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I yawned, loudly and laboriously. It’d been a hell of a day. I went into my bathroom to change into my pajamas and brush my teeth.
‘Uh, should I leave or something?’ George called out nervously.
‘Go on the balcony, I’ll be out in a second.’
‘What about after then?’ he shouted back, a little more muffled.
‘Then, I’m going to bed. You go do whatever you want.’
‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know. What did you do last night?’ I asked, spitting into the sink. Must’ve been loud. I didn’t catch his reply.
‘What did you say?’ I yelled.
I probably shouldn’t have been screaming all over the house, but Dad coaches early. He’s a heavy sleeper. I was in the clear, for now.
‘I don’t think I was here last night.’
‘Huh, strange. Must’ve been a delay. Well, I hear the park looks pretty cool at night. There’s an abandoned bunker there. Take a detour at the woods where the busted tree is. You’ll know it when you see it. Or so I’ve heard,’ I shrugged, turning off the light. He stayed on the balcony for some time, looking out into the world.
‘I can’t sleep anymore?’
‘Nope. Sorry. Though on the other hand, you don’t feel sleepy, so...’ I made a weighing movement with my hands, which he missed.
‘What are you looking at?’ I wanted to know, but not enough to get out of bed.
‘Everything. I can’t do anything now, can I?’ he asked softly.
I felt for him, I really did. I almost got up to join in his melancholy but he seemed content to stay on his own. I didn’t want to make him more upset.
‘No, but you can see things. Hear things, still. You can go anywhere in the entire world, with no restrictions whatsoever. You can see things that no living person has ever seen, or ever will. You can-’
‘I get it, thanks,’ he said, smiling wryly at me. ‘I can’t even think where I’d want to go.’
‘Come on, use your imagination,’ I prodded, sitting up as I thought about it. ‘The Pentagon. The White House. Mariana Trench. The Vatican Library.’
‘Mariana Trench?’ he repeated.
‘Sure. Maybe spot a new animal or something.’
‘I thought it was pitch black down there?’
‘I’ll toss you a flashlight.’
Clearly unimpressed, he turned away to think some more.
‘Are you upset?’ I called out.
‘No. It’s hard to explain. It’s sort of like my feelings are diluted, in a way. Clouded, maybe. I want to feel things, but I can’t.’
Lucies have told me that before. I wasn’t sure they were supposed to stay here for a long time, if at all. In an ideal world, maybe people were supposed to die only when they were ready to. With their affairs in order, and their goodbyes said. Instead of randomly and unexpectedly as usual.
‘It’ll get better,’ I told him, the first thing that came into my head that wasn’t totally negative.
‘Yeah, right. What age was the oldest lucy you’ve ever met?’
‘Ninety-one. Wait, did you mean how old they were or how long they’d been a lucy?’
‘The latter.’
‘Oh. Then, 150ish.’
He spun around so fast in sheer shock that he fell off the balcony. Barely managing to stifle a laugh, I shouted for him to run through the wall and back up the stairs. He joined me a minute later.
‘Smooth,’ I applauded.
‘150?’ he asked, still astonished.
‘Yup. From the Civil War, he was. Name of Edward or Edwin or something.’
It’s been about ten years since I’d spotted him in a zoo. That was all the information he’d managed to tell me before he’d asked to speak to my father. Apparently six-year-old girls didn’t hold much weight back then. I’d told him my father couldn’t speak to him, and then I’d been dragged away before I could freak out any more people. I always wondered if I’d see him again.
And if he was still a little sexist.
‘That’s insane.’
‘I know.’
‘What did he want?’
‘Never got the chance to tell me,’ I yawned, explaining what my dad did on an hourly basis, and still does, on occasion.
‘Wow. That’s harsh. Does he not know about you or something?’
‘Sure he does. I did tell you I had years of therapy and psych sessions, right?’
He shuddered. That was usually my reaction to my memories, too.
‘He doesn’t believe you?’ I shook my head. ‘That’s pretty cold. I thought parents were supposed to support their children no matter what. I can’t imagine my own father acting like that. Or my mom, for that matter.’
‘Really?’ I challenged. ‘Even if, as a kid, you asked them where Mary’s doll was? And when they asked who Mary was, you pointed at an empty corner?’
That stopped him in his tracks. He backed away a little, eyes darting in every corner just in case.
‘Okay, that I get. Creepy dead child with a doll is one the most terrifying things in the world.’
‘You see many of them?’
‘Do you? Cos if you do, I am out of here. I mean it.’
I laughed through my tiredness, thinking back to that first lucy. Or one of the first, anyway.
‘Naw, not really. The doll was totally eerie, too.’
‘You found it?’
‘It was in the attic,’ I giggled, nodding. He immediately started looking under my bed and searching the shelves for it.
‘Don’t worry, we got rid as soon as. There was no way they were keeping that in the house. Especially since I’d never been in the attic and I suddenly knew it was in an unopened box at the back. They were freaked, big style.’
‘They?’
‘Yeah, my- huh,’ I chuckled, completely thrown for a loop. ‘My dad, I mean. That was weird.’
I could’ve sworn- Must’ve been the lack of sleep, and all that talk with Stacy and my dad. I must’ve been thinking about my mom because George had mentioned his parents, and then falsified my memories somehow-
‘I need sleep,’ I deduced from that mess.
He stood awkwardly as I settled into my bed.
‘The Pentagon awaits,’ I mumbled.
‘Maybe another night. Mind if I hang around on the balcony tonight?’
‘Sure. But if you watch me sleep, then there’s not much I can do because I’m a super heavy sleeper. I’ll glare at you in the morning, though.’
‘Duly noted.’
I switched off the light and closed my eyes, hoping I’d fall asleep before the day’s events began to haunt me. Maybe I’d been wrong about Stacy. Maybe she did love my dad like she said. But if that was true, then why did she leave so quickly, without even a hint of a fight?
Nah, I was right about her.
‘Are you still awake?’ George shout-whispered from the balcony.
‘No. Go away,’ I replied.
‘I have an important question.’
‘Fine,’ I lamented, slipping into a sedate state. ‘Burden me with your troubles.’
‘Can I change my clothes?’ he asked unexpectedly.
‘Really? That’s your important question?’
‘Yup. Really, really.’
‘No,’ I sighed.
He burst into laughter. Annoyed, I half-crawled out of bed to chastise him.
‘Why was that so important?’
‘Because- oh, I can’t breathe.’
‘You can’t anyway. You want a slumber party or something?’
‘No.’
I couldn’t make out any more intelligible words through his laughs so I looked to where he was vaguely pointing.
It was a lucy. A half-naked, overweight, middle-aged lucy.
‘Oh, delightful.’
The lucy was wandering aimlessly through the woods that my balcony overlooked. From what I could tell, he appeared to be barefoot and wearing speedos. That was all.
‘Do you think he’s seen us?’ I asked, as his head snapped up and looked directly at us.
‘Nope,’ George said.
‘Great.’
The dead man was overjoyed at the sight of us. He tripped in excitement, which was bizarre enough, and enthusiastically pointed at us, jumping up and down.
‘You! You can- you’re like me! I- don’t move, I’ll be right there.’
We watched him waddle through my house, George still snickering at him. Sleepily, I took one last lingering look at my bed as I came to the realization that I wouldn’t be in it any time soon.
‘This is not how I thought my night would turn out.’
‘You and me both. Where do you think he came from?’
I wondered at that. My area was pretty nice, but not many people had pools or hot tubs. Besides, it was almost 2am. On a Thursday night. Or Friday morning. Which reminded me, I still had school tomorrow. Today. Ugh.
I searched my bag for what lessons I had in about six hours’ time. History, double gym, double math – okay, I was skipping. I only had a week left anyway, it was pointless to even turn up. What was I talking about? Right, the random half-naked dude.
Nearest lake was a couple hours’ drive away, so he’d been walking a long time. If he even came from Ohio, that is. Had a lucy walk from Hawaii once. Over land, underwater, at the bottom of the ocean. They’d said it was an experience they’d never forget.
So, maybe our guy had done the same thing.
‘I don’t know,’ I said in a late reply, perplexing George. He’d obviously forgotten he’d even asked a question.
‘I’m going to go make a coffee,’ I sighed.