|EVERY BRE∆KING W∆VE|

"Hey Harley, your parents have some pretty decent stuff!" Larson yelled from the kitchen. I was watching him dig in my parents liquor cabinet from the living room couch.

"Who cares? We can't drink it anyway!" I yelled back.

He emerged from the cabinet with two bottles of Vodka in his hands.

"Who says we can't? Come on Harley, let's have a little fun.." He made his way across the living room, stopping in front of me. "Pick whichever one you want." He said, flashing me his most taunting smile.

I stared up at him. "Larson..."

"Harley.." His smile grew even bigger as if he knew the affect it had on me.

"You do realize we're ghosts right?" I asked, questioning his sanity.

"Yes, exactly. Ghosts can do whatever they want.. There's no drinking age when you're dead." Again with the morbid jokes I see...

He extended one of the bottles to me, but I pushed it back to him. "That's not the point.." I said.

"What do you mean?" He asked, sitting down next to me. "There's no point for anything anymore. If we're gonna be dead, we may as well enjoy it.." Larson nudged my arm playfully.

"I just want to think right now... We won't find answers trying to get drunk." I said, rejecting him once more.

"Wonder if it helps?" He offered.

I raised my eyebrows at him, but didn't ask for clarification.

I could almost see the gears churning in his head. "Yeah, wonder if it makes us have more memories or something?" A sly half smile crept across his face this time because he knew that his next line would convince me. "Memories mean answers.."

I stared at him for a moment, then got lost in the depth of his sapphire eyes. "Fine, I'll try it once." I said, taking a bottle from his grasp.

His smile finally faded when the bottle was pressed to his lips.

I copied his actions, only half sure that the liquid wouldn't run straight through my ghost body.

It didn't. It was weird drinking something again, like it wasn't me doing it. I thought I would be able to feel the liquid coursing down my dry throat, but I didn't.

It made my head cloudy almost immediately. I struggled to stay conscious. I fought the dark cloud in my brain. Unconscious meant back to the darkness, and I can't handle that right now.

Larson was fine though. He still chugged the liquid like water. His bottle was over half finished, whereas mine was maybe a quarter empty.

He noticed my look of admiration. "I partied a lot in highschool, guess my spirit still has it too." He smirked jokingly.

I thought I was a partier too, but obviously not as active as Larson. "Come on, let's go somewhere." He said, standing in front of me.

I stood too, wobbling at first before his arm steadied me. "Where too?"

"Wherever you want." He said, leading me through the front door.

He took my hand in his, "Take us where you want to go."

I attempted to do the thing where I think about a place, then I suddenly end up there, but I didn't quite make it. I spiraled down into the darkness instead. Larson was no longer by my side.

I was there, floating in the darkness for I don't know how long. Maybe minutes, hours, days...it's all the same in this place anyway.

Then, I saw something, like a dream maybe, but it was familiar to me. I recognized this place, but I couldn't remember how to get to it, or when I was there.

It was a dock on a lake; a vast lake, almost pitch black water flowed in it. A layer of fog hung just over the water, extending about twenty feet in the air. Mountains were visible in the distance, although they seemed too far to reach. Maybe I went to summer camp? I offered myself that excuse, but shivers ran down my spine at the thought of swimming in that lake. If a lake monster were real, it would definitely haunt that lake. I imagined a giant beast breaking the dark waters surface; it was almost too easy to think of.

I tried to push the nightmarish water hole from my mind, but it kept creeping back. Sometimes I was on the dock looking into the small waves, sometimes I was looking at it from the woods. Never the same angle, but always the same lake.

Then, I woke up at the spot I wanted to go; well near it anyway. Now I found myself laying in the middle of a common street in my hometown, staring up at the ever blinking traffic light.

It flashed from green to yellow to red, never stopping on one for more than a few seconds. The town was completely empty, and super dark, except for two glowing lamp posts and the hanging traffic light.

I watched its glow spread across the asphalt around me. I wonder where Larson is? What did the alcohol do to me?

I think I blacked out, but I still had that creepy "vision" of the lake. It was strange, like my subconscious was forcing the image on me.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of footsteps on the hard concrete behind me. I sat up, startled a bit. "Who's there?" I called.

The steps sounded on the opposite side of the street now, and my eyes tried to find the source. "Larson? Is that you?"

I caught the tail end of a large, beast like, creature before it ducked down into a dark alley. My voice must have startled it.

I was about to stand up to run, but someone took my arm. "Harley, what's wrong?" It wasn't Larson's smooth voice this time.

I turned to find Josiah's hand clutching my arm tightly. His dark eyes held worry.

I yanked my shaken hand back from him. "Nothing, just thought I saw something.." I said, trying to sound casual.

His eyes flickered off towards the alley way briefly, then landed back on me. "I'm sure it was nothing to worry about." He pressed. "May I ask what you're doing?" His open hand gestured toward the street beneath us, diverting my attention.

"Um, just watching the lights I guess." I said, realizing how silly it sounded out loud. He must think me to be insane; who lays in the middle of a street? Alive or dead, it's still weird.

"Oh, okay." He said with a small smile. He lay down with his arms outstretched like he was making snow angels in the dark street, though nothing but small clouds of black dust was bothered by the movement.

His long legs crossed at the ankle. He let out a snicker like he was remembering an inside joke, before his body relaxed in a more permanent position. You would think that the asphalt was a fancy mattress by how comfy he made it look.

I took a deep breath and joined him, though I was still a bit freaked out about the mysterious creature, and the fact that Josiah is a freaky person in general.

"What has you so worried, if you don't mind me asking?" He said, folding his hands as a makeshift pillow, then turning his head in my direction.

I pondered whether or not I should clue him in on the strange things that I saw. I decided that it couldn't hurt.
"I saw something, in my head I think, maybe like a memory or something, I'm not really sure."

"What was this 'something' that you saw?" He asked me with genuine concern.

"Well, it was a lake. A really creepy lake with a dock. It felt like I'd been there before, but I don't remember.." My words trailed off as I began to picture the lake all over again.

"Are you still pursuing your crazy murder theory?" He asked, almost directing the conversation completely off topic. His tone was meant to sound casual, but I could tell that he really wanted to know what I had been up to.

"It's not crazy, it's true." I glanced over to sneak a peek at his expression. His eyebrows were scrunched together and he anxiously gnawed his bottom lip. Anger seemed to swirl in his dark eyes, or maybe it was fear; either way it gave me an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The feeling quickly changed to shock when I heard a bark. We both sat up simultaneously. A light brown dog sat in the center of the intersection staring at us. I think it was a golden retriever, but it was almost too dark to tell. Was this the mysterious creature that I saw earlier? It looked way too small to be...

Before either of us could question it, or even get a word out, a car came swerving around the corner with bright lights blazing.

The dog didn't move an inch, it sat frozen in the street with its eyes still glued to us.

Then, the inevitable happened. The car slammed into the dog with a thud, and a screeching whimper echoed in the night air.

The dog twitched for a second, then grew very still. Believe it or not, that's not the worst part. What happened next was horrifying.

The dogs spirit climbed from the body, and circled it a few times. It turned to face us one last time before it took off into the woods.

I couldn't move. We lay still and silent for hours maybe. The sun was almost up before Josiah spoke again.

"Can I talk to you about something Harley?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said quietly.

"Imagine cars all sitting around this intersection. When the light is green, these cars over here get their turn to go." He motioned to the empty street to my left. "Then, when the light turns yellow, the people have to slow down. The cars behind them have to stop and be patient while the cars from over there move on." He motioned to the 'cars' in front of us.

"So what's your point? I need to be patient?" I asked, a little confused.

"My point is that when it's your time to go, it's just your time. You can't speed through a red light, and you can't stop at a green light, that's just how life is."

"So, I'm the dog right? You're saying that it was just my green light?" I asked, his story had ticked me off more than it had helped.

"You can take the story however you want, I guess." He answered. His eyes were focused on the sunrise now, and I got the feeling his mind was in another place.

I stood up, and dusted the tiny chunks of asphalt off my bare legs. "I'm going to find Larson." I said.

I assumed he would object, but he just said, "Okay, I won't try to stop you this time."