Summer was fast approaching. How long had it been since I had met Ezelion? Several months now, at least.

I sighed, walking past the playground on my way back from school. I remember the swings used to be my favorite. I used to swing as high as I could and jump; until I got caught by my parents. I don't miss the pounding sensation in my head, though. I wonder if I dislocated a few brain cells from that. Specifically, math ones.

I shook my head. That was a stupid thought. Still...

I looked up watching the kids running around playing. It seems they had come up with some sort of game; the type of thing you did when playing at the park inevitably became boring and redundant. They'd swing on the swings until they achieved middle height, jump off, climb up the slide, slide down, climb the rock wall before jumping down and landing on one of those horse spring things before repeating it all. There must have been three of them. The fourth seemed to stop midway and was now... picking random stuff up from the wood chips? Is that a bottle cap? Gross.

I miss being a kid. The older you get, the more responsibilities you get. I wish I hadn't taken my childhood for granted. But what kid doesn't?

"Ezelion, did you have a childhood?" I asked, knowing he could appear at the sound of his name.

"I don't remember my childhood. But I remember Kelnar's!" Sure enough, he appeared at my side, looking at me to give an indication to continue, which I did. "He used to get bullied a lot at the playground. Kids used to steal his glasses. Some mom even stole his glasses too after her son accused him of stealing his brand new toy."

"That's terrible!" I shouted. Gee, what grown-ass adult steals from a child?

"Yup. It was one of his most vivid memories too, so it must have bothered him a lot."

"You'll inherit my memories too, won't you?" I mumbled, biting my lip at the end of the sentence.

He nodded.

"Better not leave anything unfinished then." I bounced on my feet back to front to get the blood pumping and hopefully get my thoughts going.

I have no intention of giving up this body — this life. But, it's always good to have a backup plan. In the very improbable and unlikely scenario where I do in fact die, I'd like to at least die knowing I achieved everything I wanted to. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll achieve my goal of getting married unless Minerva or Deymerk appears before me and proposes and we have a magical wedding in Elysil.

Ahhh, one can dream.

I'd like to visit all of the countries in Jia-ie, but I doubt I'd be able to convince my parents to take a last-minute trip there. Even if we do have family in Hanaie.

Maybe I should start with smaller goals. Hm... My backlog is too vast to hope to finish within a year. Maybe I should focus on the games I want to beat most.

And with Ezelion playing, it should go by even faster!

After finishing my homework, I immediately dug through my backlog to find a game called Aestorian Bards. Don't know why this game intrigued me, but it did.

Well, the box art did. The actual game only held my interest for roughly ten minutes before putting it back. Lulu's Manor was always a classic. Just Maria's sister Lulu locked in a haunted house. The perfect game to play right before going to bed!

"Does this game have multiplayer?" Ezelion asked. He was sprawled out on my bed balancing on his elbows as his feet kicked my pillows as he waited.

"No, it doesn't. And move your feet off my pillows." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Ugh! Why isn't Maria playable? It's Maria's series!"

"This is Lulu's series. Also, the whole point of the game is to save Maria who got trapped in the manor during one of her interior decorating gigs. So it wouldn't make any sense for the co-op person to be Maria."

"They should at least include one of the princes!"

"They're busy doing princely stuff. Probably." They don't really do anything in this series... Or in Maria's.

Staying up until midnight wasn't unusual for me on the weekends, but tonight was a school night. I had to be up by six and... Oh boy, my body is going to hate me tomorrow. Better get to bed.

—-

A loud thump woke me up after I had just fallen asleep. I sat up in bed looking around at what would've caused it before I woke up enough to have the sense to turn on the light. I twisted the knob on my bedside lamp two or three times but it wouldn't turn on. I told Mom I wanted a lamp with an easier switch.

I climbed out of bed and stumbled over to the light switch. Who left these game cases all over the floor? Oh right, I did. I flicked the switch but nothing happened. I flipped it off and on several more times but nothing happened. I glanced at my bed to see if Ezelion had been messing with the light but that didn't appear to be the case.

Another thud.

My head snapped in the direction of the sound, pulling a muscle in my neck in the process. I mumbled some choice words as I rubbed my neck walking over to where I had heard the sound. It was definitely coming from my shelf by the window. Upon further inspection, a doll I had since I was a child had been knocked over.

"Ezelion, are you the one doing this? This isn't funny!" I called out. No response. He doesn't reply when sleeping so that does absolutely nothing for me.

Another sound. This time a sudden whoosh. I turned to my bed to see the duvet and pillows strewn on the floor. In fact, the last pillow fell after I had turned. But there was no one there. And Ezelion couldn't make himself invisible.

Does that mean that there's a... ghost?

No, don't be crazy! Ghosts don't exist. You're just unnerved from the game you were playing before falling asleep, that's all!

The bedsheet jolted in the air before hitting me and covering my face.

I screamed.

Unfortunately, my screams were muffled by the duvet that landed on my head while I was screaming, so I doubted my parents would be coming to my aid.

Yanking the blankets off my face, I ran to my door twisting the knob to no avail.

"Come on! Open up!" I shouted at the lousy doorknob. If there really is a ghost in here, are they trying to encapsulate me?

But more importantly, are ghosts real? I mean, parasites are real! The guardians are real! What's stopping ghosts from being real? If Ezelion isn't messing with me and the guardians have no reason to mess with me, then I must be dealing with a...

"Ghost..." My voice trailed off, me now standing I the middle of the room as a pale blue semi-transparent boy faded into view. He must have been no older than seven or eight. And he was floating! He! Was! Floating!

"You can see me now? Huh! This usually doesn't happen!" the boy exclaimed.

I punched the see-through boy just for my fist and body to go into the wall. Ugh, I hope I didn't rupture anything.

"You can't kill what's already dead." The boy shrugged. He was toying with me!

"If you're dead, then what are you doing here? Surely there are more exciting things to do when you're a ghost than to traumatize a teenage girl!" I accentuated the last part.

"When you're dead there's no such thing as time. Trust me, I wouldn't be here unless I had already done everything else. This is my game now!"

"What are you talking about?" I trembled.

"You can see me! That means we're friends now!"

"No. No, it does not. Can nobody else see you? I bet a lot of other people can see you too. You should go see them."

"They can see me but they're scared of me."

"So am I!" I squealed.

"Really?" He tilted his head to the side in confusion. "You didn't scream when you saw me."

"I'm not really the screaming type..." I said awkwardly. Ugh. Talking to a ghost was awkward. "Speaking of which, how come I can see you?"

"Because you believe!"

"...What? I didn't believe in parasites and I saw one just fine," I mumbled.

"Ghosts are different. You have to— You've seen a parasite?!" His eyes widened and his excitement was palpable.

"Yeah, actually. It's a big reason why I even started believing in ghosts to begin with."

"I've been dead for decades and I've never seen one! You have to show me! Please please please please pleeeeease?!"

"He's sleeping."

"Stupid insane crazy girl! Parasites can't sleep! They feed off their hosts! Didn't you grow up with fairytales?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Of course I did. Parasites don't need sleep, but they're capable of sleeping to pass the time. Something I learned after multiple nights of restless sleep." I crossed my arms.

"It's not called sleeping. It's called Doormat Stay Sis—"

"Dormant Stasis, I know— Did you just say doormat stay sis?" I blinked.

"Yeah! That's what it's called!" Kids. He's been a ghost for decades yet he still hasn't picked up any new words? Weird. Guess ghosts don't get around much.

"Listen, it's been fun talking to you and all, but can you leave me alone now? I have school tomorrow and I need to sleep."

"Okay. But how does this thing work?!" He pointed to my Swatch.

"Please, just go."

"And what's this?!" He pointed to a notebook on my desk.

"My math homework?" Was he confused about the equation or did he just not understand the concept of math? Must have been the former.

"And this?!" He pulled out a magazine that—

"No, don't touch that!" I practically screamed prying the magazine away from him. He's far too young for that.

"What is it? A secret diary?" He chuckled menacingly.

"I-It's something you wouldn't understand." I placed the magazine on my bed and sat on it. Hopefully, he isn't able to go through me and grab it.

"Fine. You're boring! I'm going to find someone else to play with!"

Thank the guardians.

The next day I was beyond tired. Stupid ghosts — fictional and real. I pushed through the day trying to not look like a ghost myself. Thankfully, staying up too late isn't all that unusual.

I did wonder though... Erika was the type to believe in ghosts. Had she seen a ghost before? Asking her directly would cause too much suspicion. After all, I didn't believe in ghosts. And if I suddenly started entertaining the possibility of ghosts, it would mean something would have had to have happened that caused me to think ghosts might be real. And I definitely didn't want to have to explain having actually seen a ghost.

Or had I? Maybe it was a dream. I had been in such a rush to get to school this morning that I didn't realize that everything was exactly where I left it last night pre-ghost. Had I dreamt the whole thing? But it seemed so real.

Well, there was one way to find out for sure.

"Ezelion?" I called out. He had been surprisingly quiet today, probably sensing I was in a bad mood.

"Yeah?" He asked, appearing on top of my bed; his legs crossed and his shoes still on the bed.

"Ugh! Why do you even need shoes?! It's not like you walk anywhere!" I desperately tried to yank his shoes off just to be overpowered by him and sent flying into the wall, almost hitting the TV in the process.

"That's mean! Why do you wear clothes in your house when you're all alone?!"

"Because I'm not alone!" I shouted back.

"Before you met me you were! And I bet you wore clothes then!"

I rolled my eyes. "It's not the same. Anyway, I didn't call you to talk about articles of clothing. I wanted to ask... Are ghosts real?"

"Yeah. Why? Did you see one?"

"I think so...? But everything he knocked over is back where it was before."

"He?" He furrowed his eyebrows aggressively.

"It was a little boy. No need to get jealous." I rolled my eyes. "The memory of him also seems a little foggy... Like it was a dream. But at the same time, I clearly remember myself walking around my room last night."

"That's the work of one of the guardians." He crossed his arms. "They make you forget."

"They really have that kind of power...? I mean, I had heard stories about how the guardians were powerful warriors who saved Eyris hundreds of years ago. But to think they possessed powers to manipulate dreams and memories, not to mention turning the entire town into birds and butterflies... It's scary. Can we be sure they're on our side?"

"Now you understand why I hate them."

"I thought you hated them because of what they did to you."

"That too."

Another question came to mind. "Does everyone become a ghost when they die? Or just some?"

He paused, grimacing. "Only those with unclean deaths like murder or suicide."

I paused. Someone had murdered this child? I definitely didn't want to entertain the other possibility. "Then what? Are they forced to remain ghosts for all eternity?"

Ezelion shook his head. "Guardians have a special ability to send them to the afterlife. Typically, ghosts will appear before them and request it themselves."

"Then why hasn't this one...?"

He clenched his fists before releasing — sighing as well. "I don't know."

—-

I was both surprised and unsurprised when I received another ghostly visit.

"Hey, miss! Play a game with me!" My duvet cover lifted and dropped repeatedly as if it were tapping me.

"Go to sleep, it's midnight." I grabbed the duvet out of the air and pulled it tighter around me as I turned over.

"It's the middle of the day for me! Ghosts can only come out in the dark, you know!"

"Convenient," I mumbled. Maybe if I just ignored him he'd lose interest in me and bug someone else. Like Erika.

"Come on! Pleeeeease?" he begged and whined.

Just ignore him.

"Is Miya your name?"

"How did you know?" This had me sitting up. He had my name. What could he do with my name? Did ghosts have power over names like in Death Book? Wait, that wasn't about ghosts.

"It's on your homework."

Stupid homework betrayed me.

"Yes, that's my name. What's your name?"

"Tommy."

"How unoriginal."

"Hey! I didn't make fun of your name! Who spells Mia with a Y anyway?"

"It's Miya, not Mia, there's a difference!" I shouted. Kids are so annoying. "Got a last name?"

"Thompson."

"Tommy Thompson?" I narrowed my eyes. "Seriously?"

He nodded his ghostly head.

"Wow, your parents must really hate you to give you that name."

"My parents love me! They gave me and my brother Timmy super cool names!" He huffed. Timmy and Tommy Thompson. Wow.

He used present tense. Did that mean he still has contact with them? Probably not unless they also believe in ghosts. And even if they did, they'd just forget the next day like I almost did...

There was a question I wanted to ask him, but it almost... seemed wrong. Well, if I wanted to help him, I'd have to ask. And helping him would help me get some sleep for once.

"Do you... remember how you died?" I asked hesitantly.

His face was expressionless — completely blank and unreadable. If he wasn't already a ghost I'd say he looked like one. Like the flick of a switch, he was back to smiling. "No, should I?"

"I guess it really is better that way..." I wasn't happy with the answer, but that was me being selfish. It would be pretty traumatizing for a kid his age to relive thoughts of his own death over and over...

With that question out of the way, I could ask my real question.

"Why are you still here? Why haven't you gone to the guardians to send you?"

"Duh! I'm here because I want to be here!" He stuck his tongue out at me. Brat.

"Yeah, I get that. Why do you want to be here? Is there something important to you?"

"Yeah, Timmy..."

"Your brother..." It made sense. If there was someone I was close to when I died and I had the chance to see them every day, I'd do the same. For as long as I could, anyway.

But it wasn't right.

"Your brother wouldn't want this. He'd want you to rest in peace — literally. He wouldn't want you to spend years worrying about him. I know it's hard but—"

"You don't understand anything!" he shouted. "You're still alive! I bet you don't even have brothers or sisters! You don't know anything!"

He vanished from sight, and I knew that he had left my room completely.

At least he probably wouldn't be back to bother me?

—-

It felt wrong not doing anything about Tommy. So, I opened my laptop and searched for records of people with that name. Eventually, I came across an obituary for a Thomas Thompson that made mention of a twin brother, Timothy Thompson — from thirty years ago.

I tried searching for Timothy Thompson, but couldn't find anything remotely close to what I was looking for. Whoever this guy is, his job must not be noteworthy. And he doesn't have social media. Smart.

"What are you doing?" Ezelion appeared before me, probably having heard my sigh.

"Looking for Timothy Thompson." I rolled my eyes. Not at him, just at the situation. "He's the brother of the ghost I keep talking to. Apparently, he died thirty years ago. Tommy, not Timmy. If I can just get the two to meet, then maybe... Maybe Tommy will let go."

"Thompson?" He looked lost in thought. "Kelnar had a neighbor with that last name. I think she had grandkids around the age you're looking for."

"Could it really be her?" I dared not get my hopes up.

"Wouldn't we be very lucky?" He chuckled.

"Well, it's not like we have any other leads. Let's see if this grandma knows anything. ...And let's hope she still lives there."

I took a bus to the nearest bus stop Ezelion had mentioned. From there I had planned to walk, but it proved to be a further trip than I expected. I called a Ryde and had them drop me at the end of the block. From here, I just needed to find the address Ezelion had written down, which happened to be Kelnar's. I'd have to figure out which one was the grandma's on my own because he couldn't remember.

Passing in front of Kelnar's house was... sad. It didn't seem well kept, and a nearby lamppost had a missing person poster attached to it. Right, they didn't know that Kelnar had died...

The house to the right had a vegetable garden while the house to the left had a a basketball hoop. I don't think grannies play basketball, so vegetable garden it is.

I sucked in my breath and knocked. It was only a few seconds before I heard the door unlock and it swung open to reveal an elderly woman in front of me.

"Oh no..." I heard Ezelion in my head. Unfortunately, it was too late for me to ask what he meant without making myself look weird.

"You!" The elderly lady pointed a boney finger at me. "How dare you bring your curse to my door!"

"Uh, what?" I blinked.

"You're—" Her head spun around to behind her before she turned back at me and narrowed her eyes. Weird. "You're cursed! You have a parasite on you!"

I froze. How would she know that?

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Don't play dumb with me! I was a psychic back in my days!" Wait, psychics were real? I thought their readings were always a load of bologna.

"Listen, do you know anyone by the name of Timothy Thpomson? I need to talk to him—"

"You stay away from my Timmy!" She slammed the door in my face. Great. She was the right lady, but there's no way she'd ever help me.

"What am I supposed to do now?" I said out loud, hoping to summon Ezelion but... Wait, he wasn't inside me. When had he left? Where did he go?! He can't wander too far from me so—

The window to the side of the house slipped open, and Ezelion crawled out, landing on some tomatoes in the process.

"What were you doing in there? And how did you get in?" I asked, pulling him out of the vegetable garden.

"When I realized she was a psychic, I knew she wasn't going to help you. No wonder she was always weary around Kevin. Anyway, since I can choose how far away from you I appear, I used it to my advantage and snuck into her house to find her address book. Needless to say, I got Timmy's address." He waved a sheet of paper in front of me. I hope this lady has a backup... It felt wrong to steal her grandson's address, but it was the only way to help her other grandson.

I showed the Ryde driver the address, and the next thing I knew, I was off to Timmy's house.

An hour away.

Thankfully by the time I'd get there it would be dark, meaning Tommy could show himself.

The Ryde parked in front of an unfinished road leading up to a house on a hill. I guess this is where Timmy lives? I sure hope it's the right Timmy. Maybe there was another Timothy Thompson. Timothy is a common name after all.

I mustered up my courage and my stamina, and climbed to the top of the hill and knocked on the door. A thirty-year-old man opened the door, confusion apparent. "Can I help you?"

"Did you have a brother named Tommy?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound insane or insensitive or a combination of the two.

He blinked. Hurt briefly flashed across his features before returning to his puzzled expression. "Yeah, he was my twin. Why do you ask?"

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

He rolled his eyes and was about to close the door before I pried it back open.

"No, wait! Just hear me out!" I begged. "Tommy... He won't move on from his life here because he's worried about you. If you two could talk just one last time, I think that would help him move on—"

"You know you sound insane, right? I'm going to give you to the count of three to leave or I'm calling the police."

"Please! You have to trust me! Do it for Tommy—"

"One."

"Shit. This is never going to work..." I mumbled.

"Two."

"If I'm wrong, what do you have left to lose?!"

"Three—"

"Would seeing a parasite convince you that ghosts are also real?" Ezelion appeared before me, opening the door wider.

"Who're you?!" Timmy was briefly surprised before his shock turned into anger. "Is this some sort of sick practical joke?!"

"It's not! I'll prove it!" I took the paper with the address and gave myself a paper cut on my arm. Blue blood dripped down the side of my arm proving I had been infected by a parasite.

"T-There's no way..." The man stumbled back, hitting the back of his head on the doorway, causing a quick "ouch."

"Parasites are real — so are the guardians. It's all real! Ghosts are real too! I've been talking to Tommy; that's how I got your name. I... I think he misses you."

"Tommy's... a ghost?" His last words were faint. "Makes sense. Got shot by a drunk when trying to push me out of the way... I was the one who was supposed to die! Not him!"

No wonder Tommy couldn't move on. Timmy felt too much guilt... which in turn must have made Tommy feel even more guilty...

"Please... Just talk to him." I grabbed Timmy's hands in mine, getting him to focus on the present. "If you believe, you can see him."

"Is he... Is he here now?"

I nodded. Even though I couldn't see him, I could feel his presence nearby.

Timmy closed his eyes for what felt like an eternity before finally opening them. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he cried out, "Tommy!"

"Timmy!" The ghost ran to hug his brother but slipped through, causing both to cry even harder.

"I-I'm so sorry, Tommy! I should've been the one to protect you that day—"

Tommy shook his head. "You were the one always protecting me! It was my turn to protect you! Besides, you were the smarter one. Ma needed someone like you around the house."

"Don't say that! You were always smarter than me! Why you'd save an idiot like me I'll never know! But please... You can't keep going on this way. You need to rest."

"I know..." Tommy frowned. How quickly he had agreed as opposed to last night. "I just wanted to see you one more time. To know that you're okay."

"I'm more than okay, Tommy. I got to see you one last time! You can stop worrying about me now. Let me worry about you."

"Okay. Promise you'll be fine without me?"

"Promise."

Tommy nodded, a big smile on his face. "I'll see you in the next life!"

"See you..." Timothy smiled as best he could, waving at his brother who slowly vanished. Maybe I should've sent my regards to Minerva and Deymerk with him.

Timmy was still caught up in his and Tommy's parting, so I took advantage of the moment to make a stealthy retreat. It would be a long ride back to my house.

There was one thing I wondered. Would death from a parasite be considered unclean? Will I turn into a ghost? Had Kelnar become a ghost? Was he still around watching his family as Tommy had?

In reality, I didn't want to know the answer to any of those questions.