We spent the rest of the day going off to various little places that she had not seen in more than twenty years. She spent almost the entire trip with her mouth agape. I explained everything that I could when she asked.

  “So, like, cellphones fit in your pocket now?”

  “Yeah. And you can use them to access all kinds of information. But most people just use them to look up cute pet pictures.”

  “I saw a bunch of people using them, but I was never really sure what they were. So no one, like, uses pagers anymore? I can't remember the last time I saw a pager.”

  “I think doctors still use pagers. But most people just text.”

  “Text?”

  “It's like an email sent to your phone.” I took out my phone and showed her the application for texting and a couple of other things. Surprisingly, she took the thing from my hands and it just stood there, floating in her semi-transparent hands. I glanced around and no one seemed to notice that my phone was floating. She stared mesmerized at the plastic rectangle in her hand with a level of awe I had not seen anyone have towards a smartphone in more than ten years. She swiped her finger on the screen and it actually moved. “Whoa. Ghosts can use smartphones. That's a new one.”

  “You didn't know that?” She asked, looking away from her new toy.

  “No, I didn't. I don't talk to many ghosts, anymore.”

  “You can to talk to the dead and you don't do it?”

  “When you were alive, you could have spoken to all of your neighbors at any time. Did you?”

  “Yeah. I really liked Mister Stevenson. He was nice and taught me a lot about taking care of roses. And Misses Jackson gave me the best pie recipes!”

  “God, you're weird.”

  “You don't talk to your neighbors either? Who do you talk to?” She asked.

  I thought about it for a moment and then started walking again. She followed me and handed my phone back. It's not that I dislike people. Well, sometimes I do, but not as a rule. It's just easier to go my own way. Quieter. No one thinks I'm crazy or tries to put me into an insane asylum, I thought to myself. Which has happened a few times. It was not fun.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  I spent most of the rest of my vacation with her somewhere around me. We did not always talk. I let her use my phone some more. Like a kid, she downloaded some games and became quickly addicted to Candy Crush. We have all been there, though. She was really good at it, too. Picked it up immediately. I also showed her YouTube. She watched a lot of videos. Then she found out that, because I pay for Premium, she could watch videos and play Candy Crush at the same time. She watched a lot of plays. Turns out she could use my headphones, too, and watched all through the night.

  On the night before I had to return, she arrived in my room and saw me packing my things and her face drained of what color there was. Ghost expressions are a little strange. When you are somewhat transparent, your entire color palette is a little washed out already, so when someone drains of all color they become a little more see-through. She looked morose and just disappeared entirely. I did not know if she had just made herself invisible or just teleported away.

  “Lona? Are you here?” No one answered. I did not see her for the rest of my trip. The next morning, I did spend some time looking for her. I wanted to say goodbye. I liked her well enough, for a ghost. It was nice having company. Honestly, the only reason I went on the vacation was because I had accrued all the time I could and would lose anymore if I did not use it by the end of the year. I called out for her quietly a few more times, but I did not have a lot of time. I had to give it up, check out of my hotel, and get to the airport. After going through security I had an hour or two to burn before my flight would take off. I took out my phone and stared down at the apps she had installed. Candy Crush and some other games like that. Apparently, at some point, she found Facebook and looked up all of her friends and her family. The search history was full of names I did not know. My YouTube recommendations were filled with stage productions shot from all over the world.

  I looked through the history and she had watched whatever plays she could get her hands on. I do not know anything about theater and have not been since high school when the girl I liked was in a play. I chose one at random and spent an hour and a half mesmerized by what I was seeing. I had chosen Hamlet and his ghost father encouraging him to do things really spoke to me. I cannot say if it would speak to anyone else in quite the same way but when you are woken up at three in the morning by a spirit demanding you visit her grave and put flowers on it, it becomes a little too real.

  Unfortunately, I could not watch any more videos, since planes and phones do not typically mix that well for reasons I could not begin to understand and my laptop was locked away somewhere below. So, I spent the rest of the time reading. The return trip took two hours and passed through several timezones. I got home and watched a couple of the other plays that Lona had. They were all pretty good. Or maybe they were terrible and I do not know what I am talking about. After a bit, I laid back on my bed, watching plays.

  I must have fallen asleep at some point because I woke up in darkness. There was a little light from the window, but it was definitely night. This really was not what was surprising to me. What was surprising was the fact that my arms were around a woman. Who was in her panties. Just her panties. I panicked and untangled myself from her and fell off the bed. Again. The woman turned to me. It was Lona. Because of course it was. She smiled down at me.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead.”