My Best Human Friend

Chapter 9

February 20th. It's not a day I like to be out and about on. It's the one day out of every year that I dread because it reminds me that I never survived to see the next day. I thought that I was too weak to continue to live because I was a ghost now.

Pathetic, I think. I sigh as I walk beside Max toward the cemetery. We were going to visit my grave, or what I thought was my grave. He was dressed formally which I had no idea why. He held some flowers which I found pretty, but I still had no idea why he was doing any of this. He looked like he was going on a date with a girlfriend, carrying a bouquet of pretty roses. Useless...

"What's with the flowers?" I ask.

"I'm going to leave them at your grave as an offering," Max explains, smiling. He hums softly, making sure he the flowers were alright. He seemed to want to keep them intact and I didn't blame him at all for that. The flowers were beautiful and I really appreciated that he wanted to leave flowers at my grave. It made me happy that he was thinking of me in this way.

As we approached the graveyard, I saw Promise staring in at a funeral. She seemed a bit sad, her shoulders slumped and if she could cry, she would have been. I ran over to her and hugged her.

"What's wrong, Promise?" I ask. Max had caught up with me and watched, staying quiet.

"... It's my funeral..." she whispers, hugging me back and looking over as the casket was put into the ground. She watched as her parents wept, watching as their daughter was finally being put to rest. I felt bad for the girl, however, she was lucky to see her own funeral. At least she knew where her grave was and who attended. It made things better to see that so many people truly cared about her. Max frowns, taking a few roses out of the bouquet and holding them out to Promise.

"Here. We'll put them on your grave when the funeral is over. I don't want to interrupt anything right now," Max says, making Promise nod and smile a little at the kind gesture. Max was a nice guy and I was happy to know him. He always knew just what to do to make someone happier than they were before.

"Why are you guys here?" Promise asks, wiping away some tears.

"Well, we're gonna visit my grave. I died on this day, many years ago," I said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Isaac..."

"It's fine. We're here to see if my parents will visit me or not."

Max nods and we begin walking to my grave. Promise followed, deciding it was probably better to get away from her own funeral. She needed a distraction and Max and I were going to provide it. We went to my grave and no one was there yet. I had hope but now it was crushed. I didn't want to force Max to spend his day in a cemetery, waiting for my parents who might not even show up. It was a bit upsetting but then again, it was still early. I sighed and sat down next to my gravestone, wondering if my parents were ever going to show up.

"Isaac, you died when you were a baby?" Promise asks softly.

"Well, I don't actually know if this is my grave. I didn't have the liberty to see my funeral so I have no idea if this is where I was buried or not," I explain, staring at the gravestone. It felt so familiar. It had to be me, right? But... what if it isn't? What do I do then?

"I'm sorry, Isaac. I wish I could help you." I just shook my head and smiled at her.

"It's fine. It's no big deal. These things happen all the time. I know of a few ghosts who have no idea where they're from. It's all a matter of using the time we have as ghosts to find out the truth about ourselves. There's gotta be some sort of meaning as to why we're still able to roam, you know?"

I sigh and look away. I couldn't keep my smile on my face. What if everything I was doing was pointless, just like life is? Then I'd have absolutely no reason to be roaming at all. My mind kept racing with these thoughts until Max placed a hand on my shoulder. He was trying to comfort me and I really appreciated it. He knew just what I needed, it seemed.

Seconds passed to minutes and minutes to hours. There was still no sign of my parents and I was losing hope. What if my parents are gone? What if they moved away, too torn about their baby dying that they couldn't stand being in the same town anymore? What if they were trying to avoid him, pretending that they never had a son? What if... I'm wrong about everything and I really didn't die on this day? It makes no sense to me and I certainly couldn't believe any of the scenarios being true. Maybe there's a small possibility of those scenarios being completely true however, I didn't want to believe it. This had to be me. This was the grave that I felt connected to. That meant it had to be mine, right?

"Isaac, look," Max whispers, smiling and looking behind us. I turned and saw two people walking towards the grave. An older man who had seen better days and a woman who seemed to be crying already walked over, looking at Max. The woman turns toward the grave and kneels down, placing a bouquet of flowers next to the ones Max brought.

"Hello. Are you here to pay your respects to someone?" the man asked Max. Max nodded and looked at the grave.

"Yeah... I am," he says. "Might I ask your relationship to Isaac Viren?"

The man nods and looks at the grave. The woman was silently praying, tears streaming down. She seemed deeply upset about this however she must have known that this was reality and nothing could change the fact that whoever was buried underneath was never coming back.

"He's our son. He... died when he was young. He was a little baby..." the man explained and my eyes lit up.

"Mom? Dad?" I ask. The woman looks up at me, seeming to have heard me which surprised me. She frowns, shaking her head at me,

"You're... not my son..." she says, her voice quiet and almost inaudible. I tilted my head, confused. "My son... he had gold eyes like his father... You don't have those eyes..."

My eyes widen and everything around me turns black. I try to look around, however, I can't see anything. It's impossible until a little light shows up and a small boy appears the angel wings and a halo. I stared at him as his white eyes gaze into my soul. He seems upset somehow and I have no idea how to react.

Don't steal my identity... I'm Isaac Viren... Not you...

"What? Wait, are you sure? I mean... I..." I couldn't find the words. I was confused and it seemed like my entire world was collapsing onto me all at once. If I wasn't Isaac Viren, then who was I?

Your name... You have a name... I'm Isaac Viren... Not you...

"Yeah, I get that... But, what's my name? Do you know?"

No... Your name... September... September 21st...

"What happened on September 21st? What?"

The fall... the fall...

With that, the boy disappeared and I was back in the real world. The man and woman were gone and Max was crying over me as I opened my eyes. He yelled out in joy when he saw I was awake but something didn't seem right. I didn't react to being called Isaac anymore. He said that name so often and... I have no idea what to react to anymore. Something was off about me and... I don't really know what to do anymore.

"Isaac, come on. Let's go home, please..." Max says, helping me up. Promise frowns, staring at me. She turned and ran off and I had no idea why. Max brought me home and he sat me down on his bed. I was really confused as to why he was acting like this and yet I still didn't answer when he called me Isaac. That wasn't me. That was someone else. Someone who I had disturbed for stealing their identity. I didn't mean to but... what else could I do? I had no idea what my name was anymore. It confused me a lot and I was trying to figure out what I was supposed to be called.

"Isaac, what's going on with you? Why won't you answer me anymore?" Max asks, wiping away his tears.

"... That's not my name... I don't know what my name is..." I say in a monotone voice. I stared into the distance, not really paying attention anymore. If Isaac wasn't my name, then what was?