Ghosts We Carry Home.

“He cried so much,” I whispered. “So much.”

“Why did you stay?” Jack asked.

“I couldn’t leave him alone. It would have been so cruel.”.

“Do you realize you can’t help him?”

I looked at Jack. What he said made me angry.
“Of course I realize I can’t help him!” I yelled. “I wanted to give him the feeling he wasn’t alone.”

“You don’t have to yell at me.”

“Then don’t say such things. I have feelings, you know.”

“I’m sorry,” Jack said.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” I mumbled.

“It’s okay,” Jack reassured me.

“You have to do something,” I whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“Alex. I can’t bear to see him like this.”

“And you think I can!?”

It was Jack yelling at me now.

“He’s my best friend, Melanie. Do you think I can stand to look at him? He’s a mess.”

“There must be something you can do.”

“Don’t you think I tried?”

I didn’t say anything, I just looked at Jack.

“It’s been like this for weeks,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do to change it.”

“Did he ever talk about it?” I wondered.

“Yes, once.”

“What did he say?”

“He said there’s a hole in his chest, where his heart used to be. He doesn’t feel alive anymore, and he’s not sure if he’ll ever feel alive again.”

“Don’t you think he should be getting over it? I mean, everybody gets over it.”

“Alex is not everybody. He’s different.”

I didn’t know what I could say to Jack, so I didn’t say anything. I just flashed away. I discovered that as a ghost, you could teleport yourself to a place you wanted to be. I flashed myself to a place that screamed for me, but I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be with Chrissy.

“What am I doing here?” I said. I could talk to myself as much as I wanted, there was no one who could hear me.
“I don’t want to spend my time with you, hell no.”
I wanted to flash away again, but for some stupid reason, I couldn’t.
“What are you doing?” I asked Chrissy. “Let me flash, witch. Do you think I’m going to walk back? I don’t even know where I am.”
Of course, Chrissy ignored me.
“I will hunt you,” I warned her. “I will annoy you, and I won’t stop until you lose your mind.”
I tried to flash again, and failed once more.
“Fine, I’ll stay then.”
I went to sit on Chrissy’s table and stared at her annoyingly. Too bad she couldn’t see me staring. Chrissy took her phone out of her handbag and dialed a number. She waited for a response, while she was checking her pink fingernails..
“Hey it’s me,” she said. Her voice sounded irritating and squeaky.
“No, I went to see him yesterday. Yeah I know.”
Was she talking about Jack? I jumped off the table and went to sit next to her.
“You know I only stay with him for the money. You’re the only one I love.”
She hit me in the face.
“What?” she laughed. “You want me to say it?”
There was a pause. If my heart would still be beating, it would go so fast that it would jump out of my chest.
“I don’t love Jack, I love you, Eric.”

“You whore!” I yelled at her. “How dare you, you skanky piece of shit! How dare you to play with Jack’s emotions like that! You don’t deserve him! You ... you ...”

I couldn’t find the words, I honestly couldn’t. I was so angry that I made all of Chrissy’s books fall off the shelves they were resting on. Chrissy started to scream, but I wasn’t pleased with her screams. I wanted to hurt her, I wanted to hurt her so badly.
“Eric, can you come over? I’m scared,” I heard Chrissy say.

“You should be scared!” I shouted. “I will hunt you down, do you hear me. I will hurt you so much.”

“Thanks, bye.”

Chrissy threw her phone on the couch and started to pick her books from the ground. I tried to hit her in the face, but my hand kept going through her. I tried to calm myself down, and eventually I was able to act normal again. There was a knock on the door and a young man walked in. Something in me said his name was Eric.

“Thank God, you’re here,” Chrissy smiled.

“I told you I would come,” Eric said. He pulled Chrissy in his arms and kissed her on her lips.

“You disgust me,” I said. “Both of you.”

And I flashed away.