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I had an aunt living on the outskirts of Boca Raton, so I took the liberty of shooting off an email to let her know I’d be in the area. She was the type of relative I’d see every other Christmas, but it wouldn’t kill me to stop by for an hour or two. Besides, I was only really doing it to give my dad a good reason for my trip. My suitcase was packed and my flight booked. All that was left to do was leave.
‘Aren’t you still in school?’ George asked, peeking over my shoulder at my flight details I’d printed out.
‘For one week. Like it matters.’
He glanced over at my bookshelf and frowned.
‘Maybe it’d matter for you.’
I threw a pen at him and he flinched, watching it travel straight through his body.
‘Cute,’ he sighed.
‘Never gets old, trust me.’
‘We’ll see. Will your dad let you go alone?’
‘I won’t be alone,’ I replied. ‘I’ll be with you and Ronnie.’
He seemed confused so I smiled patronizingly at him.
‘It was a joke, chill. It’ll be fine. Dad’s a football coach, so he travels a lot with his team. I’ve been flying with him for years, then straight back for school. He’ll be cool with it.’
‘And the missing school part?’
‘What are you, my mother?’ I sighed, rooting for my passport. ‘It’ll be fine.’
‘And what about you? I thought you said you were retired from this?’ he bleated on.
I frowned. I had said that, hadn’t I? Thing is, I can’t exactly switch this off. And Ronnie seemed to be exactly the annoying type of person who’d follow me until I did what he wanted.
They were all like that, actually. It was better to do what they asked and then go back into hiding.
Like I said, it’ll be fine.
‘Well, apparently I have no willpower. Wait, does this mean you want me to help you?’ I groaned, wishing I hadn’t adopted him.
‘I don’t know. I’m still working out a few things and I’m all mixed up and upside down.’
‘Sounds tragic. Where’s Ronnie?’
‘Uh, he headed off to Florida. Said something about wanting to beat us there?’
I sighed, deeply regretting my decision to help him. My guess is he was already running across the states. Lucies can only run as fast as the average human, but it didn’t stop them trying. At least he wouldn’t be on the plane with me. Having one lucy with you was bad enough. Imagine trying to converse with thin air in public. Now imagine that on a plane. Yeah, I’d get thrown off in a heartbeat.
‘Right. Hopefully he’ll get lost along the way and get eaten by a ghost shark. No, that can’t happen,’ I said, as his facial expression said it all.
‘Of course not,’ he chuckled nervously. ‘We’re not going on a boat, are we?’
‘How would that- no, we are not. Is my dad still here?’ I asked, ridding myself of the stupid conversation. I’d booked the earliest flight possible last night, since I didn’t want to be around Ronnie longer than necessary. It was still before 7am, so there was a possibility that my dad hadn’t left yet. I preferred seeing him to leaving a note.
‘How would I know?’
‘Can you check? His room’s on the second floor, third door on the right.’
He was majorly uncomfortable, but did as I asked. He returned ten seconds later, visibly relaxed.
‘Yeah, finishing combing his hair, thank God.’
I rolled my eyes. Men.
Picking up my suitcase, sunglasses and passport, I shut my door behind me and met my father on the stairs. He started at the sight of me. It was hard not to notice his tired eyes. He’d clearly been crying.
Great, now I felt guilty again. It was all Stacy’s fault.
‘I thought you’d still be asleep, Bree. I-’ he looked down sharply as he saw my suitcase.
‘I’m going to stay with Aunt Yasmin for a few days, if that’s alright. Give us a little space, you know? Some time to get our heads straight? I’ve only got a couple days left of school anyway, I’m not missing much. Is that alright with you?’
‘Man, you’re bold,’ George whispered in my ear.
I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn’t retort. Luckily though, my dad seemed pretty enthusiastic about my idea, nodding along as he thought about it.
‘That’s a great idea. If you won’t be missed in school, that is.’
‘No, we’re not doing much at the minute,’ I reassured him. ‘But if you could give them a call and let them know what’s happening, it might make it easier.’
‘Sure thing, Bree. And hey, everything’s going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it,’ he told me seriously, hand on my shoulder. A little confused, I nodded anyway.
‘I know, Dad. I’ll see you in a week.’
I kissed him goodbye and George followed me to our carport.
He whistled appreciatively at our hoard.
‘I’m actually not surprised that you have more cars than people living here. What’s that, a vintage Corvette? Sweet. A Merc and an SUV, too. And what’s that in the corner? The blue one hiding under tarp?’
‘That’s Betsy. She’s broken,’ I said, taking the Corvette.
‘Betsy, huh? What happened to her?’
‘Not sure. You wanna listen to music?’
‘Sure. You gonna take her in to be checked out?’
‘Maybe, I don’t know. What’s with all the questions?’ I groaned, switching on the CD player. Smooth Criminal was playing. I quickly switched it back off and shuddered.
‘You don’t like that song?’ George asked slowly, taking in my weird response.
‘Hate it. Anything by Michael Jackson, nope.’
‘At least we have something in common. Who do you like?’
‘A bit of everything, really,’ I said, searching for another disc. There was nothing. Radio it was. I pulled out the driveway and put my sunglasses on, enjoying a beautiful day. George glanced around nervously. It was his first car ride since his death. It can be a little weird, or so I’ve heard.
‘This is the strangest experience I’ve ever had,’ he announced, mirroring my own thoughts.
‘It gets better. Or you become used to it, one of the two. How are things bearing with you?’
‘Okay, I guess. I thought I’d- I don’t know, feel things, but I don’t. I’m not mad or upset or anything. I’m trying my hardest, but I’m getting nothing.’
‘You want to feel those things?’
‘Anything to make me feel human again.’
‘But you’re-’
‘I know, I know,’ he interrupted, dragging his fingers through his hair. ‘I’m dead, you don’t need to remind me. But it’s only my body, isn’t it? I’m still here. I mean, what constitutes a person?’
‘Whoa, philosophy at this time?’ I joked, checking my watch.
‘I’m surprised you know what that word means,’ he quipped.
‘I could open the door and you would fall out. Then, you’d be stuck on this beautifully busy highway. Just sayin’.’
‘Understood. Seriously though, I’m having an existential crisis here. Am I still a person, or aren’t I?’
I frowned, feeling the beginnings of a migraine. This talk was way too early for my liking, and I wasn’t only talking about the time of day.
‘A lot of Eastern religions believe in life after death,’ I said, the vaguest thing to come to mind. I didn’t have any answers at all for him, and I had never even seen the debate room in school. I was completely and utterly the wrong person to be speaking to about this sort of stuff. Unfortunately, I was also the only one.
‘You mean like Buddhism, Hinduism? Yeah, I get all that. I am a total believer now, obviously,’ he scoffed.
‘I don’t know what you want me to say,’ I admitted, smoothly switching lanes and upping the speed. ‘I’ve never really thought about it.’
I had my eyes firmly on the road in front of me but I still couldn’t miss his piercing eyes staring unblinkingly at me. Clearly, I’d said the wrong thing.
‘Are you for real? You see the souls of the departed, for crying out loud. You are, as far as you’re aware, the only person in the world to do so. Do you not understand how huge that is? You could be solving decades-old mysteries right now. You could be making a scientific breakthrough as we speak. At the very, very least, you could be a rich and famous sellout. And instead you’re, what?’ he sighed, looking me up and down. ‘Living at home, begrudgingly helping out some dead guys?’
‘I’m seventeen,’ I reminded him. ‘I’m still in school. What do you expect me to do?’
‘Okay, what are your plans after school? College? Private detective agency? Travel the world to help those in need?’
I braked as I almost crashed into the pickup truck in front of me. Reading the next sign, we didn’t have far to go, thank the Lord. It was my luck that the lucy in my care was the polar opposite of me.
‘Maybe I don’t want to do any of those things. Maybe I’m fine the way I am. Ever thought of that?’
I thought about raising the volume on Smooth Tunes Hour, but it seemed a pretty petty action. I’d stick to sulking.
Maneuvering onto the last stretch before the airport, I swiftly glanced over at George. He’d been pretty quiet, and it was bothering me. I offered up a desultory olive branch.
‘Hey, I’m helping Ronnie, aren’t I?’
He smirked sadly.
‘Sure. Like that makes up for anything. You know, I’ve had a thought. Maybe you’re not here to help me. Maybe I’m supposed to be helping you.’
And then he laughed so loudly and unexpectedly that I couldn’t help but join in.
‘Yeah, right. You think that was the whole plan all along?’
He laughed even harder, but managed to splutter, ‘you tell me.’
‘Wish I could,’ I shrugged. ‘Thing is, everything’s random. No rhyme nor reason, is what I’ve found. Sucks, but there it is.’
He quietened down, his sudden hysteria forgotten for the moment. I took advantage of the fact to lay down some ground rules.
‘Okay, we are nearing the airport. If it’s a busy flight, I will completely ignore you. If there is anyone around me, I will ignore you. I will not be acknowledging you anywhere at all until we land safely in Miami and we are in the hire car. Basically, it’s going to be a quiet couple of hours. Questions?’
‘Many, but I will leave them unspoken, your majesty,’ he bowed.
‘Majesty,’ I mused, parking in the biggest lot known to mankind. ‘I like that.’