The sun was beginning to crest the endless ocean by the time Mason and herself had completed their walk around the distant marina and beach. The shopkeepers who liked to begin their day at dawn were slowly filling the streets as others commuted to and possibly from work.
Roseanne watched as two women walked closely beside one another and sat at a bench not far from them. Sipping their coffees and chatting about their previous day as if two ghosts weren't watching them bring their steaming cups to their lips with envy.
"I've always been a bit more partial to juice but man... what I'd do for a coffee." She sighed.
"I'd even take one." Mason chuckled. "Black of course. The only right way."
"That's horrendous."
"No way mate! It's how coffee was made to be ingested."
"Who says?"
"A... uh, lot of people!" Mason fumbled. "Come on, they say it's way healthier and gets rid of all the artificial bleh stuff."
She laughed. "But that's the best part! It's music to the taste buds."
"You galah." He laughed. "Didn't know one could taste sounds... but man, I'd still take one right about now." Mason paused for a moment. "You know, all this coffee talk is reminding me of some new Internet cafe I saw go up along the way. Seemed pretty cool."
Her eyes must have grown a size and she quickly glanced away from Mason and back towards the lulling waves. Trying hard to let the memories of what transpired in what was probably the very same cafe pass. "Yeah... I think I know the one." She squeezed her hands together as she took in the sight of the sunrise as it crossed the water.
"Yeah?" Mason asked attentively, coming around her front. "Would you want to maybe check it out with me?" He then frowned at her appearance. "Something's the matter, what's up?"
"Memories." She admitted without much thought. "I... I went there for the first time yesterday, with Lisa. It's... one of the places where I got a little too emotional and made the lights go crazy."
"Not too keen on going back there huh?"
"Not really. I kind of made a scene. Even Lisa got pretty upset with me, for a little while."
"Did something happen between you two?" Mason wondered. "I know, kind of a dumb question considering she can't even see you. I mean what could happen... unless, something did? And I'm rambling for nothing."
"No you're right, nothing happened between Lisa and I." Her anxiety began dissipating at the thought of her night with the Thai, until the memory of what got them to where they were now resurfaced. "It was... something else..."
Something where even though it broke her, it only helped to propel her and Lisa in whatever direction this odd friendship was going. To drive them to discover a new way to communicate, after realizing their lack of being able to do so well with only a blink or two. And it was all thanks to Jennie, and her heart wrenchingly-beautiful face.
Even amongst all those tears.
Mason reached for her shoulder and carefully brought her attention away from the waves. "It's okay Rosie. The cafe will always be there. It was just an idea." He smiled softly. "And... I'm sorry for reminding you. I didn't mean to."
She quickly wiped at her eyes and faced him. "No, no it's okay. I know you didn't mean to, and I feel like I need to get a grip on handling my feelings and whatnot better. I'm always going through something..."
"You're bound to Roseanne. You forget that you passed away pretty recently, it's inevitable. But it's something we've all gone through, and it's okay to be. For ghosts like me, ones who've been around a few years, we're used to being dead. And the people who knew us when we weren't? Well they've grown pretty used to it too. It's harder for ghosts like me to be going through something after a while, because what's new? To a long gone ghost?"
She thought on it for a moment. Realizing the truth to his words. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"But?"
She shrugged, studying the ground.
Mason observed her with a tilted brow before he squatted down in front of her. Peering up under both their blonde strands. "Hey, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. But sometimes, it's nice to lean on a shoulder every once and awhile. Not to mention mines free, and I can see you."
Roseanne caught the dig towards Lisa, a small smile breaking the corners of her lips at the remark. "Yeah, you can." She replied quietly. "But it's okay. I think it's best to just... forget about it."
"About what?" Mason questioned as he stood. "About what happened? 'Bout how you feel?"
"Yeah." She looked away. "I think I want to return to Lisa. Let's you explore the cafe that way too."
"Rosie... about what I said." Mason began again. "I take it back. I want you to talk about how you feel. I want to help, if you're hurting."
She shook her head. Still trying her best to forget Jennie's face. But it was hard to replace the memories with others when so many of her new ones were caused by the old.
"It's about that girl, right?" Mason surprised her, regaining her attention at the mention. "Yeri had told me there was a girl you were seeing... before you died. Is she the 'something else?' Did she happen at the cafe?"
She looked to her feet and cursed under breath as her vision faded into a glossy mist. Nodding her head as she closed her eyes and cried in unison with the woman in her mind. The one Lisa and her had watched at that table. The one Jisoo had left the counter to comfort.
Mason's arms came around her and she leaned into his chest. Trying hard to get out the words as she sniffed. "I think she's trying to move on... with someone else." She held the ends of his tank top in her hands. "But she came in the cafe crying. I think about me."
"Sounds like she liked you a lot, and misses you." Mason whispered. "It's going to hurt, knowing that she's hurting without you. Or struggling with the idea of having lost you, and needing to move on. But just like how it takes time for us to get used to being left behind, it takes time for them to get used to us being gone."
She nodded into his chest, but stayed silent as she thought about his words and her experiences so far. Slowly coming to terms with the fact that Mason left loved ones behind too. Yeri, Felix, maybe even Elijah. Everyone had friends and family that they had lost, in one way or another.
Mason was drawing light circles on her back when he spoke up again. "From what I know so far... Lisa seems to be doing better now, after everything you've been through together. She's honestly not that different from you or me. She lost someone too, and is having to come to terms with that. Also... with those she now knows are haunting the place." He poked her side. "I'm talking about you."
She chuckled.
"Lisa seems to be taking it all well. There's a lot to process, amongst what I'm sure she's already processing. It would be nice to give her kudos one day."
"Maybe one day you will." She whispered. Tilting her head back to look at him and his shaggy mane. "She's getting better and better at sensing my presence each day."
"Her connection to the spirit world must be being influenced by you, and her new knowledge of us."
"Do you think... one day... she'll be able to see me?" She wondered quietly. Thinking back to her most recent conversation with Chunhua, and her secret wish that one day Lisa would be able to do so.
"I don't see why not?" He replied with his signature, lopsided smile. "It may take some time, but if she's showing as much daily improvement as you say, I can't see why sight wouldn't apply to her sixth sense?"
She let his words sink as they stood. Smiling at the thought of how they must look to any other ghost who might glance their way. That thought it was had her unraveling from his embrace, her smile still on her face. "Thank you, Mason."
"Of course mate." He replied just as soft. "I know you don't know Lisa very well, and she doesn't know much on you, but I think you do each other good."
"How so?"
"You seem to smile more when you think of her."
She looked away, sensing herself blushing ever so slightly. "I suppose."
"Cry less too." Mason added. That one making her pause. Slowly turning back to meet his gaze. "I don't know what your relationship with her means to you. Either it being just a distraction or possible friendship. But I can't help but feel like it could be something more..."
"I don't know what it is either..." She admitted. "I know I thought of her as a distraction in the beginning, but then I learned about what brought her here. About her dad, and how he's now gone. How she's left to pick up his pieces all by herself."
Mason studied her as her shoulders dropped. "I want to help her. Comfort her. And then maybe in doing so... I can comfort myself a little bit too."
"I think that's a beautiful thing, Rosie."
"I think so too." She smiled. Wiping her single tear as the sun began illuminating the reflective surfaces around them. Cascading the boardwalk in an orange hue of glistening spotlights.
~
Mason had parted ways outside of Lisa's apartment building, leaving her to cross the empty lobby and enter the elevator alone. She tensed her way to Lisa's level and exited to find the hallway occupied by a lone man, locking his front door.
He walked briskly through her transparent form and pressed the call button. Surprised to find the elevator opening up immediately, already on the level. The black tie of his suit the last thing she saw before the door shut again and the sound of the elevator descending was all she could hear.
Roseanne remained still for a moment, contemplating what she'll do for the next few hours she's sure she'll have to wait for Lisa to wake up in. But when she phased through the front door, she was surprised by a soft whirring that was filtering through the apartment.
The sound of sizzling accompanying it as she walked further into the entryway in search of the source. She turned the corner and stopped, stunned to find Lisa standing in the kitchen. Eggs being haphazardly fried on a skillet as the frizzy blonde watched them crackle and pop.
"You're up?" She asked, amazed. "You're awake... but it's still early?"
Lisa lifted the spatula she found in the pantry earlier and flipped the eggs over, frowning at the seemingly questionable consistency and tried to gauge if it was too little or too long on the heat.
She didn't feel like thinking that much on it though. Especially since something else was feeling rather off in the room. Her eyes lifted from the eggs and began surfing the empty air until she found them resting near the space to her left. Not far from the hallway and door.
A realization struck.
"Rosie?"
Roseanne smile grew with her eyes. Lifting her hand and blinking the light above them as she watched Lisa register it.
"Hi."
"Hi." She replied back. Always pretending that Lisa could hear.
"I guess you got bored waiting for me after I fell asleep last night." Lisa commented as she returned some attention to the eggs. "I woke up around three and you were gone, so I just went back to bed. The actual bed."
Lisa shut off the skillet and scraped what she could of her eggs onto a plate. The remnants of it sticking to the pan as Roseanne leaned over the counter to have a closer look.
"You should have taken them off a little sooner. Unless you like them a prime crispy over hard." She chuckled.
"Fuck. These look too well done." Lisa sighed just as a mechanical tone rung. "Oh. Hey Rosie, check it out." She gestured to the machine in the corner. "I figured out what the millions of oranges were for, besides my dad's enormous appetite."
Roseanne looked to where Lisa motioned and saw a juicer with a tower of oranges arranged on the counter beside it. Freshly squeezed orange juice was still dripping from its tap. "So that was the whirring I heard!" She testified.
"I'm not sure if you can tell... but I woke up feeling sorta good today." Lisa spoke as she buttered some toast to go along with her bread. "Maybe it's because I fell asleep pretty early last night, but I feel well rested and... optimistic?"
"That's good." She replied as Lisa grabbed a glass and poured some orange juice into it. "Also, we still need to see if your dad has vegemite mate. It's delicious and will replace that buttered toast in a millisecond."
Lisa grabbed her plate and pulled up a seat at the dining room table. Studying the alphabet light-wall ahead of her before taking a first time sip of the pressed orange juice. It's flavor surprising her as she sat the glass down and took a moment to reflect before digging into her eggs.
"I dreamt last night." Lisa spoke again as Roseanne found a place to sit on the coffee table just ahead of the lights. "I haven't had actual dreams for awhile now. Besides a recurring nightmare or two."
Lisa took a few bites of her food while Roseanne sunk at the mention of her nightmares. The news wasn't surprising by any means, but by the tone of her voice, she sensed this new dream was a rather pleasant one.
"My dad was in it." Lisa continued. "But he didn't sound like my dad. I mean, it was his voice and all but the way he was talking... he didn't sound like himself." The frizzy blonde paused to finish her eggs before moving onto her toast. "I don't think it was actually him... but by what he was saying, how he was trying to comfort me, he still reminded me of someone."
Lisa took a few moments to herself. Finishing her plate and putting down some more of her drink before she stood and left for the kitchen again. Roseanne standing to follow her there just in time to catch her last few words.
"I think he was you." She concluded. Grabbing the left over orange juice at the juicer and putting it in the fridge while Roseanne stood, shocked.
"What?"
"It was this thing that made me realize it." Lisa smacked the side of the fridge. "The way you don't like my drinking. He was telling me stuff like that in my dream. That I shouldn't be wasting away. That I should be thankful I'm still here. Living. And start acting like it." Lisa took in a breath. "I woke up realizing I need to get my shit together, because it must suck watching someone waste their life away when you had yours taken from you... right, Rosie?"
She was struggling to hold back her joy as she smiled. A genuine smile, because Lisa just said something so beautiful it made her feel irrevocably proud of her. To take something so profound from a dream... one where she thought her ghostly roommate was trying to help guide her was... magic.
"Rosie?" Lisa repeated again when she didn't notice an answer. She put both her hands on the counter and looked across the living room. Trying to gauge if she was missing something as the ghost she couldn't see admired her from the limited space that separated them.
Roseanne wasn't sure if it would be okay or not, but given the current moment they were sharing, she couldn't stop herself. Leaning forward, she tensed her hand, and covered Lisa's as carefully as she could.
It took her a moment before she felt it. A weight on her hand. Lisa's first instinct would have been to pull away, yet she didn't. She stood quiet, her mind already piecing together the invisible form of what she was feeling. A thumb against hers, fingers that dipped along the curve of her hand.
There was no texture to what she felt. No feeling of softness. No warmth or chill to her touch.
Her touch.
Lisa's lips fell apart as she realized what was happening. That Rosie was trying to hold her hand, and was succeeding. And now she struggled to remember what the fuck she had said to bring this on, or even what day it was for that matter, when suddenly an alarm blaring made them both jolt.
They came apart. Lisa panting and reaching for her phone as Rosie held her chest in fright, and embarrassment. Unable to believe what she had just done... but also unable to believe Lisa's response to it.
Because she saw something there that she hadn't seen before.
"Well that's a little ironic..." Lisa spoke amongst silencing her phone. "I set that to remind me to talk to you."
They both smiled awkwardly as Lisa pocketed the impudent interruptor and studied the back of her hand. Running a finger along her skin where she and Rosie had touched.
"It's weird... feeling something so solid against you, yet not being able to see it." The Thai glanced to the air ahead of her. "I take it you liked my dream and-uh, optimism? Given your reaction?"
"Mhm." Roseanne replied. Rushing over to the lights where she could physically as well. Lighting up the L until it captured Lisa's attention, then completing her sentence.
"Loved it."
"I'm glad." Lisa hid a grin as she dropped down on the couch. Still studying her hand. "So... my alarm just now? It was actually a remainder I set last night. About yesterday." She stated before continuing. "We got to talking about all sorts of things that I guess I kinda forgot to ask you about the reason I set this fucking thing up." Lisa gestured to the wall.
Roseanne closed her eyes as she sat crisscrossed on the coffee table again. Not really wanting to relive the conversation she just had with Mason, even though Lisa didn't know it had happened already.
"At the café, yesterday, you sort of went crazy. With the lights at the table and..." She paused, remembering the other event that transpired. "You had even brushed against me then too... and it didn't feel as direct as it was this time." Lisa dropped her hand. "You hadn't meant to then... it was a reaction to something. The lights later too. What happened, Rosie?"
Roseanne opened her eyes and found Lisa's face. Searching those brown doe-eyes that were fixated on the wall behind her. Her optimistic expression now replaced with one of solemn concern.
For her.
For a ghost.
"I saw someone."
Lisa shifted. "I saw a few people there too. We weren't exactly alone." Lisa poked fun at her, until she stilled. "But... you knew this person, didn't you? Personally?"
"Yes."
"Was it... while you were alive?"
"Yes."
Lisa visibly tensed. Sitting up straighter as she thought back to the woman, the brunette. The one who was crying. The one where that barista, Jisoo, had comforted her at the table. "It was the brunette, wasn't it?"
"Yes." She replied again. Remaining focused on the Thai and her questions instead of giving in to her own memories and looming emotions.
"Do you think she was crying about... you?"
"I think so." She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
"But-" Lisa started, yet appeared stumped by her own thoughts. "Wouldn't that mean you died pretty recently?"
"Yeah. I did."
Lisa jumped up. "What? You did? But... but aren't ghosts supposed to be old? Wait- no. Not like that. Not like you're old. I mean you said you're my age or so but..." She took a moment to compose herself. "Shit... what I'm trying to say is, when you think of a ghost you think of someone that's been haunting some place for a while right? You don't mean to tell me you died like... like this year? Like last month or... or whenever the fuck I started feeling you. Right?"
Rosie couldn't help but smile as she watched Lisa pace. Her focus on the frizzy blonde paying off as the ache in her heart gradually evaporated.
"It's been a few months." She determined. But fuck did it feel like a lifetime ago. When did she die again, exactly?
"A few months..." Lisa whispered as she sat again. Letting the words digest. "Rosie... I'm..." She sighed. "I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"I'm not sure exactly. I guess I felt like I needed to say it." Lisa shrugged. "You were my age, probably living your life like you did any other day and then..." She thought back to her dad. "My dad passed right around then too. I'm sure he thought it would be a day like any other... until it wasn't."
"It's ok L."
"No, it's not Rosie." Her hands balled into fists. "It shouldn't have happened. He shouldn't have died unless it was from natural-fucking-causes. Same goes for you, and any other ghost."
Lisa went quiet for a while, and Roseanne wasn't sure what to say. But as she watched the Thai's hands clench and released periodically, she determined something had to be said.
Blinking the lights above her, she waited for Lisa's attention again before she tried her best to make everything alright again.
"You're right." She started. Watching as Lisa took out her phone just in case. "I shouldn't have died. Neither should your dad, or my friends. But I'm trying my best. And helping you try yours makes me feel better too. So please remember your dream. And how your dad would want you to feel. Even when we know life isn't fair."
It took Lisa some time to read back her notes, but even when she had, her attention stayed on her phone. Her hands had unclenched though, and body relaxed as time went on. Sinking into the couch as she tossed her phone aside and laid there.
"Guess I shouldn't dwell on the past..." Lisa figured. "What's happened, happened. All I can do now is try to continue on." She glanced back to the lights, gazing right through her. "With your help."
"I'd love to."
"Good." Lisa grinned. "Because I'm not giving you a choice. You got yourself into this mess by following me, it's the least you can do."
"Fair."
Lisa's quiet chuckle was music to Roseanne's ears. Causing her to smile in response as she waited to see what would come next.
"Thank you." Lisa spoke up again, gesturing around them. "For all this."
"Course L."
"I wish I could return the favor. But if I'm being honest, it was hard to keep up with you." She glanced to her phone. "God, all of this would be so much easier if I could just see you. Hear you."
Those words struck the same cord for the two of them. Roseanne figuring out its tune first.
"Oh my god!" She exclaimed in realization, before Lisa came to it on her own as well.
"Wait a minute... yesterday, you mentioned that old lady? With the flower cart? She can see you, right? Was the first to be able to..."
"Chunhua! And yes! Yes she can." She bit her lip, feeling a surge of determination. "I'll take you to her."
~
Lisa couldn't help feeling a little anxious as she followed the illuminating street lamps ahead of her. But when it came to figuring out more about this ability to feel Rosie, and potentially others, it made sense to talk to someone who had it themselves.
Only tenfold.
There was also the fact that she may be a little bit curious... of what Rosie really looked like. Sure, she had a rough idea on how the ghost was dressed. White t-shirt, cargo pants, sneakers. But knowing how someone's dressed can only go so far.
Maybe hearing more from this Chunhua, or seeing how she interacts with her ghostly roommate, will help fill in the gaps that seem to be taking swift residence in her mind. Her thoughts coming to a brief halt as she turned the corner and found the street light across the road flickering in the distance.
The eerie-ness the abnormally quiet street gave off did not help set an optimistic impression on her attempt at an optimistic day, as she crossed the street. Nor did the tiny alleyway that Rosie's lights were now guiding her through.
"Jeez Rosie, I feel like I'm going to get murdered down here..." She whispered, and probably would have added on to, if her eyes hadn't caught sight of something. A small flower, drawn in vibrant indigo along a few of the buildings bricks.
When she looked up to try and gauge what to think of it, she noticed none of the sparsely laid out alley lights appeared to be lit anymore. Yet when she looked down the next break in buildings, she noticed luminescence.
A small neon shop sign. The word 'flowers' written in a strange font, but in the same matching purple that highlighted those bricks.
"Chunhua's shop?" She wondered aloud. The sign blinking.
"Yes ma'am." Roseanne replied as she stood beside her. "Don't worry. It's much more inviting than the spooky alleyway."
Lisa reached for the handle and turned it, only for it not to budge. "It's locked." She sighed, noticing then the sign on the door. "It's closed."
Roseanne shook her head. "Oh Chunhua... leave it to me mate." She smiled, phasing through the wall and finding the familiar deadbolt on the other side. Unlocking it with a quick twist of her tensed hand for Lisa.
The frizzy blonde tried the handle again after hearing the distinctive click. Still not used to the fact her ghostly companion can do that, as she opened the door. A jingle of a bell rang out after she pushed it open fully, alerting the dim shop of her presence.
"Thanks." She whispered to the space beside her as she took in the collection of floor to ceiling flowers. Some more pruned than others.
"Who there?" A voice called from further within the shop. "We closed today!"
"It's me!" Roseanne replied through her smile. Glancing to Lisa, who seemed unsure of herself.
"Well why didn't you say so Ghosty?" Chunhua chuckled, voice growing near.
"I just did!"
"No..." A figure appeared from the hallway. "You only did after scaring the- oh." She stopped mid sentence, eyeing Lisa. "Ah... you're here. I've been wondering when you'd come by."
Lisa glanced around the room before pointing to herself. "Me?"
"Yes Lalisa, you." Chunhua grinned. "I believe our mutual friend has brought you to see me?"
She nodded.
"Any particular reason for it? Or just a visit?"
"Well you did tell me to visit again soon." Roseanne commented.
"But you brought Lalisa, Ghosty. I knew you would come back, but I did not expect to see this one so soon." Chunhua focused on the other woman again. "You seem unsure of yourself."
"Guess I am..."
"Let's take this conversation downstairs then. It will be much more comfortable." She shooed them down the hall. "That way, just follow Ghosty."
"I can't see her."
"Ah... that's right." Chunhua shuffled past the young ladies and found her door. "But I'm sure Rosie has her ways, seeing she guided you here in the first place."
Roseanne caught onto her cue and began blinking the hallway light. Lisa noticing and following dutifully as Chunhua watched them go. The light above fading when Lisa passed through the doorframe and noticed the staircase going down. The glow of an amber light bled around the bend at the bottom of the steps, its hue soon flickering too.
Lisa sucked in a breath as she made her way down, not sure what she'd find at the bottom. Only to be pleasantly surprised by a room that somewhat resembled her grandmother's back home. Tapestries draped floor to ceiling along each wall. Almost in a way you'd find it cluttered, yet somehow it didn't feel that way. It brought an unintentional smile to her face, as she brushed her fingertips along the closest ones. Even the incense holder she spotted on the table appeared similar to that she was used to her grandma lighting.
"What do you think?" Chunhua's voice interrupted her study of the room. "Will you find it more comfortable?"
"I think so." She murmured. Still looking at each of the designs woven or stamped on varies fabric. "My grandma has tapestries like these."
"Oh?" Chunhua smiled, gesturing to the table and closest seat. "Is she spiritual as well?"
Lisa peered at her as she found her place. "I feel like you already know the answer."
"You're right. I do. Or more so... believed to have known it, as your grandmother saw our dear Ghosty." Chunhua glanced to what Lisa could only see as a vacant seat to her right, yet she found the brown eyes of a woman covered in silver, yet appearing strikingly alive.
Very interesting.
"Yeah... yeah that's right. I'm pretty sure she saw her while we were on a video call. I haven't had another with her since so I never asked her about it. But I also didn't know that Rosie was actually there, at the time."
"But you had a feeling she was?"
Lisa nodded. "I could always feel her."
"Have you always had these... feelings? Of not being alone? Or difference sensations in the air around you?"
"I suppose not... no. It started happening when I landed." Lisa figured, something itching at the back of her head though.
She felt like she was forgetting something.
"Are you sure that's when this all started?" Chunhua watched. "Think for a moment."
Lisa breathed in deeply. Trying to remember if she'd ever felt this way before as Chunhua left to the display against the wall and returned with an incense stick in hand. Lighting the tip, she placed it in the holder and pinched the top. Fanning the air towards Lisa. "Think." She repeated. "Take another breath."
Lisa did as told. Chunhua telling her to hold her breath before releasing it, then to do so again. And again. Until she recognized the smell the burning stick was reminding her of. "It... it smells like the markets back home..."
Suddenly she was thrown back into her four year old self. Fingers tightly wrapped around her grandmother's hand as she skipped down the street. Taking in all the sights and smells, before pointing at a man she noticed watching them curiously.
"Look Grandma! That guy's soaking wet! Why did he swim in his clothes?"
Her grandmother looked to where she was pointing and gently pushed down her arm. Releasing a sigh.
"It's not nice to point Pran." Her grandmother scolded lightly. "He isn't like us. Something happened to him, involving water, and he hasn't been able to let it go." She explained. "He's sad."
"What is he?" She pouted. "Why is he not like us?"
"Doesn't matter now my love. Let's continue to the fair. I hear a lady there likes to give readings."
"Yay!" Her little voiced boomed in her head as the image of the market dissipated from her mind, though the face of the man remained. Her cousin's voice echoing back. "I feel like I've heard you mentioning things like this before? Maybe when we were kids or something? We were with grandma a lot when you'd bring it up..."
"I remember." She whispered, focusing on Chunhua as her memories settled down. "My grandma. I would see things a lot as a kid, and she would explain them to me... called me her special...." Her heart hurt when she remembered the rest.
"Did something happen to make it stop?"
She nodded. "My mom. I'd tell her the things grandma and I would see and talk about, and she'd call my grandma crazy... and call me stupid for believing her."
"Oh Lisa..." Ghosty frowned as Chunhua glanced to her and back.
"She called us delusional. Told me grandma was old and sick when I didn't understand what she meant. She told me grandma was lying to make me feel better, but that it was bad, and talking about those things made me a bad girl..." Lisa looked down. "So I stopped."
"Your mother sounds like a harsh woman." Chunhua rapped her fingers along the table. "I'm sorry, it's hard being so impressionable at such young ages. But I feel you've grown from your experiences, instead of letting them hold you back."
Lisa wiped at her eyes, still looking down. "My dad helped."
"I'm glad he did." Chunhua replied, sensing the withdrawal from the woman seated ahead of her. She instead turning to her right again, focusing on the blonde woman. "Ghosty?"
"Hm?"
"You're an empath, aren't you?"
Roseanne blinked at her. "You aren't?"
"Depends. But after running a business such as this, you must learn to separate."
"Are... are you telling me I need to?"
"No Ghosty. In fact, I believe it's making you stronger." She reasoned. "Makes you easier to sense as well. Gives your presence here more weight."
"Chunhua, that reminds me. I wanted to ask you something." Rosie spoke up, appearing more serious. "It's about my strength... and abilities."
"I'm listening." She replied. Waiting for more as Lisa looked up and tried to pay attention to a conversation she could only partially hear.
"What do you know about Tethers?"
"Tethers?" She repeated. "You've been hanging around knowledgeable ghosts..." Chunhua hummed to herself. "Tethers are still somewhat unknown to us. Why do you ask? You believe you are one?"
"My friend seems to think so... and it makes sense, wouldn't it? Why I'm so good at interacting with objects?"
"This is true. Tethers are known to be strongly connected to the living world, even though they remain in the astral realm." Chunhua squinted her eyes. "Hmm."
"What?" Roseanne wondered, feeling a little unnerved.
"If you are a Tether, that leaves us with a question though." She explained.
"Which is?"
Chunhua grinned. "What did you leave behind?"
"Huh?"
The older woman reached across the table, putting out her incense and studying the stick as she shuffled it through her fingers. "What makes Tethers unknown to us is their origin. The why they are chosen to be what they are." Chunhua explained. "There is no set reason for one to be a Tether, but there are lapsing similarities between the ghosts who are determined to be one."
"What kind of similarities?" Lisa questioned first. Looking only a tad bit embarrassed after the surprising inclusion of herself.
"The ghosts had all left a part of themselves behind. Either intentionally, or coincidently. Sometimes at the exact moment they died." Chunhua thought back on the knowledge that had been presented to her over time. "As far as I know, it had to have been a part of the physical body. Something that grew with them, or was connected to them, where it was then severed and left to its own devices while the person was still alive."
"Or at the exact moment they died?" Rosie clarified.
"I believe so. Like a finger being lost in an accident. And in those fleeting moments between life and death, the finger is severed spiritually as well as it was physically. The victim may then remain as a ghost, and as a Tether. As their finger, buried too yet lying separately, tethers them to the living world. Reaching through the astral plane as if it were a magnet."
"What about those who had something connected to them?" Roseanne wondered. "I don't think I've left anything behind... I have all my fingers and toes?"
Chunhua chuckled. "It doesn't have to be appendages Rosie, doesn't have to be something physical either. That's what makes Tethers so... confusing."
"But?"
"Twins. Identical twins who shared the same placenta. For some reason, if one of those twins died and became a ghost, the other could become their tether. Again, Tethers are confusing..." Chunhua rapped her fingers along the wood again. "You weren't a twin, were you?"
Rosie shook her head.
"A Tether..." Chunhua spoke aloud as she raised herself and went to collect a different incense. "Maybe you are one, Ghosty. I wouldn't be sure how, but it could explain some things." She returned and repeated the same process with the stick as before, but instead slid the holder in front of the young ghost. "Let's see if more will be revealed to you with time, but for now, how's this smell? I thought you would enjoy it."
Chunhua returned her attention to Lisa as Rosie took a big wiff and cooed at the vanilla that filled the room.
"People that do what I do learned incense were connected heavily to the spiritual realm, through ghosts." She told the young woman, who had been patiently listening to their conversation. "We began using them in our practices. Meditation, chakra alignment, conversations with the dead..."
"How are they connected?"
"It's never been particularly explained. But somehow, ghosts are able to smell the aroma given off by an incense stick. Whereas all their other senses besides sight and sound, are dampened to the point of non existence."
"You mean to say Rosie can't smell or taste or feel anything? Besides smelling the incense stick?" Lisa questioned. "That's... terrible."
"Damn straight."
"Ghosty." Chunhua tsked. "Language."
"What did she say?" Lisa wondered.
"Damn straight." Chunhua repeated. Muttering quietly to herself. "What does that even mean..."
Lisa chuckled. A shine of green peeking out from within her clothes as her throat shifted.
"Lalisa? What is that? Around your neck?"
"Oh." She reached within her shirt and retrieved her necklace. Showing Chunhua the gem she had forgotten she was even wearing. "My grandma had given it to me, as a parting gift."
"A peridot. Very fitting of her to give you one." Chunhua smiled.
"Do they actually work? Would it ward off an evil spirit?"
"It would not physically keep a spirit away, no. Rather warns them that you, or someone who knows you, is aware of their existence and to take heed. As they would not tolerate them being around you."
Lisa acknowledged her words, studying the gem in the amber light. "I'm glad it doesn't ward off all spirits... or else I wouldn't have met Rosie. Or you."
"I'm certain she's happy about that too, seeing she loves being around you. Talks about you all the time."
"Oh... my... god." Roseanne hid her face in her hands. Practically yelling. "Why would you say that!"
"What do you mean why would I say that? And why are you hiding your face?" Chunhua frowned.
"That should have stayed between us..." She removed her hands, sighing. "God I feel like I'm blushing."
"Well would you look at that... you are blushing." Chunhua recognized. The sight particularly odd. Seeing to her knowledge, ghosts couldn't show physical signs of fluctuation in body temp.
Unless it's was manifestation? Or something more?
Rosie was in a catatonic state of shock when she began to question her again. "Have you always been able to blush or is this a new found occurrence. Also, why do you look so weird?"
"She's... blushing?" Lisa questioned. A small smile grazing her lips.
"Yes." Chunhua remarked immediately. "But I do not know why. All I did was mention that she talks about you all the time... and now this reaction and- oh." She suddenly realized.
Lisa chuckled and Chunhua couldn't help but reply with an awkward chuckle of her own. Glancing back to Ghosty, who was staring off with an unusual look in her eyes.
"Irrelevant now." She turned back to Lisa. Feeling only the littlest bit sorry for what she had just done to embarrass their sweet Rosie. "Did you have any questions of your own, Lalisa?"
"Oh... uh... I guess I've been curious about Rosie? Maybe a little more now, considering."
"What about?"
"Well... Rosie had mentioned that she looks transparent? But you just said that they're in another world? The spirit world? So why is that? Why doesn't she look the same seeing she's in a different place?"
"It's because of the lack of a physical form in the astral realm. The silver transparency is billions of atoms forming together to build some semblance of what once was, her living form." Chunhua told her. "Though Rosie looks different to me, somehow. I suppose that could be due to the fact she may be a Tether."
"And how does she interact with objects, like the lights? From this other realm?"
"Atoms." Chunhua shrugged. "Well, molecules. That then form a collective term that ghosts like to refer to as, energy."
"Energy?"
"Everything, everyone, has energy. It is what keeps a car rolling even after you take your foot off the pedal."
"Inertia? An... object in motion? Kinetic and potential energy... like from school?"
"You get it." Chunhua smiled.
"Uh... yeah." Lisa mumbled. "I think." She was still a bit confused but realized those questions didn't matter all that much, in the long run. Ghosts were ghosts. The only thing was... "You say you learned a lot of what you know from ghosts? I figure that's probably how anybody learned anything about how they exist. Right?"
"Indeed. Word of mouth, then written in books. All by someone like me."
"Or me? When I was little?"
Chunhua nodded.
"How did I see them?" She wondered. "Ghosts?"
"Your third eye. Most if not all children are born with it open. Naturally it may begin to close overtime. Most kids are taught that what they had seen were only their imaginary friends... so they close. Because the ability and connection to Ajna, the third eye chakra, was not enforced."
"Or they have harsh mothers... who want to squash it along with everything else..." Lisa stated. Words laced in bitterness. "How do I reopen it? How do I see Rosie?"
"I cannot help you with that." Chunhua slid the incense away from a quiet Ghosty and returned it to the center of the table. "You must figure it out on your own."
"But I want to be able to talk to her. Hear her response. It's tedious to communicate the way that we do." Lisa's hands clenched and unclenched under the table. "Look, clearly I know she's here. That she's real. So why can't I see her?"
"Hearing and seeing are two very different things." Chunhua started. Prepared to continue, when Rosie reached out and held her sleeve.
"Please, Chunhua. If there's anything you can do, we'd appreciate it. I'd appreciate it. So much. Because i'd really like for her to be able to too."
"Ghosty, I really don't-"
"Please. She lost her dad. She doesn't have anyone right now besides me. And this is helping her heal. Helping me heal... please. Anything. Anything at all that we can just, try."
Chunhua looked away from the ghost, feeling her intricate heartstrings being pulled. "Fine." She found Lisa's eyes. "We can try something."
"Thank you." The two women replied in uncanny unison.
"Lalisa, in terms of being able to see Rosie, I truly cannot help you there. As you said for yourself, you know that she's here and have probably deduced that she is sitting in that chair. But the way your mind will not let you see is simply a result of your disconnect with Ajna."
"I... I understand."
"Good." She stated before standing. "Ghosty, please swap seats with me."
"Okay." Rosie replied, tensing her way into the chair directly across from Lisa and smiling to herself.
"Lalisa, I will try my best to help you hear her. And again, I have no direct way to make that happen. I am simply trying to make it a smoother transition to a natural interaction between you two."
Lisa nodded. Looking at the space ahead of her.
"Rosie, I would like you to say something to Lalisa."
"Anything?"
"Anything, Ghosty." Chunhua quickly snapped her attention back to Lisa. "And all I want for you to do is sit there."
"Uh... kay."
"So... last night... after you had fallen asleep? I went to find my friends." Rosie started, glancing from Lisa to Chunhua. The older woman motioning for her to continue when Lisa hadn't done anything. "I couldn't find my one friend, but I think I made a new one. And then we came across this one guy I know."
Lisa's eyes were now closed. A few creases appearing on her forehead.
"I think he may be misunderstood." She admitted. "Nobody really seems to like him all that much, but he hadn't been that bad with me."
"Lalisa! You are trying too hard."
"But I don't hear anything." Lisa expressed. Opening her eyes. "I have to try."
"Since when does anyone try to hear? Unless they are being nosy! You do not turn on your music and try to hear, you simply just do."
"I can say the same shit about seeing?"
"Language! And yes you can but we have been over that. Now sit there. And do nothing else, but sit."
Lisa folded her arms and glared at the seat ahead of her. Eyes softening though, when she realized who was sitting at the other end of it.
Roseanne could see the change as she watched her, and decided to continue. "There's another friend I have, Mason. I found him too. We walked the boardwalk and talked for a while. Sometimes about you."
When Lisa didn't move, she looked back to Chunhua. A little disheartened.
"When you try too hard, it can get in the way." Chunhua began carefully. "It can cloud the mind, dull the senses."
"It's hard not to. I have too many thoughts." Lisa sighed.
"You're reminding me of Ghosty, when she was trying too hard."
"Trying too hard to what?"
"Interact with me." Chunhua grinned, glancing to the young ghost. "She hadn't been able to touch a living person yet. But she had gotten the hang of that fast, didn't you Rosie?"
"Hang on, you taught her how to do that?"
"Somewhat, why?" Chunhua wondered.
"Because she did that with me today." Lisa admitted. "Well a little yesterday too but that wasn't intentional."
The elderly woman looked back to the blonde. "You interacted with Lalisa today?"
"I... uh... held her hand."
"Well why didn't you say so!" Chunhua threw up her hands before reaching out for Lisa's and laying them palm up across the table. "I would like for you, Ghosty, to reach out and hold Lisa's hands."
"Really?"
"Yes. I think a physical bridge between you two could help amplify Lisa's connection to Ajna."
Roseanne bit her lip as she looked across to Lisa, who was sitting impressively still as she kept her hands just as frozen. She tensed her fingers as she reached across the table. Lightly grazing Lisa's wrists with her fingertips before she slid them down into the palms of her hands, and Lisa's distinctively curled up to meet hers.
Grasping onto one another, her smile grew as she found her voice again. "Uh... after having a kind of emotional morning with Mason, who happens to also have the same name as my dad, I went back to see you."
Chunhua leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Instead of continuing this way, I want you to try something different."
"Okay." She whispered, glancing to their joined hands again.
"I'd like for you to sing."
"Huh?!" Lisa and her looked to Chunhua in unison.
"Jeez! You two need to stop doing that! That's freaky." The Chinese woman calmed herself. "Anyways, yes. I'd like for you to sing. It has been proven many times through scientific study that music is a way to breakthrough barriers. So please, choose a song you think Lalisa may know, and sing it to her."
She nodded her head at the realization that she was right. Music moved people. In so many beautiful ways. It was the universal language after all... and god did she love that language.
Tightening her grip on Lisa's hands, and getting a grip on her nervousness, she allowed herself to indulge in the first song that came to mind. Finding herself skipping ahead, to where the words hung in the air a little more than she realized they would.
"I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited, but I couldn't stay away. I couldn't fight it. I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded that for me, it isn't over." She sung quietly. Her voice shaking as she felt Lalisa's thumbs begin soft circles against hers.
"Never mind I'll find, someone like you. I wish nothing but the best for you, too. 'Don't forget me,' I beg. I remember you said. 'Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead'." She sang. Finding her voice just as Lisa's thumbs came to a stop. "'Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead'." She finished. Watching Lisa as Chunhua smiled.
"You have a beautiful voice Ghosty." She complimented.
Rosie replying with a quiet thanks, but was clearly too engrossed with the other woman. Who happened to be removing her hands from hers.
"This was pointless." Lisa mumbled. Looking down to her lap. "I didn't hear anything..."
Chunhua wanted to rebuttal, but she noticed the frizzy blonde's eyes, and how they glistened.
"Another day then." She told her. "Maybe you two can practice more on your own." She then reached across the table and put out her incense, though stopping to place a quick hand to Lisa's shoulder. "Give it time."
"I just want to talk to her. See her." Lisa cried. "She's my only friend."
Roseanne had already been covering her own face long before Lisa's admission had come to light. Chunhua moving to throw away the couple incense sticks she had used while allowing the two women time to come to an understanding of their emotions.
Yet she returned only to find them in the very same spots, and did the next thing an old woman whose own drama only involved the store running out of her favorite tea and noodles could think to do. "Rosie has blonde hair."
The sniffles in the room subsided for a moment.
"I think she dyes it, by the look of her roots." Chunhua supposed. Gazing at the ghost for confirmation, which she soon received. "She has a long jaw, speckles of moles on her cheeks." She continued. Lisa paying close attention, no longer crying. "Her skin, though silver, appears soft. Was it soft?"
Rosie smiled, nodding her head.
"Her eyelids like to hide when she smiles. It's cute because her eyes are so big. They remind me of my almonds." Chunhua realized. "You're Korean, aren't you? Many come into my shop."
Lisa looked back at her hands, imagining the sensation of Rosie holding them again.
She was Korean.
She was Asian too.
"I've seen many ghosts in my day. Many people too. But in terms of ghosts, Rosie is the prettiest one by far. A very natural beauty." She explained. I had met her once before you know? Before she had died. Our meeting must have left an impression on me, as I thought back to her fondly many times."
Chunhua reached out to Ghosty, resting her hand on pre-tensed cheek. "I'm sorry it had to be this way." She told her, genuinely. "And I hope this answers your question Lalisa."
Lisa's brows grew closer. "I... I didn't ask any question?"
"Sure you had." Chunhua told her. "Each time you said you wanted to see Rosie. Each time you asked about her. You never gave into your true intention, which was to learn how beautiful your new 'friend' is. And she is gorgeous." Chunhua looked back down to Rosie. "Got her." She whispered, feeling triumphant in her attempt to even the tides.
She felt exceptionally good when she glanced over to Lalisa, and noticed her tinged pink cheeks. "I'll let you two have a moment while I go upstairs and brew some tea." She told them. "Find me through the door on the left Lalisa."
"Okay." Lisa replied quietly, still a bit embarrassed from crying so much.
And for being called out...
"Well... uh... this didn't go exactly to plan." She spoke to Rosie. Who she figured was still seated across from her. "Chunhua is... special."
"Yeah... she is." Roseanne smiled as she studied the tapestries that hung all around them. Picturing Lisa's grandmother having a conversation with the Chinese women upstairs. Imagining how well they'd get along. "I wonder if Chunhua has any friends."
Lisa had began fidgeting with her hands, finally unable to bare the silence and chaos of her thoughts. "I'm... I'm gonna head upstairs, and maybe apologize." She stood from her seat. "I kind of feel bad for being so sour... at the end there."
"Okay." Roseanne replied. "I think she'd appreciate that. Although it was completely understandable."
"See you up there- I mean... you know what I mean..."
Roseanne did know what she meant, and it hurt knowing that all it did was remind them of what couldn't be. That, even though the rest of their visit went fine with Chunhua, they both left her shop feeling a little more dejected than when they had first arrived.
Or at least that was the case, until the doors of the elevator opened, and Lisa stepped out. Humming a tune.
And Roseanne followed in awe of the young woman ahead of her. Who brought a tear-filled smile to her face with nothing more than humming the song 'someone like you'.