'My mother diagnosed your family pretty easily, even though this disease hardly exists in France nowadays. I searched it on the internet, just in case, and...'

Léon turned the camera on. He's not forgetting the most important for him... I had forgotten I had a ghost hunting channel.

'There was an epidemic in 1884 in Toulon, and you got infected.'

'He is getting on my nerves,' Sylvana sneered. 'What was this disease?'

'Cholera.'

Facing the deadly silence that followed his announcement, Léon felt compelled to elaborate.

'Cholera arrived in Toulon by a boat from Saigon. Then, it went to Marseille, where the epidemic was absolutely terrible. You must have caught it from someone in Toulon.'

'Monsieur Tourdieux, the old man bringing the mail,' Sylvana muttered. 'You wanted be to marry his grandson, although he most likely died before you, Grandfather...'

'What a tragedy!' Alphonse exclaimed. 'So it was an illness, nothing more. Not a curse.'

'Not a curse,' Léon nodded. 'So... are you going to rest in peace, now?'

'Are you in a rush? Do you want to stay with Adja?' Sylvana asked, dangerously irritated.

'Stop is, Sylvana,' Léon sighed. 'I simply want to call the police to inform them of her death, that's all. It's been going on long enough, I spent the absolute worst night of my life and her body doesn't deserve to rot here forever. Is it clearer?'

Sylvana shrugged, but Adja saw that she agreed with him. Too proud to admit it.

'Thanks, Léon,' Adja told him. 'Can I ask for a last favor?'

'Go on...'

'If my parents and grandmother are okay with it, come with the Ouija board and bring me to them so I can talk to them with the spirit box.'

Léon nodded.

'And what do I do with your channel?'

'Post something about my death after talking to the police. As scheduled.'

'I wasn't going to do it before,' Léon laughed nervously. 'I don't want to go in jail.'

'Post whatever you want, it doesn't matter anymore. Don't spend months and months discussing it with my subscribers, afterwards. Forget me, forget all of it and go back to your degree.'

Léon raised his eyes randomly, not knowing where Adja was, and he sniffed.

'Alright, I'll be careful.'

'Don't be overwhelmed, okay? It is what it is, you can't do anything anymore, and...'

Adja hesitated before finishing the sentence.

'... I'm more or less happy where I am.'

Léon laughed more nervously than ever and buttoned his coat before going back in the cold.

'If I had known that your sick fantasy would happen one day...'

'Sick, sick...,' Adja pouted.

'Yeah, it's sick. You should have lived happily with someone in your life, not like this. But hey, now, you're in the same place...'

He put a finger on the spirit box button.

'Goodbye, Adja.'

'Goodbye, Léon.'

She closed her eyes not to see him leave. Sylvana put a hand on her shoulder, and it made her shiver. She wasn't very fond of random physical contact.

'Are you alright?' Sylvana asked gently.

'Uh... Maybe, I guess, well... I'm in trouble. I don't want to see the police take my body away. I would rather be unconscious when they come, is it possible?'

'It is,' Sylvana confirmed.

I want to keep my strength for my family. Adja felt relieved: she had at least two days to cope. I have been dead for twenty-four hours at most... it's not a lost, compared to Sylvana, but I need some rest.

'You do not look well,' Sylvana noticed. 'Here, follow me to my bedroom to lay back.'

'In your bedroom? Isn't it horrible for you to go in such a heavy place?'

'I do not care about the place where I lost my life,' Sylvana explained, letting her climb the stairs before her. 'I have been in this house for over a century, this house is mine and the past is far away.'

Adja turned back, suddenly startled.

'Where is Alphonse?'

'He left while you were talking to Léon.'

What?

'Left? What do you mean, left? In the forest?'

'No, his soul was finally freed from its torment. He understood that our family had made a mistake listening to Aunt Sidonie, and that I was not possessed by a demon. It is everything he needed to leave this world.'

Is it sad? Should I be happy for him? Had Adja not died stupidly, killed by Sylvana, maybe Alphonse would have wandered for all eternity in the forest, scared of his granddaughter. It's a good thing I died, I guess. She smiled nervously. I should never think like this.

'And what about you?' Adja asked when they reached Sylvana's room. 'You haven't found peace, right? You're still here...'

'I am staying because I want to.'

So, this is exactly what she told me earlier... When you want to stay as a ghost, you can actually do it. That's crazy! How many dead people could brag about discovering as many things as she did? If we imagine that three quarters of dead people end up mad because they don't know how to behave like Sylvana did, there's not a lot of room left. Moreover, most dead people understood why they had lost their lives. I get why the world isn't filled with ghosts who want to enter in contact with everyone else!

'Adja, do you care about what I am saying?'

'What? Sorry, I was thinking about something else.'

'You do not seem to be moved by the fact that I chose you over eternal rest.'

Adja froze and almost felt a real shiver run down her non-existent spine.

'I've always thought it was the only path for us.'

'What do you mean?' Sylvana asked, frowning.

'I couldn't imagine you leaving me alone, or the contrary. There is something incredible an abnormal between us, from the start, and it can't be spoiled by something so daft as... eternal rest.'

Adja had hoped she would smile at this, but Sylvana stiff as a log.

'What? Did I say something bad?'

'You are making fun of me!' Sylvana yelled. 'No one can joke about eternal rest! We only live to earn our spot in Heaven, you know that! Are you not scared of staying here instead of meeting God?'

'It's...,' Adja stuttered, as she hadn't expected her wrath. 'I didn't think you would say this! I have to explain something to you, otherwise you will believe I'm being sassy.'

Adja recounted how her family was not religious at all. Even if her parents were Christians, they never talked about religion at home. She had never attended a single catechism class and went to the church for weddings and funerals, no more.

'Do you take the afterlife very seriously, Sylvana?'

'Obviously, like everyone else!'

'Everyone else... at your time. I'm sorry I upset you, I couldn't see what you were giving up for me.'

Adja bit her lip.

'Is it really for me, though? Just for me?'

'Are you going to play dumb for centuries?' Sylvana provoked her with a smirk.

Adja put a hand on the wooden bed headboard, imagining so many things that her body almost felt alive. I'm living again. Almost. She felt her blood flowing in her veins and arteries, from her toes to her brain, her stomach twist with anxiety, embarrassment, pleasure. She could have ignited on the spot.

'You see?' Sylvana said, grabbing her by the shoulders. 'When you said I looked more alive now than on the pictures, you were not wrong. I got upset because I believed you were making fun of me in front of the entire world, but it was not your intention. You too look like you blossomed, more than ever. You realize what was happening in your body before you lost it all, but you can now reinvent it.'

'Is it going to be way too strong forever?' Adja asked, stumbling on each word. 'I feel like I'm going to explode... It's more violent than what I experienced when I was alive.'

Adja wasn't telling the truth.She had felt as embarrassed and feverish when Sylvana had followed them to the hotel. Being so close to a young woman who intrigued her had made her mad with curiosity, with some hint of forbidden desire.

'You are thinking about our night,' Sylvana guessed.

'Our night, our night... Nothing happened! I accidentally sent you back in limbo and spent the rest of the night looking for you.'

'I had fallen in an uncomfortable position,' Sylvana said, shrugging carelessly. 'The hotel's bed was rather nice, better than the floor when I collapsed after opening locks.'

'That's... Yeah, that's for sure.'

Good job, great conversation! Adja couldn't focus properly. Is she going to remove her hands from my shoulders? Sylvana was looking at her squarely in the eyes, infinitely concentrated on her. Adja didn't doubt her intentions one second. I don't know if I'm ready to kiss her, t live here for centuries... and maybe even more? Where were Sylvana's boundaries? Adja had no sentimental experience but a failed kiss in secondary school. She didn't even remember the boy. The rest of her life was no better, because she had stopped caring about love to live her passion for supernatural events. I don't know how to make her happy... I don't even know if I'm a good kisser!

'If I were still able to read your thoughts,' Sylvana sighed, 'I am sure I would see a complete mess in there.'

'Well... It's just that...'

'It is just that you think too much. Let go, at least once in your life!'

'I'm scared of everything,' Adja admitted. 'It's not normal for me, that's all.'

'Would it be normal with a man?' Sylvana asked, a little hint of coldness in her voice.

'No, it wouldn't change my lack of experience.'

'As for me... Maybe I have some. A little bit.'

Adja almost joked about Sylvana and her cousin, but she stopped herself in time. It's not funny! She was getting agonized by Sidonie! Instead of launching a diplomatic war, Adja asked her to recount how she had found love for the first time. Sylvana gathered her fair hair behind her shoulders and said:

'Sit on my bed first, it is going to be long.'