Secretly known

04

Alex's POV

I don't know what to do. Everything seems so different. Obviously... It's been 25 years. Honestly, I don't know if I'm strong enough for this. Change was never an easy topic for me. And dying and becoming a ghost is a pretty big change.

Luke and Reggie seem to be handeling this way better than I am. I wish I knew how they did that. I mean, they have their struggels, too, but I'm just saying they seem to be okay with it. I'm not okay. It's not okay.

Why are we here? Why did this happen after 25 years? Why can Julie see us? Why can other people not see us? Why can they hear us play music? Why did we appear after Julie was listening to our demo? Why can she see us but not her sister?

There are just too many questions... I honestly just need the answers. That's all I want right now.

At first I thought Julie being able to see us maybe had something to do with her family or something. But her sister proved me wrong. She can't see us. It's really stressing me out.

Why are we here? Shouldn't we be in heaven or something?

Today the boys and I were at the beach. It started out a bit rocky, thinking about our families. Luke is right. We were never really close with them. Especially after I came out... I really thought they would support me. I thought they'd be by my sight forever. Look at me now. At least I still have Luke and Reggie. Maybe even Julie.

Singing at the beach was fun. I felt kind of happy doing that. Though it faded quite quickly after we finished. Now I am sitting somewhere on a brick wall in Julie's family yard.

It's quiet. Peaceful. It's a good atmosphere to just think, let your thoughts flow.

I see Julie's sister walk by. Julie never told us her name. I wonder what it is. She seems nice. Friendly. Wait. Did I just imagine that or was she looking at me? No. No, I'm probably just a little distracted. Luke, Reggie and I already found out she can't see us. She can't, right? I mean, she couldn't see us in the garage the day we got here. Or was she just acting? No. Why would she do that? I'm just being stupid.

Still, I swear she looked me directly in the eyes. Weird. What is going on? All the questions I've been thinking about before came rushing back. They are bearable but they are also overwhelming. I never learned how to handle stuff like this. I'm so deep in my thoughts, that I didn't notice her now standing in front of me.

"Are...Are you okay? You seem a bit out of it" she says being a little hesitant "What I meant to say was... If you need to talk to someone...I'm here.. Okay... Sorry. That was stupid. You don't know me. I don't know you. I'm just gonna leave. Just forget everything I just said".

Am I going crazy? Is she talking to me? Can she really see me? Before I can process any of that, I see her starting to walk away.

"No! Wait!" I blurt out and she stops walking "You.. you can see me? But in the garage you-" She cut me off "I can. I could also see you in the garage. I'm truly sorry. I thought I was going crazy. I thought both my sister and I were going crazy. But I found proof that tells me otherwise. I was never planning to talk to any of you if I'm being honest.Not before finding more proof, anyway..."

"Then why are you talking to me?" was the first question coming to my mind.

"Well... Like I said, you look kind of out of it. You look upset. I felt bad for you? I don't know. I don't know why I am talking to you. It's just that I have so many questions. It's like you guys came out of nowhere. Julie and I can see you. Other people can hear you play music like you did the first night in the garage. That was you guys, right? And you're a ghost. Dead... Can I ask you how you died? You don't have to answer. I don 't want to overstep.."

She sits down beside me. Hearing that she also has a lot of questions is relieving. Maybe I'm not alone in this.. With these feelings.

"I- We kind of maybe ate some bad hot dogs" She chuckles lightly. I think I like her. I feel like we would make great friends. "As to you having a lot of questions. I have them too and I wish I knew the answers. Everything is just so confusing. Maybe that's why I look sad. One think I can tell you is yes, that was us in the garage. We are band."

"Oh thank god" she laughs " I don't think I could deal with more ghosts in our house." I join in to her laughing.

"I heard Julie play the piano and sing again this morning. She hadn't done that in almost a year. Is it possible you guys had something to do with that?" she asks.

I smile to her "I don't think we had something to do with it, considering she wanted to kick us out" I hear her gasp "Hey.. I said wanted didn't I? As in past tense. You can't get rid of us that easily. Though I think maybe Luke had something to do with it. he talked to her and then she changed her mind and let us stay."

There was a questioning look on her face. "Luke?" Oh, I get it. She doesn't know our names either.

"Yes. Luke. The boy with shaggy hair. The there's Reggie-" "Leather jacket boy" she cuts in. I smirk at her, raising my eyebrows "Yeah... leather jacket boy. Oh, and I'm Alex" I tell her. She gives me warm smile. "I'm Elli. Julie's little sister. She's not much older though. Just... Just throwing that in there" she says a little quieter.

I see what's going on here. She likes Reggie. I don't tell her, sorry, I don't tell Elli more about that though. I don't want to ruin the moment. Speaking of liking someone. Luke and Julie.

"Hey Elli? You were talking about Julie playing the piano and singing again. Do you go to the same school as her? She's gonna play again tomorrow. I think. Luke's trying to convince her with a song he wrote a while back." Elli looks happy. "Thank you for telling me, Alex. I really appreciate that. And yes, I go to the same school. Differnet program though. Art program."

"So you don't write or sing?" "No, no I can't sing. It sounds like someone is dying. Maybe I should show you. You would know the sound wouldn't you?" We look at each other blankly for a few seconds before both of us burst out laughing.

I gotta say, I like her humor. And I'm thankful for her for distracting me from my thoughts. Not everyone is able to do that.

Like I said, I think we could make great friends.

----

A/N

Heeeeey!!

I'm a little late. I tried to post this earlier but I had to study for my exams.

I like this chapter. Let's wait and see what else will be happening with this friendship in the future.

But where was Reggie?

See you soon!