By the time he finished telling us everything, I came to realize that this Marra was our own Marra.

But it was a weak realization, and quite hard to digest, so my mouth refused to shut. Bee, on the other hand, was taking it surprisingly well.

Whatever he said seemed to make some twisted sort of sense - and the Buttwipe-Jason incident took on a whole new level of meaning altogether. I didn't see why Marra would make up a lie this insane, especially when he was already so concerned about his diseased mother, so I guessed it must be true.

'You believe me, right?'

'Can we verify with your parents?'

'Nope. Not with Mum's disease and . . . and all.'

'Can we meet that witch?'

'Nope. My parents told me that she told them to never return.'

'Do you think we'll still trust you?'

'Yup.'

I was about to nod - this was verification enough for me; Marra's tone wasn't lying, or he was a better actor than me - but Bee spoke up: 'Can you prove any of the things you just said?'

Marra the Not-Quite-Vampire shrugged. 'I guess you can try to kill me. It will hurt and it'll take an hour or so for me to come back, butmy point will be proved.'

'Are you serious?' I said. 'We can't kill you!' I turned to Bee. She looked thoughtful. 'Or can we?'

After a while, she seemed to have made up her mind. 'No, we can't kill you. And showing you blood wouldn't be a wise move either. That leaves us with . . . you said you can talk to spirits, right?'

Marra shrugged again. Nonchalantly. He thinks it's all so normal. Well, for him it probably is.

(I still haven't gotten used to all this.)

'Can you - I don't know - show us a ghost or something right now?' I suggested.

'They're called spirits,' Marra rectified.

'Yeah, whatever. Can you make them like - makes us float or something?'

Bee nodded in approval.

Marra brooded a moment, then he nodded as well. 'It doesn't work like that, but if you have a spirit's consent, you can see it. I'll ask Es.'

'Who's Es?' we asked.

'She's a friend. And a spirit. And she's moody. And she'll probably refuse.'

The next twenty minutes, Marra kept mumbling into thin air. Making gestures. Making puppy and Pokémon faces. Dancing, even. I suppose the poor guy was trying to negotiate with the ghost (spirit, whatever; still like calling them ghosts to this day).

All the while, See kept barking those German Shepherd barks at them. By them I mean Marra and the as-of-yet invisible ghost (spirit!). I guess dogs don't like supernatural beings (then again, See likes Marra very much, so I won't call a dime).

Marra told us he had done all that he could, but his Es still needed time to think. Spirits are very covert, apparently. 'Once seen, spirits can't be unseen,' Marra told us. 'So you two need to mentally prepare yourselves as well.'

I waved it off, whereas Bee was contemplative.

See calmed down, in the meanwhile.
Bee paced the garden, back and forth, forth and back, her copper locks trapping the pale moonlight. Crickets stridulated in the park. The rustle-hisses weren't gone yet. They were such haunting noises, I'd never heard them before. I wondered what they were. I wondered if only I could hear them. I wondered if this was all a dream. I wondered if I was going mad, like that {Undisclosed} character that {Undisclosed} actor played once. Vague, I can be very vague.

An old broken swing creaked nearby. The air was cool, sharp, moving. Stars were sparse and far, and I wished I could touch them, like I'd done in that Lord of the Rings parody skit we'd made as a fun activity. Don't let me get carried away. But yeah, at that moment, I was carried away. Very much so. I was both loving and hating the moment. Both living it fully and also denying its existence.

The rustle-hisses grew louder.
And then See resumed her barking. This time, there was a guttural quality to his barks.

Both Bee and I turned, annoyed - and saw Es the ghost (spirit) for the very first time. She was the reason of See's barks. She was the source of the rustle-hisses. She was smiling. She was lovely.

A single tear welled behind my right eye.

Whoever you are, I am proud of you. Probably.