What I've Done

Postcards

After everyone was finished opening their gifts and said goodnight, Johanna had gone up to the guest room she was to share with her Mother and Nan and cried into the pillow that was lying on the bed while she was alone. Feeling the sadness well up inside herself she had to let out her feelings somehow and the only way she could currently was by crying silently into the pillow she had. As she cried, she heard something that made her shoot up from her pillow and her wide eyes scanned the room for the sound. Realizing that it was coming from the window, Johanna opened the latch and into the room flew Atticus, her pet fruit bat. Happily surprised to see him, she almost cried out with glee before wrapping her arms around it with a small squeal.

"Oh Atti, I'm so glad to see you!"

The bat squealed with delight and seemed to cling to her chest in a way that almost made it seem like it was hugging her back and letting him sit on the dresser, Johanna asked,

"How did you find me?"

That's when she suddenly realized that something was attached to his leg. A tiny bottle of some sort was tied with string and as she undid the string, the bottle fell to the floor with a quiet tink. And slowly but surely, out came something that looked like a ghostly white puddle, one that seemed much too big to fit into such a tiny bottle,

"I told him where to find you."

An echoey voice replied to her question and the puddle suddenly started to form a shape of a person. Seeing his shoes, then his clothes, Johanna's eyes widened and with disbelief she cried,

"Brodie! What are you doing here?!"

Brodie Thomson was the ghost of a thirteen year old Scottish boy that had been alive in the eighteen hundreds. When Johanna was only eight years old she had met him that summer when her Nan had come to visit their home. He actually lived at Nans house and he had somehow followed her all the way across the world to her home in San Francisco. Johanna had been exploring the attic when Brodie suddenly scared her, and during the visit they almost became best friends. It was hard to admit but it had been so long since she'd seen him that she'd almost completely forgotten about him.

"Well, I didn't get a chance to say my hellos to you when you showed up at the house. You've grown so much I was afraid to say hi."

Johanna was in total disbelief. Her Bubbie had already been upset just by a toy she had received as a present... if she knew Brodie was here...

"So you let my bat out of his cage and invited yourself over to my muggle family's house? If they see you they'll have a fit!"

In a carefree sort of way, Brodie smiled at Johanna and flew through the air so he was now upside down, "Atticus wanted to see you. I could tell. I was taking care of him while you were gone. Your Nan asked me to."

Johanna felt panicked as she heard footsteps through the hallway behind her, "Look, my dad's family is very religious. If they find you here they're gonna invite a rabbi over to exorcise you or something! It would be a very ugly mess! They can't even know Atticus is here-"

"Johanna-" someone started to enter the room and when they did, the light suddenly flicked on. Johanna turned to see who it was, red in the face with fear but was relieved to see it was only her mother. Rose saw Brodie and yelped when she did, obviously not remembering him straight away much like Johanna had.

"Oh-! Sorry Brodie! You scared me!"

"What was that?" Johanna heard her Uncle Dan call from the hallway and Rose was quick to close the door so it was only open a crack.

"Nothing! Mom just saw a spider but I got it!"

Johanna felt her nerves calm when her answer was met by silence and was thankful that she had thought of something so quickly to tell him. They didn't need any sort of unwanted attention drawn towards the room.