“Hey Cece and Annie... how are you all doing?” I whispered to my two best friends. They stared at me, eyes wide with fear and surprise.
“Nicky? Nicky is that really you? Oh I missed you!” Cece yelled, running to me. Annie caught her right before she reached me, her eyes steely.
“No Cece. Nicky is dead. She is, gone. I don’t know who is playing us, but whoever it is, has some real issues. I know you miss Nicky, because I do too. I still cry over her being gone, every single night. But you cannot believe that this is Nicky. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Now scram.” Annie said the last part to me, but I just stood there, hurt and confused.
“But Annie, it is me. If you don’t believe that, I’ll tell you something only we three would know. Cece has a tattoo of a heart on her um… well, you know. And you have a birthmark the size of China on your thigh. Plus, when we were only six, we made up a secret handshake that lasted three minutes and never forgot it. We can do it now to prove I’m not lying about me being me.” I whispered, putting my hand out. Annie and Cece looked at me as if they were seeing a ghost. Which, I guess they were.
“It’s…. It’s okay. I believe you. No one else would know that kind of thing. But, how are you here? You- you- you died! We all went to your funeral!” Annie exclaimed, holding onto Cece.
“I couldn’t have died silly’s! How else would I be here? I’d have to be a like, ghost or something! And if I was a ghost, could I do this?” then I put my hand in both of their hands and squeezed. Annie stood with her mouth twitching, and Cece just stared at the clouds overhead. Those were the ways the two thought. After what felt like years, they finally decided to believe me.
“Okay Nicky.” Cece whispered, still staring up at the sky. “We’ve missed you too much to say anything else.” And then the two embraced me, and it was like on TV when all the people say ‘Awwww’ when something adorable happens. And everything was perfect, well, up until Cece saw my bracelet. “Oh. My. God. Where did you get that hot piece of jewelry?!” Cece asked as she grabbed it off my wrist. She turned around to study my bracelet in better light, eyes away from me. For now at least.
I felt myself disappear from regular human eyes, and I felt my wings reappear. Hopefully, no one here would have the sight. Otherwise, I’d be in even more trouble than I already am. “Nicky? NICKY! WHERE ARE YOU?!” yelled Cece, looking frantically around. I let out a deep breath, willing my bracelet to reappear on my arm. But I had no such luck.
“Nicky...?” breathed out Annie. I jumped back, startled, because I had forgotten she was there. “Whoa… You’re beautiful!” Cece turned around at that, and I stood straight as a tree, hoping she didn’t see me.
“Who are you talking to?” asked Cece to Annie. I made my eyes wide and whispered,
“Don’t tell her I’m here. Try and get her to go! And please get me back my bracelet!” Annie just blinked, but I knew she heard me.
“Hey Cece? Nicky said she had to go. Umm, family business… or something. But, I’ll see her later, so can I have her bracelet to bring back to her?” Annie asked, voice shaking. I had forgotten how bad she was at lying.
Cece looked at her curiously, and just rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Here, take her bracelet. And tell Nicky to call me or whatever, whenever she can. Okay?” Annie nodded, so Cece gave her the bracelet than left. I held out my arm, and asked for Annie to put my bracelet back on it. She did, and I instantly reappeared.
“ You’re- you’re- you’re…. DEAD!” Annie stuttered, eyes wide and wet.
“Yes.” I sighed out, looking down. “But, you and my mom are the only people who can see me when I’m… in the other… form. And maybe some other people, but I don’t know who they are.” Annie started shaking, and I touched her shoulder gently to try and calm her, ending up in only making her shakes worse.
“If-if-if-if you’re dead, then how can you touch me and not go straight through me? How can I see you?” she asked, her voice in a deep stutter form the shivers. I thought about how I should explain it to her, and finally figured it out.
“You see this bracelet?” I asked Annie, and she nodded. “Well, this bracelet makes me visible to anyone, and it makes me solid. And you can see me because… well, because you have what the people up there like to call ‘The Sight’. You can see anyone who’s dead and hovering on earth.”
Annie nodded to me, and asked me suddenly who I saw up in ‘heaven’. “I… I saw my dad.” Annie gasped at that, having gone to my father’s funeral. “He’s at home right now. And he has a bracelet like this too… except it’s in a watch sort of form.” Annie nodded and smiled.
“I missed you so much!” she whispered, and gave me a tight hug.
“Would you like to come home to my place? I’m sort of hungry, and you could… re-meet my dad…” I said shyly, hoping to hear a yes. Annie took my hand in hers, and we started to walk home. To my home.
“Dad, mom, you remember Annie?” I asked, smiling widely. They both smiled and nodded kindly.
“Yes, yes. You were always here… before… her… um…” my mom cut off at that, not knowing if she knew about me being back alive. I whispered ‘she knows’ to my mom, and her smile turned down a bit. “Let’s go.” She whispered to my dad. They left, holding hands up the stairs.
“Sorry about her…” I muttered to Annie, embarrassed at my mother’s behavior. Annie just laughed.
“At what?” she asked. “You have no reason to say sorry! I love your mom! I always have! And I know that you already know that.” I laughed as I pulled Annie to my room.
“OMG! Is this your puppy? She’s so cute! When’d you get a puppy?” squealed Annie. I ran over to the puppy that was sitting on my bed, and saw a card next to it. The puppy seemed to be from my parents!
Dear Nicky,
Hope you love your puppy! We saw her in the shop, and fell instantly in love! We’re glad to have us all back as a family.
Lots and lots of love,
Mom and Dad
I was so excited, because I’d always wanted a puppy! “Oh yeah, so what can you do as a… ghost?” Annie asked after playing with my puppy for a while, her cheeks going red at the word ‘ghost’.
“Well….” I said, pausing for effect. “I can walk through walls, and appear anywhere I want in anytime that I want to appear in… Oh! And I have wings. Beautiful, luxurious wings!” I looked at Annie, smiling brightly.
“Could you go to… Paris, if you wanted to?” she asked with a devious expression. I knew she’d always wanted to go to Paris, which was probably why she chose there.
“I- I think so… But, I’m not entirely sure. Let’s try!” I answered back. My puppy barked at that, and me and Annie both laughed.
Annie was holding my hand, and I closed my eyes, trying to only think about Paris. I remembered the smells and sights from when I was first there, and soon I could actually smell all the Paris smells. And when I opened my eyes, I could see where the smells were coming from. They were coming from Paris itself. “Whoa!” Annie said, staring around her. “I didn’t think that’d actually work! But wait, if that worked, what about traveling to the future? Please, please, please Nicky! I really want to meet my future husband! And, they probably have some like… potion or whatever, that makes dead people come back alive!” I thought about it for a moment then sighed, giving in.
“Okay. But let’s tour Paris first. Fun, then games. If that makes sense. And plus, I’m still hungry!”
We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, marveling at all of Paris’s beauty as our hair went everywhere from heavy wind. “Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this! Look at the amazing view!” I yelled, sighing heavily.”Okay, it’s time to eat. Then we’ll leave for plan ‘Future’. Okay? Oh, and just if you’re wondering, no food will come falling out of my body. I’m not a skeleton.” I laughed, and Annie looked down embarrassed. We started walking down the stairs, until arriving at the Eiffel Café.
The waiter gave us our menus after sitting us at a table right by the window. “What do you want to get?” I asked Annie, looking at the menu hungrily.
“Well, the Escargot sounds good…” she said, obviously not knowing what that means. “Oh really? I never knew you liked eating snails.” I said with a soft snicker. Annie’s cheeks turned so bright red, she looked like a strawberry.
“Um… Yeah… I- I love… snails.” She answered back, her face turning purple from trying to hold in laughs. When I saw her face, I just burst out laughing! Annie followed after me, when she could no longer contain her laughter.
We kept on laughing nonstop, until the manager had to come. “Ta toi!” he yelled. In English, that meant to shut up. Finally, the waiter came back so we could order our food. We had decided on nutella crepes and biscuie, or biscuits. When the food finally came, I dug in and finished my food and whatever was left of Annie’s. I was still hungry after that, so I ordered some frites, or fries. That filled me up, and so, we called the waiter to give us our check.
-------------
“Quoi! Deux cents eros pour les crêpes, les biscuits et les frites? C'est impossible!” I yelled in French, while looking at the bill. Annie looked at me, her eyebrows drawn down in confusion. “I said ‘What! Two hundred Euros for Crepes, biscuits, and fries! That’s impossible.’ Because they think that I’m actually going to pay that! As IF!” Annie just looked at me and sighed as if I were a lost cause. But I didn’t care, because I was pissed. I really wanted to smack the waiter until he was lying on the floor crying like a baby. I mean 200 Euros for that crap?! COME ON!
“Je suis désolé si vous ne pouvez pas payer. Vous aurez à travailler jusqu'à ce que votre chèque est payé en totalité.” Annie looked at me, once again confused.
“He said, ‘I’m sorry if you can’t pay. You’ll have to work until your check is paid in full.’ Yeah right! I am not paying that guy any tip.”
I angrily took out the last 200 Euros I had left, and slapped the money on the table leaving, as I said, no tip. And whoa was the waiter mad! “Quoi ces conneries! Ils ne me donnez pas de conseils?” he yelled, staring angrily at us. I didn’t tell Annie what he said then, because she would’ve laughed. He had pretty much cursed us out in French. As soon as I passed the waiter though, I ‘accidentally’ stepped on his foot and snorted.
“That was unbelievable! Two hundred Euros, for hardly any food!” I yelled, as soon as we got out of earshot of the waiter. Annie rubbed my back, trying to soothe me.
“It’s okay. That person was an idiot. He didn’t even know English for God’s sake!” Annie said back, her voice smooth. Soon, her calming back rubbing started to help.
“Thanks Annie. I was about to slap that waiter. God was he annoying!” I fumed, a frown on my face. Annie and I walked around Paris, even taking a tour bus to England! We both almost went into hysterics when hearing their accents! “Oh my gosh! There accents are almost funnier than the French accents!” We snorted out between laughing.
I showed Annie how I could walk through walls, and she stared amazed. After that, we went to see if we could get more money. Ever since that two hundred Euros, I’ve tried to spend like no money. But that wasn’t so easy. While walking the England streets, we came upon a beach with really hot English boys. One even growled at us two. That made me and Annie walk away, bright red. Soon after that though, we started to get very bored.
So, I stated something that made Annie’s eyebrows go halfway up her forehead. “I’m ready.” I said. Annie knew what I was talking about from the look of excitement in my eyes. She grabbed my hands tightly, and took a deep breath.
“So am I.” she whispered back.
“So. Am. I.” I laughed at that, then closed my eyes.
“Let’s go.” And so, we did.