Hello, Can You Please Stop Haunting Me?

It was a bad idea.

She had no idea why she even thought of it.

Sitting in a lotus position in the middle of what she assumed to be nowhere (at least, a place that she didn’t know of), she was on the verge of giving up as she stared at the dark sky, as if the stars would slowly move and form a solution for her – an arrow, words, anything that could guide her to where she wanted to go.

Just as she was on the verge of giving up…

“Enjoying the stars?” A voice spoke, sounding as cool as the night’s breeze itself. Eliza felt her face burning.

“Not much of them out there tonight,” she murmured. Jeremy sat beside her, legs outstretched and arms at his side.

“I’d offer you my jacket,”

“I appreciate the gesture, kind sir,” she said, giggling as he chuckled along.

After a short, comfortable silence, Jeremy began to speak again.

“What…are you doing here?” He asked, finally. Eliza brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin on one of her knees, looking embarrassed. She didn’t know how to start, or where to start.

“I was searching for you,” she answered.

“Why’s so?”

“I…uh, I wanted to save you.”

Another silence. This one was shorter than before, but a lot more awkward.

With a trembling voice, Jeremy said, “Save me? Save me? Judging from this—” he paused, gesturing at the beautiful mess in front of him playfully “—I’d say you don’t even know where I was in the first place.”

And then he burst into peals of laughter.

“Jeremy…” she trailed off. She felt so stupid. Jeremy wasn’t making it any better by laughing endlessly. “Stop it!” She said.

“No,” he said childishly and Eliza stuck out her tongue.

Wiping an invisible tear from the corner of his eyes, he pointed at a house in the suburban neighborhood. The white paint of the picket fence was chipping off and there were fairy lights strewn around the fence. There was an assortment of flowers in the garden – roses, daisies, tulips and other ferns that looked as if they could benefit from a little rain and lots of love.

“It was a beautiful garden,” Jeremy said when he started to get a little bit self-conscious from Eliza’s silence. She snapped out of her trance and nodded.

“I could tell,” she said. “Your mom must be a good gardener one, huh?”

“She loves flowers,” he said. “She said no home would be complete without one. She used to tell us these stories…when she moved in with dad. He’d give her a flower per week after they moved in together. In the end, their apartment became a garden itself. And then dad found out that he was actually allergic to the flowers, but he didn’t care. Though, mom got sympathetic when he would waltz into their apartment, sneezing.”

“That’s…that’s actually very sweet,” Eliza said.

Jeremy smiled. A bittersweet smile.

“So,” he said after a while. “Save me, huh?”

“I just figured…you know. You always disappear off into the night without telling me anything. I had to ask Zach to give me your home address. And I...well, I’m not really good in directions. It’s just that…you can’t do anything much, with the current state you’re in now, right?”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I’m gonna try and help you?” She said, somewhat enthusiastically and unsure at the same time. He chuckled and Eliza saw it. Those warmth that she had never seen before portrayed in his eyes. It touched her heart. It made her want to reach out to him but she knew that wasn’t a good idea. All she’d find in the end would be pure coldness.

Though, the warmth in his eyes made her believe – for one second – that he was really sitting next to her.

Pain tugged at her heart.

“I really wish I could do something…anything,” she said, feeling sad all over again.

“Oh, Ellie,” he sighed, that bittersweet smile still plastered across his face. “Eliza, look at me, please. I would love for you to help me. I feel that sooner or later, I’d beg for your help anyway. I’m not even sure how to ask you for it in the first place…it’s like, hey, I’m dead. What’s the point of it? The world moves on.”

She shook her head vigorously and broke down in tears.

“You’re not dead. You’re not dead to me. I’m sorry,” she said, sobbing. “It’s just not fair that you have to go what you’ve been through and now, watch it from afar. It must be…so painful.”

“Hey,” he said, hushing her. “If anyone, I should be sorry. I don’t even know why I’m…haunting you I guess,” he said, trying to brighten up the mood. She shook her head again and looked straight into his eyes seriously.

“B-but I love your company.”

“I love your company too,” he said, chuckling.

They stayed in that position for a while. Eliza stopped sobbing, Jeremy was silent.

Without thinking, Jeremy leaned in, his lips gently touching Eliza’s. It wasn’t cold, no. The warmth on her lips felt so real, she was overwhelmed by it. It was almost as if Jeremy was real. As if he was there.

Under the inky night sky, a lovely magic happened. And the moon, surrounded by the stars, were the witnesses.