𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬

𝟎𝟔 | 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝

"Oh god!" Alex shouted. "Please, stop screaming!"

The girl ceased her screaming and took in our appearances. I suppose we didn't exactly look like the ghosts you see in movies. Maybe she would have felt better if we cut out holes in sheets and threw them over our heads.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my mom's studio?" The girl asked.

"Okay, so now it's everyone's studio, is it?" I threw my hands up in the air.

"Your mom's studio?" Luke laughed at the thought. "This is our studio."

The girl grew more and more skeptical as Luke pointed out his possessions in the studio. As he jumped onto the sofa, he noticed the guitar hung up behind him.

"But that is definitely not my six-string," He admitted. "This your uncle's, Ruth?"

"Nope," I sighed. "Never seen it before."

"Can you give me just one second," Luke raised his hands in surrender as he walked past the girl. "Just give me a second. Thank you."

The band formed a huddle and I found myself standing in the middle of it. The boys went back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on. How did she move her stuff in so fast? We had only been dead for like an hour.

"She's definitely a witch," I nodded in agreement with the boys' theory.

"So, we're going with witch?" Luke asked.

"No, we are not going with witch!" Alex hissed. "She's not a witch."

"Bor-ing," I chimed, causing Luke and Reggie to chuckle.

"Let someone," Alex raised his hand to his heart. "With a softer touch handle this."

We watched as Alex calmly approached her.

"Why are you in our studio?"

The girl looked him up and down before pushing the cross right through his chest.

"Wow," I mused. "That's gonna hurt in the morning."

"Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

It was clear that she didn't understand what was going on, so Alex calmly explained to her that we were ghosts, that this was not her studio and that we meant no harm.

"We're actually in a band called Sunset Curve," Luke added.

"Tell your friends!" Reggie beamed.

Luke explained that they were supposed to play in the Orpheum last night, but things didn't exactly go to plan. The girl pulled a rectangular object out of her pocket and started tapping it.

"What is that?" Luke pointed at the object. "What are you doing?"

"It's my phone," She stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, before realising herself. "Nope, stop talking to them. They aren't real. There's no such thing as cute ghosts."

"Words hurt," I frowned.

"Oh, think we're cute?" Reggie smirked.

The girl ignored him.

"She was obviously referring to me," I mumbled.

"Yeah right," Luke chimed in. "You're just about as cute as Bobby was."

"Aw, thanks," I smiled. "Bobby was pretty cute."

Luke rolled his eyes and turned his focus to the girl, who was still tapping frantically on her phone thing.

Alex broke the silence. "Who are you calling?"

"I'm googling Sunset Swerve," The girl replied.

"Sunset Curve!" We corrected her.

"Wait, googling?" I questioned. "Like with the little eyes?"

The girl squinted her eyes at me in disbelief before shaking her heading and continuing to google on her phone. What a strange fever dream this had become.

After a few more seconds, she appeared to have her answers.

"Woah, there is a Sunset Curve," She said, to which we all nodded. "You did die, but not last night."

According to the girl's phone, we died twenty-five years prior to that day. We couldn't believe it. We didn't even know what her phone was exactly, how could we trust it? Surely phones couldn't know that stuff, right? That googling thing must've had some blind spots. It just didn't make any sense. We couldn't have been dead for more than an hour.

"Look," The girl said, raising her phone so we could see. "I'm just telling you what my phone says."

The girl informed us that it was 2020. We had somehow made our way into the future. You know, I was already having a pretty weird day but apparently it was actually a pretty weird twenty-five years and that really didn't help the situation.

"Wait, so it has been twenty-five years?" Alex asked. "I have been crying for twenty-five years? How is that possible?"

"Well, you're a very emotional person," Reggie stated.

"I am not!" Alex protested.

Before anyone could debate Alex's emotional state any further, a young boy walked into the studio.

"Thought you were afraid to come out here," The boy said. "You talking to your ghost friend? How does he look? Is he hideous?"

"He can see you," Alex smirked at Reggie.

"No, he can't," The girl stated.

The boy appeared confused, he couldn't see us after all. The girl was pretty much talking to herself in his eyes. As soon as she realised this, she asked what he wanted her for and he told her dinner was ready, in the most brotherly way possible, and left.

"What an adoring little brother," I smiled.

"He couldn't see you," The girl said.

"Yeah, I mean ... that's usually how ghosts work," Alex informed her.

The girl exhaled and made her way to the door of the garage. I thought she'd leave, blow off some steam, come back and hang out with us, but no. Instead, she turned around and demanded we leave.

"But wait," Luke said, stepping forward. "We didn't get your name."

"Smooth," I teased.

"It's Julie."

"Cool," Luke smiled as he held out his hand, only to be met by her cross. "I'm Luke, by the way. And this is ... "

"Reggie, I'm Reggie."

"And ... "

"Alex. How's it going?"

"And ... "

"Ruth."

"Ba-da!" Luke said softly as he gestured towards us.

"Okay?" Julie shrugged and walked away, clearly not interested.

There was a moment of silence before Reggie spoke up.

"Julie seems nice."

"Did you miss the part where she kicked us out or?" Alex asked.

"I mean, it is her studio now," I reasoned. "What would you do if four random people showed up here twenty-five years ago?"

"Hmm," Luke pondered. "I don't know, actually, because that's around the time I died."

With that, Luke vanished out of the studio. I exchanged looks with Alex and Reggie.

"Touchy subject," Reggie frowned.