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1.7

The Living Dead...

Cameron walked into the Molina's studio and saw Julie sitting at the grand piano.

"What did you want to talk about?" Cam asked.

"You saw the band that lives in my garage." She answered.

"So?"

"So... they died years ago and came back as ghosts to play music. It's part of this whole unfinished business thing, but I used to be the only one who could see them. Now, you can too! They used to have a band called... Sunset Curve." Julie further explained.

The wheels turned in Cameron's head. She couldn't have been talking about the same band her brother was in... right? The girl tried to play it off by laughing.

"That was the name of my brother's band... weird." Julie looked down, realizing that Cameron wasn't going to understand right away.

"Wait, so they're ghosts... but besides you, only I can see them?" Cam questioned. Alex, Luke, and Reggie all poofed in next to Julie, making the blue-eyed girl jump.

"You get used to that."

"To answer your question, pretty much. I'll have someone else fully explain it later. Right now, you've met Luke and I-" Alex began to speak. Luke waved, walking closer and moving Reggie towards the front of them. "Apparently, you two met and never introduced yourselves!" The blonde said in a judgmental tone.

Cam and Reggie were both taken back. They might not have noticed it, but everybody else saw the two make the same face. Their eyes widened, their lips puckered, and their eyebrows were raised.

The two looked around at everything except each other. Luke walked up to her, bending forward just a little to match her height.

"Hey, Cam? You still have to introduce yourself..." Luke whispered calmly. Her mouth fell slightly open, realizing how close Luke was to her face. Flustered, she cleared her throat and blinked rapidly.

"Right..." Cameron looked behind Luke and saw Alex standing with the guy she met on the beach not too long ago. "I'm Cameron. Hey! Wait a sec... if you're all ghosts, how come I was able to touch you?" She said, pointing toward Reggie. The boys and Julie all shifted their attention towards him, even though he didn't have an actual answer himself.

"Does that mean I can touch yo-" Cameron started to wonder, walking up to Alex. She tried to lean against him but immediately fell through. Reggie was quick to grab her arm and pull her back up. She smiled at him and walked over to Luke, trying to place her hand on his shoulder, but it didn't work.

"Okay, so I can't touch you guys... but I can touch you?" She asked, looking up at Reggie.

"You said your brother was in a band called Sunset Curve and that he died twenty-five years ago..." Alex interrupted, wanting her to connect the dots faster.

"Yea... he played bass," Cameron told them, looking down.

"Right, but what was his name? You still never told us." Luke mentioned.

"Uh...his name was Reggie, why?" She asked, shifting her attention towards the boy in the middle. His lips parted slightly and he looked as if he saw a ghost.

"What? What did I say?" Cameron questioned, earning an exchange of looks between Julie, Alex, and Luke. She glanced at them confused and saw that the guy she met on the beach was frozen solid.

"Are you okay?... I'm sorry what's your name?" The girl asked. He looked down, feeling emotional, and turned to Luke, Alex, and Julie.

"I can't believe this..." he whispered. The boy took a deep breath, looked at the brunette in front of him, and stuttered, "I'm- I'm... Reggie... hey." The room fell silent and Cameron couldn't speak. She felt her eyes start to tear up, finally understanding what's going on.

The lump in her throat increased, making her feel like it was only getting harder to breathe. The entire room remained silent, waiting for either Cam or Reggie to speak. After a few minutes, Cameron decided to be the first to say something.

"As in my brother?... what are you talking about? That's not possible!" She tried to get out, not wanting to believe this.

"I wish I could help explain it to you..." Reggie spoke, choked up. Cameron wasn't sure of what to say. The girl wanted nothing more than to hug him and tell him how glad she is that he's here, but she couldn't move. Cammy was frozen in place and she was so scared that he'd disappear any second.

"I'm sorry... it's just, you've been dead for my whole life... and now, you're here, and I can see you and I can touch you... and I don't even know why." Cameron said, trying her best to process the whole situation.

"Yea, I know..." Reggie admitted. "I'm kinda surprised our parents didn't separate." He told her, still shocked. She gave him a small breathy laugh and used her hands to wipe away the water falling from her eyes.

"They still fight all the time... but, after you died, I guessed they realized that they needed each other to cope. Although, I don't think having me was exactly part of their plan." She explained, looking down at her feet. The girl managed to cath Reggie off-guard with her statement, and the room fell quiet once again.

Authors Note: hey guys!! I hope you're enjoying my book so far :) I still can't believe I have around 30 parts on my TikTok! You guys have been incredibly supportive of the series and I couldn't be more thankful <3 ALSO! I remade the cover, I hope you like it :)