Decorus Phasmatis

I start to head down to the stables when a voice stops me.
“What’s this?” Eric asks, eyeing the rectangular shape with a blanket over it.
“Nothing,” I say.
“Can I see?” Eric raises one eyebrow. I envy him for being able to do that. Can all ghosts do it? Or is it a skill he has acquired in his spare time?
“No,” I tell him. I head for the door. “I’m going for a horse ride. I’ll be back soon.” Eric nods. I can see he wants to come but I want to have a moment to myself. I don’t think I’ll be having many ‘me moments’ any more. Plus he would probably scare the horses.
“Eric?” I stick my head back into my bedroom and Eric reappears right in front of my face.
“Yes?” he asks with a smile.
“Do ghosts have x-ray vision?” Eric laughs very loudly and I am very glad no one is home.
“Run along and go for a ride,” he says mysteriously. I walk out of the room confused. Was that a yes or a no?
“Don’t touch it!” I call back down the hall and I hear another laugh.

I take Cheeko for a ride. He is the youngest, the fastest and the fiercest. We bolt through the paddocks, letting the wind role across my face. I take deep breaths of the country air, the air I love so much. I feel free. I lift my hands in the air and Cheeko keeps running. I close my eyes, trusting my steed to run a clear path. Beautiful.

I hug my mother and father, they are both home now. I sit with them and we talk about our days. Mum had the mayor come into her café today and they had a nice chat over one of her coffees. Apparently he was most impressed. Dad hired a new apprentice and says I should come down and meet him because he’s about my age. Mum and Dad tease me about boys and I blush when Dad tells me the new apprentice said he would like to meet me. I agree I will after some convincing. Dad says he is quite a gentleman. I don’t date very often, Laura has had the same boyfriend for three years now; Mandy is too shy to meet many boys, but she is now happily dating the boy next door whom she has liked since she was five. And Gina, well she just hooks up with random boys she meets on the bus, the train, the street, at school, anywhere. She really is one of a kind. I agree I will meet the boy after school tomorrow.

I head to my room again. Eric will probably be getting lonely by now. I throw myself on my bed and turn to the window seat where a book is floating.
“What are you reading?” I ask. I can’t see what the book is from this position. Eric appears around the book. He is leaning against the window coolly.
“I don’t know!” He shrugs and shows me the front of the book. The cover has fallen off. I laugh.
“Me neither!” I have so many books that are damaged in this way that I don’t know which book is which until I start reading.
“How was your ride?” Eric asks without looking up from the book.
“Fine.” I decide to join him on the window seat.

Eric: Riley sits down beside me and I just have an urge to touch her. Would it even work? Or would my fingers slide straight through her face? I look up from my book and I see her. She is sitting in the sun, her hands wrapped around her legs and her head on her knees. Her long hair drapes around her face like a curtain, shielding her purple-grey eyes from me. I reach out to push her hair back. I watch as my hand passes right through her hair. Nothing happens except for a slight waver of Riley’s hair. I pull my hand back quickly. Riley looks a little shocked.
“I’m sorry,” I apologise straight away. Riley just shakes her head.
“Don’t.” Her voice is almost a whisper. She pushes her hair behind her ear, revealing more of her beautiful face. “Better?” I nod, ashamed.
“I’m sorry, I just-”
“Don’t be sorry. One of us was bound to do it eventually. You aren’t the only one who was curious.” She smiles at me kindly. God, I love her.

We are silent for the rest of the night. It isn’t awkward though, she just watches me turning the pages of the old book I’m reading. She has a soft smile on her face and she looks peaceful. As the night goes on, Riley drifts off to sleep. She is leaning against the window and all of her hair has fallen back off of her face. I know I can’t lift her into bed, so I get her blanket and drape it over her. I sit beside her on the seat and watch her sleep. We stay like that until morning.

“Did I sleep here all night?” Riley sits up and yawns. I just smile and nod.
“Like a baby,” I say, and Riley smiles sleepily.
“Time for school.” She stretches and stands up. “I don’t feel like school today.” Riley sticks her bottom lip out jokingly. She always feels like school. “Maybe I could magically become sick?” she suggests. I laugh.
“I don’t think so, I think you should go to school like a good girl!” I head towards the wall. “Now get dressed and ready!” She sticks her tongue out at me as I pass through the wall. I used to think going through a wall was a strange feeling. Now it is kind of comforting; knowing I have that option.

“I’ll be late home today,” Riley informs me as she ties her shoes.
“Oh okay,” I say, nodding. “See you when you get home then.”
Riley jumps off her bed and races down the driveway to the bus.

Riley: I’m nervous all day at school. I have to meet the new boy at Dad’s work this after noon. I don’t even know his name, but Dad has been raving about him and I promised. I told Laura all about it this morning. She is excited for me and said to go for it!

I walk from school to Dad’s workshop in the afternoon. I’m a little bit nervous. Laura put my hair up nicely and tied a blue bow around it. I probably look like a dork in my uniform but at least Laura made my hair look nice.

“Hi, sweetie,” Dad greets me as I walk through the garage looking for him. “I was hoping you were going to show up!” Dad grins at me and I can’t help but smile. He has the uniform of blue overalls on and they’re covered in grease and oil. He has a rag hanging out of the left pocket.

“Hi, Dad,” I hug him despite the black grub all over him. I come off with grease all over my white uniform top. Oh well, Mum will just have to bleach my uniform again. “And of course I would show up. I promised, didn’t I?” Dad is grinning.
“Would you like to meet Xavier? He’s around the back.” I nod. “Do you want me to come around?” Dad looks like he wants us to be alone so I say no, and head around to find Xavier, now I know his name, myself.

I find him right where Dad said he would be. He has wavy dark hair that hangs down over his ears. He is wearing his blue overalls and they match his eyes. The front half is folded down, revealing a white t-shirt underneath.
“Hi,” I approach him. “I’m Riley,” He looks up from some piece of metal, probably part of a car, which he is fiddling with.
“Oh, hi, I’m Xavier. Your Dad wanted me to meet you!” He smiles like he knows we’ve obviously been set up.
“Yeah, sorry about that, but I promised him I’d come and say hello. Dad spoke very highly of you!”
“Don’t be sorry, I wanted to meet you anyway.” Xavier wipes his hands on his overalls. He holds his hand out to me. “Nice to meet you,” I take his hand and we shake.
“Good to meet you too.” I smile. We laugh a little bit at our interesting situation before Dad walks around the corner.

“How are you kids going around here?” he asks. “You found him alright, Riles?”
“Yes, Dad,” I say.
“Do you kids wanna go get something to eat or something like that?” Dad asks us.
“I haven’t finished yet, Mr Burnett,” Xavier informs him.
“Oh that’s no matter, take the afternoon off! You deserve it!”
“Thanks very much, Mr Burnett!” Xavier turns to me. “Would you like to get something to eat?”
“Sure,” I say. “I know a great place we can go,” I wink at Dad. I’ll take Xavier to Mum’s café.

Xavier goes out the back to get changed and Dad goes back to work, obviously quite impressed with himself. Xavier appears wearing his white t-shirt, and pair of jeans that are a little spotted with oil and are worn in the knees. I don’t care, I’m used to it.
“So where are we going?” he asks.
“Not far, just up the street.” I smile. “Sorry about Dad, he is the king of creating awkward situations.”
“No way, I’m glad he introduced us. I just moved here about a month ago. I don’t really know anyone my age. Just a whole heap of adults, my parent’s friends and stuff. Your father has been the friendliest out of any of them, and now you. I’m most grateful actually.”
“Yeah, Dad is friendly to absolutely anyone and everyone. Except if you get on his bad side. Then he can be unpleasant. But it takes a lot to do that.” We’re at Mum’s café. “In here,” I say and walk through the door. I am immediately hit by the cool air-conditioned air and the smell of coffee. “This is my mum’s café.” I inform Xavier.
“It smells great!” he exclaims.
“Wait until you taste it!”

We go and sit at the stools in front of the counter, right next to one of the little glass boxes that display an array of Mum’s finely decorated cupcakes. Of course Mum doesn’t do everything here. She has waitresses and people to make coffee; she just likes to do the baking herself. I work with her in the holidays. Sometimes she will let me help her decorate things, but I’m no cook.
“Ah, so you didn’t inherit your mother’s talent for baking then?” Xavier laughs.
“Most certainly not. She tried to teach me to make pastry once and if there was something I could do wrong I found it.” Xavier and I have been here all afternoon. The shop will be closing up soon. Mum has been in and out of the kitchen chatting to us and insisting that Xavier try all sorts of freshly baked goods.
“That’s unfortunate,” Xavier finishes off the last of his third cookie, this one was triple chocolate. “Your mum’s cooking is fabulous. My parents aren’t going to be happy, there’s no way I’m eating dinner!” He pats his stomach.
“I guess my parents are both a little over enthusiastic about everything,” I sigh. All the customers have left the store now, bar Xavier and I. The tables are all clean and the chairs are stacked on top of them. One of the new waitresses is mopping the floor. She’ll keep drawing the short straw until someone else replaces her as the new girl.

“Come on, we’re going now, Julia is going to close up.” Mum walks out from behind the counter and stands in front of us.
“How much do I owe you for the food?” Xavier pulls out his wallet. Mum looks horrified.
“You don’t owe me anything!” she exclaims. “All Riley’s friends eat here for free!” Xavier looks a little taken aback.
“Are you sure?” Xavier looks at me for reassurance, as if to make sure she was telling the truth. I give a slight nod.
“Of course! Now do you want to come over for tea, or do you need a lift home?” Mum is herding us out the door of her café. I suddenly go tense as Mum invites Xavier over for dinner. For some reason I don’t want Xavier over, not just yet. I think of Eric.
“I’d better be getting home. My parents will being expecting me home soon tonight. I didn’t know I would have plans!” He gives me a sneaky wink. I relax. Did he know what I was thinking? Did he feel me tense beside him at Mum’s invite? I don’t know but I am embarrassed, and grateful.
“What about a lift?” Mum asks.
“Thank you for the offer, but I have my own transport!” Mum looks confused for a moment and then remembers that Xavier is older than me, not by much though. He finished last year and I finish this year. Not much difference at all. He smiles at Mum politely. “Thank you very much for the food, Mrs Burnett, but I had better be going. It was great meeting both of you.” Xavier turns to me. “I’ll have to catch up with you another time. Maybe on the weekend if you’re not busy.” He smiles.
“Sure.” I smile back. With that he turns and heads back down the street towards the work shop.

I cannot stop smiling all the way home, and once I get home I’m still smiling. Mum and Dad have both noticed. I blush and skid up the hall to my room and close the door. I flop down backwards across my bed.
“Hi,” I say aloud. As soon as I speak Eric appears.
“How do you do?” he asks. He is standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by my bed, the window seat and the door.
“Fine,” I say. “Just fine.” I am staring at the canopy over my four poster bed. Eric eyes me suspiciously.
“Just fine,” he repeats.
“What did you do?” I prop myself up on my elbows.
“I listened to records most of the day,” he replies, sitting on my bed beside me cross legged. Mum has an old record player and a whole collection of old records. I listen to them too sometimes, you know, when i need a break from all the hip hop and RNB they play on the radio.
“Hmm, relaxing,” I say.
“It was.”
“I just love lying down and letting the music take you away. You can think of anything, or nothing.”
“I thought of only one thing,” Eric tells me.
“What?” I ask curiously, letting my head tilt to the side a little. Eric hesitates a little.
“You,” he finally replies. My stomach does a little flip. When I don’t say anything he continues.
“Well, I don’t have anything else worth thinking about. Think about it. I’m a ghost. I don’t really have a social life to consider, or anything to think about except my past. And now there’s you, it’s like you give me a future.” He looks at his slightly translucent hands as he speaks and then looks up at me through his long golden tipped eyelashes. I consider what he has said. It makes sense. I’m the only person, as far as I know, that he speaks to. Of course he was thinking about me. It doesn’t mean anything special. I find myself feeling disappointed.

Eric: I may have just said something stupid, really stupid. Riley came home today grinning, and if I have any experience with girls at all, which I do, then she has been with a boy all afternoon. And it wasn’t me. It was some living, breathing, alive boy.

It was too early for me to say that stuff. But I was desperate, and it just came out. She didn’t need that pressure. I mean, of course I was thinking about her, I never think about much else, except my past. I meant every word I said. I just don’t think this was the time to say it, that’s all.

Riley is staring at me kind of blankly. She looks confused. I should explain to her what I’ve just said, but I can’t. It would be too much, and she’d ask questions and I’d be willing to bet some of them would require me to tell her things that I’m not willing to tell her yet.