Linger

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Brian flashed her a toothy grin as she stared at him. She once again tried the blinking tactics she'd used unsuccessfully the night before, as well as shaking her head to drown out his voice. Alas, he was still sat there, but was now giving her a stunned yet defiant look.

"Still don't believe I’m here, do you?" he asked earnestly, leaning his elbow on his knee and resting his chin atop his palm. All Jayden could do was shake her head.

“How hard is it to believe that the spirit of an attractive, hot and drop dead gorgeous - no pun intended - guy is in your room?” he pouted with a degree of casual curiosity.

“Well when you put it like that,” she shot back sarcastically.

She saw his face change in a heartbeat. His joking smile was replaced by thin and strained lips, and his eyes held a new flame in them, a look of annoyance; “You know, this isn’t going to work if you keep thinking I’m not here!”

"You're not here!"

"Okay fine," he tutted, straightening his back and leaning forward slightly, "Technically I’m in oceanview cemetery. Block H, row four, plot thirty seven - but spiritually, I live here!"

She took a deep breath and muttered monotonously, “You died. That's it. The end."

“Thanks for reminding me. As if walking through walls and not being seen wasn’t hard enough.”

“Oh, get ove- Wait, you can walk through walls?”

Before he could answer, the door creaked open and Jayden’s mother poked her head around the corner. Jayden’s eyes instantly switched from her mother’s concern-creased face to Brian, who now possessed an air of smug satisfaction. She glared at him slightly as her mother spoke; “Honey? Are you alright?”

“Yeah mom. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well…You were just talking to someone, but there’s nobody here.”

Once again her eyes landed on Brian, who mouthed “She can’t see me!” and proceeded to make faces at her mother. Jayden looked between them, and it was obvious that she was the only person who could see him.

“I’m fine mom, really.”

Her mother followed her gaze and shook her head slightly before turning back to smile at her daughter, “Well if you say so. I need to go to the store, so stay in bed and get some sleep.”

The moment the door closed, Jayden picked up the first thing she lay her hands on and threw it in Brian's direction. She sat spellbound as the can of deodorant passed straight through Brian's torso and clattered to the floor. He stopped laughing and became suddenly serious, looking from her to the can and back; "What was that for?!"

"It...It went right through you!" she stuttered.

Brian raised an eyebrow, donned a cocky smirk and replied bitterly, "What did you expect it to do? I'm dead, remember?"

Jayden bit her lip as she watched him disappear through the closed door and out of sight. Her mind was running on overtime, and she still couldn't fully believe that ghosts existed, let alone accept the fact that one seemed to be living in her house.

An hour later, Brian still hadn't come back. Jayden waited until the clock struck midday before hurrying to dress and escaping the house. She did the first thing she thought of, which led her right to the Sullivan's front door.

“Aren’t you meant to be in school?” Jimmy asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl stood before him.

She nodded and bit her lip, "I just need someone to help me find a place.”

Mere seconds later, Jimmy had grabbed a jacket and the two began walking down the street. It took him a minute or so to ask where they were heading.

The words escaped Jayden’s lips in a hushed whisper, "Oceanview cemetery."

It took her a few more paces to realise that Jimmy had stopped. She made her way back to him slowly and examined his face. Like the other times the subject of Brian or anything to do with him had come up, Jimmy had gone slightly pale and dazed, his eyes darting around slowly as if at loss of what to do. She rubbed his arm gently and continued walking slowly. He soon followed her and fell in step, breaking the stillness; “You have Brian's locker at school.”

“What?”

“Locker number 498.” It came out in no more than a hushed breath on the air, yet Jayden heard it crystal clearly.

“How did you know that?”

"Johnny told me on the phone.”

She nodded and the conversation passed into a lull. Silence passed between them, neither one daring to break it as they continued walking. Eventually they reached the right street and together they walked its length, their steps the only thing shattering the muted atmosphere.

The gates of oceanview cemetery were cast in rough iron, yet were shaped so intricately that they could easily be mistaken for the pearly entrance to heaven. A slight wind whistled across the grounds, the lost breath of the dead. Jayden passed through them slowly, savouring their morbid beauty and not thinking of what they held within their bars.

It took her hardly any time at all to reach row four of block H, with Jimmy pondering along somewhat nervously behind her. She scanned each headstone as it passed; five turned into ten, ten into fifteen and she began muttering to herself to pass the time, "Plot thirty seven, plot thirty seven, thirty seven..."

She heard Jimmy's breath catch and release, and she chose to ignore him until she finally paused at her intended destination.

"Just like he said," Jayden muttered under her breath, her vision skimming across the engraved stone diligently.

Brian Elwin Haner, Jr.
Loving son and brother.
Born: July 7th 1981
Died: May 4th 1999
Forever in our hearts.

Jimmy looked at her suspiciously and replied quietly, "What did you say?"

She simply shook her head as a light breeze tickled her cheeks and stung her eyes, causing them to glass over as she read the carved, immortal words. Standing there, the reality of such a bizarre occurrence finally struck, and it hit hard.