"Willie, there has to be something you wanted to do before you died, otherwise you wouldn't be here." Brielle pleads, looking at Caleb's pamphlet. It's the only one left after Caleb came back. He burned the rest of them to ashes, but had no idea Willie kept his under Brielle's bed. Luckily, Willie was able to keep that secret from him.
"I thought of something while Nick and I were trying to figure out yours, but I forget what it was." Mentioning Nick is hard for Willie since they had such a strong connection and now he's gone. Nick hasn't seen him since his spirit finally rejoined his body a week ago, but whenever Willie sees him, Nick seems happy.
"Well, here's the options: complete a long-term task or goal." Brielle reads first, but Willie dismisses it.
"My 'long-term' goals were to skate in a famous person's pool. Been there, done that, still here." Willie shrugs and Brielle moves onto number two.
"Rebuild relationships with family or friends." Willie sighs at this one.
"I didn't have any family. Dad died when I was three and mom drove off a couple years later."
"Could it possibly have something to do with your mom, then?" Brielle suggests, and Willie's face lights up.
"Yeah, that's what it was. But, I don't know where she went." Opening her computer, Brielle starts searching how to find where someone is buried and eventually finds a website that will search will most major cemeteries for a name.
"So, what's her first and last name?" Brielle asks.
"Emorie, E-M-O-R-I-E, Ingas, I-N-G-A-S." Brielle types the name into the database and there's one result. Granted, the last name is quite interesting, so to have more than one result would definitely raise some flags.
"Born on November 17th, 1924. Died on June 8th, 1977. Is that right?" Brielle wonders, although she has no idea when Willie was born, so the dates would be a guess.
"Yeah, that's my mom." Willie finally smiles for the first time in a week. "Where is she buried?"
"Let's see... DeMarcus Memorial Cemetery in Anaheim, California." Brielle reads off the screen, and it's only about a half hour drive away. Perfect.
"But, the guys need to help, too, so they don't become ghosts." Willie reminds her.
"Of course. Let's head to Julie's now." Brielle suggests, and they both poof away.
"Alexis, can you do something for me?" Reggie asks, praying she can hear him the whole time.
"Absolutely." The young girl replies, not even needing to touch him to understand what he's feeling. Reggie wants Julie taken care of when he goes tomorrow. A friend that can help her move on when he becomes a ghost, since they can't date.
"Make sure Julie's okay. When I go tomorrow. I know it was really hard for her when her mom passed." Alexis nods just as Brielle and Willie show up.
"Willie? What are you doing here?" Reggie wonders. Alexis takes this as her cue to head out, leaving Reggie with the two ghosts. Luke is at home, even though his parents can't really see him anymore, and Alex is at the beach, alone.
"I figured out what I have to do. But we should go now. Before your time runs out." Willie says, and Reggie nods, grabbing the keys to the car Luke usually drives and getting in the driver's seat. After picking up Luke and Alex, Reggie realizes he has no idea where he's driving.
"So, Willie, what is your unfinished business?" Luke wonders, voicing the thought everyone seems to have. Outside of Willie and Brielle, no one actually knows what he's doing and even Willie has no idea what exactly the plan is. Like, how do you forgive someone who's been six feet under for over forty years?
"Um, I have to go see my mom." Willie says, staring at his hands. Brielle put the address in the GPS so Reggie knows where he's driving, but he has no idea what the destination is.
"Where's your mom?" Luke wonders, since the direction they're going doesn't seem to be towards houses.
"You'll see." Willie answers curtly, before shutting his mouth. Alex reaches out his hand, which calms Willie greatly after he takes it. Fifteen minutes later, when they pull into the parking lot of the cemetery, the boys finally realize where Willie's mother is.
"Your mother's here." Luke says, before Brielle tells him the name and spelling to find the location. After asking a few people and continuing to get redirected to someone else, they are finally told where Emorie Ingas' grave is. Or at least the approximate location.
"Guys, Willie should do this alone." Brielle tells the boys, and they agree, not wanting to invade his time with his mother. Granted, she's dead, but this is to allow Willie to finally let go of the one thing keeping him a ghost.
"Mom, for fifty years I've wondered if you were alive and if I could see you again, but I guess I was too late." Willie sits in front of his mother's grave, taking a deep breath. "I guess I just wanted to find out why you left me when I was five. I don't remember much anymore, but from what I do remember, we were happy.
"I know we never got to meet up again, but I wish we did. Even just in passing. But, I forgive you. Life has a way of working itself out for the better, even if it takes forever to get there. I don't blame you for leaving, especially when I don't know why and I can't ask you.
"Anyways, I've lived a pretty good afterlife. I haven't dated anyone or anything like that since ghosts can't have physical intimacy, but I've made a few friends. Alex, Luke, and Reggie died in 1995 and became a part of this lifer's, Julie's, band, and they're amazing. Somehow, when they sing with Julie, they're visible to everyone even as ghosts. Oh, and Brielle, who just became a ghost a week ago; she's so talented and was abused for a long time by both of her parents because they were a part of this insane club. Then again, I'm a part of the club, too, but I'm hoping to finally break the spirit bind I have with the madman who runs the place. Nick is another lifer I talked to, since his spirit was displaced when the crazy man who runs the club, Caleb, took over his body. He's back in his own body now, but for a few months, his spirit was not in his body.
"Oh, and Aliyah, a girl who has been able to see ghosts since she was eighteen. She's Brielle's older sister, but she left LA a long time ago when she first found out she could see ghosts. Five months ago, she came back, though, and helped Brielle out of her parent's abusive home. Aliyah is an amazing person, and I think she now has a record deal with one of the many labels in Los Angeles.
"I wonder what you did while you were alive, mom. I forgot to mention this, but I died because I was skateboarding in the street and a car didn't see me and killed me. But, the afterlife has been pretty good." Willie recounts everything that's happened in his afterlife. "Anyways, I love you mom, and I hope you're doing good up in heaven." He kisses his fingers then touches the top of the grave, allowing one lone tear to slip, which disappears a moment later. Walking back to where everyone else is, Alex is the first to give Willie a hug, and they start to glow red.
The correct color for crossing over.
"Woah, Reggie, what is going on?" Luke asks his bandmate, long before Alex and Willie realize what is happening.
"Why are you asking me? I'm not the one with the weird red glow." Reggie points out as Alex realizes what's going on.
"Guys, I feel stronger." Alex says, reminding them of the time they half-crossed over.
"Me too. Come on." Willie opens his arms and Reggie and Luke get their red glow, too. "Brielle?"
"I'm coming." She says with a smile, before she gives them a hug.
Or at least tries to. As soon as Brielle goes to give any of them a hug, she passes straight through their bodies. She can't cross over. Not now. Within seconds, she disappears from all the guys' sights, and this is the moment they have to accept that she's not going to be with them anymore. She's stuck on the other side.
"I love you, Luke. I always have." Brielle poofs away to cry alone, where her tears are nothing more than a figment of her imagination.
Author's Note: Hi, everybody! So, there's only one more chapter left, just need to wrap up some things then this book is finally over. I know it must be hard reading that Brielle and Luke aren't gonna be together, and trust me when I say it's harder to write. But, thank you all for getting this far and I'll see you guys in a few days. Don't forget to vote and comment if you liked this chapter or this book.
Loves,
mistyrider921
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