CW is in the Description

Chapter 13 - Waffles and Jelly

I’Ksha’s voice was sleepy over the phone and Lee could feel their chest tighten. She had tried to call a moment before when Lee was in their bedroom but they felt like they couldn't have a conversation with Alice in the room and they didn't really want to be in the same room as Alice at the moment. So they had dressed quickly, wrapped themself up in their jacket, grabbed their backpack with their mother’s book in it and went to sit in the hallway stairwell that led to the outside of thier building. Lee had not noticed how late it was, almost 5 in the morning, and if they wanted to talk with I’Ksha then they had to find somewhere private. The living room in the small apartment wouldn't do. They had the phone tucked between their shoulder and their cheek as they quickly tied their winter boots on. 

“I'm glad you're ok." I'Kasha's voice said quietly in Lee’s ear. Lee shook their head and stared at the floor, the stairs winding down below them. 

“I don't exactly know about ok.” Lee admitted. They could feel their throat tighten, not like they were going to cry, but like anxiety was trying to hold them back from talking to her. “Are… are you ok?” they whispered. Their voice, though quiet, echoed off of the tile walls and floors of the hallway and Lee began to slowly step down the stairs. 

I’Ksha gave a long sigh and Lee heard a padded ‘THUMP’ and they imagined her in her bedroom, falling back onto her bed. “ Yeah, no, probably not," she admitted. After a moment she sighed once more. “ You can't do that again, ok?” 

Lee reached the end of the stairs and fished their hallway key out of their pockets. Opening the door to the yellow lights on main street they felt a rush of cold air fill their lungs. The street was well lit and dead. The bar up the road had closed down hours ago and left only a couple of cars abandoned by drunks gracing the streets. Lee breathed into the receiver, “Yeah, I don't think I will ever be using one of those boards again.” They locked the door and began walking down the street. They had no place in mind, they just knew they didn't want to be home.

I’Ksha was quiet for a moment. Lee was about to speak up when she whispered into the phone. “That’s not what I meant." Her voice was soft, like it was holding something fragile. “You can not just run off in the middle of the night and ghost me for days. That is not ok. Don't do that again.”

Lee swallowed and their eyes felt warm and puffy. They hadn't been able to cry for hours but if they could they were sure they would be fighting back tears. “I couldn't imagine you wanting to hear from me after that night.” they whispered quietly. Their honesty surprised them. They just felt so… tired. And it wasn't just the late night or early morning around them, they could feel it in their chest just how tired they were of holding everything in. They caught sight of a bench at the corner of the street and set that as their destination, walking slowly with no real purpose. A gust of wind hit them flooding into the receiver.

“Where are you right now?” I’Ksha asked.

“Just outside the shop on main” they drew in a slow breath and continued, “ my dad owns the Aniques shop, our apartment is really small and I don't wanna wake him up right now.”

I’Ksha huffed out a laugh. “Lee,” she said, her tone brightening a bit, “it is like 10 degrees out.”

“I’ll be ok, I've got my jacket, I'm fine.” they could feel I’Ksha roll her eyes at them. They smiled a bit to themself. They relaxed into the conversation as they sat on the cold bench. The icy cold of the metal instantly shot through Lee’s jeans but they tried to just focus on I’Ksha’s voice. After apologizing for running off the two dived into a short conversation about Hannah returning to school and when Lee expected they would be back. Lee didn't know but they had a feeling their father would be waking them up early Monday morning and forcing them into the truck on the way to school. Lee could feel a smile returning to their face. They had been so scared to talk to her but here was I’Ksha, once again, making Lee feel so human. Lee found themself holding onto the intonations in her voice and leaning into the pauses with comfort.

After a lull in the conversation, I'Ksha lowered her voice. “Lee, Can you please tell me what happened the other night?” Lee froze, their smile dropping. They knew they would have to talk about this eventually, they just didn't know where to start. The other end of the line popped and crackled in static, I’Ksha silent, waiting. Lee glanced at the time displayed on their home screen.

5:34 am. 

“Can we talk in person?”

…

Milo’s had probably the best waffles in town though, they only really hit right early in the morning or late at night. The diner was open almost 24 hours only closing down from 3am to 4am and was well known as a place you went when you were hungry, drunk, or, at least in Lee's case, taking about your supernatural powers. As much as Lee was mad at Alice, so mad that it had taken everything in thier power to not yell at her just an hour earlier, this was still a special place. The two friends had spent many early moarnings and late nights walking the short half mile to the diner to talk about whatever they wanted. Lee usually discussed thier mother, or complained about various aspects of thier preternatural powers. Alice often opened up about her other friendships, painting them in awful light, and her parents, who were discussed even more detested. By the time Lee had arrived to meet I'Ksha it was almost 6 am and the sun was nowhere near rising in the mid-fall sky. The place had a few older people sitting in booths, no doubt all fighting for the early bird special. In the corner by the bathrooms a tired father sat nursing a coffee as his two kids played with their food. The waitress on staff led Lee to a booth and they ordered a couple of coffees while they waited for I’Ksha to arrive. 

They didn't have to wait long, from where they were sitting they could see her park her car in the lot and walk towards the entrance. Lee waved at her and she sat just as the mugs were placed down on the table along with a couple of menus. She was bundled up in her black winter jacket and plopped her hat onto the table beside her. Her face was bare but familiar, no sharp spiky black lines dancing off her eyes. She wasn't wearing her usual translucent glasses and Lee noticed that she had a bridge piercing they had not seen before, they supposed her glasses covered it up most of the time. Lee looked down. They had grown hyperaware that they often tended to stare at thier new friend. They could feel the embarassment and shame creep up again. Having that conversation in the car, confirming that they both were not straight, well, Lee would be lying if it hadnt filled them with a very small sense of hope. As much as they tried to shove the feeling off, Lee was mature enough to know when they may have developed a crush on someone. It just wasn't comman enough for someone to get close enough for them to feel that way and that had left them wildly out of practice. Lee could feel thier heart beat a little faster. I’Ksha grabbed some creamer and sugar and went to work fixing her coffee filling it with rediculous amounts of both. Once she had taken a long sip she finally addressed Lee.

“Ok, I have a few questions for you and you will answer them.” I’Ksha looked directly into Lee’s eyes, making their skin crawl. They hated eye contact most of the time and preferred to either look at someone’s nose or off to the side. Lee's eyes immedietly dropped again as they stared at their cup and dumped a few sugar packets into their coffee nodding. “Fantastic,” I’Ksha smiled. “First, you saw something the night you did the bell spell didn't you? What was it?” she tapped at her coffee cup and Lee saw that she had switched from her ghost nails to black and purple. The middle fingers had small silver jewels on them. 

 Lee took a sip, grimaced and added more sugar before talking. “That night I did the spell like it said in the book. My bedroom went dark, I heard the thing we heard. He was upset with me. It.. it touched me on the shoulders. He had this animal skull face and a red cloak. I snapped out of it when Al-” Lee cut themself off. Maybe telling I’Ksha that they could see and talk to, and sometimes feel, their dead best friend was a bad idea. A little too much to handle at the moment. “I shook myself out of it.”

  I’Ksha nodded, looking down at her cup. The waitress stopped by and Lee ordered some waffles and I’Ksha asked for an order of eggs and toast. After the waitress left she leaned in towards Lee and asked her next question. “Did you know that thing would reappear?”

Lee avoided I’Ksha’s eyes even harder than before. “I.. I thought there was a chance that it would but, it was dumb of me to risk it. I shouldn't have put you in that position, that was reckless.” They stared into their coffee mug, hoping that they could shrink down in their seat. The guilt bubbled up again and Lee pressed their fingertips hard against the burning hot cup.

“Ok. You know what? Yeah. it was.” I’Ksha sighed and pushed her coffee to the side of the table next to the hot sauce. She placed her hands across the table in front of Lee's cup and Lee looked up at her. They expected her to be angry but she looked at Lee with a strange shine in her eyes. When Lee’s eyes met hers she spoke again. “How could you see that thing? I’ve been doing this a long time and I've seen some stuff I can't explain, money appearing out of nowhere, things going missing, even something on my nightstand floating one time but, I've never seen anything like that before.”

Lee bit at their lip. They took a deep breath and reached for I’Ksha’s hands. Before they could grab them the waitress was back placing food on the table apologizing for interrupting the conversion. The table was full of cups and plates now and I’Kshas hands had retreated to her side and Lee felt a bit of embarrassment bubble up. Oddly enough it wasn't because they had reached for I’Ksha, it was that the waitress had seen. They tried to wipe the blush off of their face and stole a glance at I’Ksha who Lee couldn't be sure of, but she seemed like she had been staring at them. When Lee looked over they saw I’Ksha’s eyes dart away and her face flush a bit. Lee stared holed into their waffles. 

How to tell someone that you can see things that not every other person can? Lee wondered. They tapped their waffles with their fork, suddenly having lost the desire to eat. They were too nauseous. Closing their eyes they tried to focus on some way to tell her when they felt their gut lurch again. It felt bigger than it had been before, almost like there was a decent sized rock rolling around in a half circle. It pulled at Lee’s bag that was stuffed to their right between themself and the wall and in front of them, at the girl who sat across the table. Ok so I guess that is pretty clear, Lee thought. They never knew that gut feelings could be taken so literally. 

Lee cleared their throat. “I don't exactly know where to start. I haven't done any spells before but…” Lee trailed off taking a few breaths. Across the table I’Ksha had spread one of the jelly packets across a piece of toast. “ I see stuff,” they whispered.

I’Ksha looked up from her food, her expression unchained. “What kind of stuff?”

Lee chewed at their bottom lip hard. It tasted like metal. “ You know those rumors that Hannah spread around a couple of years ago? That I'm crazy because I see things?”

I’Ksha shook her head. “No, I don't really talk to people who gossip. I know Hannah’s an asshole, she has probably made up something about everyone in the school but I've tried to ignore her when I can.” Lee blinked. They didn't expect that, especially with how I’Ksha had defended them when they were last in the same classroom. How do I tell her? Lee was trying to figure out the least weird way to say it. How had they told Alice?

The two were just about to start middle school at the time, they had known each other for a while. Alice had just started being allowed to attend sleepovers again after having been grounded for sneaking out of the house. The two had wandered into the hallway to find some snacks from the kitchen but Lee’s mother was there. She was speaking to an older woman. The woman wore a hospital gown, a tube running from her forearm into nothing and a breathing mask tight on her face. She looked hollow and sickly and it had startled Lee. They had gasped and their mother and the old woman turned to them. Their mother’s eyes widened a bit when she saw Alice was with Lee in the hallway, looking confused. She told the woman that she would meet her the next day at the park down the road and approached the children. She had helped Lee slowly explain what they had walked in on, corroborating that both she and Lee had seen the same thing. At first Alice was skeptical but the more they explained the wider her eyes had gone. She had ended up leaving for home early and Lee was set into a panicked state, scared of losing their friend. 

Lee's mother wasn't there anymore to help them explain, she wasn't there to corroborate the story. It was just Lee and they were scared that I’Ksha wouldn't believe them. But of all of the people in their life, their dad who Lee and their mother had never told about their gift, their aunt who was so distant that it never had the chance to come up even after their mother died, I’Ksha was the most likely to believe them. Not just because she was involved in similar things already or even that she had seen the same thing as Lee that night but, something in their gut told them that she would believe them. 

Lee took a deep breath and tried to look I’Ksha in the eyes. It wasn't with them, lost somewhere in I'Ksha's room, but Lee felt like they could almost feel the rose quartz crystal in their pocket. They could feel the weight of it when they looked at her, maybe it was the similar shades of pink that she had braided into her locks, or the gentleness that she always addressed Lee with but whatever it was, it felt just as comforting. 

“I can see ghosts,” Lee whispered.