𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬

𝟎𝟗 | 𝐂𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

Just as they were getting started, Julie came storming in. The look on her face was just about as intimidating as her slippers.

"Guys!" She shouted. "Guys, stop!"

I stood up, curious. Clearly there was more to this than we thought.

"Okay, knock it off!" I yelled, causing Julie to jump. I don't think she saw me when she walked in.

The guys brought the song to an end with proud smiles on their faces.

"The whole neighbourhood could hear you," Julie stated. "I thought I told you to leave."

"Wait," Luke stared at her in amazement. "People can hear us play?"

"Yes!" Julie hissed. "And so did my dad and my brother!"

"Wait," Alex observed. "So, only you can see us but everyone can hear us?"

The guys got all pumped up over being able to be heard through their music. Julie, on the other hand, was not so impressed. Just as she was about to say something, a man walked in.

"Dad!" Julie exclaimed, causing the guys to turn in his direction.

"Hey," He responded. "Just making sure you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Julie shrugged. "I just had to turn off the CD player."

Julie's dad looked over to see the instruments. "Wait, is this the junk that was in the loft?"

"Junk?!" Luke exclaimed.

As Julie's dad made his way over to Alex's drum set, I realised something. Without the others noticing, I went back up to the loft to find the box I was looking through. There was no way that t-shirt was left there by coincidence. Sure, the guys were renting the studio but why would Julie - or her family - keep it? Why did they still have all of their old stuff? I had so many questions.

"Why can't you guys just be normal ghosts?" I heard Julie exclaim from downstairs, interrupting my train of thought. "Hang out at an old mansion. I heard Pasadena's nice!"

As I reappeared beside the guys, Julie flinched yet again.

"Been there, done that," I said. "Believe it or not, it's a lot nicer here."

"Ugh!" Julie groaned and left the studio.

"I think she's warming up to us," Alex said with a heavy amount of sarcasm.

"Yeah, I've always wanted to go to Pasadena," Reggie stated.

Luke shook his head and disappeared.

"Hey, where did you go anyway?" Alex asked.

"Nowhere, just the loft," I replied. "By the way, you guys didn't leave any of these t-shirts lying around, did you?"

"Not really, no," Alex said. "We only had a few of them made."

"Yeah, pretty sure we gave the last of them out to the fans last night," Reggie said. "Or, well, whenever it was."

"I see," I pondered. "So how did this one end up there?"

"That's a good question," Alex pondered.

"Let's go ask Julie," Reggie said before vanishing.

"Reggie, no!" I exclaimed. "Nope, he's gone."

"C'mon, let's go after him," Alex suggested.

We reappeared outside the studio. Luke and Julie appeared to be having an intense conversation. Reggie stood at the wall beside them, but I don't think they had noticed he was there. Alex and I walked over to join him.

"We can play again," Luke exclaimed. "That's a gift no musician would ever turn down. You gotta know that. Clearly, your mom is into music."

"Was," Julie corrected him. "She passed away."

"I am ... so sorry," Luke said, taken aback.

"Yeah," Alex added. "We ... we didn't know."

"It's alright," Julie shrugged. "You guys haven't seen her anywhere, have you? Wherever you're from."

Alex shook his head. "No, I mean, you're kind of the first person we've seen."

"Yeah, but she's not dead so it doesn't answer her question," Reggie mentioned.

"Dude, touchy subject," I whispered.

"Yeah, dude, I think she knows what we mean," Alex said before turning back to Julie. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks," Julie said, deflated by our answer.

"What was your mom's name?" I asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Rose," Julie replied. "Rose Molina."