tw: mention of death, ghosts, dead loved ones
Corporealization: the ability to give non-corporeal beings such as ghosts and spirits a physical form.
"Alright, we need to talk," Hayley says, slamming the front door behind her.
"And who are you?" Josh's mom asks.
"I'm Hayley, I'm the one who trained your kid."
"You're the bitch who set them up as bait?"
Hayley flinches and sends Josh an annoyed glare. "I didn't- okay, so I sort of did do that but it's in the past now. Can we focus on the task at hand?"
"After you got my daughter hurt?" Hernando laughs bitterly, putting the knife down so he can clench his fists.
"Tienes suertes Tyler te admira porque yo querío nada mas de echarte," Tiana hisses.
"For the last time, I don't speak Spanish!"
"Everyone shut the hell up!" Tyler shouts with a growl, his voice rippling through the house. He turns his attention to Hayley. "None of us want you here, that much is obvious. So why did you come?"
"Because Tatiana and Bill haven't shut up for weeks about you dying, and it's been annoying the hell out of me. Coming here was the only way to shut them up, but now we have bigger problems to deal with."
Silence strikes them as the implication of Hayley's statement settles into them. Tatiana and Bill... Josh forgot that Hayley's main powers are focused around ghosts.
"Bill... you've seen Bill?" Josh's mom puts a hand over her mouth, her expression changing from shock to disbelief. "My husband?"
"... Yeah, I have. It's kind of my thing," Hayley responds hesitantly.
"And my wife?" Hernando's bellowing voice has now decreased to a hoarse whisper.
"Her too. Wait, are you sure..." she looks around, but not at them. "We don't have time for- fine, fine, if it'll calm you down, I'll do it." She stares straight at Mom and Hernando. "I can do this thing. It- it's risky because it uses a lot of my energy, but if it'll get you to trust me... do you want to say hi to them?"
They say yes with the eagerness of a child receiving a new puppy. Hayley glances at Josh and Tiana, to make sure it was okay with them too, and they nod. She sighs and walks over to the couch, sitting in the center of the cushions.
"Which one of you want to go first?"
Her body suddenly lurches forward, a strangled gasp escaping her. Hayley's body shakes as her eyes start to shift into a deep hazel-green.
She flings herself back, and a woman falls off of the couch where Hayley lies, unconscious. The outline of the woman's body shines, while she herself is a see through milky blue. Her features are rugged and sharp, eyes white, and the way she holds herself when she stands up is reminiscent of Tiana's over confident, 'don't fuck with me' posture. For some reason, she feels familiar to Josh.
"Mami?" Tiana says meekly.
"Isso é meu Tati?" The woman speaks in Portuguese, holding out her translucent hands up to cup Tiana's face. She caresses her cheek, which Tiana leans into, and then pulls her into a hug. "Oh, meu amor, é tão bom finalmente abraçá-lo novamente!"
"H-how are you- I don't-"
"Corporealization," Josh says, his heart in his throat. "It's one of Hayley's abilities."
"Eu- eu tenho tanto para lhe contar." Tiana starts to ramble, clinging to her mother's arms as she switches between the three languages she knows. "Isso é Josh, he's my best friend. We met after you disappeared. Papa está aquí también-"
"Hernando?" Her mother looks over Tiana's head. "Oh, Hernando, eu sinto muitíssimo, eu nunca deveria ter ido-"
"Yo sabe." Tears cling to Hernando's eyes. Josh has only see him cry twice- when Tiana was in the hospital, and now. "No tiene a dicier eso."
He takes a few steps forward, close enough for Tatiana to cup his face with one hand. Hernando shudders.
"Proteja-a, para mim," she says. Josh never learned Portuguese the way he picked up Spanish from his bets firmed. He wishes he had. "Ela vai fazer grandes coisas."
"S-Sempre."
Her mother smiles and poof- she's gone with the ghost she is. Tiana stumbles and hits the carpet with her knees, staring at her hands. She clenches her fists. There are already tears falling from the tip of her chin, hitting her bare thighs with almost imperceptible plinks.
Josh drops beside her, wrapping his arms around her. Instinctively, she turns into his body and starts to sob on his shoulder. Hayley reanimates with a gasp, here eyes turning back to the empty milk color they were before.
"More time," Tiana cries, muffled by Josh's shirt. "I just need more time with her."
"What- what was that?" Hernando breathes in shakily, hand hovering where his dead wife's had just been.
Hayley struggles to sit up. "It... it's a part of my skill set to give ghosts a temporary solid form. But it drains me a lot, which is why I hardly ever do it."
"And my husband?" Josh's mom asks. "Can- can I see him?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not strong enough," she says. "But he's here, if that's any consolation."
"Where? Where is he?"
She lifts a heavy arm and points to the left of his mother. Josh stares at the spot. If he squints and uses his imagination enough, he can almost make out the shape of his father there, with his hand gripping his mom's shoulder lightly, wearing that same careful, safe grin Josh has. He's wearing a bold blue collared shirt, the same shade as Josh's hero suit, with black slacks and a tie that doesn't match at all. Maybe he's still a bit grey at the temples, like he was in Ashleys's baby pictures.
Josh wonders how much he looks like him.
YOU ARE READING
DOOM DAYS ✓
Adventure"When I watch the world burn, all I think about is you." When Josh said he always wanted to be a superhero, he didn't mean becoming the prime target for the scariest villain ever, or having to juggle high school and awkward crushes on other superher...
