· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
▎ 𝑭 𝑨 𝑹 𝑭 𝑹 𝑶 𝑴 𝑵 𝑶 𝑹 𝑴 𝑨 𝑳 ▎
𝐒𝐈𝐗 ━━ TOGETHER.
࿔·ﾟ*ೃ࿐ ࿔* 🎸🥁🎤🎶
alone we can do so little;
𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 we can do so much
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.
ASHLEY didn't last very long in the studio with the boys and Julie, no matter how hard she tried to ground herself so that she could stay. She couldn't stop trembling, thinking about how impossibly impossible it was that her brother and his band had come back as ghosts. She managed another extra fifteen minutes with them as the boys introduced themselves as the band Sunset Curve and played a small tune for her before she told Julie she needed to go home.
"Don't worry Ashley." Julie rubbed her friend's shoulder, no look of judgement in her eyes whatsoever. "I cannot even imagine how overwhelming this whole thing must be for you. Will you be okay driving home alone or do you want me to see if my dad can drop you off? You could leave your car here till tomorrow."
Ashley wanted to accept the offer, afraid her hands may tremble too much on the way home for her to drive safely but she shook her head - the desperate want to be alone for a while was overriding her sense of worry by a mile.
"I'll be okay." Ashley leaned down to pick her bag up which she had flung into the corner of the studio when she'd gotten over the initial shock of seeing her brother. "I'll call you when I get home, just so you know I'm safe, alright?"
Julie nodded, smiling softly, watching as Ashley walked towards the studio doors to leave, before the girl leapt from her seat to run towards her.
"Hey, Ash Attack," Julie didn't miss the look of affection that flashed through Reggie's eyes as Julie grabbed her friend's wrist to prevent her from leaving for a moment. "I know this is my mom's studio, and it's been in isolation for a while but you, me and her used to hang in this place all the time so it's kind of a shared thing now. Whenever you want to come in here to see your brother and the boys, or even just sit with them if that's what you want to do, you can, even if I'm not in here. Technically, they were your boys before they were mine."
Ashley couldn't find the words to speak so she just nodded, melting into the hug Julie was offering her when she pulled the blonde into her arms. Julie wanted to insist that Ashley get a ride home but she knew pushing Ashley to the brink when she was feeling the way she did wasn't a good idea.
After a moment, the two girls pulled away and Ashley gave Julie her first, genuine smile before waving at the boys a little and leaving the studio.
"Ashley seems nice." Reggie waited till he was certain the blonde girl would be too far away to hear his words before he grinned and started to speak.
"Well Alex is nice, so we can see where she gets it from." Luke met Reggie's eyes for a moment, a small smile playing on his lips. The lead singer could see something dancing in Reggie's eyes, something Julie couldn't see.
"Ashley is nice." Julie tried to ignore the way the boys were looking at each other. "She's one of the best people I know, my best friend, and she's one of the most talented singers and guitarists in her year and mine combined."
"Wait, she sings? And plays the guitar?" Anything musical always caught Luke's attention without hesitation and this revelation seemed to prick his ears up as Julie had his undivided attention. "Are you sure she's Alex's sister and not mine? I don't think I've ever seen Alex even touch a guitar."
"She's one of the most musically blessed students in our school." Julie smiled, thinking about the times she and her mom would sit at the piano playing together while Ashley put in her two forth on the guitar every now and again as she watched them - good times. "She's a little shy about it and doesn't really like performing in front of people if she can help it, but she's super talented."
Luke's eyes were bright and Julie could tell he was thinking about something.
"How come she didn't recognise us when she came into the studio the first time?" Reggie's question passed between them before he could stop himself - he had been thinking about it, but he hadn't been planning on voicing it aloud. "I mean- if she knows about Alex then she must've known he was in a band, right?"
Julie's face fell and a part of Reggie regretted ever asking the question.
"Her parents-" Julie caught herself before she could continue- "their parents, they became pretty strict about what Ashley could know once Alex died. She would never really talk about him around me, but I knew she had a brother and I knew she got into music because of him and his band. I don't know what she already knew about you guys but I'm gonna assume it is not a lot. I never pressured her. Talking about Alex always just upset her so I didn't do it."
Julie didn't miss the way Reggie's mouth turned down into a frown.
"Will she be okay driving home?" Julie had only known the boys since the night before but it still shocked her when Luke's voice came out concerned and soft. "I mean, she was seriously trembling when she left, even after she'd met us."
"That's her anxiety for you." Julie smiled sadly. "It takes over her life most days, but she'll be okay. It isn't the first time she's driven home with a heavy heart. I'll stay here until she calls me so you guys can know that she got home."
ASHLEY sat with her back against the base of her bed, electric guitar in hand as she hugged it, plucking at the strings and trying to find the right melody.
After the miracle run-in with her dead big brother and his band just hours before, inspiration had struck the teenager to try and complete a song that she had been writing about her brother and the feelings she had surrounding him not being around anymore. Her best songs came from her feels.
She had cut herself off from it for a while as all it would do was upset her, but now that her brother was back - in some way or another, though not exactly alive - there was a piece of her that wanted the song to be complete, a piece of her that wanted to be able to play it. If she got upset, she could remember he was around.
The random plucking of her strings seemed to be working as she caught a melody that she liked and continued to play it, inserting her own lyrics.
"𝗢𝗵, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗲
'𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀, 𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝗜 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺."
Ashley liked the way the melody sounded with her first verse and jotted down the notes she would need in her open journal. She had to be gentle with it because it was almost falling to pieces from so many years of use but mostly because between almost every other page, there was a picture of her brother.
He was her musical inspiration. She carried him everywhere.
"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗺."
Ashley could see why the song would always upset her now that she was singing it back to herself with a new melody and a new piece of mind. She remembered the night she had written the lyrics down in the middle of a breakdown after another argument with her father after she had begged for more information about her brother and his band. They happened so often.
It had always been him that had made the rule that Ashley couldn't know him the way she wanted to. He was forever telling her that it was for her own protection, that there was no point dwelling on a person who was already gone and was never coming back. Ashley knew her mother would've tried to talk about it with her, but she wasn't one for breaking the house rules so she never did.
Ashley had always been in the dark.
She had been in such a state of emotion when she wrote the lyrics that when she woke up the next morning and found the song in her journal, she couldn't remember having written them. In the midst of her mental breakdown, she had devised a pretty good song, if she did say so herself, but when was she ever going to be emotionally stable enough to find the melody for it?
Ashley never thought she would get to that point.
"𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗿.
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗺.
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲."
Ashley stopped singing and playing abruptly, instantly distracted by three sets of shadows which had suddenly seemed to appear at her feet. She didn't want to look up because who the heck else could it be, but she did, meeting the surprised gazes of her big brother and his bandmates.
The teenager let out an involuntary yelp of surprise at seeing them all standing in her bedroom, hugging the electric guitar to her chest as she scrambled to her feet, walking backwards so she was on the other side of her bedroom to the boys. It was still hard to believe they were actually real ghosts.
All three boys raised their hands in surrender at the sound of her yelling.
It wasn't that she was afraid of them. Her brother was one of them, how could she ever be afraid of him? But they were in her bedroom, her safe space of all places, and they had just appeared without any word of a warning.
That was why she had yelled.
"What the hell-" Ashley paused briefly, dashing to the side of the bed where the boys were still standing to pick up her journal - she could see Luke eyeing it curiously from where it was sitting on the floor at his feet and she didn't want him to grab it. "What the hell are you guys doing here? In my bedroom?"
"We can do that now!" Reggie didn't seem phased that Ashley seemed angry at them. He was just happy to see her again, for some strange reason. "We just have to think of someone we want to go and see and poof, here we are."
"So you came to see me." Ashley huffed. "Of course you did."
Ashley put both her guitar and journal on her bed so her hands were free and crossed her arms, staring all three boys down with the most frustrating glare she could muster. She wasn't used to looking frustrated because she rarely ever felt it.
Everyone in the room noticed how her expression softened when her eyes met Alex's from across the room, though. He caught her looking at him and smiled so softly it was barely even there but Ashley caught it. Ashley saw the smile.
That was her trick too - smiling so nobody could see it.
Alex glanced around the room lightly, his eyes tracing the walls and Ashley watched as the realisation filled his expression. She wondered how long it would take him to realise where he was standing. The blonde smiled lightly.
"Oh my god." There was a grin on his face now. "This is my old bedroom."
Ashley chuckled as the boys looked around and realised too.
"They never touched your bedroom after you died." Ashley watched as Alex's expression faltered, but only by a little. "I don't think mom and dad were planning on having another baby, but when I came around by accident they didn't have a spare room so they packed your old stuff into the attic.
"This is one of the only houses that didn't get torn down when they tore down the old neighbourhood. It's why mom and dad are still here all these years later. I kept the colour but the posters weren't really my style. No offence."
"None took." Alex spun on his heels, taking the room in. "It looks nice."
Ashley grinned at him and was about to say something more when there was the sound of someone coming up the stairs and the boys all jumped in surprise, walking back towards the window as if they were ready to jump out if needs be.
Ashley recognised those footsteps.
"Hey, Ashers?" There was a knock on the door and it swung open softly. "Are you okay? I heard you yell and didn't even know you were home from Julie's yet."
It was her mom. Ashley heard a sharp intake of breath behind her but didn't even need to turn to know who it was that had taken it. Her mom smiled at her, eyes creasing as she did as she stepped further into her daughter's bedroom.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Ashley smiled at her mother, closing the distance between them as she wrapped her arms around her mom for a hug. It had only been a few hours since she'd seen her last, but after everything that had happened, it felt like an eternity. "Just getting frustrated with the song I'm writing but I'm okay."
The blonde nodded her head to the guitar which was still lying flat on her bed, not missing that her music journal wasn't beside it, where she had left it.
She couldn't deal with that right now.
"And being home from Julie's early?" Ashley's mom held her daughter at arm's length, eyebrows raised. "Did something happen? Is everything okay?"
Ashley nodded, not being able to hide the sad smile that tugged at her lips.
"Just got a little anxious all of a sudden, that's all." The teenager resisted the urge to look back at the boys she could sense were still standing behind her. "I started to fall into one of my bad episodes and I didn't want to burden Julie with it while she's just getting back on track again so I came home.
"I managed to calm myself down but I came through the window rather than the door so you and dad wouldn't see me come in. I didn't want you to know."
Ashley's mom placed a hand on the side of her daughter's face, stroking her cheek with her thumb. It seemed to be the exact same thing Alex had tried to do before - maybe those kinds of affectionate gestures ran in the family?
"You're still getting anxious?" Ashley's mother's voice was softer now, more comforting. "Did those sessions with Dr Turner not help? I thought they did."
When Ashley had first learnt of her brother's existence when she was twelve years old, her anxiety was triggered and it started to take over her life. Her mom always used to say that Alex had started playing the drums to ease his own anxiety, so maybe Ashley could find something that could ease hers too. She had started with music, teaching herself how to play the guitar and the piano, becoming a student of the music program at her school. The music program had been where she had met Julie and Flynn for the first time, two best friends attached at the hip who took the newer, older girl under their wing.
Flynn would always say it was cool having a 'badass junior friend' in their trio.
Music helped ease Ashley's anxiety, but it didn't always help. When Julie's mom passed away and she started seeing a psychiatrist called Dr Turner, Julie's dad had given Ashley's mom his card and told her that it may help ease Ashley's anxiety if she had someone else to talk to. He was right, and it did, but not all the time. Sometimes it just happened and Ashley sometimes struggled to control it.
"They did help, I promise." Ashley grabbed her mom's hand from where it was still cupping her face, giving it a squeeze. "Sometimes it just comes in waves. I know it's not going to go away completely, but I'm okay, I promise. You know I can handle it. Made of tough stuff, remember? You taught me that."
A smile spread across her mother's lips as she took Ashley into her arms again.
"Oh goodness, when did my girl grow up?" It sounded like her mother was about to get emotional and Ashley pulled away, looking her mother in the eyes.
"No emotions!" Ashley chuckled as her mother chuckled back. "Emotions are reserved for Saturdays only, remember? That's the rule."
Ashley's mother nodded, still smiling and Ashley didn't miss the chuckle she heard from behind her. It sounded like Reggie and her heart tugged a little.
"Alright, if you're okay I'll head back down." Her mother made way to the door, stopping just once to look back at her daughter. "Dinner is in an hour."
"I'll be there." Ashley smiled wide, watching as her mother left the room, closing the door behind her. Once she knew she would be far enough away for the voices and sounds in the room to reach her ears, Ashley sighed.
"I feel almost like we shouldn't have been there for that." Reggie's voice from behind her caught Ashley off guard. She had almost forgotten the boys were there. She turned to face them to see they were all looking at her, apart from Alex, who had his body turned to the side - it looked like he was crying again and Ashley didn't have to imagine why. That was the mother he never got to see. "It almost felt personal. I felt like I should've leapt out of the window."
Ashley couldn't hold back the laughter that bubbled from her throat.
"Don't worry about it, I don't think she'd have minded." Ashley sat herself down on the edge of her bed, shuffling across it so she was sitting on the side where the boys were. She waved her hand around her room, beckoning for them to sit. Reggie scooted himself onto the bed beside Ashley, giving her that sweet smile of his that filled his whole face and Luke threw himself down onto her large beanbag by the windowsill, barely even lifting his eyes to look at her.
He had his nose practically pressed to the pages of her songwriting journal and Ashley wanted to yell at him to get his nose out of her business but then she remembered; she wrote those songs because of them. Why shouldn't they be able to see them? They were the reason she was so into music in the first place.
Alex was the only one who remained standing.
"Alex, sit down." Ashley waved her hand towards a grey ottoman she had in the corner of her room. "I promise that my furniture isn't going to eat you."
The blonde boy let out a choked chuckle as he shuffled onto the ottoman, still not quite looking anyone in the eyes. That was another one of Ashley's tricks - crying and then not allowing anyone to see that she'd just been crying.
They were so alike it was kinda scaring her.
"Mom looks different." Alex's voice was quiet and he sounded like he was choking on his words, but at least he was speaking again. "Her hairs different."
"If you think that's bad you should see our dad." The use of the word 'our' made Alex look up - his eyes were rimmed red and a frown was etched into his features but if you didn't look at him too long you wouldn't have been able to tell he had recently gotten upset. "He has a massive beard now."
That made Alex laugh and Ashley resisted the urge to let out a relieved sigh.
"Dr Turner," it was the first words Luke had spoken since the three of them had gotten there - Ashley's journal was closed on his lap and when he saw her glaring at him, he made a point of showing her it was closed like he was finished with reading it, "you see him too? We literally just came from Julie's talking about the same guy. Well, at least I think it was the same guy."
"I used to but I don't need to anymore." Ashley could feel Reggie's eyes on her, burning into the side of her head. "I'm better at controlling my anxiety now."
"Except for when you walk into Julie's mom's studio and see your dead big brother and his band." Reggie pointed out, once again not thinking about what he was saying, but this time it made Ashley chuckle rather than uncomfortable.
"On that note, what are you guys actually doing here?" Ashley scanned her eyes across the three of them. "Not that I mind you being here or anything, but could we not have met somewhere other than here? This is my bedroom after all and I don't tend to let anyone but my mom into my room nowadays."
"Alex came back looking for you." Luke piped up from where he was still splayed out across Ashley's beanbag - the teenager watched as Alex reached across to hit Luke on the arm but he rolled out of the way quick enough to dodge him, almost toppling off the beanbag. "And I wanted to talk to you too."
Luke lifted himself up off the beanbag quickly, leaping forward so he was sitting on the ground beside Ashley's knees, looking up at her. Seeing his opportunity, Alex stole the beanbag cushion so he could be closer to everyone.
"Did you write these?" Luke handed Ashley her journal back and she took it from him, grateful to have it back with her. When it wasn't on her possession for long periods of time, it always felt like a hole being burnt into her, a hole where the journal was supposed to be. "They're amazing, Ashley. You're talented."
Ashley tried to hide the fact that she was blushing.
"And when we came in and you were singing? I've never heard anything like it." Ashley thought Luke was finished gushing, but she was wrong. "Julie told us you were one of the most musically blessed in the school but I never could've imagined how serious she was. Your voice is something else."
The blonde ran a nervous hand through her hair, not used to so much praise. She wasn't one to sing in front of others, so hearing someone positively critiquing her work was a new feeling that she hadn't had time to get used to.
"It's just something I started to ease my anxiety." She lifted her eyes from the ground to meet Alex's gaze, which was already fixed on her. "When I was old enough to understand who Alex was when I turned twelve, it came with a bunch of drawbacks and anxiety was one of them. It started to ruin my life.
"My mom would always tell me that Alex started playing the drums to ease his anxiety so I thought music might help me. It did, but it became a habit."
She left out the part about how most of those songs were written in the hopes that wherever her brother might've been, he was proud of her. She wasn't quite ready for that secret to come out yet and she didn't think they were either.
"This song," Luke flipped through the pages of Ashley's sketchbook, not realising there were pictures in between the pages and a few of them flying out - Alex's face scattered across the carpet but as Ashley was about to reach to grab them, Alex did it for her, "'So Will I'. I can hear the vibes of it. Who's it about?"
Ashley barely heard Luke over the buzzing in her ears as she reached across to Alex to take the photos from her. He was smiling, his eyes bright. At least he didn't think it was weird that she had photos of him throughout her songbook.
What the heck? Of course, he wouldn't. He was her brother.
Luke noticed what Ashley was distracted by and looked down at the journal, noticing another photo poking out from between the pages and as he pushed it back in gently, he shot Ashley an apologetic glance. She smiled at him.
"'So Will I' is about Julie and my mom." Ashley looked across to all three boys to gauge their reactions. She watched as something flashed in all of their eyes, something like affection. "I went through a really rough patch a few years ago and they both just always knew the right things to say to make me feel better. I was never, not surrounded by someone who just knew what to say or do to make me feel so much better and I spent every waking moment with them."
Ashley pointed towards the chorus section of the song.
"𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴
𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝘆
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗜."
When Ashley had stopped singing, all three of the boys were staring at her and then they would flick their eyes back to one another, sharing a look that Ashley couldn't read - her, Flynn and Julie would do that, talk to one another with their eyes and she only wished she could understand when other people would do it.
"Your voice is amazing." Luke looked as if he wanted to grab her hand, shake her excitedly but stopped himself short when he remembered that he was a ghost and was literally made of air. "Don't make that the last time we hear your voice."
"Never," Ashley smirked at him and he chuckled.
"There's something else we came for, too." Reggie piped up from beside her and when Ashley caught his gaze he was grinning at her. "We're trying to persuade Julie to perform in front of her music teacher tomorrow to see if it can persuade her to let Julie back into the music program. Will you be there?"
"If Julie is attempting to get back into the program, I'll be there to throw hands if Miss. Harrison says no a second time." Ashley saw something grow in his expression - fondness maybe? - as his smile widened, brightening his eyes.
"Okay, awesome." Reggie jumped up from the bed, still grinning. "We'll see you tomorrow then, I guess. For you to 'throw hands'"
Luke got up to follow him and Alex shot them both a look, once again talking to them with his eyes. Ashley was still frustrated that she couldn't read them
Within the next few moments, Luke and Reggie had disappeared from the room in a ripple of displaced air and some soft popping noises and the only people left in the room were Ashley and Alex, alone together.
There was a tension hanging between them, a tension so thin you could've snapped it in half. The silence flowing between them was almost awkward, but Ashley could sense as if it were a sixth sense, that Alex had stuck around to talk to her about something important. She could see the tension in his posture.
"I'm sorry about before." Ashley's brother had gotten up from his seat on the ottoman and was moving to sit beside his sister on the bed. She longed to feel something as he did, a warmth as he moved closer to her or maybe the sound of a heart beating but there was nothing but a soft breeze like someone had left a drafty window open. "Running out on you like that, after what you'd just seen and what you'd just been through. It wasn't cool and I'm sorry about that."
"Alex, it's okay. I get it." Ashley moved as close as she possibly could to her brother without actually touching him. Their hands were so close together on the bed that she'd have tried to take it if she wasn't so afraid of the chill she might feel as she did. "Reggie told me you're not good with change and I can imagine finding out you have a sister was a massive change. On top of the whole 'being dead' thing? I can't imagine what that must've felt like."
Alex chuckled but Ashley didn't miss the sadness which wavered through it.
"It just feels like the world is punishing me, you know?" Ashley's brother was playing with his fingers now, something Ashley had also picked up from her years of being anxious. "First, I die on what was supposed to be the biggest night of my life because of some stupid accident that could've been avoided if we had just taken a second to think about it. Then I come back, twenty-five years later to find that everything's changed, everyone is gone. And then I find out that not only are my parents still alive but I have a sister? A sister that I can't even touch."
Ashley felt for him. She thought she had had it bad, missing him with every breath she took since she had been old enough to understand but Alex had been dead for twenty-five years and was only now finding out that one of the only people he still had left in the world who could see him, couldn't even touch him.
"Just because you can't touch me doesn't mean I'm any less your sister." As if to prove a point, Ashley went as if to place her hand on top of Alex's hand but instead, her fingers went right through him as if she was just touching air. The area was cold, but she kept her hand there, seeing her own flesh through the displaced air of his. "See? We're practically merged now but I'm still your sister.
"We'll figure this out, okay? Maybe we can figure out why you're here, figure out what it is you need to do. Maybe there are things we can do that will make your presence here stronger so that I can touch you. Whatever it is, whatever we have to do, we'll figure it out. Even if it takes us weeks. We'll do it. Together."
Alex smiled at her, a real smile this time, and moved his fingers as if to mime holding her hand. All he grabbed hold of was air, but Ashley could feel that the love was still there. He didn't have to touch her for her to feel that.
It had been seventeen years of wishing and wondering what it would be like to have her brother in her life. It wasn't quite what she was expecting, but she had been blessed with some sort of miracle, and she wasn't going to let it go.