After I came home, I washed my eye out and sat in my comfy living room. My apartment was pretty lonely but super clean since no one else was there to mess it up and all I did in it was watch tv, sleep, eat, and repeat. It was a boring grey with white surfaces, basically a reflection of my life. Severus once tried to convince me to change it because "a depressing home makes you more depressed," but I didn't listen.
So, here I was, sitting on the couch and watching Netflix in order to free my busy brain from medical books, which were laying on my coffee table. Speaking of which, a warm cup of coffee was in my lap, waking me up a bit so that I could make it through the rest of the day. It was then, as I was contemplating whether to watch Stranger Things or re-watch the entire series of Harry Potter, that a knock came at my door.
Which was weird because I never got knocks on my door. And if I did, it usually ended up being another confused, lost soul trying to find their loved one in the maze of mi edificio de apartamentos.
So, cautiously, I got out of my warm blanket and walked towards my front door. I opened it, but as soon as I opened it, I was attacked.
"BROTHER!" I heard, before being jumped by a head of brown hair, "Mi hermano, how are you?!"
Oh, so it was my sister. What the hell was she doing here? Last I heard, she was off graduating from some top-notch school somewhere in California...Yale, maybe? No, that was in Connecticut. It was probably Stanford.
And just to make this clear- she may be older than me, but don't be fooled! She still acts like a child.
"Sis? What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, voicing my thoughts. I haven't seen my family in such a long time, not since I moved to New York to attend college.
"It was a surprise," she explained, pushing me out of the way, strutting into the living room, and plopping herself down on the couch, putting her feet up on my coffee table, "You wouldn't come to me, so I came to you. OOH! Let's watch Harry Potter!"
She reached for the remote, but I snatched it from her. She pouted and crossed her arms.
"Olivia, as much as I would love to watch Harry Potter, I haven't seen you in years," I smiled, throwing the remote on the only other chair I owned. My sister groaned.
"Well, who's fault is that?!" She grumbled, huffing, "You're the one who wouldn't answer my calls! Besides, I had nothing to do and New York seemed interesting so I told Mike, I said 'We should go tour New York and visit my bro too!' And here we are! Tomorrow we are going touring, but I thought I'd let you know we were in the city."
"Thanks for that," I said sighing, "So...?"
"SO!" she said, flipping her brown hair over her shoulders, "What's up, mi hermano? Got any juicy life stories to tell me? Got any lovers?"
My sister was well aware of what happened long ago with Severin, but ever since she's been the only one wondering about whether or not my love life exists anymore. My mother, poor mom, she hasn't really talked to me much since I fell into depression, as if my sadness was weighing down on her shoulders as well. It made me feel guilty that she had to put up with me, which is one of the reasons why I left. My dad, however, is a completely different story.
"No, not really," I admitted, "It's still weighing down on me, you know?"
"Oh, come on. You have to have one person you're interested in," she urged, "Give me one person."
For some reason, Emery was the first person to come to mind.
"Well, I did have a weird encounter with this really cute boy from my Human Anatomy class," I eventually said. My sister pulled a sucker out of her pocket and started sucking on it- this usually helps with her ADHD, which tends to make her easily distracted...but also very hyper.
"Oh, really?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows, "Do tell~"
"IT WASN'T THAT WEIRD!" I yelled, shoving her shoulder because I knew she was implying something dirty, "He just- He threw salt at me because he thought I was a demon!"
"Wow, that's new," my sister laughed, "Maybe it would help if you slept more- maybe get rid of your eyebags. They make you look as if you just raised from the dead."
"Trust me, if I could get more sleep, I would," I admitted, "But they don't look that bad, do they?"
"Awful," she nodded, trying to keep a serious face, "Positively treacherous."
I nodded and then suddenly, we were sitting there in awkward silence. We were both pretty mediocre at starting conversations- her better than me. But it seemed the years between us have made it even harder.
"How's Mom?" I almost whispered, breaking the silence. She looked up at me with a sad face, which was never a good sign. She took the red sucker out of her mouth and twirled it around in her fingers.
"She's lonely," Olivia responded, "I mean, Dad left, and then I left for college, and then...so did you. I think she's worried about you though. You know, I hate to say it, but you never really got back onto your feet after the whole...thing...happened, and I guess she's just worried about how you're doing."
I looked down at the ground with guilt.
"Tell her I'll come to visit when I get back on my feet completely," I ended up saying, "And that I'll call her if anything interesting or drastic happens."
"Here's a thought," my sister started, and it was then when I knew I was going to get scolded. My sister had a motherly instinct inside her that just clicked into place when the time was right. "How about you tell her yourself? She hasn't heard from you since you left. As I said, she's worried sick about you."
"But Sis, I can't-"
"Why not?!" She asked, a little angry, before calming and resting a caring hand on my shoulder, "Listen, Aaron. I know that what happened was really hard on you, especially because you were young and had never experienced something like that before. But just because one thing changed in your life, doesn't mean that everything has to. No matter what you're going through, whether your life is boring as hell or not, you have your family to talk to- people who actually want to hear your voice every once in a while. You can abandon the traumatic parts of your past, but don't push away the happy parts too, okay? Maybe seeing mom- talking to her- yeah, maybe that hurts you a lot because it reminds you of the past. But it hurts her every single day you ignore her or leave her all alone. True, she has me, but she needs her son too."
She took the hand off my shoulder and looked down at her hands. Knowing she was going to continue, I waited. My sister was always a wise person, no matter how childish she seemed on the outside. She always gave the best life advice.
"I haven't seen you in a while, Aaron," she said, "And I can't tell if you've gotten better or worse. You've overcome the rough bits of the first few months, but you have only done it by numbing yourself- by keeping yourself at a distance. I don't want you to be numb, I want you to be happy."
I could only stare at her as her phone dinged and she pulled it out of her pocket. With one glance at the screen, she sighed and glanced up at me.
"Mike has dinner reservations at seven. I have to go," she announced, "But I'll be back the day after tomorrow, and Mike's coming with me, okay? I'll be in New York for a week and I expect you to have at least a friend by the time I leave."
"Okay," I said, smiling the best smile I can manage, but I knew her task was impossible.
"Good," she said, opening my front door. She turned and looked at me seriously, before finally saying, "Remember what I said. Bye, Aaron." She shut the door.
"Bye...Sis," I said into the silence of my apartment.
And once again, I was alone, but this time I felt a little more lonely than before.
Harry Potter it is then.
~{()}~
At five o'clock the next day, I was standing in front of the frozen yogurt shop on Fifth street with my hands in my pockets.
Nevermind, five o' one.
Now, where was that little skinny midget? I call him a midget, but really, he's about average size. I was just a tall giant, like my sister and Dad. Height was really the only thing my sister and I have in common, though. She had the classic brown hair and Caucasian skin from my dad, with brown almost-black eyes from my mom. I, however, got the good traits of my family. I inherited my mother's Latino tan skin and black wavy hair, and my father's miraculously bright blue eyes.
I was easy on the eyes, if I do say so myself. If only I could let go from Severus... but that would never happen.
I saw a glimpse of purple in my peripheral vision, and, when I looked, sure enough, there was Emery Adams- a little more dressed up than yesterday. He, of course, had his huge purple hoodie that came down to the tops of his knees, with ripped black skinny jeans and red converses. It totally didn't match, but he made it look good.
"Hey, cutie," I said, making him blush. A little flirting wouldn't hurt anybody, and it was good for the soul.
"H-Hey," he mumbled, fiddling with his fingers, "How is your eye?"
"Pretty good," I said, "Luckily, I don't think I caused any damage to them."
"That's good," he nodded, "I wouldn't want to have to pay for that." He pointed to the door, which we were standing outside of. "Are-Are we going to go in?"
I nodded, and led the way, walking up to the counter and ordering my favorite flavor of frozen yogurt- Orange Dreamsicle. Emery got Chocolate Swirl- which was just basically just chocolate, but it looked pretty good.
We sat down at a table near the window that was pretty bare of surrounding tables- the perfect place to talk about ghosts existing without some weirdo hearing our conversation. He seemed very nervous for some reason, fiddling with his fingers, so I decided to start the conversation.
"So..." I started, "Ask me anything you want."
"Is this really a date?" he asked, genuinely worried. I loved how straightforward he was with everything that came out of his mouth.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, you said before you left, 'It's a date', " he elaborated, "So-So, I was wondering if you were serious about that or if you were just joking."
Oh, I said that out loud? Oops.
"I would love to say I was serious, because honestly, you're adorable, but at the time- it was a joke, " I explained, trying to refrain my smile at his blush, "But even if I wanted to date you, I couldn't."
"Why not?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. He didn't seem like a person to work around a question. He was that curious type who would rather get their answers than worry about shame.
"Well, see, the love of my life died and I can't seem to move on," I admitted, then I took a deep breath, preparing myself to continue. I've never admitted this to anyone out loud, since people would think I'm crazy. But this kid would most definitely believe it. "And now he haunts me as a ghost and follows me around, scaring away people who bother me."
"So he's the one that's picking up the stuff?" Emery asked. I nodded.
"And the one who tied your shoelaces," I admitted. Emery sat there, with his arms crossed in thought.
"I thought it would be a lot more complicated than that," he mumbled.
"Well, seeing as how you knew how to kill demons, I was guessing you'd want to learn more about ghosts," I reasoned, "I was expecting a long conversation."
"Well, some ghosts exist because they have unfinished business," Emery explained, eating a spoonful of yogurt, " Do you think that maybe he turned into a ghost because you couldn't move on? And his 'unfinished business' is for you to move on from him? It's kind of poetic really: you need to move on before he can move on."
"No, it's not that. It's more of the opposite really. I can't move on because he's still there. He's always within my reach," I explained.
"Seriously?" Emery asked, shooting up from his slump, "Is he here now?!"
"Probably," I said, "Hey, Severus. Can you lift my napkin, if you're here?"
My napkin slowly floated upward, before I smacked it from the sky because someone was looking in awe through the window.
"Woah," Emery murmured, also staring at the napkin in awe, "That was so cool. Can I ask him questions too?"
"You can ask, but I doubt he'll answer, " I said, " He can't speak, he can only touch. So he'll have to have a pencil and paper or something. And it needs to be somewhere private so that no one sees."
"Can you come to my house then?" He asked excitedly.
"Geez. Take me out to dinner first at least," I joked, watching as blush spread on his cheeks.
"Sorry...I just thought..that..." he trailed off, looking sheepish. I could tell he was really excited to learn about ghosts and meet one.
"You really like ghosts, don't you?" I asked. He nodded.
"Anything supernatural," he corrected, "I love it all...and to find out it's real-" he smiled- "That's just so cool!" He squealed, similar to the squeal that my sister makes when two of her favorite books do a crossover book together.
"Then here," I said, pulling out a pen and scratching my number on his arm, "Call me and we'll set up a day. You can come to my house or I can come to yours and you can interview Severus. In return, all I ask is that you tell my sister that you are my friend so that she'll leave me alone."
"Okay," he smiled at the number on his arm, " Deal."
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