I walked through the door of the house but halted my steps when I saw my parents sitting at the dinner table with Death.

"It's about time you read that fucking book!" She groaned as she looked at me. "Do you know how many damn times I had to make that book fall into your hands?" She asked, before I could give her a response she spoke up.

"Like 20 freaking times, Aaliyah. You really don't like reading, do you?" She asked as she pointed a fork carrying a grape towards me.

I scoffed and walked towards my parents. They both had red puffy eyes as they sipped on some substance.

"Oh don't mind them." Death said as she waved off their state. "They're just a bit in shock that Carter was the one."

Death looked at them one more time before she clicked her tongue and turned to me. "Congratulations though. Now all that's left to do is to find your mother's killer." She said.

We all simultaneously snapped our heads up at Death and my mother's lower lip quivered as if she was going to break down.

"I'm joking." She said with a giggle. "Could you imagine though?"

"Not funny," I said seriously.

She stood up as clapped her hands and looked at us. "So...are we ready to go?"

"What happened to Skylar?" I asked. The question had been plaguing my mind for the past few weeks. It didn't make it any better that her body still wasn't found.

"Hardy happened," she said with a shrug.

"Where is she? Her body-,"

"She's passed on," Death said with a small smile. "She's okay."

I let out a large breath of relief that she was in a better place but my heart still broke for her. Her death was still my fault. If I had been more cautious, everyone would've been okay.

"So-,"

"I have one more question!" I interrupted.

"Oh jeez," she said as she rolled her eyes. "What now?"

"Why did Hardy do what he did?" I asked.

She threw her hands up and shrugged. "At I supposed to know all the answers?"

"Yes," I said.

"He was just deranged, just like his son."

Her simple answer didn't feed my curiosity but I wasn't sure it mattered anymore. What mattered was that Carter and Hardy were both behind bars, and they would be for the rest of their lives.

"Okay," I said with a slight nod.

"Let's go?" She asked as she lifted her hand.

I opened her mouth to answer her question but the jangling on keys at the door made us all turn.

We watched silently as the door opened and Lizzie stepped in with our grandmother behind her.

"Hi!" Lizzie yelled. "We're home." She dropped the bags of luggage she had in her hand and looked around.

My grandmother looked around the house and crossed her arms before turning to smack Lizzie on the back of the head. "I can't believe I let your crazy ass convince me there's some damn ghost in this house." My grandmother muttered as she grabbed her suitcase and headed to the front door.

As she took a step, my mother slammed the front door and my grandmother gawked at the door while Lizzie grinned.

My grandmother slowly tore her eyes away from the door and turned back to Liz.

"What the hell did you just get us into?"

Lizzie and I laughed almost simultaneously at my grandmother and I shook my head. We watched in silence as the banter between the two continued.

A few moments later, Death spoke up.

"You guys don't seem like you want to leave." She said softly.

My mother, John, and I looked at one another hesitantly and I shrugged. "We want to pass on but..." I trailed off as my voice broke and gestured to the pair in the living room.

"Ah, you don't want to leave them." She said.
"Well if you kill them they would come with you." She joked.

She looked at our reactions and cleared her throat. "I was joking."

I rolled my eyes at her definition of jokes and shook my head.

"There may be a way you could get what you want though." She began as my ears perked up with interest. "I can bind you all to a soul alive on Earth, when they die and move on, you all will go with them. But it does mean you will carry on the rest of your human lives as ghosts."

Was this truly what I wanted? Could I live on Earth as a ghost for decades? I didn't know if I could but the way John and my mother smiled at one another made me reconsider.

There was no longer any danger in our lives. No having to be cautious of a masked man or find clues to figure out why I was dead. We were free.

We looked between us and I nodded my head at Death. "We'll do it," I said.

My mother and John grinned at her and I smiled back in response.

"Okay, I'll bind all your lives to Lizzie since your grandmother won't be around much longer." She said with a small laugh.

I raised my brow at her and waited for her to say it was a joke but she didn't.

"You're kidding right?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not. But no worries, she'll be joining you all when she passes."

I relaxed at her words and looked back to Lizzie and my grandmother who was still bickering over god knows what.

"Wait," I said. "I have a question."

"What?"

"How come some of us can only touch certain things in a certain place?" I asked. I had meant to ask her previously but it completely slipped my mind.

"When you die, your spirit tends to fixate on certain places and objects. You are all able to touch places that either brought you immeasurable pain or happiness." She began. "Evelyn, you died in this living room, so you can make contact with everything in here.

My mother nodded in realization and John squeezed her hand.

"John, you're able to touch everything in this house because although you died outside, everyone in this house made you incredibly happy."

"And as for you Aaliyah. You died in Carter's room, making everything in there reachable beyond your death."

I nodded slowly as I listened to her words but I paused when I remembered that I could touch my room as well.

"But I can also touch everything in my room," I said in confusion.

She gave me a sweet smile and laughed softly.

"It's where you and Elijah first said 'I love you to one another."