Bittersweet Sundown

“Okay Jims, what did you want from me?” Ash asked, turning to look at him.

“Look,” Jimmy said happily, turning her around again, facing the small bedroom. At first, she didn’t see anything that shouldn’t be in that room, but then some shimmering near the window caught her attention.

​“Grams?” she whispered, recognizing the slightly shimmering shadow, smiling warmly at her. Ash slowly stepped closer, reaching out her hand. She wanted to touch her grams spirit but her hand went straight through.

“I’m sorry honey-bun, I can’t have a solid body here like your friend does. But we can talk sweetie,” her grandmother said with soothing voice, still smiling at Ash.

“How did you get here?” Ash asked quietly, her voice lost in shock.

“Tonight is Summer Solstice, sweetie. Have you forgotten it?” grams reminded her, raising her brows in surprise.

“Right. I did forget it. I’m sorry,” Ash admitted, hanging her head in shame. Tonight was the night when the line between two worlds was weakest, allowing spirits to visit this world.

“It’s okay. Your friend here invited me. He said you wanted to talk with Kyle but he can't leave Shadow World yet. So I hope you want to at least talk to me a little," Ash's grams explained.

"Are you kidding? Of course I wanna talk to you," Ash almost yelled. She turned to look at Jimmy who was still standing behind her.

"Jims, thank you for finding my grandmother for me," she hugged him quickly, afraid that her grams might disappear at any moment.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Bertha. I'll leave you two alone now," Jimmy said before walking out of the room.

"I see you have found yourself some good friends at last. You look happy my dear," Bertha hovered closer to her grandchild, a contented smile on her lips.

"Yeah, Jimmy is awesome. And Val and Zack too. I just wish I could help Jimmy somehow. He deserves more than this,” Ash whispered sadly.

“I believe you can help him. It’s all up to you honey,” her grams said warmly.

“But how?” Ash asked with hope.

“My grandmother had the gift of changing the past. And while this particular skill went past me, I do believe you have it my dear. You just have to believe in yourself. Of course, these days there’s a time limit on how far you can go back, but to my knowledge, it should be at least a year,” Bertha told, furrowing her brow, trying to remember that last part correctly.

“Are you kidding me? That’s awesome! I have to tell Jimmy,” Ash was almost running out of the room but stopped suddenly at the door. “But I don’t know how to do it,” she turned around, looking at her grams again.

“Well, since it solstice, me and Kyle can help you a little. I have to go now. Remember, you have to do it before the sunrise. Well know when you’re ready,” Bertha smiled again, moving her hand along Ash’s cheek.

“Grams, I love you. And please tell Kyle that I love him and miss him so damn much,” Ash said, tears flowing from her eyes.

“He knows that dear. He feels same about you. Now, be strong my little one, you have good things waiting for you. Believe in yourself,” grams smiled, shimmering away, her last word fading with her image.

Ash turned her face up and let a few ​tears slip down. Then she wiped her cheeks dry and let a tiny smile to her lips. She knew that when her time would come, grams and Kyle would be waiting for her. She wouldn’t be afraid of death anymore. As cliche it sounded, death wasn’t the end of everything, it meant only moving on.

“Jimmmmyyyyy,” she called, hoping that her friend could somehow hear her. And he did hear her, appearing in front of her instantly.

“What’s with that yelling ?” he asked, looking around the room, searching for Ash’s grandmother.

“Thank you for getting my grams here,” Ash hugged him hard and kissed his cheek at least three times. Jimmy laughed, hugging her back and spinning her around.

“I have wonderful news to you,” she smiled, feeling really happy about the chance to be able to help him. “Come on, sit down,” she grabbed Jimmy’s arm and pulled him to the bed with her, sitting down on it.

“Tell me already, this suspense is killing me,” he whined. Seeing Ash so happy made him awfully curious.

“What would you do if I’d say that maybe I could make you a real living person again?” Ash asked, not knowing how to put her thoughts into words.

“For real?” he asked, eyes huge with hope.

“I’m not 100% sure it’ll work but I may have the powers to do that. And I’m willing to try if you want it,” she said, her last words muffled by Jimmy’s shoulder.

“I love you ,” he yelled, tackling her to the bed with him and making her laugh with joy.

“Jim?” was asked by the door. Neither of them haven’t noticed the person standing there. Turning their heads, they saw a very shocked looking Leana standing there.

“Babe you'll never believe…” Jimmy tried to say but Leana turned around and ran out. Ash jumped off the bed and ran after her.

“Leana wait. It’s absolutely not what you think, come on, let us explain. I’m sure you’ll be as happy as Jimmy is,” Ash said to her, holding her hand firmly in hers and guiding her back to the room. Jimmy was sitting at the end of the bed, beaming like a child in a candy store. With a frown, Leana looked from one to another.

“What’s going on?” she asked confused. She had just found her man on a bed, hugging another woman and saying he loved her. And now they both were smiling and happy.

“Sit down,” Ash motioned her to sit next to Jimmy and then sat on the floor in front of them.

“Lee will make me a human again. That’s why I love her, you little silly,” Jimmy said laughing and pulled Leana under his arm.

“What? How?” Leana asked unbelievably, looking at the girl in front of them.

“Jimmy, I said that there’s a chance it won’t work. Don’t get your hopes too up,” Ash told, her smile faltering a little.

“Nah, I believe in you,” he smiled, ignoring the chance of failing.

“But how?” Leana asked again, not even daring to hope yet.

​“Well, I don’t know exactly how, I haven’t done anything like this before. But my grams said that I have the power to do this and I trust her. We’re like witches or something like that. I don’t like to call myself a witch tho. Let’s just say that I have a few powers a regular human doesn’t,” she explained.

“Oh, can you show us?” Jimmy jumped excitedly on his spot.

“I… Look, I can’t use these powers as I wish. There’s a price for it. Usually people who use their powers turn up evil or just plain angry. And there have been cases of sever craziness followed by loss of all powers with your sanity. I don’t want that to happen to me. So I’m using my powers only when I don’t have any other way,” Ash clarified, looking at the red carpet in front of her.

“You don’t have to prove it, I believe you,” Leana said, smiling warmly to her.

“Why?” Ash was surprised that they believed her so easily.

“Well, I didn’t believe in ghosts before,” Leana smiled, “and obviously there’s things existing in this world that I still don’t know about.”

“When are we going to do this?” Jimmy asked excitedly.

“Tonight. I have to do it before the sun rises,” Ash said. Seeing her friend so happy made her smile.

“But how will you do it? Are you going to resurrect him or what?” Leana asked with a frown. They would have a lot of explaining to do when Jimmy would be suddenly just awoken from the dead.

“No, that wouldn’t work. I’m gonna try to prevent him dying. I have no idea how to do it but I have my grams support so I’m gonna try at least,” she sighed, trying hard to believe she will succeed.

“But wouldn’t it change everything else too? Like how we met you?” Leana questioned, not so happy anymore.

“Yeah, it probably will change,” Ash realized it also, feeling a bit sad about it. She had become good friends with almost all of them.

“In that case, you don’t have to do this. I don’t wanna lose a friend like you. I can stay as a ghost, it’s not that bad,” Jimmy came to sit beside her, hugging her close to him.

“No Jimmy, I know how much you wanna be alive again. I’m the only one who can make it happen and I want you to be happy. Besides, if it’s meant to be then we will meet again,” Ash said, holding back tears. She didn’t wanna lose Jimmy and others too but she had to do this for him. Jimmy deserved a second chance she wasn’t able to give Kyle. She just had to do it.

“I’m not sure anymore,” Jimmy whispered. He was glad that he wasn’t able to cry as a ghost. He sure felt like crying.

“Okay, let’s have some fun for a few hours before we do anything, okay?” Ash got up, forcing herself look happier than she felt. She didn’t want to start a cry fest. “Come on,” she grabbed both of them hands, Jimmy’s and Leana’s and dragged them out of the room.

“Jims, you have to promise me that you’ll help as much as you can. Okay? You can’t give up this time,” Ash stopped at the back door.

“I’ll do my best. I love you, please remember that,” he whispered back, looking miserable.

“I love you too. Promise you’ll take care of each other,” she hugged them both, then quickly stepped out.

She walked to the table and poured herself a glass of punch, drinking half of it at once. Taking a deep breath, she wiped away any traces ​of sadness and went to sit down. Looking around, she found Brian staring at her with a thoughtful face. She looked back, not turning her gaze away. It was probably her last evening with them, so she didn’t have anything to lose.