'Woah bro, this is a palace!'



‘Owen’ was touching my furnishings like he was in wonderland. It was weird. I'd never had a single visitor since arriving and now I had a stranger ‘handsing’ my lounge-suite.


'Where are you from, Owen?' I asked as I handed him a drink. 


I had the strangest sense that Taos was nearby. Yet somehow hidden behind a kind of opaque curtain. It made my body tense, attempting to reach with a sensory faculty I didn't believe I possessed. I tried anyway.

Owen took a sizeable swig of the alcohol. 'I'm Enkhor born and bred! The first human born to this planet.'

His response jolted me out of trying to feel for my lost friend.

'Seriously?'



'I was conceived right before mama was placed into cryo for the trip from earth.'

‘Isn’t cryo banned for pregnant women?'

'Yeh, but dad wasn't gonna leave her. He was a ‘higher up’. When I was two, a virus swept through the settlement. They both passed over to the other side. Then, I was on the street.'

A homeless child in a newly colonized world.

You may have had it even worse than us.

I looked into my own glass for a moment.


'I'm, I'm sorry, Owen.'

'So are they. Had to see me here with nobody round to help. ‘Least I wasn't alone. They still visit all the time.'

'Yeh. Right.’ I forgot that death is apparently not the end.

‘Sorry this is really new for me. So, what's the deal with spirits? How many are there?'

Owen shrugged. 'Every person who ever died.'

This was interesting. 'Where do they all go?'

‘Uh, can I have another?' Owen went to pour himself some more Enkhorian Ale.

At least he's got manners. I nodded and gave him a little smile.

‘Dunno where they all go. I never asked. Somewhere in the Spirit World.'

My disbelief continued to rear its head. 'Right.'

Owen laughed. 'What kinda answer do you want?' Though he was rough around the edges, he seemed so loose and carefree.


No. No collecting strays, idiot.

‘I don't know. Is there a Heaven? A Hell maybe?'

Owen scratched his head. 'My parents got a house? Somewhere? In a forest, maybe?’

'A ’Spirit’ forest?' Again, I fought the urge to write it off as some stupid joke.

But he knew about the dog thing. Nobody else knew. Definitely not this kid in front of me.


‘Uh Owen? Is Taos still-'


Owen finished his second glass. '-Yeh. The guy’s nuts about you.'


I paused at Owen's answer. My stomach squelched. Too much answer.

‘Where do you live?’

‘Told ya. The streets.’


‘Oh. That must be hard.’

Owen just shrugged his shoulders. It hurt to watch.

Fuck. Don’t, Dale.

‘I have a spare room.’

Why do you do this? Not-Helping-People is the first rule of survival!

‘Oh,' Owen responded. 'What for?’ It was probably both the sweetest and saddest thing I ever heard.

‘For you?’

Owen put his drink down in surprise. ‘You mean, I can stay the night?’

This was a very bad idea. But he’d already given me so much by letting Taos reach out to me. He’d barely even asked for a drink in return.

He looked like a discarded toy, that some child had dropped in the dirt a few years back.

’Owen, You can stay as long as you want.’

Owen said nothing for a long while. He didn’t look at me. He barely moved.

‘Your friend can use my body to talk to you again.’ His voice was soft.

‘I, I’m not offering just because of that, you know.’

‘I don’t care, Dale. It’s more than anyone ever gave a shit. Use me all you want.’

In that moment, I felt ashamed for every selfish thing I’d ever done.