Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
♪ 𝟹𝚛𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝙾𝚅 ♪
Outside the Patterson, the home stood four teens hiding behind well-placed green shrubs. Leila, being beside Reggie, ducked low and peeked her head out at the same time the others did so. They had a clear view of the Patterson kitchen due to the wide window. The place hadn't changed a bit, Leila noted.
Inside was Luke sitting on his parent's kitchen counter, his knees to his chest as his mom looked down at something.
"So Emily's his mom?" Julie asked, Leila's eyes stayed glued on Emily and Mitch Patterson, the people who became more like her parents than her biological ones had ever been.
"Yeah," Reggie answers, glancing at Leila (not that she noticed) before glancing at Julie, "Yeah, Luke comes here a lot."
"He thinks we don't know, but..." Reggie trailed off, Leila's eyes glued to a picture frame she could just barely see hanging on a nearby wall, although it was barely in her vision she could see the picture inside the frame perfectly, she had been there the day it was taken and she remembered it well.
It was the first picture to be hung in the Patterson home after Luke died and the last to be hung before Leila followed.
"We've been following him." Reggie continued drawing Leila's eyes to him, "All he does is just hang out like this and watch them." Reggie glanced at her then, wondering if she had ever done that. "They never really do anything though."
Inside, Luke turned to watch his parents sit down at the table where four chairs stood, only two being used regularly, they carried a cake and Leila immediately knew why.
"They're having cake." Julie pointed out, "That's something."
"It's a birthday cake." Leila spoke for the first time since they had arrived at the Patterson home, she swallowed roughly, looking over at Julie, she added, "for Luke."
"I never knew Luke was hurting this much." Leila hated that she agreed with Julie, how had she not noticed? She was so overwhelmed by reuniting with them she didn't realize...
"It's even worse because when he died, he... left on bad terms." Alex said, "You know, his parents didn't want their 17-year-old in a rock band, so... he just left." Alex explained to Julie, "He never got the chance to make up with them."
"They never got the chance to apologize to him." Leila added watching Luke as he got off the counter and moved over to his mother's side. "I lived with them for a while," she admitted whether it was to Alex and Reggie or Julie, she wasn't sure, "They told me one day that their biggest regret was not supporting and not letting him follow his dreams."
Mitch lit a single candle they had placed in the chocolate cake Emily had made, it had been Luke's favorite, Luke blew out the candle, trying to convey that he was there. He stood back up, looking at them for a sign that they knew he was there as Emily looked around for a sign that he was.
"That's why Luke was so angry." Reggie told Julie, keeping an eye on both Luke and Leila, "If Trevor had given Luke credit for writing all those songs, then..." he sighed, "his parents would've known his dream was worth chasing."
Julie closed her eyes as she shook her head. "They would have been so proud." She said.
A tear fell from Leila's eyes.
Inside, Luke sat down with his parents. Leila felt the urge to go inside the home now and join him at the table as if somehow the Pattersons would know their children were there, but Luke needed this more than she did. She looked down at the concrete below her feet, biting her lip.
Alex's voice snapped Leila out of it when he stood up and spoke directly to Julie, Leila stood up straight, forcing her eyes to stray from the Patterson home, her home, "We know how bad it hurts whenever someone that should've had your back... completely lets you down." Alex told her, "We never meant to make you feel that way."
"Julie, we love our band. And Luke does too." Reggie said, "Please give us another chance."
Julie looked back at Luke as he sat with his parents before looking at Reggie and Alex. "Okay." She said quietly, "Let's go. We've got lots of practice to do."
Reggie and Alex grinned but Leila couldn't force herself to walk away. Not yet. Reggie looked at Leila as if sensing her dilemma. "You gonna stay behind?" He asked quietly as he moved over to her side.
Leila nodded, "Yeah. For a little bit." She responded.
Reggie nodded knowingly. "Okay," he said, "be back before dark?" He asked hopefully.
Leila nodded in compliance, "Sure Reg." She agreed.
Reggie smiled at her, "Good." He said, pressing a kiss to her cheek before she could even think about how close they were to each other, "See you later." He said as he walked over to Alex and Julie who were now on the sidewalk so Luke wouldn't notice them, he let them know Leila would be staying a bit longer before they left and pretended not to notice Alex throw a concerned look back at Leila.
♪♪♪
Once the others left, Leila took one last glance at Luke and his parents sitting at the table together like they used to and smiled despite the tears in her eyes before she closed them, imagining her room inside the home, and when she opened them she was standing in it.
She looked around, surprised to find that despite a lot of dust, it hasn't changed since the day she had left, not knowing she would never return. There were still a few boxes off to the side, filled with things she had excitedly packed when she first started looking for a place and got a few promising leads, Rose and Jasper had even helped her despite saying she shouldn't pack so soon.
She smiled at the memories as she sat down on her bed, 24 years of dust going into the air. In that moment she was lucky she was a ghost because if she was still alive, she would've been sick for weeks due to all the dust. She shivered at the thought.
After her diagnosis, the word sick was no longer simply annoying, it was dangerous and scarier than ever.
She hasn't been here since she first became a ghost, before finding the ghost club she had visited two or three times, but at the time it had hurt her more than helped her. Now it was almost nice to be back here.
Even after all these years, the sense of security that the house brought hadn't gone away, and in it, she felt that she was truly and finally safe from Caleb and the rest of the world.
So there, in the guest room that had been deemed hers many years ago, Leila finally let herself succumb to her past and present, letting in feelings and memories she had pushed down since the day she entered the Hollywood Ghost Club. Finally, Leila cried.
