’m not good at talking.”
“No, you’re not. You just smile and laugh that artificial laugh of yours.” Minae scowled at Caitlin, pupils glowing with a cold, obsidian gleam. “You have no idea how much I hated the sound of it.”
“Well, it wasn’t like I enjoyed it either…wait, you knew me?” This was something of a surprise. Perhaps it shouldn’t be. “No, I couldn’t have. No one I spent time with in high school had such good taste in anime, or even knew what it was.”
“That’s what you assumed.” Tiny pinpricks of yellow green flame appeared in Minae’s pupils. “You never bothered to find out the truth.”
“I can’t believe it. You’re saying we used to hang out back in high school?” Caitlin rubbed temples sticky with the heat. “I definitely would have remembered.”
“I never said you hung out with me.” The unearthy light in Minae’s eyes spread through the irises into the whites. All the illusions of lost appearances which ghosts clung to. “You never noticed me. You or Micki, even though I was standing right behind you when that vapid idiot pointed her out to you.”
Uh oh, things were getting dangerous.
“Of course you were.” Caitlin did her best to make her voice sound soothing. “Don’t be upset. You look quite, err, different than you did back then.”
“Yes, I’m heavier!” The sickly greenish hue was spreading across Minae’s face. “Not that anyone has ever noticed that!”
She raised her luminous arms to see the putrid glow creeping up them.
“This is what happens when you get angry.” Caitlin crossed her arms and took a step back. “Are you really enjoying it?”
“No.” Minae dropped her arms to her sides, slumping. The greenish light retreated back up her wrists. “Wonderful. You’re finally paying attention to me because of this.”
Saying “I’m sorry” seemed a little weak at this point.
“Err, well, I didn’t notice much of anybody back then.” Caitlin fumbled for the right words, only to end up telling the truth. “Not even my friends. To be honest, none of us were all that intelligent. Myself included. At least I didn’t act as if I was.”
Nothing like taking refuge in an obvious put down.
“You’re telling me.” Minae smiled a little, scuffing a sneaked foot across the ground. It slid through a dust bunny, making it tremble a tiny bit. “You I just disliked, but most of the people you spent time with I hated.”
“Why are you trying to talk to me if you disliked me?” Caitlin felt a bit defensive on the part of her old high school crowd. Sure, they had been airheads. This didn’t merit hate.
“For the same reason you spent time with them.” A lock of hair slipped down across Minae’s forehead to hang over her eye. “Protection.”
She pushed back the hair from her forehead, only to pause, fingers frozen, wondering. “How did I do that?”
“Still feel your body even though it’s no longer there? For the same reason you’re suffering from head trauma, even though you’re no longer anywhere near your head.” Caitlin waved a hand at her. “All of this is an echo, Minae. Just an echo.”
“An echo.” Minae let out a sigh and looked down at the blood splatter. “To think of all the doorsteps I could have died on, it was yours.”
“I haven’t lived in this house for very long.” Caitlin raised a hand to brush one of her own curls out of her face. “I’m guessing it was yours first.”
“My parents must have sold it after I died.” Minae crossed her arms. “They must have been sad.” Once more, a light entered her pupil. This time it was clear, sparkling gleam, like a crystal or a tear. “I never thought about that.”
“They’ll be more than sad if your spirit isn’t able to move on.” Caitlin glanced down at the blood stain. “They’ll be haunted. They probably already are by this.”
“Move on.” Minae sighed. “If only I’d spoken to you or Micki. I feel like I wasted the time I had.”
“What did you want to say to us?” Caitlin swallowed a lump growing in her throat. “I haven’t seen Micki in years.”
“I think that may be it.” Minae frowned, cocking her head. The crystalline gleam spread throughout her eye. “Go talk to her, Caitlin. Don’t let time or distance stop you. You don’t know how much you have left.” The light grew brighter, enveloping the ghost’s face. “Something might happen at any minute. Look at me.”
Caitlin tried, but the glow was so bright, radiating out of Minae, a welcoming warmth that felt like home, completion, a serene contentment…
…only the next moment, the ghost was gone. Along with the blood stain.
Only the dust bunnies remained.
“Just when I was starting to enjoy our conversation,” Caitlin muttered, only now it was to herself.
It was better that way. She didn’t need anyone other than herself.
Only she missed talking. Not to people in general, but to the right person, conversation could be oddly satisfying.
Like with Micki.
“Go talk to her, huh?” Caitlin smiled a little, scuffing her foot in the dust bunny Minae had tried to move. It scattered when Caitlin’s shoe impacted with it. “Maybe I will.”
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