ᴡᴀʏᴡᴀʀᴅ ⤕ ᴛᴠᴅ ³

one

"You're gonna look me straight in the eye and tell me you're fine?"

His deadpan made her recoil defensively, shrugging off the concern. "I'm fine." She stressed to the young Gilbert, rolling her eyes a little as she divulged. 

"Dying was- it was... difficult but, I just went to Mount Everest and screamed off the top so I think that sort of fixed things for me."

He didn't drop the look, so Billie sighed heavily, laying sideways on the bed with her head propped up by a hand, watching her nails instead of the judgemental psychic. "Forget about me, Jer. One way or another, I got all the time in the world to get over myself and come into my role as your personal poltergeist. Whereas you..." She turned to him, squinting her eyes slightly and looking around his desk for a moment.

"You have homework, so quit messin' around and get to it."

Harper stood to her feet, rubbing her hands together to try and get rid of the constant chill of the Other Side, while Jeremy scoffed with a light laugh. "Hey, you're the one that came to me."

Blowing a dramatic raspberry, Billie shook her head, speaking over her shoulder. 

"I recall no such thing."

She vanished from the doorway, off to presumably haunt some other poor kid. Jeremy felt his gaze lingering at the spot she'd stood.

He should tell them. He should, but Billie had made him promise not to. They all thought she'd found peace as soon as her body had been discovered and an official funeral had been held.

Maybe it was creepy, she'd often think to herself. No one but a sixteen year old, ghost-seeing schmuck knowing she was watching on from the Other Side as the people in her life mourned and found a way to live without her.

She'd stood by, watching her own funeral. Listened to the 'poor thing's and 'what a shame's.

Billie had watched by as Damon drank himself dizzy every night, staring at the fireplace with tears in his eyes that he wouldn't let anybody else see. She'd sat right beside him, wishing she could reach over, kiss him, wrap her arms around him, anything to make that look go away.

Georgie didn't go to work for almost two weeks after the news broke out. She'd sat on that ugly brown couch, cradling the blue blanket that still smelled like Billie, calling her sister over and over again, but Cara never picked up. Not once. 

She'd sobbed and wiped her tears on that blanket every night until the tears wouldn't come and she just sat there staring into the empty, dark apartment. One day, her phone rang and her heart had jumped seeing Cara's number on her screen.

"Cara?" She'd scrambled to answer, but it wasn't her sister's voice she heard through the phone.

"Georgie, it's me... it's Noah."

Georgie had sat up a little straighter, frowning quietly. "Oh, I-I thought this was Cara's number, I'm sorry." She dug the heels of her palms into her eyes, cursing herself for calling the wrong number this whole time.

Noah quickly replied. "No, this is- yeah this is Cara's number, she's just been..."

Georgie had scoffed gently, closing her eyes and resting her head on the back of Tony the couch. "I get it... she's always been busy with something, you don't have to explain it to me."

There'd been a slight pause. "I don't think she knows what to do... how to act. She was always so sure of herself."

Georgie didn't speak right away, her fingers picking at each other, not trusting her voice at that moment. "We miss her too, you know."

When he said that, her aunt choked out a small sob, crying softly. "Then why didn't you come to the funeral? She was your fucking daughter!" Her voice raised slightly and immediately after she seemed to sink further into the couch, covering her mouth with a shaking hand like he was right in front of her and she wanted to hide her grief from him.

Noah sputtered for a second, about to defend himself when another voice came from his side of the call. "Who's that on the phone? Is that her?"

The phone was ripped from Noah's grasp. "You have some nerve calling like you do Georgie."

Georgie shook her head, drops racing down her red cheeks. "Cara, please, I just want to talk-"

"She was your responsibility, Georgie. Don't call me and my husband and play the grieving aunt like what happened to Willa was our fault. You. You are the one that let her fall in with that crowd. We sent her away so she couldn't be a part of that life and in less than a year with you, she's dead."

Georgie was falling apart, feeling like a little kid berated by her older sister. "Cara what are you talking about, what crowd? It was an animal attack!"

The silence after that was deafening. Cara scoffed scornfully, a hand cradled her growing bump protectively, her eyes latched onto Noah's as a single tear fell. "Goodbye Georgie, don't call this number again if you know what's good for you."

A minute long phone call was all it had taken for Cara to tear her sister apart.

Billie had gone to New York, standing in her old home, screaming her lungs dry and throat raw at Cara. She cursed that baby bump and the business and everything they stood for. But no one heard her, no one ever would again.

yall that was really sad lmaoooo my bad 😂😂💀💀 weLComE tO tHE thIRd bOOk (yes i said THIRD book, so if this is the first one you're reading, i suggest you back up a few steps shawty)

this one's dedicated to @oopaloompabodybtch for the sTELLAR comment that i can't unsee