Phantom

Chapter 22: Forever
“I had a lot of fun today, Lawren,” I said as we walked up the porch at the front of my house.
“So did I. We should hang out again like this really soon.”
I nodded my head and smiled. He did the same.
“This is a bit awkward,” Lawren murmured.
I laughed. “Well, I should get inside now. I guess Nathan is waiting for me inside since his car is here.”
“Oh, right! You don’t want to keep him waiting, do you?” Lawren said with a fake smile then pushed me to the door.
“Lawren,” I sighed. “Nathan is acting. Stop trying to turn this into a competition, alright?” I said as I dug in my pocket for my key.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lawren said with a smile.
The door opened right before I stuck the key into the door. “I’ve missed you so much,” Nathan sighed as he scrutinized me then wrapped his arms around me and gave me a kiss on my lips. “Hi, Lawren! Did you two have fun?” He asked politely.
“Lots,” Lawren said with a smile. “Natalia and I were just talking about how we should hang out again soon. You should tag along next time!”
I groaned and rolled my eyes.
“I’d love to! Thank you for the offer, Lawren. That was really nice of you.”
“Okay, yeah, bye Lawren. See you tomorrow at school,” I said as I pushed Nathan back through the door.
“Bye, Lawren!” Nathan called.
“Bye, Nathan!” Lawren called back as he walked down the stairs.
I shut the door then sighed. “He’s unbelievable.”
Nathan chuckled. “What happened?”
“He thinks you’re hospitality is an act,” I said and chuckled as I walked up the stairs, Nathan behind me.
“Oh, really? It doesn’t seem like he thinks that.”
“That’s because he’s ‘playing along’,” I said and quoted the words with my fingers.
Nathan chuckled.
I walked into my room, leaving my lights off so that only the moon illuminated the whole room. I jumped onto my bed and leaned against the headboard. Nathan sat beside me and put his arm around my neck. We looked into the mirror across from me and he smiled.
“What?” I asked.
“I like this picture,” he said and pointed to the mirror.
I smiled. “So do I.”
Nathan leaned over and gave me a kiss on my head.
“I wish I could just freeze time. We could stay this way forever. We would never have to worry about anything.”
“Only if that was your singular power,” Nathan chuckled.
“I wish,” I agreed and nodded my head. Even though everything looked perfect now with my friends, both my families, and Nathan, it wouldn’t be for long. Sometime soon everything will change forever. I don’t know how, but I’ve always had this intuition that perfection never lasts so before that time, I had to cherish every happy moment I had with the people I love.
“It’s hard to think how I lived my life a while ago without you there and it’s hard to imagine how I’d ever cope if I ever lost you,” Nathan said.
“You don’t have to worry. You would never loose me. You have me forever, Nathan.”
“The same goes for you. I’ll always be here for you no matter what.”
Nathan buried his face in my hair. “Natalia, I love you,” he murmured in my ear. “I want you to always know that. Never forget that you are my first and only love. You have my heart, my love.”
“I love the ground you walk on, Nathan,” I whispered and tilted my head so that my nose touched his soft hair. “I love the air around you. I love the things you touch. I love the things you say…. Nathan, I love you. Never forget that.”
Nathan placed his hand on my neck and as his nose traveled from my ear to my jaw, his hand moved to the back of my neck. He then lightly kissed my neck then traveled up to my chin then to my lips. He kissed my once, twice, three times. On the fourth time he kept his lips on mine as they moved in syntonization.
I wrapped my arms around Nathan’s neck as he came closer to me.
Suddenly the lights turned on and I pushed Nathan off of me.
“Hey, kids,” Jayant said and waved at us.
Nathan and I waved at him, embarrassed.
“What’re you doing?” I asked.
“I’m bringing in Nathans’ bed,” he responded as he pushed in the mattress. “It’s a good thing dad told me to bring it up here. It looked like you guys were getting it on.”
I groaned as my face turned bright red. “We were just kissing, Jayant and nothing more than that.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell mom and dad,” Jayant said and chuckled as he set the bed down.
“We weren’t doing what you think we’re doing. That’s gross.”
“Whatever you say,” he sang as walked to the door, shut the lights, and closed the door.
“And to think he’s an adult,” I sighed and rolled my eyes.
Nathan chuckled. “Where were we?” He asked smiling and brushed a strand of hair out of my face.
I smiled impishly and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to bring his lips back to mine.

Epilogue
“Where’s Keith and Nathan?” I asked. “They said they was just going to pick up something at the store and it’s taking them forever since the store isn’t so far from here.”
“You are an impatient little girl,” Sarah mumbled as she twirled a butter knife on the kitchen table.
“And you aren’t?” Ella asked and laughed.
I sighed. “Where’s Luke and Lyle?” I asked Ella who was braiding Charlottes’ long hair.
“They’re in the game room as usual,” she replied with a sigh. “You can never get those boys out of there.”
“Mommy, I’m hungry,” Charlotte said quietly.
“Sarah, can you get your sister something to eat?” Ella asked.
Sarah took a banana from the table and tossed it at me. The banana slipped from my hands and fell to the floor.
“Wow,” Sarah mouthed.
I handed the banana to Charlotte. “Mommy?” I asked Ella.
“Oh, right! I didn’t tell you. I adopted Charlotte when she was just a baby,” she said as she wrapped the end of the braid with a hair tie. “It’s sad how so many families give up their children just because they’re like us,” she said with a sigh. “But it’s also surprising how we still managed to keep our secret a secret. The Cheong family is doing such a good job.”
“Cheong family?”
“The Cheong family includes Sonia, Robert, Dhaji, and Francis. You’ve heard of Robert before, am I right?”
I nodded my head.
“Well, the Cheongs’ are probably one of the most powerful ghost families of our generation that we know of.”
“What can they do? Sonia is a ghost medium. She can speak to your ghost kind of like a regular medium but this can be a bit risky because when this is being done the ghost may not want to leave being in control of your body.” She said the last words slowly. “That’s why she tries her best not to have to use her power.”
“Robert as you probably know is a predictor. He predicts the future but sometimes he’s visions aren’t exactly right but since he’s the only ghost with the ‘fortune teller’ ability that we know of, we have to trust his visions.
“Now Dhaji is the Vital One of the family and he is also the most powerful because he is a ghost eliminator. He can completely extract a ghost from the carriers body. Many ghosts have considered this alternative but most of them are turned down.”
“And why is that?”
“It’s Dhajis’ decision. Before you come to him to ask for your ghost to be eliminated you need to know your ghost task. Dhaji will decide if the task is possible to complete which means that he won’t do any extraction. But if you’ve finished your task or if he thinks you aren’t capable of finishing then he will grant your wish. Dhaji has this thing about not wanting ghosts to hop from one generation to another because of tasks being incomplete for a long amount of time or a carrier loosing their ghosts. Spirits come to us to help them finish business and if the business is never completed then they will go to another carrier who is able to finish the task in the next generation.
“Francis is a memory eraser. She can erase specific things from peoples memories. Francis plays a really big role in keeping our secret a secret. She erases the memory of the parents who gave their children away who were ghosts. She also erases the memory of the people who’ve seen second hand ghosts. If it weren’t for Francis, we’d all be exposed and be living in cells for the government to experiement with or we’d probably be quarantined.
“Francis erased the memory of Charlottes parents and the doctors who help give birth to her. Now Charlotte is safe with us.” Ella gave Charlotte a kiss on her cheek. “Go run along now,” Ella said after she finished the last braid.
“Natalia,” Nathan sang as he entered the house and walked into the TV room.
“It’s about time,” I said and rolled my eyes. “We were supposed to leave for our picnic a long time ago.”
Nathan chuckled. “Come here first,” he said and took my hand. I stood up from the couch and followed behind Nathan.
“What is this about?” I asked as we turned a corner leading to the garage.
“You’ll see,” Nathan sang. He turned me so that I was facing the door of the garage then he covered my eyes.
I sighed. “What’re you doing, Nathan?”
“It’s a surprise.”
I heard the door open in front of me.
“Take a step down,” Nathan directed.
I stuck my foot out to find the first step.
“Two more.”
I stepped down two more times and got to the bottom.
“Are you ready?” Nathan asked.
I nodded my head, smiling.
“Are you sure?”
“Yup,” I said, popping the “P”.
“Absolutely sure?”
“Yes.”
“Positive?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m sure, Nathan,” I said and laughed.
Once Nathan removed his hands from my ears, I let out a high pitch scream.
Sitting right in front of me was a beautiful pearly white CLK550 Cabriolet with a large red bow on the hood of the car. The top was down and it looked so perfect. I jumped in the air and ran to the car and ran my fingers across the hood.
“For me?!” I cried happily.
Nathan smiled and nodded his head.
Sarah walked into the garage. “Could you get any louder?” She asked.
I ignored her and ran to the drivers seat. “C’mon, Nathan!” I called and put on my seatbelt.
Nathan walked over to the seat next to me and pulled off the bow.
“Just click that button,” he said and pointed to the silver button on top of the gear shift.
“Just click it?” I asked, excited?
“Just click it,” he repeated and laughed.
“Wow,” Sarah mumbled.
I slowly clicked the button then the car purred to life. I squealed and clapped my hands.
“Thank you so much, Nathan!” I said and gave Nathan a tight hug. “But remember, I’m paying you back once my share gets released, alright?”
“Half,” he corrected.
“That’s what you think,” I scoffed. I put the shift in reverse, pressed down on the gas and I screamed while the car quickly backed out of the garage. I looked over at Nathan who was holding holding on tightly to the seat and his eyes were wide.
“Step down on the gas lightly he directed.”
I nodded my head as I turned the car toward the road.
“I should’ve bought you a bike instead,” he mumbled to himself.
“Ready?” I asked Nathan with an mischievous grin.
He looked at me, his eyes wide again.
“Set?”
“No, Natalia,” he said, frightened.
“Go!” I screamed loudly and stomped on the gas while Nathan screamed at the top of his lungs and I laughed.