When Three Becomes Two

Tre’s PoV

I had decided to simply stay with Billie and Mike for the time being, and not let them out of my sight. Being a ghost or spirit or whatever you want to call it, the whole thing was easy. I could slip into their car with them by going through (literally through) the doors. The whole time I really wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, focusing on my surroundings. Seeing the people I saw in the streets this morning, seeing Billie and Mike. This time, though, they could not see me. And they never would.

It was that night when that truth crashed down on me full force--I was dead, gone. I was in Mike’s bedroom, watching him. He didn’t sleep—he stared lifelessly at the ceiling, tears occasionally sliding down his cheek. Again, like at the hospital, I so wanted to go over to him, to tell him everything was all right, that I wasn’t gone yet, that I had to watch over my friends so they wouldn’t die the way I did. And again I was forced to watch silently as he cried for me.

That morning was worse, if possible. Seeing Billie and Mike wake up, with plain evidence on their faces that they had been each awake all night, trying as hard as they could to mask the emotions from who they trusted most was very hard.

I was furious at myself for doing this to them. I had made my friends mourn my death that they did not yet know was for a reason. Neither one of them deserved to have this brought on themselves. Hell, if Billie or Mike died on purpose, I would have killed myself just to go to the afterlife and kick his ass. But this time, I was the one to bring them their misery.

I started to cry again, much louder than before, still in Mike’s room. Heaving sobs escaped my chest, each one filled with anger and sorrow.

Suddenly, I heard feet coming towards the room. They paused at the door, as if they were hearing my lamentations, then continued on past me. I forced myself to get a grip and halted my grief to go listen to Billie and Mike in the kitchen.

“…And I heard you crying, I know you did, you were…and now you’re here…but then that must mean…” I heard Billie say, voice layered with disbelief. Mike approached Billie and talked to him firmly and slowly, as though the man standing before him was a mental hospital patient and not his best friend.

“Bill, listen to me. You’re in shock from what happened yesterday. You were hearing voices, it happens sometimes. There is no way in hell that I can be in two places at once. Don’t let your imagination control you like that. It’s not healthy.”

This gave me an idea. Sure, I couldn’t communicate with Billie and Mike directly. But I could go all horror-movie on them and indirectly show them I was here. It was perfect.

After getting the idea and pondering it over for several hours, it didn't seem quite so brilliant anymore. Occasionally, I got frustrated when I couldn’t think of what to do. Who wouldn’t? I was forced to watch my friends grieve over my own death. And I was supposed to figure out a way to talk to them without really talking to them, or otherwise that angel would pick me up by the collar and drop me into whatever afterlife I belonged in. At one point I became so mad I started trashing my hotel room. I didn’t mean to—I had no idea I could move stuff around. It was too late when I was done. I also saw that blood dripped
everywhere when I had destroyed the area. Who knew why? But there was no time to clean up—I had to put my plan into reality.

I had decided to tap into Jakob’s dreams. I knew he would tell his father about it—after all, I’d known the kid his whole life. I was important to him. I hoped.

It’s a weird feeling, to make yourself show up in someone’s dreams. I really don’t know how I did it…I just went over to Jakob and sort of…jumped into his head and connected with his thoughts, and gave him the message.

Luckily it did work. The next night, Jakob told Billie about his dream involving me. I noticed Billie got a little teary-eyed at the end of it. I hadn’t really meant to do that. I’ll admit even I got sad when Jakob said his prayer for me—although it wasn’t really necessary since I was still right there.

What happened next, however, was not according to plan. Mike went into my (trashed) hotel room—the idiot. I watched as he went in and looked around in shock. I started muttering every expletive I knew, gradually getting louder as he screamed Billie’s name and he came running over.

I quickly caught the gist of the argument—Mike was ticked because he thought Billie made up Jakob’s dream and trashed my hotel room. It wasn’t long before my two friends lunged at each other and started fighting.

I watched in horror. This wasn’t what I wanted! My own two friends turned against each other, all brought on because of my mistake.

What could I do? Yell at them to stop? No, I wasn’t able to do that. But I could pull them apart. And I had to do it fast before one of them got seriously hurt.

Billie had Mike held down. He punched him in the nose, making blood spurt across his face. If he did it again, it would break Mike’s nose. I stepped between them and pushed them apart with every amount of force I could muster. It was easy because Billie and Mike were too in shock at what I was doing to put up a fight. As soon as I stopped, they both ran away from the scene.

That night both of them stayed in one room, anxiously looking around them all night long. Had I been alive, I would have laughed at them and made fun of them for it…although if I had been alive, none of this would have happened.

All I could do now was hope that Billie would find my note. If he did, all that would be left for me to do was make sure that serial killer didn’t get his hands on Billie and Mike, and I’d be free to go…wherever it was.

My luck held out. While Mike was out of the hotel room, Billie got out his guitar. I stood watching over his shoulder as he read, an expression of shock and another wave of sadness came over his face. A lone glistening tear fell, and his hands trembled slightly. Despite Billie’s sadness, I was still glad they finally knew what had happened to me. The burden of being alone lifted off my back, not quite gone but still lightened.

Despite the grim circumstances, I felt much happier than I had in a while.