What Ghost? (Complete)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Educating Kate

Billy breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down with Kate in the grassy area among the trees. She'd  been at him all the way through dinner, hassling him to tell her what his message had been about. He looked around, but there was no sign of Becky or John. Great, so I'm about to tell Kate about the two permanent ghosts in my life and they're not here to prove I'm not a raving lunatic? Fantastic!

"Okay Mr Secretive...you've dragged this out long enough. Time to spill the beans. What's going on?"

Billy looked around him in desperation. Nope, still no Becky or John. "Okay, you first...tell me how the research is going? What've you learned about ghosts and poltergeists, and how much of it do you believe?" Maybe he could stall until Becky and John got here.

Kate sighed. "Look, I know I came across as a total non-believer when we first met, but it's more that I've always been on the fence about the whole ghost thing. Having that run-in with whatever it was yesterday just pushed me off, and onto the believing side." She blushed and chuckled. "What about you? Have you always believed, or not believed, in ghosts?"

He wanted to shout with relief when Becky and John arrived at that exact moment. "Well, that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. But you have to promise to listen to what I say without judging until I'm finished?"

Kate nodded, smiling. "Okay, I promise. Now just tell me will you!"

"Okay, well, the thing is, I've always believed in ghosts 'cos I've had one in my life since the day I was born..."

He could feel the blush creeping up his neck, but pushed on. "Remember how I said my twin sister died at birth? Well, her spirit had other ideas about the whole dying and leaving thing, and decided to hang around instead. She's been doing that for the last fifteen years."

Kate's eyes were like saucers. "Wow, so do you just sort-of feel her presence, or does she do stuff to let you know she's around?"

Billy tried to hold back the burst of laughter, and instead snorted. Yeah, totally impressive, moron. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. But I think once you meet Becky you'll understand why I did."

Kate frowned. "What do you mean by 'meet her'? How will I even know she's around?"

Becky had been standing-by quietly watching. At Kate's question she cracked up laughing. "Oh for God's sake Billy, just get it over with will you...before she makes a complete idiot of herself and starts asking about séances or something."

Right, so just get it over with huh...easy for her to say! Billy grabbed Kate's  hands and looked into her eyes. "Okay, I've been trying to think of an easy way to do this, but I don't think there is one. So here goes. I've always been able to see and hear Becky, and we have conversations just like you and I are having right now all the time. Becky has grown up with me, so she always looks the same age as me as well. Anyway...with everything that's been going on, I thought you might like to meet her, or at least her ghost anyway. Oh, and her boyfriend John's here too, which is a whole other story we'll get into later. So what do you say? Are you up for it?"

Please, please, please don't look at me like I'm a complete loon. Becky's eyes were a mixture of curiosity, doubt and maybe a bit of fear. "Are you serious? You really think I'll be able to see them?" Her eyes were darting all over the place, awe sneaking into the mix in her eyes. "Are they here now?"

"Yeah, they are. But you can't see them unless they choose to show themselves to you. They've both agreed they're happy for you to know about them, so it's up to you?"