Kylee blinked at the sky overhead, with the muted sunlight trying to break through the clouds. “How long will it take to get there?”
“Half an hour to the bus station. Then we’ll take the bus.” He arched a brow. “Think you can handle it?”
She met his challenging gaze with a smile of her own. “Definitely.”
Price pushed off the swing and ran into the house. “Dad?”
A moment later he ducked back out. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Kylee shook her head. “That was it? No argument?”
“Why? My dad likes it when I bike. I used to bike everywhere. As long as I’m home before dark, he’s cool.”
She watched as Price opened the garage door. He lowered the rack using a pulley system and detached his bike. “But I thought your new tires wouldn’t work on the road.”
“Yeah, they don’t work that great. That’s why we’ll stay off the road until we get to the bus station.” He settled the bike upright and lifted his eyes, the dimple showing in his cheek as he restrained a smile. “Ready? I’ll get on first. You get on behind me.”
Kylee waited until he was settled, and then she scooted on. She kept telling herself she didn't need a chair, she didn’t need to sit. But the feeling that she would fall off if she didn’t hold on tight wouldn’t go away. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her cheek against the space between his shoulder blades. His boyish scent washed over her, and she closed her eyes and inhaled. “I’m ready.”
Price kicked off the ground. Kylee kept her eyes closed as they picked up speed, a little afraid to open them. The wind blew past her face, and she hugged Price tighter.
His shoulder muscles shifted beneath her cheek, and his voice called out to her. “You’re missing it! Open your eyes!”
Her eyes snapped open on command. They watered with the sting of the air pressure. She blinked several times to clear her vision, and then focused on the gravel rock chips as they spun by under the wheel. She lifted her head enough to watch the old farmhouses roll by. The bike didn’t go as fast as the bus or a car, and instead of rushing past, they strolled by, as if taking their time to pass out of view.
Kylee relaxed her grip and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of fresh hay, manure, and cows.
“Nice, huh?” Price asked.
“Exhilarating,” she agreed.
“Yeah. I love it.”
She understood why. Arriving wasn’t the biggest objective; getting there was. “I’ve never ridden a bike before.”
He didn't answer, though Kylee suspected he hadn’t heard her.
The bus depot appeared in the distance and grew to life-size. Price jumped off the bike and pulled it to a stop. She got off beside him and watched him chain it up and attach a lock.
“Perfect timing. There’s the bus,” he said.
The calm Kylee experienced on the bike deteriorated on the bus as they neared the beach. The ring began to burn, and she hid it beneath the palm of her other hand. She didn’t know what scared her more: not getting her answers, or getting them. What sort of help could Madame Humphrey give her? Did she have a way to bring Kylee back to life?
Price pulled her hand out from under her and studied the ring. “Why is it red?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s blue. Sometimes it’s gray.”
He twisted her hand, still staring at it. “I never saw it red before. Until that night when you found out you’re dead.” His voice dropped to a soft whisper at the end of the sentence.
“I haven't noticed a pattern,” she murmured, pulling her hand away.
Forty minutes later, the bus dropped them off at the boardwalk. The beach looked the same as it had before, but Kylee’s stomach was so tied up in knots that she barely paid any attention to it.
“What do you suppose is going to happen?” she breathed, wiping her sweaty palms on her pants.
“I have no idea.” Price squeezed her fingers. “Listen, we’re in this together, okay?”
Unless Madame Humphrey had a way to help her move on.
Kylee kept the thought to herself.
Her heart rate quickened with each step, and she found herself dragging her feet as they approached. Price tugged her forward and pushed the door open. The little bell jingled, and the scent of incense wafted over her.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Hello?” Price called, tucking Kylee into his side.
“Hello!” Madame Humphrey came out of a back room, pushing aside strands of beads that decorated the doorway. Her brown hair flowed in loose curls and blended in with the billowy green blouse and skirt she wore. Her pleasant smile morphed into a gentle expression when she saw them.
“Finally,” she said, motioning them toward her. “I’ve been waiting for you. Come on back, please.”
She turned around and floated through the beads into the back room. Price hesitated, but Kylee’s reluctance melted away. This was her chance. She followed Madame Humphrey, taking Price with her.
“Please, sit down,” Madame Humphrey said, unfolding a padded chair and adding it to two other open chairs, forming a circle. She sat down in one and looked at Kylee with an air of expectation.
“Thank you,” Kylee said. The knowledge that she was a ghost, that this woman shouldn’t be able to see her, tickled her brain. She settled herself on the chair. “Why can you see me? And Price? And how is it that I need a chair? Shouldn’t I be able to walk through walls? Should I even be here?”
“I know, you have so many questions.” Madame Humphrey smoothed her skirt and pleated her hands in her lap. “I will answer as many as I can. Before we get to that, though, tell me your names.”
“I’m Kylee.” She inclined her head at Price, gripping her hand in the chair next to her. “And that’s Price. So, how come no one can see me except you and Price?”
“All right.” Madame Humphrey placed her hand on her ample bosom. “I’m a medium. I can see spirits that haven’t passed over. Like you.”
“So you knew I was a ghost when you first saw me?”
She nodded. “Spirits have no aura.”
“And Price?” Kylee bobbed her head at him. “Why can he see me? Is he a medium?”
“No.” Madame Humphrey turned to Price. “He’s your guide.”
“Guide?” Price echoed, wrinkling his nose. “What’s that mean?”
“Well, as I’m sure both of you have noticed, Kylee hasn’t left the mortal existence yet. But she’s not supposed to be here. The dead reside in another dimension. Sometimes, though, they get stuck on this side. When that happens, someone among the living becomes their guide. Usually it’s someone who was also recently touched by death. For Kylee, it’s Price.” She smiled at him. “You came into Kylee’s life, so to say, to help her figure out why she’s here and continue on.”
“Oh.” Kylee frowned. “But how is Price supposed to do this?”
“By becoming your friend.” Madame Humphrey looked down at their intertwined hands.
Kylee’s face warmed, and she slipped her hand away, tucking it under the other arm. “Are you saying he was forced to befriend me?”
“More like, you were meant to be together.”
Kylee leaned back in her chair, beginning to understand. “So, is our friendship even real?”
“How can you ask that?” Price blurted out, turning to glare at her. “Nobody made us feel this way. This is real, Kylee. It doesn’t matter what she says. It’s not like someone cast a spell on us.”
She kept her eyes trained on Madame Humphrey. “How does this work? I drew him to me?”
“In a way, yes.” Madame Humphrey sat back, her face calm. “You did not bring Price into your life. But he was the right person, at the right time, and you were drawn to each other.”
Which meant, it could’ve been someone else, too. Kylee couldn’t look at Price. She knew from the sound of his ragged breathing that he didn’t like this conversation. It made their friendship seem cheaper, somehow. It hadn’t been genuine. They couldn’t help it. “So we met. We became friends. Why?”
“Because he had to pull you out of your fantasy.”
“My fantasy?” Kylee laughed. “There was nothing fantastic about my life. Or, what I thought was my life, anyway. It was miserable. The same thing every day.”
“But your family still interacted with you, didn’t they, Kylee?”
Kylee opened her mouth to tell Madame Humphrey how she’d been ignored, treated as if she were invisible. But then she realized that hadn’t happened until recently. “Yeah. They used to talk to me. I did chores with my mom. Bill would yell at me, hit me.”
“It was a memory, Kylee.” Sympathy showed in Madame Humphrey’s eyes. “You were reliving the last day of your life over and over again. Everything you touched, everything you did in that house, it was in your head.”
Kylee reared back. Her mind replayed the vacant conversations with her parents in her house, the repetitious chores, the monotonous days. “I can’t believe it,” she whispered, and yet she could. It made so much sense. She’d fought with Bill that evening. Then she’d fled to her room. And he’d come after her. Broken her door down and killed her.
She choked back a sob. Did her mom know about Bill’s part in her disappearance? He’d told everyone she’d run away. And the cops believed him.
“And your soul wasn’t awakened to that memory until Price crossed your path. His nearness brought an awareness to you.”
Kylee’s mind spun, trying to keep up with the revelations. “What was I before that?”
“Nothing. You were in a state of nothingness. Nonexistence.”
That startled her. “I was nothing—from the moment of my death until . . .”
“The moment Price came into your life,” Madame Humphrey confirmed.
Kylee gritted her teeth and met Madame Humphrey’s eyes. “Okay. So Price came along to get me out of that rut. How?”
“With his touch.” She gestured at Price. “Take her hand again.”
“Why?” Price asked, venom in his voice. “Looks like someone’s been manipulating us from the beginning. How do I know what’s my feelings and what’s imaginary?”
“No one told you to love her, Price,” Madame Humphrey said. “You did that because of who you are. And who she is. Now, take her hand.”
Price heaved a sigh and grabbed Kylee’s hand. Her face burned with the painful awkwardness, hating that he felt forced to touch her. His expression softened as he gripped her fingers, and he looked at her, his eyes haunted.
“What do you feel?” Madame Humphrey whispered. “In your heart, Kylee.”
She blinked, and a tear ran down her face. “I feel whole. Happy. Loved. Alive.”
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