Into the Light

170

I couldn't look into his eyes for too long. The emotions were too strong. "This isn't fair," Katrina whimpered. "Kat," Sam chided, wanting her to stop. I knew why. He didn't want to hurt me, but that wasn't fair to Kat. She had lost a friend, someone she loved as well. "It's fine," I told him. "She loved her too. You both did. She was your fr-friend." My voice broke on the last word, so I cleared my throat to hide it. He wasn't fooled. "You're right. She was an amazing person and we all loved her," he said, as he held his hand out to Kat. She took it and slid down to the ground next to him. "What do we do now?" she sighed, laying her head on his shoulder. "I don't know," he replied. "Go on living. Get back to normal life, I guess. It won't be easy, but what else are we supposed to do?" "We bury them," I said, looking back over to them. "We bury them and we make it known how important both Ash and Anna were to this fight. We make it known that they gave their lives to save the damn world." We were all silent for a moment after that. Just sitting in our own thoughts, not ready to share them. We had won, but at what cost? I lost the only girl that I had ever really loved. I had thought that I knew love before her. I was wrong. There had never been another girl that I felt so strongly for. Now she was gone and I was alone again. "I have to go back for Ash," I said quietly. Sam shook his head. "I brought him in. He's in the living room." I nodded and lay my head back down against the couch. "What about the witches?" I asked. He shrugged. "They left. One of them opened one of those portal things and they just left. They took a couple of their dead and walked through, then others came back through to get the rest. They never said a word." They probably hated us. This had been my fight, and mine alone, but so many people had come to help me. Those people had lost their lives. What would have happened if I had just let Lilith have me, with Anna. If she had Anna and I, at least we would've been together. "Hey," someone said, making me jerk in surprise. "Shit," I exclaimed, looking up at Barbie. She gave me a sad smile. "Sorry. I just wanted to see how you guys were doing...and to tell you that Ash is okay. He said to tell you he's fine and he wouldn't have done anything differently." "Can we talk to him?" I asked, looking around the room. She shook her head. "No, not yet. He's too new. He has to learn how to be a ghost before he can act like one." I sighed and let my head fall back again. "He can hear you though, so I guess you can talk. You just won't get a reply...wait, I can commentate. I can tell you what he says!" she exclaimed. "Yeah?" I asked, looking up again. She nodded, with a real smile on her face. "Absolutely! I don't know why we didn't think about that," she replied, looking at the empty spot next to her. "Is he here?" I asked, staring hard at the empty spot, hoping to see some glimpse of him. She nodded. "Yeah, he's right beside me. He says hello." I kept my eyes trained on the empty spot. "Ash, I'm so sorry brother. I didn't mean for this- I didn't know-." I took a deep breath and tried to steady myself. "I'm sorry," I said. "He says not to be. That this was his choice and he was okay with it. Being a spirit isn't all bad," Barbie said, then smiled. "He says he's happy because he's with the woman he loves. Aw, babe...I love you so much." I smiled sadly and looked away. Ash may have died but he had the one he loved with him. Was it worth it? To lose your life to be with that one person...it just seemed to final. I looked over and Sam and Kat. No, as much as I loved Anna, I couldn't die to be with her. I had too many people here, too many things that I hadn't experienced. My mom...I couldn't put her through that. "Damn it," I muttered to myself. My heart was throbbing inside my chest, the pain and emptiness from it threatening to swallow me whole. "Ash says not to be sad, Colby. He says that everything isn't what it seems right now. To give it time." I furrowed my brow and stared at her in confusion. "What does that even mean? Don't be sad? How the fuck am I not supposed to be sad? Anna is dead! She's dead! and there won't be a coming back from this. People don't usually get second chances at life, so third chance won't happen!" I was yelling at Barbie, at this point. I didn't mean too. My emotions were just so fucked up, building up inside of me. I had to let them out. "Everything isn't what it seems? Can you stop speaking in riddles?" I grunted, then stood up. "Everything is exactly like it seems. We fought. People died. We won. Now, we're expected to go back to regular life, posting on Youtube, and going on trips, like none of this ever happened. We can't even tell the world because they would think we were crazy. No...everything is exactly as it seems. I'm sorry you're dead Ash. I'll miss you, but I don't have time to talk to ghosts. I need to bury the bodies." I walked out the door and down the hall towards the front. I turned the handle and put one foot out the door, before I heard Barbie calling my name. "Colby, wait!" she exclaimed. I turned around and saw her directly in front of me. "Jesus!" I exclaimed in annoyance, and took a step back. "Stop doing that!" "Sorry," she replied, bashfully. "I needed to tell you though. Ash said to wait. He said give it a couple of days. Don't bury their bodies yet." I sighed and raised my eyes to the ceiling. "Why? That's stupid. The bodies will start to decompose and they'll stink. I don't want to see them like that." "He says they'll be fine. Something needs to happen before they can be laid to rest. Just give it a couple of days. Please," she replied, her eyes begging me. "Fine," I retorted in annoyance and slammed the front door. "Whatever. What are we supposed to do until then?" She gave me another sad smile. "Go home. Rest. Collect your thoughts. Then come back in a couple of days."