Soul Salvation

Rania glanced out the classroom window, watching as the greens on the trees slowly green more present. Each day that wore on brought spring a little bit closer.

It was now March, the last few days of winter slowly fading, making way to new growth and plentiful sunshine. But even with the feeling of happiness coming from the earth, Rania still felt a pang in her heart from time to time.

She was glad Brian was at peace after so many years, but she hadn’t thought letting go of a ghost would be so difficult. But Rania missed Brian. She missed having someone to talk to about whatever needed to be said. She missed having someone to confide in, knowing there was no way Brian could tell someone else.

But at the same time, though she missed Brian’s presence, Rania did enjoy the fact that she felt a little more normal. She liked that she didn’t feel like she had some big secret to keep from the rest of the world.

The bell rang, signaling class was over and pulling Rania from her thoughts. Gathering her things, she stopped at her locker to drop off her books on the way to lunch, where she met up with Sam and Maria.

“So have you seen Brian at all?” Mariah asked quietly, knowing it was a bit of a sore subject.

“No. He’s really gone,” Rania answered, playing around with her food on her tray with a fork.

“Oh. That sucks,” Sam added, though she didn’t really know what to say. She wasn’t even sure she really believed what she saw that day at the manor, months prior. Had she really seen Brian’s ghost? Or had her mind been playing tricks on her? She had never questioned Mariah about what the two had seen that night, and it was likely that she would never bring it up.

“So… the Spring Ball is coming up,” Mariah then said, changing the subject. “Have any boys asked you?”

“James Lark asked me… but I don’t know if I’ll go with him,” Sam answered.

“Why not? He’s a nice boy. He’s cute,” Mariah said.

“I dunno… too many expectations if we go as a couple, I guess.”

Rania just pushed the conversation from her mind. She wanted to move on, but some days, like this day, were worse than others. Some days, like this day, Rania wanted to trade her normalcy for another day with Brian’s company.

--------------

When Rania got home from school, she dropped her bag down on a chair, proceeding to look around the house in silence. For the first time since she’d met Brian, she tried to imagine in her mind what it had looked like when he lived there. She wondered what kind of furniture he had, where things were placed. Not too much had been left behind for them to clean up or remove. And Rania realized she’d really never know how anything had been when Brian was alive.

Walking over to the stairs, Rania took a seat at the bottom of them. Morbid as it was, it was the only place Rania seemed to still feel the smallest presence of Brian’s spirit. Like a small piece of it was still there, the ghost of a ghost.

Suddenly a cold gust of wind pushed past Rania and she looked up, eyes wide as she scanned the room. The doors and all the windows were closed. A small smile twinged at the corner of her mouth.

“Brian?” she whispered, letting herself grow hopeful though she knew she shouldn’t.

But no answer came, and Rania’s smile slowly faded, the wind dying down.

“Rania,” a voice then came, seeming to float just behind her ear. It was nothing more than a whisper, a flutter of vibrations on the air, but Rania knew it was Brian. She could sometimes always feel the presence of Brian, though he never reappeared. She always tried telling herself it was her imagination, that she was making herself feel a presence that wasn’t there. But now she knew. A part of Brian was there, watching over her.

She couldn’t see him, but she could feel him, and Rania had a feeling she always would.