Can't Catch a Boo

1

Losing Nathan hurt more than anything I'd ever known.

It wasn't something I, or anyone, expected to happen. But then again, nobody thinks that their best friend is going to be hit by a car on a Thursday night. A Thursday night at seven in front of an elementary school after tutoring underprivileged children in reading comprehension.

Nathan was the best man our town had. Everyone knew who he was. Sports star, top of his class, most attractive yet kind to the core. I knew him better than anyone else. I knew he was into the party scene, but he was never reckless. He was a bit obsessed with finding his "perfect woman", but he was a senior in high school. He had his whole life in front of him.

A full-ride to the University of Washington, internship offers rolling in like a tsunami, experience under his belt.

I was supposed to be there with him. A genuine best friend, a biochem enthusiast attending a school just minutes away from him. He had our whole senior year planned out before we left, all the way up to move-in day. Nathan had it in his head that he was going to get me a girlfriend before we became what he called "scholarly men".

Instead, I spent Homecoming week mourning the death of the only other human being who understood me. It wouldn't be fair to say I handled the situation well either.

Just try not to imagine a six foot beanpole of a kid sitting on the edge of his mom's bed sobbing into a pink My Little Pony pillow his seven-year-old sister had given him because she just knew that "big brother Camden really misses Nathan."

Don't do it.

It took weeks for me to get over the biggest slump I had ever been in, and I'm not saying I was entirely out of it yet either, but it was mid-December and the weather man said we were due for snowfall anytime.

"Camden," Mom knocked softly on my door. "Babe, you should really go see Nathan before the weather gets too bad. You haven't been since-"

"Since the funeral, I know."

Mom was thinking exactly what I had been thinking. I hadn't actually been to Nathan's grave since the day they buried him back in October. Deep down I knew I needed to, but I was afraid that seeing that headstone would just send me cascading in a downward spiral again.

But this was my last chance. Snow in our town was a guaranteed shut-in, and God knows I wouldn't try and see Nathan then.

A long sigh escaped my lips. "You're right, I'll go. Where's my coat?"

Mom smiled. In her hands were my jacket and my boots. "One step ahead of you. Drive safely, okay?"

***

The cemetery, of course, was completely empty. Snow clouds darkened the sky, promising a heavy dump by sometime that night.

My heart pounded in my chest as I sat in the car.

"Come on, you wimp. Why are you so scared?" I muttered.

The car door practically screamed as I opened it, acting like some kind of dead giveaway for the fear that gripped me so hard. Nevertheless, I pressed forward down the rows of headstones. Bitter air nipped my face and dead grass softened my footfalls.

I could see the headstone. Wilted flowers and unlit candles dotted its base. None of them mine, but from others Nathan had influenced while he'd been alive.

Wind howled as my feet came to a stop just five feet away from the headstone. The feeling I had been so afraid of sank in. No, it was more like an avalanche.

My best friend was gone. I didn't know where to go. I was alone, broken, and utterly lost.

Tears began to fall. I couldn't stop them, and I didn't want to stop them. So I just let them slide down my face, slowly, like warm streams in the cold.

"I am so sorry, Nathan. I'm so sorry." I whispered. "I couldn't handle it, I don't- didn't- deserve to have a friend like you."

My hands fell to their sides, and I turned my face up to the sky. "I just wish I could see you again." I shouted at the clouds.

"Well, shit man. Took you long enough."

A familiar voice seized my heart. Eyes wide, I reluctantly glanced at the headstone.

Sitting there, with absolutely no explanation, was Nathan. A look of boredom on his face.

"It's not like you can see me though, I'm dead. Would you look at that," Nathan threw his head back and laughed. "I'M DEAD!"

It hadn't been apparent that I was holding my breath at first, but the minute I started screaming at the top of my lungs made it pretty obvious.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" I stared Nathan directly in the eyes, my legs buckling underneath me.

I met the ground with a solid slam and I heard the crack of glass in my pocket. As much as I cared about my phone, I was a bit preoccupied at the moment.

Nathan fell off his headstone in surprise. He disappeared behind it, completely silent.

After a few minutes, I calmed down. There was no way I just saw the ghost of my best friend. With only one way to find out, I crawled towards the headstone. Peeking over the top with shaking fingers, I saw nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"I'm crazy," I slumped against the stone.

"If you're crazy, then I'm not actually dead."

Nathan stood, no, hovered above me. He looked alive, other than the fact that his feet didn't touch the ground. No creepy face, no buckets of blood, no weird ghostly opaqueness. He just regarded me with as much confusion as I was him.

"No you're definitely dead. I know that much." The words rolled off my tongue like second nature. A mix of joy and fear tumbled around, but I had no time to pay attention to them.

Smiling, Nathan folded his legs so that he sat cross-legged inches away from me.

"Can I possess you? Please?"

***

What's up my dudes?

I've decided to start this little project on the side as a way to write if I'm having trouble with Golden Fire. This story will have much shorter chapters, and seeing as to how often I run into a wall with GF, this story might get updated a bit more often. This acts as more of a testing ground for jokes and scenes for our good ol' pals back in GF, but still feel free to enjoy Can't Catch a Boo as a new reader, old friend, or just a passerby!

Love y'all,

Aliese