Bright Blue Skies [P. Parker] [complete]

Three - Rolling In His Grave

"Bri, hey- Whoa! That was a remote!"

Briar threw a cushion next. "What the actual sweet hell is happening?"

"Hey, stop throwing stuff at me!" Milo exclaimed, dodging out of the way as another cushion flew at him.

"You're dead, Milo!"

"Well, obviously, but I'm here."

"How?!"

"I don't know, maybe because I'm a ghost!"

Briar stopped her barrage of couch items and stared at him. "No. No, this is just in my head. I can't- You're not-"

"Briar, I'm home!" Cameron called as he unlocked the door. As he stepped into the room, his eyes widened. "Bri, what happened?"

Briar froze, her eyes swivelling to her father. "Um. Spider."

He nodded but seemed a bit suspicious. "Okay... What do you want for dinner?"

"Um. Lasagna." Briar replied, her eyes flicking to Milo, who was now doing the breaststroke through the air.

"I'll get right on it." Cameron smiled, walking away into the kitchen. Then he paused. "You should clean up before Steph gets home."

As he disappeared into the kitchen, Briar scoffed, glaring at a cushion. "Like she'd notice. She'll be drunk, as usual."

A quiet laugh came from above her, and she looked up. Milo was floating above her head, doing what seemed to be a handstand in midair, because God forbid him ever doing anything normal.

Stooping to pick up a grey cushion, she swung it at him, gaping as it went straight through his pale, misty form. It looked like he was surrounded by a sheet of pale blue light, like thin fabric. He looked mostly solid, but if you focussed just a little, you could see right through his body.

After Briar placed all thrown items back where they came from, she disappeared into her room, Milo slipping through the closed door after her.

She turned her music on at a medium volume and turned to Milo. "What on earth-"

"I'm haunting you." he shrugged, floating in midair, lying on his side.

Briar pinched her arm, hard, and hissed in pain. "I'm hallucinating."

"No, you're not, Bri!" Milo exclaimed, a wide grin on his bright face. "This is really happening! Why aren't you happy? I'm here! I'm back!"

She shook her head and sat on her bed, leaning forward on her knees. "Mi, it isn't that simple. We had a funeral for you. I- I saw you. You were dead. You weren't breathing. You had no pulse. And now your here, as a ghost and I- You-"

"Hey, hey, Bri... Just... Just ask your dad what's going on, okay? He'll be able to explain it better than me." Milo, who was kneeling in front of her, tried to touch her hand, but it passed straight through, making Briar shiver.

"Ask my dad? What does he know? What do you guys know that I don't?" Briar asked, standing up. Milo followed her to a stand.

"It's your family, Bri. Your ancestors."

-☼-

Briar had no idea what her dad was doing.

After she'd told him, quietly, of course, that she could see her dead brother, he disappeared into the hall cupboard and hadn't come out in the last ten minutes.