Ghost Of You (Formally Titled Sebastian The Traveler)

Chapter Ten (REWRITTEN)

"'Sup, my homie with another chromie!" Sebastian put his fist out. He didn't know why he thought Avery would humor him with a bro shake, but he thought it would have been pretty cool if she did.

The blank stare he greeted him with confirmed his suspicions, "Fancy meeting you here."

"Yeah," he grinned. "Who would have thought?"

She didn't reply, more content to look toward the setting sun. The sky was a deep pink hue. Purple clouds lined the horizon, the distant calls of seagulls could be heard over the crashing surf against the sand.

"Finally," Sebastian cried with outstretched arms, raising his hands toward some unseen God. Avery ignored him.

Or, atleast, she tried to.

After an awkward silence, he had had enough. Not that he minded staring at her, but he hadn't come here for that. Eclipsing her view, he put his hands on his hips, "Okay, what's wrong with you? You need some huggies or something?"

"I don't need a hug," she sighed.

"Okay, then... like, what? Chocolate? Tampons? I mean, I can't really help with that but—"

"Ew! No, you weirdo!" She slapped his arm vigorously. Multiple times. She wasn't comfortable enough to share the woes of her monthly visits. Not that it was his business anyway.

His playful mood subsided, and dark, ominous clouds formed in the distance. A low rumbling shook the ground, sending ripples into the tide, "Seriously, Avery. What's going on?"

What's going on? She didn't know. Stuff, was all the reply she had. "I think I'm being haunted." The doors, the radio, John, Mark, Milo... too much stuff. None of it made sense and the more she thought on it, the more she started to question her mental state.

"You're not being haunted."

"And how do you know?"

His lips rolled, an exhale of forceful oxygen deflating his cheeks, "Because it's me."

Brows furrowed in wariness, Avery bit her bottom lip. "It's you," She repeated his words as if saying them aloud to herself would somehow help her make sense of his confession. It didn't. "What do you mean by that?" A bolt of lighting cracked the sky, sending mist soaring into the air.

For Sebastian, it was now or never. He wanted her to know. And if he was being honest with himself, he had always wanted her to know—to know him. Someone needed to, why not her? They stuck together, whether she liked it or not. She might as well accept it. "I'm not just in your dreams, Avery. I'm here. I'm beside you. All the time. Every second, of every day, I am standing right beside you and yet, you can't see me."

A flash of lighting lit up her bulging blue eyes before she disappeared from the sand completely.

Avery jumped out of bed, her heart thundering wildly in her chest. She gulped for air, not receiving nearly enough to her lungs' content. Beads of sweat dotted her pale forehead, the taste of bile stimulating her saliva glands. Covering her mouth, she flew into the bathroom, ripping the toilet lid open nearly too late. A stream of tears slipped down her cheeks as her body purged itself of last night's whiskey party.

She heaved until there was nothing but an empty hole in her stomach.

Anxiety is a mysterious condition. It doesn't care where you are, or what you're doing; if you're surrounded by friends or the only one standing on the highest hill of the tallest mountain. It comes when it pleases, sometimes with no rhyme and no reason and no way to pinpoint the cause. In Avery's case, she knew exactly the cause, his name a constant whisper in her mind. His words, like the spoke on a wheel, spun 'round and 'round, making her dizzy and gripping tighter to the rim of the toilet.