Hello, Can You Please Stop Haunting Me?

Eliza nibbled on her French toast while her mother was talking about things that somehow bounced off from her mind. James Davidson appeared in the dining room and kissed her mother’s cheek lovingly, much to Addie’s disgust. Whenever that happened, Addie would always stuff whatever there was on the plate to be stuffed into her mouth before grabbing her skateboard and saying a prompt ‘bye’.

So it was a routine that Eliza already knew, only before Addie went out – much to James and Rosalyn’s discomfort – with her skateboard and backpack – Eliza did what she never did before. “You can’t leave her like this you know,” she said, feeling frustrated all over again. “You have to at least try and sit down with her and talk this through. She loved dad very much and you going out with someone new, a complete stranger to us without even talking to us about it, is…well…it needs some getting used to.”

She glared at James who replied with a guilty look.

“You. You’re the 5000 pounds elephant in this house if you two are just going to completely ignore how we feel. And don’t even think for a moment that you can replace our dad!”

Eliza got up and snatched her bag and books from the coffee table hurriedly, shooting a look at the invisible, silent observer who still looked sick that morning. He just drifted behind her, keeping his distance like he always did when something was troubling him. Maybe that was why no one noticed.

He didn’t even reach out for help.

“ADDIE!” She screamed as soon as she saw her sister, stopping Addie from crossing the road. Addie looked around curiously and her eyes, still filled with rage, looked at Eliza bemusedly. Eliza panted heavily when she arrived, slapping her hands on her knees.

“One moment,” she muttered and Addie rolled her eyes.

“What do you want?”

Eliza hugged her.

“Have fun in school,” she said to a surprised Addie after they broke apart, quite awkwardly.

“Um, okaaay,” Addie said, before getting on her skateboard again. When she was down the street, Jeremy finally spoke.

“Are you going to walk to school? You’ll be late if you do, you know.”

“Of course not,” Eliza said, turning to face him with her hands behind her. A small smile tugged his lips at the sight of Eliza being all sweet and refreshed in front of him, something he was longing to feel.

“I’d thought so. You ran just down the street, which is like what, 30 steps? And you’re already panting like crazy,” he teased and clucked his tongue playfully, crossing his arms. “You’re such in a crap shape.”

“Shut up!” Eliza laughed, beckoning him to follow her back to her home. She threw her books and bag on the passenger seat and started the car. Adjusting the rear view mirror, she smiled to herself. She had a feeling things were going to look up, sooner or later. For everyone, even Jeremy.

* * * * * * *

History class was always a bore. She’d tap her pencil hard and loud on the corner of her desk until she’d get death glares from the teacher. Two seats to her right, a fellow classmate was dozing off, his head bobbing slightly and Eliza smiled, amused. Zachary Harper. He was pretty close to Jeremy, she thought.

She thought about Jeremy. Last night he reappeared into her room so suddenly and it freaked her out so much that she fell out of her bed. “What’s wrong?” She asked, a bit groggily. Unable to keep it in any longer, Jeremy told her everything about what he had done. It got her crying her eyes out that night.

She snapped out of her trance when Zachary’s - unable to hold it any longer - chin slipped from his palm and the side of his head hit the table. Mr. Munoz sharply turned around and threw the chalk at Zachary. He woke up, his body tense and aware but confusion was swimming in his eyes. “Mr. Harper, detention!” Mr. Munoz yelled. For whatever reason, he couldn’t stand people sleeping while he was teaching. The classroom erupted in giggles.

Zachary caught her eyes when she was still chuckling. They stayed like that for a while. He smiled teasingly and jabbed his thumb at Mr. Munoz, mouthing, “asshole”. Eliza grinned.

But then something unexpected happened.

His eyes moved away.

And he was staring at something next to her, something that was supposed to be invisible to everyone except herself. Jeremy didn’t even notice. He was too busy trying to pick up her eraser, even though he knew he couldn’t.

What was going on?