Going Home

Well, that worked, I thought to myself as I stood there in shock.

How it had worked, I had no idea, but now that I was here, I had work to do.

The house was still empty as I hurried through the hallway to the stairs, but I no longer felt the cold, unwelcoming atmosphere.

Worse things were on my mind than feeling as if I was in a morgue; like not knowing if my body was actually in one.

I shook the thought away before it could take hold, moving faster so I had to concentrate on where I was going - and almost ran into a pale-looking Jay on his way down the stairs.

“Angel,” he began, looking like he’d just seen a ghost, but I interrupted him.

“Jay, we need to talk.” I said quickly, trying my best not to look like an intimidating spectre; “Somewhere people won’t notice if you start talking to yourself.”

After a moment, he nodded, looking like he was going to pass out any minute, and led me through the garden to the creek.

“Now,” I continued, when we were seated on the bench, “I need you to tell me exactly what happened since the last time we spoke. When I was... less ghost-ey, I mean.”

There was a long silence, and then Jay slowly nodded, resting his head in his hands so his hair fell over his face.

“Okay, I’ll tell you,” he sighed, beginning to explain.

“When we first found out what had happened, it was Thursday, two days ago.” He said.

I blinked in surprise, and started to ask him something, but he looked up at me pleadingly.

“Look, Angel, its hard enough for me to talk to you as a... a ghost-thing, okay? Now, I can tell you the rest, but you’ve got to be quiet. Please?”

I nodded silently, and he went on.

“After you left, I went straight to my room, feeling awful for what you were going home to, and then nothing happened until Jessie’s mum came back from work, really late. That’s when she told us that you’d had an accident, fallen off a ladder or something.” Jay paused, and looked up. “Do you remember what happened?” he asked gently.

“Yes,” I whispered, nodding - that part I remembered well enough.

“It wasn’t an accident, was it?” he went on.

I didn’t say anything, just shook my head slowly.

“I thought so...” Jay said quietly, mostly to himself. “…but, anyway, Jessie was a mess from then, not knowing if you’d be okay. I was upset, too - but not as much as when you... appeared, just before.” he motioned at the house.

“Hang on,” I said, ignoring what he had said about not interrupting. “What do you mean ‘just before’?” I asked.

Jay looked at me strangely.

“I mean, you suddenly just turning up half an hour ago, disappearing and then reappearing on the stairs. That was majorly freaky.”

I frowned, tying to put it all together and work out how I had been at the hospital and the park in that short time, but there was no logical way it could have happened, so I left it.

There was another awkward silence, where neither of us knew what to say, and then Jay finally spoke up.
“Well...” he frowned, playing with a corner of his T-shirt as he thought. “Now you know everything I do, from when you passed out to right here, right now… what do we do now?”
I looked around, knowing I couldn’t admit that I had no idea - I couldn’t lose hope now.

Thinking desperately, I finally had an idea.

“Do you know what the doctors said?” I eventually asked Jay.

“Well, yeah, Mrs James did try to explain it all,” he frowned, thinking. “She said something about internal bleeding, and that your body would heal in time, but your mind had gone into some kind of coma, from the shock, I guess. Pretty much she said that you’d stay unconscious until you kinda... decided to wake up.”

“But,” I shook my head, “that makes no sense - I mean, right now I want to wake up, but it’s not happening!”
I looked hopelessly at Jay, feeling that I had lost my one last chance, but he looked like he had an idea.

“Angel...” he said presently, “I may have seen too many ghost movies, but... I dunno, maybe you’ve got to do something - fix something - before you can come back.”

I stared at him, logically thinking it was bullshit, but I felt a tiny spark of hope begin burning at his words.

I was silent for another moment, then began pacing back and forth, thinking aloud as I contemplated the idea.

“...what can I do like this, though?” I said eventually, wondering aloud.

Jay looked up sharply, but didn’t say anything for a moment.

“...I can think of one thing,” he said finally, deadly serious.

“Jay, no.” I stopped and spun around, feeling a chill suddenly fill the air around me. “I know what you’re thinking, and that’s not it. It can’t be.”

But he wasn’t listening.

“Look, Angel,” he said earnestly, “It just might be. Think about it - you’ll want to wake up twice as much if you don’t have to go back there afterwards.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Jay interrupted me and went on.

“Plus, even if people can’t see you, they’ll listen to me, and I know people who can help.” he lowered his voice and turned to me with an anxious look on his face. “Just give it a go, won’t you? Even if it doesn’t help, we won’t have done any harm.”

I didn’t answer him, just closed my eyes and turned away, trying to organise the ragged, terrified thoughts rushing around in my head.

Well, I thought to myself, if we try and it doesn’t work, I knew Chris couldn’t get me in my current ghostly state.

On the other hand, if it did work and I came back to reality, would I really be able to get away from it all?

And then I realised; at any other time I would have said no, I was stuck with what I had – but just then I was feeling something new.
I was feeling as if, just maybe, I could get through this.

So I turned to Jay and nodded slowly, telling myself that I wasn’t making any promises; yet feeling a weight lifted off my heart.
I was so relieved to have something to work on, and Jay must have been too, for he grinned.

“Okay, then.” he said, “So, first we need t-”

But I didn’t hear any of what he said next, because suddenly I was feeling like I was underwater, where all sight and sound was blurred.

“Jay,” I managed to call out before everything faded away completely. “I think I’m going again. I’ll try to find you and we can…”

I faltered, for now I was speaking only to a dark, empty space.

“Well, so much for that.” I sighed, sinking down onto the ground again.

This time, though, I was feeling more hopeful, and I didn’t cry as I closed my eyes on the blackness for the second time.