everyone dies in the end.

08

For the first time in a very long, long time, Kaya felt normal. She was once again back in her childhood home with its sunflower, yellow walls and the various picture frames that contained the happiness of her memories.

Her mother was behind her, phantom hands resting on each of her bare shoulders, pride and accomplishment beaming across her face in a wide, toothy smile.

"My beautiful daughter is going on her first date!" Her mother squealed. "I never thought I'd see the day."

Kaya just smiled, letting out a small chuckle. She chose to forget the fact that her mother will never see the day. She chose to forget that her mother was a ghost and pretended that she was human.

She was just grateful that she was able to still have conversations, unlike others that have lost their loved ones.

Her mother had helped her choose out a pale gold dress, a shade or two more yellow than her skin tone, with ditsy pink flowers sprinkled across the fabric. The thing she loved the most however, was the silhouette. She loved the off shoulder sleeves with the straight neckline that molded against her body and slightly began to poof out below her waist. It made her look like a whimsical fairy.

She was glad that the omega who brought her clothes had good taste.

"Thanks for being here, Mom," Kaya turned around to wrap her arms around her mother's torso.

Kaya heard a loud thud at the entryway of her room, and her framed memories turned back into ashes.

She quickly brought her arms down.

She had let her guard down too easily. Why didn't she lock the door? If someone saw her giving an invisible person a hug, she'd be back in the psych ward faster than she could say, Oh fuck.

"Oh, um...Hi." She brought up her right hand in a small wave.

Standing at her door was Xander, eyes wide in shock, with a woven picnic basket on the floor.

Thousands of explanations and excuses traveled through her head as he continued to just stare at her.

After a couple minutes of Kaya dreadfully waiting for him to speak, and Xander freezing in shock, he spoke. "Were you talking and hugging the air?"

By this point, she had already decided on an excuse. "I was...um...a bit nervous," She rubbed the back of her neck. "So...I...um...was going..." She let out a panicked laugh as she continued her sentence, "Um...rehearsing what I was gonna say."

Yes. This was a bit of a dumb excuse, but it could totally be plausible. If she just played it off as pre-date jitters, he wouldn't suspect anything, especially if she stuck to her role as harmless and naive.

He began to laugh. He was buying this right?

"Why're you laughing? Nervousness is a serious problem." Kaya spoke sternly.

"No," His laughter was dying down, "It's just that I thought I would be the only one nervous. It's nice to not be alone." His beautiful amber eyes were glistening with laughter and happiness.

"Oh." She was doing a victory dance in her head, but physically, she let out a soft half smile and looked at his face, searching for the slightest hint of suspicion.

"Shall we, then?" He asked after a couple seconds, holding out his hand.

"We shall," Kaya smiled as their fingers curled against each other. She wanted to yank her hand away from his. They were clammy and sticky, another sign of his anxiousness.

She hated it. She hated holding anyone's hand, especially if they were clammy.

But she smiled anyway. She even leaned her head against his shoulder despite her repulsion.