"Blessed" with a Curse

“Austin…hey, Austin…?”
I looked up from my desk to see Ronnie peeking over his office wall.

“Hm…?”
“Are you okay? You seem really out of it…and I mean more than usual.”
I only sighed and ran a hand through my hair. He closed my laptop, and tugged on my arm a bit.

“Come on. I’m taking you home.”
“But I have work to finish. There are still some papers that need to be edited.”

“Just leave them to me. I know you don’t get much sleep.” “Are you sure about this, Ron?”
He nodded, a small smile on his face.

“You’re too nice. I don’t get why everyone thinks you’re a douchebag.” I stood up from my chair and grabbed my jacket from off the coat rack.

“I guess some people just get the bad side of me as a first impression.”

“Thanks. I really owe you one.” “You can owe me by actually getting some sleep tonight.”
“Deal.”
~*~*~*~*~

“Hey, I’m home…”
Alan didn’t have to work today, so he must be in the house somewhere. I walked around, looking for him.
Not in the living room. Not in the kitchen. I walked upstairs.

Not in his room…not in the bathroom…
Only one more place to look…

I opened the door to my bedroom and there he was, on the bed, holding Kellin’s camera in his hands.

I ran over to him and snatched it out of his hands.
He looked up at me with wide eyes.

“What the hell are you doing with this?! Why did you pick this up?!”
“I…I—” “Answer me, dammit!” I balled up my fist, my anger increasing.

“I-It looked broken…! And I wanted to see if I could fix it…! I’m sorry…! I just wanted to fix it…! I just want to fix...everything…”
A couple of tears rolled down his cheek, and I instantly felt guilt sink into my stomach.

Why am I so hard on him…? Why do I get so angry at him so easily…?

I placed the camera on the desk and sat next to him on the bed, pulling him into a hug.

“I’m sorry…I don’t know what’s wrong with me…I didn’t know…I’m sorry, Alan…”

“It’s my fault…It’s my fault that you’re like this…!”

What…?

“What do you mean?”

He pushed me away, shaking his head slightly as he got up and walked out the room.
I groaned a little in frustration.

I looked at the desk and saw the black notebook that he bought for me.

I guess it couldn’t hurt…

I picked up the book from the desk and grabbed a pen from the drawer.
I lay on the bed and opened the book.

“February 13th, 2011. Entry I:

I have lost the last person I’ve ever loved about two years ago…
That’s what I thought at first, until the day that I committed suicide.

I was brought back to life, and now I can see spirits of the dead, including my beloved Kellin, who I haven’t seen for about two weeks now. My best friend, Mitch, died four years ago, but I saw him about four days ago.

That was the first time I saw him after he died, but it was also the last time.

I haven’t seen my mom, but she died ten years ago.

Maybe she moved on already, and disappeared from this realm.

I fear…that Kellin…would disappear from me like that…never to return to me.
Other than falling in love once again, that is my greatest fear.

Then, there’s this guy. His name is Alan.
I found him passed out by the lake, and now he lives with me.

I barely know anything about him.
He sees ghosts, just like I do, and he’s nineteen.

I don’t know where he came from, why he ran away, and I don’t know anything about his past.
Yet, Mitch and Kellin seem to know more about him than I do, but neither of them are here to tell me.

I guess I can only wait and see what happens from now.

End of Entry.”