Ghost

Chapter 18

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"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
- Walter Winchell
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"N-Niall..." I whisper faintly.

"Are you alright Lou?" He frowns, seeming confused. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

I just stare at him.

"I've been looking for you for over an hour!" He sighs.

"An hour?" I say weakly.

"Yes! There's a problem with the horses, one of them's about to go into labour..."

Suddenly something strange happens. His whole body begins to flicker faintly.

"Yes." He's muttering. "We need to get down to the stables."

Harry's words come back to me. I can only see Niall if he's aware of that he's dead, that he's in the present day.

I begin to panic, I'm going to lose him to his confused mind.

He disappears for a split second before reappearing.

"What's going on Louis? Where are we?" He looks afraid. I know that he knows but doesn't want to face this, it's easier for him to retreat back in his own mind.

"We're dead Niall."

It sounds harsher than I intended, but really, there's no gentle way to say that to someone.

"No... No we're not..."

"We are, you know it!" He shakes his head and begins to flicker again.

"Niall!" I say desperately. "If you pretend that this isn't happening then you'll be gone again! You've been looking for me for 300 years!"

"300 years?" He stares at me in shock and there's a long pause. "Well, where the bloody hell have you been?"

He's thinking hard.

"Oh my god... Sweet Jesus... I'm dead... I'm dead!" He whispers to himself.

I look at him carefully. He seems more solid now.

"What do you remember?"

"Not much." He exhales heavily. "Just me wife crying then... I dunno. It's all a blur really."

"Think harder." I urge him. I'm terrified that he's going to disappear again. He sighs then screws up his face in concentration.

"Well I remember Joanna crying, I hadn't been ill for long but somehow I knew that this was it, I was going to die...And then I was thinking about you, wondering if you'd felt as scared as I did." He stops and smiles suddenly. "But then I remember thinking that I was going to see you. And that was it, I just fell asleep."

"I wondered why you died smiling." I say quietly.

"You were there?!"

I nod.

"I watched your whole life Niall... Well the parts that you were in the house."

He thinks for a minute.

"I missed you Louis. You took me part of me heart with you when you died."

"Alright." I say, shoving him. "It's not a bloody romance novel."

He grins widely.

"What can I say? I missed you darling." He winks and then laughs loudly. I laugh with him, I've missed him so much. I can't believe he's really here.

"So what then?"

He thinks hard and his face suddenly lights up.

"That's it... I remember now! I was stood next to myself. I was trying to comfort Joanna but she couldn't see me... I didn't have a bloody clue what was happening, I was terrified. Next thing, this fella was stood next to me... Frightened the bloody life outta me, he did, anyway, he's stood there-"