Wingspan(Paranormal, Young Adult) MAJOR EDITING**

Forty two

With my hands outstretched I stay composed and call out to her in the most reassuring voice I could muster. If anything about her immortal life freaked her out it was not being able to control her emotions.

You see, ghosts were sensitive and proned to feeling mostly anger, hate, and fear.

lately Chanel has been aloof. - now i knew that was likely due to a possible barrier that was around stark house that someone on campus conjured up. true, that fact was yet to be proven.

-i was on the fence with that one but if i had ever believed anyone as much as Chanel then frogs could talk.

who knew how long i would have until Chanel was lost for ever. i knew it was a matter of 'when it happened' but i didn't think that time would come so soon.

breathing in deeply i begin my prepared speech. this time i didnt need to look at my outline. "Remember what we talked about, yeah? You just need to relax and center your vortex of emotion." Like a hypnotist would I flexed my voice low and calm.

Over time we learned Chanel was susceptible to loosing momentum and having difficulty thinking and expressing herself- Adverse effects of being on the physical plane far longer then any dead person ought to.

As Chanel focus's inward the colors diminish in vibration and float until all that's left is her usual accompanying pigment of white.

"Sorry." Chanel floats in front of me. "I promised I wouldn't say anything to you."

"I-ugh. I don't understand."

Chanels face changed. I didn't see my friend. that empty look was familiar and i knew then she wasnt planning on staying very long.

"I know we said we'd watch a movie but there's something I've been meaning to do. In the meantime don't make asumptions about people. after all, anyone can be the witch we're after." she warns me in a stern voice.

I roll my eyes upward.

It was getting hard to remember if Chanel was always so cloak-and-dagger. i didn't tell her but i wondered if being stuck on a plane that purged her of her physical body sooner than most was altering her brain or something.

I didnt know if she would suddenly go all berzerk and throw furniture in the air. i hoped not because i wasn't sure how i would explain to snot-nosed Rebecca that her ultra-expensive luxury jewelry box got stuck on the chandelier.

"Okay miss cryptic." I cross my legs in a comfortable position and fold both hands in my lap this time. I grin knowing my insubordination was driving Chanel mad but i couldn't help myself. for a moment i took pleasure in the small satisfying act until her sympathetic form turned chagrin. "Seriously don't worry about me." i tell her

"Promise." Chanel narrows her eyes. She crossed her arms and raised a brown brow, frowning. "Promise me that you'll be careful. The less people who know about your....ability....the better. Just go to class like you're not a channel-er and everything should be fine."

"I kept it from you didn't I?" I remind her none too easily.

I felt more relaxed and open when I was with her now that she was dead and that sat well with my conscious. It made being friends with her a snap. I didn't have to lie and hide. that got old fast. especially when i couldn't tell Chanel what i was really up to at three in the morning.

Truthfully, I was getting tired of going behind my best friends back just because I had something that I couldn't tell people about that until recently she would've never understood. let alone believed.

-sure, she liked me well enough and we hung out practically all the time but would she have gone with it? I would never know.

really, what was I supposed to do? tell her I could see her pet cherry the garden snake? um, yeah, nuh-uh. that conversation would have gotten me one friend less than i had and straight into the institution, which ironically I ended up in anyhow. evidently the universe is satirical.

who knows. maybe if the world was different and I'd been born another girl into a different family I would've had plenty of friends, a normal life, a boyfriend. I'd never wanted any of that but it would have made things easier for me that much was for sure.

"Swear on it. I want to hear you say it out loud."

I roll my eyes. "I will, I promise." I made an 'x' over my heart demonstrating I understood.

"And smile more. you look like a living corpse when you look at me like that." Chanel grumped. "You're supposed to blend in and looking like you never get any sleep doesn't help your cause."