Carvings That Bind

The Endless

Alyssan

"Wait, wait, wait. Okay. So let me get this straight." Sawyer said, pointing at me. I sigh and shake my head. We've been doing this for the past half hour now. Him continuously repeating everything. I hoist myself on top of his desk and cross my left leg over my right, getting comfortable. "You're dead."

"Yes," I start and move his finger to the right with my own so that he's no longer pointing directly at me. "I am and you're clearly not very smart." Sawyer lowers his finger and frowns at my jab. The corners of my lips twitch with amusement.

He crosses his arms over his chest and turns away from me to face his window before he walks over to it and looks outside. His head turns slightly and his eyes flicker over to mine.

"I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around it all. Sorry if I'm not just taking everything in stride. I haven't exactly ever met a dead person before."

"Sure you have! You've been to a funeral before, haven't you?" He narrows his eyes at me.

"Okay, I haven't ever met a dead person who talks back to me. Let alone one who's so snippy." I shrug at that and cross my own arms over my chest.

"What can I say? My conversational skills are rusty. I haven't exactly talked to many people the last few months." Sawyer just sighs at that and faces me fully. He leans back against his window frame.

"So, what happened? How did you, well, become like this?" I look away from him and inspect my nails.

"You mean, how did I die and become a freaking ghost? Good question, wish I knew the answer." I peak up at Sawyer and he's looking at me with wide eyes once more today.

"You seriously don't know how you died or why you're dead?" I hop off from my perch on his desk and walk around his room.

"So it would appear, Mr. Garrison."

"I told you to stop calling me that." I wave him off at that.

"Yeah, yeah, you're not the chief of police and all that, whatever." Annoyance and anger flash over Sawyer's features. I ignore the emotions and continue looking around his room. When I start rummaging around in his closet he grabs onto my arm and yanks me backwards. "Ouch! What the heck?!" I hissed as I spin around on him. I'm about to go off, but stop before the words can pass my lips. My eyes travel down to where his hand rests, wrapped around my forearm.

"Is there a particular reason why you're searching my room?" He asked. I don't answer him, I'm too focused on the fact that he's actually touching me and I can feel it. Sure, I confirmed I could touch him earlier, but the fact that it's actually happening again is blowing my mind.

Sawyer follows my line of sight and his eyes land on where his hand is. He quickly releases me. I'm a bit upset at that, but I brush off my disappointment and move on.

"I'm just trying to get to know the person who can see me."

"Then why don't you just ask the person in question about them?" I smile slyly up at Sawyer and he just seems taken aback by it.

"Where's the fun in that?" I go back to looking through his closet.

"I'm serious, Alyssan, stop." He said, yanking me back once more.

"Oh? Could you be hiding something Sawyer, hmm? Something that could ruin that perfect reputation of yours?"

"No, I'm not hiding anything. I just want you to start explaining what's going on instead of doing stupid shit to waste time. All I've gathered is that you're dead, have no recollection of how or why you died, and you're now harassing me for some unknown reason." I meet Sawyer's eyes with a level gaze before brushing past him and walking over to the window he stood at only moments ago. My eyes move across the world laid out past the thin glass. A world I once thought had everything to offer. Endless possibilities. Endless adventures.

Two children play outside on the front lawn, smiling and laughing together as they gather fallen and dead leaves into a pile, no doubt to jump into it later. My thoughts shift to the memories of how my father and I used to do the same exact thing years ago when I was simply a child.

"Alyssan?" Sawyer's voice draws me from my thoughts and I look towards him and away from the children and the endless adventures and possibilities that were torn from my grasp at a break neck speed.

"You're the first person I've talked to since I woke up in my back yard three months ago." I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "You're the first person who has met my eyes in the past three months." I can feel myself coming close to losing it. To breaking down. "You're the first person to actually see me, not just look right through me." I lift one of my hands up in front of my face as I look at my palm in wonder. "You're the first person who I can actually touch without worrying about going right through you." I look at Sawyer and I push away from the wall. I walk back to where he stands in front of his closet. "My parents can't even see me, Sawyer. Do you know what that's like? Watching them suffer because they don't know where I'm at. I can't tell them I'm never coming back and they'll never know. Hell, I don't even know where my own body is let alone what happened to it."

"Alyssan." I ignore him and continue.

"I don't know what's going on. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Do you? I mean, what should I do in this situation? Why am I even here? I have questions too, you know and none of them seem to be getting answered. Not a single, freaking one." My voice is rising in octaves and I know I'm starting to panic. "One minute I'm here in the world. I'm living and breathing and alive and then I'm waking up in my backyard with no recollection of what the hell happened."

"Alys-"

"Why did I die?! What happened?! Where is my body and WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER ANYTHING?!"

"ALYSSAN!" Sawyer yelled and I jump when his hands come down on my shoulders hard, silencing me from freaking out anymore than I already am. I look up and into his amber eyes. He seems to relax when he realizes that he has my attention. "Calm down, alright? It's going to be okay, you just need to take a minute and breathe." I snort at that, but he ignores it. "We'll figure out what's going on, but we won't get anywhere if you lose your cool like that again." I continue to meet his eyes until I know for sure that he's telling the truth. That I can trust him. His eyes never waiver in their determination and seriousness and I can feel myself relax as a weight is lifted off my shoulders.

I can trust him. He'll help me.

The thought only helps me to further collect myself. As soon as Sawyer realizes that I don't plan on going crazy again anytime soon he lifts his hands from my shoulders. The warmth that had been there instantly vanishes and I shudder as the cold envelopes me once more.

"Listen, we'll figure this out. We just have to retrace your steps, right?" Sawyer asked as he walks over to his desk. I watch him curiously as he shoves papers and notebooks to one side, not caring at all about how terrible it looks. My fingers twitch, my OCD kicking in, as I want nothing more than to fix it up. I contain myself, though.

"I guess." I said, answering his question and walking over to stand beside him. My eyes move to a single, blank notebook he has open in front of him.

"Then, let's do that." Sawyer looks down at me, meeting my eyes unflinchingly. "Let's solve this mystery."