Out of the Darkness

63

The girls were dressed in short skirts, or tight pants, paired with tops that bared their entire stomach. I never really thought about the way the girls dressed. It's just the way people dress now. Anna though, she was dressed in such a conservative way, compared to the others. Her skirt was long and flowy, her shirt long enough to cover her stomach, unless she raised her arms. It was different, but I kind of liked it. I caught myself wondering again, what time period she came from. Sometimes, it seemed like it couldn't have been that long ago. Other times, I felt like it was an entire world away. "Nah, she said her and Griffin already made plans. Maybe another time," Devyn answered. Xepher and Grifffin were another couple that was in the friend group. I saw Devyn looking at Anna quizzically, so I started to open my mouth to introduce her. Tara beat me to it. "Devyn, Cassie, meet Anna. She's Colby's friend, but quickly becoming ours too." The smaller girl wrapped her arm around Anna's waist. Anna's face was a little surprised, but then a small smile crossed her lips. "Hi," she said shyly, raising her hand in a tiny wave. "Hey, it's nice to meet you," Devyn said, smiling sweetly at her. "Hey, I'm Cassie," Cassie said, introducing herself, and smiling at Anna, as well. As I stared at my friends talking to one another, including Anna in the conversation, it hit me that she fit right in. There was no awkward pause or anything. They just readily included her. Her laugh caught my attention, so I looked at her face. The light was hitting her alabaster skin, lighting it up as she threw her head back laughing. Her hair shimmered, and red in her face was more pronounced. She truly looked alive. Alive and gorgeous. She caught my eye as she looked back down, gave me a quick smile, then looked back at Cassie and started talking. "Bro, you good?" Corey nudged me with his elbow. "You look like a love sick puppy. Is it really that serious?" He asked, nodding towards Anna. I let out a sigh and shook my head. "No, it's not serious. There's nothing between us and there never will be. We're just friends." He stared at me for a moment, like he was assessing me, then clapped his hand down on my shoulder. "Sometimes, it's better to be friends first. Listen, if it's meant to be, it'll happen. Don't give up just yet. Not if you like her as much as I think you do." I nodded, and looked around at my friends again. No one had noticed the conversation between Corey and I, because they were all busy drinking and having their own conversations. I was grateful to Corey for wanting to help me, but really there was nothing he could do. Nothing anyone could do. This was just my luck. Fall in love with a fucking ghost. I swear I self sabotage. Who does that? No one, because it wasn't fucking normal to have a ghost girl that sometimes turns human living in your fucking house. It would only happen to me. "Hey Colby, can I talk to you for a minute? In private?" Sam's voice grabbed my attention, so I looked over and met his gaze. "Yeah, sure," I replied glumly, knowing exactly what he wanted to talk about. I followed his out of the room, over to the bottom of the stairs in the entryway. When he reached the steps, he turned to face me. "Who's the girl and why does she look so familiar? Why haven't you mentioned anything to me about you hanging out with someone new? Why haven't I seen her before? It seems like you guys are pretty close but I've never seen her at this house. I just-" "SAM!" I said, my voice louder than it should've been. "Shut up please. Let me answer one question before you start asking a million, Jesus." He shut his mouth, his teeth clicking together as he stared at me. "So speak then," he replied. "Have I seen her before?" I contemplated lying to him, but I just couldn't. Not Sam. Not this time. I promised. So, I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, you've seen her before. Kind of. Not necessarily in this form though..." I let the sentence hang in the air and looked at him intently. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to interpret what I was saying. "What do you mean "not in this form?" She's a girl. Does she turn into an animal or something? I don't feel like the riddles today Colby." I rolled my eyes and decided to let him figure it out instead of telling him straight out. "Okay. You saw her on the Queen Mary. Just for a few moments but you saw her in her other form." He closed his eye and clenched his jaw. I knew he was getting tired of the guessing game but if I just came right out and said "Oh she's the ghost that I told you about, but now she's human," he would think I was crazy. A ghost is one thing but a ghost who turns into a human? No one was going to believe that shit. It was just a little bit too crazy, even for us. His eyes popped open, his pupil dilating so large that it obscured the blue for a second. "Wait, you're not telling me...it can't be..." He jerked his head back towards the kitchen, furrowing his brow again. "How is that possible?" I shrugged. "I have no idea. She came back this morning. Just popped up in my room, solid as you or I." "Is she going to stay human? How does something like this even happen? What in the actual fuck is going on?" he muttered, glancing back at me. "I don't know anything Sam. All I know is that she's alive, for now. You know as much as I do." He shook his head and bit his lip, thinking. "What if she turns back while she's in there with everyone else? They'll freak. This isn't a good idea Colby." I sighed, and let my head fall back, looking at the design on the ceiling. "I know Sam. Don't you think I've thought about that? But she's so happy right now. I don't have the heart to make her stay away and not enjoy herself while she can. She hasn't had human interaction in a long time, besides me." When I met his gaze again, it was sympathetic. For me, or for Anna, I didn't know. "You really like her, huh?" The look was for me. I should've known that he would see right through me. I brought my hand up and started to twist my helix piercing that was in my ear. "Yeah, I do but that does me no good. That's my problem that I'll deal with. It has nothing to do with anything else."